Operation Blind Vanguard: Target Dragon Knight [Closed]

A soft rain enveloped Lighthaven in a grey shadow on this fateful day. In the palace of Lighthaven, Jilocasin had just finished his final audience with one of his subjects for the day, and stood up from his throne for the first time in hours, his legs and back aching from keeping still and upright the entire time. A duke could never just slump down on his throne, or not appear before his subjects in perfected shape - even if that duke was an Elder Dragon. He had to be a symbol of strength for his people, a job he took VERY seriously. Stretching a bit, the dragon knight nodded towards his two guards posted next to the throne and dismissed them with a handwave - they worked in shifts, but standing perfectly still next to the throne was also no easy task, especially since they did so in full armor. Speaking of armor, Jilocasin dismissed his arcane manifestation fully - he always partially manifested it during audiences, keeping his helmet gone so his subjects could see his face, but also see him ready for combat at any threat towards them.

Now clad in his finer, normal clothes, the Duke of Cieria went through one of the doors behind the throne, a different one than the one his dismissed guards just went through. The room behind the throne room here was quite large, but also simpler than the seat of power, with a massive table and chair next to it, the chair actually with some padding making it not nearly as terrible as his actual throne, where any padding was more made to look good, not be any good to sit on. This room was one of major importance - it served as his 'office', where the Duke of Cieria, often assisted by his advisors, directed the fate of the country, together with doing most of his paperwork. He was expecting only one specific person today, and she would not arrive just yet, so only one extra chair was next to another side of the table, with some paperwork already expecting the ruler of the deadly nation, and next to it, a plate with some simple food. The dragon knight felt his stomach grumble as he walked over to his spot on the table, sat down and looked over the first of many papers that needed his attention today. Holding the letter with one hand, Jilocasin reached for his food with his free hand...
But when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, he withdrew his hand incredibly fast, just fast enough to dodge the stinger of a blue scorpion hiding amongst his grapes. What was the meaning of this?! Almost literally jumping out of his chair, Jilocasin took some distance from the venomous animal. A single sting from one of these was enough to kill a grown man! With a quick step, he went over to the door towards the kitchen right next door - how did a scorpion slip past his cooks? But after opening the door, the tall man found an empty room before him... How was this possible? Normally at least one or two cooks were here, preparing food for not only him, but also other guests and nobles of the palace.

With a few more quick steps, Jilocasin went out into the hallway next to his office which lead deeper into the palace. Just what was going on here?! Nobody was around, no matter where he looked!
Unbeknownst to him, this was an incredibly elaborate trap - a simple illusion spell, prepared with weeks in advance, had trapped all of his staff, making them either fall asleep in their rooms or think that their duties lead them out of the palace. But the dragon knight was not the only living being left in the castle, oh no... As he stepped out into the rain of the rather large, inner garden of his castle, he could almost feel the unknown eyes staring at him. His eyes went up to the sky, slightly grey clouds... Right now, he could really use her help. Jilocasin was used to fighting enemies out in the open, and nobody had ever attempted an assassination like this before on him - and he knew that someone was stalking him through his palace. Simply leaving the place was not an option - he KNEW that his people were still here, somewhere, and he'd leave them open to being killed if he simply disappeared and retreated right now. He could not believe that all of his subjects in the castle were dead - they surely required his help...

Just what was going on? The only two things Jilocasin could hear were his own breath and the soft rain falling in the small enclosed garden. Normally, even when you could not see anyone in the castle, you could still hear something in the distance, since the center of government was never completely quiet in Cieria - or probably anywhere else on Aurora. As two sounds of thunder ripped through the silence, the rain intensified slightly - and the Elder Dragon could not help but feel watched.

And, as was so often the case... He was right with his intuition. A small click, a small sound in the air, and the Elder Dragon had to dive to the side to avoid a crossbow bolt aimed at his back. Jumping back up to his feet, he charged himself with his own arcana and charged right through the door the bolt had come from - only to crash into an empty corridor, with the low lighting conditions throwing creepy shadows everywhere, but no sign of the shooter. As a precaution, Jilocasin concentrated - and in his right hand appeared a blade forged from pure arcane energy, which gave off a soft light in the hallway, as he slowly moved forward - only to hear the clicking sound again. Whirling around, the incredible increased speed of being an Elder Dragon paid off, as Jilocasin successfully parried the crossbow bolt out of mid-air, and finally got a view of his attacker - a man completely cloaked in black, or perhaps even a woman - it was impossible to tell with the feature-concealing outfit. In an attempt to counter-attack, Jilocasin threw the glowing energy blade from his hand right at the enemy...
Who proceeded to take a step back into a particularly dark shadow, and disappear, right as the blade struck the shadow and disappeared in a flash of light, re-appearing in Jilocasin's hand a moment later. Great, a shadow user - just what he needed. He had to find out what happened to his subjects in the castle! And if not for his reflexes, that would've been the last thing he ever managed to think about, as he narrowly ducked under a swung blade aimed at his neck. Retaliating with his own strike, the blade of pure arcana passed right through the enemy who melded into the shadow again... Only to re-appear and attack the Elder Dragon again, all without a word.

