Dreadlords The Cold North

[Vittoria Larrainth]

Praise was not an uncommon thing for Vittoria, but to hear it in other ways from the experiences ranks of Dreadlords gave her a swell of pride. She softened her face, nodding to Luthen. No need to sign her thanks or make too much of a spectacle of it.

Her appreciation would come in the form of watching him demonstrate the spellwork he had promised.

It was not too complicated, and withing a few moments, Vittoria successfully performed the spell and felt the immediate effect of her body's warmth not immediately vanishing into the cold. "What a lovely idea." Her lips curved slightly.

She dispelled and equipped it again, testing the motions so that in the future, she would not fumble with it and cost herself time and focus.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

"Then let's practice on horseback, shall we? The clouds are looking dark, and while we won't make it to Kurtek by nightfall, I would like to try and outrun any storms."

He offered each of them a horse while mounting his own. A storm would certainly be nasty to camp in, but it was actually welcome in Alistair's eyes. He shot a quick glance to Luthen, who may have also noticed, but their group had a tail. Almost certainly from the Boyar, interested if they were truthful in their meeting with her.

Alistair's eyes would allow him to keep track of their tail through any environment, but if they were quick enough, they would lose them in the wilderness and make it to Kurtek with little fuss.

"Alright, let's get moving. Luthen will you take the front? I will cover the rear." Speaking as he mounted his own horse, guiding it out the gates.

That would leave Marcia and Vittoria to continue practicing in the middle if needed.

 

[Marcia]

Initiate see, Initiate do.

As far as spells went, it was pretty rudimentary but invaluable nonetheless. Marcia wasted no time in immediately casting the basic ward, her considerably smaller frame crying out for relief from the chill of the frigid winds. Everything suddenly became a little more bearable between Alistair's gloves and Luthen's spell; even Larrainth's presence was tolerable.

She mounted the offered horse with all the lack of grace that her height provided, getting a foothold in one of the stirrups and pulling herself up by the saddle horn.

Not wanting to dispel the protection from warmth, Marcia decided not to practice the incantation further but instead silently committed it to memory for future use. As they rode onwards, she briefly considered the absolute embarrassment of a Dreadlord who might have perished from forgetting to shed the spell's effect.

Surely Luthen was taking the piss.

 

[Luthen]

Their journey for the rest of the day was a quiet one, though as the sun began to shift the cold became ever more present.

Frost flickered onto their clothing as they rode through the deeper parts of the valley, wind pressing against their forms. At one point even the horses began to shiver, their coats bristling as the night began to truly bite into them. I think it best we make camp.

Luthen signed from up front as the clouds above began to gather.

There is a cave up there. The Dreadlord pointed out from the front of the small column. Shifting in his horse as he began to motion to the others. We'll set up there for the night and continue on in the morning.

Within a few moments the small group found themselves doing just that. The cave was large enough to fit all of them, even the horses, and as they gathered Luthen quickly began using a twist upon the same warding spell that shielded them. Creating a bulwark of wind at the cave door.

Though it was only then that he noticed the odd metallic smell in the air. Do you smell that?

He asked the others with a frown.

Blood. The Dreadlord said, shifting his gaze towards the darkness of the cave.

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

Vittoria had settled herself within the cave, far from any of the horses as none of them were truly comfortable in her presence. Finding a spot on a large rock that jutted into the side of one wall, her eyes watched Luthen with curiosity as he gave proper inspection of the interior. His hands moved, garnering her attention.

She straightened in her seat, sniffing the air audibly as she answered the same time as his hands formed his conclusion.

"Blood."

She knew that scent, and in the cave without real ventilation, it remained stagnant here. Vittoria was not new to being covered in another's blood, the scent sticking with her for hours even after bathing. Her gaze went towards the back of the cave, brows furrowing. "Bit dark down that way... but I believe that is where the blood will be found."

 

[Alistair Krixus]

As soon as they arrived at the cave, Alistair took a short walk to set up further alert and illusion wards. One would make it more difficult for them and their cave to be found, while the other would alert him if any trespassers wandered too close to the cave.

Satisfied with his work, he returned just in time to hear the words that would immediately set him on edge.

Blood.

While Alistair's sense of smell had not miraculously grown stronger during his time being blind, he had grown well more aware of his other senses. And yes, his nose scrunching up as the sent crossed his path was now obvious.

Out here in the cold, dead bodies could be preserved for months, but the blood would freeze making it difficult to smell. This...likely implied a fresher sanguine display.

A quick magical spell lifted a shining light to float around Alistair's head, while his eyes began to glow. He looked to the other, obvious that they would need to check this out.

