The Ball: CXXXIV
Riu would not describe herself as nervous instead she would say.. On edge. She was not ready to flinch at the drop of a hat but still pensive. Within her carriage, she spent time studying the faces of her allies. It was an odd sensation; the edge that crept in one's bones which warned of impending danger. Yet she charged forth at it regardless, it's what her parents would have done.
"Where are the harpers?" Herod quizzed, staring out of the window. She held her breath knowing that the answer to that question would never be very good.
"Dealing with attacks across the city," Andraste responded bitterly. "We don't know why.. But the Xanthar and Zhentarim guild are fighting like dogs, even worse than usual. It's as if they just all of a sudden started brawling in the streets again, nearly all of them nearby Harper establishments." She studied Herod, he was dressed in his green and dusky grey suit. However, now he wore the new cape he'd purchased. Still, the outfit looked to be missing something. Whilst she noticed numerous legs in the carriage bouncing nervously, Herod's remained still.
"Are they allied with the Cassalanters?" Vaelle asked furiously.
"Unlikely," Riu replied, she glanced out the windows of her carriage quickly. Seeing the Cassalanter Villa come into view. "It's more probable.. That Victoro simply paid some people off to begin engagements.. If they were working together I doubt the Xanathar guild would let Victoro off without a massive price." Vaelle nodded in understanding. This was her arena, Riu understood one thing. She was the noble, and it was up to her to navigate them once inside.
"Andraste. You and Mattrim are close." Herod added. "How bogged down are they? How many are being taken up?" Andraste seemed to blush at his comment.
"Um.. probably near all. As soon as they put down what's going on, they'll be here."
"Well if that isn't just fucking fantastic." Adleth started to chuckle.
Riu looked down she was wearing a pale blueish white gown which covered the trappings of armor underneath, that was for the lower body. She stared at Markos, the little half-elf looked quite adorable in his purple and black dress and a full face of makeup. In his hands, he twirled around a small golden-brown satchel embroidered with a face, a bag of holding. Inside contained; the weapons, armor, and tools of everyone who could not easily hide it.
"Alright listen." Vestus interrupted snapping her back to the present; he was hideous though dressed in a gorgeous ash grey suit. "When we get inside, no one can suspect we are.. Well, Hades, I guess in this instance we're up to no good."
"Is everyone clear on the plan?" Riu asked politely, she held her head up high. What would her father do? Lead. He would lead. "And um.."
"Follow our plan. If it doesn't work, I'll beam you all the next idea. We find the ritual. It'll either be in another room or in a basement of some sort." Herod waved around his hands quickly. Riu swallowed her tongue. The carriage came to a stop creaking against the fresh pavement. Outside she heard the sound of people, busy party guests, and arriving nobles. Ah.. the illustrious life of fakes. The door opened enveloping her eyes with the soft light of candles ignited overhead.
"Lady Astrial." Corbias stood with an arm across his chest as she lifted her dress and descended the steps.
"Thank you Corbias... why don't you.. Take the rest of the night off.. Please." She encouraged him, the elderly man frowned but nodded all the same.
"As you wish my lady." She turned her head, noticing now how funny the carriage looked. Vaelle, Vestus, Andraste, Markos, Alekzandr, Adleth, and Herod all packed inside. They exited quickly shoving one another aside while furious clawing out of the box. With blue eyes straight ahead, Riu took in the courtyard of Gralhund villa. Before her, was the most massive villa she'd ever seen. It felt both familiar and foreign; high stone walls surrounded the property with the enormous mansion front and center. Unlike the Gralhunds, whose house had a fenced gate that led to the villa, the Casslanter had a.. More expensive approach. Instead the wall concluded at a central hub the size of a home with wide-open doors which led you to the gardens outside their house. Riu had been there so many times when she would visit Osvaldo yet now the house grounds stood taller, as the walls looked to have been raised. The guestlist entrance had been made more extravagant and clean. Riu took a deep breath. The house in the distance stood foreboding over her presence.
"You've got this pretty girl." Adleth whispered behind her. Riu nodded and headed for the gates. The street out front was flooded with people, commoners and nobles alike.
"Please, common folk, I employ you. This way." A figure harped and led a string of individuals through a side entrance presumably on the other end. She couldn't name all the noble families she saw, no really she couldn't. She hadn't bothered to remember them all. Was that perhaps the Gundwynd's? Or even Lord Guster Ilitul? She didn't know nor care. Riu strolled to the entrance where a set of large burly men were watching those go in. Her party was close behind her probably examining the freshly mowed lawns and extravagant grey stone arches that littered the yard in front of them.
"Lady Astrial." Both men bowed further than for other lords and ladies, she nodded. Trying her best to fill the role of a snooty noblewoman. The clouds' atop growled a little, threatening to rain on the party, what a perfect image for what was to come. People halted around her, her family name carrying its presence. "Halt." Drat, she thought. One of the guards had stopped the others. "Are you common folk? I don't recognize you on the primary guest list." The first bald man said this as if he could memorize them all, which Riu considered a feat.
