EDIT (10/26/2021): New Thread: Curse of the Crimson Throne: Seven Days to the Grave II [IC] ... The Exciting Conclusion!
As the Epsilon Elite returned from a mission to visit Shyamal, they found that something terrible has apparently happened. Korvosa was in flames. Smoke rose on the horizon. The frantic clang of alarm bells sang out in harmony with a multifarious cacophony of screams, the clash of steel, moans, and even the periodic detonation of arcane power. A wing of Sable Company griffon riders swooped overhead, angling towards Castle Korvosa at a breakneck pace. A badly wounded mount rained blood down on the street around the Elite before it succumbed and crashed headlong into a statue, taking its rider and itself to a bone-crushing demise. So fierce the anarchy, that others in the flight could not pause to check on their fallen ally. Amid the chaos, the voice of a Korvosan herald cut through the din: "The king is dead! Long live the queen!" only to be shouted down by ragged cries of "Hang the queen!" and "The usurper whore must die!" Through an alleyway, the party even spotted a contingent of hellknights clad in dark iron armor and horned helms pursuing a small gang of what appeared to be looters. The city has gone mad.
So passed King Eodred II, second of his honorable name, and with his last gasp the Crimson Throne became the seat of Queen Ileosa, his lady wife.
Rumors quickly spread on the street -- that he suffered from some disease beyond even the priesthoods of Sarenrae and Abadar's skill to cure, and that even Asmodeus' disciples were summoned from their pentacle temple in the deep of night to try their dark hand at restoring the king. With the king's death, Queen Ileosa ascended the Crimson Throne, much to the displeasure of most Korvosans, who view her as a petulant gold-digger at best. Worse, the castle seneschal had vanished, supposedly slain in one of the initial riots that broke out at the base of Castle Korvosa when the grim news of Eodred's death was proclaimed.
Desperate citizens, salty dock workers, soot-covered smiths, all manner of tradesmen, already stifled by Eodred's spendthrift reign, roar at the thought of Ileosa taking the throne. Dock workers abandoned the seafront wards and caravan men lee the Northgate. Frustrated merchant ships and wagon convoys turned around when they found no one to offload their goods, much less buy them. Food and other staples trickled into the city, while thousands vied for the last sack of flour or bundle of cook-fire timber in the market. Riots erupt throughout the streets. Entire wards plunge into chaos. Those who do not rove the streets with cudgel and torch in hand instead lock their doors against the gathering mob. The Bank of Abadar closes its gilded gates and a contingent of the Coin's Faithful stands at the ready with halberd and crossbow to repel would-be looters. The Academae closes its doors as well, shutting its students and professors within its walls and closing them to the rest of the city until order can be restored. In the space of a dozen hours, all of Korvosa's oppression and anger explodes into chaos. The city lies perched on the edge of anarchy.
Ill-equipped for this level of calamity, the military arm of Korvosa falters, and even the griffon-mounted marines of the Sable Company are pushed far past their limits. The Korvosan Guard does the best it can to quell the riots, yet its members are cut off from each other and forced to operate on their own. Several junior officers, thrust into the harrowing responsibility of command, break under the pressure and abandon their posts, or worse, become part of the problem by attempting to institute martial law.
In a desperate attempt to regain control, Queen Ileosa invited the Order of the Nail into the city, paying the Hellknights in royal gold for their mercenary services. Yet the Hellknights are a greatsword brandished in a tavern brawl, and their brutal crackdowns restore order only by drowning chaos in blood.
At that time, Korvosa was in desperate need for heroes to bring order, for if someone didn't step in at that time, the city might very well have torn itself apart. While the Eliite heard of another group of heroes helping out, your team pitched in to help. Their were flocks of imps fighting pseudodragons in skies. The group had to deal with doomsayers and mad prophets, trying to calm mobs and protect the innocent, and Epsilon even helped a bucket brigade put out a fire and effect a rescue of trapped persons.
The initial civil unrest and outbreaks of riots are quelled quickly, thanks to swift action by the Korvosan Guard, the Sable Company, and the Hellknights. After a day, the streets are once again relatively safe to walk, but a thick tension remains in the air. For several weeks, riots, fires, lootings, and similar events continue to erupt, and certain small parts of the city remain out of control. The group does what it can to help, but pragmatism and an understanding of limits keeps them from overextending themselves.
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It has been weeks since Eodred II’s death, and things are finally starting to get back to normal in Korvosa. Yet still the streets thrum with unrest and wild rumors. Crime seems to be on the rise, with pickpocketings, robberies, and assaults skyrocketing. Some still hiss “usurper” and “murdering harlot” at the mere utterance of Ileosa’s name, and more shockingly, rumors that the king’s death was not of natural causes increasing, and the queen herself has become the primary suspect in these rumor mills.
Then things take a turn for the more concrete. There are eye-witness accounts from guards at the Castle that say that the beautiful young painter of the king's portrait, one Trinia Sabor, had been behaving oddly during her many trips to the Castle. Then, a confession is finally wrenched from a guard who swore that he was part of the young painter’s plot and saw her slipping a specially prepared poison powder into Eodred’s tea the night he took ill and her portrait of him was completed.
