Birthright: Promises to Keep, Chapter 2

[RocEter]

Foerde, Tower of Elves

Foerde leaves the basin where it is at. He continues with his meditation, focusing on the inner beast and his desire to know more about this tower and how to escape...

[VAN]

Shadow World

Filbert nods and smiles at Safana so she gets more comfortable.

"Sounds like a plan, indeed will be better if those that came with us know that His Grace is safe and back in Haes."

[Adam]

Cormac gives the barrel a nudge.

"Cat got yer tongue?" he says, "I don't know who ye are or why ye took Foerde, but I've got no reason to kill ye if ye tell us how to get him back."

[kintire]

Safana bows her head.

"Yes your grace. I will go at once."

She bows also to Lord Filbert, very humbly. He has noticed before that she takes his title extremely seriously, and seems almost as deferential to him as she is to the Duke. She then turns, having taken the ring, and makes swiftly for the pool that will, hopefully take her back. She takes no treasure, just a rueful backwards glance, but she is sure the Duke will reward her, and the swim back is dicey enough without being loaded down with gold!

[ewancummins]

• AT THE PLACE OF ATLI THE MONEYLENDER


Domenica enters and sees Atli seated behind a massive, low, desk in his gloomy counting-room.
The dwarf smiles at her, gold teeth glinting.
“Always good to see a client with money for me.”
He removes a bundle from underneath his desk and hands the wrapped parcel to Domenica.
“A lot of humans say dwarves are clannish. Those people haven’t dealt with our smaller cousins. It wasn’t easy to arrange, but here’s the armor you wanted. Custom-fit to the specifications you provided.”
The moneylender stares a moment at the Gimp.
“It’s for him, right?”
The Gimp opens his mouth and emits a wordless moan, maybe pleasure, maybe pain.



• THE CROSSROADS SOUTH OF CROAKER NORGE (TOWN)
The victorious party splits up and crosses back to the Norge, most of them carrying treasure and one carrying messages.
A little later, the party regroups at the crossroads, as per the Duchess’s plan.
Devlin swears her guards to secrecy and then covers up in a cloak and female clothing.
“I will arrive in Haes as one of Duke Devlin’s cousins, a distant relation on the Flaertes side. That should account for my looks and my escort from the Ducal Guard. But if no one important asks, we’ll say nothing. Lord Filbert, please work your magic and take me and as many of the others as you can to Haes. Any left behind—I leave it to you where you will go next, but I ask you to say nothing of my altered condition.”


• INTERROGATING THE VIXEN


The barrel bursts, spraying wet splinters and foam on everyone near it.
The fox-woman lies on the ground, a broken barrel stave stuck through her gut, groaning and kicking.
She faints.
The stave fragment wriggles out by inches, pushed by the beast's flesh as the wounds close up with astonishing speed.
When the creature comes to a little later, with heavy ropes binding its limbs and with several weapons pressed into its flesh, it gives up the fight.
“I’ll tell you what you want to know if you let me go.”
The fox-woman gives the party a detailed account of the enemy plot.
She names their elf prisoners, Siobhan and Eithne. She admits that she was working with the two elf women and their companions to trap Foerde.
And she tells the party about the cursed scroll that caused Foerde to vanish.
“It carried a powerful enchantment, I’m not certain what but I think likely it moved the victim to another location. Where, I don’t know for certain—but I was given the scroll by agents of Rhoubhe the Manslayer.”



• FOERDE'S VISION

Thunder peals over and over again.
The floor trembles, the walls shake, and dust falls from the ceiling.
The chain on Foerde’s leg crackles with sparks.
Green shoots burst from the rough surface of the petrified stump to which the chain is attached, Saint Elmo's fire that lights up the dark room.

A boy appears before Foerde, dressed in a carpenter’s canvas apron and carrying a simple hammer in his right hand and a ten-penny nail in his left hand. He looks about twelve or thirteen years old, with russet hair and freckles.
The boy says,
“The Manslayer has not yet learned that his minions have succeeded in capturing you. But he will learn it soon. A raven carries word to him. He has been watching you, learning about you. He knows who you are and what you are becoming.”
The young messenger lifts his hammer.

“If you can break free from this room, I can point you towards an escape route. But be warned, there are four guards outside the door and more in other parts of this tower. The elves will not want to let their prize escape, now that word has gone out to their master. There is another way: I can take you with me through the Shadowlands and into our god’s realm. But if you choose that road, it means your body will remain here, dead. The choice is all yours, but you must decide now.”

