Private Tales The First Masque

[Erodin]

He watched in silence, as he usually did when Amelie worked. Reveling in quiet appreciation as he watched Lady Venour's face twitch. The slightest muscles moving a tell that he had long learned to read. It was delightful seeing the haughty woman brought so low.

Just as it would be when they put Gilram in the same place.

"Happily." Erodin said rolling his shoulders as he stepped forward. A smile pulling over his lips.

His magic, at least when it came to the taking, was a contest of wills. He had a powerful one, his strength enough to tame Dragons and even the most ardent of zealots. Yet when he used his powers after Amelie had done her work, what remained was usually barely a husk.

What might have been a contest would now be little more than a simple breeze. As he stepped forward, Lady Venour's lips began to quiver. He would see that she wanted to speak, perhaps beg him not to do it, but her voice had long since stopped functioning under the pressure of Amelie's mind. Erodin's eyes flared bright blue, and he gently reached out, placing a soft hand on the woman's shoulder. "Don't worry Molly, you'll see him again."

Erodin began as he started to tear the woman's soul from her corpse.

"When he's as broken as you." His arm yanked down, and with a sudden scream the Dreadlord claimed Lady Venour's soul. Her voice sounding not from her lips, but the wraith drawn into Erodin's hand. "Delightful."

He mused, flexing his fingers. "She'll not be worth much without her magics...but it'll be fun to see the pain in his eyes."

Erodin mused with a smile, then regarded his beloved. "Did you find anything?"

 

[Amelie]

Amelie turned to witness the soul leave the Venour woman's body. Watching Erodin rob such a foul creature of their final possession, their very humanity, was always a cathartic experience. Knowing that they'd get to use the wraith to torment Gilram right before the light left his eyes was just icing on the cake.

A frustrated shake of her head answered her lover's question. "She was stubborn and, on top of that, I'm not convinced she had all of the pieces of Gilram's plan either." Based solely on her expression one might think the entire venture had resulted in no knew information.

But then a smile crept up the side of her face.

"He's looking for a door. To open the door he needs the little toys and trinkets he's seeking. The next items on his list are a fancy staff, studded with gems and with an intricate handle of mismatched metals." She took Erodin's hand as the pair stood in the wreckage of the Venour estate. "Then he wants a rusted coin, covered with symbols I couldn't recognize, although that could've just been the imagination of Molly's mind's eye. No telling if she's ever actually seen these things."

Amelie stared into Erodin and transmitted her thoughts directly into his head for this last part. We need to move. We still have work to do to frame Pollux and I'm thinking we try to beat Gilram at finding at least on of these items. Until they knew what the door was they couldn't let that egomaniac get to it.

Or, at a minimum, they needed time to plant a trap for him when he went to claim whatever prize he wanted.