Midnight RPG - Chapter 42.453

Setting

It is the night following a filling dinner of wild turkey brought down by Eranon's bow, cooked on the spit by Kyle at Lady Ahemia's direction. The wild bird filled your belly with a lush spice from the southlands for which the Lady legate had given. This is the night following the minor disputes across dinner, as Lady Ahemia stood up to face Kyuad - challenging him that she WAS in complete control of her mind... NO ONE controlled her! An argument to which Zal'Kazzir barely had a line to add... He calmed her for the moment and soon she walked away from the threats put to the grave-digger. But the outright accusations kept her mind going later that night.

THIS is that tale...

The moon and stars have grown dim in this time of strange unnatural movements in the night sky. But the hours wained and Lady Ahemia knew the hour of her faith. It had been at this time over most of her 28 years that she'd knelt and prayed to the Master in the North.

Just earlier that afternoon she'd found the most beautiful clearing along the glade overlooking the clear coast of the Sea of Pelluria. A most perfect spot to kneel, pray, clear her mind. So it was only natural that she found herself wandering off to that point during these hours of the night when the Riding Host slows and grazes in the sky. This is the Shadow Hour, the time when Legates feel the pulse of power given them by their sworn diety. However, tonight... Lady Ahemia was not doing as she had every night since her becoming ceremony and though that in and of itself didn't bother her, afterall her love Zal'Kazzir had put the alternative to the Shadow in such a poinient light earlier that afternoon, but something would nag at her mind as she looked to settle thoughts of the day.

Kyuad, the corspe-keeper... the Middleman... he... his accusations... his bile spit at her at this evening's dinner was biting and bothersome. What had he meant that she was under control, that she was on a leash?? And why had Zal not defended her position more?

As she set herself on the stone, dropping her silk dress to the crisp new autumn airs to soak in the fresh airs and new night - Ahemia still ruminated over the wizards biting comments. And with a whisper to her friend and companion, Dahiran the massive black tiger of the Aruunian Jungle slinked back toward camp... almost stalking... the elf... Eranon...

Dahiran had made it known to the elf that it was fighting its ever instinct not to tear his throat out, even though the 'insil had freed the beast from the control of a demon just a few days prior... So his appearance at first, not on "a leash" might have been a bit unnerving however the lure of the great cat's call likely wouldn't be denied. So too did he sneak down to Kyuad's camp space, growling at Kyle slightly as the Sarcosan-corpse felt the pit of his stomache for the first time in weeks.

Assuming both Eranon and Kyuad follow the cat out some 300-400 yards from the rendezvous camp overlooking the Sea, you may approach and hear the following conversation begin. It is likely that Kyuad might come in following Eranon, but not necessarily...

Lady Ahemia, former Legate of the Master in the North

Lady Ahemia sitting at her prayer spot...

Curious that we find ourselves here so far from home is it not? It wasn't that long ago that I slept in a warm goose feather bed in a well-kept fortress of the Priest of Shadow. True enough, the Vile did disgust my instincts as both a woman and sister of the Order... but his liege did not offend me to the point of discontent.

It was there in the Black Nail that I made several long friends... Those friends that I now will never again be able to speak with. On the whim of love, some would taunt as lust, I found my way out of the Druid Swamps. Even now I do not regret the decision. Rarely do I regret... But I do wonder... I do consider the new challenges that I've made in life. They all seemed so clear before and even with the confusion and distress of making my way back into the Order apart from the Vile's governess I knew where my faith laid... But now... now I am a little girl lost again as I was when Dahiran was but my protector and not my watchdog. Ahemia says as she strokes the great tiger that keeps her naked body warm in the crisp chill of the new autumn air... I was 13 when my father bartered for my induction into the temples of Theros Obsidia... I was so happy... I'd made him proud. My da' had made tithe of seven and ten full head of the finest Sarcosan bred warhorse - bound and bred for the possession of Astirax. ... I hadn't known the nature of the Astirax Demons prior, had I known you wouldn't have been given over my Dahiran... I promise you that... she says stroking the ears across and up into the air of the great cat.

