In the Guard room, Elsa collapsed, sinking into darkness as the prison break she had made happen raged around her. Holding in her intestines, her last thought was that this must surely be her end.
And it was….however….
Tasting the coppery tang of blood in her mouth, Elsa slowly become aware of music playing softly in the darkness. Something that sounded sophisticated, with lots of strings. Then the soft clatter of cutlery on fine china and the occasional murmur of well trained servants. A flickering, reddish light began to filter through her eyelids. A smooth male voice was speaking, a voice which seemed to trigger distant memories, memories that seemed so far away.
The voice laughed softly. "Ah good...you are becoming aware....'
As reality set in for her, Elsa considers playing dead while she became more aware of her surroundings until the flickering reddish light causes her to react, thus she slowly opens her eyes trying to focus on her surroundings. One arm was around her stomach protectively, but any bleeding seemed to have stopped.
She was laying on a comfortable daybed in what seemed to be a well-appointed mead hall in Rohan. Nothing large and imposing but very homey and tasteful, perhaps the private chambers of a powerful Thane. Above her were ornate tapestries depicting moments from Rohirric history she couldn't seem to recall…such as the sons of Eorl making blood pacts with red hooded strangers. Near the daybed was a well laid table, a man in crimson robes was seated and dining on roast boar and good ale. An empty place was laid.
The handsome gray-haired man smiled at her, the silver of his teeth catching the candlelight. "Ahhh...the dearly departed has arrived at last....the wake can begin. Join me, won’t you?'
Ellsabeth sat up allowing reality to settle in quietly as she examined the stranger warily.
He smiled at her. “You must be quite disoriented...the newly arrived often are. We have met before though you may not recall...I am Desad, Deacon of the Last Breath and this is...well....your last breath."
He took a long, sensual drink of ale. She could smell it, fresh and rich, and it made her head spin.
Ellsabeth widened her eyes at the mentioning of his name. She remained seated on the bed, keeping her distance. "Where am I?"
Desad looked around. “Pleasant, isn’t it? This is the place in between....the moment between your cruelly abbreviated life and your I am sure richly deserved final rewards. Somewhere out there your brain has not realized what your body already knows...that is...that you are dead.'
He smiled. "Quite literally...you are holding your last breath.' He sliced off a small bit of roast boar, stabbed it with an ornate fork and ate it. "Mmmmmmm..the sauce MUST have truffles in it, but beyond that...it is a mystery but simply divine. It truly brings out the character of the meat without letting it descend into gamey.” He carefully served a juicy slice onto the waiting empty plate'
Ellsabeth bit her lip, 'If that is true what evil have I done that I would be tortured with your presence in the final moments?'
He laughed. "I am sorry dear, but a tally of sins is the NEXT stage of your little journey, judgments of that sort really are not in my line. For the moment you are in MY realm, as we need to have a little chat. Ale?'
Ellsabeth glared, 'What kind of chat? If these are my final moments there are much better things that I wish to see and enjoy instead of looking at your ugly mug for what little time I have left.'
“From the moment your heart stopped, you lost the ability to make such choices dear..” his voice had gone harder and more menacing, yet still conversational. “…but come, I promise whatever we discuss you will profit from. After all, it can't KILL you.” He laughed at his own wit as he served some roasted carrots and mushrooms alongside the meat. “I suggest you relax, this will be the last good meal you have for...oh...several ages at the least. Let your hair down...go wild.”
Ellsabeth remained motionless considering the request. She was happy to stay right where she was but curiosity had taken hold so she decided to get up and humor him by at least coming to sit where he had indicated at the table...or that was what she told herself.
Desad nodded his head softly and smiled indulgently at her as if she were a truculent teenager finally come down our of her room to dinner. "Enchanted, dear..such a lovely dining companion. Now then...as I said, at the moment you are in a crossroads...neither/nor as one would have it. Most people go through this crossroads in an instant, unaware of it in the least. You, however, I have stopped here like a carriage waylaid upon a bridge.”
Ellsabeth glared again, 'And why should I get the honor...is this your way of gloating in what few moments I have left?'
