Fantasy Terrorchild: Awakening

[turtwigwins]

1

 

[Damian0358]

1 (if possible, propose asking a few pact sisters to aid in figuring out a means of safely transporting the book, under threat that if they don't a repeat of the Diala incident would probably occur)

 

[joshuadim]

1

 

[asphodelus]

2

 

[hardcore.munchkin]

1

 

[Breadman]

1

 

[K0mori]

1. Take the Book - "Okay," you concede, feeling guilty for everything you've put Embryx through today, from your ill-advised death-walking scheme, to your sudden emotional breakdown, followed by your unexplained possession and the major consequences it incurred. You realize that if your megalomania hadn't been checked in time, you might have turned on your friend, as well. "...We'll take the book with us and see if we can find someone in Thandan who can tell us what it is."

"Thank you," she says. "Now, I've been up since early and I need some rest. You should try to get some sleep, too. It's going to be a busy day tomorrow."

As she stands to leave, you feel a need to say something. "Hey, Embryx?"

"Hm?"

"...I'm glad we met," you say. "Thank you for sticking with me, through all of this."

A comment like this would have made Embryx's day, before, when she was doing all she could to kindle a closer relationship between the two of you. Right now, she just gives a tired smile. "I'll see you in the morning," she says.

---
​

You enter your small bedroom and flop on the bed, too tired to bother lighting a candle. Instead, you decide you'll just sleep in your day clothes. As you lie there, face down on a pillow, you think about how different you feel from this same hour last night.

After two years of suffocating control and service in the name of a more powerful witch, you're finally free - although it doesn't feel that way. You had never intended to become the elder sister of Mardenaal; it seems like a major responsibility and you're not looking forward to the amount of work you're going to have to do to keep everyone out of trouble, further the goals of the coven, and avoid conflict with other powerful elders...

A thought crosses your mind. Now that you're approaching the highest levels, you don't feel as if you're really all that much closer to the deep secrets that Rigatte suggested were held by the coven's most powerful witches. What if... What if she's wrong? Rigatte wasn't an elder herself. What if it's all a lie, and you can't get her, or anyone else back?

You lay awake for a while, fear and anger playing on your mind, until you finally drift into nothingness...

You suddenly find yourself in the same empty void of death that you've experienced in your dreams and nightmares for years now, but this time you aren't sinking - you're at the very bottom, just like when spoke to Syrith for the first time. As you start to walk, however, you notice the ghostly whisps of chains and shackles around your ankles, and hear their clattering against the unseen floor. Their weight keeps you anchored here, and you're forced to drag them along as you walk aimlessly to explore.

It isn't long before you're no longer alone. Appearing from the pitch ahead of you is another witch, walking aimlessly just like you. She looks up at you, and you each study the other in hopes of recognizing a face, but in the end, pass by as strangers. This happens again, and again, as loneliness creeps into you. There is no point in asking questions here, as nothing will guide you to an exit, nor to your sister. Even if Rigatte were within calling distance, your lack of vision beyond your immediate surroundings would prevent you from finding each other.

At last, you resign yourself to sit and wait - for what, you aren't sure. But finally, a hand taps you on the shoulder, and you look up to find Ika, of all people. "Hi, zizter," she says with a bittersweet smile.

"...Ika," you say. "It's been a while."

"How long?" Ika asks, sitting down beside you. "It'z hard to keep track down here, what with the lack of zun and moon."

"Two years," you answer.

The goblin blinks at your answer, apparently surprised by the passage of time. "...Two yearz..." she repeats.

You ask her an important question, although, given your dreaming stupor, it isn't the first question you would have asked if you were awake: "Ika, what happens to our magic when we die?"

She snickers at you. "There izn't any, down here. No zun, no moon, no magic - light or dark. ...I ztill have my wand," she says, drawing it out of her sleeve. "...But there'z nothing to conduct. Even the magic in your blood iz gone, zizter, back to the world of the living, where it belongz. Off to find new zizterz and keep the cycle turning along."

You feel the emptiness inside and imagine this lasting for an eternity. "I was told we serve the coven, even in death. But how do we...?"

"Through Her," she answers. "The Eldezt took a part of uz when we pledged ourzelvez to the coven, and replaced it with herzelf."

"Wh-what?"

The goblin hides her face in her hands. "Zyrith is all of uz, and all of uz are Zyrith," she says.

---​

You wake up to the sound of Embryx knocking on your door. "Agranne, let's go," she says a bit urgently. "Crows are already starting to fly in from all over the countryside and unless you want to get stuck explaining to all of them why you killed Diala-"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" you call back to her. "Give me a minute!"