[Adam]

Cormac drums his fingers on the bow thoughtfully, chewing on his bottom lip. "This elf that hired ye, how were ye' supposed to get paid when the job was done? Were ye supposed to meet up somewhere?"

[VAN]

Filbert bows to the Duke and concentrates at the crossroad closer to Haes.

"Please hold hands, we will be back home really soon."

[ewancummins]

Cormac drums his fingers on the bow thoughtfully, chewing on his bottom lip. "This elf that hired ye, how were ye' supposed to get paid when the job was done? Were ye supposed to meet up somewhere?"

''Yes, I was supposed to follow the elf war band to a rendezvous in the hills."

[Adam]

"Righ', well then I guess we'll need to get them talkin'," Cormac replies. He pulls an arrow from his quiver and turns menacingly towards one of the elves. "Care to weigh in on the subject?"

[Varrus the Ethical]

"Speak up, Sidhelien." Roald crosses his arms over his broad chest. "Your lives depend on it."

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

INTERROGATION

"And who's this poor dumb bastard?" Renn asks the fox-elf, gesturing at the unconscious warrior. "How'd you get this one in your service? Doesn't look like one of the manslayer's boys."

His forehead crinkles as he looks at the aftermath. "What happened to that girl?"

[ewancummins]

INTERROGATION

"Speak up, Sidhelien." Roald crosses his arms over his broad chest. "Your lives depend on it."

One of the two elves seems to have escaped in all the recent chaos and confusion! The rope that had bound her lies sliced in twain on the trampled lawn.

But the other elf woman, identified by the vixen as 'Siobhan', remains captive and bound. But if she understands his questions, the injured elf woman doesn't give an intelligible answer.
She just groans and rolls her eyes.

While Roald questions one elf captive and finds the other missing, very nearby Renn interrogates the creature.

"And who's this poor dumb bastard?" Renn asks the fox-elf, gesturing at the unconscious warrior. "How'd you get this one in your service? Doesn't look like one of the manslayer's boys."

His forehead crinkles as he looks at the aftermath. "What happened to that girl?"

The hybrid fox-elf creature says,
''Sir Boarhort? He's a brave man. He saw I was in distress and he helped me. A true knight.''
As she talks, she shifts, silver fur disappearing into smooth skin, beast's face reforming into the features of one of the most beautiful women Renn has ever seen.
''I'm helpless now. You can do anything to me."
The naked woman smiles.
''Anything."

[Varrus the Ethical]

INTERROGATION, ROALD

Roald feels a warm wave pass through his body at the sight of the vixen. For a shape shifter, she knew just the right shape for him.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to do anything nasty to you. You were just working for pay, after all," He says, having trouble thinking about anything other than the woman's beauty. "It would be hypocritical of me to judge you harshly for that."

[ewancummins]

INTERROGATION, ROALD

Roald feels a warm wave pass through his body at the sight of the vixen. For a shape shifter, she knew just the right shape for him.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to do anything nasty to you. You were just working for pay, after all," He says, having trouble thinking about anything other than the woman's beauty. "It would be hypocritical of me to judge you harshly for that."

The silver-haired woman rolls to a seated position, with some effort.
" I'm so glad to see you are reasonable about all this. My orders were to give the scroll to Foerde. And if 'nothing' happened, to aid the elves in capturing him. But I never had any instructions regarding the rest of his party, in the event he was travelling with friends. I've done what I was paid to do. Now I won't be able to collect the rest of my payment, though. A pity. They were going to give me a purse of choice gemstones. ''

[Adam]

Cormac looks warily at Renn and the now human-shaped woman. "Watch it," he says to the woman on the ground, "Ye've bought yerself some time, but ye're still an enemy an' a prisoner. An' I've got my bow righ' here in case ye got any ideas abou' changin' the second thing."

He turns and walks to the downed elf woman. He drops to a squat in front of her, poking her in the chest with his arrowhead to make his point as he speaks in elven. "The fox-lady spilled the whole plan. Ye're a captive an' ye have our friend, so I think ye know we ain't likely to let ye go any time soon. But, how painful yer time with us becomes is up to ye. Where's our friend? What was the plan after this? Talk, an' maybe I can advocate on yer behalf."