Blaidd's ears perked up at the same times as the wolves which guarded Ranni's Rise. Together, they turned their heads toward Seluvis' "secret" workshop. That rat was usually more covert. It really sounded like he was throwing a tantrum. The shattering of glass could almost be heard by human ears. Only… wasn't he still at his own Rise?

Had… had he finally fallen far enough to lay hands upon a living victim?

The half-wolf waited as minutes ticked by. He would not leave his post, even to save a life. His mistress was vulnerable while she slept. Only by the strength of her godly will did her spirit remain tethered to her doll body. If it were damaged, she might be lost forever. Surely, such was the only reason to tolerate that dollmaker's continued service.

Blaidd growled in the back of his throat. Not much longer now, hopefully.

At last, a slender silhouette emerged from the concealed cellar. The androgynous figure was dressed in finery of the not-so-noble class and moved with a curious mix of dignity and efficiency as they tilted their dashing hat.

Wasn't that…? That Dolores woman? So her body had become a puppet as well. A shame. Blaidd almost wondered how she died but knew better than think too hard.

Suddenly, she looked at him.

Strange. She had been keen of eye, but… Blaidd tensed a little. Not enough for it to show in his stance. The wolves began to growl low.

The puppet turned and made her way toward them, moving with the uncannily natural motion of Seluvis' work. The man could truly make corpses move better than any necromancer. As the Dolores-doll came within striking distance, Blaidd raised a hand.

"Hold on there. I don't know your intentions, but you'll go no further. If it's Seluvis you seek, then you may find him at the lower Rise."

The puppet paused. She lifted her chin subtly in thought. This close, Blaidd was sure. There was something flickering behind what should have been lifeless eyes. This was almost certainly not Seluvis' doing. At least not purposefully.

After a moment, the puppet adjusted her hat with exaggerated gestures. Her hands swept through the air as if to outline a broad brim that covered the eyes. Blaidd narrowed his eyes, uncertain. The puppet's eyes flashed with recognition and then made a sweeping gesture over her head. She was outlining a witch's hat.

"Lady Ranni is not taking guests at the moment," Blaidd said, relaxing slightly.

Still, he remained on guard. Nothing good came from associating with body-jumpers, whether that monster Sellen or…

The puppet pointed to Blaidd, then to her herself and to the top of the tower.

"It would make no difference if I were to accompany you," he said easily. "Ranni is not taking guests, and that's that."

The puppet's face blanked, looking like a puppet for once. Only the eyes remained focused. After a moment, she bowed politely and tipped her hat.

"Ah, good to see you understand. Farewell."

Blaidd nodded, and the puppet turned to leave. She started walking away as if to return to Caria Manor. The half-wolf's eyes followed her until she crossed behind some distant stone and was gone.

"How odd. I hope Ranni wasn't counting on that fellow."

Blaidd continued his vigil for some time until again, his ears pricked. The sound of cheap steel striking stone. There wasn't much power behind the strikes. He could hear the quiet twang as more damage was dealt to the knife than the stone. Only, it was coming from…

In a flash, he was low to the ground, cloak flowing over him. One hand gripped his greatsword. He flowed over the hillock to the rear of the Rise.

There stood the Dolores puppet again. One hand and one knee grasped fruitlessly at the ancient stone while the other hand tried to use a dagger as a climbing piton. Blaidd would be angry if it weren't so ridiculous.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" he groaned, rising to his full height and releasing his blade. "I should have been perfectly clear. No guests."

The puppet paused. She didn't freeze with alarm or guilt. She almost seemed to sigh, shoulders loosening. Seeming to think things over, she turned around and then bowed low. She fell to her knees and pressed her forehead into the dirt, then pointed to the top of the tower, pleading with both hands.

"Is it really too much to wait?" Blaidd said, holding back his frustration.

The wolves had caught up now and were circling around the doll, sniffing as if they could get more from it than Seluvis' stench.

"This is your last warning. I will inform Lady Ranni that you were here once she is ready. Do not approach again, or I will be forced to give you to Seluvis. Now go."

He turned to walk back to the tower's door, then froze. The sound of cloth rustling, wood tensing. On pure reflex, his hand shot up. An arrow, just short of his throat. He sniffed. A potent sleeping drug, leftovers of that "Saint Trina" and a hallmark of the original Dolores. It seemed Seluvis had kept her equipment stocked. So he used the puppets for actual battle after all…

"Then it seems I'll have to inform Lady Ranni of an assassination attempt."

He slowly drew his sword from beneath his cloak, glimmering in bronze and sapphire. It was unbearably heavy, like the oath sworn upon it. Perfect for a shadowbound beast.

