Dawn to Dusk, Part 3: Visions of the End Times
Chapter 1
Stepping Up
Fifteenth of Stormhunt, year 1702 PS. Late Morning of Soc Sinnis.
Sienna Picarello was leaning against the balcony of her hotel room, pondering the nature of her current predicament. The knight’s quiet musings were interrupted by the party’s wizard, who had coincidentally also decided to get some fresh air to go alongside his morning coffee.
“Mornin’.” the wizard murmured loud enough for Sienna to hear him from her balcony.
“Hello, Cedric.” Sienna replied.
“Fancy seeing you here, at this hour.” Cedric chuckled.
“By now you should know…” the knight said. “I tend to wake up very early.”
“Figures.” the wizard said. “You’re the no-nonsense type, after all.”
“Quite so…” Sienna said.
“…”
“Anyway,” Cedric said. “What’re you looking so concerned about?”
“Must be an awful lot going on in your mind, innit?” he inquired.
“…?” Sienna gave the wizard a puzzled glare.
“What has gotten into you all of a sudden, wizard…” she murmured. “You are being very nosy right about now—more than usual, at least.”
“Well,” Cedric explained. “After our stunt yesterday, I’ve been thinking about this and that myself, and…”
“Truth be told, I haven’t been exactly straight with the lot of you.” he added.
“How humorous.” Sienna said. “The flamboyant trickster wishes to come clean…”
Cedric blushed.
“Spare me the pity—it’s not… that bad, honestly.” he replied.
“Really now?” Sienna asked. “Then why are you telling me this out of the blue?”
“Need to get it off my chest, is what I’m saying.” Cedric explained. “Besides, like I said: you seem to have something going on inside that head of yours as well.”
“I know you’re not really the talkative type, so I figured… How about I start first, and you go next?” he added. “How does that sound, ‘Elven Hero’?”
“By all means.” the knight replied somewhat ironically, averting her gaze. “I will do my best to try and listen…”
“Very well!” Cedric smiled. “So…”
“Have you ever felt immense guilt over… not being enough?” he said, not smiling anymore.
Sienna turned to face the wizard in a rapid motion, staring at him with widened eyes.
“Who on Astoria starts a conversation like that…?!” she scoffed.
“Sorry, allow me to elaborate.” Cedric replied. “I might need to start from an earlier point.”
“Ahem.” he coughed.
“One day…” the wizard started. “I was busy with a long-term quest in the Duchy of Falkenfield.”
“The gist of the mission is unimportant. What matters is that I had to stay in Falkenfield for a prolonged period of time—for about two months or so.”
“On that fateful, rainy day, some kind of blonde kid tried to mug me in a dark alleyway, while I was on my way from successful reconnaissance of an enemy faction leader’s private abode.”
“Are you still following?” Cedric asked.
Sienna nodded positively.
“Alright.” the wizard continued. “As I was saying…”
“Ultimately, the kid didn’t have the guts—when I confronted them about it, they broke down crying and pleading for forgiveness.”
“They said something about having no other opportunities anymore, and… for as much as I wanted to leave that kid on the side of the road, they brimmed with promise. With potential.”
“I don’t know what it was—their vocabulary? Their remarkable illusion magic that, initially, had almost tricked me?”
“Regardless…”
“I elected to give the kid a second chance.”
“I bought them a warm meal, some new clothes, and a hotel room for the night.”
“And boy did I learn quite a bit!”
“Turns out: the kid was actually an accomplished student—at the age of 18, no less!”
“It’s kind of weird to think about now—they’re merely 6 years younger than me, but look like a little kid. Heh.”
“Malnourishment is a bitch, let me tell you.”
“Anyway…”
“The kid showed great promise and even stumped me intellectually on quite a few occasions.”
“It is through THEM that I learned what I know about demons, you see—they were in the middle of finishing their demonology course, but a tragic twist of fate made them end up on the streets instead.”
“…Having to fight for scraps of leftover food and resourcefully utilise random junk just to survive…”
“…”
“In a way, I felt kind of angry; To see a talent much like myself back in the day, but without the proper environment to nurture it.”
“Motivated by pity, and… mostly just willing to vicariously live my long-gone dreams through that kid…”
“I got us an apartment together and used what little money I had left to enroll them back into their demonology course. Right where they left off, too.”
“Suffice to say, they were very grateful.”
“Every day I came home from a part-time job, or some kind of mission tied to my long-term quest, I was greeted with a warm meal and an appreciative smile.”
“I spent my evenings painting, and they would quietly study in the same room.”
“…”
“The weather outside was awful, and my quest was very nerve-wracking, but…”
“Thanks to good companionship, my life wasn’t all that gloomy.”
“…”
“That’s how I met Masaru.”
“…”
“But, once I was done with my quest, I got a pretty generous payout—generous enough to fully fund the rest of Masaru’s demonology course and leave him some money to spare.”
“…”
“With time I realised that—perhaps even quicker than I anticipated—I would eventually run out of funds again.”
“Adventuring is a stressful line of work when you’re bad with finances…”
“So, that being said…”
“I decided to embark on another long-term quest—this time, outside of Falkenfield.”
“…”
“I left Masaru everything I could, promising to return soon.”
“In that time, a lot had happened:”
“For one, they had legally changed their name to ‘Heaven’, inspired by the first painting they saw me draw back when we first moved in together.”
“I thought it was a rather adorable gesture.”
“But, if it was just Masaru’s name that had changed, I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you right now—now, would I?”
“…”
“No.”
“It was worse than that.”
“My gig ended up spiralling out of control, and I didn’t receive the proper payout that was owed to me.”
“I had to quickly go through an entire GAUNTLET of sidegigs and part-time jobs just to continue operating in Goldwall.”
“I’ve been working my ass off in this rotten duchy for over two months, and haven’t heard much from Heaven past a certain point—they had stopped sending me letters, around a week before you and I had met.”
“…”
“I was beginning to grow worried.”
“But then that gig came up… about the underground criminal gang.”
“Then… the rest is history.”
“But, still—the only genuinely-concering thought present in my mind when we were adventuring was:”
“Is Heaven okay?”
“Should I have really left them unsupervised for this long?”
“…”
“I began to blame myself for things that haven’t happened yet.”
“Then, with time…”
“When we found Heaven…”
“I could finally blame myself for things that actually happened.”
“I was LIVID with myself.”
“Furious over how IRRESPONSIBLE it was of me to just… ASSUME everything would go fine.”
“…”
“Gods, I was so angry with myself yesterday.”
Sienna coughed.
“Yes, I could tell—” she said.
“But, then again,” Cedric interjected. “I can’t always fuss about stuff. Especially about myself.”
“At some point, I have to… ‘man up’, is what my mother would’ve said.”
“…”
“Now, if you would bear with my parental issues for a moment:”
“I didn’t really have a male authority figure back in Monteroque, so…”
“I always felt the need to step up. To be the man my mother needed.”
Sienna rolled her eyes at the half-elf’s oversharing monologue—not buying into his ramblings—but Cedric didn’t seem to have noticed.
“And it’s in times like these, when there’s a lot of turbulence going on all at once…”
“…That I have to step up.”
“For Heaven…”
“…And now, for you, too.”
“…”
The wizard felt good saying that—maybe even a little proud, as if he was finishing a dramatic speech. He didn’t receive the applause he anticipated, however. Instead, he was met with awkward silence.
“…”
“Hmph…” Sienna murmured. “That would explain your… dramatic shifts in personality, these last few days we have known each other.”
“Eh?” Cedric inquired.
“You try to make yourself the unbothered, nonchalant type—it is a painfully obvious act.” the knight continued, and Cedric grew flustered.
“But, I have realised—deep down, you care quite a lot.” she added. “Maybe even too much, I would say…”
“That being said…” Sienna said. “Do not agonize over your mask slipping.”
“Believe me… not everyone can afford the luxury of honesty.” the high elf said somberly.
“…”
“Well, I guess you’re right, in a way.” Cedric admitted.
“But, like I said… the charade must go on, you dig?” he laughed.
“If not for my sake, then for the sake of people who look up to me.” the wizard added. “Who believe my ‘facade’, if that’s what you wanna call it.”
“Heaven, for instance.” he added. “Or the adoring fans cheering me on at the tavern back in Mistwich.”
“They need someone radiating pure confidence and charisma—someone they can aspire to be.” Cedric explained. “Even if it’s all just a stunt.”
“Believing it all is what matters, after all.” he smiled.
“…”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, weirdo…” Sienna chuckled, before looking out into the horizon.
“Hey, don’t you cut yourself off now!” Cedric said.
“…?” Sienna briefly looked at the wizard before returning to her longing staring.
“We had a deal, didn’t we?” the wizard added. “I would tell you what’s bothering me, and you—”
“And I would listen.” Sienna interjected.
“And listen I did…” she replied.
“But—” Cedric tried to say.
“Look, you are not getting anything out of me just yet.” she retorted. “Especially not after your ‘spiel’ about ‘charades’, you are not.”
“Why not?” the wizard pouted. “I was as genuine as I ever was!”
“Isn’t this what you wanted of me?” he added.
Sienna narrowed her eyes in contempt. She already had the feeling Cedric was an entitled brat before, but now she received a confirmation. Her blood pressure was steadily rising, and her fingers were itching in anticipation for when the claws would come out.
“Just because you presented me with some pitiful regalement of your struggles with masculinity does not mean you are READY to handle my deepest, darkest secrets!” the knight snapped.
“…” the wizard widened his eyes, shocked by Sienna’s sudden outburst.
“…” Sienna wasn’t proud of the way she phrased her thoughts either, feeling as if she had been clearly influenced by her… condition… to say something hurtful and push the other person away.
“Make no mistake though: by no means do I think your struggles are not important, I just… do not believe they are of the same weight.” she clarified, trying to rectify her previous position.
“Do not take this personally, Cedric…” she added, frowning. “You must understand…”
“I simply do not think any of you—save for my squire—should be concerned with my personal problems…” the knight explained.
“It would be detrimental to our mission at large.” she finished. “Understood?”
“…” Cedric stared at the knight with a tinge of betrayal in his eyes, clearly taking it personally.
“Alright then, keep your secrets.” he scoffed. “Just so you know, I wasn’t trying to pry, or anything.”
“I merely wanted to get to know you better.” he added. “I wanted to know what makes you tick. What bothers you, even.”
“That is textbook-definition prying, Cedric…” Sienna retorted.
“Look, I just wanted to be honest with you, okay?!” the wizard exclaimed.
“…”
“I’m not sure what I expected…” he muttered under his breath. “By talking my heart out, I mean.”
“…”
“I didn’t suppose being earnestly open was off the table.” he murmured, slowly going back inside his hotel room.
“Do forgive me for trying.”
“…”
The elven hero suddenly felt as if there was a way she could have handled this conversation better. Perhaps giving the wizard the benefit of the doubt would have helped reach a mutual understanding?
“…”
“Hey, Cedric…” Sienna said with a smile, stopping the wizard in his tracks.
“…Yeah?” he replied.
“…”
Sienna thought long and hard about her next sentence. It was at the tip of her tongue, and yet, she couldn’t muster up the courage to say it. Her smile quickly faded into a frown, and with a dejected voice, she said:
“Nevermind.”
“Forget about it…”
“…” the wizard stared at her with a concerned expression.
“You can’t always bottle up your problems—you know that, right?” he said somberly.
“If I’m slowly learning to get over it, I bet you could do it too.” he added. “If you tried, that is.”
Sienna chuckled. She couldn’t imagine telling anyone else about the nature of her condition. In her eyes, she was a monster, doing her best to keep that side of her hidden at all cost.
“If only it were that simple…” she said, hiding a pained expression behind her weak smile.
The door to Cedric’s hotel room suddenly swung open. Standing inside was Elynere, dirtied with the leftovers of all sorts of healing salves and covered in potion splotches.
“THERE you are!” the dark elf exclaimed. “I’ve been patching up your friend all morning and you haven’t even bothered to leave your room?!”
“I, uhh—I just needed my morning coffee, that’s all.” Cedric replied nervously.
“Well then finish it and get your bum-ass over here!” Elynere pouted. “Your friend just woke up, y’know…”
“Really?!” Cedric exclaimed.
“Give me two minutes.” he added, hurriedly changing out of his pyjamas.
Sienna overheard the conversation from her own balcony, and decided to prematurely end her fresh-air break as well. Around 10 minutes later, the adventurers have all found themselves gathered in the young demonologist’s room.
“Well? How are you feeling?” Cedric asked.
“Much better… Thank you.” Masaru replied.
“Especially thanks to your friend over there—the dark elf.” they added.
Elynere smiled, bowing politely. “My pleasure.” she replied.
“Now, I’ve heard we’re in Gildengar, so I must warn you: it’s not exactly a place with cheap hotels.” the human continued. “We should find a way to get some money really soon—”
“Hey, don’t worry about that yet,” Cedric interjected. “You JUST woke up and you’re already stressing your mind out—it’s not healthy for you.”
“See, we’ve been invited to a grand ball at the Golden Bastion the following astrer, so we have around eight days to prepare.” the wizard explained. “In that time, me and the rest of the party will try to—”
“Wait, hold on!” Masaru interjected. “What about Mistwich?!”
“What about the demon that attacked it?!” they added.