"It never can be a simple rest can it?" He asked before drawing a dagger.

 

[Marcia]

Ah, fuck.

Marcia didn't find the omen of blood to be much of an issue in isolation; there were scarier things in this world than that. In fact, there were scarier things in that very same cave, namely a mercy-challenged noble with machinations that made other Initiates weep.

The dark was the issue and not ideal for a girl of her talents. She could hardly go about utilising reflections that she couldn't even see.

Thankfully, Dreadlord Krixus, a man of constant knowledge and utility, wasted no time providing a light source to aid them in traversing deeper into the cave. While he cast his spell, Marcia took a moment to dispel the ward of warmth that Luthen had taught them, the thought of overheating to death still lingering in her thoughts.

In a maudlin sort of way.

Wanting to be seen as an Initiate with some initiative, the girl retrieved her shield from her back and held it in front of her. The large spiked buckler practically consumed her, and with cautious feet, she moved further into the cave.

 

[Luthen]

Unlike the rest of them, Luthen did not draw his sword.

The weapon remained in it's place on his pack as he threw it to the ground. His heavy winter clothes shifting slightly as he began to step forward directly behind Alistair. Slowly the Dreadlords began to press forward, their boots echoing in the cavern.

As they drew forward, Luthen could hear the echoes of heavy breaths. The scramble and press of someone pushing themselves against shifting stone. A frown pulled at his lips, and he motioned for the others to slow as he moved beyond them.

"Dotresk igren urmir!" A voice called out in the foreign tongue of Neus, and as the light cast around the corner, they caught sight of whom it was that spoke.

A massive mountain of a man lay scrambled against the far wall. His features marked him as Neusian, and his stature was a reminder of the Guards whom they had just seen hours before. The uniform he wore lending more than a little credence to the same theory. Its one of guards.

Luthen flickered to the others, half turning away from the man. His blood soaking through his clothes and onto the ground, huge wounds decorating his flesh as he pushed himself further away. Eyes filled with fear.

I do not think he means us harm. The Dreadlord commented, watching as the man stared at them in terror.

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

She was on her feet, sliding down from the rock and closing in with the rest of them. No weapon on her person, not that Vittoria needed to be seen with one to be determined armed.

The language was one she would need considerable time to interpret and understand, but in this moment she did not need to understand the situation of bleeding out. The way she stared at him, like a cat watching a mouse find a way out from the corner it was trapped in, earned her an averted gaze.

"It looks as if something did mean to harm him."

 

[Alistair Krixus]

The big behemoth of a man was certainly a warrior and he would have to agree with Luthen. In that state, the man likely could not harm him or Luthen even if he wanted to...but the initiates. Better to be vigilant. The most dangerous animal was a cornered one.

Vittoria brought up the next greatest concern. Anything that could do this to one of the Neus guards had to be a strong predator. Was it still here?

Alistair looked out into the darkness at the edges of his light, before signaling to Vittoria and Marcia to take up defensive positions around the man.

Alistair had been preparing for this journey for a few months and had had time to learn some of the language, but it wasn't easy when he had another 12 inside his brain to sift through.

In broken Neusian to try and put the man at peace, "Safe...What danger?"

 

[Marcia]

Marcia's immediate concern lay less with the wounded man who had propped himself up against the cave wall and more with what left him in that state, which was nowhere to be seen.

The girl's shoulders stiffened, and she glanced around the cave with what little light they had, trying to look for any sign of what could have savaged a trained man of such considerable mass. It wasn't a delightful thought that anything, or anyone, could be lurking in the shadows, primed to strike, even if there were four of them.

She nodded at Alistair's instruction and took up a position of silent vigilance so that the others could get some answers from the Neusian.

 

[Luthen]

Luthen could see the panic within the man lessen as he slowly began to approach. The aura which hung around the elder Dreadlord doing it's work of spreading calm and trust.

Still, as Alistair spoke, the man seemed to flinch. His eyes flickering up towards the younger Dreadlord, and then slowly over each of his companion. He seemed to take them all in turn, as if trying his best to identify who they were. Why they might be asking.

"Danger..." He repeated, and a low chuckle escaped his throat. Blood seemed to bubble from his wounds as he shook his head. His Neusian slow, deliberate, as though he were trying to make it easier for Alistair to understand. "The Duchess. Princess."

He said the two words, and then reached to the ground, drawing a crown. "Traitor."

Luthen frowned, his own grasp on the language tenuous enough that he understood the last word alone. Is he saying what I think he is, Alistair?
The Elder Dreadlord signed with a frown.

The Princess did this? Or, at least she might have ordered it.

