I do not own Dragon Quest VIII or any of its characters.
Two Abbeys
Kane remained silent as he and the others entered the interrogation room, which had a torture chamber attached to it. Angelo had, apparently, put his ring up as credit at the pub, so the Templar guards, while incredibly displeased to see Kane and the others again, were none too surprised that they needed to return the ring, and had let them in. After about ten minutes of asking around, they'd been directed down into the dungeon and past the cells to the interrogation room.
The interrogation room wasn't awful. It was dark and decorated only by a plain, wooden table and stools, but it belied nothing about what was beyond the door of cell bars that connected to the torture chamber. Even without approaching the door or the barred window, Kane could see dozens of nasty-looking implements, tools, and several places where an individual could be chained to the wall.
"Well done," Marcello's cold, infuriated yet controlled voice spoke from beyond the window, at which Angelo stood, facing into the torture chamber. "You managed to cause another brawl at the Simpleton pub. I hope you're proud of yourself."
"News travels fast," Angelo commented. "What a fine intelligence network the Templars h-"
"How much more shame do you intend to bring to our abbey!?" Marcello demanded, cutting Angelo off. "You're like a curse! Yes, a filthy curse. If you hadn't been born, we'd all have been spared a lot of misery."
Angelo remained silent, except for a low sigh.
"You're nothing but a petty crook with a pretty face," Marcello continued. "It sickens me to think we share any common blood." He huffed. "Enough! Templar Angelo! By order of the Captain, you are sentenced to a term of penitence. I'm hereby stripping you of your right to leave the abbey. You do not leave this place. Not for anything! Understood? Cross me on this, and I'll see to it that you're expelled from the Order! And don't think the Abbot will be able to protect you this time!"
"Does anyone else have the feeling we just heard something we weren't supposed to hear?" Jessica whispered quietly. "It's hard to believe those two are brothers. Anyway, let's get out of here."
The others nodded, and they headed back upstairs, finding a spot to avoid any unfortunate run-ins with Marcello and waited for Angelo to pass. After a few minutes, the pair finally arrived. Marcello headed upstairs toward his private chambers, and Angelo stood at the door into the abbey's courtyard, so Kane and the others walked over to him.
"Angelo," Marik called out to him.
"You...You're the people I met at the pub, right?" Angelo asked, walking over to them. "What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean what are we doing here!?" Jessica demanded, holding up Angelo's ring. "You told us to come! Now you can take back this stupid ring, and we'll be on our way!"
"My ring?" Angelo asked, then smirked, holding his hand to his chin in thought. "Of course! I can still play that card! Listen! I've got a favor to ask."
"A favor!?" Jessica scoffed. "You're kidding, right!? What makes you think we'd want to help you!?"
"Just listen, all right!?" Angelo snapped. "There's no time to argue!" He looked around, eyes narrowed. "Can't you feel it? Can't you feel the sinister presence in the abbey?"
Kane looked around. Angelo was right. He could feel it. It was why the Templars were so on edge. If Angelo had picked up on it enough to recognize what he was feeling, he was sharp.
"I heard that a jester got into the Abbot's residence," Angelo continued. "I'm convinced he's the source of the sinister air. I heard you asking around about him, so I believed you'd be willing to help me."
"A jester!?" Jessica's eyes narrowed.
"I don't know what he's planning to do, but I'm sure Abbot Francisco's life is in danger!" Angelo explained. "You've got to help! I need you to get into the Abbot's residence and make sure that he's alright!"
"We will," Marik nodded.
"We have every reason to stop the jester, and if there's a chance he's here, we're going to take it," Kane said, eyes narrowed.
"Thank you," Angelo sighed in relief. "I'm in your debt. Now, listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. You may have seen them already, but there are some obstinate idiots guarding the bridge to the Abbot's residence. You can't go that way. But if you're prepared to go the long way around, there is another way to get there. You need to leave the abbey as if you were going to Simpleton, but turn immediately left along the river.
"Just follow the river along, keeping the abbey in view. Keep going along the river and you'll come to a ruin. It's the old abbey that was used before this one. There's an underground passageway leading from there to the Abbot's residence. I'm afraid that's the only way. The entrance to the ruin can be opened with that Templar's ring I gave you, so you just keep hold of it, all right? Anyway, there's no time to lose! It's in your hands now. Please help the Abbot!"
