Her Biggest Fan (Part 4)

Skald region, early evening

The sounds of battle have ceased, and now the small dell is quiet again. Despite the power of the undead warriors, the heroes reduced them to shattered shells of metal and bone, sprawled here and there. Sitting in the middle of the dell, next to a campfire, a fine carriage stands horseless (the skeletal steeds having been quickly dispatched without fuss).

Of course, this leaves a new problem. There's no sign of Daniela Konigsdottir. There is, however, a rather frightened young lady dressed in simple robes, who may or may not have been in charge of those guardians. Right now she's standing outside the carriage, shoulders slightly hunched and refusing to meet anyone's gaze directly.

The Goblin looks weary, breathing heavily and bleeding a little from wounds sustained. She looks to Corey, then Dirk, and lastly Karasu. Everyone is alive, with varying amounts of blood.

Her gaze then goes to the young lady standing there, not meeting their gaze. Murder's arm rises up, her hand holding her two handed blade, the tip shaking a little.

"You. Girl. Explain. Now."

Karasu stands silently beside Cor'ethil, his eyes set with determination. He hasn't said anything yet, but it's clear that he holds not a single iota of mercy toward the girl. If anything, he's measuring her for a hole in the ground for her part in the fact that she let loose a bunch of undead monstrosities upon him and his beloved. Considering that his blade had nearly lopped her head off not so long ago that threat remains a pointed one. One that is only withheld thanks to Cor'ethil's mercy.

Dirk sweeps his gaze across the overgrown dell, his thunderbelcher snapping left and right as he looks to make certain there's no more undead surprises waiting in the wings. Once he's satisifed that they're safe--at least for now--he straightens his stance. He lifts his thunderbelcher to thunk it down over his shoulder. With his free hand, he reaches his fist up to his lips, blowing a soft hoot through his fingers. Lulu hoots in response, winging her way back over to settle upon her shoulder. "Och, what a good owl ye are, lass," the old ranger says, rubbing an affectionate finger over the little owl's head. Lulu fluffs up her feathers with a proud little 'hoo-oo!'

But there's other matters to turn to now. Dirk shoves his way through the thicket he called up, by grace of the Green Word. Up to the carriage he strides, his shaggy brows furrowing into a stern scowl. He swings his thunderbelcher back down into his hands, gripping the stock and the slide firmly--though he takes no further action than that. Not now, at the least. He nods a firm agreement with Murder, his fellow shortstack. "Aye, that about says it," he says. He lifts a hand, shaking his finger sternly at her. "An' ye best nae try an' lead us a merry jig neither, lassie. Else it'll go -verra- poorly fer ye." Lulu peers up at the robed lady, turning her body into profile as she pulls herself up tall and skinny. She click-clacks her beak as her eyes narrow. She's in agreement with her master. Just ask any mouse, owls can make things go very poorly for others indeed.

Cor'ethil pales a little as Murder has her blade up, and his eyes dart to Karasu, knowing that his beloved might well do the same thing. Dirk's approach underscores it all. But, they both have a good reason for it. After all, they've all just survived one hell of a fight with the undead. Karasu was significantly bloodied, as was he.

"Okay," he murmurs, before clearing his throat. He decides it's time for 'good is not always Corey's typical level of nice', so he adopts a sober expression. "Madame. We really need you to answer our questions, especially considering we just survived injury to life and limb. Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

GAME: Murder rolls intimidate: (13)+26: 39
GAME: Dirk rolls Intimidate: (5)+9: 14
GAME: Karasu rolls Intimidate: (16)+18: 34
GAME: Corey rolls Diplomacy: (16)+21: 37

The girl cringes back against the carriage at the rather overt menace proffered by Murder and Karasu. Her eyes jerk to Corey's, and then -- she bursts into tears. It takes a minute for the waterworks to subside, with her drying her face on her sleeve, and her story comes out in fits and stutters.

"I'm-- I'm Randi Sungreen. I'm a student at the University." Another sniffle, before she continues. "I'm... Master Baratheos's intern. This was all his idea!" The words now come out in a rush. "He was the one who had that author lady kidnapped!"

GAME: Karasu rolls Sense Motive: (6)+18: 24
GAME: Corey rolls Sense Motive: (16)+19: 35

"Yer tears will not serve ya well here.", the Goblin says evenly. She does wait, though, as she notes the young lady looking to Corey for sympathy. Murder nods a little as the basic 'plan' is laid bare.

"Ya do know you were quite close to death, yes? We knew you were controlling them, and any one of us could have rushed the carriage immediately. Necromancy is illegal, and also highly immoral. The Gods that stand in the Light frown upon such a thing." She spins her sword around in her hand, and jams the tip into the ground.

