The Glorious Usurper

[Vidar]

Blind and ignorant.

That is all that could be said of the masses of Avaren, that they were blind and ignorant. Thus it was that as Father Vidar's priests went among them, promising them a position in the kingdom of heaven should they choose to do gods work, so they raised rallying cheers to his name. For little did they have to look foreword to in life. They worked, prayed, and payed taxes for almost their entire lives, thus only a promise of eternal happiness in an afterlife was what kept them going. Thus they were nothing more than the most readily available pawns of the church.

Even while the priests rallied support from the masses, to form for Vidar an unstoppably fanatical militia, he took some of his elite forces to the castle.

Well known and highly respected, the castle guards smiled and held open doors for him, even though he was accompanied by a large escort of armed warriors, the most elite of which were the Churches standing force of paladins- mighty warriors that represented god's divine fury. It was with this force, which he burst within the King's Court.

Fortune was with Vidar, as his own unwaveringly corps of warriors actually outnumbered those who might have been steadfast loyalists to Elyan's rule. For Vidar had sent most of them away previously in order to strike at the heathens supposed "secret entrance" within the Abandoned Citadel so that even if word did reach of what was transpiring, by the time they made it back to attempt to combat Vidar, it would be far too late and they would find the gates shut and guarded before them.

"King Elyan!" Vidar shouted upon entering, "You have ruled many years under the divine right of our god, yet now you have failed him in one of the most terrible of ways. Your god-given right to rule has been revoked, bestowed now upon one more worthy of the title of king. Myself."

[Laura Summers]

As Laura followed after father vidar and his armed forces Laura had two body guards she stopped at Father Vidars side "Our Lord is angry Elyan"she shouted "should you refuse to abdicate the crown you will be arrested and imprisoned for heresy and high treason to the crown and church"she said and curtsied to father Vidar "Father or should I say your majesty I am ready to aid you in what ever way I can"she whispered and looked at the guards as the drew there weapons expecting a fight.

[Elyan Herculides]

Elyan had been fitfully dosing at the time of Vidar's betrayal. Often of late had his slumbers been disturbed, as the actions of both queen and church assailed him every time he closed his eyes, wrecked as he was with guilt over allowing so many innocent warriors be sentenced to death, all because Rianne had chosen them as a target to vent her zealous fury.

He knew he would have to make a stand, to put an end to this horrendous ordeal, yet ever did he delay his inevitable course of action, always putting it off one more hour, one more day, one more week; while all the time reports came in. First, there had been a series of suicides from the prisoners, including even one of his loyal watchmen, who had taken her own life rather than let it be taken from her. Then, there came reports that his own army had departed, running around the countryside on a mad search for the "heretic stronghold". It seemed that as things went on they could only get worse until he decided to take action to halt this once and for all.

Yet he was dragged from his dark reveries by an even darker present. Father Vidar had arrived. Elyan didn't even bother trying to convince himself that the priest could be here for any positive purpose; he knew at once that it had finally come to this: the time when the church decided to come after him, the king, to seek to seize his power.

"Father Vidar, you are a fool." he said simply and calmly, "It is not god that rules this city, it is the house of Herculides. You have shared far too much authority from your little spats with your so-called 'witches'. It is time for you to step down and stop this madness." Stepping foreword and drawing his sword, he pointed it at Father Vidar's chest from across the Court. "I place you under arrest in the name of the royal house of Avaren. You and your cult will be held for suspected high treason against the crown. Submit willingly and you may get off easy. Resist and you will die." With that, the castle guards stepped foreword, weapons drawn, those that weren't moving towards Vidar's group falling to their king's side.

[Vidar]

"You seek to assert your authority, yet your power is gone." Vidar said calmly, not yet drawing his weapon, for he had little fear of harm with the divine protection of god, accompanied by his heavily armed retinue of paladins. "I do not need you admit to your shortcomings, nor do I wish to hear you submit to my rule. You seek to resist the true word of the lord, even to imprison his most devout of followers. This is evil enough to sentence you to immediate execution."

As Elyan's castle guards closed in on him, Father Vidar simply took a step back, while his paladins took a simultaneous step foreword, allowing the two forces to clash. While the royal guard was heavily trained in the arts of combat, their armor was superficial, being more of a display of their honored position than anything actually intended for combat. The true fighters were still out looking for the entrance to Aesir, mired in their current quest. Thus Vidar and his paladins, who were taught that nothing more than practicality was necessary and that expensive worldly possessions only for show would sully their purity and riddle them with greed. Not only that, but the church forces greatly outnumbered the loyalists. Overall, it was a vastly mismatched battle right from the beginning.

[Elyan Herculides]

Elyan saw immediately that his forces were nowhere near capable of taking on the church traitors, and already what few troops he had were losing terribly. Although a mighty fighter in his own right, Elyan knew that if all of his warriors fell and he were vastly outnumbered by his opposition, there would be no help for him at all and he would surely perish. Raising his sword above his head he gave a rallying shout, "To me men! Kill the source! Cut off the head of this beast!" even as he plunged into the fray, making a direct path towards Vidar.

