The gunshot rang though the halls of the dungeon. But the bullet did not hit its mark.
Thanks to Cassandra, who pushed the pepperbox away in time.
"Percy what are you doing!? She's unarmed!" Keyleth said
"So was my family" he growled
"Percy, she may have something we can use" Cassandra tried, "they kept her alive for a reason"
"Um..." Vex got their attention, "mind telling us who the hell that is?"
"Doctor Anna Ripley" Percy answered and pulled off his mask, "another Briarwood pawn I'm about to remove from the board" he said and brought his gun back to her face.
"And here I thought you were the intelligent one" Ripley said, "we're both engineers, Percival. We know the value of knowledge. You must be curious as to the information I possess."
Percy answered by cocking his gun closer to her face, "not that curious"
"Brother, wait" Cassandra moved his gun down again
"Why should I!?"
"I've been with the Briarwoods for years, and I know next to nothing about their motives."
Percy sighed and the black smoke vanished, "Fine. Interrogation...then she dies" Vax took that as his time to unlock the bars.
"Speaking of 'burning questions,' uh, quick little sidebar here?" Scanlan asked
Percy nodded and walked a few feet away from the group, followed by Miel, Scanlan, Keyleth and Pike.
"Percy, hey, love you pal, but we got to deal with this smoke thing." Scanlan started, "I mean, you are legit fucked up"
Percy sighed and rolled his eyes. "Not this again"
"It's been getting worse" Keyleth added with a worried expression
"It's not just that" Miel spoke up as she rubbed her arm, "every time you use it, I get this horrible feeling off of the pepperbox"
"Oh really? What kind of feeling?" Percy asked
Miel look at him in anger, not liking his tone, "demonic" she said in a low voice and the other three's eyes widened at what she said, "it's every time the smoke appears with every kill on your list...and it's getting stronger"
"Pike, can you divine anything?" Keyleth asked
"If Percy will let me" she said and looked at Percy in question.
Percy looked reluctant to agree but he thought back to how he pointed the gun at Vax without a second thought. He let out a sigh and nodded at Pike. He knelt down to be leveled with the gnome and Pike walked up to him. She placed her hand on his chest and closed her eyes to start. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing gold, indicating that she had started to look into their human friend. What she saw, terrified her so much that when she snapped out of it, she quickly moved away from Percy.
"I...I don't know what it is!" she gasped out, "but something is clouding your soul. We need to get you to a temple"
Percy's eyes widened at what she had said, "Really!? With rebels at the gate and the Briarwoods in this castle?" He asked in anger, "have you all gone mad?"
"But if something is wrong with you-"
"Your concerns are appreciated, truly" Percy said, interrupting Keyleth's words, "but we must push forward. As soon as this is over, I'll sort it out" he said
"Will you?" Pike asked, not sure if you would or not
Percy stopped walking but did not look back at them, "I swear on my family's name" he promised
Vax got the gate opened and Percy tied together Ripley's wrists - even though she only had one hand - then slammed her against the wall.
"Alright, talk" he demanded, "you work for the Briarwoods, why would they imprison you?"
"Would you believe I had moral objections to their plan?" She chuckled as if thinking this interrogation was a game. Percy only shoved the head of his gun into her shoulder in a threatening manner, "it was a simple transaction" she said, "they needed an engineer, I needed a patron to find my experiments. When my job was complete, I thought it was time to leave. They disagreed"
"And why am I not simply shooting you, heading to the throne room, and doing the same to them?" Percy asked nonmoving
"Because, Percival, they aren't there. Their concerns lie with the ziggurat"
"The what?" Grog asked
"Oh! The-the zippertwat!" Scanlan remembered
"It was in that Book of Evil" Miel added
"It all makes sense"
"Does it?"
"No, not really"
"Their ritual, whatever it is" Ripley continued, "it'll happen there. And the ziggurat is not up. It's down"
"Ah, the dark power I sensed through the Sun Tree's roots" Keyleth pointed out
"I think she's telling the truth" Cassandra said as she stood next to Percy
"I don't trust a word she says" he replied and moved his gun from her shoulder to her head
"Then trust me" Percy looked at his sister and his gaze softened, thinking maybe he should
"If you let me live" Ripely spoke, making Percy press his gun more into her head, "I'll take you there"
Finally, Percy pulled back his gun, "fine"
Ripely let out a sigh and fell to her knees. Cassandra then walked over to her. "We're only sparing your life because you're useful to us...for now" after that Ripley got up and walked out.
