Template:Fata Dener Silent Siege

The Silent Siege

It all started during the Trial of William Zandari, where Victor Liber was casually sitting in the audience, hoping to get some insight into William's affairs. This is where Victor learned something that could shape the operations forever. Shattratath's awakenings are in fact not based on clumsy sailors, but rather predetermined by fate once again. No one in the Fata Demer would have expected that even the gods were bound to it, just like any other mortal. Needless to say, it did not take long for him to share this critical information with the rest of the head team.
"You do realize we are already in an endless tussle with Lady Hue herself. You really think adding yet another God to our list of enemies is a good idea?" -Max.
"Not to mention, we are talking about Shattratath here. His wrath would tear this organization from the inside out in a blink of an eye" - Kira.
Suddenly, the always relaxed and leaned back Volo raises his voice:
"Valid concerns indeed, but look at it from Shatti's point of view... do you guys really think a literal god will hold a grudge towards someone who delays his once-in-a-decade alarm by what? A few hours? minutes even? If anything, he might even thank us."
"Okay, okay, okay, putting that aside for now, how do you intend to shut down ALL maritime traffic on the Silent Sea? We barely hold any influence over any of these ports yet, not to mention that these ships sometimes travel for weeks before reaching their destination... You want to shut down the three major ports of Scientia, Capeport, and Glacia at the same time for a whole month?" -Max.
"Not just the three big ones, no, that wouldn't do, the small ones too. Every single port that sends out ships traversing the Silent Ocean must shut down during that time. Fate says that Shattratath will always awaken by the hand of mankind; if there is not a single soul out there, there is no way this fate will come true. Besides, we still have ten whole years to plan out the details, according to Miriath at least. That should be plenty to gain influence in three little port districts, is it not?"
Victor proclaims with calm and confidence but also a bit of excitement, thinking this is the ultimate opportunity to prove that he, too, has what it takes to lead the organization.
"Just leave these Cities to me. I will ensure that everything will be prepared for Shattratath's awakening. Your name will be clean from it; there is nothing for you to worry about.
"Fine then. Try it. If you pull this off, I, Maximillian Liber, vow that I will happily give control of the Fata Deners to you without hesitation. As long as you keep my name out of it, there will be no repercussions for failing, I am sure who or whatever you are gonna anger with that stunt would punish you plenty already."
And with that, the Meeting was over. However, Maximillian did not simply return to his quarters. He grabbed Silent Fist and rushed out on the streets.
"Fatereader Miriath, tell me... " he says in a strong voice but gets very quiet suddenly, almost worried: "Tell me, who is..." and before he could finish his sentence, Miriath interrupts him: "In charge in eleven years from now?"
Max nodded. "I am afraid you will not like the answer. Do you still want to hear it?" "...yes." "Very well, as it stands, you are the one in charge eleven years from now."
Maximillian, seemingly holding back his tears, enters a fit of rage: "Damn it!" as he slams his fists on the table. "Why can't this just end!? Lady Hue, you will not get away with this!"
With a little side eye, he notices a sinister little smile disappear into one of the crystal orbs on the shelf. Within a blink of an eye, multiple throwing knives have pierced the orb perfectly without even shattering the glass.
"Apologies, I will get that replaced first thing in the morning," he says with a suddenly perfectly calm voice again.
"Thank you, but tell me, sir, why does this reading bother you so much? Isn't the whole point of your existence to defy exactly what I am telling you?"
"You know what, you are right. If I just accept that fate here and now, there is no way Victor could change it. He will need all the help he can get, though, and I will ensure he gets exactly that!"
Ten years pass, and the night of Shattratath's Awakening is nigh. For the past 4 weeks, not a single ship was sent out to dock in any of the three major southern harbors; many captains have disappeared without any trace. According to not only the logbooks of the harbors, but also to the scouting reports of the minor harbors around the globe, not a single ship should be on the Silent Ocean this night. According to Miriath's reading, the "fated wake-up call" is less than an hour from now.
Victor's teams have taken complete control over all the south harbors, be it by financial, influential, or brutal means. No ship can come and go without his approval, and these approvals have been severely lacking for the past weeks.
"I have to say, Vic, I am impressed. A lot more elegant and efficient than I have expected." Maximillian proclaims calmly as they both stand on top of the lighthouse by Capeport.
However, his thoughts aren't quite as coordinated: "Come on, Hue, what kind of sick and twisted bullshit did you come up with this time?"
