Movement in the Shadows

The evening hadn't been very fruitful. Jonas had talked to whatever servants he could from the various guests, under the guise of acquiring gossip for his 'Lady,' but nothing that was said indicated that there were any ill feelings towards the king.

Though, he had been surprised at how late it was when the prince arrived. Then even more so that the king was the one acting as a chaperone for him. While it wasn't really that strange, it did bring to Jonas' mind that the prince's uncle was normally the one to act as his chaperone.

Something felt off to him and he quickly scanned the grounds and was satisfied that the area was dark enough. So, under the guise of needing to go relieve himself, he quickly lost himself in the darkness and carefully made his way to the building where the party was.

He had a feeling there wasn't much time to act, not that he really knew why. Although, as he neared an open window, he couldn't help but hear sounds of people talking quietly as well as something going on.

Jonas carefully moved down to take a look. As he peered around the corner of the building, he saw small catapults being loaded with what he could only identify as small wooden barrels that were about a foot tall of some kind that he was pretty sure filled with some kind of booze, based on the smell.

These people were working without light, so it was clear that they didn't want anyone learning about what they were doing. Not that it kept Jonas from not seeing clearly. Though, the people working there looked like they were getting their job done either through sheer repetition of having likely run through this often enough or just by touch.

He saw them fitting pieces of cloth in the barrels, almost like primitive Molotov cocktails. Not that he had anything against that kind of method, but he couldn't help but wonder if the plan was to destroy any evidence or maybe even kill any witnesses of whatever was going to happen.

Then as he was about to head back to the open window, he couldn't help but notice someone who was dressed much more finely than any of the others working with the barrels at the moment. Whoever he was, he didn't seem surprised at what was going on, so Jonas decided to get closer, to see if he could make out any specific words against the clatter of noise currently going on in the area.

"…ought is son. The first attempt failed as we suspected it might. So, now light the cloth and launch the casks into the room," the man said, his features hidden behind the cloak he was wearing. "All the exits have been secured and if they do manage to open one up, we're ready to kill anyone who tries to leave."

"What about the young miss?" one of the people asked.

"It's a shame, but remember, we're doing this to get what should rightfully be ours. They have wronged us by keeping us from what's ours by right. It may be a shame that someone so young has to die, but that's just the reality of what we need to do," the man replied coldly. "We've already suffered too many losses recently. We have to end this quickly."

Jonas had a feeling that the 'young miss' in question was Lance's younger sister whose birthday was being celebrated, which meant a few things to him. One, whoever this was, wasn't the duke. There was no way the duke would talk that way about his own daughter. If the duke was so cold as to be willing to kill his own daughter, Jonas had a feeling that the response would have been phrased just a little differently.

Two, this seemed more like a general uprising and insurrection rather than a mere assassination attempt. Which really just complicated matters altogether. Unless these people really didn't care about the overall collateral damage their actions would cause.

And three, these people seemed to have deluded themselves into thinking that they'd been wronged somehow and that rights that were likely never theirs to begin with had been taken away from them. It sounded like whoever was in charge was looking for people to do the grunt work that would be easily disposable. Someone they could pin the blame for everything on, everything they didn't care to take credit for. Like all the collateral damage.

Jonas wasn't sure what exactly was the end goal was, but he knew that he needed to find the room where the party was being held in. First thing he needed to do was to make sure that the rest of his group not only survived, but could help deal with this issue.

He couldn't say that he'd be able to end those behind the assassination attempt here, but that wasn't his primary focus at the moment. He had gotten a little bit of information here, but not enough to really bring it to an end.

He could try to eliminate the one whose clothing screamed wealth, but he couldn't be sure if that person was the mastermind. As far as he knew, it was a conspiracy and would continue on, even with him being eliminated.

Which meant that he needed first to secure the safety of his allies and ensure that as few people died here. Especially since if the king died, he was sure that the challenge would be considered a failure. Though, Jonas couldn't understand what exactly the man had meant about them suffering 'too many losses recently.' If it meant that the others in the competition were involved, then Jonas knew that he'd still have other allies that could help out when least expected. However, he couldn't really be sure that that's what it meant. As far as he knew, it could easily have meant the men that Jonas and his team eliminated on the way to the city.

The people brought out torches and started lighting the cloth rags on fire. Jonas could see what was going to happen next, which meant he needed to find a way to the party fast. The man however gave a decisive nod seemingly satisfied with what they had just done.

As the man returned to the building, Jonas quickly made his way back to the open window. While he didn't know the layout of the building, he was pretty sure that he'd be able to find the room where the party was being held in fairly easily.

Jonas couldn't help but wish that he'd been able to bring his daggers with him. The outfit that he'd been provided with didn't really have anywhere that he could put his daggers, so he had had to leave them behind. For one thing, Guy had stressed on them that it would be viewed as a hostile gesture for one of Elin's 'servants' to arrive armed. Aside from her bodyguard, at least.

Which meant that he'd have to improvise if he encountered any actual trouble. Which as far as he was concerned, it was more a matter of time before he encountered some rather than it being a mere possibility. Unless he got so lucky that he would expect something really bad would be about to occur.

+++

Elmo felt confused as to what was happening. The sudden fires were not what he'd expected to occur. If anything, he'd expected ninja assassins to have repelled through he windows or something. This felt a little too widespread and unpredictable.

Though, at the same time, he could see the fires were spreading along the carpets and rugs, but something felt off about how the fire spread across the stone. It felt like this room had been made into a death trap, not that he really could tell how at the moment.

"We need to get out of here," he said, feeling the weight of the fires pressing down on him.

"The doors appear to be blocked," Kim remarked.

Elmo looked and saw that several of the guests had rushed to the main doors and were trying to open it without any luck. Which made Elmo wonder what exactly was going on here. He had expected a party, not a battlefield.

Shaking his head, he strode towards the door, He didn't think they really had time to try and force it open. If nothing else, he needed to force it open with his magic. Something that he was confident he'd be able to do without any real trouble.

"Stand aside," he called out to the people desperately banging against the door, their vain attempts doing nothing other than to waste precious time.

As he spoke, he realized that he wasn't likely to get them to move away from the door. They might not be able to hear anything other than the fires burning around them.

Then as Elmo opened his mouth to speak again, the fires spreading across the room reached one of the casks that hadn't broken earlier. Elmo didn't notice it himself until the fires reached the contents of what was in the cask and it burst open like enough black cats inserted into a watermelon, then lit on fire.

While it didn't really help matters with keeping everyone calm, it did cause several of the guests to faint, including most of the guests by the door. Not that Elmo liked the idea. If nothing else, once he had the door open, he'd need to start dragging unconscious people towards the door. He certainly wasn't going to let them burn to death like that. Not if he could help it.

Despite the fact that this was much more than he would have preferred dealing with.