Barsoom Tales II: Romance, Revolution and BLOODY REVENGE!!! -- COMPLETE
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barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
Another Fine Mess: 8
"Hold hands. It is very important that you hang on during the travel."
Nevid shook, paler than Isaac even. He hadn't been wounded but clearly the notion of sorcerous travel terrified him.
"I don't want to do this."
Arrafin grabbed his hand.
"Come on, Nevid. This is important."
Isaac took Nevid's other hand. Next to him, Elena, with that immense sword slung over her back, closed the circle with Etienne. The Lohanese woman and her guards faced them, showing no inclination to take their fallen comrades with them.
Serrus stumbled out of the darkness towards them.
"But where are you going? We. What do we do now?"
Isaac turned to him.
"Don't know. And, don't know. Sorry."
Arrafin's face softened.
"Go with God, sir. I'm sorry we brought this upon you. You. You'll be safer without us around, I think."
Serrus just stared, the shock and terror of the last few minutes plain on his lined face.
And shadowy tendrils coiled up out of the ground around the group and swallowed them up. When he looked again, they were gone. Only footprints in the sand showed where they had once stood. Around him lay dead bodies and the remains of his terrified family.
"God, what have you done?"
*****
Like standing in the midst of a dark hurricane.
Like a howling tornado of shadow.
Like waves, black waves pounding down into rock.
Arrafin understood they must be travelling along the "edge", as it were, of the Shadow Realm, able to move at great speed, propelled by the sorceress' will. There was a vague sense of landscapes hurtling by, half-glimpsed through the blinding whirl of shadowy chaos on all sides. Her owl clung to her shoulder, and she felt its strength helping her to understand what she was seeing.
The others had no such context and just tried to hang on to whoever they were clutching, their clothes and gear whipped around them in the hellish gale.
Except Nevid. After a few seconds of the freakish storm, the Saijadani youth had had enough. He yanked his hand free of Arrafin's grip and, as the wind sucked at him, dragging him outwards, tried to free himself from Isaac's much stronger hold.
"Nevid! Hang on!"
Isaac cursed as suddenly Nevid's entire weight seemed to drag at his shoulder. The screaming wind grew even louder, and he could hear other voices crying out, telling him to hang on, but Nevid was slipping.
"Nevid!"
Arrafin shrieked at the Lohanese woman.
"Stop! Nevid's falling!"
The woman made no reaction. Arrafin wondered if shaking the woman out of her trance-like concentration was maybe not the best idea.
"Isaac!"
Now Elena could feel Isaac being pulled out of the circle. She groaned and tried to heave her friend backwards.
"Nevid!"
Pulled in two directions, Isaac swore creatively. He had a sure grip still on Nevid, but now the strain on Elena was growing.
"Elena! Let go!"
"No! Isaac! Hang on!"
"Send her to find us!"
Isaac wrenched his wrist free from Elena's grasp, and then the shadows took hold of him and Nevid.
"Isaac!"
Elena screamed, her voice barely registering above the howling wind. But Isaac and Nevid were gone.
The circle was broken now, and Arrafin was grateful for the powerful grip of the guard beside her. Gral's talons dug into her shoulder. Elena clung to Etienne and the two of them hung on for dear life to the heavy-set guard on the other side of the Lohanese woman. Shadows whipped between them all, wild ribbons and banners of insubstantial darkness flailing in shrieking tides.
There was a sudden sense of masses moving past them, mountains or great buildings, flashing past, and then the terrible gale receded on all sides and they stood in a great half-ruined hall of ancient stone.
High overhead the arches were broken and crumbling. Early-morning sunlight emblazoned the stones with gold.
The distant cries of seabirds seemed like silence after the dark storm they'd passed through. But as their hearing recovered, other sounds rose up.
Faint voices hissed and echoed on all sides. Things rustled and chattered, just out of sight in the gloom. Something laughed, chuckling low and full of menace. On all sides Elena felt the sudden weight of thousands of unseen eyes.
The Lohanese woman bowed with a mocking smile.
"Welcome to Castle Dannockshire."
*****
Shadows howled and bit and snarled at them. Isaac felt as if he were tumbling, unable to find anything to stand on, or cling to, flung back and forth in shrieking currents of dark hunger. The only solid, real thing in existence was Nevid's wrist and he clung to that with all his strength.
The shock of the sudden brightness made him cry out and shield his eyes, and then he realised he was lying on his back on a solid surface.
Sand.
Isaac sat up.
"Oh, that's just great."
He and Nevid sat side-by-side in the middle of a featureless expanse of sand. The sun was not quite over the horizon yet, and now that his eyes were adjusting he could see that it wasn't all that bright after all. Just that where they had been was very, very dark.
They sat in the middle of the desert. No water. No food. Not a sign of civilization or even shade in any direction.
He scowled at Nevid.
"I hope you're happy with yourself."
*****
"You know, as scary and horrible as that whole trip was, I think this place is actually creepier."
Elena and Arrafin helped Etienne follow their hostess. Arrafin nodded at Elena's comment.
"I know. I feel like. Like."
"Like a million evil, hungry spirits are watching you from every corner?"
"About a million, yes. Maybe two."
"Yeah."
Elena raised her voice to reach the woman ahead of them.
"Uh. Excuse me. What about our friends?"
The woman giggled.
"What about them? They're probably dead already."
"What? No. We have to help them. You have to go get them."
Their hostess whirled on them.
"Enough. I don't have to do a single thing you say. One more word, and I'll peel the skin off your t*ts."
Arrafin and Elena just stared. The woman giggled again.
"But he did have that thing in his head, didn't he? Maybe I should. Maybe. Spells. You wanted spells."
Arrafin hadn't quite kept up with the one-sided conversation.
"What?"
"You said you wanted spells. You'll need to copy them down. The formula. They're probably dead already. And that's a shame. She would be interested in his soul, I think. And your t*ts."
The bizarre woman turned around and continued walking. Elena and Arrafin shared a confused glance. Etienne coughed and lolled his head at their hostess.
"I like her. She's got... pershonalini."
"Put your friend in here."
The woman gestured to a doorway. Inside, the three saw a dust-covered bedroom, crowded with rotting furniture and mouldy curtains.
"Uh."
"Then I can teach you to find your friends yourself."
"Elena, you can take Etienne, right? Here's the skull for him to drink from. Okay? Bye."
Elena watched Arrafin's thin form, her tiny owl still clinging to her shoulder, disappear down the hall with the Lohanese woman and her hulking guards. Leaving her and Etienne alone in the gloomy hallway.
Something chuckled. Elena dragged Etienne into the room and heaved him onto the bed. Clouds of dust rose up and bed half-collapsed with a series of grumbling cracks.
"Oh, I'm sure I'll get better here."
"Why do you always get yourself killed? Seems like I'm always dragging your sorry butt somewhere."
"Yeah. Me and my sorry butt."
