The three ladies race to the entrance of the Scrawny Baron Tavern with an enthusiasm much-needed after the trial and tribulations of the past several days. As Naught playfully taunts the lithe locksmith, Zelda quickly recovers and takes the lead, surpassing her friends. She makes it to the doorway first, with Aliseya and Naught right behind her.
The artful blonde opens the double doors to the tavern and enters first. A welcoming atmosphere greets her and her friends as they all now stand inside. A fine bar is situated to the left, featuring varieties of liquor bottles and a large cask with a tap. A few private booths sit across the room on the far wall. Several round tables and simple chairs scatter in the midst of the taproom before them. A stone fireplace warms the right side of the room, with a nearby bench to sit and dry off on harsher winter days.
A lovely red-headed halfling woman warmly makes eye contact with Zelda from behind the bar. She cleans a glass with a clean-looking rag while verbally fending off the bad come-on lines of a sloshed gnome. A friendly-looking and mustached middle-aged halfling gentleman tends to patrons at one of the round tables with a smile. Half the tables are already filled with patrons. Some are there to eat, others are in various states of drunkeness. Most are human, though some halflings, the gnome, and a dwarven woman fill out the crowd as well.
After wrapping up a clever come back to the gnome, the redhead greets the ladies, "Welcome to the Scrawny Baron Tavern, ladies! Please have a seat wherever you like!"
Stairs lead up and down to additional floors at the far right of the room. A door to the far left perhaps leads to the kitchen.
Sitting at a table towards the middle of the room a young woman glances around at the various patrons in the taproom. Seeing the three new comers crossing the room, her eyes can't help but be drawn to the elegantly dressed dark haired woman. She follows them with her eyes but then she is cut off by an older man, bald but fit.
"Duri, please help me out here!
Dorijann turns at her nickname, Duri. When Melati says it his accent makes it sound like Dori, though she knows the true meaning behind it. She stands to help him with the drinks he was buying and it seems some food as well.
Perhaps we should see if anyone here wants to join us. We can see about the stories we heard of this Beast on everyone's tongue. Anyone you feel would be best to ask.
Melati turns a little as he says this last bit, looking over at the table of three women. Dorijann blushes slightly but smiles.
Aliseya giggles as she catches her breath and looks at her friends and around at the tavern. She smiles back at the barkeep as she rushes to catch up with Zelda, and plops down in an empty chair beside her.
"I think I, like, knocked that grumpy grumpuss over I ran so fast," she declares, wide-eyed, covering her mouth with her hand in shame... before bursting out into silly laughter.
When the bald man starts talking about the Beast and looks in her direction, her laughter dies down. A frown comes over her face.
"Can't we just have a night off? Like, seriously," she mumbles low to her friends.
Then her eyes light up again, her smile returns.
"Excuse me, sir." She easily gets the attention of the mustached waiter now, asking him, "Say... is there, like, a place to enjoy performers nearby?"
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...and as she leans over, her eye catches something shiny under Zelda's cloak.
"Oooh. Shiny..."
The she looks a bit disappointed, "Did you go shopping without me?"
The doors to the tavern open again, and a new figure enters. He looks at first glance to be a man, but a close observer might notice that his hair is somehow too black, or that the orange irises of his eyes seem to glow softly from within. He is clad in a long, heavy jacket, which looks half labcoat and half duster. It must once have been white, but is now stained here and there with soot, what looks like blood, and other, stranger spatters. Twin bandoliers cross his chest beneath the coat, each holding numerous vials of varying liquids. A belt wrapping his waist holds more items, small paper cylinders capped with lead, and an oddly-shaped weapon riding at his right hip. His hands are covered by thick leather gloves. As he steps through the doors, his otherworldly nature becomes rather more obvious. man-sized bat wings poke through slots in his coat, and are folded neatly against his back. A tail can occasionally be seen swishing out of a slit at the bottom of the coat, before disappearing back inside.
Stepping through the door, he slowly surveys the room. After a moment, he selects a table next to the group's and, in a quiet moment leans over to the nearest of the ladies. "Caromarc asked me to convey his thanks." is all he says, at first.
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"It's very pretty, it looks great on you," Naught comments after sitting up and taking note of Zelda's new outfit.
When the Stranger comments to them, maybe? She responds "Who?"
The violet-eyed angelic beauty that is Aliseya manages to gracefully land within a room they'd been to moments ago. Clearly once a laboratory and workshop, its remains have been largely smashed and destroyed, and choked with huge webs. Two curious objects — a large iron idol and a glass bell jar of the same size — still stand against the eastern wall. The jar is filled with fluid and contains a human woman, while the idol has only two openings for eyeholes, through which blink a pair of terrified human eyes.
Aliseya lays her hands upon Zelda's grievous wounds, causing a violet light to emanate from her body. The blonde trapsmith's eyes pop open with a sudden intake of air, and she's back on her feet.