"Excuse me sir?" Riu placed an accent upon her words, one she remembered from upper society, always so annoying. "Are you telling me you cannot recognize the noble house of Ikorov right before you? Crusher of storms?" She asked the question as if it were an obvious answer. The man didn't bite.
"No m'lady, I'm simply saying I don't recognize this one on the guest list. And you. Who are you?" The man pointed at Markos. Who was most definitely the.. Oddest looking? Perhaps he looked almost like nobility.
"Lilith Proprietas." Markos performed a curtsey, his voice sounding.. Well.. pretty good honestly. Wait.. did he have a name ready for this? She struggled ot not let laughter escape her lips.
"Yeah, you aren't on the list.. Anyone else must go through the commoner gate-" Riu saw Adleth and Alekzandr ready to speak and knew they would cause a scene.
"Excuse me?" Riu roared. "You dare? Ammalia Cassalanter herself invited me and my compatriots, the nobles of Waterdeep to this gathering, if you have us thrown to the commoner gate I assure you, she will know." Riu leaned in standing on the tips of her toes to meet the guard's eye line. People's lives were at stake.
"M'lady Not you, jus-" The other started.
"Lord Westwood, I shan't need someone to remember all this. I simply cannot stomach the indecency of these two imbeciles. Now, are you going to let us aside or not?" She glanced over her shoulder hating her own speech. Herod looked like he was trying not to laugh. Around her, she felt the stares of other nobility, many of which knew her personally and her family. They had already begun talking.
"Lord Ikorov, Lady Naïlo, so good to see you." Riu spun around to a familiar voice. Renaer was walking up the steps, he gave her a wink. "I could not fathom such a high and graceful nobility from the castle of Deepmotts point to be here so soon." Renaer regarded Herod.
"Lord.. Re.. Neverember." One man stifled. Renaer waved a hand. A man at his side quickly delivered a parchment to the guards. A few seconds passed.
"Can they even read?" Adleth joked. The two guards' eyes went wide before they nodded.
"Oh, I see.. My apologies, apparently there was a last-minute addition to the noble funnel.. I see." She could have sworn that the individual traveling with Renaer was Mattrim. They did have Harper help.. Just not all of it. "Right this way." the bald one confirmed. Riu nodded gracefully and entered the courtyard, with her friends following her. "Lord Neverember are you not.. Entering?" She twisted around but saw Renaer making a litany of excuses, shit. He was needed elsewhere. She turned back to the front staring up at the house. 'Thank you Renaer..' She thought, now she had to find where this ritual was. She walked past the gardens Herod and Adleth caught up in a jog. She started at the steps to the house above. The Cassalanter Villa was situated on a hill. Its white stone exterior gave an imposing presence to the building. It had three arches in total, with dozens of windows all across the front. The last time she was here.. Osvaldo wasn't. The long stairs up to the villa were littered in people but they quickly made their way past them. Riu had lost interest in socializing with them.
"Lord Westwood?" Herod laughed. Her face lit up.
"The great.. Storm crusher?? What?" Adleth chuckled. Riu cringed a little.
"A little over the top?" She wondered. Herod held up two pinched fingers in response. To her right in the courtyard was a large stand of food and drink, rows of tables along with people eating and dancing. The commoner party. But before her.. "Woah.." She arrived atop the stairs and stared deeply into the large hall. The Cassalanter Villa had become more massive than the last time she'd seen it. Before such a party needed to be held outdoors, but now they had actually expanded the entrance hall making it a full-blown ballroom. Inside were far fewer guests than in the courtyard, simply a gathering of well dressed nobility; it was there she recognized much of her fellow nobles. The tables were decorated with drinks and food, she wondered if that too was poisoned.. No probably not but one could not be too careful. Soft violin music played in the background as she spotted the band.
"Alright.. Let's do this." Herod decided. She took his hand and strolled forward, closing her eyes with the music slowly rising. She had to think long and hard. Without an incantation, a spell could be incredibly difficult. Luckily.. She had stashed her focus on her dress. She breathed deeply and summoned Kuro under her dress as the little dragon latched onto her. It hurt a little bit, but she ignored that pain. Not many were on the ballroom floor just yet but she didn't care. The room still had plenty of nobles who now looked at her. The ballroom was at least two hundred feet wide in either direction with gold-laced inlay spread across the floor in a pattern that resembled a pair of wings, yet also.. Something else. On either side of the great hall were alcoves and tall walls with gorgeous artwork.
"Lady Astrial." A chill ran up her spine.. She knew that voice, her head slowly turned around hoping for a fleeting second she was wrong. Blue and gold eyes met Ammalia Cassalanter, Lady of the household. Of course, just her luck. This was it, this was the final fight she'd been preparing for. Facing Ammalia, she knew this was what she'd been scared about.