Ducking, diving and blocking his way through the corridors of the castle, Jilocasin's way finally lead him to a closed door in his way, which he barreled through shoulder-first. After catching himself with a quick roll and deflecting yet another bolt shot from a crossbow, he noticed someone else here - someone who was NOT trying to kill him, so that was a nice start. The not so nice thing were the three more figures rising from the shadows in the main hall of the castle right now, all of them aiming crossbows right at the back of the one friendly face here.
"IZUMI! GET DOWN!" yelling as loud as he could, Jilocasin finally had enough. With a roar that befitted the dragon ruling over Cieria, the raw arcana in him boiled to the outside - and formed around his body, into an incredible armor known as the 'armor of the dragon god', one of the purest and strongest forms of raw arcana in all of Cieria.

They had gone too far, way too far now. To attack him, to try to kill him - that alone did not make him completely furious. But they dared to hurt HER, one of his few friends he had as a busy man of the state. Jilocasin felt so angry, so utterly boiling with destructive emotions, that the glowing eyes from beneath his helmet seemed to take on a darker hue. With freakishly incredible speed, the Elder Dragon dashed forward and parried the crossbow bolt aimed at himself - the shooter tired to meld back into the shadow behind him, but was instead pinned into the wall by a large longsword shoved right through his chest, causing him to give off a muffled scream and sigh, his body trembling for a second before going limp.

The duke of Cieria turned around like a whirlwind when Izumi suddenly called for him with a nickname only she was allowed to use for him - underneath his helmet, shock was written all across his face. Poison? Oh no! These guys were prepared to kill an Elder Dragon - that poison was probably strong enough to kill him even if he shapeshifted, just how would that wreck havoc in her human body?! And to make matters worse, one of those assassins was now creeping up at her! Without even thinking about it, Jilocasin conjured up a blade in his left hand and flung it forward with as much force as he could. The energy blade zipped right past Izumi and struck the assassin in the shoulder, throwing him back and to the ground, and Jilocasin ran after his blade and over to Izumi while ripping his long blade out of the man he had just pinned against the wall, resheathing it. The rest of the assassins seemed to loom in the shadows for the moment, waiting for the opportunity to strike again - it was obvious that these killers did not stand much of a chance against him in direct combat, but they sure knew how to confuse the senses and what to use to kill even a dragon.

"Izumi, stay with me. Stay conscious." Jilocasin said, kneeling down next to her and softly grabbing her by the shoulders, then inhaling deeply. With a soft, drawn out exhalation, Jilocasin infused it with his own arcana - and a white, glittering cloud of restorative power coated over Izumi, hopefully helping her body counteract the poison at least for the moment. His restorative breath was obviously not as flashy as his actual breath weapon, but it proved invaluable in this situation.
"Breathe in deeply, and concentrate on my voice. Stay conscious, no matter what. Don't slip away, you hear me? That's an order...!" There was a lot of worry in Jilocasin's voice, as his eyes shifted over to the man he only wounded. He had dropped his dagger and was trying to crawl away, but that proved difficult with a bleeding shoulder wound. Once again moving with inhuman speed, Jilocasin darted for him and lifted him up by the collar with one hand, burrowing his other hand right into the man's wound, making him shriek in pain.
"Where is the antidote? You cowards would never risk poisoning yourself!" yelling at the man and throwing him back down to the ground, the assassin curled up slightly, coughing, before speaking with an oddly high-pitched, but definitely disdainful voice.
"There is no... antidote. Dragonsbane... kills within minutes!" chuckling to himself, he screamed up again when Jilocasin's armored foot went down right onto his wounded shoulder, accompanied by an unhealthy cracking sound of the bones of the killer. He had no time to waste on the false bravado of killers - his restorative cloud would not last forever! Spotting movement from the corner of his eye, the Elder Dragon threw forth another conjured energy blade, hitting another bolt aimed at him out of the air. Leaning down to the injured killer now, it didn't take long for him to grab hold of a hidden belt pouch and procure two vials of liquid from it... But which one was the poison?

