Necromancy Quest

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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby Arganaut » March 11th, 2012, 1:39 am

It's a bit far fetched that they'd, first off, get to the Clayr and then kill them, I'll definitely admit that. I'm just assuming that any group who contributes to the stability of the Wall is pretty much on their hit list and just being cautious about it.

Though I suppose I'll go ahead and say to go to the Clayr. Even if they're still after us, yeah, it'll probably be very difficult for them to even get to us.
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby doc.exe » March 14th, 2012, 11:19 pm

Err... I thought ewuvi was asking questions "in game".

But anyway, I agree with going to see the Clayr.
"No te tomes la vida demasiado en serio, al fin y al cabo no saldrás vivo de ella." Les Luthiers

"There are two essential rules to management. One, the customer is always right; and two, they must be punished for their arrogance." Dogbert
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby serbii » March 18th, 2012, 8:23 am

Leto grabs his things, consisting of the sword and the Bells. He feels poor again, should get more stuff. Surely his life would be more complete with more stuff. He turns to Kibeth and starts folding the blanket someone had laid over him as everyone else scrambles to pack up.

“How could he kill all the Clayr?” Leto asks.

Kibeth seems unconcerned, as per usual, “Oh I dare say he couldn’t. The Clayr are too numerous, and their foresight makes them difficult to target en masse. However the more of them there are the less their individual power, if he killed half of them, the remaining half would become twice as strong. It would be nigh on impossible to wipe them all out.”

“The Clayr’s failsafe,” Peri mutters, “Consistent power which can be pooled and an almost entirely female birthrate.”

Kibeth continues “He doesn’t need to. As it stands seven-ninths of magic is Charter, the remaining two are Free. The death and destruction of the other anchors are more than enough to bring Free Magic back to the majority and return power to the Little Ones. All of it in some cases, most in others, either way they’ll change back.”

“So how many people have to die for that?”

Peri counts on her fingers, “Thirteen now, no, fourteen including a Clayr for the Wall.”

“…we’re fourteen deaths away from apocalypse?”

“Actually a lot higher number than it was for a long time.” Kibeth comments casually and with a slight yawn.

The Gods are crazy. They must be. It’s the only explanation. Rochelle shoves a bag at him and he jams the blanket inside and swings it onto his back.

“What happens if the Abhorsen line dies?”

“The Charter weakens, there will be no one in the kingdom capable of being a powerful necromancer and sane. The line will eventually remerge from one of the others.”

“Took a thousand years last time a Line died,” Peri comments dryly.

Best avoid that then. “Ok, so how can I contact you in the future.”

The Dog gives him a flat look, a do I look like I’m at your beck and call? look, “I don’t know. Bleed a bit on my Bell? That might work.” She says it with a curious tone, as if it’s a mildly interesting and unlikely possibility.

“What’s going to happen now the Wall’s been damaged?”

Kibeth shrugs in response, “I don’t know. I suspect one of the Wallmakers will have to fix it eventually. The humans will react as they will.”

They set off, Kibeth remains with them for a little while. Somehow Leto finds himself walking alongside her, with Rochelle on her other side, the others out of easy hearing range. Confusion hits as he’s pretty sure the plan was to stay close to the people who may actually be able to defend them. The he remembers he’s walking next to God, The Walker to be precise.

“You will always walk a hard road,” Kibeth says, “But you will be strong enough to make it. We made you as such after all and the Kingdom for you. You can protect it and make of it what you will. Farewell my children, make us proud.”

She’s gone before Leto or Rochelle can reply.

----------

The boat ride is simultaneously uneventful and nerve-wracking. Leto spends most of it bored out of his skull with intermittent periods of “OH GODS WHAT WAS THAT?! Oh a fish.” They go as far north as they could go on the river before disembarking at a little fur trading town a day or so’s ride south of the Clayr’s glacier; it not being directly accessible by boat until summer. The glacier looms between two huge peaks, dark shapes and shadows of structures on both peaks and some parts of the glacier itself, but no town he can see. Odd. Rochelle looks relieved to be back and leads the way. Leto can’t see any kind of formal path or way through the sparse forest and wonders if they’re going in the back door or something. They reach a stone path and Leto dismounts to lead his horse, following Rochelle’s lead.

He has a moment to catch sight of a welcoming party of several women before a white haired something slams into him and wails in his ear, “I WAS SO WORRIEDDDDDDD!”

Do I know you?
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby Darkandus » March 18th, 2012, 1:04 pm

Welp. Several possibilities here. Lets play it safe and find out more. Hug the white haired thing and then hold it at arms length and get a good look at its face. Maybe we'll recognise it, determine its gender and see if it's someone we can get our lechery on with.
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby ewuvi » March 22nd, 2012, 11:47 pm

Throw her. Throw her as far and hard as we can.
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby livilou » March 22nd, 2012, 11:49 pm

do we have a fire charter mark? If so, use it on the white hair.
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby LifeOfGesture » March 22nd, 2012, 11:51 pm

Hug her and ask who she is. Also ask if everyone's alright and say we have a madman on the loose.
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby NotreallyHere » September 26th, 2012, 9:43 pm

I Agree with and, am filled with great trepidation about this, ewuvi.
You never want to be in a fair fight if an unfair fight is an option." Forrest Griffin - Be Ready When The Sh*t Goes Down (A Survival Guide To The Apocalypse)

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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby serbii » December 3rd, 2012, 8:32 am

So for anyone who doesn't know I'm back in Australia. Is this active again? We shall see, but I suddenly have a lot of free time.

hug 2
throw 2
fire 1

2 for hug, 2 for throw and one for set on fire.

-----
He doesn't mean to throw her, really, but he's been high strung for quite a few days now and people want to kill him and it was more of a twist and shove than an actual throw to be technical, but either way white-haired-something hits the ground with an inelegant thump. Whoops. (But it's not entirely his fault right?).

Rochelle looks embarrassed, not quite sure if it's 'I can't believe he just did that' or 'I can't believe she just did that. Peri appears to be cackling softly to herself. You're always glad to amuse right?

White thing collects herself. White thing appears to be a woman who looks a lot like Rochelle, older though, late twenties or early thirties maybe. Leto glances up at the welcoming party, four older looking woman, they're frowning, evidently the glomp was unsanctioned. She starts babbling.

"I saw you dieeee, right after him and then I felt it we all did, and we were all watching for it but we weren't sure what would happen, different paths and it's so hard to pick the right one sometimes and-" She keeps babbling and one of the older woman decides to just speak over her.

"Welcome home Rochelle,"

"It's good to be back Ma'am."

She turns to Leto, "Abhorsen, it is a pleasure to finally meet you, my name is Kirrin. Welcome, cousin, to the home on the Clayr, we are glad you have made it safely."

He nods. "Uh, thank you for your hospitality. I think we need to talk, there's this crazy guy trying to kill everyone..."

She nods, "We've gathered bits and pieces but we would like to hear exactly what happened."

"I can give them the initial run down if you'd like, and you could get a tour or some rest or whatnot before fielding questions." Peri interjects.

The babbling one has finished her babbling.

Safe! (Probably). Civilisation! What to do?
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby shadowspiri5 » December 3rd, 2012, 9:59 am

Yeah, lets let Peri give them the general rundown first. That way we can sleep.
If at first you don't succeed kill it with fire! Because why not?
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby NotreallyHere » December 3rd, 2012, 11:26 am

Hit on anything with two legs and still breathing.
You never want to be in a fair fight if an unfair fight is an option." Forrest Griffin - Be Ready When The Sh*t Goes Down (A Survival Guide To The Apocalypse)

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Me – “meh, bunch a nobodies”
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby Ristridin » December 3rd, 2012, 12:53 pm

Hit on anything with two legs and still breathing.
Was that anything female, or am I misremembering Leto? Or was there something about the Clayr all being female? Regardless, I second hitting on anything.
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby doc.exe » December 3rd, 2012, 1:59 pm

It’s been some time but I remember Leto not discriminating and hitting on everyone and everything.

But I think we might be tired for that right now, so better let Peri handling things and go to sleep. :biggrin:

---

And on a different note: Good to know you are back in home, serbii.
"No te tomes la vida demasiado en serio, al fin y al cabo no saldrás vivo de ella." Les Luthiers

"There are two essential rules to management. One, the customer is always right; and two, they must be punished for their arrogance." Dogbert
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby Wittgen » December 4th, 2012, 3:58 am

So far, we have played Leto as at least bi. I believe certain suggestions to hit on free magic monstrosity lizard otters could point to him being omnisexual.

