Credits; Krell, Rea, Petra,
The house was relatively simple. After seeing the palace he had expected that any of Courtney's homes would be more lavish. But in place of gilded stone collumns and intricate mosaics were wooden bookcases and floral wallpaper. It seemed entirely unlike anything he'd have expected of so great and powerful a ruler. Krell walked as quietly as he could from room to room, trying to find anything that could give him insight into Stormguard's countess.
"Father, I have been instructed to attend you and the girl called Rea. Do you have any needs I might attend to? I am a capable scribe, enchanter, maidservant, lover, and if I might say so, an accomplished chef."
Liss, Courtney's ghoul maidservant. She was only mobile because Courtney had used one of her latent abilities to grant her a sort of second life. It would be hard to distinguish her from anything properly alive, but that would never change the fact that she was little more than a very intelligent and capable golem. She could use magic apparently, which was quite rare amongst any sort of golem.
"No, I'm just wondering why Courtney has this place. Is it just somewhere to hide when she wants to get away from the palace?"
"My Mistress was bequeathed this house by a friend of hers, Mrs. Immersfeld. Mrs. Immersfeld did not like to stay in the palace, so she had a house built here, and she permitted the Gravagan's to live in the gardens."
"Permitted...Gardens...Wait, Immersfeld, Thalia Immserfeld the queen of Gravaga?"
"Your deduction is correct. This home belonged to Thalia Immersfeld."
He'd seen the Gravagan palace before on a diplomatic trip with Kvald. It was huge, lavish; it made the Imperial palace look like a collection of tents with a fence. And this house was owned by the same woman.
"And she prefered this?"
"That was my impression. I have been told that this is the home she lived in with her family prior to founding the Gravagan Empire. All but her youngest child were born here, and prior to becoming the Countess, my mistress was her steward here."
Courtney a steward? He'd have never guessed it. It felt like he was a bit late to the party. Everyone else was already established as heroes or rulers and here he was just getting back into the game so to speak.
Then it struck him; this was the house Arcania had been born in. So much had started here. Arcania, Courtney; so much of the Frostbourne war had started right in this house.
"Perhaps you would be interested in seeing the Mistress' most prized trophy. She set it up in the garden as a memorial, it carries Mrs. Immersfeld's last words."
"Yes, I would like to see that very much."
Liss held out her hand. It seemed strange, considering that a wave or simply pointing would normally have been the method of telling someone to follow them. But, remembering his manners, Krell decided to just go along with it. He let go quickly though, her hand was warm. She was dead, and had been for a long time, her hands should have been cold.
"Your hands.."
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have..Please forgive my indiscretion sir."
"But you're dead."
"I'm..." She faded off and looked into the distance. She did manage to regain her focus quickly though and motioned for him to follow her. He followed her into the garden cautiously. If she was still warm, natural warmth not a burn or some sort of spell, then there was no knowing what she really was. But even Rea had thought her some form of ghoul, so it seemed unlikely she was truely alive.
The garden apparently was the entire rest of the district. The Gravagan's had built their homes into it in the most unobtrusive manner possible, and most seemed almost a feature of the local flora. He'd always heard that she was a fierce villain and a powerful enemy, but between Cyssie and Arcania, and seeing the home she'd chosen for herself, Krell couldn't hope but think Thalia must have been quite the actress to have pulled off the villain persona.
The trophy was sitting on the top of a fountain in the middle of the central plaza of the Gravagan District. A horn the size of a person, and it was twisted in an open spiral. Around the edge, in large capitol letters, were the words 'WITTY ONE LINER'. He puzzled at it for a moment before snickering as he finally realized what had inspired her to engrave something so nonsensical.
"My Mistress says she saw Mrs. Immersfeld's last words and recognized her sense of humor instantly. She was famous for her dramatic timing, and her ability to produce witty remarks at a moment's notice." Liss smiled, she had a very pleasant smile. "I think she planned that one ahead of time, everyone expected her last words to be a witty one liner."
Liss took him straight back to the house. She kept smiling. She seemed so close to being alive it was eerie.
No sooner had they arrived home then Liss dissapeared again. Nao had found the pantry well stocked and was occupying himself with an almost obscenely large sandwich. Krell chose not to mention that they had a chef in the house, he felt it would be wasted on the elf. He had just selected a book, 'Heroes and Villains; age old tale made social theory' by Thalia Immersfeld, when he heard the rather distinctive popping sound of space-time being torn open and subsequently sealed back up. He set the book aside and went out to the foyer to find out who had arrived. He found Petra standing there in her tunic, which was now coated in a mixture of powdered tile, blood, and small burns. His jaw dropped in shock as he realized that the heavily bruised, blood soaked mess with the tattered clothes that Petra was steering with one hand was in fact Rea.
"I think this young lady would like to have a word with you father. Maybe you'll finally be able to get the truth out of her. I'll be in the kitchen, it smells like obscenely large sandwich."
Petra let go of Rea and patted her roughly on the shoulder before proceeding past them both towards the kitchen. Krell rushed over to Rea and managed to catch her before she collapsed.
"What happened?"
Rea looked up at him and started watering up. He picked her up and carried her upstairs. Liss seemed to have already prepared for thecircumstance, as one bedroom had not only been left open but had been set up with gauze, antiseptics, and a manual on setting bones. While the last two were unneeded, the gauze proved quite useful for mopping off enough of her face that he could see her properly. No sooner had he managed to get the blood out of her face and most of her hair then she simply broke down crying. Whatever Petra had wanted Rea to tell him so badly, it was going to be a while before she'd be able to muster the strength to say it. But until then, he had the feeling she wouldn't object to the company. After all, having her completely breakdown on him was starting to seem like it would be a regular occurence.
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