*****
"Memorize this. This is a basic spell. It lets you see people at a distance."
Arrafin nodded, already absorbed in the complicated text. Her little owl gave every appearance of reading along with her. The Lohanese woman watched for a few seconds, then spoke quietly to her guards. They nodded and left.
Arrafin ignored them utterly. The math spoke to her. The rest of the world faded into insignificance as she sank into the forumla of the spell, folding it into her mind like a delicate paper flower.
Power.
*****
Footsteps passed in the hall, but from where she sat, Elena could tell nobody had gone by. Voices called out overhead, louder then softer. At one point it sounded like a party going on next door, laughter and music, and then a shrill scream cut it all off.
Elena sat perfectly still beside the bed. She couldn't even bring herself to get up and close the door.
Something breathed heavily out in the hall, panting like an immense hound, its breath wet and fetid. Claws scrabbled on stone. Again that mocking chuckle she'd heard earlier.
"I've got an idea."
Etienne croaked weakly from the bed.
"Next time Arrafin says, 'Let's go off with this total stranger who wants to kill us,' let's you and me hit her on the head until she shuts up."
Elena swallowed. She realised she was clutching the marble skull in her lap and filled it from her waterskin. Her hands shook as she passed the skull to Etienne.
"That's a good plan. You can count on my support."
"Although I guess if that crazy girl wanted to kill us, she'd have already done so."
Etienne winced as his wounds knitted themselves closed.
"Well. Maybe. On the other hand, she's a lot of crazy in a small slutty package."
A woman screamed nearby. Elena had just recovered from the shock when that woman, or possibly some other woman, appeared in the doorway.
This woman was Shaeric, with long dark curls and green eyes. Her skin was pale and her heavy velvet dress looked as dusty as the bedspread Etienne lay sprawled on. The half-Kishak looked over at her.
"Hey. Elena."
"What?"
The woman drifted forward.
"You notice how her feet aren't touching the floor? That's weird."
"Etienne, if she doesn't kill us, I'm going to beat your sorry butt."
"Hold hands. It is very important that you hang on during the travel."
Nevid shook, paler than Isaac even. He hadn't been wounded but clearly the notion of sorcerous travel terrified him.
"I don't want to do this."
Arrafin grabbed his hand.
"Come on, Nevid. This is important."
Isaac took Nevid's other hand. Next to him, Elena, with that immense sword slung over her back, closed the circle with Etienne. The Lohanese woman and her guards faced them, showing no inclination to take their fallen comrades with them.
Serrus stumbled out of the darkness towards them.
"But where are you going? We. What do we do now?"
Isaac turned to him.
"Don't know. And, don't know. Sorry."
Arrafin's face softened.
"Go with God, sir. I'm sorry we brought this upon you. You. You'll be safer without us around, I think."
Serrus just stared, the shock and terror of the last few minutes plain on his lined face.
And shadowy tendrils coiled up out of the ground around the group and swallowed them up. When he looked again, they were gone. Only footprints in the sand showed where they had once stood. Around him lay dead bodies and the remains of his terrified family.
"God, what have you done?"
*****
Like standing in the midst of a dark hurricane.
Like a howling tornado of shadow.
Like waves, black waves pounding down into rock.
Arrafin understood they must be travelling along the "edge", as it were, of the Shadow Realm, able to move at great speed, propelled by the sorceress' will. There was a vague sense of landscapes hurtling by, half-glimpsed through the blinding whirl of shadowy chaos on all sides. Her owl clung to her shoulder, and she felt its strength helping her to understand what she was seeing.
The others had no such context and just tried to hang on to whoever they were clutching, their clothes and gear whipped around them in the hellish gale.
Except Nevid. After a few seconds of the freakish storm, the Saijadani youth had had enough. He yanked his hand free of Arrafin's grip and, as the wind sucked at him, dragging him outwards, tried to free himself from Isaac's much stronger hold.
"Nevid! Hang on!"
Isaac cursed as suddenly Nevid's entire weight seemed to drag at his shoulder. The screaming wind grew even louder, and he could hear other voices crying out, telling him to hang on, but Nevid was slipping.
"Nevid!"
Arrafin shrieked at the Lohanese woman.
"Stop! Nevid's falling!"
The woman made no reaction. Arrafin wondered if shaking the woman out of her trance-like concentration was maybe not the best idea.
"Isaac!"
Now Elena could feel Isaac being pulled out of the circle. She groaned and tried to heave her friend backwards.
"Nevid!"
Pulled in two directions, Isaac swore creatively. He had a sure grip still on Nevid, but now the strain on Elena was growing.
"Elena! Let go!"
"No! Isaac! Hang on!"
"Send her to find us!"
Isaac wrenched his wrist free from Elena's grasp, and then the shadows took hold of him and Nevid.
"Isaac!"
Elena screamed, her voice barely registering above the howling wind. But Isaac and Nevid were gone.
The circle was broken now, and Arrafin was grateful for the powerful grip of the guard beside her. Gral's talons dug into her shoulder. Elena clung to Etienne and the two of them hung on for dear life to the heavy-set guard on the other side of the Lohanese woman. Shadows whipped between them all, wild ribbons and banners of insubstantial darkness flailing in shrieking tides.
There was a sudden sense of masses moving past them, mountains or great buildings, flashing past, and then the terrible gale receded on all sides and they stood in a great half-ruined hall of ancient stone.
High overhead the arches were broken and crumbling. Early-morning sunlight emblazoned the stones with gold.
The distant cries of seabirds seemed like silence after the dark storm they'd passed through. But as their hearing recovered, other sounds rose up.
Faint voices hissed and echoed on all sides. Things rustled and chattered, just out of sight in the gloom. Something laughed, chuckling low and full of menace. On all sides Elena felt the sudden weight of thousands of unseen eyes.
The Lohanese woman bowed with a mocking smile.
"Welcome to Castle Dannockshire."
*****
Shadows howled and bit and snarled at them. Isaac felt as if he were tumbling, unable to find anything to stand on, or cling to, flung back and forth in shrieking currents of dark hunger. The only solid, real thing in existence was Nevid's wrist and he clung to that with all his strength.
The shock of the sudden brightness made him cry out and shield his eyes, and then he realised he was lying on his back on a solid surface.
Sand.
Isaac sat up.
"Oh, that's just great."
He and Nevid sat side-by-side in the middle of a featureless expanse of sand. The sun was not quite over the horizon yet, and now that his eyes were adjusting he could see that it wasn't all that bright after all. Just that where they had been was very, very dark.
They sat in the middle of the desert. No water. No food. Not a sign of civilization or even shade in any direction.
He scowled at Nevid.
"I hope you're happy with yourself."
*****
"You know, as scary and horrible as that whole trip was, I think this place is actually creepier."
Elena and Arrafin helped Etienne follow their hostess. Arrafin nodded at Elena's comment.