He poured her sweet, golden ale in a lovely, silver chased horn. 'Not at all....I brought you here to discuss business....after all, you have been sorely miss used by a certain meddling hag who shall remain nameless, but her initials are Moyna.'
Ellsabeth picked up the horn to look at it. Keeping her eyes locked on his face she held her arm out to the side, tipping over the horn and causing the contents to pour onto the floor.
"Such a waste,,,but that is certainly your right.' He sighed, and took another sip from his own horn. As he drank, she realized that she recognized the horns. They were from a set given by her grandfather to her father. In fact it had been in her family long before her grandfather, according to the tale she had been told. Her father had always said they had been given to an ancestor by a business partner, the man whose trade contracts allowed her family to rise to such wealth and prominence. If that were so, how did this Deacon of Angmar come to have them?
Desad patted his lips with a napkin. 'Surely you must see by now that the old crone means you no good, especially after meeting your charming sister.'
Ellsabeth put the horns out of her mind, 'All I know is that my so called sister stabbed me. Until that point I never even knew I had a sister.'
“You and poor Gerda are simply pawns in the latest battle of a long, sordid family squabble.” He took another bite of the meat, making a low “mmmm” noise with his eyes closed.
Ellsabeth snorted and tried to ignore the delicious scent of the roast. 'Good. I love family drama.'
Desad paused to swallow before speaking. 'Indeed...she was spirited away at birth, so tragically. As you would have been as well, since there was no way to know WHICH of you would inherit the blood wards so cruelly and thoughtlessly bestowed on you by Moyna. Truly….you, her own daughter and grandchildren, that urchin she tried to hide…that woman should NEVER have been allowed near children.”
He shook his head and continued, taking a slice of fresh, warm bread and spreading butter across it. “Unfortunately, Homonculi can be clumsy and your erstwhile parents were alerted before you could be gathered up and so my masters made the best of a bad show, and prepared young Gerda to kill you eventually, among others things.'
Ellsabeth shook her head, trying not to stare at the butter melting into the bread. How long had it been since she had eaten? Days? “For what purpose? Simply because I have these Blood Wards that you speak of?'
“Blood wards can be quite powerful and unpredictable and my Masters hate unpredictability above all...however, I am not content with seeing you dead, not when there is more....equitable terms to come to.' He took a bite of the bread, chewing slowly.
Ellsabeth swallowed. 'Terms...what terms do you think I would possibly agree to with you?'
Swallowing, Desad smiled. 'There really is no need for this to be the end....I could restore you to the world of the supposedly living quite easily.'
'At what cost?' Elsa’s eye narrowed.
He opened a beautiful wooden box off to the side of the table, and took out two silver tin soldiers. As she looked at them the seemed to move slightly, as if breathing. Staring at them, she rapidly realized that they were perfect silver statues of your parents.'
Dead’s voice lowered to a warm, soft purr. 'You are not ALL that I could restore...though they have been quite able slaves. I could release them were the price right.”
Ellsabeth focused on the statues remaining quiet for a moment. "They are dead. Long dead. I don't know what trick you are trying to play."
“Trick? TRICK?” Desad’s voice rose in comic operetta offense. “The dead are my raison d'etre dear lady...I harvested your parents those few years ago and have kept them close for JUST this moment.
Ellsabeth continued to watch the little silver people, 'And what moment would this be?'
The Deacon of Angmar smiled broadly, the silver of his teeth reflecting the red candlelight. 'When you would pass through my chambers....like a bashful bride unprepared for the sordid climax of her courtship with no mother to guide her. Your life...and their lives....and protection from Gerda...in exchange for a small task. Would any kindly, older father-figure not offer this much to a buxom yet unworldly orphan like yourself?”
Ellsabeth ignored his insinuations and stayed focused. 'What kind of "Small" task?'
Desad nodded…resting one hand flat on the table between the silver statues. 'If..and it is a LARGE if, your supposed friends find the Chalice Without Mercy....see that they do not leave the Fields of Fornost with it.'
Elsa shook her head firmly, 'No Deal.'