“Settle down now, kiddo.” Emilia joined the conversation. “Duchess Jeanette said the monster was dealt with, but there ain’t much left of Mistwich now…”
“Cinders and splinters, is all.” she added.
“…” Masaru lowered their head.
“I could have prevented this…” they murmured.
“Not this again…” Sienna thought to herself.
“The gang, they… wanted to get info on demons from me, but I refused—even when they tortured me.” Masaru continued.
“Had I told them about the necessary precautions, their boss wouldn’t have transformed into this… monstrosity!” they exclaimed.
“Everyone hurt by it, everything destroyed by that monster… The blood is on my hands now.” they lamented.
Cedric kneeled by Masaru’s bedside, holding their frail hands.
“Listen, pal…” he said.
“It’s what you’ve always told me, remember?” the wizard said. “We can’t fault ourselves for things we’ve got no control over.”
“But—” Masaru tried to say.
“No buts.” Cedric interjected. “That gang was going to destroy itself anyway—that’s what happens when you mess with powers you don’t understand.”
“Truthfully, it ‘s good that you haven’t told them too much—” the wizard tried to say.
“I didn’t tell them anything!” Masaru interjected.
“Yeah, and that’s great!” Cedric smiled.
“Just IMAGINE what they could’ve done, had they known how to reign in that power!” he said, concerningly excited, his purple eye flashing for a brief moment, making Masaru visibly concerned.
“Yeah…” Masaru murmured. “Imagine…”
“Okay now, enough sentimentality.” Sienna said sternly.
“You were going to tell us something just now, correct, Masaru?” she asked the human.
“Y-Yes, but—if it’s not terribly inconvenient—I go by ‘Heaven’ now.” the human replied.
“My apologies, Heaven.” the knight said. “Now, without further ado—”
“Spill the beans!” Emilia interjected. “Tell me, what sort of crazy stuff have we gotten ourselves into?”
“Will there be DRAGONS…?” the wood elf asked excitedly. “Or maybe ALIENS?”
“Or, or… or better yet!” she continued rambling.
As the adventurers continued talking to the demonologist, Elynere zoned out, focusing her attention someplace else. A tiny moth that only she could see was guiding her out of the room and into the hotel hallway, before eventually leading her into a dark supply closet. Feeling compelled to enter, the dark elf hid herself in said closet, awaiting further guidance.
Elynere closed her eyes for a brief moment, breathed heavily, then opened them to a surprise; no longer finding herself in the closet, the dark elf was instead surrounded by the cosmos, or at least that’s what she felt was happening. In the cold, vast expanse of darkness with stars scattered throughout, a light began rapidly heading her way—a light that began resembling some kind of animal silhouette the closer it drew. The silhouette… of a moth.
Once the moth got close enough, it flew above Elynere’s head, only to emit a burst of concentrated light bright enough to temporarily block the dark elf’s vision. When Elynere returned to her senses, she was still floating in the cosmos—this time, however, there was somebody floating with her; it was none other than the humanoid avatar of her goddess…
Eldritch Goddess Nezhara, the Fallen Arbiter.
Captivated by Nezhara’s radiant beauty, Elynere felt her goddess’s words echo inside her mind:
“My dearest champion:”
“You must scale the Castle of Gold…”
“…”
“…Seek out its innermost mysteries…”
“…”
“…And uncover them in due time…”
“…”
“…For a great cataclysm is looming over Gildengar…”
“…”
“…And fate has seemingly brought you—alongside your companions—to the genesis point of said cataclysm…“
“…”
“I can by no means intervene, however…”
“I will do my best to guide you, with what little energy I have left to spare.”
“In eight days, we shall meet again before you embark on your most perilous quest yet…”
“Until then, my champion…”
The avatar of Nezhara placed a gentle kiss on Elynere’s forehead, before disintegrating and scattering across the cosmos. With the blink of an eye, Elly found herself back in the closet, anxious and covered in cold sweat.
“H-How long did that take, I wonder…” she thought to herself, hurryingly getting back to Heaven’s room to see what her friends were up to.
Meanwhile…
“…And that’s why you need to be careful, okay?” the demonologist had finished explaining something to the rest of the adventurers.
“Oh, hi Elly!” Emilia said, turning to face her partner.
“What took you so long?” she asked, curiously tilting her head. “Were you in the bathroom?”
“I, uhh, umm…” the dark elf stammered with a shaky voice.
“Is everything alright with her?” the demonologist asked, concerned.
“Y-Yeah! It’s just,“ Elynere muttered. “I have something important to tell you guys, but, you’ll have to… suspend your disbelief, alright?”
“Now it’s getting interesting, eh?” Emilia said, nudging Enix in the shoulder.
And so, Elynere recounted the cosmic experience with her Eldritch Goddess to her adventuring party, stressing the importance of thoroughly investigating the duchess’s palace—the Golden Bastion—for clues regarding “the cataclysm”.
“…” everyone stood silent for a moment, collecting their thoughts.
“You’re crazy.” Cedric said, dejected.
“What?!” Elynere said, surprised.
“What ‘what’?” the wizard muttered. “Do you really expect me to NOT get all up in arms at this suggestion?”
“There’s NO WAY we’re going to sneak around the Golden Bastion, of all things!” he added.
“As if we’d ruin our reputation with the DUCHESS herself because of a cryptic vision, of all things.” Cedric scoffed.
“But—” the dark elf tried to say.
“Nope, nuh uh, not buying it—didn’t I already tell you I don’t believe in superstitions?” Cedric interjected.
“Wait, this could be just the thing we need.” Heaven rebutted.
“Aw, come on, man!” the wizard groaned. “Not you too!”
“Cedric, please listen…” the demonologist continued. “If what your friend is saying is true, then an omen of this caliber cannot be ignored.”
“Even if you choose not to delve deeper into the duchess’s palace, you must stay vigilant.” they added. “Eldritch Gods, as temperamental as they may be, usually don’t throw around the words ‘cataclysm’ without a care in the world.”
“…”
“Hmph.” Cedric scoffed.
“…”
“Okay, we know how much we have to lose—how much is at stake, I mean.” the wizard started. “But then, how much do we gain from playing into Elly’s fantasies?”
“If this is ‘destiny’, ‘fate’, or whatever your moth-mommy told you it is…” Cedric muttered, eyeing Elynere intensely. “Then how can we be sure our intervention won’t mess things up even more?”
“W-Well, she did say it was ‘my quest’, so… surely, it must be something that requires my attention.” Elynere stammered.
“OUR attention, actually.” she added. “Lady Nezhara mentioned all of you as well.”
Cedric squinted his eyes.
“Come on, Elly… we’ve JUST met the Duchess, and there’s a bright future ahead of us—I can see it!” Cedric exclaimed.
“Are you really going to bet your adventuring career on a vision?!” he asked.
“This is more than just being an adventurer.” Elynere scoffed. “I-It’s about my duty… as Lady Nezhara’s champion!”
“You don’t have to go along with me, if you don’t want to…” the dark elf continued. “But I’m going to trust my gut here—my gut AND my goddess.”
Sienna silently appreciated Elynere’s newfound courage with a proud smile. As a devout follower of Lindemayen herself, the knight empathised with the dark elf’s strong religious convictions. Besides—in spite of a long and prosperous adventuring career already behind her—Sienna wouldn’t be particularly troubled by ruining her reputation in the Duchy of Goldwall. After all, it wasn’t exactly a place where she WANTED to be renowned, considering its reputation for harbouring the worst of the worst, the bottom of the barrel, the most scandalous adventurers of all.
“I must take Elynere’s side on this matter.” the knight said sternly. “Reputation is not everything, Cedric—if there is a bad omen hanging over this city, and we know about it beforehand, we have an obligation to do whatever we can to help it.”
“We do?” Cedric inquired, perplexed. “How did you come to THAT conclusion, huh?”
“Gods, what is it with you, wizard?!” the knight exclaimed, losing her temper. “You only ever think about yourself and how people perceive you…”
“It honestly makes me wonder whether everything you said this morning was nothing but farce…” she said judgingly.
“What?” Emilia butted in, tilting her head in confusion. “Whatcha talking about, Miss Picarello?”
“I…” Cedric stammered.
“Did you guys have a fight or something?” the druid asked innocently.
“…” Cedric was too ashamed to respond.
“If you wish to ‘step up’—like you said earlier—then you must first step out of your comfort zone…” Sienna said.
“Prove your words with actions, Cedric.” she added. “Because at the moment, you are full of nothing but empty promises, engraved in purple prose all over your mouth—you are running away from your responsibilities in this adventuring party.”
“…”
“So what will it be?” Sienna inquired, crossing her arms. “When can we expect you to earnestly start ‘acting like a man’, like you said?”
“…”
“Alright, alright—I acquiesce,” Cedric groaned. “I may be a tad too worried about my status, but deep down, aren’t we all?”
“It’s not even about vanity or fame anymore, I just DON’T want to end up a criminal, okay?” he added. “And I’m pretty sure you guys wouldn’t want an entire city’s worth of guards on your asses either!”
“It’s bad press, you know.” he chuckled.
“Excuse me,” Heaven interjected. “I think…”
“There might be a way to convince you.”
“Oh, really?” Cedric asked. “Well that’s great. I’d love to hear that, if it’s true (which it isn’t, by the way).”
“Ahem.” Heaven coughed, undiscouraged by Cedric’s incessant complaining.
“I’m pretty sure I could perform a rite of divination magic… something akin to divine augury, that would allow us to see Nezhara directly, even if for a brief moment.” they continued.
“Usually, only ‘Champions’ can see their respective Eldritch Gods’ avatars, however, the ritual would alleviate that issue.” they added.
“But first, I would require some material components for the spell…” the demonologist sighed.
“Just tell me what you need—I’ll get it for you!” Elynere exclaimed.
“Wow, you’re very eager today, Elly!” Emilia smiled.
“Anything for you guys to believe me…” the dark elf murmured.
“Don’t worry, I believe you.” Emilia replied. “You can always count on me, ‘member?”
“Me too!” Enix chimed in, finally done fidgeting with his tail. “Sorry, I wasn’t very focused, but—whatever you’re doing, I’m on board~!”
“Great!” Emilia exclaimed.
“Sounds like we’re three to one on the matter, hehe.” she said, taunting Cedric.
“It is decided then…” Sienna declared.
“…”
“Next astrer, during the masquerade…”
“We are going to sneak off and investigate the Golden Bastion. Thoroughly…”
“Yeah!” Enix and Emilia said happily in unison. Cedric wasn’t exactly thrilled, but begrudgingly agreed anyway, seeing as he no longer had a say in the matter.
“Even if everyone is on board by now,” Heaven interjected. “We should still contact Lady Nezhara before the grand ball—just for additional clarity.”
“Wonderful idea~.” Elynere smiled. “Me and Emi will spend the astrer looking for the components you need to do your little ritual.”
“Oh, and we’ll also make sure you guys have something to eat every day—you people should seriously learn how to cook, gods damn it!” the dark elf chuckled.
“Nah, let them depend on you.” Emilia suggested. “If it means we’ll have more of your cooking, I don’t see the issue! Haha!”
“Hmm…” Cedric thought to himself.”
“…”
“Eight days until our reckoning, huh?”
“…”
“A few sidequests wouldn’t hurt…”
“I’d earn some money—enough to continue paying for Heaven’s pricey textbooks.”
“…”
“Step out of your comfort zone, Sienna said. Heh.”
“…”
“We’ll see how well that goes.” Cedric finished his train of thought.
“Lead the way!” Enix smiled enthusiastically, his tail wagging behind him.
Chapter 2
Eldritch Consultation
Twenty-third of Stormhunt, year 1702 PS. Early Evening of Soc Sinnis.
After a long astrer full of hard work, the heroes had finally reached the date of Duchess Jeanette’s grand ball, meeting up in a shared hotel room to enthusiastically chat about the things they experienced while on their brief “vacation” in Gildengar.
Emilia and Elynere handled cooking just as they said they would, meal prepping for every party member and making sure nobody had to waste their gold eating out at fancy restaurants (much to Cedric’s disappointment). Beyond just cooking, however, the two elves took an interest in the wilderness outside the walls of Gildengar, spending their time foraging for alchemical ingredients as well as gathering the necessary components for the demonologist’s divination rite, buying what they couldn’t find with what little gold they had earned from running a few simple errands.
In her free time not spent with Elly, Emilia wandered from guild to guild looking for any rumours about dragons flying around in the area, hearing no news in particular—much to her disappointment. Whenever Enix was free, though, Emi would take him to a forest clearing not far from the city in order to practice stylish yet fun combat maneuvers away from the hustle and bustle of the capital, much like that one time they sparred together during their Mistwich days.
Elynere, however—while free from Emi—engaged in alchemy on a much grander scale than ever before, mass-producing her signature “Heiltrank” healing potions in order to have enough of them to give each party member for potential emergencies. The dark elf went so overboard with her prepping that she had eventually ran out of money to pay for her lodgings, wasting it all on flasks, ingredients, tools, and various other alchemical supplies. As a result, Elynere had to spend a good couple of nights sneaking into Emilia’s room while shapeshifted into a cat, purring in her partner’s lap every night before drifting to sleep in all sorts of weird positions. Once she had fixed her financial situation, Elynere realised she would actually miss living like a cat. Funny how that works.