"I know. I feel like. Like."
"Like a million evil, hungry spirits are watching you from every corner?"
"About a million, yes. Maybe two."
"Yeah."
Elena raised her voice to reach the woman ahead of them.
"Uh. Excuse me. What about our friends?"
The woman giggled.
"What about them? They're probably dead already."
"What? No. We have to help them. You have to go get them."
Their hostess whirled on them.
"Enough. I don't have to do a single thing you say. One more word, and I'll peel the skin off your t*ts."
Arrafin and Elena just stared. The woman giggled again.
"But he did have that thing in his head, didn't he? Maybe I should. Maybe. Spells. You wanted spells."
Arrafin hadn't quite kept up with the one-sided conversation.
"What?"
"You said you wanted spells. You'll need to copy them down. The formula. They're probably dead already. And that's a shame. She would be interested in his soul, I think. And your t*ts."
The bizarre woman turned around and continued walking. Elena and Arrafin shared a confused glance. Etienne coughed and lolled his head at their hostess.
"I like her. She's got... pershonalini."
"Put your friend in here."
The woman gestured to a doorway. Inside, the three saw a dust-covered bedroom, crowded with rotting furniture and mouldy curtains.
"Uh."
"Then I can teach you to find your friends yourself."
"Elena, you can take Etienne, right? Here's the skull for him to drink from. Okay? Bye."
Elena watched Arrafin's thin form, her tiny owl still clinging to her shoulder, disappear down the hall with the Lohanese woman and her hulking guards. Leaving her and Etienne alone in the gloomy hallway.
Something chuckled. Elena dragged Etienne into the room and heaved him onto the bed. Clouds of dust rose up and bed half-collapsed with a series of grumbling cracks.
"Oh, I'm sure I'll get better here."
"Why do you always get yourself killed? Seems like I'm always dragging your sorry butt somewhere."
"Yeah. Me and my sorry butt."
*****
"Memorize this. This is a basic spell. It lets you see people at a distance."
Arrafin nodded, already absorbed in the complicated text. Her little owl gave every appearance of reading along with her. The Lohanese woman watched for a few seconds, then spoke quietly to her guards. They nodded and left.
Arrafin ignored them utterly. The math spoke to her. The rest of the world faded into insignificance as she sank into the forumla of the spell, folding it into her mind like a delicate paper flower.
Power.
*****
Footsteps passed in the hall, but from where she sat, Elena could tell nobody had gone by. Voices called out overhead, louder then softer. At one point it sounded like a party going on next door, laughter and music, and then a shrill scream cut it all off.
Elena sat perfectly still beside the bed. She couldn't even bring herself to get up and close the door.
Something breathed heavily out in the hall, panting like an immense hound, its breath wet and fetid. Claws scrabbled on stone. Again that mocking chuckle she'd heard earlier.
"I've got an idea."
Etienne croaked weakly from the bed.
"Next time Arrafin says, 'Let's go off with this total stranger who wants to kill us,' let's you and me hit her on the head until she shuts up."
Elena swallowed. She realised she was clutching the marble skull in her lap and filled it from her waterskin. Her hands shook as she passed the skull to Etienne.
"That's a good plan. You can count on my support."
"Although I guess if that crazy girl wanted to kill us, she'd have already done so."
Etienne winced as his wounds knitted themselves closed.
"Well. Maybe. On the other hand, she's a lot of crazy in a small slutty package."
A woman screamed nearby. Elena had just recovered from the shock when that woman, or possibly some other woman, appeared in the doorway.
This woman was Shaeric, with long dark curls and green eyes. Her skin was pale and her heavy velvet dress looked as dusty as the bedspread Etienne lay sprawled on. The half-Kishak looked over at her.
"Hey. Elena."
"What?"
The woman drifted forward.
"You notice how her feet aren't touching the floor? That's weird."
"Etienne, if she doesn't kill us, I'm going to beat your sorry butt."
Desdichado
Hero
Hah! So this is how the defining NPC of the entire campaign got introduced? As a throwaway name you needed to come up with when a throwaway encounter suddenly turned into a negotiation instead of just a straight-up fight?
I find that highly amusing. I may need to have another look at the swashbuckling cards again, now that I may be running again soon. I could use that kind of spontaneity. It'd be fun.
I find that highly amusing. I may need to have another look at the swashbuckling cards again, now that I may be running again soon. I could use that kind of spontaneity. It'd be fun.
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
Yup.Hobo said:
This is why the Swashbuckling Cards come with a warning on the label:
Scratch Factory said:
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
Another Fine Mess: 9
"No doubt you've got some clever plan up your sleeve to get us out of this?"
Isaac scowled at Nevid. The two men walked side-by-side across a vast dusty plain. Gentle dunes rose up a few hundred paces away, seeming to get no nearer as they walked. The sun was steadily climbing above the horizon now, and the heat was growing.
"Or even just a waterskin?"
Nevid made no response.
They walked on in silence for a while, dust rising in billowy plumes around their feet. Isaac winced as his foot came down on a stone and the resulting unbalance set off needles of pain throughout his injuries. He snarled.
"Maybe your precious Isabella can help us. Why don't you send her a report, filed and stamped and sealed, detailing all the relevant points. Like how you pulled me out here. So I can die. In the desert. Of thirst. I hear it's just about the most painful way to die there is, you know. Thanks for that. That's what shows you really care."
Nevid, at last goaded to reaction, turned to retort angrily, but stopped, mouth open and finger held up, staring at something beyond Isaac's shoulder. His shoulders slumped and he sighed.
"Hi, Arrafin."
*****
"We're fine."
Nevid had managed to control his terror this time and stared at the flagstones in the bedroom with Elena, Etienne and Arrafin. Isaac still glowered.
Arrafin was giddy with success.
"I did it! Kani taught me. I found you. It worked."
"How did -- ? No, that's okay. I see Kani had to do the travelling. Any chance you'll pick that up, too?"
"No, that's too complicated for me still. But I did the scrying. I found you."
"Great."
Isaac, passing the marble skull back to Arrafin, lost a bit of his glower as he noticed the expressions on Etienne's and Elena's faces.
"Are you two okay?"
Elena smiled thinly.
"Fine. When are we leaving this place?"
"Leaving?"
Arrafin's crestfallen reaction made no impact on Elena.
"But we just got here. I've only learned the one spell. I need to spend more time, I have to copy out the formula and practice."
"No."
"Elena?"
"No. We have to go. Soon. Now."
Isaac frowned.
"What's -- ?"
"There are THINGS in this place. Bad things. I want to go."
Etienne stood beside her and nodded.
"Yes. Go. Soon. Now."
The other three looked round at each other, confused by the sudden determination of their friends.
"What kind of things?"
"Things that remind me of that little girl in Chimney."
Isaac, Arrafin and Nevid all paled. The room lay in dusty silence for heartbeats. Isaac coughed at last.