They all nodded, hurrying out of the abbey and along the river. They all agreed on one thing. It had to be Dhoulmagus. No one else could fit the description and also get into the Abbot's residence unnoticed. So, they moved quickly. After about ten minutes, they reached the ruin.
"Should we have told Grandad?" Yangus asked.
"If Dhoulmagus is here, there's no time," Kane said. "And if Dhoulmagus isn't here, I'm betting he'll be back. He seems to have marked his next victim."
"But why the Abbot?" Jessica asked.
"No idea," Kane admitted, stopping in front of what could have been either a tombstone or an altar.
It was inscribed with a crest, and an indent rested in the center of the crest. Marik pressed the face of the ring into the hole and turned it until there was a click. Instantly, dark smoke and dust began to explode up from around a square of ruined brick floor off to the side, where there was a section of collapsed wall. After a moment, the smoke and dust cleared, revealing a square hole leading into a tunnel.
"Come on," Kane said darkly. "Let's go find our wayward fool."
They headed down the steps, finding themselves in an underground ruin. From the faded and neglected interior, it was clear this had once been the abbey, or at least part of it, but now, it was far from a holy place. The walls and floor were cracked and dusty, the statues of the Goddess were broken and crumbling, and several kinds of monsters roamed its halls, including undead. Kane charged into battle instantly, slashing through several yellow, bat-type monsters called Drackyma, igniting his sword as he slaughtered zombies and skeletons. Marik was a step behind him, slaughtering everything just as easily as Kane. And to Kane's surprise, he even finally managed to combine his flames with his swordsmanship, allowing him to be all the more deadly. Yangus followed them with Jessica, and between her magic and dagger and Yangus's axe, they left nothing alive. They took a curved staircase deeper and several humanoid flies, called Flyguys, swarmed them, only for Marik and Kane to greet them with a flurry of flaming slashes, slaughtering the entire swarm in seconds. However, as they were passing a chest Yangus stopped, reaching for its latch.
"Yangus, don't!" Kane shouted in warning, but it was too late.
The chest came alive, sprouting sharp, pointed teeth along the seam for its lid, a long, red tongue lolled out of its mouth, and a pair of yellow eyes blazed to life inside of it. A Cannibox. A type of mimic. It cackled once before leaning forward, lifting itself onto its tongue as a pulse of magic shot out of it. Flames roared from off to their right, racing toward them, and they scattered. Marik and Kane both charged as Jessica and Yangus retreated. Marik reached the chest first, slashing hard, but his sword barely managed to crack the Cannibox's solid, wooden body. As Marik leapt backward, Kane leapt high into the air, sword pulled back. Then, as he fell, he slashed hard, splitting the Cannibox's body wide, wood and metal alike, and it shrieked in pain. As it did, Jessica launched a fireball into its mouth, and the explosion sent it crashing to the ground. then, Yangus plummeted toward it from above, bringing his axe down hard. This time, the blow shattered the Cannibox's lid, then its body after, cleaving it in two, and Kane sighed, then tilted his head to the side as a sword tumbled out of the box. It was a steel broadsword, one with a shiny, silvery blade and a tarnished, gilded hilt. It was beautiful, but unnecessary. Except, Marik picked it up, sheathing his own sword before replacing his sword on his back with the broadsword, holding his own sword in his left hand.
"What are you doing?" Kane asked.
"This sword's better," Marik shrugged. "It's sturdier, sharper, only a little heavier."
"Sounds better," Yangus nodded.
"Better?" Kane repeated incredulously. "Are you joking?"
"What?" Marik frowned.
"Where is your honor!?" Kane snapped. "You would cast aside the symbol of your sworn oath so easily? Just because it's sturdier!?"
"What does our oath-" Marik began.
"THIS sword is my pride," Kane recited. "I will protect it. With THIS sword, I defend my lord. And if, someday, I fail my lord, I will meet my end upon THIS sword."
"Yes, and if we don't take any advantage we can get, we will meet our end BECAUSE OF this sword!" Marik argued.
"Enough, you two!" Jessica snapped. "Dhoulmagus first, swords later!"