As Aliseya's violet eyes blink twice and return to their normal hues of green and red, a familiar homonculus, crippled and unable to speak, hobbles over to the ladies once more from out of hiding. It's even more frantic now, dragging the ladies over to the chalkboard again. Shortly after they fail to recognize what's there, the homunculous grabs some parchment and an inkpen with its one functioning arm and begins to write frantically...
"GET ME OUT!" it reads. The homunculus points to the iron idol... the terrified eyes pleading with them.
With the aid of Naught's axe and Zelda's artifice, the iron prison which held Count Alpon Caromarc at last releases its terrified prisoner. The white-haired aging man is clearly suffering from his ordeal inside the cruel device of torture, within which he was unable to move at all within its adamantine shell for many days. Now free, he is grateful, but dehydrated, famished, weakened... and apparently a bit mad, perhaps (in part?) from the torture.
With an air of nobility, the Count regains some of his composure and stands taller. He thanks the party, and introduces Waxwood, his homunculus creation, who helped him to grimly survive by bringing rainwater, dead rats and insects for his sustenance. But as the sounds of battle reach a climax above in the lightning storm, Count Caromarc's expression grows grim.
The wounded but still "alive" Beast then climbs down and greets his father with an innocent wave. While Caromarc's acknowledgement is rather aloof, everyone at least knows that "Mr. Golem" as Ali refers to him while giving him a big warm hug has survived, and that the Aberrant Promethian is no longer a threat to anyone.
Count Caromarc, after rehydrating a bit with a drink of water, then tells his tale while Ali tends to his son's wounds. The large bell jar in the room contains the alchemically preserved body of none other than Count Caromarc’s wife, Ceryse. She died many years ago in childbirth, and Caromarc has dedicated his entire life and much of his fortune to regaining the wife and son he lost. Although he created the Beast as a surrogate “son,” Caromarc has been unable to bring Ceryse back to life, though he occasionally speaks to her via speak with dead.
The Beast of Lepidstadt, as told of in folktales and urban legends, is more myth than monster. The Beast has slain a few people, out of ignorance of its own strength and reactions to belligerent and fearful townsfolk, the Count insists. But the legend of the Beast dominates local nightmares. The people of Lepidstadt are far more adept at stirring their own fears and telling tales of the Beast’s predations than the creature is at murder and mayhem, so it serves as both bogeyman and scapegoat for all the wrongs, accidents, and unexplained crimes that plague a city as large and old as Lepidstadt.
The Beast was accidentally granted true sentience and a more than rudimentary intelligence somehow. Count Alpon Caromarc, he reveals, is Vieland’s former ruler, secluded by choice to Schloss Caromarc. The creature was an act of passion for the count, and early in its life it served as a weapon of Caromarc’s outrage at being forced to abdicate — an act he performed voluntarily, though he saw no other choice at the time. Today, however, the Beast is a disappointingly secret masterpiece at best, and at worse, a living regret. Caromarc’s interest in his creation has largely passed, and all of his attempts to explain its intelligence have failed, leaving him to view the Beast as a fluke and a dead end not worthy of further research.
The Beast has since spent most of its time in a crude hovel in the middle of the Dippelmere Swamp, the Count believes, occasionally visiting the libraries of Schloss Caromarc. To which the Beast seems to confirm with a "Swamp. Home."
The Count possesses a device called the Bondslave Thrall, he reveals. An object attuned to the Beast that allows him to control the golem’s mind and command it to perform any act he desires. This tool has collected dust, left discarded long ago in favor of more promising investigations into alchemical golems and other stranger experiments.
Discarded, that is, until recently.
The Beast sits in a corner, patched up, and just listens. He is clearly too big for the chair he is sitting on however, which creaks noisily from time to time.
With Waxwood's help finding it (with a game of charades), the ladies bring the famished and malnourished man some proper food and drink. The count then goes on to reveal more of this twisted tale of terror...
Several years ago, agents of the Whispering Way became aware of Count Caromarc’s profane experiments into the creation of life and his connection with the Beast of Lepidstadt. Under the leadership of a necromancer named Auren Vrood, the cult proceeded to Lepidstadt after finishing their dealings in Ravengro, and sent ominous word to Caromarc that they knew his secret and sought to make a deal with him. The count, anticipating a blackmail attempt and seeking to be rid of those he perceived as dull-witted extortionists, agreed to meet them at midnight at the ominous standing stones outside the city known as the Spiral Cromlech. In his place, though, he sent the Beast. The Whispering Way, expecting exactly this reaction to their treachery, took the opportunity to invade Schloss Caromarc, subdue the count and his lesser creations within, and take control of the Bondslave Thrall. Vrood had expected to just use Caromarc as leverage to control the Beast, but the device
proved even more useful to his aims.
With control over the greatest horror in Vieland, Vrood commanded the golem to break into the antiquities department of Lepidstadt University and steal an enigmatic and grotesque statuette of murky green stone known as the Seasage Effigy. This was the very same effigy the ladies discovered missing on finding themselves in Lepidstadt. The caper went off without a hitch, and the Whispering Way absconded with the statue. Abandoning Schloss Caromarc, the cultists headed east into the Shudderwood toward their next target (whatever that might be), leaving the count trapped inside a castle of his own crazed creations.