Normally, Jilocasin was not cruel, but fair and just. He allowed everyone a chance to prove themselves. But normally, people didn't threaten or poison his best friends. So he had an incredibly dark, but useful plan to find out which vial was the antidote - because adding even more Dragonsbane would only kill Izumi faster. So the Dragon Knight grabbed the first vial and loomed over the assassin, uncorking it and slowly moving closer to his mouth. These guys were ready to face death to kill him... Without even looking, the duke deflected another two bolts, one aimed at him, one at Izumi. But now, the man underneath him suddenly started struggling, trying to get away... And that was all the evidence the Dragon Knight needed, who went over to Izumi again. The restorative cloud around her was almost gone now.
It was obvious. The assassin had struggled so that Jilocasin would force him to drink the liquid, thinking it to be the poison, when it was actually the only antidote in his reach.

Kneeling down before Izumi again, he pressed the vial against her lips. "Drink this, Izumi."

Jilocasin offered a quick prayer of thanks to the dragon gods that Izumi's breathing normalized itself now, after he had to virtually force the antidote into her system. Whatever this poison was, it acted fast and devastating - without his healing breath and this vial, he would've lost one of his few and best friends today. The rage building up right next to the relief was immense, and as he slowly stood back up, it seemed as if the remaining assassins could feel the intense menace coming from the armored knight standing in his castle, which they had dared to invade. A glowing aura of energy around himself, Jilocasin dashed forward at the remaining attackers, a terrifying howl accompanying his assault.


The clock in the room was ticking away, the only sound in the room besides the breathing of the woman on her bed and the breathing of the man sitting on the chair next to it, keeping vigilant watch over her. Two hours had passed since the attacking force found itself repelled by the Dragon Knight and his Lord General. Shortly after their defeat, the enchantment over the castle broke - such a huge scale illusion found itself unable to stay active for long. With the return of his loyal subjects, Jilocasin had ordered them to capture and tend to the one still living assassin, bringing him to their dungeons where a group of well-trained knights would keep watch over him. The arcanists in the stationed army were currently scrying the entire castle for whatever enchantments had been placed on it.

After ordering his subjects to their duties, Jilocasin had personally brought Izumi back to her quarters, where he learned of the true nature of this poison from his medical staff coming to aid him. Dragonsbane, as the name implied, was particularly effective against dragons - because of how deadly it was, dilution over large quantities of blood, like inside the body of a dragon, had little effect. Creating this poison was difficult, and each and every part of it was illegal - that Izumi survived for as long as she did with it in her system was a miracle. The poison directly attacked the nerves of its victims - disabling their senses, before paralyzing all muscles, ending with complete failure of the heart and lungs, resulting in the victim suffocating while also suffering heart failure, survival rate without the antidote was a complete 0%. The fact that their attackers had used so much of the poison, coating every dagger and bolt in their arsenal with it, spoke of great resources on their part - and his long-range communication scholars had just received reports of possible attacks in different nations, as well. Someone was trying to kill more than just him, and he had them send out warnings to all the nations, in case that one of them had not yet been attacked - and to also show that these killers were NOT being sent from Cieria itself, his country already had a reputation as a harbor for all manner of criminals.

Now, Jilocasin was waiting silently for his Lord General - and friend - to recover, looking at her with worry on his face. He was still clad in his armor, as befitted the state of emergency the palace was in at the moment, but neither sword nor helmet were manifested from it at this point - it was merely a formality. The killers wouldn't be stupid enough to attack while the palace was swarming with knights.
A knock on the door caused him to look up, and move over to it, as quietly as he could, before opening it halfway. One of his messengers saluted him, before giving a report: The arcanists had found a circle of magic engraved into the stones of the entire palace, hidden behind furniture and plants wherever possible, blending in with decorations were it didn't fit. While deactivated now, it held the power of illusionairy magic still within itself, residue from the massive spell earlier.
"Very well. Tell them to disable it with a feedback loop - if they try to use it again, their power will fry the user instead. Also tell them to keep searching - our enemy is resourceful, and might have redundant secondary or tertiary circles set up. Get some troops capable of flight to search from above as well." Giving his orders in a quiet voice, he nodded towards his soldier, who said a quiet 'Yes Sir' before saluting and marching off, carrying out the new commands.

