Vanessa, her henchmen, and Tressa all turn their heads at the sound of that loud voice that reverberates through the cavern. They see a certain scrappy apothecary, with a few friends, at the opening of this part of the cave tunnels.
"…! You again…" Vanessa narrows her eyes, hiding her surprise at Alfyn's arrival, "So you were following me?"
"What in Dreisang's beard do you think you're doing?!" Alfyn asks with forceful fury that is struggling to remain under control. He sees Tressa and the others all tied up in a corner, "Let 'em go!"
"Professor!" Therese gasps.
"Prim!" Simeon's expression turns into one of unusual anger.
"Oh, so they're your friends? Annoyances certainly enjoy company…" Vanessa says dismissively. Any traces of her earlier friendliness are all but gone, replaced with a venomous glare.
"Tsk…" Therion draws his knife under the folds of his poncho stealthily. His eye keeps a watch on those other guys in the cavern, who now look to reach for their own weapons…
"Mmfm...!" Tressa calls for Alfyn despite the gag, "Mnn eeh ffh!"
Therion decides now is not the time to be laughing at the merchant's plight... no matter how silly she looked.
"What did you do to them?!" Ophilia asks with indignant anger shimmering in her eyes. She is understandably most worried for those who still seem unconscious.
"Oh, they're just taking a small nap," Vanessa waves a hand at the other three before backing a few steps over to where Tressa still lay, "And since you're all here... you'll have to join them."
She motions with her chin towards her hired hands. They now advance a step towards Alfyn and the others. Therion looks ready to go. Alfyn surprisingly stops him with a hand.
"You seriously did all of it then?" The apothecary asks with surprising control and candor, "Everything with the plague...?!"
Vanessa fingers her own knife in her bag, "What are you asking now?"
"What did you give the folks for free?" Alfyn asks as his eyes narrow. His suspicions are coming together after remembering what his friends said they saw Vanessa doing... extorting townsfolk with price gouging some fancy drug that seems to treat just the symptom that arose overnight... overnight after she'd just finished treating a round of illness concerning a fever... For a cough to suddenly pop up en masse like it did... and so soon following her treatment...
He hadn't wanted to believe it could be true. He didn't want to condemn her without seeing and asking her himself. After what he said to those "other" apothecaries... about how Vanessa was doing good work... he ended up being a bigger fool than any of them. The laughingstock, for sure. Maybe they figured something was up with her to begin with. But he just wanted to trust that what she said wasn't a lie. Their profession is meant to ease the suffering of others, not pursue coin.
He had been so hopeful that he wasn't the only one who thought and practiced so. He held onto that hope as he examined the elixir the townsfolk bought from Vanessa.
However, seeing her here, having kidnapped his friends and moving to kill them just because they saw her here... her dismissive tone... the presence of these thugs... Those walls of denial and disbelief begin to crumble rapidly, only replaced with a burning bitterness in his mouth and even his soul.
How utterly … detestable!
"... Just a little help for their fevers," Vanessa's smile has an edge like a knife. She can figure that Alfyn was catching on.
"Something that also caused their coughs?" Alfyn points accusatorily, "I got a handful of guesses... And I'm sure you knew it, too!"
"Huh? What do you mean, Alfyn?" Ophilia looks to the apothecary in surprise.
"There's stuff that helps with some illnesses..." Alfyn says as he quivers with anger, "But they can well cause others, too! Gaborra evergreen, fer one, can treat inflammation on the skin... but if ingested, it'll cause yer throat to swell!"
Vanessa shrugs, her palms facing outward, "Accuse me all you want. You have no proof. And besides, what's wrong with me making a profit here?"
"The proof's in yer bag!" Alfyn barks, "That's why ya wouldn't lemme have a look see! Ya knew I'd figure you out!"
The other apothecary scoffs, like this is a boring chore. She pushes her hair off the side of her face slightly and sighs, hand on her hip, "... You're not as stupid as you look."
She didn't deny it. Therion frowns, as does Ophilia. H'aanit seems to bristle just a little, as does Linde. Therese looks still a bit confused but mostly worried for Cyrus lying on the ground. Simeon is similarly keeping his eyes on Primrose.
"I mean, it doesn't mean anything," Vanessa shrugs, "No one's going to know. And why shouldn't I have what I want?"
"I don't give two duckweeds about that!" Alfyn swipes an arm through the air, "You're using people like... like they're just cash cows! You're taking advantage of them when you're supposed to be a sworn healer!"
"Oh, boo-hoo!" Vanessa scoffs, "You expect everyone to be some poor bumpkin for free like you?! Grow up and open your eyes, kid!"
The thief sees Alfyn unwilling to back down. Therion hadn't expected Vanessa to react so vehemently. There is a break in her calm now. Her smile turns into a bitter sneer.
"Sworn to heal... yeah, apothecaries have to go every freaking leg to heal people. They run into the places no one else does, treat what others don't! Over and over again, they have to do this schlep... and for what?" Vanessa huffs, "You don't get a roof over your head or food in your belly... Just some useless smile and empty words!"
