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Shadowspike - Chamber of Wells and Bronze Door
"If there's nothing else that you or I should have learned by now, Era.... It's that Death is only the beginning." Molly's ghost said from within the shell of the fallen Astrid.
The chained figure's sullen expression changed to be more disconcerted as Rovana decided to gaze at her exposed flesh and brush her hand casually over Molly's cheek. She flinched at first, but something about her eyes changed, as if she was now caught on the metaphorical backfoot. She tried to recover her confidence, but Rovana could tell from her quickly hardening nipples that the scrutiny and playful touch of the corsair had awakened some pleasant thoughts in Molly's mind. It was stopped however as Jowai approached the door under Rovana's commands.
"Don't! To approach the door before the mechanism is released will spring the trap." Astrid's body tensed under Molly's command. Jowai paused and looked from Molly to the door. The bronze relief that showed a mass of tentacles appeared to writhe more intensely as Jowai approached, and calmed down as he backed a few steps back. Once it was still again, a strange dissonance in Rovana's mind tried to insist that it had never truly moved at all and that she was simply foolish to have believed it had moved in the first place.
"It would depend upon what is attached to the end of those chains," Ingrid stated. "The Valkyries of Rjurik are strong, but not inhuman. If this trap is designed to kill, it will kill. But my battle sister Astrid is already dead...inhabited by an intruder. My only concern is the despoiling of Astrid's body. Do you care for this Molly person? If so, we should get her out of Astrid."
"No!" Molly interected. "Astrid is gone, but she is my best chance of finally returning to life. In the same way that Era has already done. But when Era fused with the girl, Rovana, she changed. She accessed all of Rovana's memories and they overwhelmed her. I watched it happen, as my spirit followed her around the waters of Brecht. I knew who Era had been in life. Similar in personality, but still... there were differences. This person before me is Rovana, but with a different soul driving her, playing upon her memories. It's as if Era Dilisnya had been reincarnated as some fish waif from another world..."
She paused, looking at Ludmilla, who towered over her, eyeing her with a cool gaze. Rovana's unexpected apology softened Molly's expression. Her face now betrayed conflicted emotions.
"You want answers about who you were? I can tell you my version of the truth, for whatever it is worth. Yes, I was Era's lover. Not a servant, nor a noble. I was from a good family, my father was a merchant who supplied Krezk when the misty borders between Barovia and Borca were open. I did not steal you away from Ludmilla, but simply was there for you when Era and Ludmilla grew apart. You and I wanted to find a way beyond the Mists. Ludmilla wanted to stay and defend her land. All of us got what we wanted in the worst possible way.
We journeyed to the heart of darkness - a temple on Mount Ghakis. Filled with ancient lore and terrible powers. It was there that we encountered the vestige of Dagon - That Which Lurks. I was injured badly... I was hurt and angry. I had blamed you... Era... for pushing us so far. And by the time we came face to face with the vestige, staring into that inky blackness which absorbs all light and sanity, I knew that we were already trapped. We would die in that temple, and become just more souls lost in the mists... so I bargained with it. It was that or death... and after 200 years of suffering as a spirit, I know now that the choice I made to at last break free of the mists was a dire one. I bargained, and brought you with me though. I did that for you. I didn't know about the betrayal... the crushing depths of the ocean. The return to where the vestige had met its end in the prime worlds. Where the avenging blade still rested, its magic preserving it. Where the Eye of Dagon waited, glowing malevolent in the darkness. Where our spirits were bound, until Rovana's body arrived and Era bonded with her."
Molly shook her head, quivering...
"You say that Era Dilisnya is gone and won't be coming back... that is what frightens me so. Here I am, in this Astrid's body. If I wanted to make the bond permanent, I could... I could do it now, and become Astrid. But what of me? What of my life, and my being? Is this how my story ends? To forget who I was? Like you? Is that not in a way, just like death?"
As the bound girl was speaking, Rovana had finished circling her, and was able to read the Abyssal script in full. The translation into the common tongue, or even Brechtan, didn't do it justice. Abyssal was a language that was soaked in evil and negativity. There was no word to express kindness, but there were thousands of words to discuss the nuances of insult, humiliation, power, and evil intention. As such, she could only roughly be certain that the script said the following:
The color of despair, choking salt tears of the weak, where oceans fill with the color of freshly spilled blood. The arms of That Which Lurks rise to claim the land for the Depths of His eternal empire. The color of envy and putrid rotting limbs that sunder the rocks and raise the Shadowsea to where it meets the color of the Mists and the overcast and conquered sky. There it separates the Obyrith from the God - for the creation swells greater than the creator, no longer the cowering Dagon, but the true master of the color of the darkest depths, where crushing forces leave nothing but shadow and a True Name... That Which Lurks, shall be called anew.
Joe the Parrot flew up to inspect the chains. They were as they appeared to be. Simple and effective in design. There was a keyhole mechanism for their release, over which appeared to be a scrawled abyssal rune. On the right wrist was written a "1", on the left wrist a "2." The third and fourth numbers were found on either of the anklet manacles keeping Astrid's body bound and spread eagled in place.
"The keys to your release are doubtless in these wells of water." Ludmilla observed, though her explanation was more directed at Rovana.
"Only enough room for one person to descend at a time, and who knows how far down they might go? Only people who can hold their breaths long, or have no need to do so, should go into the depths."
