(Dovakiin)
Dovakiin found Alex Hawke in the entrance hall of the manor. The wide hallway was illuminated by flickering chandeliers. The night outside was dark.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Alex asked.
“I’m a light sleeper at the best of times,” Dovakiin explained. “Comes with age.”
“I thought I heard a carriage outside. I was curious.”
“Me too!”
The two listened for a moment. The faint sound of footsteps could be heard approaching the front door.
“Our last compatriot, do you think?” Dovakiin asked.
Hawke was merely silent.
“Maybe we'll finally get a mage,” Dovakiin carried on. “Back in my day, an adventuring party wouldn’t be seen dead without a mage of some kind. I mean, Marion’s automaton is cool, and the blue guy can do that whole fire thing. But a good all-rounder mage, or maybe some kind of cleric. Someone to heal us when we’re injured. Don’t want to just leave that to healing potions, those things are expensive…”
The dragonborn eventually trailed off, when he realised Hawke wasn’t really listening to him. Dovakiin took a proper look at the man. He had a faraway look on his face, as if he had something on his mind. The human had not yet taken his things to the guest quarters. Why hadn’t he unpacked yet?
Dovakiin was about to ask about this, when there was a dainty knock at the door.
Calliban was there within moments, entering from a side corridor.
The door opened before he could get there.
A young woman strode in, her hands behind her back, her eyes taking in everything in the entrance hall with one quick glance. She was… striking. She wore a rough, knee length dress the colour of onyx, with a dark green jacket that looked a little worse for wear. She was covered in strange, occult jewellery, including a necklace of feathers and small bird skulls. In spite of her hedge-witch outfit, she was quite the beauty. Her eyes were a brilliant emerald green that almost glowed, her skin dark but faintly tinged with violet.
There was something impish and confident in the twist of lips as she smiled and surveyed the hallway, spinning whimsically to take it all in. And when her eyes settled on Dovakiin and Hawke, her grin only widened.
“Oooh, hello dearies!” she said, with a laugh. “I can already tell we’re going to be the best of friends.”
Dovakiin was blinked – this young whippersnapper had just called him dearie, something he was pretty sure you couldn’t do unless you were over 70 – and was immediately on guard. That laugh was almost a cackle.
“You’re a witch,” he guessed.
“Who me?” the girl replied innocently, with eyes that didn’t even bother to hide her mirth. “That would be very wicked of me.”
“And a necromancer,” Hawke stated tensely. There was a coldness in his eyes. Dovakiin looked at the girl. He was inclined to agree with the assessment.
“Ah, but Reverence would hate that,” said the girl, smirking wider. “The only way I could get more on their death-by-inquisition list is if I was making deals with devils. So there’s no way I could be one. Anyway, I feel like we’re getting off to a rocky start. Are you two going to help me kill things?”
The casual way she said it made Dovakiin’s insides squirm. “Er… what?”
“Oh, you know, the job from Mr Vance! Killing things, stealing their souls, things like that. Hahaha, we’re going to have a wonderful time.”
A voice carried down the stairs. “Killing very specific things, Miss Helga. Stealing very specific souls.”
It was Lord Vance, descending down the staircase that took up the centre of the hallway. He seemed livelier than earlier, apparently fully recovered from his experience in the study.
The girl, Helga, pouted slightly. “You’re no fun, Jezzie.”
Vance laughed. “And it turns out you have a flagrant disregard for my title, Miss Helga. Still, I’ll accept ‘Lord Jezediah.' And you will have all that you are promised. The souls of what you kill are yours.”
Helga nodded, satisfied with this. Hawke looked extremely concerned.
“Sorry,” the human said. “What exactly do you want with monster souls?”
“To make deals with devils, of course,” Helga answered happily, as if this wasn’t horrifying. “Can’t make deals if you don’t have souls to offer, hee hee!”
Dovakiin laughed, but then stopped when he suddenly realised that the woman wasn’t joking. She smiled at him once more. He felt a little sick. The thrill of adventure was one thing, but this…
“Lord Vance…” Hawke said, looking up at their patron. “May I have a word?”
Jezediah looked at him for a moment, then nodded curtly, beckoning towards his study. “Calliban, see that Miss Helga is shown to her room. I’ll meet with her in the morning.”