...so I wonder you see... I wonder what it is that the wizard-crypt-keeper spoke of at me earlier over dinner... I've had time to calm my nerves and angst at his notion that I am not of my own woman. You see, I pride myself on this. I promised that I would never give myself over fully as I had unknowingly given my Dahiran to the Shadow's spy... the Astirax called Tannus. The one YOU, Eranon, killed to set my friend free. Ahemia pulls the silken shawl over her naked shoulder and spins to sit up on the rock. She pulls a leaf from her purse and rolls it into a small long pipe... saying a word or two asking the Shadow for light, the weed sears to a cherry glow and burns as her plush lips puff on the relaxing weed. She offers the pipe to Eranon and then motioning to Kyuad as if apologizing for her outburst earlier as she looks up into the starless sky.

I am my own, you know... I can feel that the orc and that even you have distrust for Zal... but I think it is that you don't know him as I do. I've spent time with him. I know that he is a man of the south... a man of the stars. He is stronger than you know. I... I've fallen here as I have not in a long time... I... I'm... in love with your friend. And I'd like your fresh mind on this matter.... You, Middleman... you taunted me earlier suggesting that I am not in control of my own faculties. I wish to know your mind on this. I have never felt any clearer than I do tonight. the raven haired girl sits up, then stands... she's nearly as tall as Kyuad, powerful in stance and nature but at the same time her questions in the dark make her utterly vulnerable here in this place...

...tell me then Kyuad, tell me then Eranon... what advice would you have for me for your friend? He seems still lost these days... I know his family's death was strongly on his mind since they were lost in the shadow of the Black Nail. We had words earlier this evening, I can't speak as to what we argued about it was such a frenzy of emotion but he assured me that he'd always be there for me... even beyond that which my faith has offered me. Zal promised that he'd last longer than Shadow cast across me so long ago. ... That, elf, is why I found the strength to give you my family's heirloom ... the silver moon's pendant of the Master in the North. I... I need it less these days... My faith is full of love... in love with Zael... Zal...

...but still, your words - they bit me earlier tonight. I want to believe that I'm no longer a minion of the Shadow as the resistance would call it... yet I never thought I was a "minion", it was a faith that gave me comfort and guidance. But even still, I was never forced or under control. I have always been under my own council for my mind and faith... So tell me Kyuad. Tell me what you so pointedly argued at me. Zal doesn't wish to speak of it, and with that I agree with him. I don't wish to push my love on it. But in this time of prayer in which I do not feel like praying, I wanted to ask you for your mind on this... What can you tell me? Is it the Shadow that's reaching out to control me beyond my knowledge of magics now that I have strayed? What is it elf? What is it Middleman? Please... tell me... as the former legate looks out over the sea, arms crossed, her black curly hair blowing in the moist air...

Eranon

• ROLL: Eranon (Sense Motive +3) ROLLED: 12+3 = 15
  This suggests to Eranon that Ahemia's behavior is odd and may be being influenced by magics... Eranon knows not exactly what she's been effected by or by whom, not from sensing any motive by way of Ahemia's speaking or actions and not from his knowledge of spells and magics. Something's amiss... Something of magic is touching this young Sarcosan woman's mind, but what Eranon isn't yet sure...

What does Eranon do/say?

Kyuad

Secret information

• ROLL: Kyuad (Sense Motive +17) ROLLED: 16+17 = 32
  This suggests to determine that Ahemia’s behavior is being influenced by an enchantment effect, specifically of the style and patterns shown by those under Zal'Kazzir's domain. With this Kyuad pieces together the idea that magic is at work, specifically Ahemia has apparently been Dominated by Zal within the last day or less...
  • ROLL: Kyuad (Spellcraft +25) ROLLED: 8+25 = 33
    Yes, it is absolutely Dominate Monster. One in which Ahemia failed in her will against him. The spell seems to have cast a blinder over her sense of belief in worship of the Corpse God. More specificly she now seems to have gone from belief to doubt since the afternoon. She now toys at thinking of Zal'Kazzir in place of the time she would have naturally been thinking of her faith. Kyaud knows that a protection from evil or a similar spell can prevent Zal'Kazzir from exercising control or using the telepathic link while Ahemia is so warded, but such an effect neither prevents the establishment of domination nor dispels it. However, its unlikely that Zal is paying attention now. But then again - who's to say he isn't watching... listening to this discussion even now...

