A Witch Opportunity

Posted on 26 Jun 2023 @ 5:09am by Mage Kalian Winter & Warrior Rhiannon Cadash & Warrior Skeld & Rogue Elinowy Ursulas

2,308 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Hall of the Phantom Shadow
Location: Begonia Baudelaire's Mansion
Timeline: Bloomingtide 7th, after 'Mystery Manor'

OOC: Haunted Mansion Group: Kalian, Rhiannon, Skeld, Elinowy

From behind the barred door at the top of the stairs, a woman's voice called out, "Hello? Who's there?"

Rhi moved to flank the door, waited to see what the others were going to do.

Skeld looked down at the coin he was about to flip, sighed and slipped it back into a pocket. “Could have waited till I’d won a coin or two,” he grumbled to himself. “Though, could still be a nasty – who’s game?” he whispered, brightening up.

The voice made Elinowy stop in her chant. "We are friends in the Maker, my child. Who might you be," she said moving toward the sound of the voice, her fingers crossed in a stance of blessing.

Quietly Rhi spoke the others. "I can remove the bar, when you are ready."

"Are you friends of Rossa?" the woman's voice called. More quietly, as if to herself, she said, "No, no... they couldn't be. That singing... it was so beautiful." Raising her voice again, she called, "Beware the undead! They roam the halls. Rossa made me do it. Please, let me out. My name is Lilith."

Kalian looked from Rhiannon to Skeld, and spoke loudly. "Stand back from the door, Lilith."

Skeld raised an eyebrow at the description of the Maker as a friend of his, but didn’t comment; had he gone out drinking with the maker and not known it? What a tricksy god for such a straightlaced woman to worship! He chuckled at the thought of his bar crawl with a deity, and looked to the door, secured as it was from the outside.

“I normally toss a coin, but this kind of gamble works also,” Skeld said, standing ready to take the weight of any charging beasty that might be behind the door. He had met many great predators who could sound sweet and turn sour, and magic always seemed to be involved when he did. “Ready when you are,” he nodded to Rhiannon.

"We need not alarm her." the Chantry sister spoke softly to her companions. Skeld's axes would certianly give a different message, but she approached the door with her hands up as she neared Rhionnon. "Proceed."

Kalian cast a barrier spell on his friends before Rhiannon lifted the bolt. The sight that met their eyes when the door opened was somewhat anticlimactic. In the far corner of the room, slightly to their right, stood a woman with dark hair, a tattoo on her face, and dressed in circle robes that were tattered but relatively clean. The room itself was shabby but neat. Lilith held up her hands in surrender, no staff, though she was surrounded by her own barrier spell.

Elinowy immediately took pity on the poor girl. Evven with her robes and tattoos suggesting she was part of the Circle, at least she had come from a point of control and legitimacy. She smiled kindly and moved into the room.

Rhi had removed the bolt holding the door then moved to step onto the room. She had to step around Kalian so the she was in front of him pulling her rapier so that she could protect him if needed. What greeted them was a dark haired tattoo faced woman in what looked like circle robes. Rhi kept her rapier up in a defensive position.

Lilith's eyes were wide as she took in Rhiannon and especially Skeld. "D-d-don't hurt me. Please, serahs. Who-who are you?"

"As long as you are not a danger, we won't hurt you," said Kalian. "What happened here?"

Lilith turned her fearful gaze to the other three people facing her, looking for reassurance they did not intend to harm her.

"You are safe child." Elinowy stated in as maternal and kindly of a voice as she could. If this was indeed the same Lilth that the Revered Mother had spoken of, her need to treat her with compassion was paramount. "We are here to help."

"Well, 'help', 'smash undead' - same difference," Skeld said, giving her a grin, though her barrier spell made his tattoos itch. "So, just how many friends does this 'Rossa' have? And, while you're at it - who is Rossa?" he asked, looking back into the hallway, to ensure they were not about to be jumped.

Rhi noticed how the woman looked at both her and Skeld, she was scared. Kalian assured her that they were not here to hurt her. Elinowy reassured this woman ask will. Then Skeld did as well, in his own way.

Rhi was one to not be out done, she stood bringing her rapier up, then with a flourish and a bow she said. "Rhiannon Emorette Dayntee Cadash. At your service." Her tone was respectful with a hint of daring and concern. As she finished her flourish and bow she kept her rapier in hand though she made sure that she presented no threat to this woman. Yet her crimson colored eyes showed that she was watching.

Kalian turned his attention away from the other mage to Rhiannon, distracted by hearing her full name for the first time. He wondered what the significance of those names might be, and what it meant that she chose this moment to share them.

Lilith gave them each a long wary look, and when Kalian dropped his barrier spell, she dropped hers. Still, she wrapped her arms around herself in the habitual way of someone who has felt persistently threatened for some time. She faced Skeld and answered his question, speaking with a Nevaran accent. "Rossa is the bandit leader. He locked me up here, made me do certain magic…"

"The bandit we questioned said Rossa was the leader's name," Kalian confirmed. He took the amulet from a pocket and showed it to Lilith. "It looked like he was using this amulet to control a corpse abomination with blood magic. Was that your doing?"

"Y-yes. B-but it's not… I mean," Lilith wrung her hands. "I'm from Nevarra. Before I was sent to Orlais, I assisted at the Grand Necropolis, and helped spirits inhabit the bodies of the mummified dead. I came to Jader looking for my child. I hid in this house, and was using a skeleton for a guard when Rossa found me. At first, he promised to help me search in exchange for sharing this place as a hideout, with undead guards. But then… Rossa imprisoned me, and threatened to harm my child if I didn't do what he wanted."