“I hope my room is near the others,” Helga said warmly. “I feel a good slumber party is exactly what we need for some proper team bonding.”
Her emerald eyes seemed to glow for a moment as she spoke. Dovakiin had a strong feeling that a slumber party with her would be a truly terrible idea.
“Actually, Lord Vance,” he said, “could I have a word too?”
Vance nodded, and Dovakiin followed him and Hawke to the study.
Helga watched them go. “Calliban dearie,” she asked the butler happily, “do you think the slumber party offer was too much for my new friends? Tee hee!”
***
Somehow, the inside of the study had already been repaired. Lord Vance must have access to someone who could mend things with magic.
Hawke slammed the door shut. “What in the nine circles is she?!” he demanded.
“Exactly what she seems,” Vance answered calmly. “A witch and a necromancer.”
He was once again sitting at his desk, the light of the candles making his dark glasses even darker. Dovakiin wondered how he was able to see in the low light.
Vance continued. “And more than that. She has hag blood in her veins. I’m not certain that form you see there is her true one. She is also a dream-walker. When she sleeps, she can enter the dreams of people nearby and learn their secrets. Don’t worry, her room is not going to be near yours.”
This wasn’t particularly reassuring. “Er,” Dovakiin said, “What happens when we start travelling on the road together? Won’t we sleep near each other?”
Vance grimaced slightly. “All being well… you’ll be friends by then.”
Hawke spoke for Dovakiin when he said, “That’s not good enough!”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “And it’s not just her! There’s something off about this whole group. Not you, Dovakiin, you seem all right. But that Solstice girl looks at me like she wants to murder me, there’s something weird about Marion, Bran drinks like he’s desperate to forget something terrible… That’s not bad, but he’s not reliable. That blue giant, he’s clearly not even from this plane, so there’s no way of telling what he’s about to do, and now we have a hag?”
“Half hag,” Lord Vance said, his expression pained.
“Half hag! Whatever! I know what you told me about being a humanising element in this group, but I’m sorry, but it’s not on!”
Lord Vance leaned forward. “She’s a necessary evil. If you just give them all time-”
“I’m sorry.”
Hawke paused, as if warring with himself, and then his angry expression gave way to resolution. He said again, more certainly, “I’m sorry. But this just isn’t going to work for me. There are too many secrets. I quit.”
Lord Vance leaned back from the words as if they had been a blow. Then he steepled his hands, and thought. There was silence for a moment. Hawke was looking defiant, but was also nervous.
Then finally, Vance exhaled slowly, not raising his head before saying; “Very well.”
Calliban entered the study, as if summoned by a thought. Lord Vance turned to him. “Please allow Mr Hawke to leave the manor.”
Calliban’s eyes flicked to his master, as if questioning, but Lord Vance didn’t look up. Hawke’s eyes flicked from the butler, to the Lord, and back again, slightly suspicious. But then he left, Calliban leading him away.
It was then just Dovakiin and Lord Vance in the room. Lord Vance broke the silence first.
“There is no pressure on anyone to remain in my employment. I will have loyalty. I will not get that through force, or compulsion. If you truly wish to leave, the door is always open… Do you understand?”
Dovakiin nodded.
Lord Vance sighed, his breathing almost pained. He continued to look at his hands. And then he asked; “Will you be leaving us also?”
Dovakiin thought for a moment. It was tempting. Although all of the others were strange, none of them had struck him as particularly evil. But now, meeting Helga, knowing he was going to be working with someone like that… it was troubling to him.
What was this work going to be like, if Lord Vance thinks someone like that is a ‘necessary evil’? And how is this group going to stick together?
But eventually, he shook his head. He would stay.
Lord Vance breathed in again, slowly, and finally looked up. Something in his expression stirred a thought in Dovakiin.
Whatever’s going on here, Vance is deeply invested in this.
“Good,” Lord Vance said, “good. Because the group leader just walked out of the door. He was the only member of this group who was completely non-monstrous. He was someone Heldsgard could unreservedly accept. So much for that. Well now, this group is going to need a leader. The next least monstrous. And, your background aside, that’s you.”
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