Kyuad's Reply

As Kyuad listens, his back is turned to Ahemia... or perhaps his attention is focused on something in the dark nearby. "Ahemia, you call me a wizard. You know as well as I that in the culture of Theros Obsidia this is a vile insult and hostile accusation reserved for those seen by the priests as better dead than alive. But, I understand that you state fact, not hyperbole or angry derision. In the same spirit I now say to you that no one who serves the god of the Therosian priests is free. The screams of the sacrificed rise each night from the bowels of their temples, witnessing to their illegitimacy to and the flailing hunger of a dead god. Not even Aradil is old enough to know of a time when Izrador was still a living god, worshipped only by amorphous creatures of hatred and inhuman lusts."

As he talks, Kyuad periodically moves his hand as if tossing something into the field in front of him, and occasionally reaches out as if touching something unseen. "Now the myth of the god who came to us is perpetuated by fools pitiable enough to believe it, and their vile masters, conniving and greedy enough to know the truth and yet continue in their betrayal of humanity.

"Those first duped into serving a corpse and a lie felt as you do now. A deep, unnatural love for beings that deserve no human affection. Manipulated by a sorcerer with power his Dornish people had never witnessed, and with an unscrupulous hunger for power and domination over others that would not be matched until the courts of old Peluria were reestablished on the southern shores of Eredane by Zal'Kazzir's... ancestors."

Still facing away from Eranon and Ahemia, Kyuad waves his hand outward, in a dismissive fashion, and begins to do something on his torso, as if he were rubbing his bare stomach. "He and his followers sought to fill our natural yearning to worship and to believe in something sublime, and thereby obtain control and power over others. This disgraceful plot succeeded and thus was born the Order of Shadow - the greatest catastrophe mankind has ever constituted on our selves. For it was not a god they served, but the Fell, homeless creatures of the lost realms, withering and thirsting for souls and spirits bound to the magic and life of this world. This was the demon, imp, fiend, archon, vrok, and succubus - worming their way into the minds of our people, turning them into slaves, puppets, toys, and tools for their selfish scheming."

Pulling his jacket closed again, Kyuad finally turns around and moves close to Ahemia, addressing her face-to-face. "Ask yourself, if you were one of these pawns - a mere pet of some inhuman beast of rapacious and immoral corruption - and you found that you had been forced to love something wholly devoid of loveliness... Ahemia, what would you do? You will soon need to know."

Lady Ahemia, former Legate of the Master in the North

The warrior-woman pulls her arms more tightly across the new silks, from the chill of night...

"If I misspoke in evaluation of your ability Master Kyuad, for that you can trust I meant no offense. Though I feel your judgement of belief is severely misquided. Being a priest or follower of the Master in the North is not about freedom, its about belief. The ability to allow one's self to be guided by something greater than you. Some would say that ultimately no man is free. Not only do the Legates in Shadow predict and pray, but so to the elves, the men of stone and even the horrid Mother Wives value seers and prophets. With this the case, wouldn't you say that freedom is limited? The world has a destiny and I was taught that mine, and yours Middleman, is written on a icecracked stone deep in the Scar below the Endless Ice. My father's father believed that when my name is spoken my destiny will be at hand. The teachings of the High City told that our generation would be the one to see the road to a place beyond the roof of the world, at the head of the armies that will break the Veil..."

Ahemia opening up her beliefs to the Fell Warden looks into the sky to find the Riding Host... she continues...

"Make no mistake Master Kyuad, donot doubt that the Master in the North lives. A god cannot die, god cannot be defeated... not forever... If that doesnot legitimize the power of Shadow, then what would you say could?

Master Kyuad I donot know the ways and wells of magic, you clearly hold an understanding and sight that perhaps even my love does not. Is it these 'others' that you look too in times of quiet, is it they that your attention is broken to?" ...as she watches keenly Kyuad's motions and movements into the air unseen... confused by your words she, a Seneschal of Shadow continues her speech tempo increasing...