'You are content to die...to leave your parents in my service? These people are simply using you, dear child, or has that not become clear?' Desad gently pushed the two figures closer to Elsa, though they both seemed to quail and cower in fear.
Ellsabeth scowled, 'What makes you think I would betray my friends like that?'
The Man sneered slightly. 'You, like they are just pawns of old Moyna, as Gerda is a pawn of Aganalu. Between them, those two sisters will leave you all in ruins and burn both East and West. Break the cycle, help me....otherwise in victory my Guild will become too powerful for even the Gurzyul who think they control Angmar to contain.'
He held out his hand to her but Elsa rose and turned away. 'I am happy with the choices made thus far. I will remain here your prisoner for any and all ages while my friends continue and get the chalice. Hopefully they will see to your defeat with it.'
Desad sighed dramatically. “You have no need to suffer for those who would not do so for you...and trust me...you WILL suffer.'
-
Meanwhile underground, Calidis and Xanderian were helping Dee to follow the departing Ungoledain, Eduwiges following behind deep in thought. It was clear that her plan did not go quite the way she had expected. As they followed the spiders deeper into the prison they could hear alarms and screams all around them. The prisoners were clearly taking revenge on the guards during their escape.
Eduwiges took a deep breath and watched her new little spider pet crawl back out on her shoulder, she reached into her pouch and pulled out a bit of dried meat and fed it to the spider then petted her little head. “Here ya go…eat up Squishy.
Calidis pretended to not notice Edu petting a spider for the sake of her own sanity, muttering under her breath “She named it SQUISHY???”. She held Dee more securely in her arms and winced a bit at the screams.
Xanderian was thinking furiously as she walked. "So Daedre, you pretended to believe the ruse was real, and then allowed yourself to be captured...and the man who supposedly betrayed you was part of the ruse?
Dee nodded weakly. "But then things became...well...fecked up. I didn’t know about the spider people, I don’t think anyone did. As they drugged me, they saw my plan in my mind and gave me another offer....it seems we have the same goal more or less.'
Calidis frowned a bit as she continued to follow. "Something tells me there is more to this goal of yours than you are saying."
Eduwiges rushed through the corridor past them. She was confused, a bit traumatized but focused and looking for something to punch. 'Well Xan, you wanted a diversion. You got it' she laughed a bit approaching hysteria. She kept her sword handy but at the moment did not feel threatened...which was disappointing her just a little.
Dee looked at Eduwiges..."And she...she was....unexpected.'
Xan tilted her head softly...."Unexpected…or unknown?”
The older woman sighed. "Unexpected...what is she doing here? What are the feckin odds?'
Eduwiges cracked her knuckles, 'Yeah I am always a surprise. I think you need to start giving me some answers. Who are you? What do you know of my mother?'
The group came to a halt before another armored door. Laying in front of it were three guards, clearly beaten to death by escaped prisoners. Several of the small spiders scurried into the lock and got to work as Xan looked at Dee. "I think my lynx is correct....at least SOME answers would be timely. As for why she is here, she was looking for you. An old man named Ordan suggested she find you.'
Dee look confused. "Ordan? I don’t know any....ooohhh....Ord. That stupid bastard....answers? Alright....He must have told you about the Blood Eye..and Sarick and me if he sent you looking. Well, after we made the deal with those Angmar bastards, things went from bad to worse. Suddenly the boys were listening to Erach and his Angmar magicians and not Sarick or their underbosses. More and more of the recruits were loyal to those fecking priests and not us..or even to profit. We had lost control and if it went on much longer, we were gonna lose a lot more.
Dee sighed, her voice nearly breaking. 'It reached a point Sarick decided enough was enough and he was going to go to Angmar and offer them gold to let us out of the deal...a LOT of gold. Sarick could never imagine something gold could not do. To be fair, back then, neither could I…I have learned otherwise the hard way, and so did he.