Meanwhile, Sienna and Enix spent most of their astrer going on various minor quests together, completing around three per day and earning a whopping total of 140 gold pieces between the two of them, enough to cover basic lodging costs for another astrer and even have some money left to spare. While not running someone else’s errands, Sienna was frequently sneaking out during the dead of night to “go hunting”. On one rainy night, Enix chose to discretely follow his mistress into the dark alleys of Gildengar, expecting her to leave the walls of the city and search for her prey in the local forest. Instead, the squire was rather mortified to discover that Sienna’s condition was rapidly deteriorating, and in her random bouts of uncontrolled “hunger”, she finally lost the mental fortitude which had once prevented her from preying on fellow humanoids. Luckily, according to the fiendfolk’s observations, Sienna seemed to still be somewhat aware during her frenzied night escapades, clearly choosing only petty criminals as victims of her feeding sessions. Then again, regardless of who these people were, Enix felt immense dread coming over him from just thinking about how Sienna’s condition could possibly develop in—say—a month from now.
As Elly, Emi, Sienna, and Enix were busy with their own responsibilities, Cedric was free to do whatever—at least on paper. In practice, he felt obligated to make Heaven’s stay in Gildengar as pleasant as possible, so he worked tirelessly all eight days, ensuring his friend would have the perfect resting conditions for recovering from his wounds, as well as making sure they could continue studying for academic courses they planned to take in the future. Cedric’s ways of raising money to support Heaven were… unusual, at least for him. Not satisfied with the low pay that the local adventurers’ guilds were offering to solo adventurers, Cedric elected to cooperate with the city’s desperate guard force in their vain attempts at fighting several criminal organisations that secretly pulled the strings in the city. Unable to fully commit himself to this complex web of politics, however, Cedric’s only job was to spend nightshifts as a vigilante of sorts, patrolling the streets of Gildengar and bringing any petty criminals to local guard posts. The usually-self-centered half-elf had managed to make a name for himself as the “Eye of Santo Precioza”—a nickname stemming from the fact that his intimidating, purple left eye was all that the petty crooks of the Santo Precioza district would see before Cedric would knock them out cold with enchantment magic, then deliver them into the hands of the law. Proud of his development, Sienna intended to congratulate Cedric for his vigilante work, but the wizard scoffed, claiming he was only in it for the money the whole time. This explanation, to Sienna’s trained eye, was obviously farcical—she knew deep down that Cedric was showing clear signs of change, even if little by little, and even if he didn’t personally want to admit it.
On the final day of their astrer-long series of misadventures—the twenty-third of Stormhunt—the adventurers were reminded by Heaven and Elynere of their scheduled “counselling session” with Lady Nezhara.
The ritual went rather smoothly, although the Eldritch Goddess of Fate didn’t exactly account for the fact her champion and her friends would contact her late. Thinking they forgot about her, she decided to rest in her cozy little demi-realm, only to have her avatar yanked out of it via powerful divination magic. Suffice to say, Nezhara wasn’t pleased.
To add insult to injury, this was the first time anyone in the party other than Elynere had seen her avatar in person—and it just so happened that Nezhara wasn’t in either her true, cosmic moth form or her regal, formal attire. No, instead… the Eldritch Goddess of Fate, Destiny, and Balance—the Fallen Arbiter—appeared with:
…Messy hair, a black crop-top, white sweatpants, and moth slippers…
Her tired expression—exacerbated by the eyebags under her eyes as well as her strained posture—indicated that she wasn’t exactly happy about her surprise-summoning.
“What is it that you want of me…” she murmured.
Cedric attempted to contain his laugh, nearly failing, but Emilia kicked him in the shin just in time.
“I-I’m so, SO sincerely sorry for… seeking your avatar’s counsel at this hour, but,” Elynere stammered nervously. “Lady Nezhara—please—if your greatness could just heed my call for a moment—”
“Elly, don’t give me that spiel, okay?” Nezhara interjected in a casual manner that was intensely jarring.
“Just speak your mind out, dear.” she added. “Since you’re my champion, I can’t help but listen, anyway.”
“What…” Enix muttered under his nose, completely befuddled.
“Hmm?” the fallen goddess remarked. “Have you never seen a deity up close, boy?”
“W-Well, I… I didn’t expect you to look so—”
“Careful, now—don’t say something stupid, y’hear?” Nezhara said sternly.
“Of course, of course! Ahaha!” Enix laughed nervously. “It’s just that…”
“I never expected a deity to be so… casual, or something like that?” he explained.
“F-Friendly? Down to earth?” the squire added.
“Okay, now that’s a little better—down to earth sounds almost like a compliment,” Nezhara replied. “So I suppose that shall suffice.”
“Ahem.” she coughed.
“Are you not familiar with the Sunken Nine, boy?” the fallen arbiter inquired.
“N-No, ma’am.” Enix stammered. “I know of your existence, but not much beyond that.”
“What a pity,” Nezhara sighed. “To be forgotten like this…”
“This is why we grow weaker, day by day.”
“…”
“Well, allow me to enlighten you:”
“We, the Eldritch Gods, were once a class above you, or even the entities you now call your ‘deities’: the new pantheon, or whatever you refer to them.”
“This was thousands of years ago—even before the Soloastrian Schism.”
Nezhara’s avatar flew up to the confused squire on her moth wings, snapping her fingers in front of his face.
“Are you listening?!” she exclaimed.
“Y-YES, MA’AM!” Enix yelped, a little shaky.
“Good.” the goddess’s avatar smiled.
“The schism was… a struggle between me and my many ‘siblings’, as I like to call them.”
“We all erupted from Astrum’s corpse, after all—the primeval God of this world.”
“Now…”
“Many did not survive the War of the Schism—we, the True Gods, were at each other’s throats.”
“Our conflict caused a rift that tore the world apart, splitting the planet of Astoria into the two continents that you mortals live in to this day…”
“…”
“As for us…”
“Our dead husks lie at the unreachable depths of Astoria’s oceans.”
“Our bodies are undead prisons, never fully decomposing, but not alive enough to regenerate.”
“We lay dormant, waiting for the strength of our devoted followers to help free us from the depths.”
“…”
“Thankfully, we aren’t spiritually inside our former bodies—that would be horrible, haha!”
“No, you see—our souls are stuck in DIFFERENT kinds of prisons.”
“We call them our demi-realms.”
“Like pocket dimensions…?” Cedric inquired.
“Yes, precisely.” Nezhara replied.
“Ahem.” she coughed. “As I was saying…”
“Our souls cannot really leave those demi-realms as long as our physical bodies are sunken in the oceans.”
“But…”
“We can visit one another in our demi-realms, like an extended family.”
“This is very important to know, by the way!” Nezhara exclaimed. “Many people hold the misconception that our kind is terrifying, malevolent, or downright demonic.”
“That is NOT true!” she pouted.
“We are still people like everyone else—just better in every way.”
“Or at least we were…”
“Okay, so let me get this straight, because this isn’t something Elly ever told me…” Emilia said.
“So, essentially… if I’m getting this right…” she continued. “You guys are living in that couch-type bardic play, but, forever?”
“In the what now…?” the goddess’s avatar inquired.
“You mean a sitcom?” Cedric suggested.
“Oh my gosh, yes!” Emilia exclaimed. “I love seeing those, especially the ones from Somerford!”
“Not to brag, but,” Cedric said with a smug expression. “Us Monteroquians have the BEST sitcom plays in all of Astoria—you should come see them some time.”
“AHEM.” Nezhara coughed with a booming voice.
“S-Sorry, haha.” Emilia laughed nervously.
“Now, where were we…?” the goddess’s avatar scratched her head. “Oh, right.”
“Yes, we live in a perpetual ‘sitcom’ of sorts, if that answers your question, elf.” she explained. “We, The Sunken Nine, can visit one another’s demi-realms freely, but cannot directly interfere with the outside world if not through our champions.”
“It is simultaneously as hellish and as endearing as it sounds.” she added.
“Wow. That’s awesome.” Emilia smiled.
“Depends who comes into your demi-realm.” Nezhara sighed. “Vhar’Zhul can be such a prude sometimes…”
“Anyway, I think I got sidetracked for a bit, did I not?”
“…”
“Please remind me… why was I summoned here in the first place, Elynere?”
“Umm…” the dark elf replied.
“We wanted to ask you—your holiness—about some more… c-context for that whole ‘cataclysm’ thing.” she stammered.
“Oh dear…” Nezhara sighed.
“I could not possibly tell you.” she added, defeated.
“Huh?!” Cedric exclaimed. “Aren’t you divinity?!”
“Former, but… yes.” Nezhara shrugged. “That being said, my foresight can only see so much.”
“And even then… I do not have clear visions of the future like I once did.” she explained.
“It’s just cryptic visions for now, I’m afraid.” the goddess’s avatar said.
“So,” Enix inquired. “Your mysterious riddles and secretive visions, they’re… not you trying to test Elly?” he asked innocently.
“No, dear.” Nezhara nodded her head in disagreement. “This is quite literally how I perceive fate nowadays.”
“Okay, then… maybe just… POINT US somewhere? I don’t know?!” Cedric groaned.
“Hmm…” the goddess thought about something for a moment, her avatar pacing around the room in her moth slippers.
“I think I’ve got it!” she exclaimed.
“Yes…?” the demonologist inquired.
“It’s the Duchess herself that is giving me bad feelings about this city.” Nezhara explained.
“Try to peer into her personal things, and maybe you’ll find some leads there.” she added.
“…”
“No fucking way.” Cedric muttered, though Sienna quickly reprimanded him for his foul language.
“A goddess is telling us to burglarize THE DUCHESS OF GOLDWALL?” he exclaimed. “In her own palace, no less—and at a party held in our name?”
“Haha… Ahahaha!” he laughed frantically.
“Holy shit, we are so dead, aren’t we…”
“Calm down, wizard.” Nezhara replied. “It isn’t nearly the worst request I’ve had a champion fulfill for me.”
“With time, maybe you will realise that sometimes the world fails to balance itself properly.”
“…”
“In those moments, ‘certain people’ must do ‘certain things’ to maintain balance—even if those things are legally or morally reprehensible.”
“I am not privy to your kind’s laws, or your moral compasses.”
“I am the arbiter of balance, fate, and destiny—that is my domain, and that is what I am concerned about.”
“And the calamity hanging over Gildengar is sure to bring about a chain reaction of various other catastrophes… each disturbing the world’s balance more and more.”
“Which is why you will have to swallow your pride and do what must be done.”
“…”
“Are we clear?” the goddess’s avatar crossed her arms.
“Yes, ma’am.” Heaven spoke in place of Cedric. “Thank you so much for your time, your holiness—we shan’t disturb you any longer tonight.”
“Good. I am getting sleepy.” the avatar replied.
“Farewell, adventurers.”
“Oh, and Elly?”
“Follow the beaked one.”
“?????” Elynere stood wide-eyed and dumbfounded.
“The beaked one…”
“Follow the beaked one.”
“Alright, that’s all.”
“Goodbye, my champion—see you soon~.”
The avatar flew on its moth wings next to the dark elf, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“Mwah.”
“Good luck!”
And just like that, Nezhara’s avatar vanished without a trace.
“Heaven, could you clean up the ritual circle while we get dressed?” Cedric asked.
“Sure,” he replied. “But wait… why are you—”
“Oh shoot, you’re right, Mr Cedric!” Enix exclaimed. “It’s almost time for the grand ball, and we’re not even ready yet!”
“Let us get going then…” Sienna commanded. “Everybody get dressed, quickly—we have fifteen minutes before we must depart.”
“…”
“So embarrassing…” Elynere thought to herself.
“First time I’m introducing my Goddess to my friends and she’s wearing SWEATPANTS?!” she continued her train of thought.
“Urgh… Cedric will never let me live this down…”
Chapter 3
The Masquerade
The adventurers—all dressed up for the occasion by now—made their way to the Golden Bastion to attend Duchess Jeanette’s grand masquerade ball. Being the only undisguised attendants at the party, the heroes had to be smart about infiltrating the palace, ensuring they don’t draw too much attention to themselves while investigating further. After all, one wrong move would lead to their detainment at the hands of elite royal guards, and that’d be a needlessly tragic way to prematurely end their adventuring careers—especially now that they’ve spent over an astrer traveling together and have gotten to know each other a little better.
While climbing innumerable stairs on their way to the lonesome castle atop Gildengar’s only hill, the grand ball’s honoured guests took some time to chat on their way there.
“Hey, I’ve a question.” Cedric inquired.
“Hmm…?” Sienna replied.
“Remember that goblin girl from last astrer?” the wizard continued. “The one who helped us get here.”
“Yes, what about her?” the knight asked.
“Well,” Cedric said. “She kind of ditched us, didn’t she?”
“It’s a shame, really—a rogue would’ve been very handy right about now.” he sighed.
“She did not ditch us, Cedric.” Sienna retorted. “She merely has her own life to worry about now.”
“And frankly, it speaks volumes about you that you would only ask this question now that we could use her aid.” she continued, berating the wizard.
“Huh?!” Cedric scoffed. “And how could you possibly know what she’s doing—let alone what she’s thinking?”