"That's a relief. I thought you were going to say things like Collette."
They all chuckled a little bit at that. Isaac looked around. Sunlight angled in between the drapes, highlighting the thick cobwebs everywhere.
"What are they? Ghosts?"
"Something like that, I guess."
"Well, they'll probably stay hidden until nightfall, wouldn't you think?"
Etienne nodded.
"Well, I would. But I think she'd disagree with you."
Isaac turned to find a green-eyed Shaeric woman right behind him. He leapt back with a surprised cry, knocking over a sidetable. The woman stared at him for a second, then turned to study Arrafin. The Naridic girl crept backwards to the wall, trying very hard to smile in a friendly sort of fashion. And failing.
"Hi. I'm. I'm Arrafin."
"Me name is Kaley. Are ye here ta take me away?"
Her soft, singsong accent somehow made her less frightening. Arrafin got her smile going finally.
"No. I don't think so."
The Shaeric woman rotated smoothly in place, and noticed Nevid. She immediately drifted towards him.
Nevid held his hands up.
"No. No. I don't. Wait."
He closed his eyes as she approached. Her strange means of locomotion had not been lost on Nevid, and he fully expected to feel an eldritch chill as her insubstantial fingers passed right through him. Instead, warm hands clasped his.
"I like ye, lad."
Elena managed a grin.
"Great. You can have him. Cheap."
Nevid went very still as the woman pushed forward and sighed against him.
"I like ye. Ye'll help me."
"Oh, no."
Isaac stepped forward.
"Uh. Miss. Miss Kaley. Maybe you can help us. Can you tell us what's going on in this place?"
She turned and stared at him, her emerald eyes wide.
And kept staring.
And kept staring.
Isaac coughed.
"Uh. Miss?"
She smiled and turned back to Nevid.
"Nay. I like this one, sir."
Isaac found a cigar end and shoved it in his mouth, chewing furiously. Arrafin edged forward.
"Kaley, you said you wanted us to help you? Help you do what? Do you want to leave this place?"
"Oh, aye. Aye, I'd love ta go wid ye all. Would ye no take me? Take me out of this place? Take -- ?"
The Shaeric woman's face suddenly distorted as she shrieked, her mouth opening in an impossible gaping circle, and then she plunged straight down through the floor, leaving no mark on the flagstones whatsoever.
Kani stood in the doorway.
"Madame Yuek will see you now."
Arrafin pointed at the floor.
"What was that?"
"A ghost. This castle is greatly haunted."
"Oh. Uh, why does, uh, Madame Yuek live in a haunted castle?"
"She likes the attention."
*****
Everyone's eyes were nearly as wide as Arrafin's as they followed Kani through the crumbling halls of the ancient castle. Every corner seemed to hide some scrabbling figure, every half-open door hid some terrible scene that their imaginations told them was repeated day after day.
"Don't ghosts, you know, sleep during the day?"
Kani laughed her mad giggle.
"Technically, most of these are not ghosts. They are spirits."
Elena tried to keep the conversation going. Anything was better than listening to those chittering voices everywhere.
"The difference being?"
"A ghost is a human soul that is unable or unwilling to cross the Buried Sea and be consumed. A spirit is a denizen of the Dream Worlds who is able to maintain its identity here in the Living World. These spirits are called the Tuthean Tarn. They are found throughout the islands of Shaer."
"I'm a little hazy on my Dream Worlds."
"Perhaps you can ask Madame Yuek about it."
Arrafin jumped into the discussion.
"Is she well-informed on this sort of thing? She's a very skilled sorcerer, right? She's. Who is she?"
"She is my mistress. She is eternal. There are no secrets she does not possess."
Kani gestured to the decrepit iron doors at the end of the hallway.
"And she awaits."
Isaac winced against his injuries.
"Arrafin, if you get us killed by yet another cranky Lohanese bitch, I'm going to be very annoyed."
*****
The doors opened, iron hinges squealing, to reveal a great vaulted chamber that stretched away a hundred paces to a tall dias lit by high windows on all sides. The floor of the hall lay strewn with broken benches and scraps of masonry fallen from the ceiling more than a stone's cast overhead.
Pigeons rustled and murmured to each other on all sides. A gallery encircled three sides of the room, giving the space the air of a theatre or a great king's throne room.
And indeed a great throne stood upon the dias at the far end of the hall. The five friends made their cautious way down a wide aisle towards the throne.
To either side of the throne Kani's hulking guards stood. With them, also one on each side, stood other figures, nearly as large but with a strangely feminine build to their massive bodies. They were dressed in thick black leather drawn taut over their muscles. Strange stitchery wound all over their bodies.
But the figure seated on the throne drew all attention towards her.
At first Arrafin thought it was some kind of doll, a giant porcelain doll. The skin was as white as any marble, the pouting red lips painted on. The black black eyes stared liquid but still, without blinking. The perfect face held still in utter rigidity, not swaying or moving in the slightest.
Arrafin stared. It was beautiful.
It was hard to make out what was person (or doll) and what was throne. The figure's robe was so ornate and massive that it spilled over the arms of the immense seat and flowed down the steps of the dias. Above the head, an immensely elaborate structure of black twists and gold bands rose several feet high.
There was no sign of life or movement in the figure.
Kani stepped forward and knelt. She spoke in some language none of the others understood.
And the thing on the throne smiled.
Etienne's jaw dropped.
"Wow."
All five of them stared as the strange being rose up, still smiling. That perfect face now animated with friendly pleasure stunned them all.
Arrafin realised the woman, or whatever it was, was quite tall. If she stood next to it, her nose would be just above its shoulder.
It came down the first step of the dias.
"Welcome. I am Madame Yuek."
Elena composed herself enough to nudge Arrafin. Her friend turned to her, startled and annoyed but Elena gestured with her hand at Arrafin's shoulder bag. The Naridic girl understood and nodded. She reached into the bag.
Inside her bag Arrafin carried a marble skull that had proven an ability to detect undead creatures. She managed to point it at Madame Yuek without removing it from the bag and concentrated for a second.
Elena watched with alarm as Arrafin fainted and collapsed next to her, and knelt immediately to help her friend. The little owl flapped about her head. As Arrafin stirred and blinked, the Saijadani woman looked up to find Madame Yuek staring. Elena managed somehow to smile.
"So. You're not. Exactly. What you'd call. You know. Alive. Quite."
The woman laughed.
"Oh no. I've been dead a very long time. You would call me a vampire."
Elena, her mouth still hanging open, managed to look over at Isaac. He leaned over to whisper to her.
"Still better than Collette."
"No doubt you've got some clever plan up your sleeve to get us out of this?"
Isaac scowled at Nevid. The two men walked side-by-side across a vast dusty plain. Gentle dunes rose up a few hundred paces away, seeming to get no nearer as they walked. The sun was steadily climbing above the horizon now, and the heat was growing.