After closing the door, Jilocasin moved back to his chair, to wait for Izumi to recover from this ordeal.

Jilocasin couldn't help but smirk at how quickly his friend got right back into her usual mindset, despite nearly dying only hours before. He admired such strength of character and personality - someone weaker in mind could never be one of his highest officials. He quickly nodded at her questions right after, his face returning to looking serious and calm, the mask of the ruler he had to wear at all times - perfect, stoic, adamant and unbreakable. That was his role in Cieria, without it, the land would destroy itself within weeks. He quickly helped her with getting steady when she suddenly stumbled towards him, as was natural to him - helping was second nature to the duke.

"I got a lot of them. Sadly, the one I captured alive managed to man up and kill himself before I could properly apprehend him while fighting his cohorts - so we still have no idea who they even were. I've made our scholars send warning messages to the other countries - the last thing we need is some world leaders assassinated. The peace we have right now is too important to lose." Even after generations had passed, only the craziest wanted to go back into war against the other countries - Cieria's military was as powerful as it was because it had to protect the citizens from the land itself. They didn't have the manpower for a large land-war, not without massive sacrifices in the common populace.
"Our investigators are scouring the castle for enemy magic as we speak. They found the illusion circle used to empty the castle of everyone - good on you for resisting it. I told the guards not to blame themselves, but it still bothers them how easily their minds were tricked... I'm thinking about adding some mental fortitude training to the general regimen. But don't worry about me - I'm fine. They counted on me dying to their poison before I could unleash my armor, it seems - none were able to injure me in raw combat. Otherwise, I'm sure that you'd be standing next to my bed - the gods know that I'm not as quick to recover as you are." Giving another small grin, Jilocasin's face suddenly became a bit... troubled, clouded with some worry.

"I'm sorry, but... Yes, I did worry about your life. This poison has been banned for generations - for good reason. You're one of the few confidants I have... and I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if you died for my sake, of all things. I serve Cieria, not the other way around - that's the most important part about being the duke, after all. I'm just glad that you're alright, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that - or with being honest to you." explaining himself, the duke cleared his throat after doing so and nodded again. He was a man who would never tell a lie, especially not to his friends.
"Are you well enough to join me for dinner in a bit? We have to discuss our next steps... And while we're at it, we might find a few minutes for being happy about not dying horribly today. Showing strength to the common people, the advisers... the usual drill. Dreadfully boring to attend those dinners alone."

"Really now, Izumi. I'm a man of honor, I'd have to warn you beforehand if I wanted to try peeping in on you." With a chuckle, Jilocasin waited patiently as his confidant stood up from the bed and had to use him for stability for a second. It was only natural that her senses would still be a bit dulled and confused from the poison, getting dizzy from standing up was normal for the side-effects. After she had regained her safe stand, he just smiled warmly at her.

"Very well, then - with you as my shadow, there isn't much left to fear in the world. I'll just have to make extra sure not to do something foolish that will get us both killed, and I think I can manage that. The messages I'm sending out to the other rulers are more than just me being worried, though." With a sigh, Jilocasin turned towards the door. "Dragonsbane uses a few ingredients found in Cieria. If by chance the other nations fall under attack and one of them gets killed, they might blame us. We don't have the resources or manpower to wage war over mistrust - we've got enough trouble keeping our own lands from killing us, after all."

Leading on out of the room, Jilocasin made sure that Izumi followed him, before continuing to chat about his plans and feelings following this attack. He valued the opinions of his generals very highly, but hers even more so - sometimes, she was more level-headed than the duke himself. She had a habit of staying grounded, focused on the tasks at hand, and directed him back to them, just like today. His own stomach was growling a bit as well, using so much of his dragon arcana had taken a bit of a toll on his humanoid body.
"I've sent words for a few mediums and oracles. Sadly, not many are found within near distance to Lighthaven... but at this point, I'd take a seer's advice over not knowing what we're facing at all. Are these people with a grudge against me personally, against the entire duchy, or do they have some other goal? It is hard to say. Even if they had managed to kill me, there's an entire line of succession... They would've had to come after you next." Stroking his short beard a bit while walking, Jilocasin wondered out loud about their goals. Even without a duke, the Duchy of Cieria would survive, that much he was certain of. So what was their goal? Disorganize them while Izumi still had to get used to being the duchess, while infiltrating governing bodies? A try to spread anarchy by killing him and then trying to go for her and the other officials? There were just too many questions left open!