Sympathy For The Shadow - Jaezred/Delilah
Mar 5, 2022 16:33:51 GMT
Delilah Daybreaker, Velania Kalugina, and 1 more like this
Post by Jaezred Vandree on Mar 5, 2022 16:33:51 GMT
Co-written with Delilah Daybreaker.
One week after the events of A Dark Disquiet…
The tome of witchcraft appears before Jaezred in a wreath of whispering shadows, bobbing gently up and down in the air. As if knowing the will of its master, it flutters open to a page with a list of 5 names and miniature illustrations in its borders, depicting a soaring conspiracy of ravens and a scribe scribbling at his desk, each moving in their fixed places. He picks up a raven feather quill and presses the tip of the pen into one of the names: Delilah, written in a neat, precise cursive.
As he lifts the quill, each letter in the Pale Daughter’s name begins to move, migrating to the top of the adjacent, empty page, where they reform to spell the name once more. Below it, he writes a message:
Miss Delilah, I have arrived in Fort Ettin. You may find me in my suite.
One second passes, and words form in ink underneath his message:
Ah, perfect. I’ve done some research and would like to bounce some ideas off of you. Shall I come to yours?
Please, he writes back.
It isn’t too long until there is a soft knock on the door. He opens it to be greeted with the familiar, masked face of his half-elven friend. He’lylbreia stands at his feet as in panther form, peeking curiously through the crack.
“Miss Delilah, please come in,” he says, opening the door wider for her to step in.
She goes to step past him but melts into shadow before stepping out behind Jaezred as he is in the midst of opening the door wider. Beastie appears at her feet but prowls right for He’lylbreia, tail upright as they raise their nose to sniff them.
He rolls his eyes as he shuts the door. “What is it with spy girls and dramatic entrances?”
“Gotta maintain the brand, Jaezred. You should know that,” Delilah smirks. He chuckles in response. “How has your last ten-day been?” she asks, casually looking around.
“My week has been exciting, but that’s a gossip session for later. I have something to tell you and I thought it is better done in person… It’s about Kurtz. We know what he’s after.”
She stops looking around and raises an eyebrow. “Oh? Do tell.”
He pulls up a chair for her and leans against the table. “The Apocrypha wasn’t the only thing Pentaghast stole from Kurtz,” he begins as she sits down. “He also made away with his professor orb. Sentient orbs used for lectures in institutions of higher learning when the actual, fleshy teacher is away. This particular orb is knowledgeable about the subject of shadow corruption on dragons.”
“He is quite the little thief for a mage,” she mutters.
“The orb didn’t know much more than what we’ve already learned from the book, but he did tell us that Kurtz got him purely for his knowledge on that subject. Because Kurtz has been seeking ways to reverse his corruption.”
Delilah sits in silence for a while, thinking. Eventually, she asks, “Did the professor tell you how Kurtz could have been corrupted by shadows?”
“Yes. He suggested that a portal to the Shadowfell opened up in Kurtz’s lair whilst he was sleeping for years. I suppose shadow matter leaked out and… well, he got exposed to it unknowingly.”
Delilah shakes her head, not in disbelief but in sad confirmation. “Makes me wonder if his lair is somewhere in this land riddled with wanton portals. It might have even been where Veridian and Sergeant Grimes crossed his path. This all makes a… tragic sort of sense, and would explain why he would seek help from other quarters.”
He’lylbreia tucks Beastie between their paws as they sit, and starts licking the top of the shadow cat’s head with an inky tongue.
“Perhaps so. It is also why he acquired the Apocrypha of Alchemical Alterations. Unfortunately, it didn’t do him much good with regards to reversing his corruption either. The professor said when it comes to prolonged exposure to shadow matter, even a wish or a true polymorph spell wouldn’t be able to permanently undo the corruption.” He crosses his arms and leans down a little towards her. “Now, I have asked Imryll. It is possible that Queen Nicnevin could reverse shadow corruption. I have seen her suspend a divine curse on someone and she is in the process of curing it over time. However, it is not certain, I think she would need to see Kurtz in person first, and curing corruption… could be dangerous. It could leave him very weak, or even kill him.”
Her eyes widen in surprise. “There’s no guarantee he would accept but… you would be willing to try to ask the Fey Ascendant for this boon? Why?”