“Maybe because I actually bothered to attend her award ceremony—you know… the one where she was handed the medal of civilian honour.” Sienna said with a tinge of sarcasm. “Could be that, I suppose…”
“Hey now, I was rather busy back then!” the wizard said. “I’ll have you know that I was making money to support our most noble cause—”
“And so was I, but I still made an appearance…” Sienna interjected.
“You are quite awful at stepping up for the occasion.” she added.
“…” Cedric lowered his head, visibly hurt by the remark.
“At least I provided for Heaven, and that’s what truly matters to me.” he muttered under his nose.
“…”
“…”
“I’m a good friend. Surely…” the wizard quietly reassured himself, looking over at the demonologist.
“Yeah, I got this.”
“…”
Meanwhile, Emilia pestered her partner about the eldritch consultation the adventurers had with Nezhara earlier.
“The beaked one?” the wood elf inquired.
“Yeah, I… have no Idea what that meant.” Elynere sighed.
“Hmm, let’s think—maybe she was talking about…” Emilia said.
“Some birdfolk dude?” she guessed.
“You mean an avian?” Elynere asked.
“Yeah—I forgot they don’t like that name, haha.” the wood elf chuckled. “But, uhh, yeah!”
“It fits the description, now, doesn’t it?” she said.
“Well, yes, but…” Elynere replied. “There has to be something more to it, y’know?”
“…”
“I’m pretty sure Lady Nezhara would just… outright say it if she wanted me to seek out an avian at the party.” the dark elf said.
“It’s not something you can really spin a mystery around—n-not something her future sight would be limited from hearing, I mean.”
“Is that so?” Emilia inquired, tilting her head curiously.
“Come on, Emi—have you forgotten our quests?!” Elynere said. “Every time Lady Nezhara felt the need to task me with keeping an eye on someone, she mentioned not just their race, but their appearance, too. In EXCRUCIATING detail.”
“Oh, yeah—that tracks, actually.” Emilia said, nodding in agreement. “Like that one time your goddess told you to spy on some poor guy—who later turned out to be innocent, by the way—and then you spent thirty minutes trying to remember every detail!”
“Man, that was mad fun.” she chuckled. “We had to pull up a corkboard, and stuff.”
“Y’know, at the time, I liked the sound of us becoming detectives, or something.” the wood elf added. “Maybe today we’ll get back into business! Haha!”
“Ahh, those were the days.” she sighed.
“Right, but now,” Elynere interjected. “We have ZERO CLUE how to find that… beaked person, or whatever!”
“And on top of everything, we’re supposed to s-sneak inside the Duchess’s private chambers?!” she continued. “As her HONOURED GUESTS?!”
“I don’t know if I can… h-handle all that, Emi.” the dark elf stammered.
“This is too much stress—I feel like I’m going to faint before we climb those stupid stairs.” she added. “And I really, genuinely mean that—how many more are there?! They just never end!”
Suddenly, Enix butted in.
“Hey gals, we’ve almost made it!” the squire exclaimed, coincidentally answering Elly’s question.
“Look!” the fiendfolk pointed to several silhouettes standing at the end of the stairway leading to the Golden Bastion, each patiently waiting for the adventurers to finish climbing towards the palace.
“Would you look at that, Elly—the stairs do end after all.” Emilia said, nudging the dark elf.
Meanwhile, Sienna strode forward up the stairs, initiating a conversation with the silhouettes blocking the party’s way forward. The figures revealed themselves to be elite royal guards armed with all manners of pikes and halberds. One of them approached Sienna with spear and shield in hand, maintaining a cautious distance between himself and the elven knight.
“Halt.” the guard said sternly. “State your reason for visiting.”
“The grand ball.” Sienna replied calmly. “Me and my peers have been designated as the masquerade’s honoured guests…”
“Interesting.” the guard murmured. “I don’t see you donning any costumes.”
Sienna raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms impatiently.
“Duchess Lenoir urged us not to wear disguises…” the knight remarked. “Did her grace not tell you that?”
“I, umm—” the guard stammered.
“The party is starting soon, and I would wager that Duchess Lenoir would be tremendously displeased upon learning that one of her guards was the reason her honoured guests arrived late…” Sienna suggested.
“Alright, fine—we shall raise the gate for you in just a moment.” the guard replied with a defeated sigh.
Upon heading back to their posts and slowly raising the gate, the guards allowed the heroes to pass through the castle’s exterior walls. While entering the courtyard, Elynere was captivated by the lush gardens that decorated it.
“Wow, it sure is beautiful here…” Elynere thought to herself, looking around the scenery in amazement. “These hedges must be the work of a masterful gardener.”
“And the way the paths are designed here, goodness gracious… I never knew a trail of gravel could be a work of art in of itself!”
“How fascinating…”
“…”
“Really makes me wish I had my own garden again.”
“I swear, this place is making me so jealous I might just start pulling my hair out!” she finished her train of thought
The castle’s courtyard was full of scenic buildings—restaurants, guard barracks, canteens, homes of court advisors, and the like—not scattered throughout the interior of the castle walls, but rather, intricately interwoven with the beautiful, well-maintained gardens that filled the empty space of said courtyard in a very smart and aesthetically pleasing manner. The buildings themselves were all quite picturesque—not just the rich private property belonging to members of Duchess Jeanette’s royal court, but even the simpler buildings as well; they had a certain kind of charm to them. A personality, so to speak—ensuring no canteen, no restaurant, and no guard barrack looked exactly alike.
Eventually—having traversed through the courtyard and witnessed its splendor—the adventurers found themselves standing before the gates to the castle itself, arguably even more grandiose than everything they’ve seen thus far in the courtyard. The Golden Bastion was beckoning them to enter as its large, ornate doors slowly creaked open, revealing a long corridor inside. As the heroes entered this luxurious hall, several servants welcomed them into the palace and pointed them in the direction of the ballroom, forgetting to check whether the honoured guests were carrying any hidden weaponry—though that may have been a conscious decision; a sign of Duchess Jeanette’s trust towards the heroes.
That being said, they did have their weapons with them—safely tucked inside Cedric’s Bottomless Bag, that is. Regardless of whether the adventurers were armed or not, though, engaging in combat inside the banquet hall was a one-way ticket straight to jail, and so violence was off the table for the time being—at least until the heroes dare to venture deeper into the palace, where nobody would be alerted to the sounds of fighting.
After a little bit of walking from hallway to hallway, Sienna, Cedric, Emilia, Elynere, and Enix had found themselves approaching a pair of doors leading to the ballroom. From behind said doors, they could hear the chatter of gathering nobles and the sounds of a band tuning their instruments.
“Alright, everyone…” Sienna said. “Before we enter the ballroom, we must go over our plan once more—one last time, at least.”
“Elynere…?” she added. “Would you please remind us of our strategy?”
“Y-Yes, right away.” the dark elf stammered. “So…”
“Me and Miss Picarello are going to keep a low profile, and look for… ‘the beaked one’, like Lady Nezhara mentioned earlier.” Elynere explained.
“Meanwhile, the rest of you—Emi, Enix, and Cedric—are going to entertain the guests for a brief moment.” she added. “Try to play dumb. Act as if you’re just here for the party, okay?”
“Very well—this should be easy!” Cedric puffed his chest. “My innate charisma is sure to captivate the audience, I just know it~!”
“Umm…” Emilia murmured, ignoring the wizard. “And how do we do that, exactly?”
“You know I get nervous around large crowds, Elly.” she pouted. “I feel like I’d only be a burden, y’know…”
“Don’t worry about it, Emi!” Enix chimed in. “We don’t have to be the center of attention—after all, Mr Cedric will already be hogging the spotlight anyway, haha!”
“Yes, I—wait, excuse me?!” the wizard scoffed, but was yet again ignored.
“You and I can just head to one of the VIP lounges and try to get some information from there—I’m sure they’ll let us in since we’re honoured guests and all that.” Enix explained. “Right, Elly?”
“A-Actually, yeah—now that you mention it, it’s not a bad idea.” the dark elf smiled.
“In that case, you two go check out the lounges, and Cedric is going to divert the guests’ attention by himself.” she added.
“Hmph.” Cedric smirked. “I wasn’t planning to be outdone anyway.”
“Just don’t go too crazy, okay dude?” Emilia said in a playful manner. “You better not be hammered by the time we’ll have to get outta here!”
“Get out…?” the wizard pouted. “But we’ve only just got here!”
“Come on, fellas—live a little!” he said with a smug expression. “We’ll think about the mission and the escape plan later—for now, let’s just enjoy ourselves a little, yeah?”
Sienna sighed in disbelief.
“This can only go poorly…” she thought.
“Ahem.” the knight coughed.
“Shall we begin?” she inquired.
“Aye!” her teammates shouted in unison.
“Then let us commence forth…” Sienna said, opening the doors to the ballroom.
Immediately, the heroes were greeted with a round of applause from the other guests—soon, some of them approached the adventurers looking for autographs.
“Hey now, pipe it down, would ya?!” Emilia exclaimed, making her way to the nearest VIP lounge while pushing through waves upon waves of guests standing in her way.
“What’s gotten into her all of a sudden?” Cedric remarked while signing autographs without looking.
“Too many people here…” Elynere explained. “Enix, go look after her, okay?”
“Right away!” the squire exclaimed, following his wood elf friend into the vast sea of sharp-dressed people.
Meanwhile, Sienna found herself spacing out while surrounded by curious nobles asking her all sorts of questions, such as:
“Are you the real Sienna Picarello, or are you some kind of descendant of hers?”
“Will you ever return to Randwynn?”
“What do you think of your statue in Ventasca?”
“Have you found your special someone yet?”
“What’s gotten you to start traveling in a group all of a sudden?”
“Do you have any tips for intermediate adventurers? You see, my son is—”
In her mind, though, there was only one question worth considering, and it was concerned with dealing with her condition, now that she was beginning to hunt humanoids again.
For the longest time, Sienna had managed to curb her ravenous desires by essentially training herself to react negatively to her stimuli. Smelling the delicious scent of blood? Immediate self-flagellation. Staring longingly at open flesh wounds, imagining herself engorging on them? Immediate self-flagellation. The more she hungered, the harder she punished herself for even conceiving such thoughts. The elven hero fought against her condition with both mind and body, but with time, managing it became increasingly difficult.
No longer satisfied by feasting on wild game during her “hunts”, Sienna’s nightly escapades had turned into hunger-driven vigilante work. By allowing herself to devour the scum of the earth—the lowest of the low, the people no-one would miss—Sienna had finally pushed herself beyond the point of no return, at least from her perspective. Previously, all humanoids were a no-go with no exceptions. But now? The pain of starvation was unbearable, and animals weren’t cutting it anymore.
Humanoid flesh, however—their blood, too… It satisfied Sienna’s macabre cravings for far longer. Not for hours, but for days. Sometimes even entire astrers, depending on how much she had consumed in one go. Little by little, the elven knight resorted to increasingly drastic measures to satiate her bloodlust. She was terrified of what lengths she would one day go just to keep the pain away. To not starve to death.
Though, maybe…
Death was a preferred alternative to turning into whatever she was becoming.
“…” Sienna pondered the nature of her accursed existence in silence, ignoring the noise all around her, until…
“M-Miss Picarello…?” Elynere muttered, waving her hands in front of the high elf’s face.
When Sienna snapped back to reality, she was no longer surrounded by nobles. Everyone was sitting in their seats, eagerly awaiting something.
“Oh, thank Nezhara you’re… s-somewhat responsive, right now…” Elynere stammered. “Listen, Miss Picarello, we have to hurry!”
“The Duchess will be making her speech soon, so we better get going before—”
Suddenly, the ballroom’s biggest, most grandiose doors swung right open, leaving a trail of magic smoke as if they had been blasted by arcane energy.
“Greetings, my most esteemed subjects~!” a voice boomed from the smoke.
“Oh no…” Elynere said. “Now we have to wait until she’s done talking.”
“Huh…?” Sienna murmured, still coming to her senses following her existential pondering.
“You have all been gathered here—in your delightful disguises—to anonymously sing praises for our rising folk heroes!” the voice spoke again, with the figure it belonged to finally stepping out of the smoke.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce to you…”
The figure revealed itself to be the Duchess herself, not wearing any disguise save for her uniform from her military days.
“THE HEROES OF MISTWICH!” she exclaimed, urging the guests to start clapping with an intimidating glare, and so the guests began clapping nervously.
“She’s so dramatic…” Cedric muttered.
“I know, right?!” Emilia replied. “Grinds my gears, honestly.”
“I think we’ll get along just fine!” the wizard stated, ignoring the wood elf and striding forward.
“Hello everybody—thank you, thank you!” Cedric smiled confidently, repeatedly bowing before the guests’ tables and gathering roses thrown at him by the… ballroom servants, of all people.
“It is I!” the wizard exclaimed. “The Great Cedric!”
“Saviour of Mistwich, Daring Dreamer, Enchanting Magician, and perhaps most dashing of all…” he said, brandishing a large brush all of a sudden.
With a swift stroke of his brush, the paint he left behind in the air was suspended in place via magic. With a few specific hand gestures, Cedric molded the floating paint into the shape of his own portrait, seemingly using the air itself as his canvas.
“…The Arcane Painter!” he exclaimed, finishing his introduction by presenting his magically-painted, floating piece of artwork.
Masked nobles from all over the ballroom began clapping genuinely this time around, seemingly buying into Cedric’s dramatic showboating.