Word of the confession spreads rapidly, and the guard’s apparent suicide (a leap from one of the towers of Castle Korvosa cements Korvosa’s anger. In no time, Trinia’s name becomes a household word, and once again riots threaten to erupt in the streets. This time, however, the cries are not for the queen’s death, but the death of the king’s true murderer—Trinia Sabor. After two weeks of apparently hiding out, she is spotted by a patrol of Sable Company marines who swooped in on hippogriff back to arrest her and carry her off to Castle Korvosa where she is sentenced to execution.
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The execution it is not an affair to be missed. The toast of Korvosa is in attendance in garish gowns, fine capes, and enough jewels to blind a common man. The overall feel of the event is that of a grand ball or party, not an assassin’s public execution. It is only because of Delta's family and Shyamal's house that the party was even given and invite.
Queen Ileosa emerges amid a great flourish and pomp as heralds announce her arrival with a fanfare of music and drums. This queen is no longer a subdued mourner witnessed by some earlier, but Queen Ileosa has fully accepted the mantle of sole monarch now, and carries herself with poise, style, and grace. She wears a green and white silk dress worth thousands of gold coins, and is attended by a small army of servants. Chief among these is Sabina (a bodyguard who is rumored to never leave the Queen's side, and even rumored to be a lover), her expression neutral but ever watchful for possible problems in the crowd. Ileosa takes her seat in a high throne-like chair at one end of the public courtyard, while the headman’s block stands ominously at the other. The executioner is a towering, muscular man wearing an executioner’s helm and idly holding an immense axe—he remains motionless until his services are called upon.
As sunset draws near, the expectant excitement in the crowd builds. When the ominous beating of a single large drum begins, the assembled gawkers fall silent. The drum sets the pace for Trinia’s procession to the headsman’s block. As they reach the headsman’s block, one of the guards removes Trinia’s shackles and the hood, revealing a very frightened woman who nonetheless bravely holds back her tears, if only barely. Trinia is led up onto the platform, her arms bound behind her back by a leather cord, and she is forced to kneel over the wooden block before the headsman as Queen Ileosa stands and addresses the crowd.
“Fellow Korvosans! You have suffered greatly these past few weeks. Homes have burned, family members have died, fortunes have been lost. I feel your suffering, for not only have I lost a beloved husband, but with each riot, each burning home, each act of anarchy, my heart bleeds a little more. This has been a trying time for us, yet the torment is at an end. Before you is the face of your anguish and pain. Do not be deceived by this murderer’s timid nature—she is a black-hearted assassin, a seductress and sinner, a viper amidst us all. I offer you all her death as a salve against the hatred and hurt you have suffered. Her death will not rebuild Korvosa, nor will it bring back the king, yet tomorrow will be a new dawn—a dawn over a city ready to rise from the edge of anarchy to become stronger than ever before!
“And so, without further delay, let us usher in this new dawn with justice! OFF WITH HER HEAD!”
As the headsman hefts his axe, the already silent crowd freezes in anticipation. Yet just before he swings, the headsman gives a strange little grunt and staggers. His raised axe falters as he reaches with one hand to the small of his back and then brings it to his face, the fingers dripping with blood. An instant later, he cries out in pain and drops the axe as a dagger embeds itself in the back of his other hand. The axe sinks itself in the block inches from Trinia’s head, and the headsman doubles over in pain, revealing a second dagger that’s already embedded in the small of his back. Trinia rises to her knees, glancing up at the executioner in shock as a scream echoes through the crowded courtyard: “By the gods! It’s Blackjack!”
An instant later, a man dressed in a hooded cloak and leather armor springs onto the executioner’s block. He wields a rapier in one hand and a dagger in the other. Blackjack cuts the bonds on Trinia’s wrists and then throws the dagger down to pin the executioner’s left foot to the wood below. He quickly helps Trinia to her feet and then briefly turns to address the shocked crowd.
“Yes indeed, my queen! Let us usher in justice, but let that be justice for Korvosa, not this shambles you petulantly call a monarchy! Long live Korvosa! Down with the Queen!”
Blackjack’s words spread like fire, causing the crowd to erupt into a frenzy of activity. Some demand that he release the assassin while others call for the queen to step down from the Crimson Throne. Queen Ileosa stands stunned for a few moments, whispers something to Sabina, and then quickly turns to flee into Castle Korvosa, Sabina and a dozen guards behind her to cover her retreat. The remaining guards in the courtyard move to apprehend Blackjack, but the gathered nobles, thirsty for blood, make it difficult to move. At the same time, the executioner recovers from his wounds and lifts his axe once again over Blackjack, who seems to have momentarily forgotten the man in his apparent delight at having forced the queen to flee.
There is a squeaking warning from small humanoid, garbed head-to-toe in a street juggler's outfit and with a funny mask. With that, Blackjack notices the headsman in time, and just ducks out of the way of his axe, dragging Trinia behind him and clambering up a hanging banner to a nearby wall. When he reaches the wall, looks down to the little patchwork guy and bows to the crowd and the little guy in particular, raising a salute to him with his rapier. He takes out a vial and drinks it. Backlit by the sunlit wall, he and Trinia leap from the wall ... a leap from a height that would kill anyone.
Escaping the chaos after Blackjack's exit was relatively simple, partly due to the chaos of the scene. Blackjack has long been seen as a hero of the city, and the fact that he has taken up a position in such direct opposition to the queen causes many of those who supported the monarchy to begin to doubt their convictions. After Blackjack’s daring rescue of Trinia, Queen Ileosa remains ensconced in Castle Korvosa for several weeks—this gives Korvosa the time it needs to recover from recent events.