The dreamy looking has stopped but Elhyse does not cure. She felt the kissing weird: the exchange was not brutal as she imagined herself. On the contrary: the hero lips were sweet. Plus, his skin smelled good: probably the soap of his toilet. A well refined soap... She returns to the city of Bruma, confused.
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The eternal snows of Gnoll Mountain cover Dragonclaw Rock, which rises several miles in the Bruma sector. The Hero takes the map that Elhyse gave him: he identifies the statue of the sentry who must lead to the secret entrance that leads to Pale Pass. He gets off his horse and meets on the way.
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Elhyse, in suit military, escorts the countess in the city of Bruma. They have been roaming the city for some time but a nasty presentiment does not leave her. She feels spied. Especially since she visited, before her service, the assigned bodyguard. Then she sent a message to the Mages Guild of Imperial City with the intention of helping her: the guard's illness was too mysterious to be natural ... She grabs the pommel of her blade. The invisible threat becomes clearer. Suddenly a silhouette leaps on her. She avoids it with skill with a stroke of her hip then operates a flip-flop to pass over the sword the aggressor: a noble armed with a dagger. He passes away in one breath. Two other accomplices intervene, a dagger in the hand. Elhyse in a reel eliminates them to the chain. They sprawl on the clay without a cry. Elhyse then intimates with her mistress, trembling with fear, to run towards the castle. They go on losing their breath. They cross without care the gate of the entrance hall. They discover with horror the body of guards who litter the carpet. A mass of rebels encircles them: a nobleman, the grin on his lips, approaches the countess.
"You? Lord Heilsan? You dare to betray me?" She exclaims.
"I thank you for any trouble in delivering yourself," replies the mutineer. "We take over the operations."
With a wave of the hand, he gives a secret order to one of his subordinates. Elhyse is stunned by a principal unknown. She loses consciousness at the feet of her mistress.
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The Champion enters through the secret entrance of Pall Pass: a cave that leads to the Serpent Trail. Belligerent ogres insist on stopping him at all costs. They pay for it with their lives.
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Elhyse wakes up, her head heavy and painful. Her helmet was taken off and she is put in irons. A heavy rusty chain attached to a handcuff on her wrists lifts her arms. She is leaning against a wall of a wet cell lit by pale sunlight filtered by a barred skylight.
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The hero raises his head: he sees the tower of the hidden fort of Pale Pass.
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Elhyse hears footsteps. She scrutinizes the jail immersed in the semi-darkness: a pair of eyes shines in a small opening of the wall juxtaposed. A rat appears, wriggling and hungry. It attacks the prisoner on the spot. She could not repress a cry of surprise. She pushes the beast off her feet but this one returns to the load incessantly. A metallic click and a squeak catch her eye. Her jailer, wearing unclean and slovenly clothes, opens the gate to her with mocking laughter. He draws a short blade to skewer the rodent. He shows off his prey in the nose of his prisoner. Elhyse frowns. A cry of pain escapes her. The jailer who has thrown the remains of his prey into the cell asks her about her discomfort. As she does not pipe and keeps scrutinizing her bare foot that begins to bleed, he approaches her and also observes the wound. He does not see the other foot hit his chin. Eyes rolled back, he collapses on his back like a sack of potatoes. Elhyse then notices the key game attached to the thug's belt.
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Rows of torches illuminate the wet corridors of the fort. Two skeleton champions, armed with katana Akaviri, challenge the Grand Champion.
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Elhyse, wearing the boots of her jailer, walks through the corridors of the prison. A noise alerts her: she leans against the wall. She grabs the dagger and waits for the opportune moment. Sweat runs on her forehead.
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The skeletons are lying on the ground, inert. The hero kicks on the chins one at a time: the heads roll in jaw slam.
"Who are you to disturb these places?" a spectral voice says.
The young man turns around and sees the specter of an Akaviri officer, wearing the uniform of the Emperor's Blades. He presents himself as sending the Countess of Bruma and exposes to him the object of his quest: the necklace of the Akaviri. The ghost who was a polite listener speaks. He inclines his identity: he is Mishaxhi, the Akaviri Commander. He makes a deal to the adventurer.
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The fugitive female wipes the blood of her blade with the greave of the mutiny's corpse. She searches him and finds a set of keys. She takes it and leaves in search of the Countess. She only sees empty cells. A wooden door catches her attention. It is locked. She tries the keys until she finds the right one. She opens the door gently. The hinges creak...
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"If I understand correctly, I must free the souls of your officers by confronting them. And I'll get the necklace" adventurer says.
The Commander Akaviri nods.
"Agreed!" the adventurer says.
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The room is empty. No living soul. The young woman frowns: no further trace of the countess. A small room contains a bed, a wardrobe and a chest. She opens the wardrobe: clothes hanged. The chest contains her belongings. That's something won, she thinks.
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The Grand Champion faces the last undead soldier. It collapses at his feet like a disjointed puppet. Its spectral halo appears then, the smiling face. it invites him to follow. The adventurer obeys. They run through long corridors of the fort to a large room where circles gather all the ghost soldiers he released. Mishaxhi departs from the group and approaches the hero. It praises him for having respected the contract and points to a pedestal on which a necklace rests. The hero bows and seizes the coveted object: the Draconian Madstone.