"That's no reason for you to use such underhanded methods!" Ophilia retorts, "Simply because you think your work is thankless-"
"Like some churchgoer has any right to say anything!" Vanessa cuts her off, "You guys have the entire holier-than-thou thing to fall back on! Apothecaries have to make do on their own, whether they can or not!"
The nearby mercenaries seem a little apprehensive about the shouting fest that seems to be going on. The seeming leader of the bunch looks to Vanessa from the side.
"Uh... so..." He asks awkwardly.
"Ugh, right, whatever," Vanessa shakes her head and looks venomously to Alfyn's little crew, "You may have figured something out, but it doesn't matter! Because now that I have money for some help... you're going to die here with the rest of your friends!"
H'aanit was like her bowstring, taut and drawn to fire at a moment's notice. The moment she sees the mercenaries around them make their move to advance, she sees Vanessa draw her knife standing over Tressa. The huntress, without missing a beat, flings her axe with amazing accuracy. The weapon sails through the air and cuts between Vanessa and Tressa, forcing the slick apothecary to take a step back from the merchant. The axe embeds into the floor by Cyrus, luckily not hacking into him. Tressa gives a muffled cry.
"Tsk...!" Vanessa clicks her tongue.
At the same time, Linde pounces over the heads of the oncoming goons easily, taking them by surprise. The leopard makes for Vanessa immediately to keep her away from the hostages.
"W-woah!" One of the mercenaries turns to try and get the snow leopard, only to have Alfyn elbow him in the face as he runs past through the opening in their ranks.
"Why you- woah!" The head mercenary is taken by surprise as H'aanit swings her arm at his head. He luckily ducks, but only just barely. Then he gets knocked on his rump when Therion kicks his footing off-kilter, "Gah!"
"Hmf..." Therion flatly eyes the obvious weak links in their group: the cleric, the playwright, and the student. Ophilia is swinging her glowing staff rather wildly, seemingly now okay with possible violence. That amuses the thief a little. H'aanit is close by to provide her cover in this melee environment, so she's fine. Meanwhile, Simeon and Therese seem more eager to try and get to where the others are still tied up. Therion can see Tressa trying to untie herself, using the edge of the axe embedded nearby to cut the bonds on her arms.
Alfyn runs for Vanessa and draws back a fist, "Haa!"
Vanessa wasn't expecting him to come at her with a punch of all things. She just barely steps back enough that his shot whiffles.
"You'd hit a lady?!" She growls and swipes at him with her knife.
Alfyn barely winces as her cut grazes his defending arm. He has his axe by his side but won't draw it just yet...
"I'll hit whoever takes advantage of people like you do!" Alfyn feels a trickle of blood run down his arm and moves to kick Vanessa now, forcing her back, "There ain't no other good cure for that rotten thing you call a heart!"
Vanessa growls now, feeling a prick from his words. She pulls one of her mixtures from her bag and throws it at Alfyn, "Like a bumpkin knows anything about the world!"
Alfyn dodges the vial that flies past his face. It smashes behind him and releases a blooming vapor of bluish white gas. He smells something crisp, almost like mint, but also flowery...
"Nighty-night!" Vanessa sneers, confident her concoction would overwhelm Alfyn.
The blonde coughs a bit and drops to one knee. Vanessa moves to close in and raises her knife.
"HRAAAH!"
Alfyn makes a sudden stand with a surge of energy. His move takes Vanessa by surprise as he smashes his head into her face with a loud crack.
"AUGH!" She reels back, clutching her bleeding, broken nose, "YOU-!"
"Slumberthorn, right?!" Alfyn wobbles a little on his feet but wipes his head of the cold sweat, "Yeah, I saw what you used to knock out Tress and the others... But you're dealing with me now... and I'm an apothecary!"
Vanessa sees that he has something like a bottle in his hand. It's empty. He must have drank something to counteract the soporific effects... That he had anticipated and even analyzed her product to craft an antidote while in this cave...! She had underestimated him.
"Why you...!" She snarls and barks to her hired help, "Someone get over here!"
"We're kinda busy!" The head mercenary barks back as he dodges a swing from H'aanit's axe. The huntress is like a calm, yet furious dance of blades even without her bow.
"Mf- fwah!" Tressa finally gets free with Linde's help and H'aanit's axe and pulls the gag out of her mouth, "Finally!"
"Miss Colzione!" Simeon manages to pull a cool and stylish slide over under the swing of a blade, "We need to untie the others!"
"R-right!"
"Ugh..." Cyrus groans now, obviously still out of it as they untie his arms.
"P-Professor! Yeek!" Therese squeals as a mercenary swings for her. Luckily, Ophilia manages to raise her staff and block the blade. However, he presses harder on the cleric, and she clearly doesn't have the strength to match him.
"Unh...!" Ophilia is about to stumble back.
"H-Haa!"
Therese makes a desperate, surprise kick on the attacker's shin, making him yelp. The distraction is enough for her and Ophilia to get away from his range. H'aanit makes a wide swing and clubs him from the back with the handle of her axe, and he falls down on the ground, inert. There's about three hired hands left.
