End of Night Three
In the entrance hall of the Royal Palace
A lone guard, tasked with preserving the integrity of the throne room while the residents slept, shuffled uneasily on his feet; the atmosphere of the king's regal abode had changed dramatically within the space of a few hours and, while he enjoyed working during the day and interacting with visitors, he immensely disliked the night shift. His heavy-set hazel eyes scanned the entrance hall from right-to-left; where before there had been guests arguing about matters of life and death among the warm hospitality of the palace's servants, there was now silence and a chilling sensation that shook the guard to the very core.
Seconds, minutes, hours; the guard found himself struggling to stay awake as time passed by, and even drifted off into sleep at one point until he was woken by clunking footfalls upon the nearby stone. A squat figure, clearly dwarven, had emerged from the corridors that led to the various chambers of the king's houseguests, clad from head to toe in some of the finest armour that the guard had ever seen, clearly crafted by the most skilled of the Smith's Caste. The platemail-clad dwarf nodded curtly from beneath his visor, passing the guard and heading down the opposite corridor; his pace was quick despite the weight of his armour... he had somewhere to be.
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Double A tossed and turned in his bed, struggling to sleep. He was used to having the bedspace to himself, but had found himself spending these hours with some female company of late, and she was prone to taking as much of the bed covers to keep herself warm at the expense of her lover. Exasperated, Double A climbed from off the bed and threw a thick, earthen-hued robe on, shuffling his feet to get some feeling back into them after several hours of lying down; he moved towards the stone door that led out into the corridor... perhaps a quick walk around the palace would clear his mind.
*SLAM*
The door flew open, throwing Double A backwards several feet, whereby he collided with a nearby pillar; his vision blurred and body aching, the dwarf squinted through watering eyes, attempting to make out his attacker but to no avail. Nearby, Double A's female friend had awoken with fear and surprise visible upon her pale face; in seconds she had thrown herself beneath the bed, cowering at the masked attacker that stood in the frame of the door.
Several heavy footfalls later, the assailant had stormed over to the fallen Double A; in one smooth motion, a darkened gauntlet had firmly grasped a sizeable bunch of the dwarf's woolen robes, and hurled him across the room with a loud crash. Silent in both tone and resolve, the plate-clad assailant proceeded to attack Double A with his fists, each blow magnified in force by the steel gauntlets.
The female below the bed trembled and shuffled around nervously as she listened to the violent beating that was happening around her. Her frantic movements led the construction to grind across the ground somewhat, causing a nearby leaning object to fall to the stone beside her with the heaviest thud she had ever heard; she could make out a long metallic handle and what appeared to be a solid mass of alloyed metal and stone at the end of it.
Double A hit the ground beside the weapon, having been thrown once more by the unknown attacker; his features bore an array of cuts and bruises that painted his face in hues of scarlet, blue, indigo and black, and still he maintained an aura of defiance that his foe found both amusing and worrisome.
"You picked the wrong target tonight, my friend", Double A spat bitterly, rubbing a sleeve across his blood-streaked lips; in the blink of an eye, he flicked his right foot upwards, flipping the metallic shaft upwards from the ground and into his hand... the maul's sleek handle had found it's master, fitting his grip better than any glove or gauntlet could.
The plate-clad assailant roared, unhooking his axe and hurling it towards Double A, the chain rattling in the air in the wake of the curved blade; with a deft flick of his hands, the dwarf had parried the blow with his own weapon, sending the axe hurtling off and into the ground where it stuck fast. Sensing the opportunity, Double A charged at his foe, turning a full circle before catching the distracted attacker square in the chest with a horizontal strike.
Following up on this, Double A maintained the momentum of his offense, raining down several blows with the hammer; each was met with a resounding clunk as it struck against the platemail, each was swung with as much force as the last, each kept the attacker from regaining his previous advantage. It had become clear that the battle had now shifted entirely against him, and it was with great reluctance and greater speed that the platemail assailant retrieved his weapon and fled before he was pulverised.
Double A slammed his weapon against the ground and stood triumphantly among the debris; a grin, visible even among his bushy beard, met the young woman as she crawled from beneath the bed and wrapped her arms around his waist.
Re: Dragon Age: The Aeducan Succession
Originally Posted by Double A
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