"Ye best continue telling us everything you know. Where's the lady? Where's this Master Baratheos? What's the layout of his hiding place? Why did he kidnap her?"

Corey frowns deeply at Randi. Murder's pretty much asking all of the questions that he wants to know, save for one. Because it doesn't make sense to Corey why a young lady studying magic in Alexandria would aid and abet a crime unless she was pressed into it... Or there is a very lucrative award at the end.

"Did he force you into this?" Cor'ethil asks. He lets sympathy and compassion enter his voice and face for just a moment, but then he adds a bit more soberly, "Or did he promise tremendous rewards and great gain?"

Karasu frowns at the tears just a little bit, but releases the girl of his hard glare. Even turning his dark eyes from her so that she might feel some relief. "You had best answer the questions, but if you do, no harm will come to you. Cor'ethil is a paladin of Gilead."

Dirk scowls dourly as the tears start up. His beard bristles, and he relaxes his stance a bit with a soft harrumph. It's well known that he's got a soft heart, and he could never stand to see someone in such distress. Fortunately, there's others here with a sharper wit than his, ones who know the questions to ask. He nods towards Corey. "Aye. If he -is- makin' ye do this, well... ye saw what we done tae his filthy wee toys," he says gruffly. "I won't stand fer someone bein' a bully. Ye've got naught tae fear now, lassie. We can make sure yer kept safe while we deal with 'im. What we're wantin' most of all is gettin' Daniela home safe an' sound. Her poor husband is in a -dreadful- fright worryin' for 'er."

There's some sniffles. "I wasn't controlling them. I flunked necromancy. Master Baratheos... he told them to defend the lady, and me, at all costs." A shaky breath, before Randi continues. "I needed work credits and ... at first I thought he was just a weird old wizard. They always get strange when they spend their time in their towers or whatever." She swallows. "Plus, he has a huge library -- I could spend my off time working on redoing my thesis. He'd bang on and on about doing the work of Navos, preserving knowledge."

"But then one day he saw me with Mrs. Konigsdottir's latest book, and asked me about it. He got excited because he'd read the books written by her family, and so he asked me to get copies of all her books. Next thing I know I get told to take a carriage with his four... uh..." Gulp. "...minions? Out to Farseen Fool, and she's -there- with a bunch of rough looking guys!"

GAME: Murder rolls perception: (18)+21: 39
GAME: Murder rolls spellcraft: (6)+10: 16
GAME: Murder rolls spellcraft: (15)+10: 25

The Goblin is immediately frowning, and turns to the carriage, climbing inside. There's noises made as things get thrown about, and /something/ snaps with a loud crack as Murder grunts. A moment later she steps out holding a small disk, only slightly smaller than the palm of her hand. "I can't control it without the token..", the Goblin says in a passing imitation of the girl's voice. "Strike one, kiddo. Only this isn't stickball, you only get one strike. Next lie? I'm going to get angry again. You will not enjoy the experience, I assure you."

The disk, with Animus' symbol on the reverse, and Navos' on the obverse, is flipped to Karasu. "I /think/ this could be used to control undead... but you can detect magic, yes? You would know better than I."

GAME: Karasu casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 5 DC: 17
GAME: Karasu rolls Spellcraft: (10)+23: 33

Karasu studies the amulet for some time nodding to himself. "I think that she is telling us the truth about this at least. And likely the rest as well. If someone conjured minions of the dead and told them that the bearer of this token was to be protected, they might well do so, though this token is not meant to command them." He flips the token over in his hand. "If we had the means it might have been used to track the one who made it, but I have not the magic for that kind of thing. Shame."

Dirk's whiskers bristle once more, and he harrumphs again. "Aye, that'd be the brigands he probably paid tae nip off with 'er," he grumbles. But then he pauses. "But wait a tick. Who set the kytons on -them-? There's summat else we're missin' here, I think. There's more pieces tae -this- particular puzzle, an' we dinnae have 'em all yet." He looks back to the girl with a squint of those hairy eyeballs of his. "-Flunked- necromancy? Ye mean they -teach- that vile shit at the academy? Beards o' me sweet tapdancin' fathers, what is -wrong- wi' schools these days? Hrumph!" He lapses into silence as Karasu examines the disk, looking between the Tian and Murder as he taps his foot.

"Wh-what? What do you mean kytons?" Randi's face goes pale. "Wait. When... we got here, he was waiting. And Mrs. Konigsdottir had been roughed up -- I'd patched her up, used a potion I had. But Master Baratheos... he was -really- angry. He told me..." She pauses, glances at the token, then decides something.

