They found the Countess a few levels down, after battling skeletons, ghosts and quite a few corrupt rogues they came to a chamber where they could hear shouting.
"Wait," Talina said and she pointed to a side room. "Let's go in there first."
Geldar followed her and stopped in the doorway. On a low table in the room was a large chest that Talina had jemmied open and it was full of gold. Next to it was a fine sword with matching dagger, a helmet and a mail corselet on an armour stand.
"You're nothing but a mercenary," Geldar teased her as she helped herself to the gold.
"And you aren't?" Talina asked, noticing he had removed the mail shirt.
"That's blood money," Geldar said and he turned back to the corselet. "This is probably stolen."
"Or freely given," Talina suggested, pointing to the finely mended chain work indicating that it belonged to a formidable warrior. "Take it," she said, her dark eyes lighting up with mischief.
"It's not honourable," Geldar replied, he reluctantly put it back.
"Honour!" Talina declared. "You're armour is falling to pieces as it is and you're talking about honour? Be reasonable."
He had to admit she had a point. A few years ago he had possessed a hauberk of plate-mail, styled in the nature of the west even though he had purchased it in Lut Gholein. He had to sell it on the way over to Khanduras in exchange for some medicine for a fellow traveller. The man was ailing past his skill in healing and the trade was well worth the life of the man. They had parted best of friends and never seen each other again.
His leather armour had sufficed, but numerous patches and mending had stretched it far enough. Perhaps his masters could forgive him for plundering, just this once.
When they left the room Talina was laden down with gold and Geldar's leather vest was lying abandoned on the table.
If Geldar had through Bloodraven was corrupted and soulless, he had to admit that the Countess was worse. She was a sickly blue colour, naked except for a blood-stained cloth that streamed red down her legs. She was also quite fast and a formidable sorceress casting walls of fire that had Geldar fast stepping to avoid getting burnt. But they had an advantage over her; she would not leave the room she was in.
Slaying her rogue minions took no time at all and Geldar and Talina were having a quick conference when the Paladin noticed something. There was a door on the other side of her chamber.
"We fought our way through to that side, didn't we?" Geldar asked her.
"Yes," Talina asked and she realised what he was thinking. "Same strategy as Bloodraven?"
"Not quite," Geldar admitted. "Though with two of us on her she might not have enough space to cast properly."
"Go then," Talina conceded and he was off.
Geldar ran past the corpses of the fallen and jumped through a wall of flames, he then skidded to a stop outside the door. Talina was on the other side, she nodded to him and they both entered.
He was on her in a flash, jumping aside the fire walls she cast in his path, he flashed his sword and aimed at her middle. She fought him back, her blood-stained sword smashed against his shield which he launched remorselessly at her face.
White with fury Countess Cybelle roared, she sounded more like a wild animal than a human. But Talina was ready for her, knocking her back with her javelin she stabbed several times, each stab emitting crackling bolts of lighting. The Countess roared and slashed at her but Talina's counterattack knocked the sword out of her hands and skittering across the room.
Geldar picked it up and cut the struggling Countess's throat. She died with a gurgle, mist rising from her body as she fell. It swirled around the room and stopped upon a chest in the exact centre. The chest burst open, it was filled with gold.
"We'll take this back to the rogues," Geldar said when he noticed Talina eyed it greedily.
"What?" Talina asked blankly.
"You've got enough," Geldar reminded her. "The sisters have lost so much."
"Please tell me," Talina said, almost begging. "That you are being sarcastic."
"I'm not," Geldar replied.
They had to abandon the chest and take the gold up in their packs; it was not very heavy, just impossible to get up the ladder. Talina was silent as they walked but Geldar didn't talk to her. He was actually disgusted with her; he thought she was above such mundane things. But that was before she showed him her medallion.
The rogues appreciated the gesture though, even though Kashya didn't find it tasteful. Nevertheless she sent rogues out to tell caravans that they could trade. Any opportunity must be taken, Cain told Geldar and Warriv that night at the campfire.
Geldar smiled, he had finished his dinner and was studying Warriv's map. They were closer to the Monastery than they had thought, less than half a day's march in fact. He mentioned this to Charsi when he went to get his gear repaired and she looked quite interested in this.
"When we left the Monastery in a hurry I left behind my Horadric Malus, my enchanted smithing hammer," she said, looking over the corselet to see how she could repair it. "When you're in the Monastery try and find it and I'll use to enchant some of your equipment."
"Horadric?" Geldar asked. "As in the Horadrim? As in Deckard Cain?"
"Yes," she said. "He should know more about the magic behind it than I do," she looked up at him and smiled. "This won't take long to repair, it should be ready by the morning."
"Thank you," he said and went to find Talina, she was less than impressed.
"Finding a hammer?" She asked indignantly. "What are we? Porters or fighters?"
"Leave it for now," Geldar advised. "We can set out tomorrow for the Monastery, if we find the Malus all the better."
"Fine," Talina said and she stormed off before he could reply.
"Finding it hard?" Geldar heard Warriv ask. "I personally could never understand women myself."
"But you're in a camp full of them," Geldar pointed out as he sat down near the fire.
"True," the merchant said as he loaded up the fire for the night.
"Charsi was telling me about a special smithing hammer," Geldar said to Deckard Cain. "By the name of a Horadric Malus."
"Ah yes," Cain said. "That was entrusted to the rogues years ago by the Horadrim. Restoring it to them would greatly aid our cause."
"Talina thinks it's demeaning," Geldar said.
"She would," the sage replied. "But you have to remember what kind of society she comes from. In her people roles are defined by gender. Women fight and men take care of administrative matter."
"That's absurd!" Geldar said. "I'm used to women ruling things in this camp but that goes far beyond belief."
"I call it adaptation," Cain replied. "I haven't been to the Amazon Islands, though friends of mine have. It is quite different from the peoples of the west."
"And different from places likeā¦Kurast?" Geldar asked.
"Different again," Cain said. "I'm not sure if we'll eventually get to Kurast, though it depends on how far the Wanderer gets before he frees his brothers." He closed his eyes for a moment.
"Might I ask you when you were last in the east?" Geldar asked. "I can tell from your colouring and your manner you are not entirely native."
"I am descended from Jered Cain," the old man replied with a smile. "My ancestor charged himself and his descendants with protecting the town from evil, I am sorry to say I have failed."
"Don't blame yourself so," Geldar cautioned. "Who is to say that we are all puppets in the hands of the divine?"
"I will think on your words strongly," Cain said with a smile. "Though I do wish I advised the Wanderer on the forms of manipulation the Lord of Terror had at his disposal. That is my failure," he was silent for a time and then smiled at the Paladin. "Though when I was last in the East I was no older than you yourself. I had it within me to see the world, my family wanted to settle down but I wasn't for that. I travelled in a caravan to Lut Gholein and then across the Twin Seas to Kurast," he smiled reflecting on his memory.
"People say Lut Gholein is the jewel of the desert," Geldar said. "I say so too but I also say Kurast is the fair queen of cities. It is several years since I was there."
"And far much longer since I was there," Cain said. "And now again we are headed East and all I want to do is return to my home."
"Talina wants to take you to her people," Geldar said.
"Yes, I am aware of it," Cain said. "And you must find your nephew of course. But perhaps events will not turn out as we predict. Even magic is an inexact science."
"All the plans I have made since coming west," Geldar confided as Warriv began to get ready for the night. "Have depended on the next step I was to take, so many times that next step had pushed me in another direction."
"Are we not all in the hands of Fate?" Cain asked him with a smile.