“What a marvelous introduction, darling—kukuku~.” Duchess Lenoir commended the wizard.
“Now—while we await the food trays—how about you regale us with a story of your party’s adventure in Goldwall?” she inquired politely.
“After all, everyone here must be dying to hear about your perspective on things…”
“Isn’t that right?” the Duchess asked, looking around the guest tables for her guests’ reactions, seeing multiple heads nodding in agreement.
“Straight to the point, huh?” Cedric chuckled. “Very well then!”
“Let me start from the beginning, not long before our adventuring party met for the first time…” the wizard began spinning his story, giving Emilia and Enix standing in the distance a suggestive wink, signalling they should get to their business while he keeps the guests entertained.
As Cedric continued regaling the tale of his adventuring party, the wood elf and the fiendfolk went around from lounge to lounge, trying to chat with all kinds of strangers for any clues whatsoever. During these chats, however, Enix was at some point pulled aside by a short, young woman a tad bit smaller than him in height.
The woman was wearing black overalls with an elegant, white turtleneck sweater underneath. Her skin seemed to be painted white with body paint, at least judging from her hands and neck, as her face was completely obscured by a black veil combined with a plague doctor mask. On top of all this, the woman’s costume also featured a tattered black cloak and an equally black, wide-brimmed leather hat that sat atop the veil shrouding her head.
As the squire squinted his eyes, he noticed her veil, her mask, and her hat were actually a single piece of clothing, as if taken straight from an actual plague doctor.
“T-That’s a nice costume you’ve got there!” Enix smiled sheepishly, awaiting for the woman to say something. Instead, she murmured something very quietly. Her words were completely unintelligible to the fiendfolk.
“Umm… You gotta speak up, lady!” the squire remarked. “I can’t hear you with all the noise going on around here!”
Frustrated, the woman began gesticulating something with her hands. Enix wasn’t getting the message, so she had to improvise yet again, coming up with progressively simpler ways to convey what she wanted to tell the young squire. Unable to reach a common understanding, the woman sighed, before anxiously holding out her hand to cast some sort of spell. She whispered into her cupped hands, and suddenly, a visual representation of her string of words began floating out of her hands and slowly coming towards Enix.
A bit perplexed, the squire didn’t react as the spectral letters slowly went inside his pointy ears, feeling only a magical tingle once the deed was done. Once they’ve entered the squire’s head, however, the words immediately made themselves heard:
“You are not safe here.”
“You must follow me.”
“I will guide you.”
“…”
Enix had no idea what to do with this information, so he just stood there, frozen in place and awaiting further instructions. Growing increasingly anxious and jittery, the masked woman continued looking over the squire’s shoulder, staring nervously at the Duchess from a distance—almost as if making sure she was busy listening to Cedric’s passionate retelling of his adventures.
In a show of bravery, the young woman made up her mind for a change. She grabbed Enix by the hand and took him to an empty VIP lounge, where she would then present him with an invisibility blanket; a very similar one to the one Cedric used for hiding during their infiltration of the underground crime ring. Enix instinctively took the item and began covering himself with it.
Before the woman put her own blanket on, she grabbed Enix by the hand and quietly led him out of the lounge. The two waited in front of some kind of backdoor, until finally, the doors creaked open to reveal a group of servants carrying large snack trays. Using this moment to their advantage, the woman and Enix—still holding hands—sneaked right past the guests thanks to their temporary invisibility, going deeper inside the palace before finding themselves safely away from the ballroom.
“Hah…” Enix panted, removing his blanket of invisibility. “That sure was a rush.”
“Who are you, anyway?” he inquired, and the woman began to slowly take off her costume’s headgear.
As this was happening, Sienna and Elynere snuck out of the ballroom through some sort of backdoor thanks to Elynere’s invisibility potions, hoping to find some clues further inside the Golden Bastion.
“…”
“…”
Meanwhile…
Emilia found herself lost and confused, unable to find her friends amidst the crowds of other guests getting up from their seats to indulge in the contents of the snack trays. Next to one of the snack trays, she found Cedric munching on some macaron cookies.
“Bloody hells, these are just HEAVENLY…” he murmured, stuffing his face full of sweets.
“Oh, Cedric!” Emilia exclaimed. “F-Fancy seeing you here, especially right now.”
“Sup.” the wizard replied, paying the druid little attention.
“Listen, I’m… I’m kind of lost at the moment.” the wood elf said.
“Enix went off somewhere and I can’t find him.” she lamented. “Could you—”
The wizard burped, before quickly covering his mouth in shame.
“Apologies—I know no restraint when it comes to sweets.” he laughed. “Anyhow, how’s the party going?”
“???????” Emilia stared at Cedric in disbelief. “Dude…”
“Oh, right—I wasn’t really listening.” the wizard replied.
“Anyway, you’ve been saying…?” he inquired.
The druid sighed, nervously fidgeting with the rings on her fingers.
“Look, we gotta find where the kid went, alright?” she declared. “He was with me in the lounges not too long ago, but—”
“Who, Enix?” Cedric interjected.
“YES, Enix, you dummy!” Emilia replied angrily. “Gosh, what’s gotten into you?!”
“The macarons.” Cedric chuckled. “Other than that, maybe I’m full of, I don’t know…”
“Childlike wonder?” he suggested. “Reignited enthusiasm?”
“Talking about our adventures just now made me realise how much I missed this shit, you know?” the wizard stated. “The glory, the fortune, the elaborate parties—”
Emilia grabbed the wizard by the collar and started aggressively shaking him around in place like a ragdoll.
“LISTEN ‘ERE YOU SELF-ASBORBED GINGER PRICK!” she shouted through her teeth, practically spitting in the wizard’s face.
“IF WE DON’T GET A MOVE ON RIGHT ABOUT NOW, ENIX MIGHT BE DONE FOR!” the druid continued. “AND REGARDLESS IF YOU CARE ‘BOUT HIM OR NOT—IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO THIS KID—SIENNA WILL HAVE YOUR ASS DELIVERED TO POUNDTOWN ON A SILVER PLATTER.”
“…”
“YA DIG…?” she finished, dropping the wizard on the floor with a loud thud.
“Ow…” Cedric murmured, readjusting the collar of his shirt.
“No need to yell, you psycho.” he scoffed. “I was right there!”
Just about done with the wizard’s bullcrap, Emilia grabbed him by his ponytail and began dragging him around the ballroom, going from lounge to lounge in her search for Enix.
After a while of doing just that, Emilia and Cedric stumbled upon a rather small and isolated VIP lounge that was packed with 5 people simultaneously. Notably, two of them didn’t seem to be wearing any costumes.
“…And that’s why you don’t mess with the Shirokiba! Gya ha ha ha HA!” a dracon said, finishing some kind of prior conversation.
The dracon was a swole, middle-aged man clad with white scales. His eyes were light blue, and a distinct ivory fang was protruding from his maw even when it was closed. Wearing the costume of a stereotypical Randwynnian mob boss, the dracon puffed on his cigar while spouting some gibberish in Ransenian Draconic to two of his lackeys, who seemed to also be dragonfolk dressed as mobsters. The other lackey—a blond human with dark skin and wearing a pair of shades—seemed to be mildly annoyed by his boss’s behaviour, doing his best not to go crazy from his antics.
The final person sitting inside the lounge was a young, slightly intoxicated, high elven woman dressed in what seemed to be her regular adventuring attire, albeit a little messy and worn out. Her emerald green eyes matched the green theming of her outfit, as well as the highlights in her otherwise white hair. From the looks of things, she had been partying pretty hard so far, and decided to doze off in this lounge for a bit before the dracon and his lackeys interrupted her little nap.
“Ahem.” Emilia coughed nervously. “H-Have any of you guys seen, like… a fiendfolk around here?”
The white-scaled dracon blinked a couple of times, staring dumbfounded at the wood elf before eventually erupting in a fit of guttural laughter.
“A devilspawn?!” he exclaimed, wheezing. “In this fine establishment?! Gya ha ha HA!”
“Where did you get THAT idea from, sugar?” he asked tauntingly. “As if a mukiryuu like that would be welcomed at a party as exquisite as this!”
“Heh heh heh…” he chuckled. “This is a party for the noble and the wealthy, don’t you know?”
“Hellspawn aren’t welcome ‘round these parts. Gya hah.” he added.
Visible disgust crept up Emilia’s face. Hearing a member of such an exotic and culturally-rich race belittle others for trivial matters made her more disappointed than angry by this point. It was in that moment when she remembered what Heaven had previously told her about the Ransen Shogunate and how things operate there.
No longer interested in getting to meet the band of dracons, Emilia turned to the other person sitting in the lounge: the high elf.
“Hi, miss.” the druid said sheepishly. “I’m looking for a friend—care to help?”
The high elf rubbed her tired eyes a few times before regaining most of her vision, staring blankly at Emilia and Cedric who awaited her answer.
“Ugh…” she groaned. “I’m never dancing with a stomach full of roasted mimic.”
“It’s really good though, I won’t lie. Heh.” the high elf chuckled.
“??????” Emilia stared at the young woman, perplexed.
“Ohhhh, right…” the woman replied, standing up from the couch she was previously napping on. “Where are my manners!”
“Name’s Rowan.” she murmured while yawning and stretching her arms. “I’m a bard hired for this gig, ya dig? Heh.”
“Anyway…”
“I’m supposed to play in… gosh, what time is it again?!” she inquired, frantically looking around for a clock or a watch somewhere.
“Ahem.” Cedric coughed.
“Hmm?” the bard said, facing the wizard again. “Oh, wait—you’re that guy who almost fell down the table while going off about your adventures. Hehe.”
“Uhh, y-yes, I suppose that would be me.” Cedric blushed.
The white-scaled dracon “mob boss” suddenly had his attention piqued, observing the wizard intently.
“You see, me and my friend over here have lost… another friend, somewhere around these VIP lounges that we’ve been frequenting tonight.” Cedric explained.
“Partied too hard, eh?” Rowan asked jokingly.
“No, it’s serious.” Emilia butted in. “We lost him in the crowd and that’s that.”
“Oh, sorry to hear that, girl.” the bard said. “Hmm…”
“Wait, now that I think about it…”
“Aren’t you the guys the Duchess was talking about earlier?” Rowan inquired. “The Heroes of Mistwich, or whatever…?”
“…”
“Makes sense why yer not disguised. Gye heh.” the swole dracon suddenly blurted out.
“Guests of honour, aren’t you?” he added.
“Hmph.”
“You’re in luck, warmbloods.” the dracon chuckled. “I think… I may have seen your little devilspawn around ‘ere somewhere.”
“Really?!” Emilia exclaimed, her pointy ears fluttering with hope.
“Yep…” the dracon smiled impishly.
“Have a drink, why won’t you—I’ll tell you where I last saw him.” he said, sliding the adventurers the two glasses of vodka on the rocks that were sitting idly on the table until now.
“On the rocks, you say…?” Cedric inquired. “But… there’s no ice, man.”
“My mistake.” the dracon smiled. “Gimme a sec…”
After inhaling a lot of air, the dracon unleashed a great exhalation of frost in the general direction of the two glasses. His draconic breath seemed to have cooled the beverages down a significant amount.
“Sweet.” Cedric remarked. Emilia wanted to say something about this display of draconic powers as well—being a dragon nerd and all—but she was too preoccupied with worrying about Enix to think of anything else.
“Settle down, now, heroes.” the dracon said. “Let me start from the beginning, as I try to recall… where I had last seen your little friend. Gyeh heh.”
Cedric and Emilia nodded, taking sips from their glasses.
The dracon began his monologue:
“…”
“I came here to do business with some, let’s just say… persons of interest, you see.”
“…”
“And uhh…”
“I stumbled upon a neat little story, so check out how it goes:”
“Apparently…”
“There’s a group of guards in this city who have, uhh… Taken it upon themselves to stick their noses into other people’s business.”
“You get what I’m saying?”
“…”
“Yeah, yeah you do.”
“I’ve got a feelin’ you have some experience in that. Gya ha ha!”
“But uhh, adventurers—you see—they know when to quit.”
“So these rogue guards, right?”
“One day, they fucked somethin’ up in Gildengar’s underground scene. Real good, too.”
“…”
“Their little vigilante stunt went sideways real quick, and lo and behold:”
“Through a misunderstandin’, two mysterious gangs blamed each other for the incident—not knowing about the guards that set it off in the first place!”
“Gya ha ha HA!”
“…”
“So.”
“Eventually—after a lot of bloody conflict—the gangs buried the hatchet once they learned the truth.”
“And the guards?”
“…”
“Gyeh heh.”
“Safe to say, they finally got their comeuppance.”
“And, wouldn’t you know it…”
“Next astrer, they found their bodies dumped outside the city walls.”
“…”
“Drained of blood, and with chunks of flesh missin’!”
“Gya ha HA!”
“…”
“You wanna know something interesting ‘bout that?”
“Gyeh heh…”
“See, the bodies, right?”
“They, uhh….”
“They were dumped… not far from here.”
“Just behind the hill that the bastion stands on.”
“…”
“And umm…”
“They were found in the sewer, too.”
“But here’s the fun part!”
“…”
“Investigators said… the bodies were thrown into the sewer from INSIDE a buildin’!”
“Get it?!”
