An Unexpected Guest: LXXVIII
*Click.. click*
Riu sat in the room pensive with each second marked by the ticking of a clock. "So.. uh.." She stumbled over her words just barely able to get them out. Andraste sat roughly ten feet away from herself at another table in the bar, being unusually cold to her; no words were exchanged, just the two of them up at two oclock in the morning.
"So uh." Andraste responded. "Do you.. Normally get up this early? I mean it makes sense for me.. Full blooded elf and all, but you?" the elven woman frowned at Riu giving her an odd look. She shrugged and continued rolling the coin in her fingertips watching the small insignia roll over her joints like a boat through the sea. She thought about all the fighting she had done with Alekz.. Only for him to collapse in tears. He was right.. She got her revenge.. But still, it didn't mean she was wrong.
"Just.. couldn't sleep all that well.." Riu replied she hated the way that it stung her tongue. Was she really unable to sleep? Or did she simply want to avoid the nightmares that would plague her. "I would ask what about you but.. You.. kinda.." Riu didn't finish the sentence, it didn't really matter. She let her brain wander for the briefest of seconds, slightly proud of avoiding an absolute catastrophe with Alekz and Markos charging the Gralhund villa. Although, deep down she longed to put her fist through that house and raze all of its inhabitants to the utter ground.
"Mmm.." Andraste held up a drink in her hand, turning it over like she was inspecting it for inconsistencies. "I'm glad you sided with me.." she looked up and gave Riu a smile, "They would never have listened to just me.. They're headstrong and fucking crazy.." Riu got the feeling Andraste was really emphasizing crazy.
"They aren't all crazy.." Riu muttered, she couldn't help smiling a little thinking on both the duality of Markos's insanity and the other members of the party being rational. "Just.. mostly Markos."
"Do you.. Even know what happened to him?" Andraste inquired. Riu shook her head in response, she didn't really have a clue. Reaching slowly she gripped the map in her pocket Adleth had helpfully picked back off of the cultist, she stared intently at it. Cassalnters crypt.. Marked in the center of the photo, like instructions.
"I don't really know.. Not that he tells any of us directly, just kinda.. Hints towards it." Riu recalled when Markos headed to bed summoning his familiar and speaking to it in that odd guttural language. "I don't understand what this map is supposed to be." Riu spat angrily, it was just a fucking picture of the city of the dead with a big ol x on where the cassalnters crypt was located.
"Well, we can always go and see what it is in the morning? Perhaps I'll distract the others from trying to charge the Gralhunds." Andraste offered hopefully. Riu started to nod her head, yeah that could work.. It wasn't a bad idea just what-
*Ercreek*
The once silent, dimly lit room let off the smallest of sounds as a loose floorboard presumably from the new work slipped in place. Both Riu's and Andraste's attention was brought to the far corner of the room where the noise had come from. Standing slightly hunched over in the darkness was a rather tall drow figure.
"You.. you're seeing this right?" Riu quizzed to seemingly empty air Andraste stood up instantly Riu followed her. This had to be a dream, because otherwise she was about to throw hands.
"Who.. might you be?" Andarste asked the figure in the distance, who froze when she spoke. The drow turned a little bit, he had a large irritated expression while gritting his teeth.
"Ah... shit." His voice was a nasally higher pitch that gave you the creeps, like a dull spear sliding against jagged rocks. "Hello there.." The drow continued, he was dressed in fine leather and silk strappings like the noble adventurer's son; Keldo Ivlem it looked like a rogue attire but made devilishly stylish. "You... I don't recognize you... you're not a part of this. Normal group." The drow continued, now stepping out of the shadows he aimed his words towards Andraste but Riu.. she recognized that voice, that all so creeping sensation of death. She hardened into a determined look, slipping her spell casting focus on as she brought it up in a show of strength.
"Ant'tran.." Riu whispered, the drow grinned and gave her an approving look.
"In the flesh." He turned back to Andraste, "What is your name? I'd like to make it an honest effort." He flashed them an evil smile. He took a few more steps forward now only a few feet from Andraste he was nearly as tall as her. The drow had a trademark blue skin with long silver hair that ran down his back scars covering his face and a pair of deep purple eyes. A grin curled across his face.
"That.. is privileged information." Andraste responded.
"Maybe I do know you.." He said it like he was only half trying to recall, as if someone like Andraste wasn't worth remembering. "Perhaps I should introduce myself.. Hello, my name is Ant'tran Auvryrret Naïlo." The drow fiend a bow with that almost mocking the tradition.
"N...Naïlo?" Riu frowned, Andraste's voice was so shaky and uneasy, she tried her best to make eye contact with the elf but got nothing, only her back facing Riu. She knew that name was a tad familiar but besides maybe trying to match it through hundreds of history books she knew she wouldn't find an answer.
"I suppose we meet again then." Riu moved over to the two of them demonstrating a new lack of fear for the entity. "Tell me, have you come for another playful chat?" She took a deep breath raising her head up high.
"Yes-"
"How." Andraste growled angrily interrupting the innocent murderer. "Did you get that last name.." Andraste was trembling now, holding a clenched fist nearby. The drow was intimidating looking, yet Riu didn't care.
"Well.. if I perhaps knew your name.. I may be inclined to share."
"Andraste." Andraste replied without a second word her anger seemed to brim now. And Riu began to have some suspicions.. On what exactly was going on. The innocent murderer smiled.