"Or even just a waterskin?"
Nevid made no response.
They walked on in silence for a while, dust rising in billowy plumes around their feet. Isaac winced as his foot came down on a stone and the resulting unbalance set off needles of pain throughout his injuries. He snarled.
"Maybe your precious Isabella can help us. Why don't you send her a report, filed and stamped and sealed, detailing all the relevant points. Like how you pulled me out here. So I can die. In the desert. Of thirst. I hear it's just about the most painful way to die there is, you know. Thanks for that. That's what shows you really care."
Nevid, at last goaded to reaction, turned to retort angrily, but stopped, mouth open and finger held up, staring at something beyond Isaac's shoulder. His shoulders slumped and he sighed.
"Hi, Arrafin."
*****
"We're fine."
Nevid had managed to control his terror this time and stared at the flagstones in the bedroom with Elena, Etienne and Arrafin. Isaac still glowered.
Arrafin was giddy with success.
"I did it! Kani taught me. I found you. It worked."
"How did -- ? No, that's okay. I see Kani had to do the travelling. Any chance you'll pick that up, too?"
"No, that's too complicated for me still. But I did the scrying. I found you."
"Great."
Isaac, passing the marble skull back to Arrafin, lost a bit of his glower as he noticed the expressions on Etienne's and Elena's faces.
"Are you two okay?"
Elena smiled thinly.
"Fine. When are we leaving this place?"
"Leaving?"
Arrafin's crestfallen reaction made no impact on Elena.
"But we just got here. I've only learned the one spell. I need to spend more time, I have to copy out the formula and practice."
"No."
"Elena?"
"No. We have to go. Soon. Now."
Isaac frowned.
"What's -- ?"
"There are THINGS in this place. Bad things. I want to go."
Etienne stood beside her and nodded.
"Yes. Go. Soon. Now."
The other three looked round at each other, confused by the sudden determination of their friends.
"What kind of things?"
"Things that remind me of that little girl in Chimney."
Isaac, Arrafin and Nevid all paled. The room lay in dusty silence for heartbeats. Isaac coughed at last.
"That's a relief. I thought you were going to say things like Collette."
They all chuckled a little bit at that. Isaac looked around. Sunlight angled in between the drapes, highlighting the thick cobwebs everywhere.
"What are they? Ghosts?"
"Something like that, I guess."
"Well, they'll probably stay hidden until nightfall, wouldn't you think?"
Etienne nodded.
"Well, I would. But I think she'd disagree with you."
Isaac turned to find a green-eyed Shaeric woman right behind him. He leapt back with a surprised cry, knocking over a sidetable. The woman stared at him for a second, then turned to study Arrafin. The Naridic girl crept backwards to the wall, trying very hard to smile in a friendly sort of fashion. And failing.
"Hi. I'm. I'm Arrafin."
"Me name is Kaley. Are ye here ta take me away?"
Her soft, singsong accent somehow made her less frightening. Arrafin got her smile going finally.
"No. I don't think so."
The Shaeric woman rotated smoothly in place, and noticed Nevid. She immediately drifted towards him.
Nevid held his hands up.
"No. No. I don't. Wait."
He closed his eyes as she approached. Her strange means of locomotion had not been lost on Nevid, and he fully expected to feel an eldritch chill as her insubstantial fingers passed right through him. Instead, warm hands clasped his.
"I like ye, lad."
Elena managed a grin.
"Great. You can have him. Cheap."
Nevid went very still as the woman pushed forward and sighed against him.
"I like ye. Ye'll help me."
"Oh, no."
Isaac stepped forward.
"Uh. Miss. Miss Kaley. Maybe you can help us. Can you tell us what's going on in this place?"
She turned and stared at him, her emerald eyes wide.
And kept staring.
And kept staring.
Isaac coughed.
"Uh. Miss?"
She smiled and turned back to Nevid.
"Nay. I like this one, sir."
Isaac found a cigar end and shoved it in his mouth, chewing furiously. Arrafin edged forward.
"Kaley, you said you wanted us to help you? Help you do what? Do you want to leave this place?"
"Oh, aye. Aye, I'd love ta go wid ye all. Would ye no take me? Take me out of this place? Take -- ?"
The Shaeric woman's face suddenly distorted as she shrieked, her mouth opening in an impossible gaping circle, and then she plunged straight down through the floor, leaving no mark on the flagstones whatsoever.
Kani stood in the doorway.
"Madame Yuek will see you now."
Arrafin pointed at the floor.
"What was that?"
"A ghost. This castle is greatly haunted."
"Oh. Uh, why does, uh, Madame Yuek live in a haunted castle?"
"She likes the attention."
*****
Everyone's eyes were nearly as wide as Arrafin's as they followed Kani through the crumbling halls of the ancient castle. Every corner seemed to hide some scrabbling figure, every half-open door hid some terrible scene that their imaginations told them was repeated day after day.
"Don't ghosts, you know, sleep during the day?"
Kani laughed her mad giggle.
"Technically, most of these are not ghosts. They are spirits."
Elena tried to keep the conversation going. Anything was better than listening to those chittering voices everywhere.
"The difference being?"
"A ghost is a human soul that is unable or unwilling to cross the Buried Sea and be consumed. A spirit is a denizen of the Dream Worlds who is able to maintain its identity here in the Living World. These spirits are called the Tuthean Tarn. They are found throughout the islands of Shaer."
"I'm a little hazy on my Dream Worlds."
"Perhaps you can ask Madame Yuek about it."
Arrafin jumped into the discussion.
"Is she well-informed on this sort of thing? She's a very skilled sorcerer, right? She's. Who is she?"
"She is my mistress. She is eternal. There are no secrets she does not possess."
Kani gestured to the decrepit iron doors at the end of the hallway.
"And she awaits."
Isaac winced against his injuries.
"Arrafin, if you get us killed by yet another cranky Lohanese bitch, I'm going to be very annoyed."
*****
The doors opened, iron hinges squealing, to reveal a great vaulted chamber that stretched away a hundred paces to a tall dias lit by high windows on all sides. The floor of the hall lay strewn with broken benches and scraps of masonry fallen from the ceiling more than a stone's cast overhead.
Pigeons rustled and murmured to each other on all sides. A gallery encircled three sides of the room, giving the space the air of a theatre or a great king's throne room.
And indeed a great throne stood upon the dias at the far end of the hall. The five friends made their cautious way down a wide aisle towards the throne.
To either side of the throne Kani's hulking guards stood. With them, also one on each side, stood other figures, nearly as large but with a strangely feminine build to their massive bodies. They were dressed in thick black leather drawn taut over their muscles. Strange stitchery wound all over their bodies.
But the figure seated on the throne drew all attention towards her.