"Gods, you guys are useless...!" Vanessa screeches and throws a vial wide, landing it near one of the fallen mercenaries. There is a puff of yellow smoke and the guy sits back up with a start, coughing.
"Ugh!" He blearily registers the battle is still ongoing and picks up his sword to resume fighting.
Before Vanessa can toss another one, Alfyn grapples her wrist and punches her in the face. She drops her revitalization potion and it rolls onto the floor. Alfyn crushes it under his shoe.
"You fucking...!" Vanessa looks at Alfyn with eyes screaming murder.
"Come on then!" Alfyn roars, "I'll knock the good sense into you... that you can't do this! You can't take advantage of defenseless people!"
"Watch me!" Vanessa kicks him hard between the legs. That manages to make Alfyn topple a little and she raises her knife to stab him in the neck, "You don't know jackshit what bull you're spouting!"
"Hey!" Therion's eyes widen with a frantic light and he hurriedly kicks aside the guy hounding at him, making a dash for the apothecary.
There is suddenly a loud rumble through the cavern that palpably shakes underfoot. The fighting pauses for just a second as there is a loud, low groan and the light from the moss flickers softly. A foul air pervades the cavern as there is a sudden crack. Therion looks down in shock to see something like a skeletal hand grabbing his ankle, having broken through the stone earth.
"AIIIEEEE!" Ophilia looks in horror to see Vanessa and Alfyn's vicinity swarmed by sudden skeletons that rise from the ground. The profiteering apothecary drops her knife in fear and shock at the sudden turn of events.
"Ahh! Those are-" Tressa yelps as some others claw their way up from the earth, bringing with them an otherworldly glowing mist, "T-They're the... the dead sailors?!"
Simeon squints and, indeed, these skeletons arising are seemingly not fresh bodies. They have barnacles and the erosion of the sea evident on them and the ragged clothes they wear. The fashion is akin to that of swashbucklers and pirates. An eerie light is ablaze in their hollow sockets as they rise en masse, seemingly called from the beyond.
In his arms, Primrose stirs slightly.
…
It is strange to dream of something that never happened to you. It was a memory from someone else... but Primrose didn't know who. She is standing at a beautiful horizon, seemingly aloft between the sea and sky. This place is filled with colors of dawn and twilight, from soft yellows, pinks, violets... and all sorts of hues in between that she had no names for. Yet, somehow, she had strange words on her tongue for them. And the very sky itself seemed to relish her bestowing them with names...
This is not land, nor is it exactly even the world anymore... Where she is now seems to be... nowhere.
"Sister?" She heard an unfamiliar voice call to her... no, it is familiar. It's her sister, after all...
Her beloved sister...
She turns to face her... Her sister...
"Lu... na..." She didn't quite hear the full name that fell from her lips. Strange. This is a very muddled dream... As if fragmented, incomplete...
This sister of hers has pale skin and long, white hair. Her raiment seems to be like gossamer or some light, sheer material in the form of a white dress with silvery accents. In this lighting, she appears absolutely radiant with the rays bouncing off her white locks. Her eyes are startlingly red. In those bloodred pools, Primrose sees... not herself reflected.
Instead, she has long, raven hair and similarly red eyes. She is dressed in a black shawl over a dark dress, accented with gold. Who is this?
"O … ra..." Her sister says sweetly. She proceeds to speak more, but the words seem to fade into the ether before they land on her ears. The other woman looks out to the brilliant light. She mouths another word. This one, Primrose knew by instinct.
"Father..."
Father? Somehow, instinctively, Primrose knew she wasn't talking about Geoffrey... But who? It's someone she should know... Someone everyone else had forgotten...
"Let's take it all back."
The two of them hear another voice. It's another familiar one... though unfamiliar to the dancer. The two of them turn to see another woman. This one has dark, purplish hair and red eyes like theirs. She wears a dark dress, but of a more greyish tint than pure black. They all appear to be roughly the same age.
"Sisters..." The third woman says softly, "Let us take back the world... for Father's sake."
Take back the world?
Not of her own volition, Primrose finds herself nodding. She seems to be reliving something... this is not her own memory. But why is she here?
All at once, the idyllic dawn breaks and she is buffeted with darkness. Who is she now? Still Primrose? Or someone else... whoever this person is...
O... ra... Os... Oscu... ra...
Oscura...
"Let the darkness wash over you..." She hears something like a familiar voice speak into her ear. It can't be right... that sounds like her father... like Geoffrey...
The darkness surrounding her calls with a strange melody of voices... she hears the laments of sailors and their crew who came afoul of their own greed and perished on these shores, in these caves. Their damned cries scream for release, for fulfillment... They want to live still... And they were calling for her to liberate them.
She reaches into that darkness and feels those strings of the soul. Incredible, that even in death they remain intact through the will of the dead... Much like the living... She grasps them and gives a firm tug and strum.
"... Rise then..." She finds herself saying, "Rise and fulfill your desire..."
With her permission, the deluge of departed now swirl upwards, carrying her with the darkness that swirls about like a current, speckled with the occasional face of the drowned and fallen. As they hold her aloft, she closes her eyes.
Surely, this is a strange dream.
