"Very well." Ilourien turns to his compatriots. "I am satisfied."
"As am I." Horuk agrees, shrugging his massive shoulders, "Better to dine with Heretics than the faithful who twist scripture to their own ends."
"As do I." Bedrion announces.
"And I." Dragon states.
"And I." Says Kollun before the entire room turns to Skantea who glares back at them with a curt nod.
"It appears our last stand is neither heroic nor a last stand, I concur."

"Thank you gentlemen." You all turn in surprise at Al'Ral's voice, echoing now from around the chamber as the Free Agent slips, once again, into his shroud of invisibility. "Without your dissent my Charms would have yet to reactivate, making my presence here pointless and futile."

"I 'told' you to kill him," Chambers mutters from his chair, "One of the few things Verkoth and I agreed on."

"A mistake on your part, Master Chambers." Al'Ral chuckles as you hear a series of echoing footsetps from contradicting points in the room. "However, now I must take my leave, information is a commodity that depreciates quickly and I have a long road ahead."

"Show yourself, spectre!" Ilourien raises a hand, his lips already moving to chant a spell before, with a crash, each door flies open and the guards are bowled from their feet as seven Al'Ral's sprint past, a few of the weaker illusions failing as the King finishes his spell with a string of elvish curses.

"I feel now is the appropriate point to reiterate my concerns about your security measures." Skantea mutters to Dragon as the soldiers stagger to their feet, winded and dazed. In turn, the King wheels on his counterpart, sword half sliding from its scabbard before the room shakes and, much to Lantaris' surprise, he is hurled to the ground as Rege' takes out his feet before the wall he was leaning on caves inwards, sending a tremor running through the castle.

"Greenjade charges! An entire chain of them from the sounds of it." The Elf picks himself up, panic sharpening his features. "We have to get out of this wing now, unless you want the League Entire and Celians to go to war over our still-smkoing remains!"
Whilst your ally's knowledge of Greenjade explosives is impressive, his skills at speechcraft fall short as, at once, guard, king and mage rush for the exits, voices raised in panic.

With the destruction of the wall the door behind you is blocked and, with the room quickly becoming a quagmire of flailing bodies, only one route is available, the one to your left which, if your guesses are right, leads to an abandoned section of the castle, patrolled only sparsley and used to garisson levy troops in sieges, if Celian Assassins are based anywhere, there is the best bet...

Lantaris Immidatly Pulled his hood and dashed towards the only open passageway, hands raised infront of him. He put all his effort into a quick movement to get right out of the way. He just assumed the others would follow, if they did not have that sense to move then he would simply have to abandon them. Unfortunate, but one of them had to survive. It was inportant that a full scale war did not break out. And if that meant that crystal and Takara died, well, he would be upset, but there was no time to think about that. He assumed if there were assasins, they would not be to far, so a full sprint would catch them unaware. The cloak would hopefuly give him some element of surprise anyway.

The explosion of the greenjade charges rang in Takras ears, the doorway which they entered the room was now a block of bodies and Takra was starting to panic as it appeared their was nowhere to go. Just as the panic began to register she saw Lantaris sprint off towards another exit, Takra followed with haste.

Taking one look back at the people stuck in the entrance doorway, her heartstrings plaucked like a sorrowful harp, it was happening again. She wanted to turn back, to save them, but once again she felt a pang of fear touch the bottom of her spine and she fled.

Going through the doorway it was claustrophobic and Takra left the bow slung over her right shoulder. Drawing her staff off her back she ran, with her hands grasped tight on the smooth wood. Takra watched Lantaris, he was swift, subtle and smooth as he ran, she was glad he was with them, though he was yet to show his combat effectiveness.

As supports fell, so did the masonry and brickwork the falling debris with every shake becoming only a part of the threat as clouds of unescapable dust began to fill and cloud the room as the force of the collapse tore apart the materials that held the fortess together.

Coughing, Crystal dragged herself to her feet with the aid of her staff, having fallen as the unexpected tremors began, running for the only free passageways behind her companions, mentally forming a sheet of ice above her head to protect her from the debris as much as possible as she ran. Finally reaching the temporary relative safety of the open passage, death by crushing at the least seeming unlikely, considering how much structural strength lay in the opening of a passageway, she stopped, spinning on her feet to turn back, facing the chaos of the room.

As her body shook, her eyes searched for Rege, Chambers and any of the monarchs, even as she began to chant a series of sylabbles, preparing for a much larger scale summoning of ice to hold enough of the room together to allow more to escape - in the same direction as Crystal or otherwise.