Is white thing hot? If so, we should apologize for allowing our highly honed Necromancer battle reflexes get the best of us. (We are batman, after all.) It's been a little stressful lately and we're not at our best and, say, would you mind showing us around? I hear the bedrooms here are amazing.

Get to the bedroom. Put on some soft music. Compliment her as we take of our boots and stretch out on a bed. Wink. She blushes. We go to sleep.

She shifts from foot to foot awkwardly, not knowing what's going on. We start to lightly snore.
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby doc.exe » December 4th, 2012, 11:47 am

Ok, I change my vote for everything Witt just said.
"No te tomes la vida demasiado en serio, al fin y al cabo no saldrás vivo de ella." Les Luthiers

"There are two essential rules to management. One, the customer is always right; and two, they must be punished for their arrogance." Dogbert
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby shadowspiri5 » December 4th, 2012, 11:48 am

Agree with doc.exe on this one.
If at first you don't succeed kill it with fire! Because why not?
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby ewuvi » December 8th, 2012, 10:23 pm

I vote for everything Witt said.
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby Darkandus » December 11th, 2012, 12:40 pm

Witt knows what he's doing.

[x] Witt
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby Random_fan » December 11th, 2012, 8:45 pm

I agree with Witt.
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby serbii » December 21st, 2012, 9:35 am

The people have spoken.
And yeah, Leto is bi (and sometimes beyond) thanks to general 'hit on anything that moves' style of gameplay.

---------------------------------

Leto checks out White-thing, (did anyone say her name? Hmm, nope, don't think so. White-thing it is.) who he defeated with his highly trained awesome necromancer battle skills. Is she hot? Yes. Yes she is. White-blonde hair, grey eyes (familiar?), willowy, nice tan, more than passing resemblance to Rochelle. Actually all of them are pretty hot, well, the old ones are, well, old and they haven't aged as well as Peri (alas), but this seems to be a place of much hotness. Sure White-thing is at least 10 years older than him, possibly even twice his age but such things do not matter. He proceeds to help White-thing to her feet and gives a speaking, gallant bow before speaking in his most gallant voice proceeds to apologise.

"My lady! Please accept my most humble apologies! My highly honed reflexes got the better of me. These dark times have been stressful and I am a little on edge."

"Oh no, it was my fault" replies White-thing, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have startled you, you've been through such a trying time!" Her eyes grow watery.

Leto cuts in before waterworks can take hold, "But I'm safe now. Here. With you." He is so cool. "Perhaps you could show me around, or I am a little tired, a bedroom somewhere?"

"Of course. We should take you up where it's safe right away." The two of them look up to the rest of the group.

"There. Are. Two of them!" Anders voices something stupid for no reason. Maybe he means their hotness. The older women are frowning a little, jealous probably, hmm, seem maybe slightly horrified too? Ah well, bad times you know. Leto's glad Peri's giving them the rundown and he can sleep instead. She seems to be really amused by something. The old women search for words for a moment before the oldest and most leader-y looking breaks the silence.

"Very well, shall we?"

More walking and riding and booooring, but it's not too far at least. The glacier comes in to view and it's HUGE, nestled between two mountains (Starmount and Sunfall, White-thing tells him), he has no idea how to measure something that scale but it must be hundreds of metres. More blonde women wave them in the gates, watching the party curiously as they enter. The Clayr's home appears to be a massive labyrinthine carved into the stone and ice. It's kind of chilly, but he's always preferred the cold. Leto and the others are lead to an elevator that takes them higher and deeper in the complex, thank all the gods, he was worried he'd have to brave stairs!

The group finally break up, the older women all but dragging a grinning Peri away for explanations. Rochelle and Anders accompany Leto and White-thing for a time before heading off to another section of rooms, White-thing walking him the rest of the way to a plush, comfortable looking bedroom-slash-apartment thing.

Hmm, no real way to put on music here that he can see. Leto hums instead, he has a killer hum. Kicks off his shoes, sets his undead shadowy octopus on the table and gives her a wink. She smiles in reply. Totally digs him. Yep. He stretches out on the bed, mmm, how long since he had a soft bed, this is awesome, ok, think of something suave to say. He closes his eyes to think.

When he opens them the room is empty and it's dark. Naps are awesome.
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby Darkandus » December 22nd, 2012, 6:48 pm

Curses, foiled by our own laziness.

Maybe another five minutes sleep? Ah, who am I kidding. We'll need at least ten. Then we should get dressed, find some noms and wander off to see if we can get white things name. So much easier to hit on someone when you've got their name. Makes them feel special.
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby Wittgen » April 4th, 2013, 2:32 am

That was a good nap, but I bet we feel a little grimy. When was the last time we changed clothes? Bathed? Let's check out the room. Is there water to clean at least our face? Fresh clothes? If so clean, change. If no only to the later, let's imrovise. There are sheets, and probably drapes. They will do to cover us as our search extends beyond the room.

PS that update was really funny and well done serbii. Way to rock at words.
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby iamnuff » November 1st, 2013, 8:31 pm

so, This post is probably a necro, but hey, right place for it, right?

I'm a little confused about what happened on page 29/30


we go from having a game of charades with a monkey to halfway through a conversation with Peri about our zombie uncle, without any transition.

did a post get deleted or something?

edit:


we go from
"That creature that was here... the vibrating has something to do with it being gone?" Leto asks and Belgaer nods, "Was that like a friend or something?"

Belgaer considers for a moment before smiling sadly and giving a small nod.

"Oh, uh, I'm sorry it's gone then?" Leto is not quite sure what's going on.

The monkey shakes his head frantically.

"You're glad it's gone?"

Belgaer nods.
to
Leto sits silent for a moment, anger coursing though him along with a sick nameless dread. Something long forgotten but familiar, slowly dawns on him. He was scared for his life, had he felt that before? Not since being Abhorsen, he tries to hold on to the anger, that’s better then this deep seeded worry. But he just feels sick. He looks up again to Peri, she seems a little nervous, but has otherwise composed herself.

“Why didn’t my dad so anything?” he asks.

Peri leans back into the seat, “What could he do? Gabriel wasn’t even Abhorsen-in-waiting, let alone Parvel’s level. This is might be hard for an only child and orphan to understand but Parvel was his hero, the invincible big brother, the one who makes everything right and ok, and then he came back like that…”

Leto swallows and decides to keep talking to hold the sick feeling in his stomach at bay.

“You not I don’t hate you right? This doesn’t change anything.”
also, the OOC posts at the end of page 29 are still about our new monkey/god/friend, but the ones at the top of page 30 seem to be reactions to Peri abandoning Izzy when she was a child, or something.


it looks like theres an entire page missing, perhaps more than one.
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby serbii » November 2nd, 2013, 1:25 am

Hmm, been meaning to close this up and generally open to questions as I don't think I'll be updating again, it's just been too long. So I'm happy to just spoil away and answer questions about the plot/characters/general plans I had. That I can remember anyway, been a while...

Okay, pages 29/30.
did a post get deleted or something?
Ahh, there was that time when a whole bunch of posts got deleted from the board. Uhhh, I think I have a backup somewhere. Hang on and I'll see if I can find the missing posts.
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"... You were having your attention split between between the actual bell and that thing in here, am I right? Is that why the previous effects were that people lost their mind? It isn't a natural effect of the bell, its just the effect when you're distracted like that?"

Belgaer shook his head, negative again. Leto gritted his teeth frustrated.

"Uhhh...so I'm just going to keep talking. Your bell is pretty nice you know, letting people be all like 'give intelligence to the things that we use as mind-slaves' right?"

Belgaer looks a little smug and pleased with himself as Leto continues.

"I mean, now Squishy has a brain of her own...can Dead have brains?"

He makes a so-so motion.

"Whatever. But still, aren't most necromancers like...evil? So I guess they wouldn't be using Belgaer much...unless you can do something with Belgaer that's a total dick move."

The monkey nods frantically then motions to indicate the missing creature again.

"...That creature is the dick move?"

Damn monkey charades! Belgaer scowls and Leto remembers it 'said' the creature was a friend, the monkey makes a sort-of, keep going motion with its hand.

"The creature is the result of a dick move?"

Belgaer nods.

"Someone misused your bell to make it."

Another nod.

"And so you made my Thinker Bell vibrate? So uh..."
"... How long has this guy been in existence. Is he relatively new, or is he old?"

Belgaer holds up four fingers on one hand and makes a zero with the other.

"Forty years huh... well... let me think here. Was this person who made this move... well, are they the same ones trying to get my family now?"