Kane narrowed his eyes, but huffed, nodding, and headed deeper into the ruin. Many kinds of monsters attacked them, but Kane quickly proved himself to be even more lethal than he'd displayed before. He lunged and twirled through Flyguys, and Drackymas, possessed, blue bags of jewels called a Bag o' Laughs, skeletons, walking corpses, and mummies. A special type of Slime made out of a uniquely solid metal leapt at Marik, and he deflected its extremely heavy body off his shield before slashing hard. Except, his fancy new sword spat sparks as it skidded off of the Slime's body. Yangus lashed out, and the slime leapt backward, avoiding the strike altogether. Jessica's Frizz exploded against it harmlessly. And then, Kane leapt into the air over it. It began to turn, but before it could turn fully, Kane's sword descended, the same strike that had split the Cannibox so easily tore down through the Metal Slime, splitting its body wide and killed it in a single blow.
"Yes, our new swords are clearly inferior," Kane growled, then turned, slashing a Bag o' Laughs in half as it leapt at him.
And then, he continued. He ducked, weaved, twirled, and lunged through the monsters now swarming from deeper in the ruin, slaughtering them. Flames aided his strikes intermittently, and numerous times he seemed to strike twice in the blink of an eye. The others watched in a stunned silence for a few moments before snapping back to the present and rushing into battle as well. Together, they swept through the monsters like a scythe through a field, leaving no one standing and easily clearing the way deeper into the ruin. Eventually, they reached a room where the floor was flooded by a thick, glowing, bubbling, purple sludge.
"Don't touch it," Kane warned, pointing to a Flyguy who was lying in the sludge, partially dissolved. "It causes the body of anyone who touches it to rot. Only undead are immune."
The others nodded, and they crossed the room carefully, sticking to the debris and abandoned furniture scattered through the room to reach the other side safely. Once they were across, they started up a flight of stairs, only for a trio of sword-wielding skeletons to leap from the top of the stairs at them. Before they could reach them, Kane leapt into the air, slamming a devastating kick into each, shattering their bodies and scattering their bones. Then, he finished climbing the stairs, reaching a long hallway that bore a set of double doors on the far end. A pair of pools of the same, purple sludge occupied the hallway, but there was a path around them if they hugged the wall, so they weren't worried about it. A mummy lumbered toward them from just in front of the doors, but before it could reach them, Jessica sent a Frizz fireball into its head, killing it. Then, Kane kicked the doors open and an undead wearing purple robes and holding a staff with a small silver skull at the top turned toward them.
"So much pain!" the undead priest rasped. "So much sorrow! Why does my Goddess remain silent? How long must I languish in misery? We served you so faithfully...yet we died in agony. That terrible plague consumed my beautiful abbey! Oh, the memory...the pain! So much pain! And now you shall taste for a moment the agony I have endured for an eternity! But fear not, for you shall be saved by the blissful peace of death!"
"Allow me to end your suffering, priest," Kane said, gripping his sword more tightly. "We'll free you from your curse."
The undead priest roared, extending its hand and sending a barrage of shining, white spheres at Kane, only for him to raise his shield, the majority striking that and fizzling out. A few struck his body, however, and he groaned as agony lanced through him from the impact points, not because the spell had harmed him, but because of the nature of the attack. Yangus and Marik surged past Kane as Kane staggered back and to his right, but the priest slammed its staff down twice, a mummy and a skeleton bursting up at its sides and lunging to engage the pair. Yangus swept the mummy aside with his axe instantly as Marik deflected a slash from the skeleton with his shield, then split it across the ribs, killing it. Jessica began to charge a fireball, but the eyes on the priest's staff flashed an angry orange, and suddenly her magic faded. Kane felt his own magic go silent and unresponsive inside of himself, but ignored it, lunging toward the priest as it blasted both Yangus and Marik with the same attack Kane had been hit with, both shouting in agony and staggering backward.