“Someone FLUSHED THEM in there through some kind of… large pipe.”
“Big waste disposal unit, or somethin’.”
“…”
“Between that, and their bloodless bodies.”
“What do you think?”
“…”
“What else happened to those poor fuckers?”
“Gya ha ha HA!”
“…”
Emilia and Cedric exchanged nervous stares, before confronting the creepy dracon.
“A-And what does this have to do with our friend…?” the druid asked innocently.
“…”
“Heh.” the dracon replied. “Havin’ troubles with extracting morals from the story, huh?”
“Lemme spell it out for you so you understand, alright, sugar?”
“…”
“Nosy vigilantes…”
“Wannabe heroes who dig too deep…”
“End up diggin’ their own graves.”
“Y’hear?”
“Gya ha ha HA!”
The dracon stood up, cracking his knuckles.
“Now tell me, what do you think should be happenin’ to your friend right about now?” Gya hah!” he laughed gutturally.
Suddenly, Emilia and Cedric found themselves feeling woozy—their vision blurry, they tried to stand up, but did so with difficulty.
“Y-You bastard…” Cedric murmured. “What… What did you do?!”
“Me? Nothin’ much, Mr Showboat. Gye heh.” the dracon replied.
“I’m just ensuring Mrs. Lenoir gets her next meal in one piece.”
“GYA HA HAH!” he laughed maniacally before snapping his fingers, commanding his lackeys to attack.
Though highly intoxicated, the wizard and the druid put up an astounding fight, knocking out the two dracon lackeys with relative ease. Seeing this as the perfect opportunity to seize freedom, the blond human lackey that remained quiet until now elected to intervene…
But not on behalf of his boss…
“…”
CRACK.
“…”
The swole dracon mobster found himself laying motionless on the floor, his head twisted and snapped out of place. Standing over his body was the quiet, shades-wearing human lackey.
“Free at last.” he murmured under his breath. “Rest in the hells, daimyo.”
“…” Rowan stared at the shitstorm happening in front of her with widened eyes.
“HELLO…?” she inquired, asking for mere crumbs of context. “WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?!”
“I’ll tell you later.” the human replied. “First…”
Cedric and Emilia faceplanted onto the ground, knocked out by the drug slipped into their vodka glasses.
“…We need to wake those two up.” the human explained.
“Whew.” Rowan wiped the sweat from her brow. “Good thing I’m a trained doctor.”
“Really…?” the human inquired while performing CPR on Cedric.
“Yep!” Rowan smiled as she approached Emilia’s body. “I graduated in medicine at a Randwynnian university.”
“Wow…” the human replied. “You’ll surely come in handy right about now.”
“Damn straight.” Rowan chucked. “Now, let’s get to the bottom of this.”
“…”
Suddenly, several footsteps could be heard getting closer to the room.
“…”
“Wait…” Rowan asked.
“Did you hear—” she tried to say, but was interrupted by a small, spherical object being hurled into the lounge from outside.
The object soon turned out to be a smoke bomb that rendered the whole room impossible to orient oneself in.
Before either Rowan or the human could react, they were apprehended by several men with masks allowing them to see through the smoke. Rowan quietly fell unconscious after having a drug-smothered rag shoved into her face for a good minute, meanwhile, the blond human was knocked out cold with a well-timed Sleep spell.
Just like that, the four adventurers—Emilia, Cedric, Rowan, and the mysterious human—got dragged out of the VIP lounge and were subsequently taken into a distant corridor outside of the guests’ view.
“…”
Little did they know, things would only get worse once they’d wake up.
“…”
(Perhaps they were being too nosy after all…)
Chapter 4
Shackles of Fate
Emilia and Cedric awakened to the sound of dripping water, feeling the weight of iron around their wrists. They found themselves chained to strange wooden beds held upright in some sort of dingy, decrepit chamber. The damp room was thick with the smell of rust and mold, permeating the adventurers’ nostrils in an unpleasant manner.
Suddenly, the door to their right creaked open to reveal a shadowed figure standing in the door frame. The figure belonged to a short albeit muscular man—it was a dwarf of some kind, clad in a black tank top with two cross-shaped, spiked leather straps holding his dark brown overalls neatly in place—perhaps the most striking part of the man’s attire, however, was a black balaclava covering his face, immediately signifying his intentions.
That, and the bloodied greataxe that he was also holding.
Come to think of it, yes, that was probably far more intimidating and better worth mentioning, though in a world of adventurers running around with all sorts of unregistered weaponry, a greataxe doesn’t hold the same connotations that a piece of burglar attire does.
Regardless, the man was not a burglar. He was, instead, an executioner. This was swiftly made apparent to our pair of heroes when the dwarf finally decided to light the room’s torches, revealing the adventurers were strapped to torture beds in an equally-torturous chamber.
“Oh dear.” Cedric thought.
“OH HELLS NO—” Emilia thought.
Before panic could truly set in, the two adventurers realised they weren’t alone in the chamber. Some other, taller executioner wheeled in another pair of beds with familiar faces strapped to them: a brown-haired dark elf, as well as a tall high elf.
Suddenly, the entire adventuring party—save for the squire—have found themselves in quite the rough spot, as following the two executioners, some other figure waltzed into the room with a confident albeit a little bit tipsy stride.
“Well met, the four of you~!” the voice said enthusiastically, slushing the wine in her glass.
The voice belonged to none other than…
“D-Duchess Lenoir?!” Elynere gasped.
“Indeed.” the Duchess smirked. “You know, I was going to gather you here after the grand ball.”
“I would have invited you for a private conversation—business matters, or something like it.” she chuckled. “But…”
“You made it so, SO much easier for me,” she exclaimed happily. “Yes you did!”
“Why, you—” Sienna grunted.
“Now, now—don’t get too worked up ma chérie.” Jeanette interjected, gently shushing the knight by pressing her cold index finger against the elf’s lips.
“For you see, we still have much to discuss, don’t we?” she added.
At the snap of her fingers, one of the executioners began cranking the levers present in the room, which in turn lowered the wooden torture beds. Jeanette then walked up to Elynere’s bed, as it was the furthest one to the right, and began interrogating the adventurers one after another, starting with the dark elf.
“Tell me, darling; it seems like you are missing a comrade, are you not?” the Duchess inquired, caressing her captive’s face with her sharp, red fingernails.
“Why… Why are you doing this?!” Elynere stammered in confusion.
“Don’t take this too personally, dear.” Jeanette reassured the dark elf. “A mere astrer ago, I wasn’t concerned with your existence.”
“…”
“It’s that stunt you pulled at Richard’s underground facility that got me interested in you.” she explained, much less enthusiastically.
“You…” Sienna said through her teeth. “It all makes sense now.”
“The lithograms…” she continued. “The gangs used them to contact—”
“Me!” Jeanette interjected, puffing her chest. “That’s right, you smart little thing~!”
“I am the ultimate authority here in Goldwall, and all mobsters have to go through ME first and foremost—if they wish their gangs to continue operating, that is.” she explained.
“You see, little pumpkin… I could root out their brotherhoods from every nook and cranny of this beautiful duchy.” the Duchess added. “Very easily, might I add.”
“They have no idea how little power they actually hold…” she boasted with a smug expression.
“But why should I dispose of them, when they are so useful to my grand design?” Jeanette said. “They make for perfect scapegoats, and whatnot.”
“Now,” she murmured. “As for the lot of you…”
“You couldn’t just have fallen for the ambush like good, little, know-nothing adventurers, could you?” she murmured.
“No…”
“Instead, you just HAD to stick your nose in other people’s business—foiling poor old Ricky’s plans, and by extension, slowing MY GRAND DESIGN by an entire astrer!” Jeanette exclaimed.
“…”
“But, fret not.” she smiled gently. “Now that you’ve decided to snoop where you shouldn’t have, I am well within my rights to keep you here, and thoroughly PUNISH you for spoiling my fun.”
“Your fun…?!” Sienna muttered. “What is this ‘Grand Design’ of which you speak…?!”
“Yeah, believe me—you are playing with forces you cannot HOPE to understand!” Cedric added.
“Fufufu.” Jeanette cackled. “Is that so?”
“So you seem to have, at the very least, a faint idea of what I have in store, yes?” she inquired. “Very well…”
“In that case, I suppose you deserve an explanation—it’s the least I could do before disposing of you all.” the Duchess smiled. “I owe you some context for why you are going to be chopped to bits and thrown into the sewers, don’t I?”
Emilia gulped.
“That’s what I thought.” the Duchess said, smiling from ear to ear. “
“You see…”
“The trafficking ring that you’ve ruined was a carefully constructed operation.”
“One that used to routinely capture amateurish adventurers that no-one would miss, and have Richard run some tests on them, so to speak.”
“But…”
“Because of your stupid little show of heroism at the underground club last astrer, I had to sacrifice an entire TOWN just to test out my most recent theory—Richard would’ve done it for me, had you not stepped in.”
“…”
“But now?”
“Now I already know everything I need, thanks to sacrificing a few pawns over at Mistwich.”
“Now I just need to remove you from the equation…”
“…”
“Or should I?”
With another snap of her fingers, Duchess Jeanette ordered the executioners to raise the adventurers’ torture beds into upright positions.
“Darlings, you must understand…” Jeanette pouted. “At my core, I am a rather merciful ruler.”
“It is a great pity to see how far you’ve come, only to die right now.” she lamented.
“Which is why I have an offer for you!” the Duchess exclaimed. “I can free you, and you will leave Goldwall forever, never to return again.”
“Me people will not pursue you, should you still stay in any other neighbouring duchy.” she added.
“But first…” Jeanette said. “You must answer a couple questions for me.”
“…”
“Hit it.” Cedric said.
“Very well.” the Duchess replied.
“First of all: what do you know about Void Rifts, so far?” she inquired
“…”
“Second of all…”
“…”
“Where did you take my dearest daughter…?” she asked with a husky voice.
The adventurers froze, not knowing how to respond. Finally, Elynere inquired:
“Y-Your what now?”
“…”
Jeanette stomped towards the dark elf in an angry manner before putting her cold hands around Elly’s neck.
“Do not play dumb with me!” she scoffed. “I know you blue dark elves aren’t exactly the brightest of your kind, but even ANIMALS can understand when they’ve crossed the line.”
“So tell me, you repulsive, cavern-dwelling mutt….” Jeanette said through her teeth.
“Where.”
“Is.”
“My.”
“DAUGHTER.”
Elynere was on the verge of having a panic attack, already stammering enough to no longer be capable of forming coherent sentences. Seeing her partner in great distress, Emilia decided to intervene.
“Y-Your grace, we don’t know what you’re talking about!” the wood elf exclaimed hurriedly. “No, really!”
“We didn’t even know you had a kid!” she added desperately.
“…”
Jeanette instinctively brandished her claws against Emilia, slashing the druid’s face with a quick sweep of the hand, leaving behind a nasty cut on her cheek. Sienna widened her eyes as the Duchess’s eyes briefly turned red.
“DON’T YOU DARE TALK DOWN TO ME, YOU FILTHY PAUPER.” she shouted. “And don’t you dare get on my nerves either…”
“I already asked you once, so I shall only repeat myself one final time.” Jeanette muttered. “Where is Elise, and WHAT did you do to her?”
“And don’t bother lying or spinning up some ridiculous alibi—my butlers saw her sneaking around the palace with some devilspawn freak of nature!” she exclaimed. “Must be one of yours, hmm?”
“Yes, that’s it…”
“That MUST be your missing comrade, correct?” Jeanette asked, facing Elynere.
The dark elf—a sobbing mess at this point—silently nodded her head in agreement.
“Good.” Jeanette declared. “So you CAN be good for something, after all.”
“Now tell me, what exactly did you THINK was going to happen…”
“When you sent one of your people to kidnap my only daughter…?”
“Did you REALLY think I wouldn’t notice?!” the Duchess scoffed.
“You said it yourself; our ‘comrade’ went missing, with no input from us whatsoever.” Cedric explained.
“And, frankly, it’s not just us who should do a better job watching our own.” Cedric said. “You should work on keeping tabs on your daughter too.”
“Except…”
“I think our little friend can handle himself just fine.” Cedric smiled in a smug manner. “He’s been through worse.”
“Yeah!” Emilia exclaimed with newfound resistance. “And shame on you for being such a bum of a mother!”
“You let your only child wander off in your giant palace, and somehow, you think torturing us will help you find her faster?!” she continued.
“As if you can’t just… go look for her YOURSELF?!” the wood elf exclaimed.
“You really suck, you know…” she chuckled, licking up the blood trickling from the gash on her cheek in a defiant manner.
“Why, you little—” Jeanette’s eyes turned red as she brandished her claws yet again.
Just then, a hurried butler crashed into the room, panting from exhaustion.
“Your grace, your grace!” he kept repeating. “The g-guests… They’re… You’re needed at the ballroom, your grace!”
“It’s the Balorean family, your grace!” he stressed. “They came for your… p-promised gift, remember?”
“Your grace promised you would ceremoniously gift them t-the sword of—”
“Alright, alright!” the Duchess interjected angrily.
“…” Jeanette eyed her butler with contempt.
“Fine,” she murmured, ‘stowing’ her claws away. “You can go now, servant.”
“Tell the Baloreans I will tend to them in about five minutes.” she sighed.