Belgaer nods.

"Great, so they have a lot of experience then."

Belgaer shrugs as if to say 'yeah, probably" and Leto continues.

"Alright then... so I have to work from yes or no answers. Alright, here's a quick list of questions: is this person powerful?"

Yes.

"Is the necromancer nearby?"

No.

"And would it be overreacting of me to suggest that my family should probably keep itself moving around the Kingdom to avoid her catching them while I'm not around?"

Belgaer goes to speak then stops himself, shrugging. Leto stares at him.

"YOU CAN TALK!?"

Belgaer gives him an 'of course' look.

"THEN WHY DON'T YOU!?"

The monkey points at Leto's head then makes a crushing motion with his hands.

"...so you don't break my brain?"

The god nods cheerfully.

"Well, uh, thanks for not scrambling my brains then." Considering the pounding headache he got from the Bell he should probably just let the real Belgaer do his thing, his head doesn't really hurt in here though. Which is nice.

"Alright I'll go ahead and talk this over with the family before we decide on the whole moving around thing. Well... let's see here... does Peri Like Me, or just like me?"

The monkey gives him a flat 'you are wasting my time mortal' look and Leto decides to move on.

"Can I call you guys up and chat anytime, or is this like a one-way sort of thing?"

The monkey shakes his head and points to himself.

"One way then, ok, are you like an actual monkey, or is this one of those metafunical things, where you're all in my head?"

The monkey shakes his head then touches the centre of his forehead, where people have the Mark placed as infants that allows them to use magic. Leto brushes his own as Belgaer then points to a the soft, gold Marks drifting gently. Leto frowns, confused.

"We're in the Charter? Well I guess it would make sense if you went into it completely, but it looks, I dunno, emptier?"

Belgaer rolls his eyes and suddenly Leto stands alone, surrounded by gold and warmth, a million trillion Marks swirling around him. What he sees and feels every time he reaches for one. All at once they dissipate, Leto can see Belgaer again, waving a few off.

"Ah... you made this place, you can make room for conversation right? Ok, so how do I find these people after me without them catching on?"

Belgaer shrugs 'how should I know?', he points to himself and then at the ground, indicating 'here' and Leto wonders how much he sees and knows of the real world.

"Ok, next question, is there some cache of Hidden Abhorson Lore I'm supposed to dig up, or is it all pretty much in the book?"

The little god holds up two fingers and shrugs.

"Will I need to do anything to get this necromancer in the ground, or can I just lop of her head and be done with it?"

Belgaer shrugs again and mimes ringing a bell.

"It is a her, right? It's not one of those things where they have rotted to the point where reffering to them by gender is for manners only?"

Another shrug.

"You're not very helpful you know."

Belgaer grins and shrugs again.

"She's not scared of Octupi, is she? Because that would totally be awesome, we'd like drop in and say 'Ha ha, zombie lady! Your days of terrorizing with terror are over!' and she'd be like 'Oh ho ho ho, Abhorsonman, this is your end!' and I'd be like 'Think again, evildoer!' and Squishy would drop from the cieling onto her face and she'd be like 'Mffph! Hmmph hommff hurmff!' and stumble around and...right. Sorry, got a little sidetracked there."

The 'you are an idiot' look had returned.

"Hey, why were you looking at me like that in the first place anyway?"

Belgaer mimes a headache.

"Ah, because I messed up your bell kinda?"

'Keep going' the monkey indicates.

"And then made it worse and worse 'til I passed out."

Leto receives a big cheery grin and a condescending slow clap. Stupid monkey.

"Ah, one more thing, the Shiners..."

Belgaer raises an eyebrow and points to himself.

"No," Leto replies "The lesser Shiners, not the Seven... or Nine or whatever. You know what happened to them?"

Belgaer looks a little sad and holds one hand palm up 'one one hand' he points at Leto and sweeps his hand, the ones who became people and animals Leto guesses, 'on the other hand' Belgaer draws his hand across his throat looking apologetic, he holds up his first hand again 'on the other, other hand'... he pauses then bares his teeth and mimes some kind of monster. He looks up at Leto questioning.

"The ones who changed, the ones who died and the ones who stayed the same?" Leto asks and Belgaer nods, "Do you know of the other group?"

The monkey tilts his head and Leto continues.

"Some of them started to change but didn't completely. They're like humans, but they can't use Charter Magic, they don't age and can't die, well, stay dead I mean, they can't go beyond the end of the river." Belgaer is watching him, interested "They've got no free magic either, they're stuck in between. Is there anything you can do to help them?"

The monkey looks away and thinks for a moment before shaking his head sadly, he points down again 'here'. He's in the Charter entirely while Peri and the others are entirely separate from it, Leto figures, he couldn't reach them to help if he tried. "Do you know anyone who could?"

The monkey frowns, thinking, shrugs and holds up three fingers.

"Um... three?"

Belgaer sighs silently again, points to himself and holds up five fingers.

"Ok, so you're five... of the Seven right? And three is... Kibeth!?"

Ah, relying on Kibeth could be a problem Leto figures.

"Oh ho.... no... no, no, noooo. Already ran into Kibeth you see. Along with Peri, one of the immortal human Shiners I mentioned. That guy has a serious thing against them, apparently. Almost walked Peri right into the fifth gate to dump her into the river there just to make a point to me for even associating myself with her."

Leto sighs while the monkey looks thoughtful, which is fitting he figures.

"... Then again... I don't imagine there's a library somewhere in my plane of existence that would have information on something like this, is there? Too convenient, plus the fact of 'how the hell would humans know anything about this', right? So... how exactly would I approach Kibeth about this without that dog trying to dunk me in the river? Try giving the dog Chocolates? Flowers? Little chalk hearts with 'Help me out, please' written on them?"

Leto looks at Belgaer expectantly and wonders for a second how he could possibly be told anything helpful via charades. Belgaer holds up three fingers again.

"Kibeth"

A nod, then he cups his hands around his eyes.

"Look for?"

Another nod, the he points at Leto.

"...Kibeth will find me?" The monkey nods again.

"Why?"

Eight fingers then motioning waving goodbye. Leto frowns.

"Because the eighth, Yrael, the one who used to serve my family is gone?"

Yet another nod.

"...I don't get it."

Belgaer shrugs sheepishly and waves it off. Leto decides to move on while he tries to think of something else to ask.

"So...does time move slower in this place? I ask because, well, I need more magic, and where better to learn magic than in the Charter? Plus you can keep mocking me for being stupid and we can play charades."

The monkey gives a firm 'No', the points around and waves his arms a bit. Leto thinks maybe this is not a good place to learn, or maybe the monkey is just sick of his company.

"Um I'll go now I guess... uh... oh... how did I get here?" And how do I get out?

Belgaer indicates himself.

"You brought me?" Leto asks, and realises these aren't exactly his normal dreams after all. He shouldn't really be surprised it was someone else's doing. "Why?"

Belgaer once again indicates the missing creature then gives Leto a grateful smile and a small bow of thanks.

"Wait... when you mentioned Yrael being the reason Kibeth will come looking for me... is Kibeth trying to make up for Yrael being gone?"

Belgaer tilts his hand back side to side 'kind of', then shrugs. He doesn't know for sure.

"I'll... try to get into contact with Kibeth as soon as possible... or entice the dog to come into contact with me, however that works. I'd like to ask my questions and work our Kibeth's motives as soon as possible... don't need any sudden surprises popping up after all."

Belgaer nods.

A sudden thought strikes Leto, “That thing, was it was my uncle? Or at least part of him?”

Belgaer nods and starts to sign.

“Two. Bells. Him. Five. Six…” Leto starts to put it together “There were two bells on him right? Saraneth which made him do her bidding and… oh, yours to make him insane?”

Belgaer nods sadly, points to Leto and mimes ringing a bell, Leto continues.

“When I used your bell, it removed them both right? Not just Binder… that’s why your bell was buzzing, you wanted me to use it? So it would undo what she did to him with your power.”

Belgaer nods again.

“…he was still insane.” Leto says softly, the little monkey looks away as Leto recalls Parvel’s raving, “…because it was more than just your Bell that made him that way…”

Another sad nod.

“How was he here?”

Belgaer pointed to the centre of his forehead and Leto pauses again.

“His Charter Mark…? He was connected to the Charter still right? So…” Leto frowns “so you stayed with him here? Brought part of him like you did me… to try to undo it?”

He shakes his head this time.

“Just to keep him company? Because you felt guilty or something?”

A sad smile graces the monkey’s features.

“Oh… thank you then.”

