28 Obsidian, 136
19:05
In a dark chamber deep beneath the earth, seven figures, features hidden by heavy hoods, congregated.
A candle flared into life.
"We have a problem," Monitor Lizard said, her muffled voice echoing around the empty room.
She paced around the room, her cloth shoes making no sound on the smooth stone floor, then turned around dramatically with a swirl of her cloak.
"Grim." she said, pointing to him. "Nuckles. Da-"
"Hey now, what's the point of wearing disguises if you're gonna say our real names?" the half-named cloaked figure interrupted. She threw back her hood, shaking out her long green (green?) hair. "I dyed my hair for this, you know?"
Nuckles threw back his hood too. "Is that blade weed I smell?" he asked dreamily, following his nose like a dog. Daria swatted him.
Maskwolf looked puzzled. "Why would you-"
Monitor cleared her throat. "A problem!" she repeated. She lifted her hand to point again, then thought better of it. "All of us who were in the conspiracy to kill the king-"
There was a gasp. Monitor looked to the last hooded figure.
"Um. Nothing. I'm... just, uh, surprised- no! I... was mining earlier. Yeah, heehee, heavy labour, nothing special!"
A sigh.
Succinctness. That was the key. "We need a new overseer. And we're out of people who know."
The baroness turned in front of the candle, her cloak swirling and stirring the shadows.
"The king could very well come this year. We have to-"
Her nagging unease suddenly leapt to the forefront of her mind. There were six cloaked people in front of her... and six conspirators. She swore - she'd forgotten to count herself!
"A spy!" she shouted. One of the figures squeaked and looked around in a panic. "I'm sorry! I didn't know!"
Just then, the candle ignited her cloak and the room dissolved into chaos.