"The token will take me and... others back home. But he told me not to come home for a day or so. He said he had to ... 'take steps' about those brigands." Her eyes look around a bit fearfully. "Do you think he..."

"Absolutely." Karasu says. "I do. And you should be careful returning home. Now, where can we find him and the woman?" This is after all their mission. The whole reason that they had left in the first place. Hopefully this girl will be able to point them in the correct direction. If not…

Murder's expression softens a touch when Karasu points out that the token is not used to command the undead. She nods to Karasu then, "Thank you."

Her eyebrows raise at Dirk's mention of the kytons. The Goblin looks to Randi then. "How badly was she roughed up? And uhm... your master appears to be a necromancer... summoning fiends isn't beyond his ken, too, it seems. Kytons are... rather nasty, but I guess almost perfect if you're looking to torment living beings. Sadly we didn't give them a chance to talk..."

Her nose wrinkles. She sighs. "Who wants to pretend to be undead armor suits?"

Cor'ethil looks to Dirk. "Necromancy is actually a lot more than just raising the dead as the undead," he says. "Some of it has to do with life force and the manipulation of it. There are spells that are actually very powerful in aiding and defending people that belong fo the school. My twin sister is a mystic theurge who is keenly interested in necromancy's applications for positive ends, not in the raising of undead." He smiles gently. "But it seems to me that Master Baratheos is more than Miss Randi believed him to be, regardless."

He frowns deeply as he looks at Randi. "It seems to me he was involved with the summoning of the kytons," he says. "I wonder if it has anything to do with the odd figure we met, too." He remembers that horrible scream, that horrible shriek.

The paladin of Gilead frowns. "At any rate. It sounds to me like he's obsessed with Mrs. Konigsdottir... Or her work... Or both. Enough to have her kidnapped. I fear what he might do if we don't find her quickly enough." Then Corey looks at Murder, wrinkling his nose. "I'm... _really_ rather bad at stealth, disguise, and infiltration. Karasu is a much better sort for it than I am." He smiles more cheerfully. "I'm sure he could pull it off."

Dirk gives Murder a -look-. Pointedly, he turns to look at the twisted metal armor the graveknights wore. The -tall- graveknights, with -human sized chests-. Then he looks down at himself. Then back to her. "Yer tuggin' me beard, right?" he says. "La--Murder, I'm too hefty in the arse tae put that filthy shit on even if I -wanted- to. An' I'm thinkin' yon lads are too... er..." Oh what's a polite way to put it? "-Slender-. An' unless ye got two other gobbos tae stand on yer shoulders, I dinnae think -you'll- be doin' much with it either."

He considers for a moment, giving his beard a thoughtful tug. Then, his eyes get wide. He looks back to Regi. "Home. Where's -home-, lassie? It's nae in Alex, is it?" He shoots a look at the disk, then looks back to Randi. "Lass, ye -know- ye cannae teleport intae city limits. Ye -do-, don't ye? There's a magicked wall up that stops it!" He's starting to get a good idea as to exactly -why- Randi flunked necromancy.

Randi gulps. Loudly. As if she needed more examples of how deep in the privy she was. "If... If I help you get her back, can... can you try to put in a good word?" She looks like she's about to tear up again, and hurriedly wipes her eyes on her sleeve.

She looks at Dirk angrily. "I know that! He doesn't live in Alexandria. Master Baratheos has this old restored house on the eastern coast of Alexandros." Randi pauses. "I... I don't think he's normal. I mean, everyone knows about Archmage Mithralla using that ring that keeps him from getting hungry, but I -never- saw Master Baratheos eat anything."

After a moment Karasu looks to Cor'ethil and nods. "Very well, if you take us to your master we may be able to overlook this. However it would serve you well to remember to look into the kind of individual that you are serving in the future before you do so in the future." His words seem words that are ones that are spoken from a place of wisdom. A place of deep knowing.

"Well, they kinda clanked around, didn't they? We'd only be trying to fool him for a moment, to get close...", she replies to Corey, before she stares at Dirk. "Sometimes you just gotta improvise, Dirk. But fiiiiine, if you don't want to try the coolest trick ever against a necromancer and demon summoner, I suppose we could just all teleport in with her as our normal selves."

Murder's eyes roll back a bit. "Boooooring!"

She sighs then and rubs at her forehead. "Your master is likely undead. Maybe a lich?" The Goblin rubs her hands together. "I hope they're vulnerable to fire..."