"If there's nothing else that you or I should have learned by now, Era.... It's that Death is only the beginning." Molly's ghost said from within the shell of the fallen Astrid.
The chained figure's sullen expression changed to be more disconcerted as Rovana decided to gaze at her exposed flesh and brush her hand casually over Molly's cheek. She flinched at first, but something about her eyes changed, as if she was now caught on the metaphorical backfoot. She tried to recover her confidence, but Rovana could tell from her quickly hardening nipples that the scrutiny and playful touch of the corsair had awakened some pleasant thoughts in Molly's mind. It was stopped however as Jowai approached the door under Rovana's commands.
"Don't! To approach the door before the mechanism is released will spring the trap." Astrid's body tensed under Molly's command. Jowai paused and looked from Molly to the door. The bronze relief that showed a mass of tentacles appeared to writhe more intensely as Jowai approached, and calmed down as he backed a few steps back. Once it was still again, a strange dissonance in Rovana's mind tried to insist that it had never truly moved at all and that she was simply foolish to have believed it had moved in the first place.
"It would depend upon what is attached to the end of those chains," Ingrid stated. "The Valkyries of Rjurik are strong, but not inhuman. If this trap is designed to kill, it will kill. But my battle sister Astrid is already dead...inhabited by an intruder. My only concern is the despoiling of Astrid's body. Do you care for this Molly person? If so, we should get her out of Astrid."
"No!" Molly interected. "Astrid is gone, but she is my best chance of finally returning to life. In the same way that Era has already done. But when Era fused with the girl, Rovana, she changed. She accessed all of Rovana's memories and they overwhelmed her. I watched it happen, as my spirit followed her around the waters of Brecht. I knew who Era had been in life. Similar in personality, but still... there were differences. This person before me is Rovana, but with a different soul driving her, playing upon her memories. It's as if Era Dilisnya had been reincarnated as some fish waif from another world..."
She paused, looking at Ludmilla, who towered over her, eyeing her with a cool gaze. Rovana's unexpected apology softened Molly's expression. Her face now betrayed conflicted emotions.
"You want answers about who you were? I can tell you my version of the truth, for whatever it is worth. Yes, I was Era's lover. Not a servant, nor a noble. I was from a good family, my father was a merchant who supplied Krezk when the misty borders between Barovia and Borca were open. I did not steal you away from Ludmilla, but simply was there for you when Era and Ludmilla grew apart. You and I wanted to find a way beyond the Mists. Ludmilla wanted to stay and defend her land. All of us got what we wanted in the worst possible way.
We journeyed to the heart of darkness - a temple on Mount Ghakis. Filled with ancient lore and terrible powers. It was there that we encountered the vestige of Dagon - That Which Lurks. I was injured badly... I was hurt and angry. I had blamed you... Era... for pushing us so far. And by the time we came face to face with the vestige, staring into that inky blackness which absorbs all light and sanity, I knew that we were already trapped. We would die in that temple, and become just more souls lost in the mists... so I bargained with it. It was that or death... and after 200 years of suffering as a spirit, I know now that the choice I made to at last break free of the mists was a dire one. I bargained, and brought you with me though. I did that for you. I didn't know about the betrayal... the crushing depths of the ocean. The return to where the vestige had met its end in the prime worlds. Where the avenging blade still rested, its magic preserving it. Where the Eye of Dagon waited, glowing malevolent in the darkness. Where our spirits were bound, until Rovana's body arrived and Era bonded with her."
Molly shook her head, quivering...
"You say that Era Dilisnya is gone and won't be coming back... that is what frightens me so. Here I am, in this Astrid's body. If I wanted to make the bond permanent, I could... I could do it now, and become Astrid. But what of me? What of my life, and my being? Is this how my story ends? To forget who I was? Like you? Is that not in a way, just like death?"
As the bound girl was speaking, Rovana had finished circling her, and was able to read the Abyssal script in full. The translation into the common tongue, or even Brechtan, didn't do it justice. Abyssal was a language that was soaked in evil and negativity. There was no word to express kindness, but there were thousands of words to discuss the nuances of insult, humiliation, power, and evil intention. As such, she could only roughly be certain that the script said the following:
The color of despair, choking salt tears of the weak, where oceans fill with the color of freshly spilled blood. The arms of That Which Lurks rise to claim the land for the Depths of His eternal empire. The color of envy and putrid rotting limbs that sunder the rocks and raise the Shadowsea to where it meets the color of the Mists and the overcast and conquered sky. There it separates the Obyrith from the God - for the creation swells greater than the creator, no longer the cowering Dagon, but the true master of the color of the darkest depths, where crushing forces leave nothing but shadow and a True Name... That Which Lurks, shall be called anew.
Joe the Parrot flew up to inspect the chains. They were as they appeared to be. Simple and effective in design. There was a keyhole mechanism for their release, over which appeared to be a scrawled abyssal rune. On the right wrist was written a "1", on the left wrist a "2." The third and fourth numbers were found on either of the anklet manacles keeping Astrid's body bound and spread eagled in place.
"The keys to your release are doubtless in these wells of water." Ludmilla observed, though her explanation was more directed at Rovana.
"Only enough room for one person to descend at a time, and who knows how far down they might go? Only people who can hold their breaths long, or have no need to do so, should go into the depths."
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