Kane lashed out viciously, but the priest deflected the blade with its staff, leaping away from him. It hurled its staff into the air, spinning, then caught it and extended it, and the skull at the top chattered for a moment, its eyes flashing. Instantly, twin walls of flames roared toward them from diagonally ahead and to either side. Kane grabbed Jessica and dove forward as Marik and Yangus leapt backward. The flames crossed where they'd been and the intersection exploded, hurling them all, but Kane's body took the brunt of the blast to shield Jessica. A skeleton burst from the ground, hurling its skull at Kane and Jessica, but Kane deflected it with his shield, shoving himself up and lunging as the skull raced back to the skeleton. However, as it raised its sword to defend itself, Kane slashed hard, his sword smashing through the skeleton's sword and splitting it diagonally. A walking corpse leapt at him, but Jessica lunged, slashing with her dagger and splitting its side, knocking it away from him and allowing him to finish it.
"Thanks!" Kane said, turning on the priest.
It roared, firing off the spheres of white light again, but this time, even as they slammed into Kane and sent agony roaring through his entire body, Kane struck. This time, the priest didn't have time to escape, having expected its attack to save it, and Kane's sword tore across its torso diagonally. It staggered backward, and Marik leapt over Kane, slashing downward hard and splitting the priest in half vertically. As it fell to the ground, Kane felt his magic stir once again. Then, a light began to shine on the priest's body, a ghostly image of a restored, elderly priest forming above the severed pieces of its body.
"Oh, my Goddess!" the priest cried out, reaching up toward the light. "My dear, sweet Goddess! At last, I shall rest, cradled in your blessed arms!"
And then, the light faded, taking the priest's spirit with it, and a soft, golden light shone from them all, the lingering pain and weakness the Priest's spell had left fading, as did the burns from the explosion. Kane turned to a hole in the wall, which led up through the ground, and he led the others into it. More undead awaited them in the tunnel like sentries, but the tunnel was cramped, so even larger groups were unable to face Kane with more than two at a time, and two fighting together got in each other's way. Kane slaughtered his way through the tunnel with ease, avoiding more of the bubbling, purple sludge, and they finally reached a ladder set into the wall. They climbed up it, Kane using a lever to move a gravestone out of his way at the top, and they climbed out of the secret tunnel behind the Abbot's residence.
"Come on," Kane said, heading around the residence, only to stop, staring at the guards lying on the bridge. "Shit!"
He ran to them, kneeling and checking for a pulse, sighing as he found they were alive. The trio were wounded, one stabbed and two with their bodies battered and burned from magic, and they would all probably die.
"Please," one of the two who'd been blasted by magic rasped. "Save the Abbot!"
"We will," Kane promised, standing. "Was it a jester?"
"Yes," the Templar rasped.
Kane nodded, and turned to the residence, narrowing his eyes as he gripped his sword tightly. "He's inside!"
The others all nodded, Marik and Yangus throwing the doors open, and they all ran inside. More Templars lay on the bottom floor of the Abbot's residence, though these three were barely clinging to life. As Marik and the others rushed to try to help them, Kane charged up the stairs. He would end this. He would kill Dhoulmagus and undo the curse upon King Trode, Medea, and Trodain. He would not fail in his duty a second time. As he reached the upper floor where the aged Abbot lay sleeping in his bed, Dhoulmagus hovered above the bed, cloaked in shadow yet unmistakable.
"You!" Kane snarled, his eyes blazing as he charged, readying his sword.
Dhoulmagus turned, a wicked sneer on his grey-skinned face. He was there for only an instant, and then he was simply gone. Kane's sword flashed through the space Dhoulmagus had occupied a moment before, but met nothing but air.
"Dammit!" Kane shouted, clenching his sword for a moment before sighing and sheathing it as Kane and the others walked over, all of them looking disturbed.
"What?" Abbot Francisco yawned, sitting up and looking around. "What sinister presence lingers in the air? And who are you? Did you want to speak with me?"
"No, sir," Kane shook his head. "You were-"
He stopped, turning as several Templars charged up the stairs behind them, surrounding them and readying their swords, the skinny and bald Templars who'd threatened them before among their number.
"There they are!" the skinny one yelled.
"It's them!" the bald one shouted. "You'll be damned for trying to take Abbot Francisco's life!"
"What on earth!?" the Abbot asked. "What's going on?"
As Marcello reached the second floor, the Templars cleared him a path, bowing with their right hands across their abdomens.
"This is a misunderstanding," Kane said evenly.
"We were after a jester named Dhoulmagus," Marik explained. "He's the one who attacked."
"Ask the three on the bridge," Kane finished.