Belgaer nods and once again gives Leto a small bow of thanks.

“My pleasure… Uh… I can’t think of anything else. Did you have anything else?”

Belgaer shakes his head.

“OK, then. Nice meeting you, and thank you for all your help. Um bye?”

Leto looks for a door in the big empty space and is predictably disappointed. Belgaer drifts forward and touches him in the Mark in the middle of his forehead, the darkness surrounds Leto and he knows no more…

“Get off the muffins! You don’t! Even! EAT!”

Anders’ vehement voice cuts through Leto’s sleepy haze. His headache is gone too which is nice. Cracking his eyes open Leto sees something black fly through the air and land on the bed covers with a dull ‘whump’. It then raises several tentacles and shakes them in either anger or glee.

"God damn it Anders. If Squishy wants a muffin give her a muffin. Stop being a lifeist. The dead have feelings too." Leto reaches out and pulls Squishy into a one armed hug, Squishy curls a few tentacles around his wrist.

“Isn’t your job to keep dead things dead?” The older boy asks.

Leto ignores him and sits content for a moment, this was almost making up for him not being allowed a cat as a child when something Anders said clicks, "Wait, what kind of muffins are those? Sweet! I'm hungry, gimmie two."

Two muffins come flying through the air and land on the bed, Leto grabs one and shoves it in his mouth without delay, mmm, apple and cinnamon.

"Oh, right. We're still on the clock, aren't we?" He asks, retrieving the other muffin.

“Eh.” Replies Anders, unconcerned, as Leto sits up in bed to take in the room. He’s in a double bed in a rather nice looking inn, tasteful decorations and plush rugs adorn the stone. A few chairs and a table are set up near the fireplace. Anders enters a side door then returns a few minutes later with his arms full of fancy looking soaps and towels. He adds them to his rather full bag then gazes around the room, evidently looking for anything not nailed down. A few items later and he stops finally to contemplate; fluffy towels or fancy cushion covers? They can’t both fit.

Leto is beginning to suspect Anders isn’t that great a role model after all.

"Get the towels, you'll actually use them more often. Also, stealing is bad or something, not sure if I should care though. I mean, on the one hand I'm morally obligated to stop you or report your crimes to the relevant authorities, but on the other I'm lazy, a Necromancer, and mildly indifferent to petty theft, Unless me or Peri happen to own this place?"

"Not that I know of," Anders replies, "And yes, stealing is wrong, remember that and grow into a good man and productive member of society or whatever. I however managed to inherent debt rather than a fortune from my father... we both got a psycho bitch though... huh" he adds thoughtfully, "hence the petty theft. Come on, grab your stuff and let's go."

Leto pets Squishy, she's... squishy, and he silently congratulates himself on his naming prowess.

"So, how long was I out?" He asks.

"Uh, seven hours? A bit less I think. It's about 10am."

"So, early then," Leto observes. A small part of his mind wonders that he ever managed to hold down a job which required being awake at normal hours, so long ago he can barely remember it, what was it? A week? Horrible times, his mind snapping back to reality he "before I get up out of bed, why do we have to leave?"

"To meet up with the others." Anders replies.

"Ah well then, I suppose that's a suitable reason." Leto mutters and drags himself out of bed into the bathroom to clean up then finding his hat and shoes by a chair, he starts to speak as he pulls on his shoes and gathers up Squishy, "so, psychobitch?"

Anders' voice is amused "I suppose I really should call her 'mother' but it doesn't quite have the same ring you know? Oh you probably shouldn't wear the surcoat if you don't want to be accosted the moment we walk out of here." Leto takes his suggestion and decided to carry it folded in his arms as Anders he shoulders his bag and continues, "are you ready?"

Leto lunges for the door and gets there first, a look of triumph on his face "What's taking so long? I'm all ready to go."

Anders rolls his eyes, walking up to the younger boy, putting one hand on his head and forcing him out by his hat. Several wrong turns and at least four sets of directions later the pair found their way back to the station from last night. Several of the officers smiled and nodded at Leto as they saw him, finally they found Rochelle who broke off a conversation with a young officer to join them smiling.

"I'm glad you two are ok, according to the officer sit went better than expected last night. They've still confirmed half a dozen or so deaths though" she says sadly "come on, everyone's waiting."

She leads them to the same meeting room as last night, Coulter sits reading, while Peri is curled up in a chair, her eyes half open and staring at nothing in particular. Both of them look tired.

“You all ok?” Leto asks and receives nods in reply, “Ok, uh where should I start. I met Belgaer in the Charter last night.”

Coulter stares at him incredulous as Leto casually announces he met a god and there is a ‘THUNK’ as Peri’s head hits the table “You met Belgaer?”

“Yeah. It was him right? Monkey, kind of reddish brown, long tail?”

Peri groans in response, “You’ve been Abhorsen for what, a week? And you’ve met two of the Seven?”

“Yup.”

“You’re making this hard for me you know.” She says with a sigh.

“Please, continue,” Coulter chips in and so Leto does.

“Anyway he said, well not said as he didn’t want to break my brain, ‘thank you’ to me for helping my uncle as he didn’t like his Bell being used for mindrape and what not.”

Peri gives a small nod “He would have hated what they use his power for.”

“Oh and I asked him about you.” Leto continues.

She turns her head to look up at him, “I’m not sure how I feel about you bring his attention on me.” She says, her voice tired and flat.

“He thinks Kibeth can help you.”

“Help her how?” Rochelle asks before realising, “Oh…”

There is silence as Peri stiffens and closes her eyes, and sits still for a moment before taking a deep breath and looking up into Leto’s eyes, her voice wavering slightly.

“Belgaer said that? You’re sure? You’re sure it wasn’t a dream? It was really Thinker?” Her voice dies away, a hint of desperation in it.

Leto crosses the room to crouch down in front of Peri’s chair, “I asked if he could help you and he said ‘no’, because he’s all the way in the Charter, I asked if anyone could and he indicated Kibeth and that she would come find me again, because of… something about Yrael. But I’ll get her to help you! I promise! Whatever it takes!”

The emotions flick across her face faster than he can read before finally it crumples and choking back a sob she lunges off the chair at him and wraps her arms around his neck, her chin resting on his shoulder.

“Thank you.”

Leto wraps his arms around her and pulls her close, the position is a little awkward and he drops to one knee, pulling her onto the other and against him. She smells of sweat, smoke and blood and he doesn’t care in the slightest.

"Don't worry about it,” He says turning his head slightly to speak softly in her ear, “I care about you, it's important to me that you're happy."

She nods into his shoulder and her arms tighten, her hands clutching the back of his shirt, she speaks softly.

“I… I’m sorry I dragged you into this, that I’m using you like this. I want you to know what happened, to know why. Even if you don’t see me the same way afterwards, or you decide you can’t face this after all. It’s only fair, no more than that, I owe it to you, the reason I do this; the story of Parvel, Gabriel and Isabel and how your family was destroyed.”

Leto nods “Ok.”

Peri rises to her feet and offers Leto a hand which he takes with a small grin, it doesn’t really help him up that far. Rochelle and Anders are grinning at them, Coulter has returned to his book ignoring them utterly.

“We’ll be back in a bit,” Peri says and Leto looks at her confused while Rochelle speaks up.

“You’re not telling us about him too?”

Peri shakes her head, “Leto can after if he wants, but it’s his family and so he should decide who he tells.”

The others all nod with varying degrees of annoyance and disappointment while Peri leads Leto out of the room, he grabs the Bells wrapped in his coat and Squishy but opts to leave the sword there until he can get a sheath for it. They don’t go far anyway, only a few doors up to a smallish but not unpleasant looking pub a few doors up. Peri pays for a meeting room and the manager just gives the two of them a look, a shrug and a wink. The two of them head to the room, full of heavy, old fashioned furniture, it’s not quite adequately lit. Leto suspects they got the chairs and table cheap, or else inherited them, they don’t quite fit the décor. Peri takes a seat in a stiff high backed arm chair, the kind men use to look imposing rather than comfort; it dwarfs her completely, Leto takes a shorter, slightly more comfortable seat opposite her.

She looks at him for a long moment before sighing and rubbing a hand through her hair, “Look, you’ve done a good job so far but you don’t get how dangerous this is. And I didn’t see fit to inform you, because frankly, I didn’t want to scare you off. I had hoped you’d have a couple of years at least before you had someone that powerful gunning for you, before you realised just what you signed up for. But if I tell you about Parvel, about Gabriel and Isabel you’ll know what you’re risking, what was done to a man much more powerful than you and you’ll know you have no chance.”