Having no more use for the Beast, the Whispering Way left the dazed golem to be found at the scene of the crime. The Beast of Lepidstadt has finally been captured, and the entire city, as we discovered, was in an uproar over its upcoming trial.
With a lot to process, and with the old count now nodding on and off again (and continuing to curse his enemies in his sleep...), the ladies take their cue. Before taking their leave, Naught and Ali realize Zelda has her tools out and has been fiddling with the Bondslave Thrall, the device that the Way used to control Mr. Golem. The sound of something metallic breaking inside it is then heard and, seeing the count's only response a light snore, Zelda innocently says, Oops," with a devilish smile.
They then say their farewells to Mr. Golem with warm hugs and wish him well.
"Thank you... friends," he says. And at the ladies' urging, he promises to find a new safe place to live, to avoid the mobs and courts of Lepidstadt.
"Oh, like totally," the wanderer enthusiastically replies to Zelda. She cannot resist a feel. "Oooh."
Her eyes light up. "I bought a few new outfits too, actually." Smiling, "Maybe you'll see them tonight," she enigmatically adds with a wink.
The halfling waiter reaches the ladies' table. He replies to Ali's query with a pleasant smile. "Well if you ladies would like ta head on downstairs, there's a minstrel performin' right now in our entertainin' room." He points to the stairwell at the right back of the tavern, from where you now realize you are hearing the faint sounds of lute strumming and singing coming from that direction.
Coming closer to their table now, the moustached man asks, "Can I get you ladies anything? We've got drinks? Or'd ya like something warm and tasty to eat? We've got roast mutton kebobs with leafy greens and rice, mutton chops over a bed of rice and spiced potatoes, honey duck with buttered root veggies..." Trying to size them up more, "Or if you're one of them veggitareeans, we can make you a full helpin' of our spiced potatoes? Throw in some nice beans and fresh mushrooms, if ya like? Real delicious."
"Woo!" Ali lets out excitedly as soon as the waiter mentions the performing room downstairs.
"Mind if a totally awesome dancer takes the stage next?" If she does say so herself...
She asks for "Chateau Romani please. And a small order of spiced potatoes." She whispers to her friends, "Have to watch my figure, ya know."
When the filthy researcher enters, Ali rolls her eyes. "Ugh. Like, maybe we should take him shopping."
"Like... seriously."
Realizing his devilish good looks as he approaches, her brow creases with intrigue. "How... interesting." She smiles at Zelda, figuring Naught wouldn't be as interested.
When Naught asks who, Ali laughs. "Silly. The old weird father of Mr. Golem we found at the castle, of course!"
She says this a bit too loudly... loud enough for the bald tan man to hear.
Turning to the dirty devilish man, she smiles and proffers her hand, "Thanks. I'm Aliseya, and these are my friends. Won't you join us?" For a moment, she gets a whiff of black powder and who-knows-what-else, and momentarily reconsiders how interesting this guy is...
The man is momentarily hesitant. More of his life has been spent in dusty libraries and alchemical laboratories than in taverns, and when he has ventured out into society, beautiful women tend to avoid him, not ask for his company. He isn’t quite sure how he should react. After a pause, he nods ”Very well. I do enjoy music.” he reaches out and shakes her hand. ”My name is Nox.”
As the introductions are made and the drinks arrive, Aliseya takes a few sips of her own.
She then says to Nox, "If you enjoy music, then join us downstairs after dinner. Zelda promised to sing for us."
She smiles broadly at Zelda.
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Ali laughs and tells Zelda, "Just order a drink and I'm sure you'll sound great!"
Placing an arm around Naught's shoulders for a moment, she winks at her. "Besides, we'll sing with you Zel."
And with that, she reaches the bottom of her liquor glass and orders another. She then opens and checks her rather hefty satchel (is there a bowling ball in there?!) and smiles broadly.
"Yep, I remembered to pack it..."
After the group wraps up their meals and drinks, Aliseya enthusiastically drags her friends downstairs. She proclaims to everyone in the dining room they are invited to see her "totally amazing" performance.
Zelda and Naught know their friend well enough to know that Ali, while fond of a drink here and there, is more sloshed than they've seen her before. They understand the reason for it, having experienced the loss of Govannon and Aleks right there with her. Yet they are probably feeling a bit concerned nonetheless. And it must be especially hard for Ali: not only dealing with the loss of good friends, but to have an evil hag voice in your head all the time, telling her who knows what. Perhaps drinking eases the stress, the pain, or maybe even the volume of that voice.
And perhaps a night of dancing, singing, and drinking is exactly the relief she needs right now...
