RP:Heir to Vailkrin, Heir to The Thorne

This is a Necromancer's Guild RP.

Part of the The God of Undeath Arc

Summary: The 'heiresses' of Dragana and Thorne meet to discuss Leralynn's education while Shishi flirts with a waitress.

The Misshapen Fortress

Before you stands the unfishished stronghold of Countess Quintessa Dragana, the Shield of the East. The uneven, ebony walls that enclose the area around the citadel are unbroken, save for two places; Heavy gates have been built into the dark stone, made of thick wood and plated in heavy Ghroundium, which is engraved with interwoven spiders and burnished to a silver-like shine. Within the walls, modeled after the famous Vailkrin Plaza and reinvisioned in a style she calls ‘Art Draco’, the Countess has had the streets paved in ebony stone and adorned with elegant, silvery street lights that glow an ominous green as the lime flames light the way. The black stone walls are left unadorned save for several green-burning sconces and a series of banners, each flag bearing the black hand of Vailkrin upon a shield wrapped in thorny, flowering vines. To the west lies a short path leading through a second pair of gates, taking you to a massive black spire that stretches into the gloomy Vailkrin skies above the Dark Forest. Although the fort remains unfinished, it is still large enough to house the temporary resident stonemasons and carpenters that work around the clock to build Quintessa’s vision, as well as the modest garrison that protects them. Along the walls there is not a moment that the Countess’ skeletal archers aren’t looking down on the surrounding area, nor is there a moment when her vampiric pikemen aren’t wielding halberds at the gates, ever ready to defend these walls from their Mistress’ enemies, domestic or forien. If you have business with House Dragana or the Necromancer’s Guild, you are free to roam here peacefully, but interlopers will not be tolerated. Loitering too long around here will get you reported to the Countess either way, after all, the shadows are always watching, especially within these walls.

Quintessa Dragana watches the residents of the citadel move around like frantic ants from the highest window of her civic building, her mismatched eyes glazed over in idle thought. A lot had happened yesterday, a lot she didn’t fully understand, but the more and more the changeling pieced it all together the more it made her feel sick. Was the Shield of Vailkrin really going to let a bunch of old men use and manipulate her like they had been? Was she really going to stand aside and allow them to tear the guild apart by throwing loyal members under the bullete? Quintessa has not yet decided, but she at least knew she had the upper hand on them. Returning to Vailkrin had allowed the odd girl to study Haladavar’s Soul Cage, the object Quintessa now knew was the reason the forein spirit was able to take hold of Brenwyn, but that was Xalious’ problem now. Here, in the Dark Lands, the changeling favored the Necromancer’s Guild, and she had used the tragedy in the Mage’s Tower to further her own research into soul bonding, her new favorite art. Flicking the ashes from her cigarette, Quintessa Dragana notices a pair of figures nearing from the south, the way of the Moonlit Path, and her sapphire and topaz eyes narrow as she strains to make them out. “Visitors.” She mumbles, crushing her clove cig on the window seal before moving downstairs to meet them. Assuming they were with the Necromancer’s Guild, the guards would let them by just in time from the hexblade to meet them in the Eastern Plaza, the lime-green light from the fires reflecting in her tired eyes.

Shishi and Leralynn travel on the outskirts of the Dark Forest towards this new construction that Blue takes in with a weary indifference while Orange observes the structures and products of necromancy with a faint smile and a bit of awe at the scope of it all. The so-called Blue Demon is in his usual plain outfit with one glaring omission; there is no necktie holding his collar together and instead he’s got the first two buttons undone. Orange is styled typically for her as well, the skirt with the dark pants underneath, hair in a single loose braid done recently by her mother and slung over the front of her right shoulder. She’s accessorizing with her necromancy tools, a candle holder dangling at her hip with a ¾ spent off-white candle stuck in it, a shovel in her right hand, and a little courier bag that does double duty as a spell component vessel. Trailing behind the two Colors is an elven skeleton, hugging itself tightly and shivering as it meanderingly walks. The trio enter the plaza and Shishi sends a little wave towards Quintessa. The changeling had made an offer of education to The Orange Witch when it became known that the girl was recommitting to the Necromancer’s Guild, and it would appear that is the reason behind the visit today. Khitti had also made a recommendation of the Dragana girl to Leralynn, so her showing up here may have even been scheduled. “Hey Tess, “ Shishi says, about to show that he is a little behind on current events, “I heard you got captured…” He looks away then, towards a skeletal archer or something like that as he asks, “You’re not doing anything stupid, are you?” Orange gives her father a bit of narrowed side eye as her resurrected, chilly skeleton finally catches up and comes to a chattering stop about six feet behind her…

