Aftermath:

The Lord Regent

Outside Dunwall tower, the Lord Regent graciously gave Lady Boyle his hand as he helped her out of the carriage.

"I trust you will find your quarters satisfactory." Said Hiram Burrows. "I'm afraid they will have to until these trade disputes are settled. Unless you wish to share mine, of course."

Lady Boyle flashed him a coy smile. "I just might take you up on that, Good sir. But I do hope these disputes don't take too long. My sisters and I are arranging a party in a matter of days."

Hiram chuckled. "Oh, what would Dunwall do without the fabulous Boyle parties? Rest assured that the debate will be over soon, especially with the votes of the Pendleton twins-"

"BURROWS!"

Hiram spun round, and recoiled at the sight. "Campbell! What happened to you?"

High Overseer Campbell stumbled towards him, his uniform torn and in shambles, eyes wide and bloodshot, a jagged mark burned into his face. "The Heretic's brand!" He called out, coughing. "The witch girl, she, *cough, cough* I've been cast out! Cast from my own order by one I'm sworn to destroy! You have to help me!"

Hiram's face creased in distaste. "I see. Guards, remove him."

Campbell's face whitened as two burly men in uniform grabbed him and began to haul him off. "What? No! What are you-?"

"You're clearly plagued, and someone cast from their own order is of no use to me. Goodbye."

Campbell roared and struggled against the guards, but got no purchase. "You gutless hagfish! It was the Kaldwin girl, she's coming to destroy everything you've built!"

Hiram paused for almost a second, before taking Lady Boyle's hand and walking away.

The Dishonoured protector

In a dingy basement, Corvo peeked through a keyhole. He saw the shrine, glowing purple, and illuminating the trio of shrunken looking men praying before it. He turned to whisper "three. Looking away."

Crouched beside him, Billie Lurk replied with "I know. Dark vision remember?" Corvo nodded and sighed, the fog temporarily clouding his vision beneath the whaling mask. Quietly, he pulled the door open, then lunged in, going for the chokehold on the rightmost Outsider devotee. The others immediately noticed and turned to him, screaming, but Billie blinked behind the left one and stabbed a blade into its right shoulder. That one promptly turned to charge at her. The centre one went for Corvo, who used his victim as a human shield until he fell unconscious, before throwing him aside and charging the remaining devotee. He grabbed a flailing limb, broke it at the elbow, and then clapped an open palm on either side of his head, delivering a shock into unconsciousness.

He looked around, and, seeing no other threats, turned to Billie, who was staring at him with her head cocked. "You don't kill. Saving that dagger for someone?"

Corvo flipped the royal guard's blade (which he had apparently been unwilling to relinquish after The Event, despite being unconscious) and held up two fingers. "Burrows." He said, wiggling one, then for the other "Daud."

Lurk chuckled. "You're not the only one in our order planning to betray the old man. But you have to be loyal to him before you betray him..."

She blinked past him to the shrine, picking up the rune there. "Or you won't get superpowers!"

Corvo snorted and lifted the heart, which beat faster, picking up a bone charm somewhere east of here, and helpfully spoke up with 'she wants to overthrow him as a matter of honour. She would be sad to see him go...

Corvo shrugged, saved the new information for later, and prepared to pocket the heart, but suddenly it began to pulse at a fervent pace. 'She brought the corrupt priest down through song and fire! Her innocence remains yet!

Corvo looked down at the thing in surprise, and Billie raised an eyebrow at him. "Something wrong?"

He shook his head and prepared to move out. With complete certainty, he knew who exactly that last comment had meant.

The void singer

Thomas raised an eyebrow. "So after they all started cowering, you asked them if the high Overseer had broken any strictures."

Emily nodded. "They said he had a secret room built specifically for, um, breaking the sixth."

"And then you took the brand and banished him from his own order!" Thomas laughed, hard, which turned into a hacking cough halfway through.

