[ORP] The crushed revolt in Fenia, and the things that happened next

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Dwayberry
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[ORP] The crushed revolt in Fenia, and the things that happened next

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[OOC: Everyone directly involved or not directly involved is free and encouraged to join in. Don't want to? Fine too, and I'll try to avoid godmoding as much as possible]

Fenia city town hall, we meet again.
Dwayberry looked up at the magnificent building and smiled. A building in good condition. No holes, no obvious weak spots, nothing under current repair. And clean, too. Kept in pristine condition, on the outside and most likely the inside as well. Evening sunlight reflected off the windows, which were decorated with elegantly shaped window grills, simultaneously meant to keep people like her from entering.

It had been years since Dwayberry climbed this building. She had done it a few times, was put on trial for it once, and had always failed to actually enter the building. And she would fail this time, no question about it. Every day since she had arrived in Fenia city, Argenth had been guarding the town hall. Other guards had frequently joined him later in the evening. Dwayberry didn't know if this was due to her presence in town, or if it was always this well defended. It would be a good thing, and her own Viceroyalty could definitely learn something from it.
The day prior, Dwayberry decided on a whim to join Argenth in the militia, just to get a closer look on how he worked - not that this gave her a lot of information since nothing actually happened, but she did get the impression the man had developed into an experienced, level headed guard who knew what he was doing. The kind that commands respect for the right reasons. In case of an event, it should be relatively easy for him to lead a party to avert crisis.
It was time to test this assumption.
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Dwayberry
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Re: [ORP] The crushed revolt in Fenia, and the things that happened next

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Dwayberry didn't bother to wait till sunset. She was going to lose anyway, so why make things harder for herself? She wasn't in as good of a shape as she used to be. Her previous two revolts hadn't been much of a challenge at all and she had let herself go with her steward's cooking.
No, the goal of this endeavour was to quietly climb the town hall, see how far she could get without being spotted, and make a run for it as soon as she was discovered. Maybe even try to escape unrecognised. The climbing part would be far easier in daylight, the other parts, far less so.
Once she was close enough to the town hall to recognise Argenth, guarding as usual, she tipped her hat in greeting and walked on, disappearing in a street leading directly from the main square, then took a right turn, followed by a left, and another left, where she remembered a quiet back alley to be. Here, Dwayberry changed into more comfortable clothes for the job ahead. She hid her other belongs, which, after a moment of hesitation, included her dagger. She didn't want to accidentally end up killing one of the guards, should it come to a fight.

Dwayberry returned to the town hall, stealthier this time, making use of the long shadows created by the evening sun to hide herself from view. She approached the town hall from the opposite side as were she had last spotted Argenth. Looking around to make sure there were no others in sight, she came up to the wall, and jumped.
Dwayberry dug her fingers and the toes of her boots in the joints between the rough stones, and began climbing. Her heart started to beat faster, both as a result of the physical effort of something she hadn't done in a long time, and the excitement of doing something dangerous. Reaching a dormer, she rested for a short moment, taking some deep breaths. It should be somewhere near the next story of the building, she remembered, at the base of a small tower. If the walls hadn't been repaired there in recent years.
Carefully, she climbed towards the spot she had in mind. There it was, the initials DF, carved in the brick in the time she still went by the name 'Dwayberry Fisher'. She smiled.

Yelling coming from ground level. Dwayberry looked down. More militia guards had arrived. She was discovered. Not wasting any time trying to recognise the guards, Dwayberry looked up again. It was still a long way to the top of the highest tower. She wouldn't make it that far. But she could climb this smaller tower here.
Someone yelled for her to come down.
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Dwayberry
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Re: [ORP] The crushed revolt in Fenia, and the things that happened next

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Dwayberry smiled, and climbed with new vigour, adrenaline aiding her in strength and speed. When she reached the top of the smaller tower, she took a moment to plant her feet there as securely as possible, then let go with her hands, spreading her arms like a bird about to take flight.
She closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation. Her fast beating heart, the wind through her hair, the excitement, the freedom!
It must have lasted mere seconds before she wavered and quickly stooped down to prevent herself from falling. Several guards had started to climb the building themselves. This would complicate things for her descent.
She could, of course, opt for a soft landing on one of them. They had undoubtedly recognised her by now. But then rest might go power-hungry and work her to the ground, which wouldn't be all that comfortable. And she would lose her opportunity to try to outrun them.