Down the stairs, the ladies and their new acquaintances enter a slightly gloomy entertainment room. Perhaps 60 by 40 feet in area, over a dozen huddled gamblers surround a table at the far end. Heavy smoke rises from their collective pipes. They tend towards severity in expression, but occasionally unleash loud passion as someone loses or wins their hand at cards. The sound of many coins can be heard clinking upon the table as fortunes are won and lost.
At the near end of the room and to their right, a lovely elvish minstrel in bright attire sings and strums a lute on a stage. Her skill at both is technical and impressive, as well as soulful. Even more people enjoy the performance than are gambling at the rear. Some in the audience smile throughout, while others are more serious in taking in every nuance of this complex piece. All cheer as the elvish woman finishes another song this evening.
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Zelda follows everyone into the darkened room. She appears to look a little worried. Zelda keeps glacing at aliseya wondering what she will do.
Clearly zelda has absolutely no intention of getting up on any stage especially to croak in front of several people she does not know. Firmly determined not to move she sits down and refuses to move.
"Awww Zellll... Like, don't worry! No pressure! Buuuut! You know I love you anyway. Just know that. Aaaaand, maybe we can sing after I dance!"
The tipsy dancer wraps her arms around Zelda as she tells her this. Apparently, Ali is very happy and loving when drunk.
Somehow she remains quite fleet of foot as she releases her friend to hurry over to someone who looks in charge down here at the other end of the room. She excitedly talks to this person about performing. Finding a curtained doorway, she blows a kiss at her friends before slipping inside...
Naught, who had been trying to retreat into stories and her own thoughts after processing everything that had happened, was snapped out of her morose when she picked up on how much Ali had had to drink.
Exchanging a glance with Zelda she intently watches the curtain the dancer disappeared behind.
The elvish minstrel concludes her exquisite piece as the gathering applauds her. She takes a bow and exits the stage.
A halfling gentleman then steps up onto the stage. Smiling broadly beneath a twirled moustache, this robust ginger-haired showman of middle-age is dressed in a long red coat and a tall black top hat.
"Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Ladies and gentlemen of this fair and great city! To the one, the only..."
He raises his hands, motioning for the crowd to join him in announcing, "The Scrawny Baron Tavern!!" Several mugs are raised and clinked in cheer.
One might wonder if this is indeed the tavern's namesake, were it not for his rotund waistline. Perhaps in his youth...
The showman gives an oratory performance that's overly bright and cheery. A bit pretentious and phony, but perhaps harmlessly so... and certainly unbeknownst to the partially drunken crowd who resonates with one of his lines, "Everybody is soooo happy!!"
He speaks on for a few minutes more, using lots of alliterative and somewhat empty words meant to sound bombastically entertaining. The ladies and their new friends recognize he's not just making the people feel better, but trying to fill the time between performers.
At last, he introduces "A most exotically excellent and truthfully talented troupe of merry musicians my most magnificent friends!"
The crowd applauds as the entertaining gentleman takes an exaggerated bow and exits the stage. Several Quadiran musicians then seat themselves. Two play drums: a dumbek or goblet-shaped drum, and a tar or larger framed drum. A third plays the mizmar, a horn-shaped oboe. Another plays the oud, a pear-shaped lute. And the last, a kawala or flute.
It is clear early on that these finely-robed performers from the sandy eastern realm have talent. And the audience seems enthralled.
No sign of Ali yet. Perhaps she is preparing in the back...
Sitting around uncomfortably watching the showman introduce himself and then the next act, which wasn't Ali, Naught finally gets up and scampers back to where the Dnacer disappeared to. "I'm going to check and make sure everything is getting set up right." she says to the other two before she leaves.
Behind the curtain, Naught finds a small foyer. In a smaller room to the right through an open archway, the showman sits, eyes closed, as an elderly halfling woman in humble garb serves him a hot cup of tea. He rubs his forehead as if in pain.
To Naught's left, a long hallway extends further. The elvish minstrel is there, relaxing after her performance, along with a couple of dancers who seem to be putting on their makeup and dressing in preparation before a great mirrored wall.
At the end of the hall is another dancer... Aliseya.
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Pensively looking at herself in front of the mirror, Aliseya is trying out a rather exotic-looking dance outfit. A rather revealing one, Naught easily notices.
And then, in the blink of an eye, she snaps her fingers and... her outfit suddenly transforms, like magic, into a very different outfit! Also exotic, this one is still revealing, though a bit less so. It has a very different color palette and flair to it.
The indecisive dancer snaps her fingers yet again, and her outfit transforms again...
Spotting Naught, Ali yelps, "You're not supposed to see me yet!"
She then rushes over, grabs Naught's arm and, forcefully, drags Naught back to where she was. "So, since you're, like, here... tell me what you think!"
Naught finds herself transfixed by an assortment of enchanting outfit changes that Ali seems to be magically trying out, somehow, one right after the other...
As this happens, the showman strolls over, steaming mug in hand. He's also observing Ali's endless array of outfits. Far more sedate than he was on stage, he asks Naught while his eyes remain glued to Ali, "So. Are you part of the act?"