He parried a second arrow, then a third. The puppet was retreating, but the wolves seemed strangely hesitant to give chase. He lunged past them, reaching for a quick thrust. Of course, with a blade of that size, it was more a drilling motion with enough force to shatter stone. Whoever inhabited that doll, they were capable of trickery. Perhaps his mistress would wish to interrogate them, but her safety came first.

The puppet dodged into the blade. This was not a green combatant or a dedicated archer who might make the mistake of retreating. "Dolores" glided forward, just shy of the weapon's edge. Blaidd's own sword and arm were in the way. He could barely dodge as an arrow grazed the side of his neck. He snarled as he felt the first bite of the sleeping drug. It was nowhere near enough to bring him down, but that was a foolish mistake.

The instant his foot touched ground, he swung his momentum into his hips. Pushing past his sword, he slammed his side into the puppet. She should have been sent sprawling backward, but she recovered with almost practiced ease. Instead, she threw her own weight into the blow, drawing and firing another shot before rolling away.

Blaidd ripped the arrow free from his side immediately, claws wedging their way into the puncture in his armor and through his flesh. He grunted. Better some manageable blood loss than to be knocked out.

Growling, he waved his cloak in front of him to hide his silhouette and any gaps in his armor as he charged. As he heard the next shot loose, he jumped, rolling over it and hammering an overhead strike that shattered the earth. Just a hair short again. The puppet had sidestepped. But this wasn't his first battle with a flighty foe. As his sword shook with the impact, he hurdled over it, sweeping with claw and knee.

This time, he had caught it– or close enough. It dodged the flying knee by sliding closer again, but there was no escape from his claws. The puppet chose to sacrifice her bow instead, using it to catch his wrist even as his raw strength shattered the supple wood.

They're too close for the puppet to dodge now. Blaidd pivots his knee and twists his hip, ripping his sword from the earth. However, the angle is still to the doll's benefit. Rather than a solid cut, he strikes her side with a ceramic-shattering crack. She tumbles through the air, wildly at first but then straightening out to land on her feet. Unshaken despite the way her blouse is torn around a gap in her torso, she draws the lousy dagger from before.

A growl rumbled low in Blaidd's throat. This was not the sort of enemy he had expected to face. Was this the work of some strange Tarnished?

At least there was little fight left. "Dolores" held her dagger in an orthodox stance, a standard for Caria or Leyndell. She was trained to use the knife, but that was all. The skill of a common warrior was no challenge. Only, was there another trick?

As he rushed forward, the puppet couched her dagger as if to deflect Blaidd's immense sword. A futile defense if it was earnest, but it was perhaps her only chance of making it out of their final exchange.

Blaidd raised his sword mid-lunge and–

She threw the dagger.

Too easy. Even if it was drugged, it wouldn't drive deeply enough to stop this blow. He let it clatter against his breastplate, greatsword overhead in both hands.

The puppet smiled, eyes wide with battle-lust.

Breaking from a formal stance, she stretched forward like a beast, rushing under his arms as they swung. A feral jab struck his exposed armpit. An arrow held between her fingers pierced his fur, and he felt his vision fade slightly.

Snarling, he stomped his left foot and twisted his half-finished swing back the way it had come. Falling to all fours, the puppet sprung forward and tackled his legs. Two more arrowheads pierced the back of his knees, and he staggered. Only for a moment.

He kicked the thing off of him, but there was little power behind the blow without any momentum. Growling at himself as much as his foe, he took a step back and leveled his sword in a defensive stance. It was a rare thing, to fight a human-sized opponent who didn't rely on flashy magic or overly elaborate weapon. He had grown complacent as a guard.

Snorting, he paced to one side, blade at the ready. Calming himself, he recalled this was a defensive battle. Give it time. Surely, old Iji or that rat Seluvis or proud Adulla would return from their other duties. If nothing else, he could defend himself while the sedative ran its course.

This time, it was the puppet that rushed in. With steady hand, he thrust and swung back across. Control the space; don't aim for the kill. Without his usual aggressive speed, he wasn't able to hit her, but neither was she able to reach him.

Seeing her previous strategy wouldn't work, "Dolores" straightened her back and almost paced. Her eyes took in everything at once as she tore away the shredded part of her blouse and picked loose pieces of ceramic flesh from her wound.

Again, she pointed to herself, then the top of the Rise.

"Why won't you take 'no' for an answer? Suppose I should blame Seluvis for that?"