“Frankly, it’ll be easier to keep an eye on him if he’s bound to the Moonweaver. Of course, I will only do this if he agrees to play by our rules — that is, tell us the truth about his activities and help you in whatever it is you need help doing. If the scholars are right, an uncorrupted Kurtz is a weaker Kurtz, and that is good for all of us. Well, except Silvia, I suppose. At least, I hope the scholars are right. It is strange that he wouldn't tell us his goal if it is only this…”
Delilah let’s out a laugh. “Ah, so it would only be offered if the goal was to entrap him, do I have that right? Is that how this offer from Queen Nicnevin would work?”
“That’s how my offer would work. The Witch-Queen shall set her own terms. I will say though, he will likely retain his freedom.”
As I have, Jaezred adds in his mind.
“It’s a good thing Kurtz wouldn’t be making a deal with a spider such as yourself then,” she teases. Then her look becomes serious. “But before we can even think about presenting this option to Kurtz there is the matter of his other little infernal bargain.”
“Yes… The professor orb couldn’t tell us anything about the deal or whatever he was doing in the Angelbark. What have you found?”
“Much, but I still have more I'll be following up on.” Delilah leans back and stretches as she continues to talk. “Devils like the subjects of their contracts to be bound on a magical level, just like the fey. But unlike those fun agreements hapless creatures make with those of power in the ‘Wilds where one’s spoken word is binding, infernal contracts take it a step further, writing and signing the document in blood. But these contracts can be sold, bought or transferred to another owner.”
“Quite right. I have seen and held one of these contracts before. Atrociously wordy, as you can probably imagine…”
“I bet. But this also means the subject of the contract would be obliged to repay whoever owns the contract, not necessarily the original writer. Since you said you've held one of them before it will come as no surprise, then, that attempting to destroy one is very difficult. They are magical items and can withstand many things, even your famed disintegration spell or other such anti-magic shells.”
He rubs his chin and thinks. “Do you know Lady Kythrin of the Twilight Court? Of course you do. You know she made a deal with a devil to cover up an illicit affair? Before Miandra ascended to the throne, she hired us to look into Kythrin as part of her murder investigation… and to get intel on her competition, naturally, but that's neither here nor there.
“We found the infernal contract in Kythrin’s mansion and there was a concerned citizen of the Feywild with us at the time. They were more interested in undoing this deal to protect the Feywild more than anything, and so they used dispel magic on the contract a number of times. It looked incredibly difficult to destroy, yes, but at certain points, it seemed like it almost succeeded… I counterspelled their final effort however, as the rest of the party wanted to bring this to Miandra as evidence. And besides, that was only Kythrin’s copy of the contract, the devil she dealt with would have another.”
Delilah’s demeanour becomes detached and aloof at the mention of the ‘Twilight Incarnate’ but her curiosity is piqued learning about the infernal contract all the same. “When you brought it to the then-yet-to-be-Queen Miandra, what did she do with it? Did she dispel it or keep it as leverage?”
“Kept it as leverage, as I understood it. I heard later that someone found a way to undo the deal by going into the Hells and stealing the other copy.”
“So we need not just the one Glasya has, but the copy Kurtz has as well. Hmmm…” She once again goes silent as she thinks but the pause is shorter this time. “The more we discuss this, the more certain I am becoming that the only way to undo any of this will be to go deeper into it with my father. It won’t be an easy path either. From what I found of Glasya and her domain, Malbolge, it’s a seemingly endless slope, similar to the sides of an impossibly huge mountain, with parts that break off in deadly, deafening avalanches of stone. The Lord herself is a cruel mistress, something she inherited from her father, Asmodeus…” Delilah hesitates only a moment. Her tone changes to being mockingly sweet. “Apparently she’s a fan of torture, mind games, and keeps those who have crossed her below her citadel in such lovely accommodations one never can leave. The only boon is she rarely leaves her domain herself, preferring to have others do her bidding whilst she pulls their strings from the shadows. She has schemes within schemes, layer upon layer and, well… she’s an archdevil. She has quite a few years of playing The Game.”
There is a moment of quiet after Delilah has finished speaking as Jaezred silently notes her hesitation, realising that what looms on her mind is how similar she and Kurtz are to each other, not unlike Glasya and Asmodeus. But he decides it is wise, for the sake of remaining un-stabbed, to leave her daddy issues well alone.
