Open Chronicles Daring or Foolishness

Zathria sneered up at the castle that sat high above the town of Insprith as the sun began to set. Slowly her eyes had adjusted more to the bright lights of the surface and rumors and stories had finally drawn her to this place. Castle Van Moolehem had been the home of Baron Esther Van Moolehem for more years than anyone could remember, her life unnaturally long and her beauty never fading.

Nor the terror that she inflicted on those around her. The people of Insprith lived in constant fear, never sure if their lady or her devilries may descend to carry off some of their people for dark means.

It was the Castle that had drawn Zathria here for the rumors of powerful magical artifacts that were inside. It was not uncommon for people from around the Wilds to travel here, testing their luck and mettle against the dangers of the castle, but few managed to return.

Zathria wasn't an inexperienced young explorer, though. She had been through campaigns of war and would not be deterred.

She turned off the main road, sliding from her horse and throwing the reigns over the bar outside the tavern. It would be her first stop to gather information and to see if any others had come here for a raid on Castle Van Moolehem.

The tavern itself was quiet, smoke hanging in the air and the first groups of people beginning to shuffle in for the night, gathering together for food and drink. She kept her eyes out for any who might look the capable sort or anyone else who looked like they were here for the same purpose as her.

Zathria's attention was drawn to a person who intentionally made herself known, perhaps in challenge or perhaps in a greeting of one hardened traveller to another. It left Zathria with skepticism, but she decided it was worth investigating.

Clearly, the woman knew how to use magic and she had a weapon of her own, the look in her eyes spoke of someone who was accustomed to the harder side of life, and that meant she was a better option than many who were in the tavern.

Still, Zathria was not one for trust in almost any capacity and certainly not with strangers. She'd seen far too many betrayals and ambushes to ever allow herself such luxury as assuming good intentions, and on the surface, Drow were looked at with enough skepticism as it was.

"Evidently you wanted my attention. Looking to stick a knife in my gut?" she asked, every the blunt and direct type in a confrontation. Although her swords remained in their sheathes, she stood with a mixture of the grace of a panther and the coiled preparation of a snake that could strike at any moment. Already her mind traced through the speed with which she could bring her knife near her right hand around and the speed she could cast a small spell with her left should the woman's intentions be ill.

Veshli Xor

Zathria scowled at the woman, trying work out if this was a proper threat she was leveling or just trying to posture. Though she did say she wasn't trying to knife her.

"You sound like you've smoked too many shrooms," Zathria retorted with a snort. One of her feet went up to rest on the rung of a stool next to the woman as she watched her.

"I could ask you the same thing. What brings you out to this place? Same thing that brings everyone out here, isn't it? The Castle," she said the last words in a hushed tone. She wasn't superstitious, but she knew the power that certain names could have and didn't risk some strange scrying spell triggered if she said the target's name aloud. Old habits kept you alive.

Veshli Xor

Zathria wondered if this woman was nuts or if this was all an act of sorts. She had a feeling that it would reveal itself in time, but she was a potential ally - or trap bait - in the endeavor to come.

Zathria's face didn't quite shift although she relaxed ever-so-slightly, her posture loosening even as her eyes still watched and studied, trying to determine what she could about this woman. Magic, weapons, dirty, looked like she'd been on the road for ages. A sellsword maybe?

"An audience? Looking to get a job from her?" she asked. Despite the reputation for abuse and violence, there were certainly those out there who would try to ally or work for such a person in exchange for power. Even Zathria wouldn't put an alliance out of the question if it fell that way.

Zathria listened as the woman talked about killing the vampire and she couldn't say she was too surprised. Most who came here were looking to bring down the monster but not all. For Zathria's part... she wasn't sure yet.

A vampire who held onto a town like this for years was a potentially powerful ally, but Zathria had heard rumors of powerful artifacts that the lady had collected over the years. The kind of artifacts that could come in very useful when the time came to take back and hold Zar'ahal.

She has something I want, she said, I aim to find it and if that means that the "Baroness" has to be ended, then so be it, she said.

It sounds like our goals might be aligned, then, she said.

Veshli Xor

Zathria wasn't sure what she should tell the other woman about what she was looking for, but in the end, it was better to lay claim to it now than later.

She has a number of magical artifacts: jewelry, she said. The truth was, she didn't know all of the details of what they could do, but they were rumored to be powerful and capable of launching numerous spells of significant danger.

Have you already scouted the castle? If not, there's no time like the present, she said. It was no small thing to break into a place like that and rumor had it that the baroness had many underlings of her own. Their work would be cut out for them.

Veshli Xor

An entry in a moat? Sounds like a trap, she muttered, but it was worth a shot. She took a swig out of her waterskin and passed it across to the barman to be filled along with a copper.

Worth a shot, she said as she took the filled water back.

No time like the present. We'll go poking around inside and see what we find, she said, moving toward the exit without fully turning her back on the other woman, checking to see if she was coming and then heading out into the dusk air.

We can tie a rope down into the moat in case this doesn't pan out, she said.

Veshli Xor

Zathria made it the edge of the moat and looked down, eyes scanning over the area even as she looked at the imposing castle beyond. A massive, towering structure with gargoyles and imposing ramparts lining every part of it.

She tied off a section of rope to a metallic grate drain attached to the moat.

It's not like I've gotten a tour of the artifacts, she snorted as the woman asked if there was something in particular that the Drow was looking for. She motioned for the other woman to descend the rope before following, finding the door in question shortly thereafter. It was hidden behind scrap and dirt, buried like a trap door.

I could use a leg up for myself, though, in some of my upcoming activities. Why did you decide to risk life and limb to kill a vampire? she asked as she wedged the door open and hoisted it up with difficulty.

Veshli Xor