Debriefing the Dead
Log Info
- Title: Debriefing the Dead
- Emitter: Delilah
- Characters: Donna, Delilah, Ashes, Elyanna
- Place: Wilderness, far north of Alexandria, Mahuikaa's place
- Time: Monday, April 26, 2021, 8:44 PM
- Summary: A few days after the Valethor gang and Merek returned from the Grey Halls, they are in the kitchen preparing food for themselves and Gallata's crew. The bounty hunters have been indentured to restore the fields and flowers they burned. Mahuikaa interrogates them regarding their experiences and what they learned. All share details of Ectra the Illithid, and Veren her pupil, assassin, and the one responsible for killing Bethany. Elyanna asserts that their proof will have to be ironclad to sway Alexandrian prosecutors after they have already made their decision. Ashlee suggests that Ectra was so insistent they avoid her manse, that something of worth may be there, to destroy or take for their case. Donna and Delilah are asked who Veren might be in their lives, and there is some confusion with their answers regarding their upbringing. Finally, Galatta informs that Merek has been outed and is in prison, and offers to come along with the group on their expedition.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Donna 5'4" 106 Lb Human Female A black-haired human girl in black robes. Delilah 5'4" 106 Lb Human Female A golden haired human girl in white robes. Ashes 5'11" 177 Lb Hobgoblin Female A somber arvec in grey clothes with a skull face Elyanna 5'11" 153 Lb Half-Orc Female A grim, Arvek-blooded woman in raven feathers. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NPCs of Note =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Mahuikaa Friendly Sith'Makar Female An elderly greenscale with grey tips matron Or'Thurgen Hostile Oruch Female A former slaver, now bounty hunter, Gallata, leader -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As the GM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Delilah 5'4" 106 Lb Human Female A golden haired human girl in white robes. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
It's been two days since the trip to the realm of the dead -- and two days since a group of bounty hunters assaulted Mahuikaa's cottage and set her flowers on fire. It turns out that replanting an entire meadow full of flowers is a lengthy process (as is waiting for someone who's been cast forwards in time to reappear -- and he hasn't, yet), and it is a task that Elyanna, Ashes, and the Twins have been expressly forbidden to assist with in any way, shape, or form.
So, while the bounty hunters have been camped at the edge of the meadow by night and working hard on learning how to garden by day, the cottage has been solely occupied by Mahuikaa and her invited guests -- minus Merek, who has left to see to some of his other obligations for the time being.
Which leaves Mahuikaa, her guests, and the large task of feeding over two dozen people, which results in a lot of vegetables to peel and cut up, meat to be taken off the bone and prepared, and so on, all of which Mahuikaa is busy orchestrating.
"So," she declares, taking a break from plucking a couple of large(ish) forest birds. "It's been two days, and we have not been able to talk yet. We should discuss what happened to all of you in the Grey Halls."
"Oh," says Ashes, who doesn't want to talk about it. Discussing her thoughts and feelings with Elyanna was rough enough. There's a lot of secrets she doesn't want to look further at, embarassing revelations and insights.
"Bethany didn't hate Delilah and was being controlled by that whip." The ashen Arvec gestures at the thing Elyanna holds, has been holding since they emerged.
"She was murdered by Veren, who also murdered Magus Ectra Na'garren, who traded information for titilating herself with our memories." Ashlee continues in monotone, "her place might be useful to visit."
All details successfully avoided.
Elyanna has done as she's been asked over the last two days, as well as managing to bear their plunder(?), trophy(?) guest(?) from the Fieu's halls. She's somewhat bipolar, understandably perhaps so, under the lash's persistant urgings. It might have had something to do with her raising her voice during her watch last night.
Now, focusing her efforts of taming vegetables by crooning a Bludgun marching cadence in a major key.
The topic of their scening jaunt through two Hells brings an imediate end to the song, punctuated by the thump of a slice of potato plooping into the stewpot between her boots, the hobkin's thumb frozen a hairsbreadth from the edge of her dagger.