Like a shadow fleeing from a burst of light, Regarial staggers from the dusty crowd, nodding to Crystal before ushering her through the passage.
"Next time, and mark me, there will be a next time, don't wait for me to come out alive, if I do I will and if I don't then I most certainly won't." Rege' pauses as you catch sight of Takra and Lantaris, still runing from the source of the explosions. "Although I must say, I'm begining to like you Crystal, not many people I know could have pulled off a stunt like that in front of six kings."

Following your only route of escape you soon come to a chamber devoid of all ornament save a few sparsley matressed bunks. Fortunatley there only seems to be one way out of the room, making ambush unlikley, unfortunatley,
"What do you mean we're out of charges, surley we were supplied adequatley enough!" A man, clearly a mage, stands, glaring at his six fellows, all of whom are silent, staring past their commander to the doorway. "And don't think that those blank stares will get you out of this one, I'll whip some discipline into this squad if it's the last thing I-"
He turns, effecting a 'blank stare' before, sarcastically, one of the men behind him mutters.
"For Celia?"

As lantaris came into the chamber, he found that he was trapped. He heard the others comming up behind him. When he spotted several figures he had to assume were assasins he ran towards them, sheathing his daggers. There was no need to kill them, that would just make things worse.
He raised his arms and leaped at the group, trying to give some advantage by knocking some of them down. in the dive he tried to end up ontop of the nearest pinning him/her to the ground. He hoped the surprise (since it was obviously noisy) and the fact that he did a full sprint and leaped wouldn't give them much time to get a swing at him

Takra heard the voices ahead and she presumed the worst. There talk was of charges, anger and urgency, this could mean but one thing... assassins. Anger swept through her, these people had no right to take the life of her friends and great leaders. The hot feeling of anger surged from her feet and was reaching the bottom of her stomach, now her eyes blazed and her hair flailed as if a wind gusted from in front of her.

She shook her staff in front of her causing a blue swirl to circle around the gnarled top of the brown staff. Takra used the powers she had learned to summon the elemental forces around her, this largely consisted of the rubble from the kings chamber. Throwing her arms wide, she pulled them behind her arcing her back. Suddenly she threw her arms forward and a rumble erupted from the corridor. Stones flew over the head of Crystal and Rege, narrowly missing them. The rocks heaped into the presumed assassins, a look of awe registering on their faces.

Running into the room besides Rege, Crystal's latecoming caused her to arrive seconds before witnessing the beginning of Takra's spell.

Crystal made a hard decision fast. She could support Takra and act the warmage, tearing as many of the six she could apart and hoping that the mage in question was killed in the confusion.

On the other hand, Takra's spell revealed the powers of the elf that Crystal hadn't seen yet, and in remarkable strength. But Takra wasn't trained - chances were poor that she could stand up to a Celian mage. If he was powerful enough to be chosen to assist assassins, the threat he poses may be something that Lantaris nor Takra could deal with.

Ducking to avoid Takra's spell, seemingly well-casted to avoid her regardless, Crystal ran several meters into the room, before slamming one end of her staff onto the stone floor, chanting as shards of ice formed near her, hurtling towards the enemy mage. Even as the minor spell was flung, she was preparing to combat, dispel and protect herself or her allies against whatever that mage threw, and distract him from protecting his own squad in the same fashion.

With any luck, Takra as a second mage and Rege's talents with greenjade will make up for the lesser numbers. This may also be a test for Lantaris, too. Crystal was a target for any of the mundane assassins, focusing on their mage.

Crystal could only hope she could hold up for long enough to stop him from tipping the scales. She'd fought Celian mages before, but this one was unlikely to be as lesser talented.

It was lucky that Lantaris dived into the group, and even luckier that any potential attacker was stalled by Takra's avalanche. The surprise assault scatters the Celians, one being tackled to the ground by Lantaris whilst the others, including the mage stagger back, the latter errecting a hasty shield around himself, keeping his feet and weathering the puntive spell thrown at him by Crystal.
"Oooh, a Green Circle Mage, I haven't killed one of you in a long time, perhaps I will get a commendation after all this."
Around him the surviving Celians stagger to their feet, recoiling as one is sent spining against a wall, a quarrel smashing through his chest cavity.
"Keep 'em reeling, I can't use any Jade in here...unless you all do want to be crushed by falling masonry." Rege' growls from the opening as he pulls back his crossbow's loading crank, his features grim.

-----------------------------------------------------

OOC: Read the Q&A Thread, there's important info being posted up there later.