She gives a wry smile, “You’ll know why I wanted you to do it anyway, and I don’t think you’ll see me the same.” Her eyes meet his, unwavering “So, last chance for blissful ignorance.”

Leto shrugs, “I’m going to find out one way or another.”

Peri smiles wryly in return, “There are very few people who know this whole story, so I wouldn’t count on it.”

“Tell me.”

She nods and leans back into her chair, closing her eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath. Leto wonders for a brief moment if she’s nervous what he’ll think or if she just doesn’t care. She opens her eyes again and speaks as if giving a history lecture.

“Ardashiel, your grandfather, had two sons by his first marriage. Parvel, then four years later, Gabriel, your father. Their mother passed away when Gabe was eight I think it was. Ardashiel and I had known each other on and off for many years and we…” she shrugs, “we got together. A couple of years later Isabel was born. Parvel was eighteen, Gabe; fourteen. Gabriel and I never got along for a whole slew of reasons; our personalities, the whole ‘replacing mother’ step-mother thing and all the step-parent drama, my actual age, my apparent age. He didn’t trust me in the slightest, he had seen what Free Magic creatures could do and wasn’t convinced I was different. He thought me an abomination. I thought him… I’m not sure I can tell you what I thought then. I know the dislike was mutual, but I didn’t loath him the way I do now.

So more or less we just left each other alone. Mostly he just ignored Isabel, like she was someone else’s sister. He wasn’t quite sure how to treat her I think. Parvel adored her, she probably saw more of him than her father. It was the same with Gabe too. Parvel was a great big brother, the heart of the family I think, and a good man. He meant the world to both of them.”

She takes another deep breath, a small frown on her face as a hint of emotion enters her voice.

“When Isabel was five, Ardashiel died. Nothing sinister, or glorious; cancer. It came on quick, he only had a few months… he, Parvel and I could feel it, that he was dying before he started showing symptoms…when… when he died Parvel became Abhorsen, unlike you he had been Abhorsen-in-waiting for several years. Things… I…”

She struggles for a second, and Leto sees her hesitating. She meets his eyes for a moment then looks away and continues as if nothing happened.

“Things weren’t working, with Ardashiel gone and Parvel busy, Gabe and I started fighting more often. Parvel played peacekeeper, but it was tearing what remained of the family apart, Gabe wanted Parvel to choose him I think, instead of trying to hold us all together. So I left, and I left Isabel with them. I told myself it was better, I would lose her anyway and this way she’d keep her brothers at least. That it was best. But it wasn’t. I ran because it hurt too much, if I had nothing of Ardashiel’s I could forget him right? Because dealing with people was too hard, because if I lost them both at the same time I’d only have to feel that pain once.

And it went ok. Parvel would write every now and then, let me know how she was doing. She grew up with her brothers, boarding at school during the week. Parvel took care of her, Gabe warmed to her a little. It wasn’t perfect but nothing ever is. And I went on as I always do. Living my shallow, shallow life; empty and painless.

When Isabel was nine Parvel got called out on a job; something standard. He didn’t come home when he should have. So his siblings waited and waited and days turned into weeks and finally he came home. He…”

A feeling of dread fills Leto as he remembers the thing his uncle had become. Peri smiles at him, sickly and fake.

“He had been tortured. She must have hated him terribly for what she did, years later Isabel let it slip how bad it was. Necromancers, counter intuitively, are quite good at keeping people alive. You bind the soul so it can’t move on. Do it right you can keep them from dying, long after they should. So for weeks she held him, taking out her rage and sorrow on him. You were a blacksmith, all those tools; the hammers, pliers, crimpers, pokers, fire and water. How many ways can you think of to hurt someone with them? Because she thought of more.

And then he came home, there’s no way he would have been able to make it under his own power. It’s hard to walk when your legs and feet have been shattered like that. But he wasn’t under his own power. Saraneth and Kibeth, binder and walker. The Necromancer kindly Walked him home to his family when she was done. She used Belgaer too.”

Peri laughs very softly, a strange nervous sound before covering her mouth with her hands. Leto jumps in surprise.

“Like what they did wasn’t enough to destroy him. Thinker to take whatever remained of his mind and make sure he’d never come back. Poor Belgaer, exists to give free will and knowledge but instead used to strip it over and over. Parvel was quite mad when he came home, sometime ranting and raving and lashing out at anything that came near, sometimes just crying and apologising over and over, sometime he was just nothing at all; blank and empty. Thoughtful Necromancer, left him his tongue so he could still scream at his little brother and sister.”

Leto opens his mouth to speak before slowly closing it. He closes his fists, shaking a bit in anger.

“Isabel took it badly, Gabriel took it worse. He frantically tried to hold his life together, to cover up what had happened because he couldn’t stand to take his brother’s place. So made her take care of their brother alone, pulled her out of school and forbid her from telling anyone. She did what she could; she healed his body as much as she knew how. But he would never be well again, and no matter how hard she tried there was nothing she could do to mend his mind.”

Peri swallows deeply, her eyes shining over a fake, fake smile. “For three years my little girl was caught between them. The brother she loved and the brother she loathed lashing out at her. Then Parvel died, she found him like that one morning when she went to check on him and she was terrified. So sure Gabe would kill her, would blame for the death of their brother. So she hid. It took him hours to find her, hours getting madder and madder with grief and anger. She was right, he did blame her. So sure it was her fault; she made a mistake, she did it on purpose to free herself, to hurt him, because she was an abomination.”

Her voice catches for a moment and she rubs at her eyes with vigour, traces of unshed tears vanishing. “He hit her, beat her, he came so close to killing her. But Touchstone showed up, the then-prince, now-king. Parvel’s absence had been noticed, but no one could come to check on him. The defences were too strong and Gabe weaved his story well enough. But when he died the Crown knew, and so they sent one of their own, confident they would be able to get through the house’s defences; they’re much weaker when the Abhorsen has died and they saw it as an opportunity to get to the bottom of what was going on. He arrived just in time and saved her. He took her, Gabriel and Parvel’s body to the capital to try to figure out what the hell to do with them…

I went to Parvel’s funeral, missed the ceremony but I was then when they were lighting his pyre. Gabriel was there, speaking to his friends or whatever they were, looking the picture of sorrow. Isabel was alone. I saw her for the first time since she was five years old, my dark eyed little ghost of a girl. Eyes red from crying and the soot, with a big purple bruise across one cheek, she never told me why she didn’t let them heal it. She saw me and walked up to me as calm as you please and asked “Are you my mother?” and I told her “yes.” She just nodded for a moment then asked “Will you save me?” with no desperation, no feeling, as if she was asking if I could give her a lift home but it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t. So I told her “yes” and she thanked me, in that same unconcerned tone.

I took her with me and we went south. She was the right age to start school anyway. We got out of The Old Kingdom, she went to that same boarding school her ancestors have for a couple of hundred years and came to live with me on holidays. I don’t think she ever saw Gabriel again, at least she never told me if she did.

And Parvel… we thought he just died. But he didn’t did he? Binder was still on him and when he died he walked through death straight back to the necromancer who destroyed him, and they used him again. Turned him into a Greater Dead and used him against the remnants of his family, against you.” She sighs, “We never knew who did it, or why. But forty odd years later here we are and one who slowly killed Parvel is after you, and she found you once already.

And that, Leto, is what happened to your family.”
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Re: Necromancy Quest

Unread postby iamnuff » November 2nd, 2013, 12:42 pm

Hmm, been meaning to close this up and generally open to questions as I don't think I'll be updating again, it's just been too long. So I'm happy to just spoil away and answer questions about the plot/characters/general plans I had. That I can remember anyway, been a while...

Okay, pages 29/30.
did a post get deleted or something?
Ahh, there was that time when a whole bunch of posts got deleted from the board. Uhhh, I think I have a backup somewhere. Hang on and I'll see if I can find the missing posts.
Spoiler: show
"... You were having your attention split between between the actual bell and that thing in here, am I right? Is that why the previous effects were that people lost their mind? It isn't a natural effect of the bell, its just the effect when you're distracted like that?"

Belgaer shook his head, negative again. Leto gritted his teeth frustrated.

"Uhhh...so I'm just going to keep talking. Your bell is pretty nice you know, letting people be all like 'give intelligence to the things that we use as mind-slaves' right?"

Belgaer looks a little smug and pleased with himself as Leto continues.

"I mean, now Squishy has a brain of her own...can Dead have brains?"

He makes a so-so motion.