Caught off guard due to staring Naught was about to apologize when Ali, who was now preparing on her dance seemed to be back to her usual self, when the Dancer dragged her over. "They all look lovely.” she manages to get out.
She shirks when the showman calls out to her while she was again distracted, but she was able to respond to him in a much more composed tone and train of thought than when dealing with Ali. ”Only tangentially, I’m her bodyguard.”
Which wasn’t a lie, technically.
"Mmmhmm," the showman responds to the bodyguard, still observing the dancer's preparations.
"Five minutes, dear." The showman gives the indecisive dresser a deadline, then returns to sit by the curtain again.
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Though she's still slurring her words a bit, the prospect of dance does, apparently, help to focus her mind.
"Five minutes... just enough time to practice."
After one more outfit change, Ali settles on a red and gold outfit for her warm-ups. On the skimpy side, it features a long slitted skirt and what might merely be a fancy brassiere for her ample bosom.
Naught is now treated to a semi-private warm-up performance for the next few minutes. As the band outside begins a drum-intensive rhythm, she practices along to the complex beats. Her warm-ups include some rather impressive hip shimmying, belly rolling, and bosom bouncing.
Ali observes herself as she dances in the mirror, to ensure she's ready to perform. She casts a glance at Naught's reflection in the mirror at some point. Noticing her staring back at herself, with an involuntarily dropped-open mouth, Ali cracks a smile. She then focuses her attention back onto herself, still smiling.
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Naught's mind then departed momentarily as Aliseya began her warm-up .
Meanwhile, Nox seems focused on the music as Zelda tries talking with him. Perhaps he's simply not very sociable...
Zelda finds her attention drawn to the rest of the audience, and, for some reason, finds herself drawn to look to the rear of the room again, where the gamblers are winning and losing their fortunes.
It is then that she notices a slender young woman approaching her. Dressed in a dark cloak and dark leathers, the dark-haired woman is beautiful and fair-skinned, and bears a notable scar on her left cheek.
Her face is... very familiar. So familiar, recognition dawns on the artful blonde immediately, though it takes her a moment to reach full consciousness.
'Could it be?!'
"Zellie?" the dark-haired woman asks Zelda in an intimate and astonished tone.
Feel free to pick if it's your older or younger sister, Keyla or Sasha. :)
Nox's interest is suddenly torn away by Zelda's excitement. He pivots, observing the exchange with renewed interest.
Keyla's face is equally astonished as her sister's. Before answering, she throws her arms around Zelda in a long embrace. When they let go, tears are in her eyes.
Smiling, "I'm sooo glad to see you alive too, little sis."
Sitting next to Zelda, "I was dead. At least, that's what they thought. Found myself in a pile of bodies when I started coming to... I couldn't move, couldn't open my eyes at first. But what I could do was hear the sound of dirt being shoveled... and when I finally could open my eyes, I saw them digging a mass grave for the dead.... including me!"
She shakes her head, "Obviously, their plan for me failed. But I learned that you'd fallen ill too. When I was well enough, I visited you. And Sasha too, and Mom and Dad. All of you were still afflicted by the sickness, and were all really out of it. I was kinda alone, for the first time..."
She gives pause here before continuing.
"A smart man from Ustalav came to help the village. I learned from one of his associates that this professor believed a coven of hags was responsible for the disease. Some kind of dark rite, to gain power. And Wheatfall was their sacrifice..."
Though she does not raise her voice, Zelda notices unspoken rage building up in her older sister's eyes as she speaks of this knowledge. Her sister looks down now as she recounts more of her tale.
"I was overcome by the desire to do something, Zellie. Something to help... But I couldn't do anything for my family, I left it to the priests to care for you all."
Smirking sarcastically, "And I told them to make damn sure you were actually dead before burying you, if it came to that."
She continues, "And so, I figured I'd set out to learn more about these hags... these murderous and craven witch-creatures. And I learned quite a bit from a good mentor, who introduced me to an order dedicated to hunting down evil of this sort. I learned how to hunt them down, Zellie. Cause I'll be damned if I let a single one of them live to spread their murderous plot while I still stand."
Zelda notices, understandably, her sister seems angrier than she remembers her being capable of prior to the plague of Wheatfall...
Making eye contact with Zelda again, Keyla continues. "I actually came to this city looking for them. Heard rumors of a witch, and her minions. Don't know if you heard anything about this, but apparently some kind of deathly creature attacked the courthouse recently? From the accounts I've heard, it sounds like the work of a hag to me..."
"Have you seen or heard anything about this?" she asks Zelda.
Looking slightly guilty, "Sorry to say, I've not been back to Wheatfall since. I think of our family often, and really wanted to head home to check on you all. But I've been training hard, and have been really focused on my mission..."
She then asks her sister, "So! Anyway... what's your story? What brought you to Lepidstadt?"
A wishful look comes into her eyes as she then asks, "Are you... looking for them too?"