Quintessa is dressed more casual then she might normally have been for visitors, but it wasn’t like she was expecting any of them tonight. Her bobbed hair is messy, her black sundress wrinkled, and the knee-length boots on her feet still muddy from the rainstorm she was caught in yesterday. Without her magical cloak or her expensive sword, the changeling stands with her arms crossed as Blue and Orange approach her with the skeleton in tow. “Evening, Blue… Yes, I was taken prisoner during an altercation between the Mage’s Guild and Larket, but they quickly released me when they realized who I was.” Even when Quintessa was most nonchalant she was full of herself, inflating her global importance in her twisted little mind. “I was actually trying to protect the students of the Mage’s College, if you can believe that. I’ve always valued young minds higher than the older ones.” The changeling forces a wide smile at Leralynn, flashing her a row full of sharp teeth. “Which is why I’m so keen on teaching your daughter.” Quintessa attention fully shifts to address the girl. “If you want to go around using the name ‘Thorne’ you are going to have to be ready to prove yourself against those who will challenge you simply for your namesake. ‘Dragana’ isn’t nearly as prestigious, but you wouldn’t believe the amount of people who try to defame me or cause me trouble I catch crawling out of the woodwork.” Her icy blue and warm hazel eyes drift back to the large building behind her. “So, would you two like to join me in my cantina? I’ll have my servants prepare some refreshments for us.”

Shishi either doesn’t mind the arrogance or it is not even registering with him, instead he’s lost in his own little world wondering if someone captured him would they just let him go because he was The Titan of Winter? Those Fermin in the sewers didn’t let him and White go, but that was long before he was this famous. Maybe Larket would let him go since the Prince is the number one Blue Demon super fan… Eh, we’ll probably never know for sure. He shakes his head and snaps back to reality, “Oh. Good. Aye. I’ve brought you another student then…” He smiles down to his daughter while Quintessa addresses her. Leralynn straightens her back and stands as tall as she can, the tip of her shovel falling to the ground as she holds it like a cane. The girl gives the changeling an overly sweet smile in return before saying, “I’m not worried. I can handle anything they throw at me.” There’s a slight twinge of venom in her words there as she remembers a very recent argument with her mother about her ability to be outside in Vailkrin on her own. Her argument now is what she wished she was able to say to Red then, “I am the heiress for a reason. You know?” There’s the confidence to match Quintessa’s own cockyness and at the sight of it Shishi gives them both a look like ‘don’t encourage this, please.’ The invitation for refreshments is accepted and the trio follow the spellblade to wherever she’ll lead them inside.

Quintessa looks back at Leralynn with a sparkle in her eyes, admiring the self-assured attitude the youngling possessed. “Good,” the odd woman coos to her, as she leads the way, “Not everyone respects our art. Some even fear it, but I do not live my life affording the the worries of the small folk, especially those too stupid to recognize when something is worth learning.” The guards standing before her civic building step aside to allow them passage, the double doors mystically swinging open as the hexblade approaches. Leading the trio into the large canteen before she motions for the head cook to approach her. “Remember the runic box I installed? It can produce the ice you need for those drinks you make… what were they called? Ah, never mind. Use the good tequila and the avian blood I keep stored in there.” The vampiric cook nods his head in affirmation before uttering, “Yes, Mistress,” and heading into the back to bark orders to his staff. Finding a seat away from the workers and guards, Quintessa crosses one long leg over the over before she motions for Blue and Orange to join her. “So, heiress, huh?” The changeling is amused by this, but only because the girl reminded her too much of herself, “I take it you are familiar with the basics of Necromancy then? I specialize in potions and poisons but it would be a simple thing to branch out to teach you whatever you desire. Have you given much thought on what art you’d like to choose for your own specialization?”

Shishi cannot stop this confident duo from feeding off of eachother it would seem, so he just comes along for the ride into the canteen. Leralynn just eats up all this stuff about foolish fools who fear and don’t understand the beautiful arts at work in necromancy. Elevating Orange for practicing and showing talent with these arts is exactly what Tenebrae would do with the girl in the past. ‘Where were you all these years while I was rejecting incompetent teachers in the guild after Tene left?’ This is the thought running through the blonde’s head while listening to the changeling. When the baroness is having trouble finding the name of the drink she is ordering Shishi mutters to himself excitedly, “Margs…” careful not to be too loud and jinx them out of existence. “Aye.” Orange nods and motions back to the constantly shivering skeleton, “Well… some of the basics. Reanimation and summoning is easy.” This is where the majority of her training with Joliette had been focused, “I don’t have too much experience with potions and stuff like that…” then she looks wearily at her father out of the corner of her eye, betraying that she is not saying everything that she would be saying if he weren’t present, “Incantations and sigils I am familiar with, and I am very interested in curses.” She leaves out the black tides completely, likely for Blue’s sake. She continues to talk quickly, “Khitti has reinstated me into the Necromancer’s Guild. I told her that you were interested in teaching me, so she recommended that I come back and see you. We talked about you teaching me as much of the basic arts as possible so that I might advance my position in the guild.” She actually doesn’t seem that excited about ranking up as it is likely a means to an end, “As for my specialization…” she looks at Quintessa pleadingly and then at her father, who is kind of obliviously daydreaming about the blood margaritas, like ‘don’t make me say it in front of him.’ “I haven’t decided yet, exactly…” She has…