…
Ophilia thought she was losing it when her vision flickers seeing the undead that now rise around them. They appear to be worn down to mere bones, yet still driven to move despite the barnacle-crusted joints and seaworn state of their bodies. While their eyes glow with eerie light, she herself sees strings of darkness wrapping their bodies, animating them.
"What in the name of the Flame..."
"AAAGH! I didn't sign up for this!" One mercenary turns tail and moves to run past them. He gets promptly stopped by a risen corpse, "Wagh!"
The thief watches in shock as the skeleton seems to breathe something onto the man. It's a ghostly bluish vapor. The mercenary's eyes instantly glaze over, and he falls flat on the floor, motionless. The skeleton's eyes burnish with greater light and the semblance of a ghostly aura becomes visible around it, as well as its other risen buddies. Therese screams.
"Fuck...!" Therion curses as he fends off the grasp on his legs and continues going for Alfyn, "Let's get outta here!"
"Agh!" "NOOO!"
More of the mercenaries fall to the risen skeletons. The guy that was already knocked out on the floor actually gets dragged down into the cave floor like something from a horror story.
"Aaaah!" Tressa screams, utterly paralyzed as the ghastly zombies rise with limbs outstretched. Despite many efforts to destroy them, more seem to rise and take their place easily. This place must be some sort of sailor's graveyard with how many bodies there are.
"Miss Colzione!" Simeon moves to pull her away towards him as a skeleton nears. Strangely, the bonehead suddenly looks away, paying their little corner no mind, "Huh?"
Tressa shakes in his arms a little, swallowing nervously. She notes that Primrose feels very cold as she's also held by Simeon's chest, "P-Prim?"
"Guys, we gotta bail!" Alfyn shouts to all of them as he smashes a barnacle-covered first mate.
"Tsk..." H'aanit and Linde send several more bone creatures to the floor, making a massive pile of shards at their feet. Ophilia's staff emits a strong radiance that seems to deter the undead from her and Therese. The other mercenaries don't seem to have been so lucky.
"Ahh...!" Vanessa backs away from several undead sailors, "S-stay away!"
She throws a vial at one of them, one with a sleepweed mixture. The vial bursts with a cold vapor and seems to partially coat the skull of the creature with frost... but it doesn't really do too much in terms of stopping their advance.
"Vanessa!"
To everyone's surprise, except maybe Therion's, Alfyn smashes at the skeletons to get to the other apothecary. Therion curses as he runs to cover for him.
"Uhh!" A lightbulb goes off briefly in Tressa's head and she makes a mad dash for her belongings, slipping from Simeon's grasp. With a light step like the wind, she manages to evade and sidestep the throes of battle to reach her pack. Reaching in, she pulls out a bottle of powder. With a hearty "hup!" she tosses it over to where Simeon, Olberic, and Cyrus all are, "It's smelling salt!"
Simeon isn't able to catch it so it smashes on the ground with a fragrant puff of smells. Cyrus' nose wrinkles and he groans again. Olberic coughs a little and his eyes open blearily.
"Sir Olberic, glad to have you with us!" Simeon says with relief. Then, he realizes Primrose has yet to wake up, "Prim?!"
"What is... going on..." Olberic frowns as he sees the scene. Then the realization sets in when he sees literal skeletons besieging them all, "By the Gods!"
"Olberic!" Tressa strains with the big sword as she tries to get it to the large man. A skeleton tries to ambush her, and she blasts it with wind magic, "Leave me alone!"
"Hold on!" Olberic stands and barrels through the skeletal creatures to get to where his sword and Tressa are. He ignores any of the skeletons that cling to him. His muscular body can handle more than a few of these bones even if he was unarmed. Grabbing his sword, he gives it a mighty swing and shatters several skeletons with a single blow.
"B-Bravo!" Simeon cheers.
"Do not cheer so soon...!" Olberic shouts as he makes another mighty swing to plow through the hordes of bones.
"Ohh..." Cyrus finally picks his head off the cave floor, looking around without a clue in the world, "What in the-"
"Professor! Get away from the skeletons!" Therese shouts to him helpfully.
A bluish mist, the same color and ethereal shape as the glowing eyes of the skeletons, rises from the shattered dead on the floor. Amid the fray, Ophilia hears a monstrously loud moaning, like that of an inhuman beast. The others don't seem to perceive it as the bluish mist builds at their feet. Linde is the first to growl loudly upon seeing the shattered bone shards begin to move.
"...! Something cometh!" H'aanit warns as she smashes another skull.
"Nh..." Primrose groans in Simeon's arms still.
"Prim?" Simeon looks to her worriedly
Alfyn finally gets his way up to Vanessa, much to even her surprise. He grabs her wrist and goes to pull her away from the skeleton horde.
"C'mon!"
"...!" She obediently moves her feet as they move to run. All of them are now scrambling towards the main escape route as the bluish mist now takes the form of what looks to be a gigantic floating human skull.
"AAAAAAAH!" The thing bellows with an otherworldly tone as it flies and fills the caverns in its pursuit of the adventurers.
"W-what is that?" Tressa holds onto her hat as she runs. The voice of the thing behind sends chills down her spine.