She then places a caring hand on her friend's cheek before turning to face the curtain, awaiting her cue.
"Thanks for checking up on me. Now, go ahead and find your seat," she tells Naught. "I'll be out soon," she adds. Slightly nervous, she then asks her to, "Wish me luck."
And then, as Naught returns through the curtains, Ali adds, "Love ya."
Probably the drink still talking, Naught might figure. Or maybe nerves.
As the exotic musicians wrap up an impressive fifteen-minute introductory set of songs from the eastern realm they hail from, the crowd begins to applaud and cheer.
As this happens, the showman from behind the curtain places his tea mug down, takes a swig from a canteen, and steps up to the curtain.
Before stepping back out, he gives Ali a glance as he matter-of-factly states, "No luck needed dear, if you're as good as you just were in front of the mirror."
He then steps out from the curtain. The audience sees a broad smile on his rosy and cheer-filled face now. Putting on the entertaining charms once more, he steps up onto the stage and, after making a stream of overly-alliterated compliments about the band and how wonderful everything is tonight, announces the next performer...
"...for you are in for a truly tasty treat tonight! Dancing her way into your hearts! All the way from the exotic and esoteric land of Varisia! The One! the Only...!"
The two drummers onstage begin a drum roll.
"ALLLLLLISEYAAAA!!!"
The lights flicker and dim down to near darkness onstage as the audience applauds. In the near-darkness, only Naught sees Ali quietly hustle to center stage. Moments later, the sconce above center stage alone suddenly lights up, bringing focus to the beautiful young woman now standing there. She stares straight down at the floor, waiting for the musicians to begin.
Her voluptuous figure is adorned in a tribal costume of brown, bronze, and turquoise... apparently changing her costume yet again from what Naught last saw her in. Her hair is very long, reaching below her waist, in twin braids with bronze-colored ribbons. Her top is an alluring brown and turquoise-beaded brassiere, bringing emphasis to her curvaceous cleavage and tantalizing tummy. It's lower half features a span of bronze coins, woven so as to jingle when she moves. Her low-cut, hip-revealing brown and bronze dress flows down to the floor, supported by a turquoise and bronze coin belt. A gold-ringed necklace features a fancy medallion, with a matching smaller medallion centered on her forehead somehow. She wears bronze earrings that resemble fans. Wooden and bronze bracelets and rings adorn her otherwise naked arms.
The drums begin. The dancer begins her performance. Her body moves in sync with the jerking staccato beat for the first segment. Though Zelda alone might perceive her drinking may have affected her precision a bit, it's barely noticeable to anyone else in the room.
Then the horns and other instruments jump into the mix. And Aliseya's style spontaneously follows suit. Now she shimmies, and rather sensually. She slithers her body around like a serpent, gracefully moving all around the stage now. Her eyes gaze passionately into the eyes of various audience members, causing some of the men to audibly groan or to drop their lower jaws involuntarily.
Her eyes then meet Zelda's, and Ali lets a self-conscious smile slip through for a bit. And then her gaze meets Naught's, lingering there for a much longer moment... or at least Naught feels it's much longer.
Eventually, the performance wraps up. Aliseya releases a big grin, taking a professional curtsy as she receives a standing ovation.
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"Where to start where to start." Zelda thinks for a bit.
"I guess you didn't know the professor was murdered by a ghost of all things. I received a letter about his death asking me to attend his funeral and watch out for his daughter for awhile so she could get settled in without him.
When we arrived the villagers where up at arms about the professor being layed to rest in there grave yard. They actually thought the professor was bringing evil down on them. What was actually happening is an evil they created themselves. They had a burned down prison near the town. It was filled with the worse criminal you could imagine waiting for death. Some of them were on the verge of escaping so the warden and his guards burned the whole complex down around themselve to make sure none of the criminals escaped. The professor was investigating the remains of the prison when he discoved the spirits were about the escape from the prison and they killed him. Lets just say we put the spirits to final rest.
That was far more excitment then anyone would have expected from a funeral!"
Zelda looks around in wonder realizing the funeral was not that long ago but it seemed like ages.
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Oh yes, then there was this skinwalker in town. The creature would kill someone and use their skin as a disguise. He had created several undead and was selling bodies to the highest bidder. The town tried to blame the beast for that as well.
It turns out the beast was actually a golem that for some strange reason had developed a small amount of intelligence. He escaped the town on his own fortunately and returned to his master." Zelda looks around quickly to make sure no one overheard what she just said. Satisfied that the creature's secret was safe, she continues.
"The beast master was under attack by one of his creations, and the beast returned in time to save his master.
Wow, I can't believe all of that has happened in just a few short weeks!"
Zelda looks around again thinking.
"I did find out a little bit about the covens, it appears the Plagues are moving from Varisia into northern Ustalav. They don't appear to be interested in striking Orcs in Belkzen. One coven identified is Desna’s Luck, is this the right one? I don't know.
They are trying to procreate throughout Ustalav, but my intuition tells me that this increase in number is more a means than a goal. That's all I know so far. Did you learn anything more?