Here he bashed aside a sword strike with his shield and countered with a quick stab through the assailant's neck, here he side-stepped a hammer strike and swept his opponents arm from his body, leaving a bloody stump in it's place and it's former bearer writhing on the ground as his life bled out he wound. In actual single combat, Elyan was nigh unstoppable, yet for every warrior he killed, another of his own was killed, leaving him with less and less in his personal guard.

Finally, he cut through the last warrior between himself and Vidar. "I have no more words for you, traitor scum," he spat out in disgust, "It is time you paid the price for your betrayal." he said simply, thrusting his sword foreword in an attempt to eviscerate the traitor in a single blow.

[Vidar]

It was with no lost elation that Vidar realized that he was winning. His forces were much greater a match than the king could handle, just one more sign that this was meant to happen in just this way.

Still, the king was no fledgling warrior and his charge into the fray left many of his warriors dead. Still, it was clear that the will of god would punish the impure and ultimately lead him to complete victory.

Thus it was with little fear that Vidar swiftly drew his sword, stepping to the side and parrying the blow meant to end his life, all the while knowing that there was no possible way that he could lose this match, as god was his direct benefactor. Having parried the immediate attack, Vidar swept his blade in an arc before him, hoping to catch the king before he had time to recover.

[Elyan Herculides]

Now that they were locked in combat, there was no more time for words, as even a single missed breath could spell defeat for either party. For if the king perished, the loyalists would have nothing left to fight for, while the same held true for the traitors. This single duel between leaders was the deciding factor in this entire confrontation.

Though Vidar was swift in his reactions, Elyan was quicker from years upon years of fighting, blocking the stroke with his shield. The moment the blade was halted and turned aside the king stepped foreward, bashing at Vidar's face with his shield even as he made another jab at Vidar with his sword, while not aiming for any vitals, attempting to perhaps cripple him.

[Vidar]

Vidar was not worried when his blow failed to land home, for it would be no true victory if there were no struggle involved. So as he drew his sword back to prepare for another strike, he was at the utmost confidence that the king couldn't touch him.

He was wrong. It was a revelation that came far too late to him, the realization that the works of evil could still overcome the will of god, even as he saw the king's shield loom up in his face. He tried to jerk back and turn his head, receiving only a minor bump on the head, yet still enough to stagger him for a moment. Yet that was not all Vidar had in store for himself, for although he was not in as bad of a position as before, having stepped back to avoid the shield, he still was not out of the way for the follow-up attack and cried out in pain as he felt the blade graze his left arm, leaving a gash several inches deep in it's wake.

Still recovering from the blow to the head and this new injury, Vidar fell back more, waving his sword wildly in front of himself to ward away further attack until he organized his thoughts enough to continue.

Fortunately, to his great satisfaction, he looked up to see that the king's guards were dead to the man and now spread out to surround the king himself. "Kill him." he said simply, deigning not to re-enter the fray.

[Elyan Herculides]

King Elyan had scored a hit, but he saw almost immediately that it was too late now. With a well of despair, he looked swiftly over those warriors spread out around him, seeing not a single of his former bodyguard among them, "Stand and fight me man to man, you loathsome coward!" he said, knowing it was futile as the paladins closed in on the attack.

There was no point left in fighting, yet there could be a chance left if only he could escape. Bringing up his shield by reflex against the fight attack aimed at him, he let out a gasp of pain and shock as a war hammer crashed into his shield, crumpling the finely wrought metal and surely breaking his arm yet preventing it from cracking his skull open.

The next attack came in the form of a mace aimed for his face. He caught the weapon with the blade of his sword directly below the weapon's head, stepping towards the attacker and showing violently back, overbalancing him and sending him crashing to the floor. Stepping over the downed warrior, Elyan had broken the circle, and, with an agility that belied his age, darted from the assembled warriors back towards the far end of the court. Pushing in a stone that released a hidden mechanism, a hidden door, known only to the Avaren royalty, swung slowly inward.

Before the approaching knights could catch up with him, he stepped inside and struck a chain within sharply with his finely crafted sword, shattering a single link. Yet that was all he needed, as it released a small cascade of stone right behind the secret entrance, blocking that entrance for however many days it would take to clear that path.

So would the king of Avaren be forced to live in exile, not knowing what would became of Rianne or what would become of his kingdom, until he found some means of returning power back to the true line.

[lilyparis]

Susan had been planing to haunt the Queen tonight but this was serious she grbed a gard that had lost his mace head and followed the king to the shelter she zoomed up on to of the roof and played her familiar war cry all soilders of Averen were on there way to aid the king as far back as the critel the horn could be heard and troops were on there way she zoomed down to the king reaveiling herself to him as a friend "Your majesty you must escape now she said I can open a secret passage used by the builders in case of cave ins"she rushed over to a Plaque and moved it she started throwing stuff down the tunnel to clear it "Go now she said my body may be dead but my soul is not and I am still a Loyal watchwoman"she smiled and stood a side.

[Johnny Storm]

"why id you plan that you can get caught by the gards and get put in the dungens"he said to them walking in then he notised that he was in the wrong place "good bye for now I will see you again" walking out ;D ;D

[Laura Summers]

Laura was faster and stoped him before he left the castle and grabed him she draged him back to Vidar "Found this mage hanging around"she said