"I'll need my bag" she said and reached for a bag that was next to her cell.
"Wait" Percy took it before she could grab it and started searching through her things.
While he was doing that, Miel couldn't help but glance at Cassandra. There was something off about her now. Before she seemed...normal? But now, Miel was sensing a lot of hate and anger coming off her. Cassandra glanced back at her and Miel looked away quickly.
"Shall we go then?" Percy said as he started to walk
"Never thought you and I would work together" Ripely chuckled
"At the moment, you are the luckiest person in Whitestone" Percy replied without looking at her, "Cause you're at the bottom of my list"
They walked through the dungeon for a couple minutes, following Ripely, until Scanlan decided to break the silence.
"So, Cassandra, was it? Seeing as how we're two unattached adults-" he then bumped into Percy who was glaring down at him
"No" and that was all that needed to be said for Scanlan to keep his mouth shut.
"Nice try Casanova" Miel chuckled, "why would you try to flirt with the sister of the man who his literally holding a gun in his hand, right now?"
"Shut up, Miel" Scanlan muttered in a growl as Miel laughed
Vex couldn't help but stare at her brother's girlfriend. "Why is it, that a few hours ago, she was trembling in fear and now she's all smiles in a dark dungeon?" she whispered over to Vax
"Maybe because Pike is back, and she can forget about you being all judgy" Vax replied
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You've been acting like you can't trust her. Like back when we were kids. As if you've forgotten what she did to earn your trust" Vex only sighed at her brothers' words. He was right. She was so frustrated at the idea that she believed Miel should be the strongest, simply because she's known her longer, that she let her emotions get the best of her. And now, Miel doubts her magic more than ever.
"This Ziggurat" Percy spoke, gaining everyone's attention as he talked to Ripely, "You found it for them?"
Ripely scoffed as they stopped walking, "Not just found. Restored. Improved. At the Briarwoods' request, I was able to augment the structure with a particular mineral" she explained as she pulled down a wall to reveal an opening
"Residuum"
"But to what end is anyone's guess."
They walked thought the small opening and Percy stepped forward, accidentally triggering a trap without knowing. Ripely did noticed and ran to him, pushing him out of the way and down to the ground. Something hit the floor, creating a dust cloud. When it disappeared, they looked to see the pathway covered in spikes. Ripely got up and walked over to what looked to be the main part of the trap.
"Worked even better than my design" she muttered then looked at Percy, "perhaps I should take the lead?"
Percy only pointed his gun at her head again, "By all means. Easier to keep an eye on you" he said, and he pushed her to continue walking.
Soon, they made to a giant opening, as if they were in a mine. Grog took this moment to inspect Pike's glowing form, by poking her.
"Uh, buddy?"
"Whoa, I mean, you feel real" he said
"I am, Grog" she said, "I'm just..."
"Think of it as if half of her was here" Miel spoke up walking next to them
"Yeah, not entirely here" Pike chuckled
"Right. So it worked?" Grog asked, "I mean, you said sorry?"
"Well, I had things I needed to figure out. And once I did...let's just say I know who I am now"
"Well, duh, you're my best friend" Grog chuckled, "except now, you glow in the dark!"
"So that's what that was" Miel gasped and Pike looked at her, "sorry, I mean...back at the keep, we were talking, I noticed something dark coming off you. I didn't know what it was, so I didn't know how to explain it, so I didn't say anything" Miel explained, "I guess I should have said something"
Pike's eyes widened, "Miel...do you think you can sense dark energy?" she asked and Miel looked at her in confusion, "I can see magical stuff because of the Everlight, but you're a Warlock. So maybe you can sense the negative stuff, like the pepperbox."
"Uh...maybe? I don't know, I mean I sensed you before you arrived. You really think I might be the opposite of you?"
It was then, that Pike started getting the idea of how her friend felt. Her feelings, her magic, her hesitation. To Pike, it was all starting to make sense. She smiled at the Warlock, "I think you're gonna have awesome magic when the time comes, right Grog?"
"Hell yeah! We're all amazing. Me and Pike a bit more, but you know what I mean" he laughed as he hugged Miel, lifting her off the ground but continued walking. At this sight, Vax couldn't help but smile. Whitestone has so far been a nightmare for everyone, but for Miel it has been nothing but negative emotions since they got there.