You get out of bed and swap your socks for a clean pair, and then put on your traveling boots. You then realize that you never took the time to pack for the trip Diala was about to send you on, and so you're definitely not ready now. A few minutes or frantic packing later, you throw open the door to find Embryx fully armored and ready for the long ride ahead.

"Only one more stop on the way out," the drow says. "We've gotta head to the study."

You slowly remember the conversation you had over dinner last night as you walk down the hall, and then come to a halt as the dream you had creeps back into you. "...Wait, Embryx, I need to tell you something," you start to say, but she shakes you off.

"You can tell me on the road," she says. "Any minute now, someone is going to want you to stop and talk about the circle's affairs and at that point I won't be able to get you out with a pry bar."

You make a note to talk about it soon, unsure if it was just a dream or something real. You soon reach the stairs and, like before, take out the Pandemonium Door and glide to the bottom with ease - of all the things you've learned to do, levitation is probably your favorite now that you have an unlimited source of magic in your pocket. You could fly to Thandan if you wanted to. You can't help but smile as you glide through the room to the study like you did yesterday afternoon, but as soon as you set down and take out your key, you lose it, and as Embryx catches up behind you, she senses your unease.

"Hey, don't worry," she says. "I've got your back."

You nod and unlock the door, and the two of you push into the dark room to explore the bookshelves once again. "It was somewhere over here," you say, pointing toward where you think you put the book. After a few minutes of looking, however, you begin to fear that it might have been taken by someone overnight. You nearly give up before you finally notice its crumbling, blackened exterior, wedged between two larger tomes. "There," you say, feeling a chill as you look at it again, "that's the one."

"I should take it," Embryx says before presenting a locking wooden chest. "I brought this to keep it in."

1. Allow - Unlike when you were alone last night, Embryx is here with you. You can snap her out of whatever hypnotic trance it put you under. "Okay, be safe," you caution her.

2. Protect - You can't let Embryx risk losing her mind to the book. You've already had your darkness "fed and sated," so maybe it's safe for you to handle, now. You quickly grab the book before she can touch it.

3. Dissuade - You try one last time to dissuade Embryx from brining the book. "Can we please just... save it for later? We have other things we need to worry about right now, and we both need to be in our right minds for it," you plead.

 

[Infab]

2

 

[hardcore.munchkin]

2

 

[Breadman]

1

 

[Damian0358]

1

 

[turtwigwins]

1

 

[bat_hacker]

2

 

[dikdik]

2

 

[joshuadim]

2

 

[K0mori]

2. Protect - You can't let Embryx risk losing her mind to the book. You've already had your darkness "fed and sated," so maybe it's safe for you to handle, now. You quickly grab the book before she can touch it.

Surprised by your lunge, Embryx backs away and you suddenly find yourself clutching the book and with nowhere to put it. You turn to find her brandishing her morning star as if she were expecting to use it.

"What, are you going to smash the book?" You huff in annoyance. "The chest! Open it up already!"

As soon as Embryx has the chest open, you drop the dark book into it and take a few steps away, refusing to even look at it. You wait for Embryx to say something, when it dawns on you that she hasn't closed the lid yet. You turn back and see her holding the chest open and staring at the book in contemplation. "Agranne," she says, somewhat excitedly. "I feel something...!"

Furiously, you telekinetically seize onto the chest and pull it out of her hands before slamming it shut. The sound of the two wooden halves clattering together snaps the drow out of the odd trance she was slipping into, and her smile disappears. A moment later, you place the box forcefully back into her hands and look her in the eye to get her full attention. "Be more careful!" you tell her. "Lock the chest if you need to!"

"...Yeah," Embryx replies, a bit woozy. "Yeah, I think I need to..."

---
​

As you're leaving the study, a crowd which had come to realize that you were inside now gathers in hopes of stealing away your attention. You ignore them and compel them all to stand out of your way. The path to the exit now clear, you grin at Embryx and lead her through, excited to hit the road on your own terms for the first time since...

...Ever. You were taken from Zuklanar by force. You were chased out of Tashlaan by witch hunters. Every journey you've taken since then has been at the orders of Mardenaal's psychotic elder sister. But now, you're heading out voluntarily and on your own schedule. You leave a few messages with Raffe before grabbing your wide-brimmed hat off the coat rack where you left it yesterday when you got out of the rain, and then step through the door onto the cool and wet street outside.