"You Middleman, you wizard of arts unlawful ... I warn you as a stilled companion, do not speak to me as though you pity me. I believe what I believe and it is not for you to judge, lest you be judged for your criminal ways by my sword. True... I have put that away for now Master Kyuad, but donot forget who I am. Do not forget my heart. My steel has fought for your side in the past, it could again. I donot find alliance with those my former liege anylonger, but my faith in my mind does not waiver. Remember wizard I am Ahimia, Lady of Steel of the Gaskindin family, a Bearer of the Black Shield, a Harrower of Legates, a Soldier of Shadow. I have made my life of hunting those that would form the Cabal of lies against the devout of the Order. I willnot mince words with you on belief. I am not a 'Darkvoice'. I listen and act, I judge and execute. I donot go blindly, I follow when my name is spoken from the icy tablet."

The raven haired girl calms a bit hoping she is among allies, no matter how tenuous...
"Make no mistake Kyuad, there is no betrayal here. I follow my heart. If only all men could, then we would see the place in the sun beyond the Veil... then the Shadow would be lifted and mankind would be embraced by the Master in the North in full glory, not a Shadow of greatness that fell from the treachery of heaven."

Irritated if not also confused by what Kyuad means, Ahemia continues to question. She cannot know that something is holding the impulses in her mind to do another's bidding... "You speak of love and affection as though you know it. I would ask Kyuad. Do you love? Can you love? Your nature is changing, I know that. I donot have to be a mage to see (and smell) it. I know not what becomes of you, but it smacks of the blessing of the Shadow, likened only to the Priest of Shadow himself. You speak of love and how I should not give it first to my belief and then to the man that I've left life for. Is this denial of the gift of choice to offer my heart not an unscrupulous offense you argue at me? Is that less offensive than the act of belief or the gift given?

I know not of this worming of imps into the minds and hearts of men. If my teachings aid me here, those things 'trapped' of which you speak could surely not have the power of one mind, enough to band into one goal to concur as the Shadow has. I would guess you are not a man of tactic-training, but you must admit Kyuad that the logistic nightmare of organizing such beings would discount this strange belief you have concocted... Is this truly a belief or a theory you are pressing on me to confound the situation?"

Ahemia turns walking toward kyuad... "I neither find it enlightening or rational and I fail to see how it's relevant to the questions that swirl in my mind this night. This isn't a cause of the decisions I've made over the past arcs. It was of my direction that I hoped you and Eranon might guide me... as I have no way to speak to the chapel guides this night..." ...Ahemia slows her banter, almost as if she wished she were elsewhere with other advisers... but neither come true, as she continues with resolution undeterred.

"But you ask bluntly what would I do if I found my faith had been wronged?
And so I answer bluntly... I know with all my heart Kyuad."

The Sarcosan's ire rises one last time. Her shadow is lost from the night with the faltering of the moon in these nights... "I know that if that day comes there is know... As you'll answer it, take heed this 'slave' commit no violence upon herself. If I've been deceiv'd. Too late thou shalt repent the base injustice thou hast done my love: Yes, thou shalt know, spite of thy past distress, and all those ills which thou so long hast mourn'd; Heav'n has no Rage, like love to hatred turn'd, Nor hell a Fury, like a woman scorn'd."

Eranon

Eranon stands listening to the two of them, struggling to understand their intricate dialogue. Eranon's eyes are downcast slightly, perhaps sadness in his eyes.

"I must say that the both of you speak over me, there are things here that I don't understand. You are troubled, this I can plainly see. You ask for advice, you ask for guidance, and I shall lend what I have, though sage it will not be, and certainly of more base language than the two of you can master."

"Know that I consider you ally, Lady. Considering your previous assertion that your heart lies with the Water's Taint, there are some things I must tell you. Know that these are fact and observation, with no judgement, and no conclusion. You must be your own judge and guide, I provide only clear sight."

"I was ready to accept your duty to your Master, if it came to that. Troubling, however, is the speed and readiness with which you overthrew your beliefs. As a casual observer, I would not have thought it of you, would never have believed that you were like a leaf blown in the wind, more like the stone that parts the rushing waters. You know as well as I do, that this is a decision that would weigh on one for a time before a decision was reached, and I saw none. This was the decision of an afternoon."

"Further, you also know where your love's talents lie. They are far beyond the quickness of his tongue. He has a. . . way with people. And finally, know this. Love grows, it is not found, it does not spring forth suddenly from the bare rock."

"These, are the things I know."

---

LINKS

PORTAL | DURGAZ | ERANON | KYUAD | ZAL'KAZZIR