"If it hasn't been plundered, since." she starts, distracted enough that she starts in <goblin-talk> before repeating herself in Trade, "If it has not been plundered since it has been twenty years. The assassin comes with new problems. We will need a way to leverage her client, if there is one, as well as evidence. If there is not, we will need to be able to prove a motive, incontestable even by Alexandrian legal standards. Further, we will need to make certain Veren is not able to come after us in the aftermath, given our knowledge of her would be unacceptable to an assassin."
The last week has been *exhausting,* and Donna has managed to avoid having to really process it all by spending the bulk of the last couple of days asleep. But, as she had before all this began, Mahuikaa's adept talent for cleaving to the heart of any matter has officially thrown her desire to procrastinate into a bin, lit that bin on fire, and hurled it off a cliff.
Silently counting the seconds until her unofficial foster-mother responds to Ashes' answer with a 'yes, and?' Donna rakes a hand over her face, draws in a deep breath, and speaks up.
"I wouldn't," she says to the last sentence. "Might be as it's useful, but seems as it's the kind o' useful on a level with waitin' til a dragon stepped out to pee, then burglin' his hoard." Turning her red-eyed gaze to Mahuikaa, the brawler lifts a shoulder. "Turns out Bethany's killer learned magic from a bitchy, petty, old-ass mind-flayer, then killed 'er. Turns out, thing was researchin' lichdom, an' didn't think death was enough to stop it. So that's the kinda teacher for the mind we're lookin' for."
Donna glances at Elyanna, an eyebrow rising, and falls silent for a moment. "...An' that whip seems t'be the physical embodiment of the spell that was used on Bethany, t'turn a crush into obsessive, poisonous hate."
After Donna finishes, there's a lengthy moment of silence, until Delilah realizes that she's the only one who hasn't spoken yet and might need to pipe up. "I..." she trails off, pausing in the act of cutting up onions -- a task that she has never managed to master, and thus looks like someone has informed her that her cat was just run over by a cart. She wipes her eyes, which doesn't help, and sucks in her breath. "I feel worse, not better," she glumly admits. "I mean it was easier when I thought Bethany hated me, now I know we could've... well... yeah."
The blonde sorceress sighs softly, and pushes a mostly cut onion off to the side, before starting into the next one, leaning as far back from it as she can. "But, at least we know there's this Veren person involved, and she did horrible things, and she can change her appearance but can't do voices apparently? So I mean..." She bites her bottom lip. "Oh, and, yeah, visiting Ectra's place might be, yeah, like Donna said."
"Unless," Mahuikaa snaps a finger, "the dragon's hoard had something in it that you really needed, to the point that waiting for him to step outside so you can root through a pile of stuff he no doubt stole from other people anyway, might just be worth the risk. So." She sets down her knife and starts arranging birds on skewers, "The question is, if you were going to go to this Extra's sanctum, what would you be hoping to find there? And expecting it not to have been looted in over twenty years isn't necessarily a stretch, if she was aiming for lichdom, though that doesn't necessarily bode well for you, either." She pauses, and glances towards Ashes. "You're the Mourner," she points out. "What was most significant there, to you?"
"Ectra's life was a waste, her afterlife even more, and she didn't like that being examined. She was very adamant there was nothing there for us, when we showed little interest." Ashlee says in monotone. "I'd expect to find secrets of lichdom, and something of Veren's. The former should be destroyed, the latter might be useful."
The Mourner is quiet for a moment, "Golems might be better to send. No meat brains."
"I thought the most significant thing, was nobles were willing to send their daughter to train with her. Veren's family might be named in her records." She shrugs a little, "evidence, a little, we need all we can find."
"'What if' are the most terrible words in any language." Elyanna notes with a bitter distance, the knuckles of her dagger hand floating slightly, her eyes not rising from her curtailed task. "Take it as a blessing that you had one less true enemy than you thought, another, that you found the truth without her blood on your hands."