Quintessa || It doesn’t take long before a cute vampiric waitress dressed in a frilly black dress with a checkered red apron comes out with a round tray balanced on one of her upturned hands, the delicately pale woman giving Shishi a shy smile as she places the drinks before them. This woman is clearly a huge fan of the celebrity and lingers longer than she should, twirling her hair as she looks him over. Quintessa doesn’t pay her any mind, however, removing the steel straw from her drink and licking the flavored ice from it. “So, the basic arts, huh? I’ve all but mastered them, the ones you’ve mentioned I specifically devoted much of my free time studying.” Sapphire and topaz eyes glimar like gems as she looks at the skeleton that bends to the teenager’s will. “If you can summon a skeleton then you are already years ahead of Sceleratus Joan.” Quintessa snickers at the taco merchant, “She had trouble even animating a mere mouse, much less a humanoid like your companion here. That means your level of reanimation is already at the level of a Thanadule, so we can ignore that area for now…” The changeling reaches into the satchel at her side and pulls out a thin tome, the first volume of the book the changeling wrote titled ‘The Compendium Toxicum’, and she places it upon the table for Leralynn to take. “Instead I’d like you to focus on memorizing this book. Within these pages is a catalog of every known poison in Lithrydel, the most common uses for them, and the safest way to concoct and distill these substances for personal use. You cannot progress further in the Necromancer’s Guild until you have a complete understanding of all the basic arts.”

Shishi takes the glass off the table and thanks the vampire server with one of his fang-exposing smiles reserved specifically for fans of The Blue Demon. It is all a practiced act, the way he looks at the starstruck waitress and makes her feel like she has his undivided attention, that makes this assassin the greatest champion and celebrity that Lithrydel has ever seen. In reality his focus is on the cold drink in his hand. He forgoes the straw and tips the vessel to his lips, taking a frigid gulp and finding out whether vampires were immune to brain freeze. Leralynn grins with pride that the greatest necromancer of all time has set her up so well in terms of her level of reanimation magic. Speaking of resurrected mice, while Quintessa is producing the tome of potions, Orange is reaching into her own satchel and pulling out a loose sheet of parchment and an undead dormouse with a piece of charcoal in its mouth. She opens the book and leafs through it while the mouse starts writing, Shishi is meant to assume that she is taking notes while he pretends to flirt with the waitress as per his duties as Titan of Winter. In reality the dormouse is writing a little note to the Dragana girl, “I was actually hoping for more practical training… The Thorne Estate’s collection of texts is very comprehensive...” Her words are secondary to what is written on the paper and pushed slightly so that only Quintessa can see (Specialization: Soul Magic)

Quintessa gazes down at the piece of paper and a long, sinister grin spreads across her face. Leralynn and herself were almost -too- much alike. “Of course,” the changeling says, “You are certainly at the stage for field research. In fact, very soon I’ll be conducting an experiment I think you’ll be able to assist with. That’ll give me a good grasp of your practical skills, and then after that I’ll give you access to some of my… advanced areas of expertise.” It was clear that Quintessa meant soul-binding. After all, House Dragana had all of the best books on that art, this was known. The dark fae pauses for a moment to take a sip on her drink, relishing in the unique flavor. “Near the date of our mission, I’ll send word for you, if you agree to take part in my little field trip. In the meantime I’ll white-list you at Dragana Manor so you may use the library and laboratories. You might even meet another one of my students there, Kanna. She’s a bard, but be careful around her; Ever since she became a ghoul she’s been hungry for flesh.” A small snicker escapes from her as she glances over at her waitress chatting up Shishi. “Although honestly, she’d try to eat him first.”