“Yes, I can’t say I’m optimistic about outsmarting Glasya,” he says with a sigh. “But I’d very much like to find out how and why she managed to get demons to do her bidding.”
“So would I. As someone whose modus operandi is to manipulate and scheme, it would help us if we could divide them so we can get what we may want. But that is a ways off yet. There’s still leads here I would explore first, and conversations I would have with my father.”
“Are you seeking to go to where Pentaghast and the others met him in the Angelbark?”
“I am. I need to see it for myself.”
“Fair. That whole affair is rather curious,” he says with a nod.
He’lylbreia comes padding over to the two of them with Beastie riding on their scruff like a cavalier on an oversized mount. Jaezred gives them a pet and they lick his hand. “Well, is there anything else…?”
Delilah raises an eyebrow at the two shadows but sounds amused when she replies, “Not at the moment. I may try to go to the Academy to follow up on some more research as I think I’ve exhausted the library here. But that won't be for a tenday or more.”
She reaches out, giving He’lylbreia a pet on their neck. “Oh. Just one thing. The gaggle of bards you sent to our door, though tasteless, was hilarious to see them cower at Oziah’s glare for the ruckus they made. I enjoyed that very much.”
He laughs out loud. “Most excellent. That was exactly what I intended. Oh, don’t forget our dinner next week!”
“Oh shit, I nearly did,” she admits, standing up. “I’m assuming it’s to be somewhere ridiculously fancy and pompous?”
“Why of course, who do you think I am, a cheapskate plebeian? Oziah would be expecting no less too. It shall be somewhere in the Mountain Palace.” He goes to open the door for her, and he couldn’t resist spilling a little more gossip as he does. “Oh, all this talk about infernal contracts reminds me of how awful Kythrin’s negotiation skills are. She gave up most of her spellcasting abilities, did you know that? For a time, she could only cast cantrips only for her lovechild to look like a hideous pixie.”
Delilah rolls her eyes and laughs. “Honestly, that woman cares more about appearance than doing anything helpful for anyone ever. It was quite satisfying seeing her face when she didn’t get the throne.”
“The right woman became queen, that is for certain.”
“As did the one who rose to Ascendancy.” She stops just before walking out the door and smiles under the mask at Jaezred. “A pleasure as always. Give my best to your lady.”
“And mine to yours.” He smiles back at her and gives her a slight bow before closing the door.
One week after the events of A Dark Disquiet…
The tome of witchcraft appears before Jaezred in a wreath of whispering shadows, bobbing gently up and down in the air. As if knowing the will of its master, it flutters open to a page with a list of 5 names and miniature illustrations in its borders, depicting a soaring conspiracy of ravens and a scribe scribbling at his desk, each moving in their fixed places. He picks up a raven feather quill and presses the tip of the pen into one of the names: Delilah, written in a neat, precise cursive.
As he lifts the quill, each letter in the Pale Daughter’s name begins to move, migrating to the top of the adjacent, empty page, where they reform to spell the name once more. Below it, he writes a message:
Miss Delilah, I have arrived in Fort Ettin. You may find me in my suite.
One second passes, and words form in ink underneath his message:
Ah, perfect. I’ve done some research and would like to bounce some ideas off of you. Shall I come to yours?
Please, he writes back.
It isn’t too long until there is a soft knock on the door. He opens it to be greeted with the familiar, masked face of his half-elven friend. He’lylbreia stands at his feet as in panther form, peeking curiously through the crack.
“Miss Delilah, please come in,” he says, opening the door wider for her to step in.
She goes to step past him but melts into shadow before stepping out behind Jaezred as he is in the midst of opening the door wider. Beastie appears at her feet but prowls right for He’lylbreia, tail upright as they raise their nose to sniff them.
He rolls his eyes as he shuts the door. “What is it with spy girls and dramatic entrances?”
“Gotta maintain the brand, Jaezred. You should know that,” Delilah smirks. He chuckles in response. “How has your last ten-day been?” she asks, casually looking around.
“My week has been exciting, but that’s a gossip session for later. I have something to tell you and I thought it is better done in person… It’s about Kurtz. We know what he’s after.”
She stops looking around and raises an eyebrow. “Oh? Do tell.”
He pulls up a chair for her and leans against the table. “The Apocrypha wasn’t the only thing Pentaghast stole from Kurtz,” he begins as she sits down. “He also made away with his professor orb. Sentient orbs used for lectures in institutions of higher learning when the actual, fleshy teacher is away. This particular orb is knowledgeable about the subject of shadow corruption on dragons.”
