Ulrich stops. His face is troubled and contorted.
"I have come to make amends...... We need to be able to cooperate during this mission, and to guard each other's backs...... I did not take pleasure in making you suffer... I would like to make a truce."
Amnayel wants to believe Ulrich, but after what he has done to her today, there is absolutely no way she will take his word at face value. In fact, she'd be more likely to go listen to Arazni than she would the creature that just proved he can control her at will.
Amnayel still doesn't look to meet Ulrich's gaze, instead she sweeps her head past him looking for Kamosh. Finding the psychopomp, she speaks rapidly in her native tongue to him.
Kamosh (Shemyaza) chirps up in response.
"I have felt many emotions from him this last hour, as we are both tied to each other's emotions. I felt his paralysing fear in the face of Arazni. I felt his fear and his anger when he fought you. I felt his sadness and frustration when he sat by the tree. I felt his love when Gabriella sat beside him, and he sang his heart for her. These emotions cannot be lies, they are truth. I believe there is good AND evil in his heart. Together."
"I cannot tell you if what he says now is true. I do not even speak the common tongue. I know his past, and he has spoken lies. He has done very immoral things. He has done some good and honest and kind things too. He is not so black or white, but rather the grey between. You must make your own decision, but know that if you are kind to him, he should be kind to you."
Ulrich, you owe me so much right now. I expect to be the most spoilt familiar that any wizard ever had. I even touched that turtle for you.
Gabbi watches nervously as Amnayel talks to the psychopomp and berates herself for not having yet learned the tongue of the upper planes.
Ulrich hesitantly glances at Gabriella and whispers
"I do not understand them either."
She shakes her slowly back and forth a few times.
"I had forgotten you do not speak the common tongue, Shemyaza, it was foolish of me to ask you if was telling the truth. Thank you for your honesty and thoughtfulness. You continue to be a beacon of shining light for me in these dark days. I would be remiss to not pay respect for your wisdom. At the next market I will procure for you any food or item of your desire if it is within my power to obtain. Thank you, friend."
Amnayel speaks with Kamosh, shaking her head a few times once in the middle of the discussion. When she is done speaking, she closes her eyes and lowers her head slightly while still keeping her face trained on Kamosh. She uses two fingers to trace lines down the center of her forehead in the shape of a V, joining at the tip. A sign of appreciation and thanks from a culture far, far from here.
Finishing speaking with the pyschopomp, she turns back to Ulrich and purses her lips before exhaling a long breath. She takes her palms and rubs them over eyes, dragging them back along her face until they reach her neck which she grabs. "I will hear you speak. Do not lie to me this moment, I will remember your exact words."
Ulrich looks a bit uncertain as he thinks about what he's to say. He can feel the tension. He thinks carefully...
Finally he speaks
"We both have a common enemy that is more powerful than the both of us combined. If we want to defeat that enemy, we must work together. If we continue to fight each other, Tar-Baphon will destroy us both. If you can keep your sword from my neck, I can keep my words from your ears."
A little idea pops into his head.
"I am loathe to destroy knowledge, but as a show of good faith, I will show you how I learnt your name, and I will erase all trace of it."
Ulrich's idea softens Amnayel's stands slightly, her head nodding along with his words. "I would like very much for it to be removed from whatever source you obtained it. As you full well know the power that it possess over me, apparently you significantly more so than I."
Shifting back to the original point, she finally looks up at Ulrich and meets his gaze "We do have a common enemy among us and we are considerably stronger when we work together. As we saw with the nightwing, we wield great power when unified as one. Overcoming great odds, together we may yet see this thing through. And yet..."
Her gaze drifts to the floor and she slowly shakes her head and she closes her eyes again exhales loudly. Returning her gaze to Ulrich she says "And yet, despite our victory, you sought out power over me when my back was turned, to control me, and bind me within mere hours of this knowledge. I am far too trusting, to a fault, I know this, but what fool am I to allow myself to believe this is not an attempt to lure me into a false sense of security so that you may force me to your will later? So you say to me that if I do not inflict injury upon you, you will never utter my name again?"
"He is feeling fear right now. I feel it."
