gideonpepys
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
Cut Scene
Melissa Amerie’s Mansion
Courtyard. The dead of night. Occasional rumbles in the distance indicate that the battle for Seobriga is far from over, but here on the outskirts of the city, there is the opportunity for sleep. A door opens and Kithilrak enters, pushing Khoomrung in his wheelchair. They approach the Skull of Cheshimox. Guarding the skull is Roderigo the half-giant. He stands and greets the two dwarves.
Kithilrak Good night, my fine fellow, and many thanks for your service. We will take your watch now - you may avail yourself of sleep.
Roderigo Thank you, but my charge is to guard this thing until I am relieved by Ludoso. It’s kind of you to offer, but I answer to Dame Melissa and she has a wicked tongue.
Kithilrak Dame Melissa made these arrangements at the behest of our mistress, Hildegaard; you need not fear her disapproval. We are equally stalwart, I assure you.
Roderigo These are serious times. Ordinarily I would yield to my desire for rest and give you thanks. I give you thanks regardless, but must remain where I was asked to stay. Feel free to join me. I have beer in this bucket, cooled by ice which I scraped off the cover, after the shower of rain this evening. You are welcome to…
Khoomrung’s mouth has opened, and from it issues a blast of cold air. Roderigo is frozen mid-sentence, his arm in an expansive gesture. Kithilrak does not seem taken aback, but moves to the front of the wheelchair.
Khoomrung The spell will not last long. We must work quickly. You have seen to the others?
Kithilrak Half a vial each of the draught the mistress uses to put her husband to sleep. Three drops would fell a woolly rhino. She uses five on him. I doubt they will wake at all.
Khoomrung Excellent. Let us take a look at the prize that so captivates our mistress. Wait a moment and I will help you.
Khoomrung stands and raises his arms, exposing the bear flesh of his stumps. He mutters under his breath and his eyes roll back in his head. He grimaces in discomfort as bony fingers sprout from his stumps and grow into skeletal wrists and hands.
KhoomrungWhat a waste of energy. If only that fat fool hadn’t squandered all his money on food and fine-living I might have had my own hands to work with. Thank the End we’ll soon be free of him.
Then he and Kithilrak work to throw back the tarpaulin.
Kithilrak(While they do so.) I will certainly be glad to no longer cow-tow to that boor and his sow of a wife. This find could not have come a moment too soon. But what of the Khum-ruk Nazar? Does our Mistress no longer desire it?
Now the two begin to scribe a teleportation circle on the courtyard flags.
Khoomrung Other means have been found. This skull is too great a prize to leave in the hands of an oaf. I too am glad to be rid of him. I have suffered for many years longer than you. There can be no more dedicated servant to the cause. I have been promised a place at right hand of the Grandis when we sweep South. No longer must I lurk and spy and pretend. No longer must I suffer fools.
Kithrilrak If he was here I should have taken pains to cut his throat, for fear that no amount of poison could pollute the ocean of his belly. I hate him with a passion. Years of study in the frosty towers of the North, the entire focus of what I flatter myself to be one of the keenest intelligences in Llanjyr, devoted to the arcane and Abyssal runes that delineate the teachings of Mistress Kamanov, and yet I find myself wielding a mere fraction of the power this moron masters with a touch.
Khoomrung Like a gifted child, he has a great facility, but no understanding. I had high hopes for him once, but his yearning for the End was purely personal, selfish. And the version of the Eschatol he spouts now! My greatest test was preventing myself from giggling in my wheelchair during his sermons.
Kithilrak Please! I am grateful only that he is too dense to sense my evident disdain, I…
Kithilrak is cut off mid-sentence when a foot stomps on his hand. He looks up an alarm, and takes the full force of a hammer blow to the face. He slumps, senseless, to the ground, blood leaking from his head. Hildegaard stands over him in her nightgown, wielding a hammer and shield. Khoomrung begins to slowly stand, as Thurgid emerges from the other side of the Skull, nervously pointing a blunderbuss in his direction.
Thurgid I… I think you might have killed him.
Hildegaard Good.
Khoomrung I warn you both. I don’t know how you come to be alive, but the condition will not last long if you attempt to thwart me. Tonight I leave with the Skull of Cheshimox, my prize for four long years of agony. You are misled if you think a housewife and a manservant have the power to stop me.
Thurgid Is that true mistress? Will he kill us both?
Hildegaard Stop quaking, Lemon. If he could do it he would do it, not tell us about it.
Khoomrung (Raising his voice.) Do you dare to question the power of a priest of Grandis Kamanov? Yield the skull, and withdraw, or I will slay you both in an instant. And, boy, if you continue to point that gun at me, I will start with you.
On the instant Khoomrung points his finger at Thurgid, the young boy flinches in fear, accidentally pulls the trigger, and blows Khoomrung's head clean off. He stares in horror at the mess he has created.
Hildegaard I think you might have killed him, too.
