Event -- A Dinner in Ienecia

"No, thanks. Im fine. If your own motherland would be in a greatly pecarious situation wouldnt you be sad for it? Wouldnt you let out a tear for the hope of returning safely to home, which you cant know will be home anymore? And the worst is.. I cant do anything. I cant help. And im jsut sitting here. Trying to forget over a glass of wine. Trying to forget that my own home is in hands of just one person, and that person does all he can to keep the home stable, yet it still falls, even if every of its nails and every plank or brick is slowly getting crushed upon its own weight. And yes i am crying. Because thats the only thing i can do. The only thing to at least give my homeland a bit of hope that someone still cares."

"Then stop whining and do something about it, coward."

"And what can I do, sitting here? And when I'm back? Walk up to the one of three most powerful people in Keshobia and say him "Thats what you should do"? ...

You know. I can do this."

"Do it."

Appetizers are cleared off of the table and the main meal, as well as more wine, is brought in.

"Ah, cars! The marvels of modernity! Propelling themselves at hundred of kilometers per hour, raising hair on the heads of oblivious citizens, frying chickens in the backyards with their exhausts! My word, this idea of your is jolly good, if you ask me! A toast to speed, competition and madmen on the wheel!"

"Indeed good sir!" A toast is made. "Well, the fuel additive is a chemical mix of a few important compounds, the most prominent of which stops a phenomenon known as " knocking", which is a form of lead. "

"Lead, hm? And this won't cause more damage to drivers and to the environment than it prevents to the cars?"

"In no way, good sir, the density of the metal leads to compounds that don't rise into the atmosphere, but remain near the ground where they are quickly turned into other compounds by various processes."

Lead compounds tend to toxic in general, don't they?

"In general maybe, but not these."

"What makes these ones different?"

"In that insofar not a single scientific study has found them to be toxic in any way."

"We see this as a way for the car industry to dilute the fuel and make it cheaper. Unless you can explain how it actually works"

"It reduces a phenomenon known as knocking, in which the fuel-air mixture created in the piston detonates somewhere outside the piston, usually in the exhaust pipe. It also reduces valve head and piston head wear by reducing the creation of microwelds, keeping the engine running longer and more efficiently."

"But if lead compounds are toxic in general, and no scientific study has been performed to verify the toxicity or non-toxicity of these compounds you speak of, surely it must be assumed that these are also toxic?"

Well, in case no scientific studies have evidenced damaging side effects, I think there's no problem. Obviously, if proof of damages are found, this will be another case.

Charzy wrote:"But if lead compounds are toxic in general, and no scientific study has been performed to verify the toxicity or non-toxicity of these compounds you speak of, surely it must be assumed that these are also toxic?"

"Would you let a drug manufacturer release something without testing it? We tested it beforehand, and found no toxicity."

"I would see these test results. Show them to me."

"I don't have them on me, sorry, however I can mail them to you."

As the delegates are leaving, Sir Reboten walks to the host and shakes his hand, thanking him for the festivities. Meanwhile, one of the security guards ties his shoes after they've come undone. He walks to the Kutanese delegation, salutes him, and takes one of the knives that he pulled out of the soles of his shoes while tying them and stabs the leader in the neck from the right side, digging the sharp obsidian blade through multiple veins, pulling it out and burying it in the kerbs stomach, twisting it and breaking off the blade inside, rushing towards one of the doors.

One of the leaving delegates steps on the chocolates. Good luck cleaning that stuff.

Kharle Fraster Kane sees the murder unfold before his eyes and yells "You what!"

((Take three, woooo))

As the hours pass, the guards in the dining room have gotten more and more tired and unfocused. As such, when at the end of the night the Njegosljian leader is stabbed to death by one of his own bodyguards, they are rather slow to react. One fires off a rifle shot and misses, sending the bullet into the wall, where it ricochets violently into the wooden floor. Another bellows into his radio, while the remaining guards fumble to get their rifles aimed in time. Screams echo through the room as serving staff realize what has happened and flee to the kitchen.

Outside the dining room, however, the guards have gotten advance warning and stand ready. As the assassin bursts out of the dining room door, two move to block the doors at either end of the hallway. With their rifles already leveled at the door, two guards fire simultaneously at the assassin's chest from a few feet away. Meanwhile, several others move in with rifle-butts raised to knock the man over should he not be incapacitated by the shots. Other departing guests are quickly ushered and tugged into adjoining empty halls and auditoriums.

As this is occurring, word has gotten out to the city's police department, and sirens climb the hill to the meeting hall. As police cruisers and ambulances pull into the lot, EMTs move in to see what can be done for the Njegosljian leader.

In his office at the Ienecian Bureau of Internal Security, Mikhail Kerman shouts into a radio of his own, commanding that the assassin be taken alive.

The Sangan delegate violently leaps out of his stupor onto the table, where he rolls off and falls on the ground. As he starts getting up, a candlestick falls on his head and knocks him unconscious.