Ulrich tenses
"I... sought that information out because I thought you would try to destroy me when you learned of my necromantic affinities. As a necromancer living in Lastwall, I was acutely aware that paladins ask questions after smiting, not before. I knew that without knowledge of your name, I would not be able to survive. When that knowledge was nearly handed to me on a silver platter, I took the opportunity. My motivation is not control. It is survival."
Amnayel nods, reaffirming Ulrich's fear "You speak the truth and so shall I. Had I had time to properly learn of your dabbling in necromancy prior to stealing my name, I would have separated your head from your body at that moment without second thought. These ways of yours are forbidden and not be meddled in." She speaks firmly with confidence, assured in her belief and without a trace of doubt in her mind.
"Know this, necromancer. You have betrayed me once and you shall not get a second chance. Should you disrupt our truce, I will enact holy vengeance upon you so great that you will only wish I would have beheaded you. You will not escape this nor will you escape me. I shall be on you until the end of your days."
She pauses giving thought to his proposition. "You hold me in a bind for which I have few options. I may be able to kill you, but not before you likely will end me. This would greatly hinder the difficult task that lay ahead of us. So with great dishonor I will accept this truce, necromancer that wields my name. With all those around us as witnesses to the fact, I, Amnayel, agree to not remove the necromancer's head from his body until the greater quest has been completed. At that time our truce will be at an end and I shall forcefully remove my name from his physical body."
Locking eyes with Ulrich, she bores into the man. "Are. We. Agreed?" she asks.
A pitying glance and a long sigh. Ulrich says "That is the best answer I can hope for. We are agreed. I will bring you the evidence of your name, would you care to destroy it yourself or shall I?"
Gabbi continues to watch and listen. She seems visibly relieved when it doesn't look as if there's going to be any more violence in the immediate future. But there's no happiness in the truce that's reached.
"If I can trust you both to not kill each other in the next twenty minutes, then I need to find out what kind of deal Allie made." She looks even less excited about the upcoming conversation than this one.
~~~~~
She searches a bit before finding her sister sitting with her canine companion outside.
Her smile fades quickly, though.
"The one I really need to talk to you about is Eldarel Japhol - Ellie." The dhampir sits for a minute and then reaches up to scratch her jaw. "How can I describe her?" She sits for another minute or so before beginning to verbalize everything she can remember about the Lore Warden as she leans against her sister's shoulder. She begins with her physical description and then continues on to the woman's straightforward nature and protective streak. She covers the woman's good qualities as well as her less-than-endearing traits.
"I think you wanted her the moment you saw her. Me, not so much. But you were determined to have your blonde play-toy," she says finally with a sad smile. "You had her and then we had her." She looks off into the distance. "I won't lie. It was fun," she says with a shrug.
"But, Allie ... I ruined it all," she continues as tears begin to fill her eyes. "I ruined things with her. I ruined things with you. I ruined it all." She presses the heals of her hands against her eyes as the tears begin to flow in earnest. "Gods," she utters in a breaking voice. "Is this my penance? I have to relive this over and over again?"
Her hands fall away and a shuddering breath follows. "She wanted to break it off with you and I went to her to try to talk her out of it. One thing led to another and ... I had her for myself behind your back. I was going to tell you, but you found out before I could. You were ... justifiably ... angry and distraught."
"Things haven't been the same between us since then and that was ..." she mentally tries to count, but loses track. "That was right before we left Rosler's Coffer. And Ellie left yesterday to escort the survivors of Vigil to somewhere safe."
She picks at a ragged fingernail.
"I guess I really am a coward because I considered not telling you about this. But that's only because I want so much for things to be what they were between us before I ruined it all. But I know deep down that will never be because even if you didn't know, I would."
"I miss you so much, Allie."
She sits quietly looking down at the water waiting for her coming judgement.
"I do not know how to destroy it. I would see you do it and if I am not happy I will intervene and do it myself."
"Very well. I will need a few minutes to prepare the proper spell. If you will excuse me." Ulrich says, then exits.