"Whatever. But still, aren't most necromancers like...evil? So I guess they wouldn't be using Belgaer much...unless you can do something with Belgaer that's a total dick move."

The monkey nods frantically then motions to indicate the missing creature again.

"...That creature is the dick move?"

Damn monkey charades! Belgaer scowls and Leto remembers it 'said' the creature was a friend, the monkey makes a sort-of, keep going motion with its hand.

"The creature is the result of a dick move?"

Belgaer nods.

"Someone misused your bell to make it."

Another nod.

"And so you made my Thinker Bell vibrate? So uh..."
"... How long has this guy been in existence. Is he relatively new, or is he old?"

Belgaer holds up four fingers on one hand and makes a zero with the other.

"Forty years huh... well... let me think here. Was this person who made this move... well, are they the same ones trying to get my family now?"

Belgaer nods.

"Great, so they have a lot of experience then."

Belgaer shrugs as if to say 'yeah, probably" and Leto continues.

"Alright then... so I have to work from yes or no answers. Alright, here's a quick list of questions: is this person powerful?"

Yes.

"Is the necromancer nearby?"

No.

"And would it be overreacting of me to suggest that my family should probably keep itself moving around the Kingdom to avoid her catching them while I'm not around?"

Belgaer goes to speak then stops himself, shrugging. Leto stares at him.

"YOU CAN TALK!?"

Belgaer gives him an 'of course' look.

"THEN WHY DON'T YOU!?"

The monkey points at Leto's head then makes a crushing motion with his hands.

"...so you don't break my brain?"

The god nods cheerfully.

"Well, uh, thanks for not scrambling my brains then." Considering the pounding headache he got from the Bell he should probably just let the real Belgaer do his thing, his head doesn't really hurt in here though. Which is nice.

"Alright I'll go ahead and talk this over with the family before we decide on the whole moving around thing. Well... let's see here... does Peri Like Me, or just like me?"

The monkey gives him a flat 'you are wasting my time mortal' look and Leto decides to move on.

"Can I call you guys up and chat anytime, or is this like a one-way sort of thing?"

The monkey shakes his head and points to himself.

"One way then, ok, are you like an actual monkey, or is this one of those metafunical things, where you're all in my head?"

The monkey shakes his head then touches the centre of his forehead, where people have the Mark placed as infants that allows them to use magic. Leto brushes his own as Belgaer then points to a the soft, gold Marks drifting gently. Leto frowns, confused.

"We're in the Charter? Well I guess it would make sense if you went into it completely, but it looks, I dunno, emptier?"

Belgaer rolls his eyes and suddenly Leto stands alone, surrounded by gold and warmth, a million trillion Marks swirling around him. What he sees and feels every time he reaches for one. All at once they dissipate, Leto can see Belgaer again, waving a few off.

"Ah... you made this place, you can make room for conversation right? Ok, so how do I find these people after me without them catching on?"

Belgaer shrugs 'how should I know?', he points to himself and then at the ground, indicating 'here' and Leto wonders how much he sees and knows of the real world.

"Ok, next question, is there some cache of Hidden Abhorson Lore I'm supposed to dig up, or is it all pretty much in the book?"

The little god holds up two fingers and shrugs.

"Will I need to do anything to get this necromancer in the ground, or can I just lop of her head and be done with it?"

Belgaer shrugs again and mimes ringing a bell.

"It is a her, right? It's not one of those things where they have rotted to the point where reffering to them by gender is for manners only?"

Another shrug.

"You're not very helpful you know."

Belgaer grins and shrugs again.

"She's not scared of Octupi, is she? Because that would totally be awesome, we'd like drop in and say 'Ha ha, zombie lady! Your days of terrorizing with terror are over!' and she'd be like 'Oh ho ho ho, Abhorsonman, this is your end!' and I'd be like 'Think again, evildoer!' and Squishy would drop from the cieling onto her face and she'd be like 'Mffph! Hmmph hommff hurmff!' and stumble around and...right. Sorry, got a little sidetracked there."

The 'you are an idiot' look had returned.

"Hey, why were you looking at me like that in the first place anyway?"

Belgaer mimes a headache.

"Ah, because I messed up your bell kinda?"

'Keep going' the monkey indicates.

"And then made it worse and worse 'til I passed out."

Leto receives a big cheery grin and a condescending slow clap. Stupid monkey.

"Ah, one more thing, the Shiners..."

Belgaer raises an eyebrow and points to himself.

"No," Leto replies "The lesser Shiners, not the Seven... or Nine or whatever. You know what happened to them?"

Belgaer looks a little sad and holds one hand palm up 'one one hand' he points at Leto and sweeps his hand, the ones who became people and animals Leto guesses, 'on the other hand' Belgaer draws his hand across his throat looking apologetic, he holds up his first hand again 'on the other, other hand'... he pauses then bares his teeth and mimes some kind of monster. He looks up at Leto questioning.

"The ones who changed, the ones who died and the ones who stayed the same?" Leto asks and Belgaer nods, "Do you know of the other group?"

The monkey tilts his head and Leto continues.

"Some of them started to change but didn't completely. They're like humans, but they can't use Charter Magic, they don't age and can't die, well, stay dead I mean, they can't go beyond the end of the river." Belgaer is watching him, interested "They've got no free magic either, they're stuck in between. Is there anything you can do to help them?"

The monkey looks away and thinks for a moment before shaking his head sadly, he points down again 'here'. He's in the Charter entirely while Peri and the others are entirely separate from it, Leto figures, he couldn't reach them to help if he tried. "Do you know anyone who could?"

The monkey frowns, thinking, shrugs and holds up three fingers.

"Um... three?"

Belgaer sighs silently again, points to himself and holds up five fingers.

"Ok, so you're five... of the Seven right? And three is... Kibeth!?"

Ah, relying on Kibeth could be a problem Leto figures.

"Oh ho.... no... no, no, noooo. Already ran into Kibeth you see. Along with Peri, one of the immortal human Shiners I mentioned. That guy has a serious thing against them, apparently. Almost walked Peri right into the fifth gate to dump her into the river there just to make a point to me for even associating myself with her."

Leto sighs while the monkey looks thoughtful, which is fitting he figures.

"... Then again... I don't imagine there's a library somewhere in my plane of existence that would have information on something like this, is there? Too convenient, plus the fact of 'how the hell would humans know anything about this', right? So... how exactly would I approach Kibeth about this without that dog trying to dunk me in the river? Try giving the dog Chocolates? Flowers? Little chalk hearts with 'Help me out, please' written on them?"

Leto looks at Belgaer expectantly and wonders for a second how he could possibly be told anything helpful via charades. Belgaer holds up three fingers again.

"Kibeth"

A nod, then he cups his hands around his eyes.

"Look for?"

Another nod, the he points at Leto.

"...Kibeth will find me?" The monkey nods again.

"Why?"

Eight fingers then motioning waving goodbye. Leto frowns.

"Because the eighth, Yrael, the one who used to serve my family is gone?"

Yet another nod.

"...I don't get it."

Belgaer shrugs sheepishly and waves it off. Leto decides to move on while he tries to think of something else to ask.

"So...does time move slower in this place? I ask because, well, I need more magic, and where better to learn magic than in the Charter? Plus you can keep mocking me for being stupid and we can play charades."

The monkey gives a firm 'No', the points around and waves his arms a bit. Leto thinks maybe this is not a good place to learn, or maybe the monkey is just sick of his company.

"Um I'll go now I guess... uh... oh... how did I get here?" And how do I get out?

Belgaer indicates himself.

"You brought me?" Leto asks, and realises these aren't exactly his normal dreams after all. He shouldn't really be surprised it was someone else's doing. "Why?"

Belgaer once again indicates the missing creature then gives Leto a grateful smile and a small bow of thanks.

"Wait... when you mentioned Yrael being the reason Kibeth will come looking for me... is Kibeth trying to make up for Yrael being gone?"

Belgaer tilts his hand back side to side 'kind of', then shrugs. He doesn't know for sure.

"I'll... try to get into contact with Kibeth as soon as possible... or entice the dog to come into contact with me, however that works. I'd like to ask my questions and work our Kibeth's motives as soon as possible... don't need any sudden surprises popping up after all."

Belgaer nods.

A sudden thought strikes Leto, “That thing, was it was my uncle? Or at least part of him?”

Belgaer nods and starts to sign.

“Two. Bells. Him. Five. Six…” Leto starts to put it together “There were two bells on him right? Saraneth which made him do her bidding and… oh, yours to make him insane?”