GAME: Corey rolls Knowledge/Religion: (2)+19: 21
GAME: Corey rolls Knowledge/Religion: (11)+19: 30

Cor'ethil tries to suppress a laugh at Dirk describing himself as 'too hefty in the arse'. He succeeds mostly. There's still the evidence of a big grin on his face for a moment that he tries desperately to hide underneath his hand, and he sucks in a breath of air to try and chase it away. Easy enough to do when Randi describes her Master as never eating anything. His silver eyes widen a little.

"Yes, if we can get moving, then that's for the best. But, umm... Have you ever seen your Master... walk around in the moonlight? Have a particular fondness for blood? You ever see him sleep in a coffin? Have red eyes? Really doesn't like it when you eat food with garlic in it?" Corey is hedging his bets.

Dirk harrumphs at Murder, reaching up to twirl the tip of his majestic handlebar mustache between his thumb and forefinger. "Speak fer yeself, lassie. When it's -me- what shows up on Baratheos' doorstep, why, -that'll- be the coolest thing ever!" His bravado lasts until Corey starts asking about vampire and vampire-related products. His good humor vanishes, and his face turns white as milk. "V-vampire...? Ye think he's a sodding -vampire-?" He takes a grip on his thunderbelcher, hoping to any god that'll listen that his knees aren't visibly shaking. "Oh Blessed Lady, keep an' defend me," he mutters hoarsely into his beard. He's dealt with a vampire before. It didn't go well then, either.

Randi looks confused. "Er... no. I've seen him wander around in the daytime. He wears a mask and robes, and told me he had a skin condition." She shivers. "You think he's actually undead? But... well..." Randi looks down at her shoes. "...you probably think I'm pretty stupid," she says in a small voice.

Corey shakes his head. "No! No. Of course you're not stupid." He gives a look at the others to tell them to _please_ not disagree with him. "I mean, he's someone in a position of authority, and you trusted him, and they don't exactly tell children to be on the lookout for vampires everywhere they go."

He looks at Dirk then. "Hey, it's okay. If it is a vampire... which sounds likely... You've got me. I've got you." Corey gives a patented cheerful smile. "We'll be okay. I'll make it okay." Famous last words, Corey

"You are not the first person fooled by someone charismatic and with a plan." Karasu says in a moment that seems perhaps to those on the outside, as a moment of weakness. Though Cor'ethil might know it as something more. "In any case, you have a chance to redeem yourself. Take us to your one-time master now, and we will rescue the woman he has taken. Whatever he plans for her, we will put a stop to, and that will be enough."

This is what causes Murder's hard veneer to crack, and she lets out a lengthy sigh.

"No, you are not stupid. You are naive, and likely under some sort of charm, spell or influence. He told a convincing story to you, it all made sense at the time, and he used a touch of magic to solidify it in your mind." The Goblin taps at her chin. "He probably came in right after you flunked necromancy, or perhaps some other crisis or stressful time. Said all the right things to soothe your mind, and you probably enjoyed being an apprentice to someone powerful."

Murder eyes Corey and Karasu as they appear to be thinking along the same lines. Her eyes say ‘Gotcha fam!’

Dirk draws a slow breath. "Demontry Kol was one o' the most fearsome foes I ever faced," he says. "He always knew how tae get in me head. An' there was fuck-all I could do about it. He turned me against me dearest friends." He looks to Randi with a sorrowful, sympathetic droop to his shaggy white brows. "So no. I dinnae think yer stupid. I think ye got took in. It could happen tae anyone, an' that's nae fault o' yer own." He looks around to his comrades. "But if the lass here is tellin' it true, an' he goes out in the daylight, then he cannae be a vampire. I feel a -wee- bit better 'bout our prospects. Not tae say I'm not grateful," he says, looking to Corey with a nod. "'s just... vampires -scare- me."

There's some more sniffling from Randi, but she grabs onto the lifeline offered (figuratively if not literally) from the heroes. "All... all right. I'll take you to him." She gestures for the party to gather around, in a way reminiscent of other teleporting magicians, and takes the token in hand.

She takes a deep breath, and speaks a command word. Abruptly the five of you are wrapped in a bright blue flash of light, and the sensation of traveling without moving is there...

There's a soft 'pop' as you reappear in an opulent hall. The ceiling of the hall is a gorgeous mosaic depicting Navos in his aspect as the Historian, and on either wall there are frescos clearly referencing the eight schools of magic. This looks to be a rather pleasant place, hardly a hellish dungeon of unholy horror.

And then you see there are two statues, one to either side of the door leading northward, smashed into rubble. The door itself is shattered, and from beyond you hear an angry female voice with a curiously toneless timbre to it.

"BARATHEOS, YOU BASTARD!"

It appears someone with a grievance has arrived ahead of you.

-TBC