The puppet rolled her eyes and threw her arms wide in exaggerated exasperation. Then, she ran at him again. Blaidd's sword circled in a broad two-handed grip, ready to pivot any direction. The puppet didn't slow.

Blaidd thrust to center-of-mass, realizing a moment too late that he'd misread the creature again. She'd cleaned her wound not out of vanity but so the cloth wouldn't catch on his blade. She turned so that the thrust cleft through her wounded side again. More of the doll cracked and tore away, but she flew straight toward him anyway. Spinning with the force of his own attack, she slammed an uppercut into his chin. An arrowhead pierced tender flesh, and Blaidd felt the sedative taking hold.

As he staggered, the puppet jabbed another one into his elbow. He felt the grip on his sword loosening. What color was the sky right now? His hand twitched as his body began to list. The world moved in slow motion as he saw a third blow coming.

There was no way this was the end for him. Beaten by some puppet of unclear origin? Failing to protect Ranni when she was so close? Was the world really so dark that her shadow would disappear?

No… No. No! NO!

He howled blindly as bestial instinct awakened in his place. Tendrils of darkness writhed about his feet like countless fingers or the legs of vermin.

As the punch came, his snarling maw lunged forward and caught the puppet's fist. The iron jaw of a wolf snapped shut, filling his mouth with ceramic splinters and the iron taste of his own blood. Gripping his sword hard enough that his claws dug into his palm, he slammed it again into the doll's wounded side, sending her tumbling down the hillock.

He snarled and started to lunge after her, but–

"Thine earnestness shall be thine undoing, Blaidd."

Ranni settled upon his shoulder like a winter owl. Something hurtled toward them, but the half-wolf caught it. Two of the puppet's own fingers, torn free by Blaidd's teeth. She dropped two more on the ground and raised her hand to show only the middle finger was still attached.

"I see thou hast found an ill-mannered friend. Shall we teach them?"

Blaidd growled through his teeth, nodding. He lunged forward again, swinging his blade ahead of him like a shield. As he did, Ranni extended her hand, wrapping it in frost.

The puppet rolled under it, springing into a back-kick. She slid on the thin layer of ice coating the grass and kicked up a rock which she slung at him before hopping further away.

As Blaidd whirled around, Ranni spread her four hands to unleash a hail of frozen glintstone pebbles. The puppet dropped to the ground to dodge the grapeshot blast, and the wolf closed that gap. She dodged his downward swing, but he curved the blow, hewing through the earth and launching her through the air. Ranni immediately followed up, showing her mastery by firing a sorcerous greatarrow with no bow.

The puppet shuddered and shook, but its agility earned her nothing in the open air. Only, at the last moment, a gout of fire spurt from her mouth. She dodged by a hair, but only just. Ranni's second pair of arms had already unleashed two volleys of homing stars. The puppet could only twist her body to throw off some of the momentum as they struck her from either side.

Blaidd launched himself in the air next. As he soared, his mistress set one hand on the pommel of his sword. With a thrust, a blade of piercing light shot from the edge, skewering the puppet even as he closed the distance.

Even still, without a sense of pain, she grabbed the physical blade as it reached her. She swung one foot up and then the other around, throwing her body at Ranni. Blaidd saw her aim just as her hips twisted and made the split-second decision to cast his sword to the ground instead. The puppet's kick clipped him in the snout instead as she fell with the weight of the steel.

As it embedded itself in the hillside, she tumbled forward with the momentum. A moment later, Blaidd hit the ground badly. The kick had thrown his angle off, and he couldn't roll out of the landing without crushing Ranni. Instead, he landed firmly on his haunches, trying to catch as much of the force in his legs as he could. Unfortunately, he still had the legs of a man rather than a wolf, and one knee buckled. He snarled and demanded his body remain upright as the puppet rushed him.

"Blaidd, stop!"

He wanted to tell her not to worry, but there was still a shadow around his vision. He threw his cloak over his body to hide his silhouette and his injury, then prepared for one final exchange.

There was a flash of light, and his legs were swept out from under him. Even as he fell, he reached back and shoved Ranni away so she could flee. What an unworthy guard dog he had been.

He twisted as best he could, lashing his body upward and lunging with his claws. He caught the puppet's good hand as she swung. A second attack he couldn't stop in time came from the fingerless hand, but surely it couldn't–

He saw too late that an arrow was jammed into the broken porcelain, held upright by that middle finger. He felt it bite into a gap under his breastplate.

He was furious. This couldn't be it. His bitter rage was as dark as his vision was growing, but he couldn't keep it focused as dreams of the past intruded his waking thoughts.

Seluvis… Loretta… Radagon… Was there not a soul who was loyal?