to: everyone | forward dated to very very very early july 4

[ordinar]

[At some point, when he's exhausted down to his bones but knows he won't be able to sleep yet, it hits Wilhelm that the people who might normally take it upon themselves to make an announcement in this situation are, for the most part, sitting in jail or lying low in Nott. Then, tentatively, he arrives at the terrifying conclusion that he could actually qualify as a responsible adult.

So, here goes.]

Hey everyone.

Um.

Castle Thorne was bombed earlier tonight. Or, I don't know if they were bombs exactly, but there were huge flashes of light when they hit.

As far as I know, no Summoned were injured badly. A lot of soldiers were killed though. I think the wards around the castle protected it from the worst of the blast, but it did get damaged.

I don't know if anywhere else in Thorne was attacked. I haven't heard anything from Nott.

I saw one of the devices that was dropped, or what was left of it. It was metal and had an arcana sign engraved on it. I think we can assume it's from the Free Cities.

Anyway, that's...pretty much everything I know. If you have more info, go ahead and share it.

[Threadjacking encouraged, obviously. This message is sent a few hours after the attack.]

Comments

[sonofacesius]

Yeah 3.

Don't tell Clarisse she missed one while she was at college.
She might get envious.

[ordinar]

Well, this one might keep her busy.

[You have to laugh because otherwise you'll just cry.]

[sonofacesius]

I'd say anything that keeps Clarisse busy is a good thing but...

Not this.
At least she's a really good person to have on your side.

[blackeyedprince]

I am not playing. Pride has nothing to do with it.

[It has everything to do with it. The worst part of it? He's no longer the most powerful magician in the world.]

I just wanted to actually know what is going on this time!

[Then why did you take Wilhelm with you? Is this how you protect him?
Why the nasty screeching in the back of Kell's mind always has Holland's voice? This not a surprise. It's just salt on the wounds when it's right.
As if his blood froze in his veins. He can no longer guarantee anyone safety. Antari means nothing there. It meant nothing for a long time.]

No.
You're right. It was stupid. We'll be more careful.

[ordinar]

[He doesn't bother to point out that they're on different sides, as much as the Summoned try to be a unified faction.]

[itookashot]

I just love you, alright? I don't want anything to happen to either of you.

[itookashot]

Faaaaantastic.

We're in a war now. This is not the end of it, just the start of it.

[techmaturgy]

Libertas was the start. This time I believe the Free Cities means to end it.

Same

[restingstitchface]

𝒲𝑒𝓁𝓁, 𝒾𝓂𝒶𝑔𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓊𝓃𝓈𝑒𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓈𝓉; 𝓌𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝑒𝓍𝓅𝓁𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝓉𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇.

𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝒻 𝓃𝑜𝓉? 𝐼 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝓈𝓊𝑔𝑔𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓂𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝓁𝑒𝑒𝓅.

[ordinar]

It just feels too real.

Last time something like this happened, we avoided an all out war. I don't think we'll be that lucky again.

[blackeyedprince]

We'll be careful. I promise.

You be careful too. I don't want anything to happen to you either.

[The other three words do not come easy for Kell. Not in public. Hardly ever. Jesper got his I love you from him, and he will get it again when they finally meet in person again. If, not if, when Nocwich opens. It just requires a lot more private setting.]

[itookashot]

We probably won't find out what the next retaliation is for a few days or a week. We'll probably be trading this concern back and forth for awhile.

KATH THIS GOT LOST I'M SORRY

[theidlemaiden]

𝘈𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩. 𝘋𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭?

haha it's all good

[ordinar]

Yeah, it was coming from the wing where the king and queen live.

[Used to live. Now it's occupied by the new king and queen, of course.]

I don't know if it was from all the magic flying everywhere or what.

[theidlemaiden]

𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯? 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧...𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦?

[ordinar]

Yeah, an admiral in the navy. And the previous queen's uncle. So...yikes.

I don't know that much about him. I sort of skipped out on the coronation so I haven't even seen much of him.

[theidlemaiden]

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘱 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘶𝘱.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥? 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵?

[funbreaker]

True, this first attack may have been a test run of sorts. Lord Vela did ask for our aid with shoring up defenses here, but I wonder if it is enough.

[ He will have to talk to Yennefer and Stephen about using their abilities to put additional defenses in place. It may make their presence here more noticeable, but perhaps that's worth the risk if it means protecting the civilians. ]

[ordinar]

The press here is avoiding anything that makes the new king and queen look bad obviously. They've already moved on to criticizing the old ones.

I didn't get thrown into the dungeons or anything. But it probably didn't earn me any favors.

[ordinar]

If these things can get past the castle's wards, then I wouldn't count on the defenses around Nott holding.

It kind of sucks that we did all that and it won't even be enough to stop another attack.

[theidlemaiden]

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨?

𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?

[ordinar]

Honestly, I haven't heard too many complaints. I guess for the average person it doesn't really matter who's king. It's not like their lives totally changed overnight. I think some of the nobility were tired of how unpredictable Queen Ellya could be.

Of course, I'll keep you updated Hilda.

[funbreaker]

It would be best not to leap to any conclusions just yet. I have been meaning to try and check in with Lyle after my arrival here, and this could be a good justification to do so. It's simply a matter of arranging such a meeting without attracting any attention.

I find it hard to believe that Nott will simply accept their fate, either way. They have weathered much and still stand.

[ And how could he forgot the Velan Republic of that supposed future? ]

[theidlemaiden]

𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘩 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵, 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯? 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨! 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘩𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯, 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶?

[ordinar]

I didn't mean

I have faith in Nott. The people are strong, and Vela's a dedicated leader.

But they're always getting fucked over. I'm just worried.