“He is quite the little thief for a mage,” she mutters.
“The orb didn’t know much more than what we’ve already learned from the book, but he did tell us that Kurtz got him purely for his knowledge on that subject. Because Kurtz has been seeking ways to reverse his corruption.”
Delilah sits in silence for a while, thinking. Eventually, she asks, “Did the professor tell you how Kurtz could have been corrupted by shadows?”
“Yes. He suggested that a portal to the Shadowfell opened up in Kurtz’s lair whilst he was sleeping for years. I suppose shadow matter leaked out and… well, he got exposed to it unknowingly.”
Delilah shakes her head, not in disbelief but in sad confirmation. “Makes me wonder if his lair is somewhere in this land riddled with wanton portals. It might have even been where Veridian and Sergeant Grimes crossed his path. This all makes a… tragic sort of sense, and would explain why he would seek help from other quarters.”
He’lylbreia tucks Beastie between their paws as they sit, and starts licking the top of the shadow cat’s head with an inky tongue.
“Perhaps so. It is also why he acquired the Apocrypha of Alchemical Alterations. Unfortunately, it didn’t do him much good with regards to reversing his corruption either. The professor said when it comes to prolonged exposure to shadow matter, even a wish or a true polymorph spell wouldn’t be able to permanently undo the corruption.” He crosses his arms and leans down a little towards her. “Now, I have asked Imryll. It is possible that Queen Nicnevin could reverse shadow corruption. I have seen her suspend a divine curse on someone and she is in the process of curing it over time. However, it is not certain, I think she would need to see Kurtz in person first, and curing corruption… could be dangerous. It could leave him very weak, or even kill him.”
Her eyes widen in surprise. “There’s no guarantee he would accept but… you would be willing to try to ask the Fey Ascendant for this boon? Why?”
“Frankly, it’ll be easier to keep an eye on him if he’s bound to the Moonweaver. Of course, I will only do this if he agrees to play by our rules — that is, tell us the truth about his activities and help you in whatever it is you need help doing. If the scholars are right, an uncorrupted Kurtz is a weaker Kurtz, and that is good for all of us. Well, except Silvia, I suppose. At least, I hope the scholars are right. It is strange that he wouldn't tell us his goal if it is only this…”
Delilah let’s out a laugh. “Ah, so it would only be offered if the goal was to entrap him, do I have that right? Is that how this offer from Queen Nicnevin would work?”
“That’s how my offer would work. The Witch-Queen shall set her own terms. I will say though, he will likely retain his freedom.”
As I have, Jaezred adds in his mind.
“It’s a good thing Kurtz wouldn’t be making a deal with a spider such as yourself then,” she teases. Then her look becomes serious. “But before we can even think about presenting this option to Kurtz there is the matter of his other little infernal bargain.”
“Yes… The professor orb couldn’t tell us anything about the deal or whatever he was doing in the Angelbark. What have you found?”
“Much, but I still have more I'll be following up on.” Delilah leans back and stretches as she continues to talk. “Devils like the subjects of their contracts to be bound on a magical level, just like the fey. But unlike those fun agreements hapless creatures make with those of power in the ‘Wilds where one’s spoken word is binding, infernal contracts take it a step further, writing and signing the document in blood. But these contracts can be sold, bought or transferred to another owner.”
“Quite right. I have seen and held one of these contracts before. Atrociously wordy, as you can probably imagine…”
“I bet. But this also means the subject of the contract would be obliged to repay whoever owns the contract, not necessarily the original writer. Since you said you've held one of them before it will come as no surprise, then, that attempting to destroy one is very difficult. They are magical items and can withstand many things, even your famed disintegration spell or other such anti-magic shells.”
He rubs his chin and thinks. “Do you know Lady Kythrin of the Twilight Court? Of course you do. You know she made a deal with a devil to cover up an illicit affair? Before Miandra ascended to the throne, she hired us to look into Kythrin as part of her murder investigation… and to get intel on her competition, naturally, but that's neither here nor there.