"I-I've never seen anything like it!" Cyrus inwardly rues not being able to turn around and properly assess the enemy.
"Ah-" Simeon stumbles a little with Prim in his arms.
"Ngh... God's Eye... Holy light!" Ophilia turns and sends a radiant beam flying at the specter. While it doesn't dispel the monster, the attack provides enough distraction that Olberic can help Simeon hurry along. The skull angrily lets out another gruesome howl as it resumes its chase with a vengeance.
Ophilia hears the beastly growl split in her mind as she resumes running. The voices... they're voices of people... they all want to be fulfilled... They want to be released, to be saved... their souls had been trapped here with their greed all along.
"Guh-"
Skeletal hands of the few buried along the cave walls reach out. One snags Vanessa's ankle and she pulls Alfyn down with her when she falls to the ground.
"Ngh!" Alfyn stubbornly holds on and tries to pull, "Come on, kick it off!"
"Agh-!" Vanessa feels that cold grip and the chilly air rushing up to meet them. She looks to Alfyn with eyes of abject fear and helplessness.
"Leave her!" Therion runs to pull Alfyn away. The apothecary stubbornly clings despite the thief's insistence, "ALFYN, LET GO-"
"N-NO! I won't..." Alfyn adamantly tries to free her leg as other skeletal remains pop up to ensnare them as the main skull comes barreling over, "I won't abandon someone asking for help!"
"Alfyn!" Ophilia looks back in shock to see the skull about to engulf Alfyn, Vanessa, and Therion altogether. At that moment, her heart felt ready to pop out of her mouth.
Please, by the Flame, please save them...!
The mists buffet Therion, Alfyn, and Vanessa in their chilly embrace. However, at that same moment, Ophilia's eyes take on a golden-white light. The scars on her arms glow through even her gloves as she runs forward with her staff. H'aanit turns to call her back and sees what might have been a Valkyrie of light rushing into battle.
"Ophilia?!"
"Light of the Flame, shine forth!"
Thrusting her staff forward, Ophilia sends a huge blast of light flying like a beam. It fills the entirety of the cavern tunnel and all everyone sees is white consuming even the shadows and outlines of the shape and form of everything.
It feels warm, strangely, like being embraced.
There is a sound, like that of a strong rush of wind. It sounds almost like a long howl.
Olberic opens his eyes to find himself lying on his back on the cave floor. His vision is a little blurry and he blinks to adjust, seeing the luminescence of the moss all around them. With a grunt, he feels his sword is still in hand and sits up on the hard floor. Still blinking a few times, he slowly sees the shapes of his fellow adventurers in the cave. They also all seem to have been knocked onto the floor by whatever that light was...
"Ophilia...!" He hears H'aanit first as the huntress stumbles forward. Linde rolls around on the floor, rubbing her face with irritation.
The huntress runs up to where Ophilia is lying on the ground, near where Alfyn, Therion, and Vanessa are also lying motionless. The skeletal remains that were swirling with the blue specter lie about like rubbish, no longer animated.
"Ophilia... Aren thou alright?" H'aanit worriedly pulls Ophilia into her arms, "Waken!"
Therion twitches and quietly groans, cursing his instinct to try and get Alfyn as his eyes open a crack. He feels Alfyn's wrist still in his hand. It's not moving.
"... Hey, idiot..." Therion weakly gives the apothecary a shake on the shoulder. The dirty blonde doesn't move.
"Ohh... What happened...?" Tressa sits up, still holding to her hat.
"I-I'm afraid I do not recall..." Simeon grunts as he sits up. He realizes Prim had fallen from his grasp, though still nearby. The dancer gives a soft moan, still amazingly unconscious.
"Oof... Whatever was that ghost? And that light?" Cyrus rubs his head as he slowly pulls to sit upright, "Therese, my dear, are you quite alright?"
"M-mm..." The student gives her head a few shakes to try and get rid of the blinding fog etched in her vision temporarily, "I'm alright..."
"That is good then," Olberic rubs his eye, "We all seem to be alright..."
"Oi, idiot!" Therion says louder, grabbing Alfyn by the shoulders, "Wake up!"
"Unh... H-H'aanit...?" Ophilia's eyes flutter open, much to H'aanit's relief. For a second, they looked to still be glowing but only for a few seconds.
"..." H'aanit briefly exhales before pressing the cleric harder to her chest.
"A... Are Alfyn and... are they alright?" Ophilia asks softly into the huntress' hold.
"This isn't funny, idiot!" Therion growls at Alfyn as he grabs the apothecary's shirt, "Wake up!"
This idiot ran back for this freaking con artist! If he dies because of that... for some reason, Therion feels that strange emotion again... that urge like when Sadiq died back in the Highlands. His eyes look with building fury towards the inert form of Vanessa also nearby. His fingers twitch.
"Nh... Unh..."
Finally, Alfyn coughs a little and moves, wincing. Therion lets out a trembling sigh, still holding tight to the other man. Alfyn blinks a few times, opening his eyes.
"T... Therion?"
The thief looks at Alfyn with partial shock and relief. The apothecary blinks a few more times before looking to his side with a small frown. Seeing the form of Vanessa nearby, with her hand still in his, he remembers his urgency.