"I would, if you hadn't killed them," Marcello snarled, then passed them, kneeling before the Abbot. "Abbot Francisco. Captain Marcello, at your service as always!"
"Ah, Marcello!" Francisco smiled. "Tell me what's happening."
"There has been a breach of security," Marcello explained. "Many of the guards have been seriously wounded or killed."
"What!?" Francisco gasped.
"I feared you might be in danger, so I came immediately," Marcello explained. "And sure enough, we've caught these criminals. They've been loitering around the abbey since midday. It seems we were just in time. I thank the Goddess that you're safe." He turned, motioning for the Templars to take Kane and the others into custody.
"Wait!" Francisco called after him. "These people are no criminals."
"Please, Holy Father!" Marcello argued, exasperated. "They were caught red-handed!"
"We were trying to stop a powerful sorcerer wh-" Kane began.
"Silence!" Marcello snapped.
"Let him speak," Francisco instructed. "Go ahead."
"Thank you," Kane said. "We're at the abbey because we're tracking a powerful sorcerer named Dhoulmagus, who dresses like a jester. He's killed hundreds in my home, plus several since he left there. We tracked him to this abbey, but we didn't know if he'd stopped here or continued on. We tried asking Marcello about it, but despite the fact that he had, in fact, been spotted here, and in your residence, no less, Captain Marcello was less than forthcoming with the information, and denied Dhoulmagus having been here. We asked around at the nearby town of Simpleton and found out that Dhoulmagus had, in fact, been here, so we came back to ask about it again. However, when we arrived, we were asked by one of your Templars to check on the Abbot, since we knew of the jester who'd broken in and were hunting him. We came to stop him, but he escaped with magic. For an instant he was there, and then he wasn't."
"He'll come back, and he's already proven that your Templars are no match for him," Marik explained. "We need to stop him for our own reasons as well, so we're asking that we be allowed to stay to fight him."
"Nonsense!" Marcello snapped. "Such magic doesn't exist!"
"It does for those with actual power," Kane argued.
"Enough!" Marcello snapped. "You are criminals, and you will be punished!"
"Look into their eyes, Marcello," Francisco urged him sagely. "See their pure hearts. These people are guilty of nothing."
"But..." Marcello stopped for a moment before reigning his temper in and accepting the Abbot's opinion. "Very good." He nodded in submission. "But we must find out what they were truly doing in your residence so late at night. At the very least, let us ascertain that. Please."
"But we just told ya!" Yangus argued.
The Abbot merely chuckled. "You really are a worrier, Marcello! Very well, if you must!"
Kane sighed knowingly.
"Thank you, Holy Father," Marcello bowed, then turned to them, smirking cruelly. "So, shall we go?"
Kane sighed, nodding, and they allowed themselves to be escorted to the interrogation room peacefully.
"Now look 'ere!" Yangus snapped, slamming his hand on the table. "We ain't done noffin' wrong!"
"Yeah!" Jessica agreed, also slapping the table. "We told you! We told you, it was your man who asked us to check up on the Abbot! What right have you to keep us here!?"
"The Abbot is too forgiving," Marcello said coolly. "If you're innocent, then who attacked my men?"
"Dhoulmagus," Kane said flatly.
"As we explained to both you and Abbot Francisco," Marik nodded.
"I, on the other hand, am not so forgiving," Marcello continued, ignoring them. "You won't fool me, so don't try. You'll confess in the-" He was cut off by a knock on the door. "Who is it!?"
"You sent for me, Captain?" Angelo's voice called through the door.
"Come in!" Marcello called, one of the other Templars in the room opening the door for him.
Angelo bowed in greeting before confidently walking into the room and over to Marcello.
"I have a question to ask you," Marcello informed him. "But there's something else first. We've just arrested these intruders in the Abbot's residence. They were attempting to take his life. They killed six of my men."
Angelo let out a low whistle, and when Marcello glared at him, he merely shrugged.
"Very well," Marcello growled, continuing. "The problem is this. My guard is watertight. I make sure of that. There's no way for an outsider to get inside the abbey. Unless, of course, they have inside help." He held out the Templar ring he'd taken from Marik. "And would you believe it? When we searched their possessions, we found this ring. Templar Angelo! Where is your ring? Show it to me now!" His voice dropped to a cold snarl. "If you have it."