And so she began climbing down, trying to take detours by making her way along the edge of the roof before climbing down another level. It didn't work, of course. There were just too many guards and they could easily spread out on the ground to surround the building.
Eventually, Dwayberry jumped down the last few feet where she deemed it safe enough, aiming for an elegant landing but not quite succeeding. She stumbled upon impact and rolled on the ground, coming to a halt on her backside. Quickly, she scrambled to her feet and, without taking a moment to dust off her clothes, she took off running.
"That was fun, see you in court, then!" she yelled, pushing away a guard who reached out to make a grab for her.
They didn't follow her beyond the end of the property. There was no need, they knew who she was. The court officials would find her and if she decided to ran from the viceroyalty, bounty hunters would.
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Dwayberry
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Re: [ORP] The crushed revolt in Fenia, and the things that happened next

Post by Dwayberry »

The court officials found her quickly, for it didn't take long before Dwayberry received a letter summoning her to the Fenian courthouse.
The courthouse was an impressive building. It had been quite a while since Dwayberry had last been here. Paintings of Fenia's former judges adorned the walls of the courtroom where her trial was taking place. The judges were all depicted with their most stern expression, it seemed. As if they were all simultaneously judging her and found her guilty.

Dwayberry sat down in the defendant's seat as indicated, and suppressed the impulse to wave at public prosecutor Anessen and judge Aingeal. She looked around, recognising more faces in the audience. There were also several she did not recognise, and of course, a bunch of peasants who enjoyed witnessing court cases no matter what they were about. Among them were the peasants who rented Dwayberry's property in Fenia city.

Anessen was first to speak*: "Dwayberry, you are hereby charged with breaking the Fenian laws of revolt. Laws of Revolt: Any revolt or attack, attempted or successful, against the Realm, Castle, any Fenian town, Temple, mine or node will not be tolerated unless permission has been granted by the King or Viceroy (in absence of the King). Revolts exempt of prosecution are those sanctioned by the King or when the King is unable, then the Viceroy, with the backing of the Council. Witnesses will be called placing you at the scene of the unsanctioned revolt attempt."

Dwayberry was relieved he kept the message fairly short. It showed he likely knew what he was doing, even though people working at the courthouse got way too little practice in these lands. She was, however, somewhat disappointed Anessen had not used the new surname she chose for herself after her divorce from Nocture and her moving from Paz. Her name was now simple, not original but carried the right message: Dwayberry of Paz. How difficult was it to include the full name?
Here we go, Dwayberry thought as she rose to speak.
She sighed. "Anessen, your honour, I know we know each other, but since this is an official occasion I thought you would at least use my surname as well. Oh well... let's see." She slightly raised the volume of her voice. "I plead not guilty to these charges. I could argue that just because I was present at a scene, doesn't mean I was necessarily involved with whatever happened there, but I won't go there because we both know better. No, I plead not guilty because I did not revolt AGAINST the town hall, I revolted FOR the town hall."

She waited for the muttering of the peasants to quiet down, and continued. "You see, the towns in Bravia are often left undefended and I wanted to see how it's done here, seeing as I still have property in this city. I observed the town hall for a few nights and noticed it was well defended every time. The other day, I joined the militia myself to see what it was like to work with Argenth in the militia, and I have to say he definitely seems to know what he is doing."

She smiled. "So yesterday, I decided to test what the response would be during an acute threat, such as an actual revolt. So I began climbing the town hall, and quickly more militia joined in to aid Argenth in stopping me! Very well done. Now, if you kindly let me go, I will go home to Paz to give the mayor my recommendations for improvement. Because honestly, it is clear I had no ill intentions in mind. If I would have asked for a sanctioned revolt, the militia could have prepared in advance, rather than deal with a surprise crisis situation. And if I actually meant to take over Fenia city, I would have waited for the town to be left undefended, or I would have brought others to help me, and I would certainly have made my move shortly before daybreak, not late in the afternoon. You see, it wouldn't make sense to attack a town hall when you already know beforehand that you're going to fail. Oh and, your honour, I hope this is a fair trial, seeing as you two are married?" She pointed at Anessen and Aingeal. You won't automatically take the public prosecutor's side, will you?"

*Copying from the actual court case as much as possible to avoid godmoding.
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"It's alright, you wouldn't be the same if you were nice."
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