END OF CHAPTER FOUR

---

The Outskirts of Mardenaal
​

The weather is cool and mild as you and Embryx make your way to the edge of town, where a few horses are stabled that you've used on prior jaunts to the surrounding countryside. The locals stay well and clear of the both of you; they can tell just from a glance that you're trouble, and they want nothing to do with it.

"...I had a dream last night," you say as you walk down a particularly empty path between the rows of houses. "Ika was there."

Embryx looks down at you interestedly. "Like back then?" she asks, but her excitement fades as you shake your head.

"No, not like then. Like right now. I have these recurring dreams, or nightmares, maybe, where I'm back in the place beyond death, seeing people I've killed, or people who've died in other ways. And last night, it was Ika - I guess I was supposed to be dead, myself. I was just... I was wandering around, aimlessly, and we bumped into each other down there. And she told me about what it's like to be dead."

"Yeah?" Embryx asks gently, a bit affected by what you're describing. She had known Ika for some time before your arrival in town and the disaster that unfolded less than a month later. "...What did she say?"

You don't want to misquote her, so you focus on her exact words - minus the accent, of course - before you repeat them. "She said there's no magic in the afterlife, and no sun or moon, so she can't track the passage of time."

"That's... sad. I hope it's not really like that," Embryx replies. "I remember what you said Rigatte told you, that it isn't paradise and it isn't hell, but I still hope there's something there, something to keep us occupied. ...What does the Eldest intend to do with us if we're just kept in a dark nowhere?" she asks more quietly.

You remember the more important detail of your story, the one you had nearly broached while standing in the third-floor hall of the sanitarium. "She told me something really strange, and it's what's bothering me right now. She said that the Eldest took a piece of each of our souls when we joined the coven and made it a part of herself. In return, we each got a piece of Her soul. ...Reminds me of the old communal stews we used to cook up when I was a kid," you explain.

"What? Stew?" Embryx repeats.

"Yeah. So imagine a big pot of stew that's kept over an open flame, day-in and day-out. Over time, ingredients are added, bowls are carried off, water steams out, more ingredients are added, and so on, and so there's always food in the pot, and even when the ingredients are poor, the taste is pretty good. But my point is that if we each got a piece of Syrith in us, and Syrith herself is made of everyone else, then we're made of everyone else who came before us. My piece of Her might just also be a piece of you," you remark.

Embryx snorts at the theory. "That sounds like horseshit. How did you not get sick off that nasty stew?"

"Well first off, it's not like we're eating weeks-old ingredients; it's sort of like, 'how many ingredients can be totally replaced before it's a different pot of stew?' and the answer is not that many. But it still conserves a good amount of the original stew's flavor that would otherwise go to waste when you can't guarantee you'll have the same ingredients day-to-day. Second, it usually fell apart when you started telling people not to sell good crops, but toss them in the stew instead. They would start asking why we couldn't get by on just potatoes and onions, and then we'd give up. ...So the stew never lasted as long as it could have."

Embryx pauses for a moment as you reach a crossroads and checks for eavesdroppers before proceeding. "If your dream is right about us, then that's just fucking weird."

"Not as weird as that," you say, pointing at a pale horse clopping along in the middle of the road out of town. Seated on its back is Mionna, who despite her rather listless appearance, is doing a pretty good job of not looking dead the way you left her last night. Her horse is following another one with Jannava in the saddle.

1. Investigate - A dark chill tells you that you'd like to follow Jannava and Mionna to see how the necromancer accomplishes this delicate task.

2. Ignore - Although your horses are nearby, you decide not to see how Mionna's story actually ends. Jannava probably won't want to see you two again after how you ambushed her yesterday morning, anyway.

 

[Infab]

2

 

[hardcore.munchkin]

1

 

[Breadman]

1

 

[joshuadim]

2

 

[asphodelus]

1

 

[Damian0358]

1

 

[dikdik]

1

 

[K0mori]

1. Investigate - A dark chill tells you that you'd like to follow Jannava and Mionna to see how the necromancer accomplishes this delicate task.

"Come on, let's get our horses already," you say, beckoning Embryx into the stables where they're kept. The two of you hurry through the process of retrieving them before saddling up and heading out, following in the direction the tiefling and her zombie were headed.

As you gallop along, Embryx pulls up beside you. "What's the hurry, anyway?" she says over the sounds of hooves against the roadway.

"I want to catch up to Jannava!" you reply with a grin. "I want to see how she gets rid of that body. Maybe we'll learn something useful!"

Embryx shrugs. "Gross," she replies. "I'm in!"