Upon returning, Ulrich holds a page torn from a book. The text is small and condensed, but there is a small picture of none other than Amnayel drawn on the side. In cursive letters reads her True Name.
"My plan is to magically erase all that is written on the page. If that does not satisfy you, I will incinerate it. I do not possess the power to restore the writing, regardless of which method I use."
"You like him." She states when her sister explains Ulrich. "You never learn Gabbi, those relationships always end in heartbreak."
As Gabbi describes this Eldarel Japhol Allie remains quiet, her arm around her sister's shoulders. "I do like blondes," She offers eventually, "And this one sounds very corruptible. Shame I don't remember that, it does sound like fun."
As Gabbi drops the bombshell news Allie just falls silent, holding her sister while she sobs. "Why do I remember a white tiger?" She asks, a non-sequitur of vast proportions. "What you said made me think of a white tiger..." She shakes her head and falls silent again, one hand tracing small circles on Gabbi's pack while the other opens and closes spasmodically.
"I nearly told you to stop because it wasn't funny." She says eventually. "But you're too upset for this to be a joke, and even your sense of humor is better than this. Arazni was right... you really can only rely on yourself. Everyone else betrays you in the end. This Ulrich betrayed Amnayel and you..." The whole conversation is slightly surreal, Allie doesn't seem to have any emotional investment in it beyond a kind of bemused wonder, as though her understanding of the world has just been immeasurably broadened.
"Do you know why I can do this?" She asks eventually, holding out one hand wreathed in the crackling darkness of negative energy. "It hurts even holding it. But I did it for you. There was a moment, when I first got these powers that I had to choose. Positive or Negative. I chose for you. Because I always want to look after my big sister. Maybe this is a good thing, that I don't remember, so it doesn't hurt as much. She said, before she fixed me, that you can only rely on yourself and on your hatred. Well, I don't want that to be true. You are me Gabriella Filosovici. One person, conveniently split between two bodies. Will you promise me honesty? That we never go behind each other's backs? You're still my twin, if you promise me that, then we can move past this."
She looks into her sister's eyes, the mirror image of her own, and waits to see what she finds in them.
Amnayel excuses Ulrich by letting him walk away while she just stands their patiently waiting. Despite her instincts to quickly put her protective gear back on and grab her blade, she patiently waits there without any protection for him to return.
She watches as Ulrich points to the page in the book, a pained expression on her face. "Why would someone create something like this? What evil would dare-" she looks up from the page to turn her head towards Ulrich where she makes eye contact briefly and says "Never mind."
"Erase it and then burn it. I want them both done." she decides.
Ulrich was about to answer Amnayel's question when he realizes it was rhetorical.
"As you wish." Ulrich replies. Using his magic, he first erases every little bit of ink on the page. Then, his eyes turn to red-hot light, upon gazing at the now blank piece of paper, it bursts into flame and turns to ash within seconds. Ulrich looks to the side while the spell remains in effect.
"Are you satisfied?"
"I am." she states with obvious relief.
She should leave it there and move on, but something inside of her compels her to do something she doesn't want to do. It pains her t say, but she gives in and hanks Ulrich for that task. "Thank you for that, necromancer. I know that page was not of your creation and I recognize it was difficult for you to destroy it much the same way dread would over taken me had I the need to destroy a beautiful piece of artwork."
Why did you say that? This man had just made you vomit your own blood not one hour ago!
She closes her eyes, turns, and walks away back to gather her gear.
Once you are ready, you depart Naderi's Bastion and head towards the border between Lastwall and Ustalav. East and north of Lastwall lies the crusaders’ eternal charge: Virlych, the birthplace of Tar-Baphon and his first conquest upon his resurrection as a lich. Subject to millennia of undeath, slaughter, and war, the land itself roils with necromantic power. The smattering of plants that grow from its rocky soil are stunted and twisted, and the few animals that dwell within—even normally benign goats and deer—are bloodthirsty and aggressive.
More than anything, though, Virlych is a land of the dead. Even before Tar-Baphon’s escape, undead wandered Virlych freely, and only the boldest knights of Lastwall ventured into the dread realm on seasonal tours to inspect Gallowspire and clear out whatever necromantic manifestations they could find. It is a dread land of mountains, fog, and storms, where the weather shifts with little reason or warning, and even seasoned travelers become lost as the overcast skies hide sun, moon, and stars alike for days on end.