The butler nodded understandingly before bowing low and leaving the room. Once the butler had left—completely unfazed by his mistress’s apparent torture session—Duchess Jeanette turned to address her captives.
“Consider yourselves lucky, for I have business to attend to.” she muttered. “But don’t take your lives for granted.”
“Once the masquerade is over, I will PERSONALLY dispose of the lot of you with my BARE HANDS.” she added.
“…”
“Until then, you have about five minutes to answer my other question.”
“…”
“Just how much do you know of Void Rifts, adventurers?”
Cedric felt like saying something, but chose not to cooperate.
“…” Jeanette grew increasingly impatient. Finally, she began cranking some kind of mechanism connected to her victims’ torture beds. Spikes began to protrude from inside their shackles, slowly piercing each adventurers’ wrists and ankles as they squirmed in pain.
“Final warning.” Jeanette said calmly, walking up to Elynere once again.
“This is your last chance to tell me whether I should consider your lives a little more valuable than a summer ant.” she murmured with a husky voice.
“…”
“W-We don’t… know much.” Elynere said nervously. “B-But… but we know, that…”
“Should you f-f-fail to open one, you’ll—” she stammered.
“You’ll end up like that fool of yours—Ricky, was it?!” Emilia interjected.
“He would’ve gotten himself killed whether we were there to stop him or not!” she added. “Because what he didn’t get…”
“Is that you DON’T. DEAL. WITH. DEMONS!” she exclaimed.
“Hmph.” the Duchess scoffed. “Your minds are closed off. Ignorant. Full of misguided, dogmatic hatred.”
“You should broaden your horizons, you simpletons!” she exclaimed.
“…”
“Soon, the world shall return to normalcy.” Jeanette said. “I—among many others—will help bring about The Final Mass, no matter the cost.”
“Because if we succeed, we will relish in a NEW world.”
“A world where the STRONG will reclaim their innate right to rule over the WEAK.”
“A world where the shackles of law and morality will no longer bind those driven by AMBITION.”
“But rather…”
“The great men—and women, for that matter—of this brand new world will ASSERT their DOMINANCE over lesser beings…”
“Beings unconcerned with GROWTH and living up to their fullest POTENTIAL.”
“Beings like you,” the Duchess said with a disgusted expression, pointing at the dark elf. “Who waste the precious air that belongs to people like ME.”
“In this world that our LORD had envisioned for me and my peers, pitiful weaklings like you will NOT survive, unless the truly POWERFUL take pity on you, and take you in as cattle.”
“Just as nature intended…” Jeanette said with a wicked smile.
Elynere felt increasingly angry with every word coming from the monarch’s mouth, but finally snapped after that final remark; the one about nature’s design going against the concept of nurture. This whole monologue enraged Elynere so greatly that, even if for a brief moment, she gathered the courage to momentarily ignore her panic attack, and instead, take a stance against the loathsome villain before her.
With what little resistance she still had left in her, Elly spat directly in Jeanette’s face, putting on a fierce expression.
“…” Duchess Jeanette silently wiped the dark elf’s spit from her cheek, without breaking eye contact.
“I will have your tongue for that, you know,” she stated coldly. “But not now.”
“Now, you will have to excuse me…”
“I already have you where I want you, so please allow me to attend more pressing matters right now.”
Having said that, Jeanette whispered something to her executioners. One of them followed her outside of the chamber, and the other one opted to stay inside the room, dutifully watching the adventurers.
Faced with no other options, the adventurers were forced to wait until their tormentor would return to finish them off.
“Great…” Emilia sighed. “Now what?”
“Now you stay put, woman.” the executioner stated. “And if you try anything funny, I’ll be forced to take away her grace’s pleasure of decapitating you.”
“We wouldn’t want that, now, would we?” he asked rhetorically.
“…” Emilia lowered her head in a defeated manner. Just then, Cedric had an idea.
“Hey, asshole…” the wizard said, trying to get the executioner’s attention.
“How does it feel to need your boss to do your job for you?” he added.
The executioner murmured something under his nose, but continued keeping watch unfazed.
“What is this lunatic trying to achieve…?” Sienna thought to herself. “Has Cedric truly gone mad already?”
But the wizard carried on, continuously taunting the executioner.
“Just admit it, man—you’re not cut out for this line of work.” he said with a smug smile. “That’s why your boss doesn’t trust you, and why you’ll NEVER be anything more than a guard dog!”
“Listen ‘ere, punk…” the man replied, approaching the wizard.
“Or what? You gonna axe me?” the wizard laughed. “You know you can’t—’her grace’ will fire you if she finds out.”
The executioner tightened his fists. No longer thinking rationally about the matter, he felt personally challenged by the wizard, approaching him closer and closer.
“Oh yeah…?” the man asked. “Wanna bet your life on it, fancy-pants?”
“Try me.” Cedric scoffed.
The executioner stowed away his axe, brandishing a dagger instead. Once he moved close enough, Cedric focused really hard on looking the man in the eye. With his eyes aglow, the wizard attempted to captivate the executioner using a magic technique.
“Yes, come closer—don’t be shy.” Cedric murmured, focusing harder on trying to lock eyes with the man.
Visibly worried, the executioner hesitated for a moment—this moment of hesitance, and perhaps a tinge of fear, revealed a vulnerability in his psyche. Sensing this opening, Cedric probed into the man’s mind with an intense stare, slowly finding his way to his consciousness.
Like waves in the ocean, arcane energy pulsed throughout the executioner’s body, compelling it to stop in place. Compelling it to… obey Cedric, and heed his command.
“So this is your true specialty, wizard?” Sienna inquired, visibly disgusted.
Enchantment spells, to people familiar with schools of magic, are arguably just as, if not more reprehensible than spells found in the commonly-judged schools of necromancy or destruction. Enchantment magic’s inherent problematic quality is that it is an area of magic that is very hard to justify in any scenario. Whereas necromantic spells of a high class can bring back lost loved ones in virtually perfect shape, and high class destruction spells not only look spectacular but can also be used to vanquish the evils of the world, enchantment magic is always inherently disgusting to most races on Astoria.
Probing into other people’s thoughts and messing with their brain chemistry in order to bypass consent, or worse yet, enthrall others and mentally dominate them, is something that is always a disturbing sight, regardless of whomever it happens to—innocent civilian or megalomaniacal villain.
For the same reasons, races with innate psionic abilities are often persecuted by both the state and the masses, for in a world where magic is no different from contemporary science, supernatural abilities stemming from anywhere OUTSIDE of the established arcane system understood by folks of Astoria—a system delicately woven and maintained by the Force of Creation itself, the sentient energy which breathed life into the empty universe at large—are considered unstable, unruly, impure, or even outright dangerous.
“To think I would adventure with an enchantment mage…” the knight scoffed. “Have I really stooped so low..?”
“Hey now—stop complaining, will you?!” the wizard replied. “I’m trying to focus here.”
Because of Sienna’s interruption, Cedric momentarily lost control over the executioner, allowing the man to come back to his senses and take a few steps back.
“Wait just a second…” he murmured under his nose, clutching his head in pain.
Before he could respond to the wizard’s attempt at breaking into his mind, the executioner heard something jump onto the table of torture tools behind him.
“Huh?!” he exclaimed, frantically swinging his dagger around. “Who goes there?!”
“Get out of my head!” he added, before finally…
THWACK.
“…” the executioner fell to the ground, motionless, blood pouring out from his seemingly-cracked skull.
The adventurers watched, mouths agape, as a woman of short stature—a girl, perhaps—flickered out of invisibility, now standing on the table before them, on the other side of the room.
What immediately caught Elynere’s attention, however, was the woman’s plague doctor mask.
“The beaked one…” the dark elf thought. “This must be it!”
“T-Thank you…!” she cried out. “Thank you so much!”
The woman did not respond, standing in silence and observing the adventurers for a brief moment, almost as if she was… hesitant.
“Y-You’re… you’re going to help us, right…?” Elynere inquired nervously.
With a deep breath, the woman slowly took off her mask, revealing a pale albeit youthful face underneath. She had beau blue hair, much like Duchess Jeanette, and strangely enough… a pair of captivating red eyes—also just like the Duchess, but from that time when she had lost her cool for a moment.
“You can come out now.” she said with a shaky voice, looking at the corner of the room.
In the corner, out of nowhere, an orange-skinned fiendfolk quickly disposed of his Blanket of Temporary Invisibility, revealing his enthusiastic face to the adventurers.
“Enix…!” Sienna exclaimed, followed by the rest of her adventuring party.
“Told you it would work!” the squire smiled, glancing over at the short woman standing on the table next to him.
“Don’t make me do this again though…” she shuddered. “I’m not a killer by any stretch of the imagination.”
“Wait, I’m not following…” Emilia said. “What’s going on here?!”
“Ekhem.” the woman coughed.
“Well met.” she added
“…”
“My name is… Elise.” she introduced herself with a formal bow, almost falling off her table in the process.
“E-Elise Louise,” the woman added. “Princess of House Lenoir…”
“Uh oh.” Emilia frowned, squirming in her restraints.
“No no no, it’s fine!” Enix said reassuringly. “She’s going to help us out, trust me!”
“Enix… what have you gotten yourself into…?” Sienna asked sternly.
“Well,” Enix explained. “Elise found me when I lost Mister Cedric and Emi somewhere, and she told me to come follow her.”
“She said you guys would get in trouble soon, and that I’d need to help her get you out.” he added.
“How did you know, umm… your… highne—no, wait…” Elynere stammered.
“Just Elise is fine.” the woman replied nervously. “And, as much as I don’t want to scare you all, we should really get going right now.”
“I’ll explain everything once I get you out of here—I promise!” she added hurriedly.
“…” Sienna squinted her eyes, trying to gauge the young woman’s age.
“But… will your mother not get angry with you over this?” she inquired. “We obviously appreciate your aid, but I feel compelled to ask, since Duchess Jeanette had previously thought we kidnapped you…”
“Does your mother know you are here, child?” the knight asked.
“No, not at all.” Elise replied.
“Then, in that case… Your mother will get very angry with you, I presume.” Sienna muttered. “Hmm…”
“You are quite courageous, to foil her plans like this…” she added. “But, courage will only take you so far.”
“What is your plan, princess?” Sienna inquired.
“…”
“It is… very bold of me, I admit, but… I’ve made up my mind.” Elise declared. “I’m not sticking around to see how my mother is going to punish me.”
“I’m not going to tolerate her atrocities any longer…” she added. “I’ve decided that…”
“I will… run away.” the princess said in a somber tone. “And see what happens from then on.”
“I would be grateful, i-if you would… help me, as I helped you.” she suggested. “Help me escape my mother’s clutches.”
“Please… I—” she stammered, lowering her head in a pitiful manner.
“…”
“I’ve no other choice left at this point.” she murmured with a single tear rolling down her cheek.
“…”
“I don’t want to stay here anymore, so…”
“…”
“Can you promise to help, if I release you right now…?”
“…”
“Hey…” Sienna said calmly. “Look at me.”
“We will escort you out of here, I promise.” she reassured the princess. “There is just one problem that needs addressing…”
“That is your mother, for you see,” Sienna continued. “If we escape the palace with you in tow, the Duchess will surely put high bounties on our heads, possibly even sending her strongest troops and mercenaries after us…”
“…”
“A more elegant solution would be to pretend as if the executioner you just killed was a traitor who released us of his own free will…” the knight explained her plan. “You would then bring us to your mother once she returns from the ballroom, but in loosened restraints…”
“Thinking you had captured us again, she would appreciate your efforts, only for us to then break free and make our escape…”
“Would it not be a better outcome, princess?” Sienna asked. “We would have our freedom, and you would get back in your mother’s good graces.”
“Wow.” Cedric murmured. “That’s… not half-bad, actually.”
“That’s why she’s our leader!” Emilia smiled.
“…” Elise turned around to face Enix, who gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up, approving of the idea.
The princess came down from her table, revealing just how short she actually was. Approaching Enix, she whispered something into his ears, and he replied in return:
“But… Are you sure we can’t do that?”
Elise nodded.
“Hmm, well—I’m in no position to argue here.” the squire shrugged. “You did help me out, I suppose.”
“But…” he said, somberly. “Those are my friends, y’know?”
“Listen, I know you don’t like our idea, but…” he continued. “I’m sure we can agree on a compromise?”
“What are they talking about?!” Elynere whispered to Sienna, nervous and jittery.
“Our fate, it seems…” Sienna sighed. “I just hope my squire handles this for us.”
After another minute of whispering, the princess nervously approached the elven hero.
“Please…” she asked in a shaky voice.
“I can only free you if you promise to get me away from my mother.” she pleaded.
“I-It’s not about her getting mad at me, I just…” she added. “I just CAN’T stay here.”
“Please, you must understand…” she pleaded once more. “She’s… she’s going to do something horrible to me soon.”
Sienna raised an eyebrow. Judging from the Duchess’s earlier eagerness to find her daughter, she thought the monarch valued her child. Thinking back to her mission at the underground crime club, however, Sienna was suddenly bombarded with the memory from when Ricky had placed his only son on a sacrificial altar altar. With this horrifying realisation, Sienna’s eyes widened—her pupils visibly shaking, possibly for the first time ever.
“You… you do not mean…” the elven hero stammered, but Elise didn’t know what to say in return.
