Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-5824038-20141217155427/@comment-5583506-20150122181830

"Therefore I hereby proclaim this festival to..."

Sextius didn't have a chance to finish the sentence before there was a loud explosion coming from somewhere west of the market. Smoke suddenly covered the stage and people were confused as to what was happening.

Guards were running straight over the plaza in order to find out what had happened.

Some of them were screaming in panic, another mumbled in confusion to each other, and some of them cheered as they believed the occurences were a part of the grand opening act. But as the smoke eventually settled they found that there was another character on the stage. The person looked as if it could have been a noble as well. The character wore some sort of elegant light armor in a very dark purple colour, almost aching to black, and looked as if it was designed to copy the appearance of a a nobleman's suit... or rather a mockery of it. It was trimmed with silver lines and had wrapped sleeves from which to spiky gauntlets potruded. A flowing black cape donned the shoulders and on the head there was a helmet crafted to the likeness of a calm wolf.

The strange figure turned towards the crowd unfrightened. And then it spoke...

"Citizens of Daggerfall! I am Wraith!" proclaimed the figure with a booming voice. A voice of respect and authority... and one to fear...

The crowd was silent. Was this all a part of the act or was this something unplanned? They didn't know what to believe...

"It seems that I have your undivided attention then?" said the figure in the mask. "This is good and I thank you for it."

"Hey, who the hell do you think you are?!" growled a furious Sextius. "You damned clown! You have shamed the festival with this appearance!"

"Shamed?" answered Wraith confused. "It would have been shameful to appear like this all of a sudden, I agree. But the fact remains that this whole festival and market has been shamed all from the start... by none other than you, my dear Sextius."

Sextius bit together. "What... what do you mean by that?!"

"Are you denying that you have bribed numerous salesmen on this market to adjust the prices to your liking? So that you can exploit these people and then reap whatever rewards you can from their cofferts?"

Sextius' eyebrow twitched with contained rage. "How... how dare you! You... upstart! How dare you accuse me of something like that without evidence?"

Suddenly the caped figure brought up a document before his face. "This here is my evidence, my dear Sextius. Do you deny that this is a contract signed between you, several salesmen and importers, creating cartels within this 'honest' market of yours? If you do... that's a lie..."

The nobleman's face turned pale and he began to feel a pearl of sweat searching its way down his forehead. "I... I... I can explain! I... uhm... I can explain to you that..."

The figure shook its head. "There is no need for you to explain it to me, my dear Sextius. Explain it to these people. Explain to them how you masked your own greed with this otherwise fine market. Explain to them how you took gold from their very own pockets in the disguise of a festival."

But Sextius remained as mute as the crowd. Everyone seemed to have realised that this was definitely not a part of the act.

"People of Daggerfall!" repeated the figure. "I am Wraith! A fighter for the common cause! A rebel against the oppression the noble society has brought upon you for centuries! I have come to tear their world down to our level! I have come to show them that all men and women are created as equals and that no last name can separate us and tell us that some are worth more than others! Tell me, good people! Does that sound like a fair world?! Don't you want a fair world where people like Sextius Preventius can't trample upon your heads and claim that it is his right since he was born in a crystal palace and had some revered ancient ancestor no one can even remember the name of?!"

Eventually there started to come one and another "yes" from the crowd, even though many were still too shocked to give the masked figure a proper answer.

"That's why I have come to Daggerfall! I have come to bring the downfall of nobility! I have come to act as judge and a scale of justice! Those nobles who have not oppressed the poor and the weak, will have nothing to fear from me as long as they accept to renounce their titles. Those nobles like Sextius however..."

Suddenly the caped character drew a multi-barreled pistol from within the clothing and pointed it at the frightened nobleman. People were screaming in fear, some were still quiet and some of them was talking about what was going on.

"W-wait!" shouted Sextius and backed away slowly. "You... you can't just kill me! Is... is that what you call justice?!"

"I don't know", said Wraith and remained as stable as ever with the pistol in hand. "You tell me, my dear Sextius. The way you have abused the economy in this town, tell me... Those people who actually starved to death, due to lack of gold, the gold you had stolen from them. Was their deaths justice? The blood spilled by poverty in this town is entirely on your hands. You are a leech, nothing more. I had a leech on my leg once... and you know what happened, my dear Sextius?"

Sextius shook his head and trembled. A tear was pooling up beneath his left eye.

Wraith cocked the pistol. "I sat down on a chair... and squashed it..."

Then came the gunshot. A flash of fire and then it was over. The nobleman staggered back. The chest of his frock coated turned red as he collapsed on his knees. People screamed even louder. Some remained frozen in their places while others pushed men and women aside to get away from the place as fast as possible.

"You", coughed Sextius and grabbed onto the character's cape as Wraith sheathed the pistol within the clothing. "I... did not deserve this... Do I... deserve to die because I was greedy?"

Wraith bowed down by his side. "No, my dear Sextius. You die because of your other sins."

Sextius curled up in pain. "Sins?" he said and shuddered.

"You don't remember your own sins?" whispered Wraith. "Then let me tell you something to fill you in, my dear Sextius." The rebel leaned closer to the dying nobleman and whispered a single word. "LaDucard..."

Sextius looked at the masked character wide-eyed as if he understood the meaning of the name. "Y-you..." He groaned. "It... it's you... How did... how did you...?"

The nobleman the collapsed with a thud as his head struck against the stage and he was dead. The masked character looked out over the vast crowd and raised the arms to call for attention.

"I have exacted justice upon the corruption this man brought upon your festival! The economy among the poorest in this town will recover in time. But there is still work to do! I intend to create an equal world in which all people can treat each other with respect shared on an honest level where neither kings nor nobles can interfere! To those of you willing to join my cause; seek me out! To those of you who would oppose me; beware my wrath! And to those unwilling to participate out of fear and to those who are content to thrive in this world of injustice; don't stand in my way! Until we meet again, dear citizens!"

The character made an elegant bow just as the guards returned from the explosion site west of the market.

"Mylord!" yelled one of them. "We heard the gunshot and..."

They were all paralyzed when they noticed that lord Sextius Preventius II was lying dead on the stage, and above him towered a strange figure in a wolf-shaped mask.

"Assassin! Shoot him! Shoot him!" cried the guard captain. "He has murdered lord Sextius!"

The guards pulled out their weapons and aimed for the character. But just as they were about to fire another explosion set off behind them, distracting their aim and causing several of them to tumble to the ground. As they got up on their legs again the character had disappeared and left only the body of lord Sextius behind him.

"Dammit!" said the guard captain. "We... we were too late!"