Dee stood as she regained her strength. “I begged him not to go but he went no matter what I said because he was a bastard. He was a week off at sea when I started puking and suspected what was up. Another couple weeks I knew. I'd been lumbered like a amateur. About a month after I had the baby, four arseholes tried to kill me. They were members of the Eye, my own boys, and they tried to KILL ME. That was when I knew I would never see Sarick again and that I had been smart to hide the fact I had a baby. Living in a cave when I got fat was hell but I managed it. I was willing to roll my own dice and take the wins and the losses, I had been doin’ so since I could walk...but the baby....my daughter...HIS daughter. I had to get her away.”
Eduwiges began to get her muley look on her face as what she was about to hear dawned on her.
Dee swallowed hard, looked away and continued. 'I knew Alfara, ole’ Knockdoor wanted out and he had a sweet set up waiting for him in Rohan. His wife Rowenna had been like a kid sister to me. I knew I could trust her...so I gave her the baby. God knows they had been banging like rabid weasals for years so no one questioned the pillow she shoved under her skirt after disappearing for a few months. Alfara made it legal and they started their new life. They left Ost Rimmon a couple thieves on the run with a loaf in the oven…They got out of the wagon in Faldham an upstanding Rohir couple at least on the surface, with a sweet little baby girl.'
The woman kicked a stone nervously. “And I searched for what happened to Sarick...and I found out. Those Angmar bastards, Erach himself I bet, made him something...unnatural and stuck him in some tomb in Angmar. Big joke it must have been...He wanted out? Well now he would NEVER be out...now he was an immortal monster at their beck and call. Even now thinking of it makes me so gorblasted MAD!"
She turned angrily and came face to face with Eduwiges, and her eyes fell, unable to meet the younger woman’s eyes. "I ain’t gonna say I am sorry, Eduwhatever the feck she named you...I ain’t sorry, I saved your fecking life...and from the looks of ya you done alright. I got NUTHIN to feel guilty for and if you think I do, well you can go jump off the Pier, naked as the Steward.'
Eduwiges had every emotion possible cross her face, anger, rage, fear, understanding and strangest of all, love. She shook it off and said quietly, 'So, you’re my mother?'
Dee looked up at her in surprise and dearly laughed. 'Lord you're big like my aunt Dalia...bet you can lift a horse.” She frowned, but did not let her eyes drop again. No...Rowenna was your mother. She took care of ya, changed yer nappys…did mother things. I just got stupid when I was trying to convince Sarick not to go and lost track of days and ended up in trouble….But I didn't want you to pay the price for what he did...what WE did...but that don’t make me no mother.'
"That in itself was an act of a mother's love," said Calidis quietly.
Eduwiges said in a low voice, 'My mot….Rowenna…She died when I was very young.'
Dee looked at her, real pain on her face again. 'I...I hadn’t heard that....what was left of the Blood Eye old timers stayed away from them...but I heard he had to make quite a few deals with Angmar to keep them out of his business. I...I'm sorry about Ro.....she was one of the good ones...the best one.”
Eduwiges looked at the woman across from her, with green eyes and hair like her own, 'My father is dead too.' The swirl of emotions crossed her face again, 'They are dead, and you are here, alive.' Tears ran as the dam burst. She pulled the other woman into her arms and held her as closely as she could.
Dee looked relieved, surprised...and mainly...utterly out of her depth..."Hey...hey easy...you keep squeezing I won’t be alive much longer...what the heck Knockdoor feed ya, orcs?'
Eduwiges grinned, “Mare's milk and oats I'm afraid”, she let the woman go and pulled Badue Druit from its sheath. 'Lets get the fecking Arrow.'
A loud snap echoed as the spiders picked the lock but the Tasakh stopped them gravely, her multiple spider legs fanning out impressively. "Be wary...this is not pretty even for my children....'
The door opened and inside, chained to the floor, was what was left of a man, an arrow seeming made of onyx jutting from his shoulder. As they watched, he seemed to be in flux, skin rotting away and reforming the decaying again, body jerking in agony as bones broke with loud snaps only to heal at strange angles. He was in a constant state of death and resurrection.
As they stared in horror the Tasakh spoke. "The Shaft of Returns did not slay the shadowman....it left him like this....what he was and what he is at once.'