“Cedric…?” Sienna inquired.
“Yes?” the wizard replied.
“Correct me if I am wrong, but,” the knight said. “Did you not mention, last astrer, about void rifts requiring—”
“A sacrifice… yes.” Cedric said, coming to the same realisation as the high elf.
“…”
“SHIT.” he exclaimed.
“So… if we’re getting this right,” the wizard asked the princess. “You think your mum will try to open a void rift, and use you as a sacrifice, of all things?!”
Elise nodded, silently sobbing.
“W-Would that even… work?!” Cedric said, perplexed and distraught.
“To open a r-rift, you need… an anchor.” the princess explained, citing what she had overheard from her mother. “It has to be something… you cherish most.”
“…”
Sienna froze, and the rest of the party followed suit. In silence, the adventurers tried to come up with an appropriate response. An adequate course of action, given their complicated predicament.
“…”
“I understand.” Sienna stated. “You cannot stay here—it would spell certain death…”
“…”
“In that case, we only have one choice…” she sighed. “If you free us, you will come with us.”
“We will try to escape Goldwall—preferably to somewhere far away, like the Duchy of Marinell—and then, I am afraid that… you will have to forgo your royal family.”
“Your relatives would easily give you away, if promised enough luxuries…” Sienna said through her teeth, as if disgusted with the very idea.
“Which is why…” she continued. “You are going to stay… With me.”
Elise raised her head from the ground, staring intently at the knight.
“I will adopt you, if I have to…” Sienna said. “Whatever it takes to—”
“Y-You don’t have to think about it too much, really…” Elise chuckled nervously. “I’m a splendid 30 year old lady, you know?”
“WHAT—” Enix gasped.
“Vampirism…” the princess murmured. “It’s a long story.”
Sienna’s ears perked up upon the mention of the word. Finally, at long last, she found someone who could possibly shed some light on—
“Wait, hang on!” Elynere interjected
“…”
“If we leave…” she continued.
“Then what about the calamity?” the dark elf inquired. “The one Lady Nezhara had warned us about—the one hanging over G-Gildengar!”
“We can’t just… leave that unresolved!” she urged her teammates.
“For all we know, if the Duchess is thinking of opening a void rift, THAT could be the calamity.” Cedric butted in. “And if we get this little… thirty year old woman out of here, then—”
“There would be no calamity to speak of…” Sienna added.
“Yeah, precisely.” Cedric said.
“Guys, I don’t think we have much time to argue!” Enix interjected. “Duchess Jeanette could be here any moment now!”
“Elise, let’s just… free my friends and go. Quickly.” the squire added.
“Okay…” the princess said, beginning to release the adventurers from their restraints using a crowbar.
Once everyone was free again, the adventurers pondered their next move.
“So… what are we waiting for?” Emilia asked.
“Yes, good point…” Sienna said.
“Lead the way, princess…” she added.
Elise took a deep breath before proceeding to unlock the chamber’s door to the left, revealing a dark corridor on the other side.
“Let us hasten.” she urged the heroes, leading them through the Golden Bastion’s dungeons one labyrinthine tunnel at a time.
“…”
After a considerable amount of time had passed, the Duchess seemed to still be preoccupied with tending to the needs of her guests, giving enough time for the heroes to continue following Elise. During their escape attempt, they asked the princess a few pressing questions.
“So… you are vampires, the both of you?” Sienna inquired cautiously.
“Yes, like I said… but,” Elise replied. “I never chose this life.”
“My mother, she… turned me against my will, on my 18th birthday.” she added. “It was mortifying, seeing what I had become.”
“Forgive me if I’m insensitive, princess, but—I think you look very nice for a vampire!” Enix interjected, attempting to brighten the mood with a compliment.
“Why, thank you, but… The problems are all inside, you see.” she explained. “I—”
“And umm,” the squire interjected again. “Could you—and I’m sorry to cut you off again, princess—maybe, I dunno…”
“Explain how a vampire is different from… strigoi, maybe?” he asked, eyeing Lady Sienna worriedly.
“Oh, that’s… rather simple, actually.” Elise replied. “I happen to be quite studious on the matter.”
“I kind of had to, or else I would’ve…”
“…”
“Ekhem.”
“To answer your question, Enix,” she continued. “A vampire can consume regular food without adverse effects, albeit gathering nothing but flavor from it.”
“Second of all, vampires don’t enter into a feeding frenzy when they’re starving—we can choose to starve to death if we wish, and our bodies won’t stop us… I know I’ve tried, multiple times, but,” she explained with a hint of regret. “I couldn’t quite commit to it.”
“Mortifying…” Sienna murmured. “A child should not be thinking such things at that age…”
“I’m 30…” Elise retorted. “Remember?”
“To high elves, you are still a child.” Sienna said.
“I suppose there is some truth to it.” Elise replied. “Me and my mother were high elves before we became what we are, after all…”
“…”
“Anyway, for the last difference…”
“Strigoi and vampires have different dietary habits.”
“Vampires needn’t satisfy their hunger as frequently, and when we do, we can always rely on animal blood to keep us sated.”
“Not very well, unfortunately, as evident by my… stunted growth.” she sighed. “Because I don’t wish to harm other people, I… live off animal blood alone.”
“I am… malnourished.” Elise muttered. “But it’s better than having murders weighing on my conscience.”
“You killed one of your mum’s employees, though—didn’t you?” Cedric asked jokingly.
Elise gave him a concerned frown, and the wizard felt awkward about his remark.
“Sorry…” he murmured.
“As I was saying,” Elise continued. “Strigoi, however, cannot sustain themselves through animals alone.”
“There comes a certain point in their transformation when animals just don’t cut it anymore…” she explained.
Sienna looked away, as if repulsed by the thought.
“…”
“Why’d you ask, anyway…?” Elise asked Enix.
“W-Who, me?!” the squire replied, nervous and all jittery. “I, uhh, haha—you see… I’m—”
“As my squire, he is dutifully helping out one of my allies over at Marinell in her strigosis research…” Sienna swiftly interjected. “Make sure you write everything down later, Enix.”
“Y-Yes, my lady!” the fiendfolk replied, breathing a sigh of relief.
“…” Elise stared at the two with a puzzled expression.
“Okay…” she muttered.
“…”
“There’s a sewer system to our right, by the way.” she added. “Once we go in, we will meet up with our rescue somewhere around the drain cover of the main pipe.”
“Our rescue…?” Sienna inquired.
“Yes,” the princess said. “I don’t know if you’ve met them yet, Miss Sienna, but two of your friends might’ve.”
“Does anyone here remember a pair of adventurers from the VIP lounge?” she inquired. “Ones that supposedly tried to… help you with ‘dracons’, or something similar-sounding?”
“Wait, yeah!” Emilia exclaimed. “I remember them!”
“Yes, so do I.” Cedric added. “A bard and a rogue, right?”
“Correct.” Elise replied.
“We fought a bunch of mobsters together—the guy with the shades actually offed his boss in some sort of epic betrayal.” Emilia explained. “That was probably the coolest thing I’ve seen all day!”
“See, they got captured as well.” Elise interjected.
“Oh.” Emilia frowned.
“But… through quick thinking, me and your friend Enix managed to find them a while before you, and—while they were still being transported to the dungeons, we umm…” Elise said.
“We made some ‘fireworks’, right?” Enix chuckled, nudging the vampiress in the shoulder.
“Y-Yes…” Elise replied. “Our plan was… louder than anticipated, but at least the two of them are fine now.”
“I told them to stay put by the sewer exit, then went back for the four of you.” she added.
“Aww, that’s so sweet of you!” Emilia smiled.
“Don’t celebrate yet…” Elise replied. “My mother should be looking for us right about now—as a matter of fact, it deeply concerns me that we haven’t heard any alarm glyphs blaring already…”
“Best not to dwell on it and move on.” Cedric said. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
Just like that, the heroes ventured deeper into the castle sewers.
Before long, they had finally found the pipe leading outside—its grate already removed some time prior. Veering her head out of the pipe, Elise spotted someone outside and waved to them. The princess then turned around and smiled at the adventurers.
“The way is clear!” she said. “You can jump off now.”
“Alright!” Emilia exclaimed, jumping down. “Thanks for the help, little lady!”
“Yeah, we owe you one.” Enix smiled, before also descending from the pipe.
One by one, the heroes exited the Golden Bastion. Everyone had already made their escape, except…
“…”
“Elise?” the squire asked, looking over at the vampire. “Are you coming?”
The princess stood frozen in place with a doubtful look on her face. Running away from home was supposed to be her ultimatum, but now that her own mother was very plausible considering using her as an “anchor”? Escaping seemed like the obvious choice, but when all that one knows are the confines of a single palace in a single city, a leap of faith isn’t exactly the easiest decision to make. Not to mention, Elise had already suffered twelve exhausting years living as a vampire. Whatever life awaited her outside the gates of Gildengar, it could very well just further her misery, and the princess wasn’t sure whether such a life… was really worth living.
“…”
“Look, I know uprooting oneself does not come easy…” Sienna said. “But you have to make a decision, princess—right here, right now.”
“So what will it be?” the knight added.
“…”
Elise took a deep breath. If her theories about her mother’s plans were to come true, then this was quite possibly her last chance to reclaim her independence. To emancipate herself.
“…”
And so, with a cautious smile, she approached the ledge of the drain pipe—finally ready to drop off and leave her aristocratic life behind.
*Insert comic panels here*
Sienna cradled the wounded princess in her arms, raising her head to witness the Duchess veering out of the drain pipe with a smug expression, aiming another concentrated blast of demonic energy at the heroes.
“Look at you, princess-stealers…” she cackled. “Child kidnappers!”
“And people dare to call you ‘heroes’—how does that work, I wonder?” Jeanette added.
“Now…”
“I’ll give you one last chance to surrender.”
“Return my daughter to me, and I might just consider NOT immediately placing region-wide bounties on ALL of your tiny, empty little heads!”
“…”
“So what will it be~?” the Duchess smiled wickedly, parroting Sienna’s earlier question.
“…”
The situation was clear, especially after Duchess Jeanette chose to shoot her own daughter for dramatic effect: returning Elise to her mother wasn’t going to end well. For anyone, that is. Before his party could make an informed decision, however, Cedric attempted a risky gambit—he moved closer, standing beside Sienna, and turned to face the Duchess.
“And what then, your grace?” he inquired with a fierce expression. “What plan could you POSSIBLY have that won’t end in us absolutely wrecking you?”
The Duchess cackled maniacally, seeing the wizard’s defiant stance as nothing more than a pathetic last display of fighting spirit.
“Well, if you have to ask…” Jeanette replied, smiling from ear to ear. She began regaling the terms of her “deal”, presenting the adventurers with multiple courses of action.
Motivated by a sudden surge of courage, the half-elf used Jeanette’s monologue as an opportunity to grab Sienna’s hand—who was still cradling Elise’s body—and with her, he darted straight towards the woods outside of the gates of Gildengar.
Infuriated with the wizard not staying to hear what she had to say, Duchess Jeanette hurled another two dark blasts in the adventurers’ general direction. The shades-wearing rogue—who up to this point remained vigilant but nothing more—finally rose up to the occasion; in one graceful motion, he unsheathed both of his katanas, parrying the two blasts and even deflecting one directly at the Duchess.
Hit by her own blast—and right in one of her eyes—the cruel monarch recoiled in pain, losing sight of the adventurers as they ran off into the wooded thicket in the distance.
“…”
“Fine then, have it your way.” she scoffed to herself, before disappearing into the darkness of the sewer pipe.
Shortly thereafter, she entered her office to ponder an arcane orb, of sorts. By tapping on its glass a few times, she made the magical object light up—it seemed to be awaiting some kind of command.
“Ahem.” the Duchess declared.
“ATTENTION, CITY GUARD.” her voice boomed through the orb, and manifested itself as an alarm siren loudly blaring from the very top of the Golden Bastion.
“THE SPECIAL GUESTS OF MY GRAND BALL—FIVE ADVENTURERS KNOWN AS SIENNA PICARELLO, CEDRIC CORENTIN PINGITORE, EMILIA DEMMEL-CRISORRA, ELYNERE VEDAEL, AND ENIX—HAVE TAKEN MY DAUGHTER HOSTAGE IN THEIR VILE SCHEME TO BLACKMAIL ME.”
“THEY ARE ACCOMPANIED BY TWO OTHER ADVENTURERS—A RANDWYNNIAN HIGH ELF OF GREEN EYES AND CLOTHES, AND A ROGUE CLAD IN BLUE WITH TACKY SUNGLASSES.”
“…”
“ANY GUARDS WHO SUBDUE THEM WILL BE IMMEDIATELY PROMOTED TO HIGH RANKING MILITARY OFFICERS.”
“…”
“AS FOR ORDINARY CITIZENS…”
“THERE IS A BOUNTY ON THE ADVENTURERS’ HEADS.”
“ONE THOUSAND GOLD PIECES… FOR EVERY ADVENTURER TAKEN—DEAD, OR ALIVE.”
“BEST OF LUCK—MY DEAREST SUBJECTS—AND HAPPY HUNTING~!”
“…”
The Duchess stepped away from her magical orb, approaching her bar to pour herself a glass of well-aged, “von Leime”-brand wine, before taking a seat in her favourite armchair.