"Lady Ammalia.." She squeaked back. For once their eyes had met and Riu could see it, an understanding, a mutual pass of knowledge that was not there the first time around at least not completely. Riu knew precisely what this woman was.. And she knew of her. Ammalia was dressed in a dark black dress that held tight against her. They stared at one another for longer than comfortable.
"I see you have carried your party here with you. Such a wonderful thing I think, adventure." The woman smiled coldly. She wasn't fooling anyone. Riu recognized the tracks around her eyes, the fear on Ammalia's face.
"Quite, yes." She agreed her eyes darted around the room.
"And you are?" Ammalia regarded Herod for the first time.
"Herod Westwood." He replied with a tad bit of lip in his voice when he responded. She wished she could just bash Ammalia's skull in, the pain this woman had brought to the city.. It wasn't right for her to simply stand there so smug.
"Hm, I can't say I've ever met a Westwood.."
"Oh most definitely not, I don't have any family you would know." He was a bastard, Riu knew that, not exactly a noble child but one born out of wedlock. The lady had a heaping of makeup across her face, her hair was tied upward and behind her in a fashion Riu had grown used to. Ammalia seemed to scan the room her fash flashed for just a brief second with panic. She was.. Sweating.. An elven boy approached Ammalia from behind, he was decently dressed in a white suit though he was short he had golden brown eyes and gold hair.
"Mistress Cassalanter.." He began. Ammalia's face went wild for a moment, Riu and Herod's gaze met one another. The elf suddenly looked jumpy staring at the two of them. "A-apologies.. I only meant.."
"Enough Nelius.. Please." Ammalia turned. "Enjoy the ball.. And.. inform my husband.. The guests have all arrived." The elven boy began to run off. Him, he was one to follow. "I apologize for that intrusion, where were we? Ah yes, Adventure." Ammalia settled on the topic despite them moving away from it a while ago. "I must say, you are astonishing my dear, to start adventuring at such a young age.. And to fill the shoes of your parents.." She made a tsk sound with her mouth and Riu felt herself getting on edge, 'don't' she thought. No one got to bring up her parents and certainly not some mad cultist who was about to sacrifice the city- Markos did not count!
"Well, they left quite a legacy for me to live up to.." Riu smiled. They had.. And she really did not know how to fulfill it.
"Ah, how good of you my dear." My dear? This woman had nerves. "To throw yourself like your parents against.. insurmountable odds." The lady dropped her smile. "Meddling.. Where you don't belong.. Just like them."
"They triumphed in the end." Riu reminded her.
"Yes, but at what cost?"
*Tng-Tng-Tng-Tng*
Above her, Riu saw a figure beating a fork against a glass gathering the attention of the nobility within the room. "I must be off now.." Ammalia bowed "Much of this party requires my.. Assistance." Her voice broke with that last word and Riu got a glimpse of a far more shaken figure behind that heavy makeup and dark black dress. She gave Ammalia a courtesy bow and forced Herod to bow as well. The woman trailed off. On the banister above her, a figure stepped out dressed in a black and gold suit, illustrious clothing, and well-kept hair holding a dark obsidian black cane studded with rubies.
"Ladies and gentlemen.." Victoro started his voice deep; it sounded somewhat thunderous like the ground itself spoke. "May I wish you a splendid Founders day evening.." Riu looked at the clock; it was presently eight o clock. "Welcome, do please make yourself at home, though not at home right Lord Eltorchul." Victoro seemed to gesture to a far-off figure in the crowd of nobility, his mannerisms made Riu sick. He wanted so badly to be some kind of king. "Come now my lords and ladies.. Loosen yourselves." Victoro began to walk down the stairs to the side of his banister greeting the noblemen on his way down. The large family crest of a goose was on full display over his head. At once the music began to pick up and Riu watched people take to the floor with their lovers or suitors in arms. She scanned the room for Ammalia, or perhaps even Osvaldo wondering where he could be.
"Do we continue? Yo, Riu?" Herod asked sheepishly. Riu bit her lip not liking the stares she got from the ball's staff, the gears turned she realized how they must have been tasked with ensuring no one stopped what was to come. So long as she had Victoro in the room she knew everything was fine.
"Yes.." She reached out, taking Herod's hand. She carefully moved, Kuro still in her dress to the dance floor. It was only then, so close to the banister could she finally recognize the other shape crafted of gold on the ground near the entrance. Decorated out of polished marble and gilded gold were a pair of horns. The entire ballroom had gorgeous runes and images crafting devils and demons. Like the cruel sick joke for the keen of eyes. She gave Herod a quick glance while they danced to the new music echoing through the halls. Where on Toril was Osvaldo? Was he seriously still in Neverwinter, even now? She took a deep breath, no. Now was the time to focus on their mission, not this screwed-up family.