Granny Rags thwacked him on the elbow with a ladle. "Little boy should stop hurting himself, or Granny will have to take far longer to help him…"

Emily chuckled nervously. The blind old witch hadn't been her first choice to help fix up Thomas' back, but, she had been the only one who understood what a tissue was. She grabbed something from the side table and handed it to Thomas. His Slingshot. "Here. This thing saved my life, you know."

Thomas smiled and waved her off. "You keep it. I reckon you'll be needing it soon enough, and besides, it goes with your whole 'pale white' thing."

Emily smiled in thanks.

"Oh dearie? Your present is ready…" Emily's eyes widened and she gave Thomas' hand a squeeze before chasing after Granny.

The old woman took her into a room with a balcony overlooking the street and muttered. "Close your eyes dearie… you have to close your eyes, or Granny won't give you it, that's the rule…"

Gulping, Emily complied, and felt something rest upon her head. She opened her eyes, turning to a cracked mirror in the corner, wondering what disgusting thing the witch had... OH. It was a tiara. She didn't know how she hadn't noticed the shape when she had been getting the artefacts. It curved around her head, a circlet of whalebone, strange symbols pulsing on it. She reached up to touch it, and gasped. The symbol on her hand was… gone? Almost worriedly she placed that hand onto the circlet, and when she did so, it blazed back into visibility as something fell down over her face. The fabric she had found earlier, acting like a veil. She could see through it now with perfect clarity, perhaps better than without, and her face in the mirror seemed…blurred. Behind her, Granny Rags was cackling. "No-one will see your mark without the veil, but with the veil on, no-one will recognise the young dearie at all, oh no. You will become a ghost, a phantom spirit roaming the streets. Wear it, and- oooh, it looks like you have a gentleman caller."

Emily frowned and was about to ask what she meant, when a voice emanated from outside the house, coming up from beneath the balcony. "Emily Kaldwin! Are you in there? I promise I don't mean to hurt you!"

Granny cackled some more. "Oh, that one's nice, dearie. You should go speak to him, he will help you, Granny knows such things…"

Emily nodded and moved towards the balcony, but paused and turned back. "Make sure Thomas is okay, please? Don't, like, cook his bones or anything." The giggle Emily got in return wasn't exactly reassuring, but she shrugged it off, aiming a grapple out into the street.

._.

"Miss Kaldwin? I promise I'm unarmed!"

"Who are you, and why are you looking for Emily?" Slowly, Samuel turned around to see a young girl in an immaculate white dress, a bone tiara on her head and a veil covering her face. A part of his mind said he should logically know exactly who this girl was, but another part firmly stated that he couldn't know who she was, he couldn't see her face. "My name is Samuel, missy. I work for some people who would like very much to meet her."

The girl tilted her head. "The last person who wanted to meet her was the high Overseer. The one before that was the royal spymaster. You'll understand that she doesn't have much trust for people in power."

Samuel nodded considerately. "I understand that. But while those two wanted the young empress dead and gone, the people I work for want her back on the throne. The royal spymaster has instated himself as lord regent, by the way."

The girl paused for a moment. "She wants to know why she should trust you."

Samuel smiled wryly. "Trust is something that needs to be earned, and built over time. I hope that I can persuade her to trust me eventually, but until then? I'm unarmed, and I hear she is quite adept at escapes. Feel free to weigh the risks, but the way I see it, this is the best way for her to get what she wants."

"And what do you think she wants, Mr Samuel?" The girl asked.

"What we all want." Samuel responded easily. "A chance to stop surviving, and live."

There was a long pause. Then the girl reached up a hand, and the Outsider's symbol appeared upon it as she lifted the veil, the wavering fabric seeming to melt into the tiara.

"Alright. Let's meet your employers." Said Emily Kaldwin.

And with that, the first act is completed! Please review, fave and follow to persuade me to keep going, and get HYPED for dishonoured two. Now then, where is this innocent little girl going ne-

...oh. Oh dear.