Calidis stared at the figure and furrowed her brows. "Who... is that?"
The Tasakh shrugged. "No one, every one...they have kept it here for many generations, unsure what to do....'
Xan bit her lip, the stench from the room was staggering. "The arrow was to slay the undead thing and restore it to what it had been but it was poorly shot and has left the creature in suffering and clearly the local sages feared what might happen if the magic were unleashed wildly.'
Dee looked away but mumbled. "We need that damn arrow...I don’t give two craps and unleashed magic or what happens to that guy or any of these Gondorian bastards.”
Eduwiges nodded and say what she had to do. She walked past Xan and Calidis, grasped the arrow with both hands and with a boot on the shattered man's chest yanked the arrow free.
The onyx arrow came out as if it were lodged in butter and the half man/half lich fell to the stone floor, the air now filled with the scent of blood. The three guards dead at the door begin to stir.
Xan looked around, hearing scraping and moaning noises further down the passage. "If that is happening to every corpse in this place... '
Eduwiges held up the dark arrow and looked at the Elf. “What do we do, Lethy?”
Xan sighed, the sounds growing louder as she considered for a moment just how many fresh bodies the prison break would have left in its wake. “A new strategy….we RUN!”
Calidis raised her greatsword again, even as she sprinted after Xan and the Spiders. "Is it raising the dead?"
The elleth nodded as she followed the spiders who leading them all back to the passage into their domain. “At least those nearby when Edu broke the spell....we must get out of here, but we need to warn Elsa..." She pulled out the stone Cal had given them all back at the Sly Widow and concentrated, hoping the girl was not captured or worse.
-
In the Chamber of Desad, the Deacon sill held his hand out to Elsa. "The crone Moyna always meant you to be burned off...a living shield for her plots and favorite...reject your foul fate and have the last laugh, beside me.'
Ellsabeth rose up to her full height, 'I DO intend to have the last laugh but it will be watching my friends get the chalice and use it in your defeat.'
Suddenly Elsa felt a strange buzzing sensation from her pouch, growing stronger and more insistent as the room around her grew hazy and unfocused. Desad's voice rang out. "Curse that jeweler. Just as back in that Inn she has the worst timing...well, live and learn. My offer stands, child. When all hope is lost..call my name and I may allow you to deal again...and trust me, all hope WILL be lost, quite soon. Be smart and save yourself. No one...NO ONE can stand against the power of Angmar!'
The voice gone, Elsa woke slowly...in a pile of corpses with her pouch still buzzing.
Ellsabeth looked around as she came to. She found herself confused, not sure how to tell reality from another of Desad’s illusions. Or were they illusions, had she really been…dead? She touched her side and felt an old scar under her clothing she had never had before and her heart nearly stopped. HAD IT BEEN REAL? After a moment she shook her head and reached into her pouch, pulling out the stone she was given earlier.
As she touched the stone, she heard Xan's voice in her head, sounding as if she was running. "Elsa!!! Elbereth be praised. The prison is soon to be overrun with the undead...Flee...we will meet you at the Sly Widow. FLEE for we cannot get to you!'
Ellsabeth pulled herself up out of the charnel pile and began to move towards what appeared to be the exit, still unsure about illusion and reality after what she experienced.
The prison was busy with other things so she is able to slip down through the battered remnants of the street fair, numerous corpses in the roads left by the escaping prisoners, but thankfully far enough away from the Donjon that they were not rising.
-
In the basement of the Sly Widow, the halfling named by his sainted mother Guido Featherbottom, but better known as Big Boss, waited nervously for word. The worst part of being a crime boss, as far as he was concerned, was the waiting.
Suddenly the brute known as Reg stepped in, smiling ear to ear. “Ya won’t believe it Big Boss. They cracked the Donjon open like a harpy egg and now all the guards are turning into zombies and eating the fancy people at the fair. It is BEAUTIFUL..it’s like my 16th birthday party all over again…I’m so happy I could cry….”
Big Boss smirked. “Cry on your own time, Reg…for now, GET ME THOSE LUNATICS! I wanna know what happened, and if they got the Shadowslip.”