"I do know you..." The innocent murderer turned to the air. "I'll have to give your regards to your sister.. When I see her next." Riu was fairly sure if Andraste hadn't been the second most rational person still left in the party she would have lunged at the drow at that instant. The elf's body shook with a violent anger and seeming fear, her face twitching at its corners while the drow mocked her. "Now then.. Shall I get on with my day?" Sister? Sister?! Riu's mind nearly cracked in half, Andraste.. Knew this thing? This man? This creature?! She wanted to reach down and summon some kind of spell at that very instant, in an attempt to attack him. But she knew she couldn't. Damnit.. If Asher couldn't kill him.. Much less fight him, could she?
"Why are you here.. Exactly.." Riu questioned, she circled around the drow though his eyes followed her throughout the bar. "I know you aren't here for nothing.." Her brain went into survival mode, the drow was standing so cavalierly yet he had intent. The corner.. He was standing in the corner for the stairs.. But what was he aiming for? Why creep around? The purple eyes of the drow were a burning color, where Markos's had a dark elixir of insanity, his were so much brighter and full of an odd pasion. They felt like old blood, rotted corpses, and pure evil. They were the color of death.
"Why am I here?" He chuckled a bit "Well.. lets just say I've had interest in a few of you.." He paused, closing his eyes and listening to the air. "Can't you hear it? Smell it? Feel it.. The sense of hatred, of death, of desperation.. A seeking of power. Something had shifted the tides of fate.. What was once slim.. Is now absolute." He never stopped grinning the words poured from his mouth yet it was obvious that the body wasn't really speaking. Like a false mannequin at the clothes stores in Waterdeep he moved like a doll. He looked over at Andraste. "But, perhaps.. I have another.."
The elf growled in response to that.
"But.." He spun on a heel. "For tonight.. Neither of you are the focus.. Oh no. The target is much more.. Interesting, then my spies were able to tell me."
"What have you done to Lia..." The room's tension hung by a thread all hell threatening to break loose at any second. The drow grinned and rolled his eyes.
"Oh I've done nothing dear.. I've done nothing whatsoever." He gave her a snarl. "She seems to have taken a liking to my style.. Of life.." Andraste dug her nails into her palms and Riu reached over, why was she getting so angry? This.. monster.. Had her sister? Riu thought she was confused but knew her first priority had to be Andraste. If one of them were not thinking right everything could go wrong. "And I do appreciate a fellow connoisseur, now then ladies.. If you don't mind me, I'm going to continue on with my night." The drow walked past the both of them like they didn't even exist.
"Actually.." Riu announced. "I'm sorry to intrude on your plans.. But I'd rather you not.. Screw with my friends." Her mind flashed with images of Adleth, Alekzandr, Herod. Whoever he was here for would not be meeting him, at least not tonight, not if Riu had anything to say about it.
"Mmm.." He growled a little bit, sheathing a dagger she hadn't actually noticed until then. The same one she saw last time he was there.. "So.. unfit.." He groaned. He moved his long silver hair out of his face angrily.
"It may be wrong of me to deny you.. But they are my friends.. And I do care for them, no matter how utterly insane they might be." Riu felt confidence in her body, though she couldn't say the same for Andraste who looked shell shocked nearby. Right now she'd have to carry this. "How about you leave us alone.. At least for this night. Don't you know it's impolite to enter a home in grief?" She moved forward watching the drows oddly satisfied smile. "We do take offence afterall.. We haven't even tidied up the place.. We feel quite rude not having the home prepared when you come in. I guarantee you.. You'll have a warm welcome next time." She gave the drow a condescending grin. His face twitched the old scars that covered his face looked painful in the soft yellow light. He had a surprisingly intimidating appearance.
Ant'tran put a hand up yet not in a hostile fashion. "This.. ended so very unfortunate for me.. Well, no need, we have a night. Several nights in fact.. So intriguing your friends are. One of utter raw power from a deity I had never seen.. The other has skills unheard of.. I wonder what it will be.. Goodnight." The drow raised a hand as he disappeared in a cloud of magic.
"Well goodnight my good sir." Riu chuckled back amusingly, she put on the best face and flirtiest voice she could muster in every attempt to insult his presence. But.. he was gone. Riu had successfully survived her second run-in with the innocent murderer. But Andraste.. Looked far worse for wear. She instantly rushed to the elf's side. "Andraste? If you don't mind me asking.. But what was that all about.. The conversation you and him had?"
"I.. It was a long time ago.." Andraste began, she crumpled back into her seat at a table, her head hung low in shame. "My sister.. Had fallen in love with this drow.. And I made.. Such a horrible mistake. I trusted it all at face value, I never questioned what was going on when he brought her to the edges of the grove.. When he said things in twisted riddles. She was.. So happy but.. Then.." Andraste sighed, lifting a now cold cup of tea feebly to her lips.
"Andraste stop." Riu rushed forward lifting a finger to clear the tears forming in her eyes. "You.. don't need to bring yourself so much pain.. Tell me in doses hm? Be less hard on yourself."
"A force took over him, something.. Changed.. The man that once brought pride to my family.. Who took my sister's hand in marriage.. I.. I killed him!" She screamed, collapsing to the ground in anguish. "I killed him.. Or at least.." She stared up at the walls. "I thought I did." The woman stared bitterly at the wall, without a single word.