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

Vittoria sharpened her gaze, looking over the male before them.

There was something odd hidden under him, a shine of silver catching her eye. She approached, perhaps against the better judgements of all present, but she did so as carefully and kindly as she could. There was a few feet between them as she lowered herself to one knee, hands lifted into the air to show she was unarmed. Of course, it was all show as daggers were concealed with her magic beneath her flesh, or that her secondary magic required no steel to wield.

"What is that?" She asked slowly and clearly. Vittoria nodded her head to his side, then slowly moved a hand to point.

A decorated dagger jutted from his side, something so bespoke it surely belonged to someone with a title. Was it the Princess'?

 

[Alistair Krixus]

The words froze Alistair in place before quickly whipping around to look at Luthen. He would admit that his knowledge of this country's political climate was not up to the standards that he was use to operating in, but he came to the same conclusion as Luthen.

He slowly nodded his head before turning back to focus on the man. Al made no motion to stop Vittoria, allowing her to continue moving and hopefully remove the dagger from his possession.

Was the Princess a traitor? What if this big burly man was lying? The other guards had not seemed the type to lie, but most did not act in concert with their demeanor.

Alistair repeated the word for 'traitor' before following it up with "How? Why?... Where?"

 

[Marcia]

While the others pieced together pieces of the puzzle upon the revelation, Marcia focused on scanning their surroundings. Just because there was a new layer of political intrigue didn't mean they could suddenly drop their watches—not her circus, not her monkeys. Perhaps her attitude was callous, but she preferred the term pragmatic.

Although it did mean that were they to be attacked in the cave, it would likely be by someone rather than something.

Was that any better?

"Is this something we need to involve ourselves with?" Marcia asked, her eyes continuing to scan their perimeter, shield still readied. "Unless he knows something about the artefact, should we be getting embroiled in political turmoil?" The girl frowned, aware that her opinion as an Initiate weighed much less and likely spoiled the nature of intrigue.

 

[Luthen]

The man seemed to nod his head at Alistair, though kept himself at bay from Vittoria. Still clearly weary of the Anirian's standing before him.

As Marcia spoke, Luthen tilted his head in a nod at the girls words. You are not wrong.

He signed quickly.

But experience tells me that such events are often not coincidence. The small bit of wisdom was something he was happy to impart, though Marcia was entirely correct. This situation did not concern them. A traitorous Princess in Neus meant nothing for them, not when what they hunted was far more important back home.

For his lot, the Guard seemed more than a little hesitant to speak, but after a moment did his best to answer Alistair's questions. His words slow, deliberately chosen. "She is a Traitor."

"She has gathered many families together and means to usurp the Tsar's throne." The man explained as, Luthen listening carefully as he tried to pick apart the words. "The Princess has become bold in the last months after finding power in the mountains."

Luthen glanced at his companions. Soldiers? More monsters?

He asked through his companions, and the man shook his head.

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

Vittoria tilted her head, frowning.

She had retreated back, watching Luthen's hands move, listening to Alistair and Marcia speak. The Unmaker never let her eyes stray from the wounded man as all this went on, as if waiting for him to tell her about the knife at his side. Vittoria held a feline's attention, unnerving how still she was as she watched.

Was he a threat? Was he telling the truth?

"What power did she find in the mountains?" She piped up in that soft voice she possessed.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair glanced at Marcia before turning back to the injured guard. It was sometimes good to be single-minded, but it was never good to be bullheaded. Luthen was already expressing his thoughts to explain their worries at the information.

"Yes, it is good to ultimately stay focused on our goals, but always smart to pay attention to other threads. We never know what may become our best weapon for our mission."

Finished with his teaching moment, he returned to begin asking questions when Vittoria's voice behind him voiced his next question. A smile slipped onto his face at the forward-thinking initiate before translating to the man,

"What Power?"

Luthen was right that things like this very rarely turned out to be actual coincidences. How much would he bet that the artifact they were looking for was going to bring them into or near the mountains?

 

[Marcia]

Marcia nodded, absorbing the words of both Dreadlords as they met her objection to getting sidetracked with knowledge born from their experience. No matter how seemingly trivial, every moment in an Initiate's life was a moment to learn. She needed to change her perspective, listen, and discover what was beneath the surface of a wounded Neusian and the talk of treason.

Consider coincidence.

Look for the threads.

He had shaken his head in response to Dreadlord Luthen's query.

Not soldiers nor monsters.

Her nose scrunched, the Initiate mulling over the pieces of the puzzle laid out neatly within her head. A glance was spared over her shoulder towards the wounded man, and as the last piece fit, she raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"The artefact."