They made it to a stairway going down which led to a big room lit by torches. "We're getting closer" Ripely spoke up
"For your sake, you best hope so" Percy said as they looked around the room.
Grog's sudden exclamation made them all freeze and turned to look at the Goliath, "stand back. That stone person's armed!" he said as he looked at one of the many carvings on the walls.
Vax came up behind him with an unamused look, "uh, that's a grave" he said and walked closer to it, holding out his flamed dagger.
"where are we?" Vex asked
"Our family tomb" Cassandra answered, "it holds generations of de Rolos"
Grog looked at Miel, who was glancing around, "you seem fine, for someone who's surrounded by dead people" he pointed out
Miel realized what he was talking about, "it's not the dead that scare me" she said, not hearing the rumbling sound, "it sounds stupid...but it's the zombies. Seeing a dead body is one thing but seeing a moving dead body?" she shuttered as she remembered what happened before they entered the castle.
"Uh, we've got visitors" Vax called
Miel's eyes widened, "You've got to be shitting me" she groaned as she hid behind Vax
"Wait a second, did Lady Briarwood raise all the dead?" Vex asked
One by one, the tombs opened revealing the generations of de Rolos Cassandra mentioned. Funny, when they say something like that, one doesn't expect someone as recent as an uncle. Seeing a familiar face, Cassandra couldn't help but call out, "Uncle Nathaniel?"
Keyleth chuckled nervously as Percy's dead family walked closer to her, "Hi, I'm Keyleth, friends with your nephew" she said quickly before blocking them with her staff, "Oh god, you smell like shit" she then air blasted the zombie back.
Pike got another, "This is wrong" she said
"Oh, I know. Isn't great?" Grog exclaimed before running at the rest of them. The group didn't need to do anything. Grog had it under control. There wasn't that many down there, unlike when they were outisde.
"Drop it, Ripley. Now." Percy demanded suddenly and everyone looked over to see Percy, once again point his gun at their prisoner, who was holding a sword.
"You still think you can do this without me?" She asked. Percy's silence and the fact that he didn't lower his gun, confirmed what they were all thinking. Ripely sighed, "Percival, I'm not what you should be worried about" she said and dropped the sword.
"I have more than enough worry to go around" Percy said, lowering his gun
"Fine. But you'll regret this" she said and walked over to the wall. She moved a piece of it to the side and pressed a rectangular button. That's when a secret door opened up. They followed the path until they made it to a giant door with the de Rolo crest on it.
"Mind giving this a shove, big man?" Vax asked Grog when he noticed that there was no easy way to open it.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Could you say that again?" Grog smirked, taking the opportunity
Vax let out a sigh as he rubbed his eyes, "Oh gods...Oh Grog, you are so mighty and I am so weak." he forced out. Miel chuckled from behind him, "How ever can little old me survive without you?"
"Well, since you asked so nicely" Grog smiled and pulled the door open, revealing a green room with a bridge doing down the middle and what looked like to be furnaces lined up along the bridge.
"Some of my best work" Ripely boasted, "This far below Whitestone, it took ages"
"I don't trust her" Vex said, as she, Vax and Miel stopped walking
"You don't trust anyone" Miel deadpanned
"Well...except you two"
"Funny way of showing it sometimes" Miel said as she continued to walk. Vex didn't miss Miel's arm coming up to rub a small scar on the left side of her stomach, just barley poking out from under her red vest.
Vex sighed, "oh gods" she whispered, and Vax sent her a knowing smile
"I told you" He said and walked after his girlfriend, Vex following close behind.
They all then got to a weird room with what looked like a sort of pump on the ceiling and a large drain at the center. There was white powder all around the floor.
"Uh, Percy? Any idea what we're looking at?" Keyleth asked
"It's a drug factory!" Scanlan cried running over to the edge of the drain, "We just hit the jackpot." he reached down and grabbed two handfuls of the white powder, "anybody have a pipe?"
Percy smacked him on the back of the head, making him drop the white substance, "I'm fairly certain that would be an unpleasant trip" he said giving the gnome a hard glare, "this is residuum. The pipes must carry acid for its chemical refinement process"
"Looks like they're making a lot of it" Vex pointed out
"Why so much?" Vax questioned
Percy nudged Ripely with his gun, gesturing her to answer, "This was Ander's domain. I only helped them with the ziggurat"
"Uh, what the heck is this for?" Keyleth asked standing right next to the hole.