Belgaer nods sadly, points to Leto and mimes ringing a bell, Leto continues.

“When I used your bell, it removed them both right? Not just Binder… that’s why your bell was buzzing, you wanted me to use it? So it would undo what she did to him with your power.”

Belgaer nods again.

“…he was still insane.” Leto says softly, the little monkey looks away as Leto recalls Parvel’s raving, “…because it was more than just your Bell that made him that way…”

Another sad nod.

“How was he here?”

Belgaer pointed to the centre of his forehead and Leto pauses again.

“His Charter Mark…? He was connected to the Charter still right? So…” Leto frowns “so you stayed with him here? Brought part of him like you did me… to try to undo it?”

He shakes his head this time.

“Just to keep him company? Because you felt guilty or something?”

A sad smile graces the monkey’s features.

“Oh… thank you then.”

Belgaer nods and once again gives Leto a small bow of thanks.

“My pleasure… Uh… I can’t think of anything else. Did you have anything else?”

Belgaer shakes his head.

“OK, then. Nice meeting you, and thank you for all your help. Um bye?”

Leto looks for a door in the big empty space and is predictably disappointed. Belgaer drifts forward and touches him in the Mark in the middle of his forehead, the darkness surrounds Leto and he knows no more…

“Get off the muffins! You don’t! Even! EAT!”

Anders’ vehement voice cuts through Leto’s sleepy haze. His headache is gone too which is nice. Cracking his eyes open Leto sees something black fly through the air and land on the bed covers with a dull ‘whump’. It then raises several tentacles and shakes them in either anger or glee.

"God damn it Anders. If Squishy wants a muffin give her a muffin. Stop being a lifeist. The dead have feelings too." Leto reaches out and pulls Squishy into a one armed hug, Squishy curls a few tentacles around his wrist.

“Isn’t your job to keep dead things dead?” The older boy asks.

Leto ignores him and sits content for a moment, this was almost making up for him not being allowed a cat as a child when something Anders said clicks, "Wait, what kind of muffins are those? Sweet! I'm hungry, gimmie two."

Two muffins come flying through the air and land on the bed, Leto grabs one and shoves it in his mouth without delay, mmm, apple and cinnamon.

"Oh, right. We're still on the clock, aren't we?" He asks, retrieving the other muffin.

“Eh.” Replies Anders, unconcerned, as Leto sits up in bed to take in the room. He’s in a double bed in a rather nice looking inn, tasteful decorations and plush rugs adorn the stone. A few chairs and a table are set up near the fireplace. Anders enters a side door then returns a few minutes later with his arms full of fancy looking soaps and towels. He adds them to his rather full bag then gazes around the room, evidently looking for anything not nailed down. A few items later and he stops finally to contemplate; fluffy towels or fancy cushion covers? They can’t both fit.

Leto is beginning to suspect Anders isn’t that great a role model after all.

"Get the towels, you'll actually use them more often. Also, stealing is bad or something, not sure if I should care though. I mean, on the one hand I'm morally obligated to stop you or report your crimes to the relevant authorities, but on the other I'm lazy, a Necromancer, and mildly indifferent to petty theft, Unless me or Peri happen to own this place?"

"Not that I know of," Anders replies, "And yes, stealing is wrong, remember that and grow into a good man and productive member of society or whatever. I however managed to inherent debt rather than a fortune from my father... we both got a psycho bitch though... huh" he adds thoughtfully, "hence the petty theft. Come on, grab your stuff and let's go."

Leto pets Squishy, she's... squishy, and he silently congratulates himself on his naming prowess.

"So, how long was I out?" He asks.

"Uh, seven hours? A bit less I think. It's about 10am."

"So, early then," Leto observes. A small part of his mind wonders that he ever managed to hold down a job which required being awake at normal hours, so long ago he can barely remember it, what was it? A week? Horrible times, his mind snapping back to reality he "before I get up out of bed, why do we have to leave?"

"To meet up with the others." Anders replies.

"Ah well then, I suppose that's a suitable reason." Leto mutters and drags himself out of bed into the bathroom to clean up then finding his hat and shoes by a chair, he starts to speak as he pulls on his shoes and gathers up Squishy, "so, psychobitch?"

Anders' voice is amused "I suppose I really should call her 'mother' but it doesn't quite have the same ring you know? Oh you probably shouldn't wear the surcoat if you don't want to be accosted the moment we walk out of here." Leto takes his suggestion and decided to carry it folded in his arms as Anders he shoulders his bag and continues, "are you ready?"

Leto lunges for the door and gets there first, a look of triumph on his face "What's taking so long? I'm all ready to go."

Anders rolls his eyes, walking up to the younger boy, putting one hand on his head and forcing him out by his hat. Several wrong turns and at least four sets of directions later the pair found their way back to the station from last night. Several of the officers smiled and nodded at Leto as they saw him, finally they found Rochelle who broke off a conversation with a young officer to join them smiling.

"I'm glad you two are ok, according to the officer sit went better than expected last night. They've still confirmed half a dozen or so deaths though" she says sadly "come on, everyone's waiting."

She leads them to the same meeting room as last night, Coulter sits reading, while Peri is curled up in a chair, her eyes half open and staring at nothing in particular. Both of them look tired.

“You all ok?” Leto asks and receives nods in reply, “Ok, uh where should I start. I met Belgaer in the Charter last night.”

Coulter stares at him incredulous as Leto casually announces he met a god and there is a ‘THUNK’ as Peri’s head hits the table “You met Belgaer?”

“Yeah. It was him right? Monkey, kind of reddish brown, long tail?”

Peri groans in response, “You’ve been Abhorsen for what, a week? And you’ve met two of the Seven?”

“Yup.”

“You’re making this hard for me you know.” She says with a sigh.

“Please, continue,” Coulter chips in and so Leto does.

“Anyway he said, well not said as he didn’t want to break my brain, ‘thank you’ to me for helping my uncle as he didn’t like his Bell being used for mindrape and what not.”

Peri gives a small nod “He would have hated what they use his power for.”

“Oh and I asked him about you.” Leto continues.

She turns her head to look up at him, “I’m not sure how I feel about you bring his attention on me.” She says, her voice tired and flat.

“He thinks Kibeth can help you.”

“Help her how?” Rochelle asks before realising, “Oh…”

There is silence as Peri stiffens and closes her eyes, and sits still for a moment before taking a deep breath and looking up into Leto’s eyes, her voice wavering slightly.

“Belgaer said that? You’re sure? You’re sure it wasn’t a dream? It was really Thinker?” Her voice dies away, a hint of desperation in it.

Leto crosses the room to crouch down in front of Peri’s chair, “I asked if he could help you and he said ‘no’, because he’s all the way in the Charter, I asked if anyone could and he indicated Kibeth and that she would come find me again, because of… something about Yrael. But I’ll get her to help you! I promise! Whatever it takes!”

The emotions flick across her face faster than he can read before finally it crumples and choking back a sob she lunges off the chair at him and wraps her arms around his neck, her chin resting on his shoulder.

“Thank you.”

Leto wraps his arms around her and pulls her close, the position is a little awkward and he drops to one knee, pulling her onto the other and against him. She smells of sweat, smoke and blood and he doesn’t care in the slightest.

"Don't worry about it,” He says turning his head slightly to speak softly in her ear, “I care about you, it's important to me that you're happy."

She nods into his shoulder and her arms tighten, her hands clutching the back of his shirt, she speaks softly.

“I… I’m sorry I dragged you into this, that I’m using you like this. I want you to know what happened, to know why. Even if you don’t see me the same way afterwards, or you decide you can’t face this after all. It’s only fair, no more than that, I owe it to you, the reason I do this; the story of Parvel, Gabriel and Isabel and how your family was destroyed.”

Leto nods “Ok.”

Peri rises to her feet and offers Leto a hand which he takes with a small grin, it doesn’t really help him up that far. Rochelle and Anders are grinning at them, Coulter has returned to his book ignoring them utterly.

“We’ll be back in a bit,” Peri says and Leto looks at her confused while Rochelle speaks up.

“You’re not telling us about him too?”

Peri shakes her head, “Leto can after if he wants, but it’s his family and so he should decide who he tells.”

The others all nod with varying degrees of annoyance and disappointment while Peri leads Leto out of the room, he grabs the Bells wrapped in his coat and Squishy but opts to leave the sword there until he can get a sheath for it. They don’t go far anyway, only a few doors up to a smallish but not unpleasant looking pub a few doors up. Peri pays for a meeting room and the manager just gives the two of them a look, a shrug and a wink. The two of them head to the room, full of heavy, old fashioned furniture, it’s not quite adequately lit. Leto suspects they got the chairs and table cheap, or else inherited them, they don’t quite fit the décor. Peri takes a seat in a stiff high backed arm chair, the kind men use to look imposing rather than comfort; it dwarfs her completely, Leto takes a shorter, slightly more comfortable seat opposite her.