Shhhr-ploop!
Shhrr-ploop!
Shhr-ploop!
The red woman growls a little, but resumes her task, "In any case, we have another issue. Or'Thurgen was always gifted, but hardly unique, her band will not be the last to find track us, here."
Shhhr-ploop!
"That said. Her denials were vehement and susupiciously specific."
"I'm thinkin'," Donna drawls, leaning back in her chair to regard Elyanna, "that y'all're both right. Ashes makes a good point, an' whatever we can't make use of, we can light up on our way out. An' since we ain't gonna be here no matter *where* we go on the hunt, Ma'll have it a lot easier just sayin' 'they ain't here, an' by the way you best not be trespassin'.' An' besides; it ain't gonna be a long road between 'got what we need' and 'get this shit sorted.'"
"In my experience, when someone's as adamant that we shouldn't do something like Ectra was," Delilah adds, "That usually means we absolutely, completely oughta do it." She pauses, and wipes her eyes once more. "Okay seriously, onions and me are absolutely not the best of friends--"
"NO."
Following Mahuikaa's preemptive rebuke, Delilah resumes her appointed task, and sucks in a breath. "Okay, so, almost getting my head chopped off and then going to the realm of the dead is one thing, but sneaking into a Mind Flayer's sanctum, even a dead one, is not my idea of a holiday." She pauses. "How do we get there, anyway? And, traps. Ectra said there'd be traps. ...So... maybe it is un-plundered," she muses.
"There is a trader that I do business with when she passes through here from time to time," Mahuikaa guardedly offers, snapping her fingers to light the fire in the cooking hearth, and lay the skewered birds overtop of it. "She boasts that she also trades with the Illithids. I expect her here tomorrow, we shall see if she tells the truth. You will need a guide to get there."
"Donna, when you're there, make sure Delilah doesn't stick her nose into anything disfiguring," she states, looking over Delilah's head at the brawler. "Now, then. Elyanna. What do you intend to do with that whip? That is not safe to be carrying around openly, especially not into an Illithid Magus' sanctum."
The Sith sits back down and leans back, steepling her fingers to watch everyone else work, now that her part is completed. "So, this Illithid, and Veren. Let's hear everything you know about them -- don't leave anything out, hmm? Even if you think it doesn't matter."
"You know her." Ashlee says, staring at Delilah, her eyes dark in her sockets, gaze unwavering. "Or someone paid a lot. It's personal. Who knew enough about Bethany to twist her feelings, unknown to you, for a year, so you could be used to murder her. No one would buy such an overly elaborate plan, they'd want a quick hit."
Her head turns, "like the one on Donna. Except successful."
Ashlee looks back and forth, between the sorceress and the Sith'makar, "This was Personal. To ruin Delilah and Bethany, or your families. You've met her, at a party, on a heist, in a magic contest. Some place you made her look bad so she chose you. Bethany too."
Ashlee has been careful to avoid most of the food preparations, "I suspected the sister, but she wasn't pregnant when Bethany first met you. That's too many variables, to arrange her murder without an heir cooking. It's all... too viscious, too vague, too confident, like Ectra described Veren's demeanor."
Finally an order, "think who fits."
The Keeper shakes her head, finishing the potato with a Shhhr-ploo-ploop!
"It is a distraction." she returns through her teeth without looking up, takes a breath, then unclenches her jaw to continue, "I am fighting it, constantly. We may need it as proof, but if this is a..." she fishes for a word a moment, "Translation of a curse, it may prove nothing specific."
There is a look to Ashes as she relays a better understanding of court politics, "The male is still be on the list. He has mated into the line, the Alenthor wealth and power is now his. If the sister died first, he would gain nothing, Bethany is out of the way, and there may be another... mischance in the future." She looks to the sisters, "Bearing young is... difficult for humans, is it not?"