As lantaris tumbled into the group, sucsessfuly landing ontop of one of the assains, grabing both his arms and sitting up on his chest, and as he did so, he glanced around to find that he had scattered the group somewhat. "Im sorry about this" and took advantage of his surprise as he pulled up his arm and applyed a little pressure to his ulnar nerve at the elbow (pain centre, one of the worst). Lantaris winced as he thought about the pain he was about to inflict. But hopefuly, the others would care enough about him to let them through. (As A side note, I should mention, as these are assains they may be trained to deal with this kind of pain. also if one was druged or had a sort of mental illness, it would perhaps also be ineffective) I guess it's like cripple, little actual harm but lots of pain

Takra looked around, partly shocked at the power within her. She was searching for a weapon, a pile of rubble, a large rock, anything she could throw at the assassins in front of her. Then she saw it a rafter had fallen from the ceiling a few metres to the right hand side of the attackers, summoning her will she raised both of her hands, her palms outstretched. She flew her hands to her left and the Rafter shot at a man struggling to rise after the barrage of rocks just seconds ago. (body shot).

Takra staggered, her mind was numbing and her mental strength was being sapped quickly. Shaking her head she got herself back into the fight, knowing she would struggle with the potency of another spell, she slung the quarterstaff over her back and drew her sword, ready to test her skills.

Crystal made no reply to the Celian mage. Seeing Lantaris throw himself into the fray and Takra prepare to fight further, Crystal took advantage of the fact that the Celian mage was casting defensively, and had yet to counterattack.

Swinging her staff in front of her with a snarl, Crystal changed tact, forcing smooth ice to form along the stones and cracks in the floor around the Celians, centering most of the creation on the mage. Such large-scale, upkept summoning was something of a drain on Crystal, but if they are unable even to stand up straight, particularly in the middle of the adrenaline of combat, then they're sitting ducks for Takra and Regarial.

Mentally, Crystal was preparing a second spell to hold up if necessary in addition; a brief barrier of ice that may keep her safe from the Celian mage, if she timed it right.

Lantaris' hands shoot down, plunging into the pressure points deep enough to cause pain, but not quite deep enough to incapacitate the Celian, who lashes back with his only weapon available, his head, striking Lantaris and dislodging him from his position on top of the man, leaving the two sprawled upon the icy floor, scrabbling to counterattack.

Meanwhile Crystal is shocked as the mage opposite to her curses as the power he begins to draw upon disperses, the Celian perhaps revealing his instability by failing to muster enough power to even raise a spark, let alone cast anything.

On one side of the room Takra's spar swings through the air, however, as with the Celian, the spell is less than impressive and the soldier is easily able to dodge, although he struggles to keep his footing whilst several of his comrades advance. Some making their way past Lantaris and his struggling foe and to where Takra stands, vengance blazing from her eyes, before combat is joined, however, a second quarrel hurtles between them, missing its mark before ploughing into one of the soldiers still on the ice, burying itself in the man's abdomen, sending him sliding back a few paces, on his last legs.

Crystal allowed herself the luxury of a brief smile at her own fortune, as well as in contempt of the Celian mage. Celian warmages may be known for their power, but it seems this one has an inability to react in harsh conditions.

Clearly he didn't come from a place like Valsavathar.

Carefully letting up some of the energy she had held in preperation of an ice shield, and tactically relenting on her hold on the ice around Lantaris' position as it did no more aid than harm, Crystal clutched the scraps of concentration and energy such sacrifices gave her, to focus on the ice around the mage's feet, shaping it as if her mind was lifting the ice...

Now she had the oppurtunity that time afforded to fight this mage, she'll show him what damage an ice mage can inflict.

The ice began ro rise, building up around the feet and ankles of the mage, encasing them in a thin layer. The ice was unlikely to be strong enough to stop him from moving, and such immobility was unlikely to be tactically meaningful, considering his mage status.

What it did offer was a distraction...a distraction Crystal doubted he'd be able to cast anything through, when she did this...

Throwing what energy that wasn't already taken by the icy floor, Crystal lifted her hand and staff, before clutching the air in front of her, willing the ice to do the same - to form icy, jagged, painful spikes from the ankles of the mage to deep within, tearing muscle and spearing flesh, as well as bringing the cold to his very bone.

Holding onto that last spell, Crystal's vision shook for a second, a sign of sudden weariness. Too much alcohol still in her system from this morning....this might be her last casting for now, even if she can pull it off.

Lantaris gripped (Im not sure where he hit me) his chest. But as he fell off, he used his legs to propell him furthur out of reach. If the target should try to grab him, He would deliver a sharp blow to his upper forearm which would render his hand and arm useless for enough time to slide away (on the ice). He would expect his foe to try and stand up to gain advantage over him. But Lantaris would do the entire opposite and lay flat on his stomach, waiting for the foe to come at him. But even if he didnt, he still would have to crawl. Either way, he would have plenty of time to get out of the way and strike his shin as he slid by, causing him to fall, and he would be able to pin him again, but this time on his back. Should he crawl, lantaris would have a great advantage as it would simpily be hand to hand.