Poster:
Come one come all!
One Night Special
Lord Mayor, the Princess Zariya
To Celebrate
Her Appointment as Our Lord Mayor
Will Garotte
FIVE Demon Spies
From the Outer Reaches of the Black Zone.
Popcorn Beer Hot Dogs
Free face painting for the kiddies
Little Statuettes of the demons for the first two hundred
On a cold October night a week or so before All Hallow's Eve, the garrotting of the demon spies takes place. The crowds are thick, anxious to see the spies executed. Guards are nearly as thick in attendance, stopping trouble before it starts.
Zariya steps out onto the grounds, and walks to a platform where all can see her. She is dressed warmly, with a dark brown cloak covering just about all of her except for her head and her boots. "Attention citizens of Amber city," she calls out in a strong voice, carrying over the murmurings of the crowd. "I am your new Lord Mayor. In honor of the appointment--and according to His Majesty Oberon's wishes--my first official act is to execute spies." As the crowd cheers, she gestures to the side of the grounds where the five spies are escorted out under heavy guard. The spies are bound hand and foot with chains connecting the two sets of manacles on each, and shuffle their way to the middle of the grounds, to stand about ten feet away from the platform.
"By His Majesty's Royal Decree," Zariya says in a loud voice to the spies, "you are to be executed by garrotte, to be strangled until death." Even if they might have said something in defense, Zariya gestures again to the side, ignoring whatever they might have had to say. Five muscled and strong-looking men walk out, their faces grim. Each of them are carrying the instrument of death, though it may be hard for those in the crowds to pick out the wires from this distance.
The men reach their spots, inbetween those waiting execution and the Lord Mayor. When they stop, Zariya speaks again, "If one or any of you manages to take their heads off with the garrotte, that man will be given a 500 gold crown bonus." At that, the crowd roars approval, and bets are made within the crowd on which man will be the first to do so.
At Zariya's nod, the executioners turn and approach their intended victims. They walk behind the condemned, and loop their wires around the victims' necks. With strong, sure hands, the execution starts, each man strangling his victim. There isn't very much for the crowds to watch for a while, as this can be a long process. After a few minutes, however, the first executioner breaks the skin of his spy, and dark blood trickles slowly from the spy's neck. After a bit longer of tugging and sawing and *pulling* with the garrotte, the blood flows more freely, and the head of that one begins to flop a bit. Then, another breaks the skin of his, and another...until all five of the demon spies are bleeding. Zariya watches this all with an impassive gaze, neither excited nor repelled by the spectacle.
At the end of it all, only one--the first one to make his target bleed--severs the head cleanly from the body. The rest of the victims are a mess of blood, and half-severed heads flopping obscenely from their bodies. Zariya duly awards the executioner a bag of gold, to the approval of the crowd. As she is awarding the man his gold, a guard steps up to the victims and finishes the job of severing the heads from their bodies.
This text is copyright © Lana Gjovig and Craig Lucas; "Amber" is copyright © Roger Zelazny; "Amber" the diceless RPG is copyright © Phage Press. No copyright infringement is intended.
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