Shishi’s daughter catches that grin spreading across Quintessa’s lips and can’t help but smirk a bit herself. Talks about conducting an experiment and accompanying the changeling on a ‘mission’ ignites a spark in the girl and she is again unable to hide her excitement at the idea, “Aye. Of course I’ll come along. Can’t wait~” Meanwhile Blue finishes his drink with another gulp. Was that just two sips? Truly this man is a monster. Quintessa finally pulls his attention off of the waitress with her comment about him being consumed. That’s what -he- does to -other people-! “Huh!?” Oceanic blue eyes of the assassin blink towards the changeling while Leralynn lifts the piece of parchment off the table along with her mouse scribe and carefully redeposits them in her bag. “Who’s that gonna eat me?” He’s got that typical Blue Demon look on his face where he’s making it clear that it is laughable that anyone could threaten him. When he visited Quintessa last at House Dragana that confidence in his invincibility was anything but on display, maybe the half-hag is an exception to this belief, anyone else has no shot at harming him in his mind. Orange’s eyes widen, “A ghoul…” she more mouths the words than says them out loud, but it is likely she’ll be making the trip to House Dragana every day going forward until she gets a chance to meet this Kanna character. It definitely helps that she thought she’d have to wait until an ascension in rank in the guild before she would get access to texts on her desired area of study. Bypassing Mahara and The Black Library certainly is a boon to the timeline of her, as of yet unknown, scheme.

Quintessa was perhaps being irresponsible about allowing a lower grade necromancer study advanced subject, but the hexblade was always one to bend the rules whenever it pleased her, and right now seeing Leralynn become the new rising star excited her. When Shishi sounded shocked about being snacked on, Quintessa gave him a smirk and shook her head. “My friend Kanna, she’s more of a flirt than Abby here is. Abby?” The vampiric woman looks over at the countess, getting serious all of a sudden. “Y-yes, Mistress?” The changeling gave her one of her ‘calm down’ smiles. “Did you ask Shishi if he wanted another drink?” She and her servant look at Blue expectantly as she sips on her own margarita.

Shishi kind of all of a sudden realizes that his daughter is here. The Titan persona and being a decent father don’t really mesh all that well all the time. He really shouldn’t be chatting up Abby, or any wait staff, in front of Leralynn, even if the girl is well aware of what is expected of her celebrity dad. His posture straightens in his seat so that he isn’t leaning towards the waitress any more, “Were we flirting?” He asks with a wink and slight smile, unable to turn it off completely so abruptly, it seems. “Ah~. No. Not another, I think. Maybe next time.” Orange rolls her eyes a bit and puffs out her cheeks. The assassin looks between Quintessa and his daughter, tilting his head and wondering aloud, “Did we get everything we need? This gonna work?” Pretending like he wasn’t paying attention to what they had been talking about while he was chatting up Abby. The younger necromancer will wait for Tessa to answer him first, but the “Aye~!” is surely coming.

Quintessa || “Aye~” Quintessa says first, looking between the two of them, smirking a bit at the expression they both used. “I love that you two puff up your cheeks, it’s so cute- Anyway, I think we are done here. Once the proficiency test is ready, I’ll send for you, or stop by, or something. You are literally right down the street. House Dragana is open to you, and your homework is simple: Meet your classmate Kanna. Got it?”

Shishi and Leralynn look at each other and both make the same face after being called out on doing exactly that. This time it is an attempt at whatever the exact opposite of a puffy pout might be. Their lips are pressed thin and flat and their blue eyes widen slightly. Simultaneously they shake their heads and break eye contact, with Orange nodding to Tessa and grinning, “Aye! Sounds good. Got it.” She’s excited and Blue is happy to see her this way, it isn’t since Tenebrae was teaching the girl that he’s witnessed this kind of enthusiasm. With that, the Colors will get ready to depart, the teen gathering her things, including the new textbook, and standing. At some point during their exit Shishi will hang back and let Orange move on ahead. The changeling is treated to a bit of side eye from The Titan, and he asks, “Everything else good? Nothing you need me for, aye?” She had sent him a letter about some issues with someone giving the guild a hard time, but it was long enough ago that the problem may have been dealt with already…

Quintessa sets her drink down and stands as they depart, looking over at Shishi as soon as the lass was out of earshot. “Well, yes and no,” she admits, turning to face him. “We took care of the Xzean problem. My sources say he was last seen entering Tristoth and he was never seen coming back out. The Drow likely mistook him for one of my spies and tortured him to death trying to get information. However, things are getting complicated in Xalious, an anti-undead cult has begun targeting me. They call themselves the Ossian Order, and they’ll likely try to stop me from experimenting there. I won’t let anything bad happen to Orange, but an extra chaperon might not hurt either. If you can’t make it, that’s fine too, I should be able to handle them.”

Shishi ’s unfriendliness towards the Drow is no secret and it shows up on his face when they are mentioned. He nods along with her explanation and replies simply, “I’ll be there.” Then he starts moving again, not looking back when he says, “See ya then, Tess.”