"Ah, w-what happened?" He looks around before pulling away from Therion to check on the other apothecary, "Oi, Vanessa! You alright? Say something!"
Therion rolls his eyes. He definitely is relieved the idiot seems to be alright... even if he's an idiot as usual.
"Nn... Nh..." Vanessa softly grunts but doesn't move. Alfyn has a determined look on his face. He hefts her on his back without another word.
"What are you doing," Therion asks bluntly.
"We gotta get back," Alfyn says simply, as if it were an established point, "Let's go!"
"Why are you bringing her? She tried to kill you!" Therion growls.
"Uh- yeah, Al..." Tressa speaks up, "She got us, too! And she was gonna leave us to become skeletons!"
Cyrus looks lost, since he was asleep quite soundly through much of the exposition and argument. Olberic looks silently to Alfyn.
"... That may be but... Can't just leave 'er here," Alfyn says thoughtfully, "If anythin' she oughta come with us so we can put to the authorities."
"I would say that is a prudent course of action," Cyrus nods. Tressa elbows him on his side.
"You forgetting that she totally gassed us?" The merchant pouts.
"She did?" Cyrus asks with such blunt obliviousness that the merchant can only sigh in resignation. Therese giggles a little.
"Hmm... I will not lightly forget that she did this to Prim," Simeon frowns, still holding the dancer, "But our priority to get out of here. So, if that will expedite the process, let us bring her for the gallows!"
The warrior nods in agreement. This was what they did also to Gaston and his band of brigands back in the Highlands.
"Cannen thee stand?" H'aanit helps Ophilia up. The cleric luckily doesn't wobble or anything.
"Mm... I... I can... Strange..." Ophilia holds a hand to her head, "Did... I make that light?"
"Aye," H'aanit nods, "Twas thine light magick that hath driven the ghosts away."
Linde steps over and appreciatively nuzzles Ophilia's legs. The cleric smiles softly and lightly rubs the large feline. H'aanit notices the cleric wincing just a little.
"... whatever," Therion scowls and he turns to go with a huff, "Don't cry about it if she stabs you in the back while you carry her."
…
The lot of them make their way back from the Caves of Azure to Goldshore. By the time they leave the caverns, the sky has changed to twilight. Beautiful colors of the sunset's remains color the horizon where the sky and waters touch in the distance. It's even more beautiful with the sands here that glitter with the dying light. But it's no time to admire this. The crew more or less figured that monsters would only get more brazen once darkness falls. And so, they hurry to return by the path whence they came to Goldshore.
"Moment," H'aanit gestures down another direction, one riddled with beach brush, "Believen I do there be a hastened way back. Linde hath another path noticedeth on coming. Liken it weren the way she and her men cameth."
"Ah, that would certainly make sense..." Olberic nods, "It may also seem to be a bit off the beaten path. Though that says nothing on how safe it might be."
"We're burning the last hours of daylight people! Move it!" Tressa the sudden drill sergeant stomps ahead.
Sure enough, they quickly see the cathedral in the distance as they take this hidden path. The bell can be heard tolling in the distance for nighttime hours. The rest of Goldshore quickly becomes apparent. The sky is still streaked with orange, gold, and red, before fading into darker purples and blues.
"Oh, perfect timing..." Simeon mutters under his breath as he hears the loud squawk of something avian in the distance behind them, "I have heard plenty of stories about the Coastland birdians... very nasty ones, mind you."
"I would say they are well-founded, considering how they are quite the sharpshooters, as I recall from my readings in bestiary knowledge," Cyrus nods along.
"Mm... S..." Primrose softly stirs, "...Simeon?"
"Prim!" Simeon is awash with relief as the dancer seems to finally awaken, "You're safe now, dear love. We are on our way back to Goldshore..."
"... Good..." She mumbles and just nuzzles his chest a little, seemingly falling back to sleep.
"Do your arms tire, Simeon?" Olberic asks the playwright.
"Oh, of course not!" Simeon brushes off his concern, "Prim is hardly a burden!"
Therion keeps an alert eye out, anything to keep his attention from the fact that Alfyn actually bothered carrying the enemy with them. He really hopes they still use the death penalty here.
…
In the dark little house, they usually couldn't afford much more than a single candle's worth of wax for a week. They were lucky there was a good amount of free sunlight, but it doesn't reach well in cramped quarters. In that dark little house, the older woman toiled to provide for her two children, a son and a daughter. She was a maker of natural oil perfumes made by gathering flowers and extracting their essences into aromatic waters. It was a process that was strenuous and didn't always pay well, even in the flowering months. In the colder months, when the seasonal blooms were all but gone, they were often prone to starve. Her children sometimes went out to sell the flowers that did not get turned into perfume. It was never much, but it was enough for now... just for the three of them.
"Don't forget to pray, now, you two," The mother says firmly to her two rascals. The kids snicker to one another as they hold their hands while their little table recites the old thankful prayer for their food to the Flame.
The Sacred Flame...
