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Dec 9, 1662 12:01 pm
[Special] You have thrown a snowball at Zuan! It grazes them!
[Special] You have thrown a snowball at Zuan! It grazes them!
[Special] You have thrown a snowball at Zuan! It hits them squarely in the face!
[Special] You have thrown a snowball at Zuan! It grazes them!
[Special] You have thrown a snowball at Zuan! It hits them squarely in the face!
[Special] You have thrown a snowball at Zuan! It grazes them!
[Special] You have thrown a snowball at Zuan! It hits them squarely in the face!
[Special] You have thrown a snowball at Zuan! They seemed to have dodged it...
[Special] You have thrown a snowball at Zuan! They seemed to have dodged it...
[Special] You have thrown a snowball at Zuan! They seemed to have dodged it...
(3 hits.)
On the following day, Petunia completed her work well before the light started to fall into dusk. She slipped out of her office, wanting to find a good spot from which to ambush the King. She'd had time to formulate a plan, hoping to catch the King without his guards around him because she didn't want to either spend time in the dungeons or to waste her snowball ammunition on anyone other than the King himself...or, indeed, to have to try to run away through the snow.
By the end of yesterday, seeing the crown still apparently riveted to the King's head, she'd remembered back to last year when much the same thing had happened. During today, she'd considered why that might be. Was it magic that kept it there? Well, she'd tried last year to use magic to dislodge the thing, but that hadn't worked - although, to be fair, she wasn't completely confident that the man in the magic shop had given her the right counter-spell. For a few moments, she'd mused about whether the crown was actually attached to his head organically, perhaps he'd actually grown it like his ears or nose? No, unlikely, she'd decided. Could it be some sort of comb or clip arrangement that fastened into his hair? That might be a possibility, but how to dislodge it, short of hiding something like a small lead ball in one of the snowballs? She dismissed that idea - no only was she probably not strong enough to throw it fast enough or hard enough to remove the crown, but she might actually cause the King some harm, which obviously she didn't want to do in a friendly game.
Anyway, if she wanted to find a time when he wasn't surrounded by guards, perhaps the courtyard within the castle walls might be a better option. It was worth a try, and there was certainly plenty of snow piled up in some parts. So Petunia found a thick pile of the white stuff, and patted together another little pile of snowballs. She waited for a little while, pacing up and down and rubbing her hands together to keep them warm. But she was sure that the King would need to take the air at some point soon, and then she'd have her chance, so it should be worth a bit of a wait.
And she was right, because just before she was starting to get so cold she'd need to give up, the King appeared. He emerged from a door to the left, and began to pace along the path that led directly past where she was standing. He wasn't going especially fast, and was looking around the courtyard and up at the ramparts and the sky beyond...possibly thinking of his new wife, or perhaps the cares of the Kingdom, or just looking to see whether it was likely to snow again soon - not that it mattered because she would soon enough distract him from whatever his thoughts were.
With a snowball in each hand, she waited until he got a bit closer, and then threw one and then the other. But her aim wasn't too good because they both hit him with a soft 'whump' and immediately disintegrated, sending a small shower of snow down his leg. While she picked up another two snowballs, she could see that he had stopped, of course, and was looking around to find his attacker - which was useful because it meant that her next missile managed to hit him squarely in the head, although the second of the pair just grazed his arm, splattering it with soft snow. Swiftly, she sent another two snowballs whistling through the air...and again, one his him right on the head, with the other showering his leg with snow.
With a wide grin now, she sent another pair of snowballs on their way. Another hit, as one hit the King's head squarely and solidly - well, as solidly as a lightly-packed ball of snow can hit. By this time, the King had obviously realised where his attacker was, and began to dodge her missiles. As he dodged them he seemed to be heading towards her,, crown still firmly lodged on his head which unnerved Petunia mightily, after all, she'd been throwing missiles to hit the King! She fled.
(Sorry for the double post, but I forgot to post yesterday's snowball attack.)