Angelo laughed, taking the ring. "Phew! It's turned up! Thank the Goddess!"
"What!?" Marcello snarled, standing and turning to glare at Angelo.
"Someone stole it from me at the pub," Angelo explained. "And it looks like they're about to learn that crime doesn't pay!"
"Stole it!?" Yangus seethed. "Wot!? You little fibber!"
Kane and Jessica both kicked Yangus in the shin.
"We've no use for a ring like that!" Jessica scoffed. "He set us up! I should have known better than to believe a single word from the mouth of a filthy cheat like you!"
"I have nothing further to say," Angelo announced, bowing to Marcello. "You can find me in my chambers."
"Wait!" Marcello snapped. "We're not done here!"
But Angelo pretended not to hear him.
Marcello huffed, sitting back down. "Fine! I'll deal with him later. First thing's first. You've wasted enough of my time. Don't try my patience! I want answers! What did you plan to do to the Abbot? Confess!"
Yangus snarled angrily. "'Ow many times 'have we gotta tell you, eh!? We ain't got nuffin' ta confess!"
Another knock on the door sounded, this time accompanied by snarling and scratching and several voices grunting. Kane frowned as Marcello had the door opened.
"We found a suspicious monster loitering outside the abbey!" a voice shouted. "And he has pets!"
"What!?" Marcello demanded. "What kind of monster!?"
The door was opened once more, and King Trode was kicked into the room. However, a moment later, a Templar walked in with Smiley in a small, square, wooden cage, and several more dragged a wounded, bloodied Ripper in on several chains connected to harpoons driven into Ripper's body, Ripper's snout muzzled.
"Ripper!" Kane yelped.
As Marcello stared between Kane's look of fear and rage, and the Hellhound fighting to be free, he chuckled.
"Ripper, sit!" Kane snapped.
Ripper growled, then whined, then sat. At the same time, a Templar lifted King Trode by the back of his robe.
"Ouch!" King Trode yelped. "What the devil do you think you're doing!?"
Jessica and Yangus both looked away from King Trode as he was set on the table, but when he turned to them, he looked apologetic.
"Kane, I'm so sorry!" King Trode apologized. "Ripper tried to defend me and these hooligans got a bit angry! But Kane, what are you doing in here? And Marik, too! Yangus? Jessica! Will someone explain what's going on!? You were gone for so long I was starting to get worried! So I'd just decided to come looking for you when this-"
Marcello laughed cruelly, standing and lifting King Trode by his robes once more. "So this monster is a friend of yours, then!? And you keep monsters as pets!? So much for your pure hearts!"
"Marcello, please!" Kane said. "Let them go! They wouldn't hurt-"
"Wouldn't hurt anyone!?" one of the Templars shouted. "Tell that to the boys he put in the infirmary! Tore up four of our boys good, it did!"
"You attacked him!" Kane snapped. "He was defending himself!"
"What's wrong with you!?" King Trode demanded. "Unhand me at once, you insolent ruffian! Get him off me, Marik! Kane!"
"Put him down!" Kane snapped. "Now!"
Marcello hurled King Trode into Marik, who caught him easily. "You are in league with monsters! You may have deceived Abbot Francisco, but you don't fool me! It was the monster who ordered you to steal the ring and infiltrate the abbey, was it? You cursed heathens! Thought you could scare people by killing the Abbot, did you? Make them question their faith!? And then move in and take control, I suppose. Take these monstrosities to the cells! Come dawn tomorrow, I will have you tortured. Perhaps then you will realize the gravity of the sins you have committed." He chuckled cruelly. "Until sunrise, then. Sleep well!"
Several Templars took them by the arms, more taking their weapons.
"Oh, but before you go," Marcello said, walking toward Ripper. "About your pets..."
And then, he drew his rapier in a flash. Ripper screamed, high and piercing and terrible, as Marcello's sword carved his side open, and a moment later, Smiley let out a high, terrified, "OOO!" just before Marcello's sword had split him in half, cage and all.
"NO!" Kane roared, hurling the Templars off, only for Yangus and Marik to tackle him to the ground themselves. "No! I'll kill you! I'll kill you for that! You piece of shit!"
Marcello laughed cruelly, and motioned for the Templars to lead them away.
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