War for the Crown Gameplay Part 1

Hm. Adelaide sighs again. ”All right, one of your lackeys already told us you’re middle management,” she says to Wyz, trying to keep her own expression as neutral and uninterested as possible. ”So who’s next in the food chain?”

"Which lackey?" Wyssilka asks in reply in a tone that matched her impassive expression, not answering the question.

”Answering a question with a question is bad form,” Adelaide answers. ”Tell me what I want to know, and maybe I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

"Now why would I give away my only point of leverage so easily?" Wyssilka asks with a raised eyebrow.

”I’m sure it’s not your only point of leverage,” Adelaide points out, crossing her arms. ”Being higher up has to mean you know a lot more about what we’d find interesting.”

"Say I do, what then?" Wyz counters. "You'll let me go? If you did that you'd be more naive than I thought."

Adelaide shrugs. ”It’d likely put you in a better position for whatever form of justice you’ll be receiving for all this. You never hear much about the stubborn criminal who refused to talk getting much in the way of mercy.”

"You don't hear much about kidnappers and murderers getting much in the way of mercy either way. Besides, if I wanted a better sentence, I'd talk to the guards, not you," Wyz points out.

"Not sure you're aware how bold an assumption you're making there," Adelaide answers drily. "Here's what your path looks like if the guards picked you up directly. You get thrown in solitary. You're never looked at again, until it's time for your trial. They declare, very quickly, that you'll be publicly hung, and waste little time in doing it. In short, the guards never give you the chance to talk. Talking to us, though? That lets us open up the chance for you."

"You think I've never been in this position before, girl? Believe me, you won't see me swinging from a rope, and it won't be because you told the guards just how helpful I was," Wyssilka scoffs, rolling her eyes.

Momo rolls her eyes and then sighs. ”Here’s a fun idea. What if you never make it to the guards? There was an ‘accident’ here. Couldn’t be helped, after all. We were fighting, and you met the wrong end of a polearm. Nobody will cry for a killer like you, anyways,” Momo reasons, drawing the knife from her boot and picking her fingernails with it.

"And what exactly would that get you? The satisfaction of killing me? Please do, I do enjoy seeing people make their first kill in cold blood," Wyssilka doesn't even flinch at the sight of the knife, a wicked grin growing across her lips.

Corey pales. "Ah'm gonna have ta stop ya right there Momo. We ain't killin' her. We ain't pretendin' we're killin' her either. Ah ain't gonna be party ta murder or scare tactics."

Adelaide sighs. "So, why do you want to know which lackey it was anyway?"

Momo sighs. ”Momo, shut up. Momo, don’t threaten the criminal. Honestly, what AM I allowed to do around you sticks in the mud?” she quips, leaning against the nearest wall.

"I was mostly just curious," Wyssilka confesses with a childish giggle. "Plus, I decided the stare blankly and say nothing route would be kinda boring. It's not like you can do anything I actually care about at this point."

”I suppose answering the questions wouldn’t give you much entertainment either,” Adelaide muses, thinking. ”Though, you mentioned something interesting earlier - you said you’ve been in this situation before?”

"Sure have!" Wyssilka grins. "Murdered some people I shouldn't have, all that stuff."

”And were captured before, too?” Adelaide clarifies. ”What happened then?”

"I got out," Wyssilka replies with a smug smirk. "Not telling how, that would spoil the surprise."

Corey sighs. "Y'know Wyz, if yer just gonna spin yer wheels, then Ah don't know why we're even havin' this chat." He then unceremoniously punches her square in the nose, knocking her out cold again.

Several minutes later, Martella emerges from her office carrying several sheets and a sealed envelope, then sets about stashing the documents in likely places, one on a cultist’s corpse, another on a table, and the envelope on Wyssilka. ”There, that should ensure they get convicted of treason.”

"Hopefully that's the case," Sarina says with a frown. "But all the cultists that we've talked to have been very confident that they won't be imprisoned for long. It could just be bravado, but something about it worries me that they might know they'll have help in making a jailbreak."

”I have some strings I can pull, I’ll make sure they’re flagged as escape risks and imprisoned separately. Being marked as traitors will also get them extra security on top of that,” Martella replies. ”I’d suggest just dealing with them right here, but that would get heat on us that we don’t want.”

With that settled, everyone heads on out and back to Gloriana's home, but Martella stops at the door. "I need to go tip the guards off, then I'll try to go meet up with the princess. I will contact you all soon, but expect to meet again in a week or so. We've got work to do, and I think you all will have a part to play in it."

”I’ll be sure to prepare in the meantime,” Adelaide answers, unsure as she says it what that might look like.