"Bear also in mind, Veren is vain and proud of over contrivance. If he did not pay Veren, perhaps with offers to wed her, once he has secured the Alenthor fortune, she could, in turn, have her eye on him."
There is a glance to Ashes, to the Sith, then the sisters anew, "We are not human... You would know; is Delilah more beautiful than the sister? She is clearly younger than Veren, and well know to him. Perhaps framing her was the path to removing another rival."
"Put like that," Donna murmurs, face turning sour, "I'm halfway suspectin' our brood-hatcher, given how we ended up twins t'begin with. Vicious, vague, an' overconfident... that'd suit her to a T."
Elyanna's questions yank her well out of her black mood, head rising up and eyebrow arching. "Dyin' in childbirth's been known t'happen," she says slowly. "Less likely th'more money you got, an' better doctors y'can afford, but... wouldn't imagine it's ever easy, considerin' what's happenin'."
The question of who the prettier twin is, tactfully, left aside.
"Unno much about Illithids m'self," Donna says, after a moment spent wondering how long the question would be dodged. "Just that they eat brains, are usually super powerful, an' I know *one* of em's a petty, spiteful, hateful little harpy of a fish-fucker who *literally thinks* she's too good to *stay dead,* an' got her jollies makin' us all relive the worst parts of our lives, all th'while makin' out like we ain't worth nothin' more than that goose is to you, Ma."
"Uhh... childbirth? Yeah, that's... from what I understand, not a fun experience. I almost feel sorry for Mom having to do it twice on the same day." She pauses. "Almost. Not quite. But almost." She grits her teeth, and chops purposefully at the onions before pushing them away and jumping up fron her seat, "There! Done! No more onions, cut them all up. Delilah Valethor: ten, Oions: zero."
The Sorceress stays standing, and folds her arms across her chest. "Okay so we-- wait, hold up a second, you're saying Bethany's sister might be next up for getting murdered? Well..." A look flashes across her face; something one might normally expect to find as a Donna expression, not so much her. "We have to go back."
"You will do no such thing," Mahuikaa admonishes. "You have to learn that, sometimes, you have to leave things in the hands of others. Even if they are less competent. Going back and being dragged straight in front of the headsman will not do Bethany's sister -- or anyone else -- any good." She gathers up the onions and chopped potatoes, and a quick invocation sends them off to the cauldron more or less unsupervized.
"Illithids," she continues, "Are not far different from how Donna has described them. They treat you like food because to them, you *are* food. Remember that if you encounter any living ones, and remember to use their arrogance against them, it is their greatest weakness." She pauses, and cups her chin in one hand. "Tell us about this 'male', you speak of."
"Your mother? Your Nana? The one who sat on you when you were eggs?" Ashlee is quite confused. She's hardly had a normal upbringing, as everyone saw, but some of the appelations are confusing her. She looks between the twins, "Is brood-mother your mother or something else?"
Then, "Your mother might be Veren?"
The age... would fit. Her eyes widen at the thought of that family dynamic. Easier to switch to the other question. "The one married to Bethany's sister. He suggested Bethany bring the writ against Delilah. He might know of her interest, through the gossip of his wife. He may have interest in the family fortune."
She is about to say 'Nobles', and spit. A mild moment of restraint holds her back, as that lable, however derogatory, applies to everyone present except her and the lizards.
"Come now, surely you do not doubt accidents having a price?" Elyanna sneers, baring most of her interlocked dagger teeth in the doing, "After all of this?"
Apparantly, she smells something, as the Keeper's face returns to it's normal haughty neutral, maybe with a dash of irritation as she looks to the wiggling whip, "That was unworthy. I... ask pardon."
The red woman spends a trembling minute putting her dagger away, then rises to her feet to open some distance, resting her weight against her palms to either side of the window. May as well keep an eye on Gatilla's bunch while she gets her shit together.
...