Melissa Amerie’s Mansion
Courtyard. The dead of night. Occasional rumbles in the distance indicate that the battle for Seobriga is far from over, but here on the outskirts of the city, there is the opportunity for sleep. A door opens and Kithilrak enters, pushing Khoomrung in his wheelchair. They approach the Skull of Cheshimox. Guarding the skull is Roderigo the half-giant. He stands and greets the two dwarves.
Kithilrak Good night, my fine fellow, and many thanks for your service. We will take your watch now - you may avail yourself of sleep.
Roderigo Thank you, but my charge is to guard this thing until I am relieved by Ludoso. It’s kind of you to offer, but I answer to Dame Melissa and she has a wicked tongue.
Kithilrak Dame Melissa made these arrangements at the behest of our mistress, Hildegaard; you need not fear her disapproval. We are equally stalwart, I assure you.
Roderigo These are serious times. Ordinarily I would yield to my desire for rest and give you thanks. I give you thanks regardless, but must remain where I was asked to stay. Feel free to join me. I have beer in this bucket, cooled by ice which I scraped off the cover, after the shower of rain this evening. You are welcome to…
Khoomrung’s mouth has opened, and from it issues a blast of cold air. Roderigo is frozen mid-sentence, his arm in an expansive gesture. Kithilrak does not seem taken aback, but moves to the front of the wheelchair.
Khoomrung The spell will not last long. We must work quickly. You have seen to the others?
Kithilrak Half a vial each of the draught the mistress uses to put her husband to sleep. Three drops would fell a woolly rhino. She uses five on him. I doubt they will wake at all.
Khoomrung Excellent. Let us take a look at the prize that so captivates our mistress. Wait a moment and I will help you.
Khoomrung stands and raises his arms, exposing the bear flesh of his stumps. He mutters under his breath and his eyes roll back in his head. He grimaces in discomfort as bony fingers sprout from his stumps and grow into skeletal wrists and hands.
KhoomrungWhat a waste of energy. If only that fat fool hadn’t squandered all his money on food and fine-living I might have had my own hands to work with. Thank the End we’ll soon be free of him.
Then he and Kithilrak work to throw back the tarpaulin.
Kithilrak(While they do so.) I will certainly be glad to no longer cow-tow to that boor and his sow of a wife. This find could not have come a moment too soon. But what of the Khum-ruk Nazar? Does our Mistress no longer desire it?
Now the two begin to scribe a teleportation circle on the courtyard flags.
Khoomrung Other means have been found. This skull is too great a prize to leave in the hands of an oaf. I too am glad to be rid of him. I have suffered for many years longer than you. There can be no more dedicated servant to the cause. I have been promised a place at right hand of the Grandis when we sweep South. No longer must I lurk and spy and pretend. No longer must I suffer fools.
Kithrilrak If he was here I should have taken pains to cut his throat, for fear that no amount of poison could pollute the ocean of his belly. I hate him with a passion. Years of study in the frosty towers of the North, the entire focus of what I flatter myself to be one of the keenest intelligences in Llanjyr, devoted to the arcane and Abyssal runes that delineate the teachings of Mistress Kamanov, and yet I find myself wielding a mere fraction of the power this moron masters with a touch.
Khoomrung Like a gifted child, he has a great facility, but no understanding. I had high hopes for him once, but his yearning for the End was purely personal, selfish. And the version of the Eschatol he spouts now! My greatest test was preventing myself from giggling in my wheelchair during his sermons.
Kithilrak Please! I am grateful only that he is too dense to sense my evident disdain, I…
Kithilrak is cut off mid-sentence when a foot stomps on his hand. He looks up an alarm, and takes the full force of a hammer blow to the face. He slumps, senseless, to the ground, blood leaking from his head. Hildegaard stands over him in her nightgown, wielding a hammer and shield. Khoomrung begins to slowly stand, as Thurgid emerges from the other side of the Skull, nervously pointing a blunderbuss in his direction.
Thurgid I… I think you might have killed him.
Hildegaard Good.
Khoomrung I warn you both. I don’t know how you come to be alive, but the condition will not last long if you attempt to thwart me. Tonight I leave with the Skull of Cheshimox, my prize for four long years of agony. You are misled if you think a housewife and a manservant have the power to stop me.
Thurgid Is that true mistress? Will he kill us both?
Hildegaard Stop quaking, Lemon. If he could do it he would do it, not tell us about it.
Khoomrung (Raising his voice.) Do you dare to question the power of a priest of Grandis Kamanov? Yield the skull, and withdraw, or I will slay you both in an instant. And, boy, if you continue to point that gun at me, I will start with you.
On the instant Khoomrung points his finger at Thurgid, the young boy flinches in fear, accidentally pulls the trigger, and blows Khoomrung's head clean off. He stares in horror at the mess he has created.
Hildegaard I think you might have killed him, too.