"I mean, it looks like a drain of sorts" Miel said and placed her hand on her chin, "but with the way this room looks, the position looks weird."
A sizzling noise made Percy looked down at his gun. He saw it glow in a burning light as a name he never thought to see, appeared on one of the barrels. Cassandra de Rolo. His eyes widened and he looked across the room, noticing that was way far away from the whole group. "Cassandra!" everyone looked up and noticed where he was looking.
Cassandra had a hard stare, as she pressed a button and suddenly clear walls started lowered down, covering all the ways out. Both Percy and Vax ran for Cassandra as the walls lowered down. Unfortunately for Percy, Vax was the faster one. He slid through the small gap right before the way was closed completely.
When they saw that Vax made it through, they all ran to the door. Percy obviously made it there first and he saw both of them pointing their weapons at each other. Daring the other to make a move.
"Percy" Vax called in warning while not taking his eyes off her, "Tell your sister to quit taking a piss before I forget my manners"
"Cass, what are you doing?!"
Cassandra looked at Percy when they all heard a deep voice from her side of the wall. "Excellent work, dear" the lights behind Cassandra lit up to reveal Sylas and Delilah.
At the sight of the Briarwoods, Percy glared and growled at them. Vax immediately tossed his dagger at Sylas, only for him to dodge it easily. "Bit of a slow learner"
"Vax, don't!" Miel yelled as she ran up to the wall next to Percy.
Vax, however, saw the opportunity and didn't listen as he lunged at Sylas, blade ready. But as quickly as he jumped, Vax stopped his advance and lowered his head for second before raising back up. From her side, Miel saw Sylas' eyes glow and she realized what he did.
"No!" she cried as Vex came up next to her
"Brother!" she called
"Why are you doing this?" Percy asked Cassandra shakingly
"You did this to yourself, Percy" she said glaring at him, "the day you left me lying in the snow, choking on my blood like a hunted animal. My brother abandoned me." Miel noticed a hint of gold in her eyes before she turned away to walk towards the Briarwoods. "I have new family now. One that transcends death. One that will never leave me. I am a Briarwood!"
At her words, Percy dropped the pepperbox and he fell to his knees, letting out small sobs.
"You!" Pike growled in anger at Ripely
"I'm as trapped as you are!" she defended herself
"I must say, I'm quite surprised to see you out of your cage, Anna" Delilah said in a fake sweet voice, "A delight that you've gone and gotten yourself recaptured."
"Poor Ripely. Always the unlucky one" Sylas added
Vex pounded on the clear wall, "Stop! If you value your lives, you'll let my brother go!"
"I'm afraid life is far more valuable to you than it is to us" Delilah said as she and Cassandra walked away
"Don't fret" Sylas said, "We'll take excellent care of him. Be a lamb, would you?" he asked, and Vax pushed a button that was next to him. At the action, they all heard another door close and then the pipe started releasing green liquid. The rats that were down by the drain ran out, but they saw one wasn't so lucky and got hit by some of it and was disintegrating.
Ripely jumped back. "An acid trap?" Pike asked, "oh, real fucking original!"
"Vax! Brother!" Vex continued to call, pounding on the wall, "Wake up! It's me! Wake up!"
"Please Vax! You can't leave!" Miel begged
Vax only starred at them with an unreadable expression before he turned and followed the Briarwoods.
"Wait! C-Come on! Don't you at least want to see Grog die?" Scanlan called when he saw the half elf walk away without turning back.
"uh, guys!"
"There must be a way out of this" Ripely said, "Anyone have a plan?"
"Vex?"
"Why are you looking at me?" she asked, "Percy, a little help?" but the human was just sitting there broken at what just happened, "Right, well...um...try to stop the acid!"
"Fuck, oh! Pike! Can't you just, you know, pass through walls?" Scanlan asked
"I'm not a ghost, Scanlan" She said, "If I break the connection, there's a chance I won't be able to come back"
"Then let's get to smashing!" Grog said running to the wall with Pike behind him with her holy maze. They both hit the wall a couple times before realizing that they weren't even making a scratch. "Welp, I'm out of ideas"
"Step back" Miel said, they all looked at her in question before moving away. Miel placed her hands on the wall and the bracelet starting glowing. Vex noticed the sparks appearing around her hands. In an instant, rays of lightning were jolting around her, mostly hitting the wall, leaving burn marks all around but the wall still didn't have a scratch. Miel let out a yell as she tried to make the lightning stronger, wanting nothing but to get to her boyfriend. But the pain was starting to be too much for her.