At first Arrafin thought it was some kind of doll, a giant porcelain doll. The skin was as white as any marble, the pouting red lips painted on. The black black eyes stared liquid but still, without blinking. The perfect face held still in utter rigidity, not swaying or moving in the slightest.
Arrafin stared. It was beautiful.
It was hard to make out what was person (or doll) and what was throne. The figure's robe was so ornate and massive that it spilled over the arms of the immense seat and flowed down the steps of the dias. Above the head, an immensely elaborate structure of black twists and gold bands rose several feet high.
There was no sign of life or movement in the figure.
Kani stepped forward and knelt. She spoke in some language none of the others understood.
And the thing on the throne smiled.
Etienne's jaw dropped.
"Wow."
All five of them stared as the strange being rose up, still smiling. That perfect face now animated with friendly pleasure stunned them all.
Arrafin realised the woman, or whatever it was, was quite tall. If she stood next to it, her nose would be just above its shoulder.
It came down the first step of the dias.
"Welcome. I am Madame Yuek."
Elena composed herself enough to nudge Arrafin. Her friend turned to her, startled and annoyed but Elena gestured with her hand at Arrafin's shoulder bag. The Naridic girl understood and nodded. She reached into the bag.
Inside her bag Arrafin carried a marble skull that had proven an ability to detect undead creatures. She managed to point it at Madame Yuek without removing it from the bag and concentrated for a second.
Elena watched with alarm as Arrafin fainted and collapsed next to her, and knelt immediately to help her friend. The little owl flapped about her head. As Arrafin stirred and blinked, the Saijadani woman looked up to find Madame Yuek staring. Elena managed somehow to smile.
"So. You're not. Exactly. What you'd call. You know. Alive. Quite."
The woman laughed.
"Oh no. I've been dead a very long time. You would call me a vampire."
Elena, her mouth still hanging open, managed to look over at Isaac. He leaned over to whisper to her.
"Still better than Collette."
Last edited:
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
Isaac was very rarely killed by cranky Lohanese chicks.shilsen said:
It has to be said though that had there been less cranky women around, Isaac's life would have been a LOT more peaceful.
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
Another Fine Mess: 10
Nevid stared.
The woman from his dreams. Laughing in the midst of unthinkable destruction. Corpses as far as the horizon in all directions. Flames, blackened shells of buildings. Rivers boiled in their beds. A city aflame. Laughter, sweet and beautiful.
Madame Yuek Man Chong stood in perfect immobile stillness, looking down at where Arrafin tried to get to her feet. The vampire made no unconscious moves, did not breathe or blink or shift her feet. She was a statue, posed and draped in outrageous brilliant silks. Nevid realised that the towering structure above her head, loops and towers bedecked with golden bells and gems and pins, was in fact the vampire's hair. He wondered at the strength it must take to keep her head upright with all that weight upon it, but Madame Yuek showed no sign of strain.
Or indeed, life.
Arrafin stood, and the vampire's eyes, dark liquid orbs, tracked the girl's movement. Madame Yuek smiled and Nevid's mouth opened silently.
If it had been a woman, it would have been the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. But there was no mistaking this alabaster creature for a woman. Nevid had the impression that bullets fired at her would simply crush themselves against her skin. There was no sense of softness to her; she seemed impossibly hard and indestructible.
She spoke. Her voice was low, rich and amused, her Imperial Kishak accented with long vowels.
"You must be the girl Kani has been talking about."
Her long-fingered hand reached forward.
"So lovely."
Arrafin stared just as Nevid did. She made no reaction as those long, ebony-tipped fingers drifted towards her. Gral fluffed his feathers up on her shoulder, and that seemed to shake Arrafin out of her distraction.
The Naridic girl straightened up and managed to inhale.
"Yes. I mean. I'm Arrafin. I. I want some spells."
She pointed at Elena, who carried a long bundle strapped over her back.
"We brought this. For spells."
Arrafin's initial shock was fading, and Nevid saw her expression transform into her typical curiousity as she took in more details about the creature in front of her.
"What are you? You're a sorceress, right? You must have all sorts of spells. Is there a way to create new spells? How did you learn sorcery?"
Madame Yuek smiled again and rose to survey the entire group. Nevid felt his body recoil, a sudden nausea strike him, and he realised it was the intense sorcerous energy radiating out from the creature. He stepped back at the same time as everyone else, still stunned from her presence.
"You may call us Madame Yuek. Show us the Talon."
Nobody moved. Madame Yuek smiled at Elena, who started, leapt back another step, and then unshouldered her burden. The rug-wrapped bundle crashed to the floor. Madame Yuek snapped her fingers and Kani rushed forward to unwrap it. Inside lay a mammoth black-bladed sword.
"How delightful."
Isaac coughed.
"Uh, Madame, uh, You-Ek. We were -- "
"Silence."
Smile gone, the vampire looked them over. It struck Nevid that if she decided to kill them all, there was not a thing they could do about it. He considered the massive, bizarre figures standing behind the throne. They were female, unquestionably, but their flat, empty eyes and weirdly humped muscles hinted at dark sorceries in their creation. He realised, with a sudden, skin-crawling revelation, that their leather garments were actually stitched right to their skin. Nevid saw Madame Yuek's eyes come back to Arrafin, and her smile return.
"You had some questions."
Elena found some portion of her usual sarcasm to respond before Arrafin.
"She usually does."
Madame Yuek looked Elena over very carefully, without losing her smile. Elena wished very much she'd kept her mouth shut, and only relaxed once that predatory gaze had returned to Arrafin.
"Very well."
The vampire turned her back on them and ascended to her throne. Her costume rippled in the air around her, tendrils waving out an armspan or more, forming a scintillating halo of crimson and gold that framed her perfect face. She reached the throne and turned to sit. Nevid watched in fascination at the perfection of her movements. Everything was conscious in this creature, everything was planned and coordinated.
He noticed for the first time a young girl curled up at the foot of the throne, a Lohanese child of perhaps twelve years old. Her beautiful face was vacant of expression, staring without comprehension. Nevid found her creepier than the freakish bodyguards.
"You may each ask of us one question. We will answer, honestly and as completely as we can. You have brought us the Talon, and this shall be your reward."
Those ancient dark eyes drifted back to Arrafin once more.
"And you interest us."
The hall was quiet for a few heartbeats. Nevid managed to tear his eyes from their vampire hostess and her entourage to look around. The high windows behind the throne opened onto empty air. Far below the surface of the sea churned and frothed in a narrow channel. Beyond steep cliffs rose up and a range of mountains continued on, their lower slopes darkly wooded.
Above the five friends Madame Yuek sat, now perfectly still on her throne. If he hadn't seen her move Nevid would have assumed it was a graven statue.
He tried to speak, managed only a cough, but stepped forward.
"Madame Yuek. I. I have a question."
"No, wait."
Everyone turned at Arrafin's outburst. She wilted a little under the attention but rallied as soon as she recalled her thinking. She rushed forward to her friends and they huddled around, trying to ignore the curious yet amused study of their hostess.