It takes two days to reach the Path River that marks the border into Virlych. The lands north of the Path River ostensibly belong to Ustalav, and that nation has officially retained rights to it by making periodic complaints about Lastwall’s occupation of their sovereign territory. In reality, however, the nobles of Ustalav are happy to write off this deadly wasteland, and they rattle their sabers only to satisfy petty local politics.
Along the northern shore of the Path River stands a line of new wooden barricades decorated with freshly impaled human bodies. One of the bodies writhes in agony and moans through sun-cracked lips.
Ulrich spends part of the travel working on his spellbook. He already learned the sending spell before leaving, and returned Arazni's spelltome. Now he works on two scrolls he's been eager to study. Simple spells, relatively speaking, but evocation rarely interests him. Though an inefficient design, Ulrich copies Magic Missile and Fireball into his book.
------------------------------
Spells Prepared
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0th (at will) Detect Magic, Disrupt Undead, Mending, Prestidigitation
1st dancing lantern, vanish, chill touch, shield x2, enlarge person
2nd blood transcription,
3rd dispel magic, gaseous form, fireball (2slot), halt undead
4th dimension door (2slot), boneshatter, wall of bone, positive pulse (greater)
5th hungry earth, telekinesis, 1 open, suffocation
6th dispel magic (greater), wither limb
Ulrich casts Disrupt Undead on the writhing body
Ulrich's spell has no effect on the writhing body. As he peers closer, the necromancer can see that it is a woman, weak from blood loss and fever, but very much alive.
"Let me deal with this." Allie says, before speaking something in nercil. A shimmering silver hemisphere appears around her.
"This should keep undead away and since it's likely a trap this is the best way to spring it. Watch and be ready if something tries to ambush me."
When the sisters arrive, she asks for a moment of their time. "Please forgive my forwardness if you consider the following request inappropriate. If you have not yet noticed, I speak my mind truthfully without playing games or wrapping words with hidden agendas." she starts, "We have all had a rough day today, but the last two hours I have been gifted with wings, nearly drowned in water, my life drained, named by necromancer and then summoned, expelled, nauseated, humiliated and forced into a truce I do not want with said necromancer. I am physically and emotionally spent and I need to complete my devotions this evening in the hopes it shall restore my vigor."
"Given our rather pressing schedule, I have been remiss in expressing my appreciation of your innate beauty. Given the opportunity, I hope I could rectify this by thoroughly exploring every crevice of your body and taking in your every breath, smoothing every hair, and basking in the way your breasts rise as your back arches with every pleasure sound. Would that I could bathe in the aura sensuality that you exude."
"Truth be told, I would very much enjoy your company during my devotions and to lay by my side afterwards so that I shall not be alone this evening."
The next two days, Amnayel spends a lot of time soul-searching in prayer and devotions. She makes sure she stays as far away from Ulrich as possible, unable to even make eye contact with the foul man for more than a few seconds at a time.
Amnayel says "I will not let you trigger this trap alone, Alessandra, I am coming." as she walks alongside the oracle.
When Amnayel makes her request, the dhampir's mouth drops open in surprise. Her arm closes tightly around Allie's waist possessively, but she doesn't respond. Rather, she turns her hesitant gaze on her sister.
Amnayel takes Gabriella's previous comment about spending her time with her sister into consideration as she watches the inquistor pull her tighter with her hands around Allie's waist. A flash of disappointment crosses her face, but it is instantly transformed in a warm and welcoming smile. She closes her eyes and exhales out through her nose as the small smile becomes a wide smile.
Opening her eyes says "Ahhhhh, right." as she runs her fingers through her golden blond hair that shimmers with a nearly metallic sheen.
She reaches out places a gentle hand on Gabriella's shoulder "Remember, love them every day. One day you will wake up and they are gone and it is good to know you gave them yourself every single day." before patting it twice, "Have a blessed evening. Goodnight."
