ZEN - Part Two [COMPLETED] [#WATTYS2017]

Flushing Out The Vermin

 Chapter 53 - Flushing Out The Vermin

"Then all we gotta do is put a few drops of this into her evening tea, an' our Lord Resomir will assert his rightful claim as ruler."

"Surely we'll be well compensated for this small act, right?"

"I've already gotten word back from him, and everything is lined up. Each of our families will be elevated to Knight-hood, and a yearly stipend of two hundred gold will be paid for the next twenty years."

"Finally. No more fecking nobles lookin' down on us."

"That's true. An' Ah kin finally afford t' bring mah in-laws over from Eastchester."

"Alrigh'. We've got our plan t'gether. All that's lef' is- urk!"

Zen, after busting in on gaggle of conspirators and immediately skulling their gardener-leader, whirls around to kick a simple dish-washer in the jaw, leaps over the small table to punch a surprised butler in the throat, knees an apprentice cook in his groin, then grabs the clothes covering the back of the final stable-hand and executes a punishing suplex straight through one of the rickety chairs they'd been using.

Once she flips back up to her feet and surveys the good job, she calls in the loyal guards that had been tagging along, and points out what she'd gleaned through the thick door with her keen hearing. "That guy has the poison that they were going to slip into the Duchess' tea. That one mentioned 'Lord Resomir' rightfully claiming power for himself, this greedy prick was only worried about the gold they'd be paid. This one said he spoke to Resomir and a yearly stip-end of two-hundred gold per each was to be paid for the next twenty years. And this ugly one was going to bring his stupid in-laws over from Eastchester."

"Men. Shackles. Haul them to the jails and have the interrogator draw more information. Again, fine work, Miss Zen."

"Whatever. This shite's becoming too common, now." The small Cat-woman rolls out her right shoulder, which had clipped the chair when tryng to break the final idiot's back. "This is the sixth bloody time today that I've tracked these kinds of fools down."

The newly re-instated Captain of the Guard, Huxley, offers the agile Beastkin a wry smile while overseeing his loyal men slapping irons onto the traitors' wrists. "This isn't even half as bad as right after Duke Fenton died. Three-quarters of the staff were actively trying to kill one of the family. And the ones that you keep coming across are all of their replacements."

"Tch. Haven't you heard of background-checks? Getting one of the stupid Church-people to use their crappy magics and check for homicidal tendencies?"

"Of course." The elderly human man offers a shrug inside of his ancient set of well-worn armours, and as the last of the conspirators are hauled up, he simply spins around on his heel and starts to follow along behind their highly-effective Scout. "Each of these people passed those truth-spells at the time, and again after Cameron took over. But we just haven't had the time to get enough of the clergy over here to check them once more."

"Feh." Zen casually dusts off her typical Dungeon-leathers with mithril scales embedded under the surface, then briefly looks from her left to her right before heading in that direction.