"A... year ago... Bethany made an event." A pause, maybe going over her Trade in hindsight, "A scene. Her ire with others who would intrude was swift, but... she afforded me proper respect when I... protested her tarrying in my way. Perhaps the curse was more recent." She drums her fingertips against the sill in paired staccato, then her head turns slightly to one side but not enough to look back, "The Lady Alenthor seemed more... passionate than I. I would not wager how long she would carry this as a curse without more.... colorful action being taken."
Then again, Bethany wasn't trying to carry this damned thing without after all their recent... personal upheavals.
"The worm faced Zazzelsplat will linger in impotent cowardace for decades more at best."
The query from the Sith derails whatever venomous rant was coming, based on her tone, but it takes her another moment to reapond, and in that moment, Ashes has it covered.
"...No. No, Ashes, that's not what I meant," Donna says, after a moment's pause. "Just, like... I don't like talking about the bitch who whelped us around Ma, cos... well, 'mother's' kind of a big word, y'know? An' if you held a fireball to my head an' told me to name who my mother is... I'd say it's Ma," she says with a shrug. "So, brood-hatcher, hen, blood sample... Around Ma, I'll call her a whole lotta things, but never mother."
Now that the necessary divergence has been put to rest, Donna mulls over the possibilities raised. "That's pretty sound thinkin'. An' I don't remember him kicking up much of a fuss at the trial. You'd think the way Bethany's sister was carryin' on, a decent husband'd life half a finger to try an' help her."
"And if we ever see her again," Delilah adds, "Then, Donna, I would pay money to see you punch her in those teeth of hers that she spent money to get magically straightened. Y'know, instead of paying tuition to send you to school." She remains with arms crossed, glaring at the spot on the table where the onions had been until she's certain that the eye-watery-ness of them has dissipated, and sits down. "Also, we can agree that men are generally annoying, but we need a bit more to point the finger at Lord Mister Husband."
"You do," Mahuikaa agrees, and returns to steepling her fingers. "But, now you all have suspicions you can act on, which is an improvement, yes? When you first got here, all you had was knowing that Delilah didn't do it. So, you are further ahead. and the trip was profitable."
The Sith pauses, and glances sideways to Elyanna. "I have safe storage for that," she nods towards the whip. "You do not need to bring it with you on your next excursion, and I strongly suggest that you don't. Not only because of what it is doing to your mind, at present."
At about this moment, a set of armored knuckles rap on the door, before it opens and one Gallata Or'Thurgen pokes her head in. "Pardon the interuption," she states, "But you need to know. Your compatriot, Merek, has been captured by the Alexandrian City Guard. Apparently someone outed him at an inopportune moment."
"Mer..?" Ashlee is halfway to standing, turning towards the door. She halts. Sits slowly back down, rests her hands in her lap. "He's a master of disguise. We'd have no chance. We can't save him and we can't trust their legal process."
"We have to get the proof."
She faces Delilah, skull faced and staring, "So, no other suspicions to how you might know Veren besides her being..." The ashen Arvec picks through the options Donna provided, "... your egg donor?"
She closes her eyes to think further on that update, shakes her head. Oh Merek.
Delilah shakes her head, "No, and... No," she glances at Donna briefly, "Veren was definitely not the person who gave birth to us, that person was nowhere near capable of doing what Veren has done." She pauses, biting her bottom lip. "I can't think of anywhere I might've known Veren from, honestly; but then she's good at changing her appearance, right? And I mean, she can't do voices apparently, but if I didn't know I was supposed to be lookint out for a voice, then I can't imagine I'd notice." Troubling.
Elyanna's relationship to her own mother is... predictably strained. Ashes knows enough of the story, though the others only know the red woman had once been known as 'Otilla', and quite the monster.
Still, the venom of the twins makes the halfbreed turn to regard them with... something in her eyes. It's not a simple thing, nor, likely is it entirely her own. She breaks off her gaze to the sound of the Sith and, there is a moment of consideration and a nod of... perhaps grateful concession, "If... you are certain, Madame." she says in her stilted Trade, with all the respect she can muster with the whip continuing to be a factor.