She turns and leaves to pick up her armor. She doesn't wait for a response from Allie, Gabriella's waist-grab was enough for her to understand her feelings and she wasn't going to push.
As Allie and Amnayel get within a few feet of the woman, a troop of skeletons emerge from the mud behind the barricades! Blood drips from their bones as they raise longbows. They are lead by a cairn wight with withered skin and glowing red eyes.
Ulrich stares into the hollow sockets of the cairn wight, then pulses with necromantic power.
In Necril he whispers "I control you now"
"Another time." It's said with a distinct tone of promise.
"Get her off that." Allie snaps to her companion before raising one fist towards the sun overhead and making a sharp pulling gesture. A column of fire streaks out of the sky and hammers into the middle of the troop, blasting them with divine fury.
Not knowing that the creature is being targeted by their own necromancer, Gabbi pulls her bow and sights in on the wight.
The wight resists Ulrich’s attempt to control it. All the undead dodge the worst of Allie’s flame strike, but Gabby scores two good hits on the wight.
It returns fire at the inquisitor while the troop unleashes a volley of arrows at both dhampir sisters.
The fact that the twins have made up is clear to anyone sleeping in the lighthouse as their nightly activities are enthusiastically boisterous.
Gabbi dodges some of the arrows and draws and returns her own back to the enemy commander.
Amanayel takes a running start and leaps up into the air, putting her wings to work for the first time. It's awkward because she hasn't practiced with it yet, but she flies towards the archers with her large blade in her hands.
Allie rolls her eyes as the paladin does exactly what she was hoping she wouldn't and charges head-first into the enemy...
So instead of smiting the group with divine fire once again she triggers a bright flare burst above them, and then sets to work freeing the tied woman.
-------------------------
"Do you want to talk about Ulrich? Now that I've reminded you just how good I am? You don't have to." She adds, "But I don't want you getting hurt again."
The flying aasimar sees the flare bursting above her out of the corner of her eye, but she averts her gaze quickly enough and squeezes her eyes shut to avoid being blinded.
Ulrich uses his wand to fire a series of dark motes at the wight.
Gabby hits the wight with one arrow, and Ulrich blasts it with magic missiles. The troop avoids being blinded by Allie’s spell.
The wight continues to return fire at Gabby while the skeletons holster their bows and surge forward, ripping at Amanayel with their claws!
Gabbi grits her teeth and continues her fusillade, invoking a judgement on her enemies.
Gabby strikes the wight twice more, and it falls!
Amnayel ignores the attack from the troop and buries her blade into troop relentlessly.
Amnayel makes quick work of the skeletal troop, cutting them down with broad sweeps of her blade. As the last undead falls, the paladin returns to the impaled woman and gently removes her from the spikes and lays hands on her, healing her wounds and removing her disease.
The woman takes a ragged breath and puts her hands to her chest in wonder. ”The gods sent an angel to save my life! Thank you, milady! Thank you!”
The angel smiles and carries the woman back down to the ground, sitting down gently. "Do you require more healing, or are you alright? I am Amnayel, what is your name? Can you tell us what happened here?"
Allie shakes her head at how the big freaking angel gets all the attention and mutters something about show-offs as she dismisses her magic and returns to her sister.
"Good shooting darling." She says with a peck on the lips. "Do you need any fixing?" Her canines pop out at the question.
”A bit more, if you can spare it,” the Varisian woman says. ”My name’s Deadre Cauchen. I was angler aboard a fishing trawler called the River Otter. We had the misfortune to happen upon that band of undead, and, well..” She looks at the other bodies impaled on the barricade and shakes her head. ”I’m afraid I’m the only one among my crew still alive.
“But my gratitude to you knows no bounds. I dredged these up from the river and planned on selling them, but I think you’ll be able to make better use of them.”
Deadre recovers a roll of thin copper plates stashed in her boot. These are a scroll of banishment and a scroll of greater heroism.
Amanayel places her hands on the woman's forehead and says "Be healed, Deadre. You are safe now."
She looks to the scrolls she offers up as a reward and Amnayel shakes her head no, "We take consolation in saving your life, no greater reward is necessary."