Miel screamed in pain as she fell down on her knees. Vex came to her side in worry. The warlock ripped the bracelet off and held her hands close to her chest in pain from both her palms and her wrist. "Pike!" Vex called and the gnome quickly ran to Miel to heal her hands. "Anyone else have any ideas?"
"The feed pipe" Ripely said, "If we can cut it off, it might buy us some time"
"And how do you propose we do that?" Vex asked
Keyleth's gaze hardened as she brought her hand up. She summoned the vines down and made them wrap around the pipe, tightening them around enough to close the pipe.
"ah, yes!" she cheered and everyone congratulated her
"uh, fam..." Scanlan called when leaks started popping out of the vines.
"Oh, not what I was going for" Keyleth whimpered
"Your castle has lousy plumping, Percy!" Scanlan yelled
"All right, new plan" Vex said helping Miel up, "stay out of the acid!"
"Scanlan's hand!" Scanlan made his purple hand appear and he looked at everyone, "Come on, pile on!" he ordered and no one wasted a second getting on...except for Percy who had not moved from his spot.
"Percy, get over here!" Pike yelled but he still didn't move. Not even when the acid was starting to touch his shoes.
"aw great, Percy's broken" Grog said and grabbed him by the jacket, "Come here, you limb noodle!"
Once Percy was on with everyone, Scanlan lifted the purple hand away from the acid. "It won't hold for long, so unless you want to go swimming, we need to come up with something fast!"
"Percy, snap the fuck out of it!" Vex yelled and slapped him but he didn't even react, "we came here risking our lives for you. Be here for us."
"What's the point? She's gone again" he muttered silently
Vex brought her hand to his cheek, turning his face to look at her but he only glanced away, "maybe" she said and he looked at her, "but the people in this room, we're not. We will never abandon you. You want your sister back and I want my brother, but if we're to have a chance of saving them, you have to save us first"
That snapped Percy out of it and he stood up to get a look around. Scanlan's purple hand was starting to waver, indicating that it was getting hard for Scanlan.
"Right, Scanlan, can you get us to the ceiling?" Percy asked
"What!? How? You fuckers are too heavy!" Scanlan cried, "Wait, that's it. Heavy"
Miel moved behind Scanlan and placed her hands on his shoulders, "you play, and I'll amplify" she said as her hands started glowing grey. Scanlan nodded and created a pick and started playing a heavy metal tune. Miel closed her eyes and concentrated on lending him her power so he can continue. Instantly, the purple hand floated higher.
Percy looked around, "Ah, the mechanism that controls the wall...There!" Percy pointed to a panel on top of the pipe.
Pike created her maze and jumped over Grog to knock the panel door off. "Got it!"
Percy followed Pike and landed next to her to get a look at the controls, "The switches are interconnected. There appears to be a third to pull simultaneously."
"Yes, excalty" Ripely said, "We need to triangulate its location" she instructed as Scanlan and Miel were starting to groan in pain, "There's no visible controls on the outer walls."
"The drain. The stopper!" Percy concluded
"In the acid? You have to be insane to go in"
"I'm going in!" Grog immediately volunteered and disrobed quickly before jumping in.
Pike gasped in horror as they could all see the acid burning off Grog's skin. She quickly let go and hung from Percy's leg, "Grog, wait! I'll heal you!"
With Pike healing Grog, Ripely jumped over to the controls to replace her. Scanlan created a second, smaller, purple hand to help continue the riff he was playing while Miel's bracelet started glowing, grey and pink light fusing to continue to help Scanlan. At Percy's command all they pulled the lever at the same and the hole opened up, draining the acid. As the acid lowered, so did Scanlan since he couldn't hold his hand anymore.
They all fell as Scanlan retracted his spell. Once they were done with that, Miel ripped off the bracelet once again as she panted from the overuse of magic just like Scanlan.
"Good to have you back, Percival" Vex said giving him a smile
"Since I helped out, don't you think I earned my freedom?" Ripely asked
"If you're lucky, you've earned another hour of life" Percy glared at her
Miel grabbed the bracelet and got up, "we need to hurry" she gasped, "if they're doing a ritual, then we better hope they don't need a blood sacrifice"
At the mention of a blood sacrifice, everyone snapped back to the mission at hand and ran down the hall to the Ziggurat.