"Who do you know... who is vain.... and too" "fucking" "proud of their own cleverness?" she asks with a dash of <goblin-talk>.
The intrusion by Or'Thurgen gets Maidenhead off her belt before she checks herself again, turning aside for the update and she growls, "SHIT!" <goblin-talk>
Ashes, though, the reaction to the news.... the emburdened Keeper starts to close in that direction, though as she draws up alongside, her hand is half to the grey woman's shoulder before it... falters, hanging in space a moment or two, then the fingers curl back in on themselves and starts to retreat.
No.
They are not there, anymore....
"Sonofa--" Donna's reaction to the news is very nearly as abrupt as the others, but with her head back in the game, damage control is her focus. "'Inopportune moment'... Next time fucking well better make sure they book in advance so's I can clear a schedule for a month on either side..." Blowing out a rugh sigh, she pushes up off her chair, and nods to Gallata, face grim. "Thanks for the news. Seriously."
And upon seeing Elyanna hesitate Donna does the other best thing she knows how to do; put her own hand on the Keeper's shoulder, searching the hobkin's eyes for understanding. "Elyanna, hon... Mebbe as now's a good time to start lockin' that thing away. You got enough on your plate as it is."
"Uhm, yeah, Elyanna? You should... probably put that done," Delilah echoes Donna, brow furrowed as she moves to stand beside her sister. "We'll figure out how to sort things out for Merek, too, but I'm pretty sure the only one who's up for immediate execution upon capture is me, anyway, so I don't think he's in immediate danger." She nods towards Gallata, "Yeah, thanks. We appreciate the news."
Delilah returns to looking pensive for a moment, and shakes her head. "Pretty much every wizard I think we've ever met can be described as arrogant and smug to some degree," she admits. "Look, uhm, I think of anyone that stands out, I'll let you know?"
"You'll depart in the morning, is what you'll do," Mahuikaa growls. "All four've you. Gallata, it'd help me rest easy if you'd be so kind as to look after my girls and their friends, yes? They are most definitely in great danger."
"I was about to offer," Gallata replies. "My men will stay here, if you don't mind. Too big of a group attracts more attention when you're trying to move quietly." She lingers for a moment, before backing out and closing the door; woman of few words, apparently.
"Elyanna, we should get you sorted out, Mahuikaa pronounces. "And then the lot of you should help me finish getting dinner prepared, and then get some rest. You'll be travelling in the morning, trader to guide you or not."
"It was something significant. She spent a year arranging an elaborate revenge. That kind of person should be rare, even among nobles." Ashes says, but decides not to belabour the point.
She's happy enough to be leaving. Somewhat less happy to have Gallata as a chaperone. Encouraged that her men are staying behind. The Mourner has her doubts, which likely wouldn't be erased even with a story as dramatic as Ectra might extract from the oruch.
"It should be safe here, Elyanna." Ashlee states, shaking her head. "Stupid Slug hiding in the slime of the Grey Lady's decay. I don't expect much in the leftovers of her life, but an ego that delusional... there will be something."
The touch to her shoulder brings her about, but Elyanna doesn't quite open fire. Instead, she takes a moment to chill, then nod, "Yes... you are right. There are... too many chords to... keep track of fighting with it." There is something uncertain that meets Donna's eyes, then the red woman withdraws from comfort offered and aborted alike, to approach their hostess again.
Perhaps she was a fool to take up this burden, too sullied by her own past indulgences to properly resist it forever. Still, she closes her hand on the fitfully wiggling lash to present it for proper containment, "Thank you. I... thought I could..." She breaks off, with a shake of her head, then sets the foul thing down and steps back.
Galatta coming along gives her pause, for reasons that are only....
- somewhat tactical.
Still, the decision is made, and the dawn is not long in coming, after all.