They say that faith can fill stomachs. That faith can give one invisible wings, even. So many people worship at the church, but it doesn't seem to do them any good. So many people are still starving paupers. And yet, people believed.
Couldn't they see the lie? The daughter wondered. Why did they continue to do this to themselves?
"Someday, you'll understand..." Her mother says softly as she ties her hair, "You're very clever, Vanessa, but faith isn't something clever people always grasp."
It wasn't as if she were discontented. Just disillusioned. She figured that people just liked to believe in things that made them feel better, even when it means nothing in reality.
Mother always reminded them that they were still better off than many beggars; to be grateful for what they had. Surely, in time, faith would be rewarded.
Their little Coastland home in Goldshore was soon the target of some tax hikes. The three of them were evicted after three months of negotiating with their landlord, who decided what they had to offer wasn't enough in the end.
She should have talked her mother out of it, but they ended up moving all the way to Flamesgrace. Of all the frigid hellholes they as Coastlanders could have gone! Not to mention it was an overbearing place being watched day in and out by that enormous cathedral.
They can't survive on flowers here. Instead, her mother took up drudgery for other houses as a maidservant. Vanessa and her brother could help when it came to cleaning the small spaces like chimneys. It was dirty work.
She and her brother sometimes took a short break, sitting atop a roof of a house and staring out at the snowy landscape. The sun sometimes was out and shone upon the powdery white, making it glitter similarly to the grains of sand she recalled in Goldshore.
"I wanna join the Knights Ardante," Her brother, Clyde, would say and point at the armored guards of the cathedral with their vestments, "They never have to worry about food."
"Oh, that would be wonderful," Their mother smiled.
Then, one day, while playing with some other kids, Clyde fell beneath the ice at the lake. The kids ran to get a Knight to help. It didn't save him.
Vanessa stared numbly at that little body as her mother cried over the funeral shawl. They shelled out their savings to pay for the funeral.
Maybe that broke her mother a little. She still scrubbed and cleaned, trying to support the two of them now. When Vanessa helped, she felt a strange fear watching her mother on her hands and knees by the bucket of dull dishwater. Sometimes, her mother would start coughing uncontrollably. This began to happen even when she was at home.
Vanessa bought the pitcher of water into her mother's room in their unlit house. She paused at the doorway and stared at her mother doubled over and coughing in bed. Was she always so gaunt? So … frail?
When she washed the dishes, she saw her reflection in the soapy, grey water... for a second, she felt that fear again when she thought her mother was staring back at her.
Who wants to live like this? Grow old, still slaving away... You can't change your own fate without money. You'll just...
She refused that fate. She was scared to death thinking about it. Her hands furiously scrub at those plates, splashing the water to muddle that apparition staring back at her.
Her mother's cough only worsened. Doctors cost money. The Church doesn't have much to say for you when you go to prayer for illness. They just give you some token blessing so you can feel good about it for maybe five minutes before the chills and coughs return. Anything more than that? They just say it's in the god's hands.
Bullshit...
And her mother swallowed all of it in blind faith. Maybe she was as scared as Vanessa, honestly. She clung to that faith of hers. She'd always been the more religious one. Vanessa found herself getting repulsed, annoyed. But she never fought with her mother about it. She bit the inside of her lip whenever she heard her mother praying in bed. Her mother was praying … for her.
It's not worth anything... It's pointless...
That rasping breath is like a haunting entity drifting about the house. The presence of its specter is palpable. That of death...
She blows hot air onto her hands and counted out some coins on the old wooden table after leaving some hot tea by her mother's bedside. The coughing made it unlikely she would continue working. Even patrons were wary of their cleaning lady if she was coughing up her lungs all the time.
Can't get candles much anymore... Tinder here is always wet and smoky. If you were lucky with a good hearth or coal burner, that would be a different story. The chill otherwise creeps into your very bones. Such is her mother's case.
With her meager coinage, she went to the local apothecary. He was an old man. She was more or less sure he was a bit blind. His children had left the nest for a while now. She told him how much she had and what happened to her mother. He took the coins from her and rubbed them between his fingers before shuffling to his back room. It took a few minutes before he came back with a small satchel of something. When he handed it to her, she saw that, under his bushy brows, his eyes were almost pale-white.
She left without thanking him, holding the merchandise tightly to her chest. As she went home that day, she remembered seeing some Knights Ardante on break away from the patrol in the Cathedral. It might have been a pointless action on her part, but she made a snowball and threw it at them before running away like a brat.
She never told her mother what she did when she gave her the medicine from the apothecary. The stuff smelled of heady herbs.
To her relief, her mother seemed to do better on that little bag of medicine while it lasted. She was able to return to working, with Vanessa helping. She was growing, and some other men around were noticing.
"It would be nice if you were wed," Her mother smiled thinly, "A good husband could provide for you."
Provide for her? That would be nice, wouldn't it? But, as far as Vanessa was concerned, expecting someone else to pamper you was a daydream no better than blind faith. Her whole life, her family had subsisted off their own labor. They provided for themselves...
When the medicine ran out, it was within the crux of a particularly bad snow season. The drifts were so high that they could bury a house, hugging it with chill. The air in a house was also no good being all plugged up by snow. Mother's cough came back with a vengeance. There was blood.