It isn't long before you spot the two slow-moving horses outside of town, heading up a lonely trail into the hills that diverges from the main road. At the sound of your approach, Jannava turns back, spots the two of you, and immediately brings both horses to a halt to wait. Eventually, you all meet up just past the crossroads and give your horses a moment to rest.

"Hello, elder sisters," she addresses you, a not-undetectable ire in her tone. "Is something amiss?"

"Nothing, sister," you reply quickly. "Embryx and I are traveling to Thandan and we saw you on your way out. We'd like to accompany you for a moment to oversee Mionna's..." You start to say burial, but you quickly realize you aren't sure how Jannava will actually remove the evidence of Mionna's slaying. "...Disposal," you say, once it comes to you, with a smile you meant to be genuine but which was actually quite rotten.

Jannava nods, uncomfortably. "Uh-huh. Well, alright. You'll get to see false life in action, and what happens when you remove it from a corpse, although I'm sure you could imagine it..." She waves you to follow, and as you do, you get a closer look at Mionna, who regards you without any contemplation behind her glassy eyes.

Embryx follows behind you, avoiding eye contact with the zombie as she does. "So how you'd fix her face?" she asks before adding, proudly: "I gave her a really good whacking."

"I know you did," Jannava replies with annoyed sigh. "We're just lucky that the spikes on that mace of yours didn't rip her godsdamned face off... Cosmetic stuff is a lot harder to fix than structural things like, bones. All I had to do was set the bones back into the right places and then force in false life until they could hold together again, just like a magicked skeleton does without sinew."

"So when you remove the magic, Miona's neck is going to fall apart again," you infer.

Jannava nods as she leads the three of you over a small crest in the hill and onto another, even less-defined pathway which descends back into the neighboring dell. "Her jaw, too. She won't feel any pain, though. She's long gone," she explains, clinically. "In case you hadn't already figured out the obvious, necromancy isn't the same as 'raising the dead.' It's about the creation of magical constructs which occupy corpses and animate them."

Having found a copse of trees bordering a stream that can provide the necessary cover, Jannava dismounts and then takes out her wand. Without even waiting for Mionna to climb down awkwardly from her horse, she gives a quick flick of her wand that gives off a puff of black smoke. Instantly, Mionna's head slumps backwards as if her neck was made of rubber, at the same time her jaw becomes unseated like it was the night before, flopping aside to reveal her bloated and blue tongue. Shallow wounds in the skin suddenly rip themselves back open - the points at which the morning star drew blood, although by now there's not much blood left to bleed.

The corpse flops to the ground. Jannava then walks up, grabs Mionna by her clothing, and drags her to the stream before unceremoniously dumping the body into the stream. "Done," she says, flatly. "Let's get out of here."

"That was less involved than I was expecting," you state, a bit underwhelmed. "Are you headed back to town, then?"

The tiefling gives a rather cold laugh. "Ha hah, no. Not back to Mardenaal - my stay in that city has been truly miserable, thank you. Had I known what a piece of work Diala was, I would have turned down her offer and stayed in Estfang. I'd like to travel with you to Thandan, if you'll have me," she says. "I'll find some new traveling companions once I get there and then move on to Sonnamille so I can sail the remainder of the way back."

You're caught off-guard by the request; after the way you barged in and compelled her yesterday, you'd expect her to harbor some ill will for you, but it seems she's a very pragmatic woman. "Sure, we'll take you with us," you say. You glance back to Embryx, who seems a bit disappointed in having to share your company with someone else, but that's to be expected. You give her a look.

Embarrassed, Embryx nods. "Sure, um, yeah. You can come with us," she says. "So, Agranne. What route are we taking, anyway?"

1. East Overland - The most direct path to Thandan will take you through large grasslands and rolling hills, much of which will be soggy with mud due to the autumn climate. You'll pass through several of Diala's more loyal holdings before entering the contested lands between, and then into Kulka's territory. Since word has already spread by crow that you're on your way to make peace, it shouldn't be dangerous, you think. "Let's just take the straight shot," you say.

2. Into Sonnamille - "Actually, I was thinking we could cut southeast and cut through northern Sonnamille," you say. Getting out of Turadal would help you avoid the complications caused by the coven's discord, but would also put you in another elder's neighborhood, perhaps uninvited. "It'd get Jannava on her way faster," you say.

3. Scenic Route - You remind yourself that you're not actually on a tight schedule, here. "...Any place you want to stop in at on the way there, Embryx? We're finally getting out of here," you add, reminding her of your private conversation from yesterday.

 

[hardcore.munchkin]

2