 

[Luthen]

The Pieces fell into place just seconds before Marcia spoke. His lips brows drawing together as a frown pulled at his lips. It was only a theory of course, they had barely enough knowledge about the situation to string even this together...but it made sense.

If it was not monsters or men, then it had to be something else.

The Artifact they were hunting for made sense. Those pieces that Gilram had taken before were things of power, if only discovered later, but still warranted enough attention to draw the Archon's eye in the first place. A convenient find for us.

His fingers flickered.

But we must be cautious before leaping to conclusions. A warning that he 'spoke' as much for himself as he did the others. Slowly Luthen stepped forward, his hand reaching out to quickly draw something in the sand.

We want to help. Luthen spoke through one of his companion. But we need to know more about this power.

"I do not know much." The man spoke slowly again, deliberately so that they could better understand. "She ventured into the mountains many months ago, and since has been able to...effect people's minds. The people in the village, they have begun to worship her."

Luthen frowned. "With each prayer, she seems to grow stronger."

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

Vittoria chewed on her lip.

The ability to control the autonomy of others was an advantageous skill, but the power in the wrong hands could prove difficult here on out. The Initiate looked to Krixus, to Marcia, to the wounded, and finally to Luthen.

She had been translating for him still, but Vittoria remained quite for a moment to think.

"Best not to rouse her suspicions either. To have that power against our own efforts would make this a difficult mission, no doubt. But stealth would be of utmost importance... fortunate that those present are adequate in that field." Even Marcia, but Vittoria was not so quick to hand out compliments of any kind the other Initiate's way.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Good, so when Marcia took a moment to stop and think she was clever and not just one of the muscleheads, a good sign.

Alistair wrinkled his nose in disgust at the new information. Not only had their target already been discovered, but it had to deal with the pseudo-divine by the sound of it. This was no longer an archeological mission, but a heist by the sounds of it.

"That sounds like it could be it."

He paused in thought before another decision began to creep into his mind. What were they to do with this man now? Alistair could easily leave signs so that their pursuers discovered this man after they left, ensuring that he would live but also that the Boyar would learn what they were looking for.

They could also kill the man and leave, but there were no guarantees that the Boyar did not have other ways of gaining this information.

Alistair signed his worries over to Luthen before turning back to the wounded man, "Can you tell us the name of the village?"

 

[Marcia]

A rushed conclusion, perhaps, but one that seemed correct more importantly.

The idea of losing control of both mind and will to another was one that sat in Marcia's gut like a heavy stone of omen. It wasn't a far-fetched notion either, with many Initiates and Dreadlords having talents rooted in the realm of mind manipulation. At least, as a result, they were trained in the art of mental self-defence, and now that they had been made aware ahead of time, they could be prepared.

Besides, the girl's all-consuming rage would never share custody of her mind with some poxy northern royalty.

She left the matter of further interrogation with the others, in silent agreement with Larrainth on the matter of stealth and instead focused on watching their backs. There may not have been some great beast stalking them, but there very well could have been a thrall tracking the man to finish the job.

 

[Luthen]

"Erlysk." The man breathed out to Alistair's question, confirming it was the village they themselves had passed through.

Briefly Luthen wondered if there were more battling the same plague. It seemed likely, Neus was more decentralized than Vel Anir, but towns still spotted the countryside. More likely than not, the Boyar had her tendrils stretched into nearly ever point of life she could find.

Killing him would simplify things. Luthen agreed with Alistair, though thought better of it.

But will also take away a resource. This man was of the Royal Guard here after all. It was doubtless he knew far more about the inner-workings of the Palace than they did. The real question is if we warn the Tsar, or return under our own Initiative.

He mused. The latter will be best. If the artifact holds such power, it is doubtless the Tsar would try to claim it.

Meaning, they would be working against both the Boyar and the Nation of Neus.

We must treat his injuries as best we can, then return to the village and make our play. At least that would give them a chance to claim the artifact.

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

"Hmm..." Came a hum from Larrainth. Her eyes studied their resource, listening to him identifying the village before her gaze cut to Luthen and saw his hands move rapidly. Krixus was providing the translation, but that did not stop Vittoria from mouthing the Anirian translation for her own fun.

"I shall fetch the healer." Vittoria said all too cheerfully, and turned to take her time locating the healer who had begun to dig into their rations. With a grumble, they gathered their things and came to help their informant.

Returning to the gathered, the Initiate leaned against the stone walls of the cavern, looking to Luthen. "Do we have a plan on how to locate it?" She asked, hands clasped behind her back. Her eyes were expectant, waiting for someone to speak.