"Okay, we need to plan this. We need to have a plan."
"For the questions?"
"Yes. This is our chance to find out what's really going on. She knows everything. She's probably a thousand years old. And she's going to tell us whatever we want to know."
Isaac grimaced.
"I pretty much just want to know how we're getting the hell out of here."
Etienne nodded his agreeement.
"No. We have to plan this out, and ask the really important questions. We can't waste this opportunity."
"Getting out of here alive is really important to me. How do we know she's not going to answer our questions and then just eat us?"
Nevid answered Isaac's question.
"What could we do about it anyway?"
The five looked around at each other. Isaac sighed.
"Okay, nothing. Fine. Let's talk questions."
Etienne spoke up.
"I still want to ask if she's going to eat us."
"That's a reasonable question," Elena agreed.
Arrafin groaned.
"Come on, you guys. We need to get some information. We can ask about this amulet we got from Adil. And the skull. And what the Tyrant's Shade is. And the Blood Council. And that Matai Shang character."
Getting into the flow of Arrafin's enthusiasm, Etienne nodded.
"Yeah. And Elena's brain."
Elena glowered, but Etienne was unfazed.
"Maybe you can kill things with your brain. That would come in handy."
Nevid sighed and turned away from his friends to face Madame Yuek.
"Madame Yuek. Can you explain why your, uh, associate, was laughing at me? She said she recognized something in me."
The other four stopped arguing and stared at their friend in varying degrees of consternation.
The vampire considered, tilting her head. That slight motion caused a cascade of tinkling bells in her towering hairdo.
"Your soul is not entirely your own. An aspect of what you carry within you bears a certain nostalgic value to us.
"The human soul is real and its structure is knowable. And considerably more complex than most people imagine. The employ of sorcery requires one to risk one's own soul to the hunger of Shadow, and the affects of that use are unpredictable and usually deadly."
She smiled brightly.
"Unless of course one is already dead. All great sorcerers are undead. It's the only way to be safe."
"I see. Uh. Thank you, Madame Yuek."
As Nevid bowed, Isaac stepped forward with a glare at Arrafin.
"Madame, uh, whatever. This sword. We know it kills, uh, vampires. Which you say you are. So why should we give it you?"
One eyebrow cocked upward.
"You have already given it to us. If you think you can take it back, you are welcome to try."
"Well. But."
She chuckled.
"It is an item of great power. We are by no means the only one interested in it. And we promise you, we are far from the least pleasant.
"We have taken it from you and you cannot retrieve it. And yet we are willing to pay you for it, when we do not have to. We are not simply killing you as we assure you we could."
A very intimidating air of menace built up around her, but Isaac managed to maintain his composure enough to point at the other Lohanese woman.
"She was going to simply kill us."
"Kani is a dear girl, but you mustn't think her rational. She's quite insane, you know. We've been torturing her since she was born."
Madame Yuek smiled brightly around at the group.
"Next question?"
"Who are the Blood Council and what are they trying to do? And why has Matai Shang tried to take them over?"
Arrafin was going to protest that Elena had just asked two questions, maybe even three, but decided to keep her mouth shut at the sudden fury that erupted on Madame Yuek's perfect face.
"Those f**king c**ts think they're so smart."
With obvious effort the vampire controlled her anger.
"The Blood Council are nothing anymore. They have been crushed from the outside, and now infiltrated from within."
She fumed, drumming her fingers on the arm of her throne. The laquered nails rattled like a military drum corps.
"They once had a great purpose. To protect humanity from itself. But they are nothing now. Only a shell of what they once were. Shang."
Nevid saw the greater fire that burned in her dark eyes at the name. Obviously Matai Shang and Madame Yuek had some sort of history.
"Shang seeks power, like all sorcerers. And power cannot abide rivals. The possession of power generates paranoia, for power held must be defended. And the greater your power, the more dangerous your rivals become.
"Most sorcerers kill themselves attempting spells they are not capable of. Those who survive are almost always killed by more powerful sorcerers."
Arrafin spoke without thinking.
"But you haven't killed me."
The vampire smiled, a wicked smile full of promise that knocked the breath from Arrafin's lungs.
"Not yet."
Nevid stared.
The woman from his dreams. Laughing in the midst of unthinkable destruction. Corpses as far as the horizon in all directions. Flames, blackened shells of buildings. Rivers boiled in their beds. A city aflame. Laughter, sweet and beautiful.
Madame Yuek Man Chong stood in perfect immobile stillness, looking down at where Arrafin tried to get to her feet. The vampire made no unconscious moves, did not breathe or blink or shift her feet. She was a statue, posed and draped in outrageous brilliant silks. Nevid realised that the towering structure above her head, loops and towers bedecked with golden bells and gems and pins, was in fact the vampire's hair. He wondered at the strength it must take to keep her head upright with all that weight upon it, but Madame Yuek showed no sign of strain.
Or indeed, life.
Arrafin stood, and the vampire's eyes, dark liquid orbs, tracked the girl's movement. Madame Yuek smiled and Nevid's mouth opened silently.
If it had been a woman, it would have been the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. But there was no mistaking this alabaster creature for a woman. Nevid had the impression that bullets fired at her would simply crush themselves against her skin. There was no sense of softness to her; she seemed impossibly hard and indestructible.
She spoke. Her voice was low, rich and amused, her Imperial Kishak accented with long vowels.
"You must be the girl Kani has been talking about."
Her long-fingered hand reached forward.
"So lovely."
Arrafin stared just as Nevid did. She made no reaction as those long, ebony-tipped fingers drifted towards her. Gral fluffed his feathers up on her shoulder, and that seemed to shake Arrafin out of her distraction.
The Naridic girl straightened up and managed to inhale.
"Yes. I mean. I'm Arrafin. I. I want some spells."
She pointed at Elena, who carried a long bundle strapped over her back.
"We brought this. For spells."
Arrafin's initial shock was fading, and Nevid saw her expression transform into her typical curiousity as she took in more details about the creature in front of her.
"What are you? You're a sorceress, right? You must have all sorts of spells. Is there a way to create new spells? How did you learn sorcery?"
Madame Yuek smiled again and rose to survey the entire group. Nevid felt his body recoil, a sudden nausea strike him, and he realised it was the intense sorcerous energy radiating out from the creature. He stepped back at the same time as everyone else, still stunned from her presence.
"You may call us Madame Yuek. Show us the Talon."
Nobody moved. Madame Yuek smiled at Elena, who started, leapt back another step, and then unshouldered her burden. The rug-wrapped bundle crashed to the floor. Madame Yuek snapped her fingers and Kani rushed forward to unwrap it. Inside lay a mammoth black-bladed sword.
"How delightful."
Isaac coughed.
"Uh, Madame, uh, You-Ek. We were -- "
"Silence."