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Zelda quietly smiles "oh yea the witch they are referring to is my friend and no she is not part of the coven. They are angry because we defended the beast and proved he had done nothing wrong." She looks around again at the people around her.
Quietly she says[i]"They tried to kill the poor creature anyway. I believe they just wanted someone to blame!"[/b]
Smiling she looks at her sister Now your turn please tell me all you have learned.
Keyla listens intently to Zelda's tale as she tells it. Either her eyes widen or her voice involuntarily mutters a "Wow!" or a "For the love of valor!" at a few points of particular amazement.
Towards the end of her tale, Keyla laughs at the thought that her sister would befriend a witch.
"Gods, you've had some interesting times, Zellie. Good for you, defending the innocent."
"So... what else have I learned. Other than what I just told you? Hmmm... well, I had been following the death and devastation left in the wake of a particular coven. I lost track of them, but thought these rumors of a witch were a sign they were wreaking havoc here in Lepidstadt. But perhaps not... unless my sister is a friend to hags?"
She smiles and winks knowingly at Zelda, obviously joking. Apparently unaware that there is some truth to her joking words...
...
Before Zelda and Keyla can continue their conversation without interruption, Ali's performance is announced and she comes on stage. And Keyla smiles as the performance begins.
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The music suddenly starts anew. Aliseya continues to delight as she shimmies and shakes her voluptuous figure on stage for another hour. When her series of several performances comes to an end, she curtsys to the audience and to the musicians one last time, beaming a blissful smile.
On her way down, several fans clamor to assist the dancer off the stage and surround her. One of them gets handsy with her, but in a pinch her bodyguard is on it; shark-toothed growls and intense glaring ensure a swift end to that.
High from all the excitement and energy exerted in her performance, the star makes her way around the room. She accepts a respectful nod and a coin pouch from the showman, as well as kudos from several others. More than one drink is bought for her, and she is happy to oblige.
Eventually, she makes her way back to her friends. She gives each a big, sweaty hug and, slightly sloshed again, asks them if they enjoyed her dancing.
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After her friends compliment the dancer, Zelda introduces her long-lost and presumed dead sister to Aliseya and Naught. The resemblance is striking, in spite of Keyla’s dark hair and the scar on her left cheek. Keyla compliments the dancing, and warmly greets both new acquaintances.
Yet, while Ali is too excited and tipsy to notice, Keyla seems a bit off to Naught. Perhaps it’s because she stares a bit too long into Aliseya’s eyes. But perhaps also because she somehow feels like she as well as Ali are both being studied more than being introduced. Maybe there’s nothing to worry about, on second thought. It’s probably just an older sister looking out for the younger one.
There's no time to ponder it now, though. The dancer is then swiftly pulled away by more fans. Naught excuses herself to follow after with a polite tip of her top hat, keeping a close eye out for more handsy creeps…
Time passes too quickly for the reacquainted sisters. They continue to catch up, speaking of what they’ve been through since Wheatfall, as well as reminiscing in fond family memories. Later, Keyla curiously asks if Aliseya is Varisian. When Zelda confirms this, her older sister seems reassured. The hag hunter explains: hag children are known to have differing eye coloration. But Varisians are known for eye color oddities as well, so she’s probably fine. As more serious matters come up in the conversation, it becomes clear that the two must go their separate ways in the morning. Neither sister wants to leave the other, especially after all that’s happened. But each is on a critical mission, and neither can abandon it now: Zelda, to thwart the cult of the Whispering Way; and Keyla, to hunt down the coven of hags that so cruelly decimated their home of Wheatfall. For either to pause now would be to let their mission fail, for time is of the essence and many more lives are at stake.
Perhaps, they muse, their missions are somehow tied together? It would not be such a stretch of the imagination, after all, for a cult and a coven to combine forces. And so, perhaps, their missions are tied together after all. Either way, after the dust has settled, they promise to meet back at the village of Wheatfall to definitively find out what happened to the rest of their family. The conversation ends in the hope that it will be a family reunion. Though neither is willing to verbalize it, each grimly knows the more likely outcome: that they’ll instead return to find naught but graves to grieve their losses…
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Late that evening, the four ladies (including Keyla) rent rooms at the nearby inn. With two double rooms, Naught bunks with Aliseya while the Lamplighters take the other room.
Zelda and Keyla take the stairs up and enter their room for the night. Naught opts to linger out back, helping to hold the sick dancer’s hair as… let’s just say, the ramifications of having one too many drinks now surface. Apologetic, embarrassed, the sloshed dancer does feel a little better now, and thanks her good friend. She fully cleans herself up in the wash room, and the two head up to their own room.
Once inside, the dancer plops down onto her bed, holding her throbbing head. Suddenly, without any warning, she begins to pour her heart out… about the death of her father, the death of the professor, her recurring nightmares, the crazy voices in her head that’ve only worsened since the emergence of Yewanda at the cemetery in Ravengro, the deaths of recent friends, and the insane events from Harrowstone and Lepidstadt. Tears well up in her eyes.