She looks at him for a long moment before sighing and rubbing a hand through her hair, “Look, you’ve done a good job so far but you don’t get how dangerous this is. And I didn’t see fit to inform you, because frankly, I didn’t want to scare you off. I had hoped you’d have a couple of years at least before you had someone that powerful gunning for you, before you realised just what you signed up for. But if I tell you about Parvel, about Gabriel and Isabel you’ll know what you’re risking, what was done to a man much more powerful than you and you’ll know you have no chance.”

She gives a wry smile, “You’ll know why I wanted you to do it anyway, and I don’t think you’ll see me the same.” Her eyes meet his, unwavering “So, last chance for blissful ignorance.”

Leto shrugs, “I’m going to find out one way or another.”

Peri smiles wryly in return, “There are very few people who know this whole story, so I wouldn’t count on it.”

“Tell me.”

She nods and leans back into her chair, closing her eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath. Leto wonders for a brief moment if she’s nervous what he’ll think or if she just doesn’t care. She opens her eyes again and speaks as if giving a history lecture.

“Ardashiel, your grandfather, had two sons by his first marriage. Parvel, then four years later, Gabriel, your father. Their mother passed away when Gabe was eight I think it was. Ardashiel and I had known each other on and off for many years and we…” she shrugs, “we got together. A couple of years later Isabel was born. Parvel was eighteen, Gabe; fourteen. Gabriel and I never got along for a whole slew of reasons; our personalities, the whole ‘replacing mother’ step-mother thing and all the step-parent drama, my actual age, my apparent age. He didn’t trust me in the slightest, he had seen what Free Magic creatures could do and wasn’t convinced I was different. He thought me an abomination. I thought him… I’m not sure I can tell you what I thought then. I know the dislike was mutual, but I didn’t loath him the way I do now.

So more or less we just left each other alone. Mostly he just ignored Isabel, like she was someone else’s sister. He wasn’t quite sure how to treat her I think. Parvel adored her, she probably saw more of him than her father. It was the same with Gabe too. Parvel was a great big brother, the heart of the family I think, and a good man. He meant the world to both of them.”

She takes another deep breath, a small frown on her face as a hint of emotion enters her voice.

“When Isabel was five, Ardashiel died. Nothing sinister, or glorious; cancer. It came on quick, he only had a few months… he, Parvel and I could feel it, that he was dying before he started showing symptoms…when… when he died Parvel became Abhorsen, unlike you he had been Abhorsen-in-waiting for several years. Things… I…”

She struggles for a second, and Leto sees her hesitating. She meets his eyes for a moment then looks away and continues as if nothing happened.

“Things weren’t working, with Ardashiel gone and Parvel busy, Gabe and I started fighting more often. Parvel played peacekeeper, but it was tearing what remained of the family apart, Gabe wanted Parvel to choose him I think, instead of trying to hold us all together. So I left, and I left Isabel with them. I told myself it was better, I would lose her anyway and this way she’d keep her brothers at least. That it was best. But it wasn’t. I ran because it hurt too much, if I had nothing of Ardashiel’s I could forget him right? Because dealing with people was too hard, because if I lost them both at the same time I’d only have to feel that pain once.

And it went ok. Parvel would write every now and then, let me know how she was doing. She grew up with her brothers, boarding at school during the week. Parvel took care of her, Gabe warmed to her a little. It wasn’t perfect but nothing ever is. And I went on as I always do. Living my shallow, shallow life; empty and painless.

When Isabel was nine Parvel got called out on a job; something standard. He didn’t come home when he should have. So his siblings waited and waited and days turned into weeks and finally he came home. He…”

A feeling of dread fills Leto as he remembers the thing his uncle had become. Peri smiles at him, sickly and fake.

“He had been tortured. She must have hated him terribly for what she did, years later Isabel let it slip how bad it was. Necromancers, counter intuitively, are quite good at keeping people alive. You bind the soul so it can’t move on. Do it right you can keep them from dying, long after they should. So for weeks she held him, taking out her rage and sorrow on him. You were a blacksmith, all those tools; the hammers, pliers, crimpers, pokers, fire and water. How many ways can you think of to hurt someone with them? Because she thought of more.

And then he came home, there’s no way he would have been able to make it under his own power. It’s hard to walk when your legs and feet have been shattered like that. But he wasn’t under his own power. Saraneth and Kibeth, binder and walker. The Necromancer kindly Walked him home to his family when she was done. She used Belgaer too.”

Peri laughs very softly, a strange nervous sound before covering her mouth with her hands. Leto jumps in surprise.

“Like what they did wasn’t enough to destroy him. Thinker to take whatever remained of his mind and make sure he’d never come back. Poor Belgaer, exists to give free will and knowledge but instead used to strip it over and over. Parvel was quite mad when he came home, sometime ranting and raving and lashing out at anything that came near, sometimes just crying and apologising over and over, sometime he was just nothing at all; blank and empty. Thoughtful Necromancer, left him his tongue so he could still scream at his little brother and sister.”

Leto opens his mouth to speak before slowly closing it. He closes his fists, shaking a bit in anger.

“Isabel took it badly, Gabriel took it worse. He frantically tried to hold his life together, to cover up what had happened because he couldn’t stand to take his brother’s place. So made her take care of their brother alone, pulled her out of school and forbid her from telling anyone. She did what she could; she healed his body as much as she knew how. But he would never be well again, and no matter how hard she tried there was nothing she could do to mend his mind.”

Peri swallows deeply, her eyes shining over a fake, fake smile. “For three years my little girl was caught between them. The brother she loved and the brother she loathed lashing out at her. Then Parvel died, she found him like that one morning when she went to check on him and she was terrified. So sure Gabe would kill her, would blame for the death of their brother. So she hid. It took him hours to find her, hours getting madder and madder with grief and anger. She was right, he did blame her. So sure it was her fault; she made a mistake, she did it on purpose to free herself, to hurt him, because she was an abomination.”

Her voice catches for a moment and she rubs at her eyes with vigour, traces of unshed tears vanishing. “He hit her, beat her, he came so close to killing her. But Touchstone showed up, the then-prince, now-king. Parvel’s absence had been noticed, but no one could come to check on him. The defences were too strong and Gabe weaved his story well enough. But when he died the Crown knew, and so they sent one of their own, confident they would be able to get through the house’s defences; they’re much weaker when the Abhorsen has died and they saw it as an opportunity to get to the bottom of what was going on. He arrived just in time and saved her. He took her, Gabriel and Parvel’s body to the capital to try to figure out what the hell to do with them…

I went to Parvel’s funeral, missed the ceremony but I was then when they were lighting his pyre. Gabriel was there, speaking to his friends or whatever they were, looking the picture of sorrow. Isabel was alone. I saw her for the first time since she was five years old, my dark eyed little ghost of a girl. Eyes red from crying and the soot, with a big purple bruise across one cheek, she never told me why she didn’t let them heal it. She saw me and walked up to me as calm as you please and asked “Are you my mother?” and I told her “yes.” She just nodded for a moment then asked “Will you save me?” with no desperation, no feeling, as if she was asking if I could give her a lift home but it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t. So I told her “yes” and she thanked me, in that same unconcerned tone.

I took her with me and we went south. She was the right age to start school anyway. We got out of The Old Kingdom, she went to that same boarding school her ancestors have for a couple of hundred years and came to live with me on holidays. I don’t think she ever saw Gabriel again, at least she never told me if she did.

And Parvel… we thought he just died. But he didn’t did he? Binder was still on him and when he died he walked through death straight back to the necromancer who destroyed him, and they used him again. Turned him into a Greater Dead and used him against the remnants of his family, against you.” She sighs, “We never knew who did it, or why. But forty odd years later here we are and one who slowly killed Parvel is after you, and she found you once already.

And that, Leto, is what happened to your family.”

a shame that this is over, but not unexpected, I did come way late to the party, after all.

still one of the most interesting quests i have ever read.

don't suppose you could tell me what it was that randomly deleted a bunch of posts? I suppose there might be a couple more missing too.

I'v had an account here for a while, sure i posted before too, but my post count seems to have been reset.

I mostly stuck to the naruto stuff at the time.
iamnuff
 
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