Smile gone, the vampire looked them over. It struck Nevid that if she decided to kill them all, there was not a thing they could do about it. He considered the massive, bizarre figures standing behind the throne. They were female, unquestionably, but their flat, empty eyes and weirdly humped muscles hinted at dark sorceries in their creation. He realised, with a sudden, skin-crawling revelation, that their leather garments were actually stitched right to their skin. Nevid saw Madame Yuek's eyes come back to Arrafin, and her smile return.
"You had some questions."
Elena found some portion of her usual sarcasm to respond before Arrafin.
"She usually does."
Madame Yuek looked Elena over very carefully, without losing her smile. Elena wished very much she'd kept her mouth shut, and only relaxed once that predatory gaze had returned to Arrafin.
"Very well."
The vampire turned her back on them and ascended to her throne. Her costume rippled in the air around her, tendrils waving out an armspan or more, forming a scintillating halo of crimson and gold that framed her perfect face. She reached the throne and turned to sit. Nevid watched in fascination at the perfection of her movements. Everything was conscious in this creature, everything was planned and coordinated.
He noticed for the first time a young girl curled up at the foot of the throne, a Lohanese child of perhaps twelve years old. Her beautiful face was vacant of expression, staring without comprehension. Nevid found her creepier than the freakish bodyguards.
"You may each ask of us one question. We will answer, honestly and as completely as we can. You have brought us the Talon, and this shall be your reward."
Those ancient dark eyes drifted back to Arrafin once more.
"And you interest us."
The hall was quiet for a few heartbeats. Nevid managed to tear his eyes from their vampire hostess and her entourage to look around. The high windows behind the throne opened onto empty air. Far below the surface of the sea churned and frothed in a narrow channel. Beyond steep cliffs rose up and a range of mountains continued on, their lower slopes darkly wooded.
Above the five friends Madame Yuek sat, now perfectly still on her throne. If he hadn't seen her move Nevid would have assumed it was a graven statue.
He tried to speak, managed only a cough, but stepped forward.
"Madame Yuek. I. I have a question."
"No, wait."
Everyone turned at Arrafin's outburst. She wilted a little under the attention but rallied as soon as she recalled her thinking. She rushed forward to her friends and they huddled around, trying to ignore the curious yet amused study of their hostess.
"Okay, we need to plan this. We need to have a plan."
"For the questions?"
"Yes. This is our chance to find out what's really going on. She knows everything. She's probably a thousand years old. And she's going to tell us whatever we want to know."
Isaac grimaced.
"I pretty much just want to know how we're getting the hell out of here."
Etienne nodded his agreeement.
"No. We have to plan this out, and ask the really important questions. We can't waste this opportunity."
"Getting out of here alive is really important to me. How do we know she's not going to answer our questions and then just eat us?"
Nevid answered Isaac's question.
"What could we do about it anyway?"
The five looked around at each other. Isaac sighed.
"Okay, nothing. Fine. Let's talk questions."
Etienne spoke up.
"I still want to ask if she's going to eat us."
"That's a reasonable question," Elena agreed.
Arrafin groaned.
"Come on, you guys. We need to get some information. We can ask about this amulet we got from Adil. And the skull. And what the Tyrant's Shade is. And the Blood Council. And that Matai Shang character."
Getting into the flow of Arrafin's enthusiasm, Etienne nodded.
"Yeah. And Elena's brain."
Elena glowered, but Etienne was unfazed.
"Maybe you can kill things with your brain. That would come in handy."
Nevid sighed and turned away from his friends to face Madame Yuek.
"Madame Yuek. Can you explain why your, uh, associate, was laughing at me? She said she recognized something in me."
The other four stopped arguing and stared at their friend in varying degrees of consternation.
The vampire considered, tilting her head. That slight motion caused a cascade of tinkling bells in her towering hairdo.
"Your soul is not entirely your own. An aspect of what you carry within you bears a certain nostalgic value to us.
"The human soul is real and its structure is knowable. And considerably more complex than most people imagine. The employ of sorcery requires one to risk one's own soul to the hunger of Shadow, and the affects of that use are unpredictable and usually deadly."
She smiled brightly.
"Unless of course one is already dead. All great sorcerers are undead. It's the only way to be safe."
"I see. Uh. Thank you, Madame Yuek."
As Nevid bowed, Isaac stepped forward with a glare at Arrafin.
"Madame, uh, whatever. This sword. We know it kills, uh, vampires. Which you say you are. So why should we give it you?"
One eyebrow cocked upward.
"You have already given it to us. If you think you can take it back, you are welcome to try."
"Well. But."
She chuckled.
"It is an item of great power. We are by no means the only one interested in it. And we promise you, we are far from the least pleasant.
"We have taken it from you and you cannot retrieve it. And yet we are willing to pay you for it, when we do not have to. We are not simply killing you as we assure you we could."
A very intimidating air of menace built up around her, but Isaac managed to maintain his composure enough to point at the other Lohanese woman.
"She was going to simply kill us."
"Kani is a dear girl, but you mustn't think her rational. She's quite insane, you know. We've been torturing her since she was born."
Madame Yuek smiled brightly around at the group.
"Next question?"
"Who are the Blood Council and what are they trying to do? And why has Matai Shang tried to take them over?"
Arrafin was going to protest that Elena had just asked two questions, maybe even three, but decided to keep her mouth shut at the sudden fury that erupted on Madame Yuek's perfect face.
"Those f**king c**ts think they're so smart."
With obvious effort the vampire controlled her anger.
"The Blood Council are nothing anymore. They have been crushed from the outside, and now infiltrated from within."
She fumed, drumming her fingers on the arm of her throne. The laquered nails rattled like a military drum corps.
"They once had a great purpose. To protect humanity from itself. But they are nothing now. Only a shell of what they once were. Shang."
Nevid saw the greater fire that burned in her dark eyes at the name. Obviously Matai Shang and Madame Yuek had some sort of history.
"Shang seeks power, like all sorcerers. And power cannot abide rivals. The possession of power generates paranoia, for power held must be defended. And the greater your power, the more dangerous your rivals become.
"Most sorcerers kill themselves attempting spells they are not capable of. Those who survive are almost always killed by more powerful sorcerers."
Arrafin spoke without thinking.
"But you haven't killed me."
The vampire smiled, a wicked smile full of promise that knocked the breath from Arrafin's lungs.
"Not yet."
Last edited:
shilsen
Adventurer
barsoomcore said:
OMG - Madame Yuek is Padme Amidala!
Rule 3 of horror gaming: Little girls are the creepiest thing in existence.
There's a reason why 50% of the stories on the Creepiest Gaming Tales (or something approximating to that) involve kids of some kind.
Nice. In my experience, powerful villains who smile a lot are way scarier than the raving, ranting, monologuing ones.
Very nice, as usual.
Desdichado
Hero
Brilliant as always.
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