Naught sits beside her, holding her hand, just listening. She’s held captive by compassion for the miserable lass, repressing her own desire to collapse from exhaustion.
But the cathartic monologue carries on for another thirty minutes into the already-very-late night. Naught knew her friend has been frightened of what’s becoming of her. But now, she realizes, that fear has escalated to sheer terror. It’s no wonder she just took the opportunity to drink and dance her fears away, distracting herself however temporarily with both numbness and joy. Feeling helpless to do much about it, she can only think to console the terrified escapist with a hug.
Naught comfortingly and protectively wraps her arms around Aliseya. The sobbing lass nuzzles her head into her shoulder. The crying eventually calms. After wiping her watery eyes, they catch and lock with Naught’s. For a long moment, they gaze into each other’s eyes… the next thing she realizes, Aliseya’s lips are pressed against her own.
Long-suppressed passions whirl about in her mind. Unrequited no more, they surge throughout her body like a bolt of lightning. Naught presses her lips back in turn.
Suddenly, Aliseya pulls away with a slight grunt of pain. Her lip, pricked by a sharky tooth, trickles a slight amount of blood. Holding her lip quizzically, the two have a good laugh about it.
With a gentle hand placed on Naught’s cheek, Aliseya is suddenly overcome with sleepiness. She mutters something about, “…maybe I want to wrestle with you after all,” before falling fast asleep in her arms…
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“All manner of beasts and monsters lurk beneath the eaves of the Shudderwood, but none so numerous or feared as the forest’s werewolves. Although the wood contains packs of these feral killers beyond counting, they can be loosely grouped into five distinct tribes: the provincial Broken Ones; the Kellid-descended Primals; the Prince’s Wolves, with their ties to Sczarni; the mighty Silverhides; and the fiend-worshiping Demon Wolves. Of course, the greatest threat these werewolves pose is that they can be anyone — the rough woodcutter, the itinerant peddler, the riverboat captain — any of them might be a wolf in human skin, and travelers through the Shudderwood are well advised to keep moving, keep to themselves, and leave the dark shadows of the forest behind them as soon as they can. For when the moon is full, the true masters of the Shudderwood fill the night with their howls, and woe be to any man or woman who becomes their prey.”
— Oleandra Amandine, Shadows of the Shudderwood
A brisk chill is in the air this fine winter morning. A clear blue sky threatens no snow. ‘Tis the last Moonday of the month of Calastril and, one by one, four young ladies awaken at the Tricky Flail Inn to face their last day in Vieland’s capital city of Lepidstadt.
Zelda Lamplighter is the first to rise from slumber. Curiously, she spots an envelope on the floor of her room. Addressed to “Ms. Zelda Lamplighter, Esquire,” someone apparently slid it under her door while she slept. Her roommate and older sister, Keyla, smiles and nods with pride at the younger’s impressive new title. The envelope is of fine quality paper; it’s officially sealed with the red waxen emblem of the Magistrate of Lepidstadt, Judge Embreth Daramid.
Aleseya Belododia and Naught eventually make their way down the stairs to meet the Lamplighters for breakfast, where Zelda shows her find to her friends and companions. They recall that Judge Daramid was the reason they came to Lepidstadt in the first place: the late Professor Petros Lorrimor bequeathed a book to the judge, instructing you to deliver it to her only after spending a month with his daughter, Kendra, in Ravengro. The Manual of the Order of the Palatine Eye is a purple tome, with a brass scarab set with a single eye in its center. Prior to the trial, you met with Judge Daramid at her home in the center of Lepidstadt. There, Daramid revealed that she was a professional acquaintance of the late professor’s… a relationship you’ve surmised that was once more than professional. Judge Daramid was to serve as one of the three judges at the Beast’s trial. So after handing the tome over as promised, she hired you to conduct an investigation into the murders the Beast was accused of, and to aid in his legal defense during the trial. You’ve thereby discerned that even while most of Lepidstadt seemed more interested in burning an easy scapegoat in the Beast for all their ills, Judge Daramid is a person of integrity, interested in the truth and serving real justice.
Opening the envelope reveals a briefly worded invitation to the judge’s home. She requests to meet you once more at her fine townhouse in the center of Lepidstadt before you depart east to the Shudderwood.
Something about this letter strikes you all as a bit curious, however. You’ve recently found out from Count Alpon Caromarc, the slightly mad creator-father of Mr. Golem (a.k.a. the Beast), that members of the cult known as the Whispering Way, under the leadership of the necromancer Auren Vrood, had been responsible for both the troubles at Harrowstone and the theft that led to the Beast’s capture and trial. And Vrood’s cult was now headed for the Shudderwood, to accomplish who-knows-what other great travesty to achieve their undoubtedly sinister aims.
And so the question occurs to you: how did Judge Daramid know of your plan to head to the Shudderwood?