“We found the infernal contract in Kythrin’s mansion and there was a concerned citizen of the Feywild with us at the time. They were more interested in undoing this deal to protect the Feywild more than anything, and so they used dispel magic on the contract a number of times. It looked incredibly difficult to destroy, yes, but at certain points, it seemed like it almost succeeded… I counterspelled their final effort however, as the rest of the party wanted to bring this to Miandra as evidence. And besides, that was only Kythrin’s copy of the contract, the devil she dealt with would have another.”
Delilah’s demeanour becomes detached and aloof at the mention of the ‘Twilight Incarnate’ but her curiosity is piqued learning about the infernal contract all the same. “When you brought it to the then-yet-to-be-Queen Miandra, what did she do with it? Did she dispel it or keep it as leverage?”
“Kept it as leverage, as I understood it. I heard later that someone found a way to undo the deal by going into the Hells and stealing the other copy.”
“So we need not just the one Glasya has, but the copy Kurtz has as well. Hmmm…” She once again goes silent as she thinks but the pause is shorter this time. “The more we discuss this, the more certain I am becoming that the only way to undo any of this will be to go deeper into it with my father. It won’t be an easy path either. From what I found of Glasya and her domain, Malbolge, it’s a seemingly endless slope, similar to the sides of an impossibly huge mountain, with parts that break off in deadly, deafening avalanches of stone. The Lord herself is a cruel mistress, something she inherited from her father, Asmodeus…” Delilah hesitates only a moment. Her tone changes to being mockingly sweet. “Apparently she’s a fan of torture, mind games, and keeps those who have crossed her below her citadel in such lovely accommodations one never can leave. The only boon is she rarely leaves her domain herself, preferring to have others do her bidding whilst she pulls their strings from the shadows. She has schemes within schemes, layer upon layer and, well… she’s an archdevil. She has quite a few years of playing The Game.”
There is a moment of quiet after Delilah has finished speaking as Jaezred silently notes her hesitation, realising that what looms on her mind is how similar she and Kurtz are to each other, not unlike Glasya and Asmodeus. But he decides it is wise, for the sake of remaining un-stabbed, to leave her daddy issues well alone.
“Yes, I can’t say I’m optimistic about outsmarting Glasya,” he says with a sigh. “But I’d very much like to find out how and why she managed to get demons to do her bidding.”
“So would I. As someone whose modus operandi is to manipulate and scheme, it would help us if we could divide them so we can get what we may want. But that is a ways off yet. There’s still leads here I would explore first, and conversations I would have with my father.”
“Are you seeking to go to where Pentaghast and the others met him in the Angelbark?”
“I am. I need to see it for myself.”
“Fair. That whole affair is rather curious,” he says with a nod.
He’lylbreia comes padding over to the two of them with Beastie riding on their scruff like a cavalier on an oversized mount. Jaezred gives them a pet and they lick his hand. “Well, is there anything else…?”
Delilah raises an eyebrow at the two shadows but sounds amused when she replies, “Not at the moment. I may try to go to the Academy to follow up on some more research as I think I’ve exhausted the library here. But that won't be for a tenday or more.”
She reaches out, giving He’lylbreia a pet on their neck. “Oh. Just one thing. The gaggle of bards you sent to our door, though tasteless, was hilarious to see them cower at Oziah’s glare for the ruckus they made. I enjoyed that very much.”
He laughs out loud. “Most excellent. That was exactly what I intended. Oh, don’t forget our dinner next week!”
“Oh shit, I nearly did,” she admits, standing up. “I’m assuming it’s to be somewhere ridiculously fancy and pompous?”
“Why of course, who do you think I am, a cheapskate plebeian? Oziah would be expecting no less too. It shall be somewhere in the Mountain Palace.” He goes to open the door for her, and he couldn’t resist spilling a little more gossip as he does. “Oh, all this talk about infernal contracts reminds me of how awful Kythrin’s negotiation skills are. She gave up most of her spellcasting abilities, did you know that? For a time, she could only cast cantrips only for her lovechild to look like a hideous pixie.”
Delilah rolls her eyes and laughs. “Honestly, that woman cares more about appearance than doing anything helpful for anyone ever. It was quite satisfying seeing her face when she didn’t get the throne.”
“The right woman became queen, that is for certain.”
“As did the one who rose to Ascendancy.” She stops just before walking out the door and smiles under the mask at Jaezred. “A pleasure as always. Give my best to your lady.”
“And mine to yours.” He smiles back at her and gives her a slight bow before closing the door.