Across all the south coasts of Tael, Members of the Fata Dener wait in anticipation of the final countdown; every second of delay is a win in their books, after all.
"My my, never thought I would see this day," whispers a voice from behind Maximillian and Victor.
"What are you doing here, Hue? Shouldn't you be somewhere down there, trying to wake up your friend?" expresses Maximillian calmly.
"Oh, absolutely; I just felt the need to quickly come by and tell you, guys, how much fun this was. To be honest, you almost made me sweat with that coordination of yours. Anyway, as I was saying, I never thought I would see this day where you would get this close to defy me, but alas, futile as always; this is just how fate rolls; it's a law of nature, and it will. always. find. a. way. Toodles!"
And with that, Hue instantly disappears again into the glass windows of the tower and into the night.
"What the...?" screams Victor.
"Don't worry too much about her. If everything continues as planned, this was the dying scream of a doomed god."
Suddenly, two arms reach around the shoulders of the two brothers, almost pressing them together.
"Alright, now let's watch this unfold, shall we? There are only two minutes left after all!" yells Hue in an all-cheerful voice. "I brought champagne, too!"
"Why are you like this?" asks Maximillian in an almost disgusted voice.
"Come on, shake it off a bit, would ya? You guys did everything you could, which, to be honest, is quite respectable, even by my standards. And I did everything I could, now we can both just enjoy the show and see what happens! Here, I brought binoculars!"
"Hmpf, fine." Both sigh and grab a glass of said champagne.
Suddenly, both brothers can see clearly into the distant ocean. Hue spiked the bottle with a little bit of night vision potion, just so everyone could see what was going on.
Victor: "Hold up, brother! what is that in the distance there?!"
Max: "Is that a drifting ice floe? are you kidding me? and there is a guy on there!"
Hue: "Uuhh, yeah, that is my answer to your crazy shenanigans here. You see, this guy has been deserted on this little floe for days now, and any second, it should have melted to a point where it can't hold his weight anymore. It was quite hard to find an inhabitant of the Deadlands that can't swim, but well, I had ten years to find one." She says with a smug face.
Both brothers: "No, no, no, no!"
Victor: "This can't be! why would you come up with something so obscure?!"
Hue: "Obscure? Look who is talking. Besides, these kind of 'Castaways' happen all the time over there, except they are usually picked up by either random transports passing by them or dedicated patrols looking for missing fishermen in the area."
The implications are obvious; silence fills the room.
Hue: "Make sure to finish your glasses before he falls in! Or this could get dirty up here tonight!"
As the floe gives in to the weight and the person falls into the water, screaming for help as he descends into the depths just as the countdown reaches zero, all three have emptied their glasses. Shattratath awakens once again, and a night of waking terror commences as fated.
Max: "Alright, what else was in that bottle? why are we not affected?"
Hue: "Oh, just a little bit of protection from Shatti's influence, you know, little insurance in case you guys fail as always. What were you guys even thinking waiting this out on top of a tower? You would have easily fallen to your deaths from here..."
Both start looking kinda embarrassed all of a sudden.
Hue: "Don't tell me you were so convinced of your success that you didn't consider this? oooh, or maybe you guys did consider it after all?"
Max: "No! stop that! ...fine, you win this time again, but don't think this is the end!"
Hue: "Oh, I am counting on that! This is always so much fun! Soo, since down there is currently hell anyway, we might as well spend the night together up here; why don't we?"
Victor: "You probably wouldn't leave anyway, so fine. Wanna share how in Tael you managed to get that floe to melt exactly on the second?"
And with that, the three spent the rest of the night drinking and telling each other about their obscure ways of operation. It's not like they have any secrets from each other to begin with, with both parties always being open to their methods, the Fatas because they know they wouldn't be able to hide it from an endlessly curious god like Hue, and Hue because she doesn't care.
The next day, Victor gives orders to release the kidnapped sailors from their little captivity, which was basically just a timeless holiday resort near Scientia. They have no idea how much time has passed, but they also don't really care, as they enjoyed their "forced" stay. Some operators of the Fata Dener were later accused of terrible mismanagement of the harbors, which ultimately led to them losing most of their control over them again. Overall, fate was somehow kind enough to let Victor and most of the organization go pretty much unpunished for their crimes, which ultimately led to them calling the entire operation "The Silent Siege" afterward.
Maximillian was still a bit confused about Hue calling Shattratath "Shatti", thinking it was not the first time hearing that name. But he couldn't quite pin it down, and he eventually ignored it again for the time being.