Vanessa ran through the stormy night and pounded on that door. The old apothecary opened the door, and she handed him the money. This time, after rubbing the coins together, he shook his head. She was indignant. It was the same amount as last time. Why wasn't it enough?!
He gave her a small smile and said something that pricked her inside somewhere.
"You charge more for medicine that works, right?"
What did that mean? He'd sold her some placebo drug? Some experimental draught? Had her mother ingest that? And now that he knows, he can raise its price, especially now during such a chilling time.
Something flipped in her stomach.
She needed that medicine.
She didn't leave that apothecary's home until morning, when the storm abated. The snows covered everywhere like a pure white blanket. It would have been a sight to admire, were she not in an urgent situation.
Pulling on her shawl, she burst out the door, clutching the medicine to her chest as she ran through the snow for home. Several times, she tripped in the deep drifts. Good snowshoes are too expensive.
There were clerics dressed in white going around after the storm had passed, saying prayers for homes and checking on the townspeople.
Where were you when the storm was here!? Vanessa wanted to spit at them.
The hovel was densely blocked with snow. Ignoring the chill, she dug until her hands were red and about to break off from cold. The kindly neighbor saw her and came to help with his shovel. She threw the door open to that dark, unlit place. It's as cold inside as it was outdoors. She ran to the bedroom.
Her mother was laying cold in bed.
Vanessa stared at that unmoving body that no longer breathed. The medicine drops to the floor.
Useless.
The neighbor heard her anguished scream.
What does any of it do for you? Faith, diligence, discipline... None of it is worth anything.
There wasn't enough to have her buried in a special plot or anything. The Church had their service for the financially needy, akin to a potter's field sort of thing, except for cremation. At least Vanessa was able to reclaim those ashes. The blonde cleric that handed it to her was a young girl that whispered such useless condolences. Vanessa took the unfurnished, generic clay urn and threw the ashes out atop the small hill of flowers. From there, she can see the glittering Cathedral.
Beautiful... like gold coins, glass chandeliers, sparkling jewelry...
Things she wanted... things out of reach... because of her wealth status...
She had decided. She would not live without doing what she wanted. And she did not want to live like her mother did. She would seize what she desired, no matter what. Because that is the only way she can change her fate.
No one would have thought she would return to that old apothecary. And yet, she did. She smiled sweetly to him, fawned over him, praised him. She whispered soft nothings to that old man to get him around her finger.
"Make me your apprentice."
He gave her a crooked smile.
She moved in with him the day after her mother's cremation.
People trade favors for goods. Money for favors. Money for goods. Money for money. Money for... anything.
The best new medicine is always right around the corner. You just need someone to buy those lies and you have a paying sucker right there. It's easy, once you realize you hold the key to life and death in the eyes of the people...
That's right... no need to get on your knees and clean floors when you have this... To hell with good honest work or whatever. Where did that get anyone? What did that get her mother but a dead son and bad lungs? Vanessa wanted to ensure she would never follow that wretched path.
Eventually, the old apothecary finally died. Did she poison him in his deathbed? Or was there no need? All she would have to do was simply withhold a little medicine from him and he would die, as her mother did. Did she do that? Who can say.
He didn't have much left in his stores towards the end. She had been siphoning from his stock, after all. With a well-packed satchel from him, she had the symbol of Dohter on her side. She left Flamesgrace and never looked back.
When you have been in poverty, it's amazing how much better it feels to take from those who have something to give. You care a lot less about their means. It's merely to add onto your own. It is simply survival.
Give people something two-faced. Treat the bad side and profit. If you need a new medicine, try out the stuff you got on those poor, sick kittens and see if it works. If it does, you got a new bestseller in your hands. It's that simple when you have the power of life and death and the knowledge of doctors.
"Dohter was also a god of poisons, you know?" The old man had taught her, "Apothecaries … medicine is just a poison in a right amount."
Boy, was he right. Cures that lead to more illnesses. It's a cycle, almost, with a laughable number of possible exploitations. She didn't expect her first town to turn such coin for her. She stayed the night in the most expensive room in the local inn.
The next day, she saw the funeral for a child that died overnight. It was one of her patients the day before. She hurriedly drew her shawl about her head and left town.
It wasn't her fault... what she gave him should have been nonlethal...
Guilt is a luxury that cannot be afforded here in this profession. Just learn from your mistakes. That's all the living can do.
No matter what, people die... so you may as well benefit, right?
People keep getting sick. People keep dying. She distanced herself from that as much as she could, to keep a spotless reputation that would ensure a flow of clients... Until she finally made it full circle, back to Goldshore.
And she decided she would take the place by storm.
She was no longer the pauper. She would be their collector.
...
Vanessa stirs at last. She feels some wet stone on her cheek. She blinks. Her eyes adjust to the dim lighting in this place. It's a stone laden cell. Fear seizes her. How …
The memories hit. That's right... the caves... the skeletons... They... her men... were all... and she was...
Shudders wrack her body and she gasps. She grasps the bars of the cell and lets out a terrified cry into the halls of the Goldenshore gaol.