Long overdue, today I found a new place to stay, or rather an old place to stay, taking up Elth’s room at the Scarlet Dragoon. Lately I’ve been thinking I could do with some loyal muscle – especially since now I have a one-eyed madman after me. I don’t have the funds right now, but I met with Felix to see if that’s something he could help arrange with his military contacts and so forth. He was quite eager to repay the favor for me saving him from being executed – although he did make a snide comment about how we could stop pretending I was a peasant girl with a sick father. The cheek!
I spent several hours working on a disguise – you need to take more care when impersonating someone specific. Nina Baetriov was an old friend of Auraluna’s and I think she’s still alive. It can be risky trying to pass yourself off to someone as a friend but I was confident I could bamboozle a geriatric. I was still feeling quite creaky from my fall off the roof so it was easy to get into the character of a tottering geezer.
I took a coach to the Domiel villa which was in the same once-prosperous part of town as the Sonst family crypt. Only the thinnest veneer of grace was left about the place – the chipped statues on the mildewy columned porch told the tale. I was greeted by a withered prune of a Halfling butler who wheezed me into the salon – which was stocked with very expensive furniture if several decades out of date.
I was greeted initially by a pretty young woman in a white and blue dress – although she acted more like a maid she said that she was Auraluna’s daughter, but that can’t be right. She must have meant grand-daughter. She made painfully shy small-talk for a moment before saying her mother would be in shortly. “Grandmother you mean?” She gave me a queer look and quickly retreated.
I got the feeling that something was very wrong here. I was thinking about getting out when another young woman came in – and I have to admit she was ravishing, if you like redheads that is. She introduced herself as Auraluna and I remarked in my best old lady croak that it was so nice that she was named after her grandmother. She laughed mirthlessly and explained that she was Auraluna. She continued –
“I appreciate all the effort you’ve gone into my dear but you’re no more Nina Baetriov than I’m the crown prince of Mias. Who are you really and what is it that you want?”
At this point I noticed that two massive black mastiffs had padded into the room and sat silent by her sides. As my heart pounded in my chest I realized this was a terrible mistake. Calming myself I decided to use a tactic I rarely employed – I told the truth. I told her I was looking for my friend Dorehe.
“And you tracked her to me did you? You must be quite resourceful. She’s just a maid, far more important people have disappeared and no one was able to find a trace of them. Very interesting indeed.” Her eyes were like pitiless coals. “And just how desperately do you want to find out what’s become of your friend dearie?”
I became aware that slightly behind me was another Halfling – this one young and fit with a razor in his hand – as well as two more silently obedient hounds. I assured her that I had suddenly become very uninterested in Dorehe’s fate and very interested in forgetting all about this and never telling anyone what I had seen there. She tilted her head slightly and pursed her lips –
“Oh come now, you’ve come all this way, what kind of a host would I be if I didn’t show you? I bet you’re quite an attractive woman under all that make-up and magic. A bit old for my tastes, but still beauty is beauty eh?”
She beckoned me and the faintest beginning of a growl from the mastiffs persuaded me to get to my feet. As we made our way to the dining room I noticed that the windows were all shuttered and locked on top of that. In the dining room the Halfling opened a secret panel on the wall and used a key to open a door that appeared to open into a dark shaft. He turned another key and I heard the sounds of an elevator coming up. I knew if I went down there I would die.
I palmed my Potion of Hide from Animals and downed it in a single swig – those late nights drinking with Stek and the gals paid off. I gave the Halfling a shove into the shaft, he issued no yell as he tumbled into the darkness. I made a break for the hallway, the dogs were confused by my sudden disappearance but it did no good – swift as snake Auraluna had me by the arm, her grip like iron. I jabbed my dagger into her ribs but it was like hitting a brick wall. With one hand she threw me across the room, the sound of me hitting the floor startling the dogs.
“You’ve got a bit of fight in you don’t you? You’re going to need it.”
At her gesture I was suddenly racked with agony and passed out.
____________________________________________________________
Funds: 230 gold, 2 silver
XP: 11,344
Inventory: Signet ring, Ring of Many Garments, noble’s traveling outfit, thieves’ tools, land deed, Bag of Tricks (rust), gold ring, Cap of Disguise, Secure Pocket, candlerod (9), masterwork dagger, succubi carving, Potion of Mage Armor, Talisman of Spying Master Ring, Disguise kit (9 uses)
Revenge List: Duke Eaglevane, Piltis Swine, Rince Electrum,
watchman Gridley, White-Muzzle the worg, Percy Ringle the butler , Alice
Kinsey , “Patch”, Heroes of the Lost Sword, Claire Conrad, Erist priest
of Strider, Riselda owner of the Sage Mirror, Eedraxis, Skin-Taker tribe, Kartak, Królewna
& Bonifacja Trading Company, Hurmont Family, Androni Titus, Greasy
dreadlocks woman, Lodestone Security, Kellgale Nickoslander, Beltian Kruin the
Splithog Pauper, The King of Spiders
Anti-Revenge List: Dorehe the maid
Rumors : Exiled noblewoman (Reoccurring), vigilante “Litheria”(Reoccurring), murderous Halfling (Reoccurring)
The Errant Endeavors of Ela the Expert 