Sister Elinowy was moved one hand to cover her mouth as she listened to the horrifying story Lilith was presenting. While blood magic was a forbidden practice, Lilith's cause seemed to be based on desperate coercion for perfectly legitimate reasons. She knew what she would do for her sisters, let alone if she were to have a child. She reached out to gently touch the woman. The Maker was teaching her many strange things in recent months. For a second time she was reaching out in compassion to help a magic user.

Lilith searched each of their faces and asked hopefully, "Is Rossa dead? Did you kill him?"

Rhi stood in a way so that she could move quickly, if needed, to protect Kalian and the others. She listened as this Lilith explained what Rossa had put her through. For Rhi the idea of blood magic chilled her to the bone. And the fact that she was standing in the same room with someone who had done blood magic. It wasn't till the mention of a child did Rhi let her guard down, just a little. She didn't bother answering this Lilith's question if Rossa was dead or not. "Where do you think he might have kept your child?"

"Last I knew, Luca had been given to an orphanage in Jader. Rossa said he'd send someone there to kill my child, and maybe some others to be sure they got mine, if I didn't cooperate." Lilith glanced furtively at the open door. "He's dangerous. And his partner, she is ruthless. If you didn't kill him, Rossa's probably in the bandit camp. We have to get out of here, he might come back-"

"The other half of our party went to the bandit camp," said Kalian. "If Rossa didn't surrender to them, he's probably dead by now." At least, Kalian hoped that was true, he was starting to feel a bit more worried about Kithris, Katya, and Nazri. Kalian looked to Skeld, Rhiannon, and Elinowy."Maybe our friends need help?"

"There's another corpse abomination in the room below this one," said Lilith. "The amulet that controls it is probably on the other side of that room in the kitchen at the back of the house. From there, I know a way to the bandit camp."

Skeld bristled at the thought of another corpse abomination - they were aptly named, an unspeakable violation to create. "We kill that before we leave. We leave none of the defiled, or they will just create more death." He turned to the others, his face very much informing them that he'd go alone if necessary, though he didn't think he would have to.

The scarlet sister couldn't argue with the big man's summation. A reanimated corpse dead would only breed more destruction.

Kalian hurried back down the stairs to the door beneath Lilith's room they had not opened yet. He waited for Rhiannon and Skeld to join him, with Elinowy and Lilith back a little. "Ready to kill another walking corpse?" he asked Skeld and Rhiannon.

"Be careful!" hissed Lilith. "That one is a rage demon."

Rhi readied herself. "You just stay behind me Kalian. Understand." Her tone said, do not argue.

Kalian just nodded, and took a brief moment to admire Rhiannon's behind.

"Best do the same, Sister," Skeld mentioned with a smile before he stepped forward and joined Rhiannon, the title feeling strange in his mouth. He stretched his back muscles for a moment, as he prepared himself to fight the demon, visualising his axe cutting it in two as he did. Demons... why'd it always have to be demons?

Elinowy moved to put herself between Skeld and Lilith. The mage needed to be protected from her own creation. The Rage Demon, while dangerous. was easily dispatched, at least according to what she had studied. Even a lower grade demon like this was still an abomination to the Maker. She gracefully moved into a defensive form her fingers twisting into a basic warding glyph.

Kalian cast a barrier on all of them, then opened the door and stepped aside to let Skeld and Rhiannon in first. Inside the room was another corpse walking toward them, brandishing a sword.

Rhi stepped into the room. Without a second thought she charged the walking corpse. "You need to stay dead. And I intend to make sure you will." She expertly pivoted just before she reached the corpse, took a roll to the right and took out its left knee with her rapier.

The corpse fell to one knee, and dropped the sword. With a roar, the corpse began to transform into the fiery red, glowing monstrous shape of a rage demon.

Elinowy's stance shifted as the creature transformed. A most astonishing sensation moved across her abdomen, one she had not felt before. Not cramping, but an itch that was almost a tickle. Her eyes darted to Kalian, and then she turned back toward Lilth, thinking the mages were doing something. She straightened her robes across her midsection with one hand as she whirled into a new defensive form.

Skeld followed Rhiannon through the door, hand gripping his broad axe tight as he swung with a roar over her head and directly at the corpse's upper chest. The tattoos itched as he did so, though from the presence of the undead or the spell Kalian had cast, he was unsure. The blade crashed through a collection of plates, cutlery and goblets that had been stacked on a side table, but they did nothing to slow his attack down, though they did drown out his warcry somewhat.

Kalian cast winter's grasp, hitting the rage demon a fraction of a second before Skeld's axe crashed down. The demon shattered into dozens of pieces.

And like that the sensation subsided. Her eyebrow raised as she drew the conclusion that the feeling had to do with the manifestation of the demon. She was uncertain what this meant, but she felt fairly certain whatever was inked into her belly was the cause. But the Demon was dispatched. That was good. "Praise to Andraste." she uttered.

Rhiannon had watched as the undead started to fall after taking its lower leg, seeing a rage demon starting to form. Then a blast of icy cold hit it just as Skeld's axe came down shattering into thousands of pieces. "Oye, that is one way to make sure it stays dead."

"Thank the Maker," said Lilith with wide eyes. She headed for the other door. "The kitchen is in here, and there are stairs that go down to a tunnel that leads to Rossa's camp." But, at the kitchen door, she froze. Lilith pointed to the open doorway across the room and said, "I hear someone in the room just below."

Rhi turned towards the door that Lilith had run out when hearing her say that there is someone else below. She moved to stand by Lilith. "Stay behind me. I will go first." Rhi will move slowly towards the kitchen.

Elinowy moved to Lilith, her hand still covering her stomach. "We will protect you and your child." She stood ready not knowing what would be in the kitchen, but she prayed the Maker would grant them his Providence.

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