RP:Undead Babysitting
Part of the Surface Tension Arc
Synopsis: Gevurah encounters Latulepi in a tunnel leading into the Underdark. Assuming this undead creation belongs to a necromancer, Gevurah inquires as to its creator and Latulepi gives Larewen's name. Recognizing Larewen as an apprentice of Daath and a member of the Necromancer's Guild, and recalling her dwindling drow army on the surface due to political tensions, Gevurah decides to return the corpse to Larewen in exchange for one more ally for her side of the war. After a comedy of slapstick errors in trying to get Latulepi to ride a lizard, which includes the stitched horror losing her left arm, Gevurah heads for Xalious with Hollow's most dimwitted cargo in tow.
Entry to the Underdark (near Forest of Abyssal Darkness)
Gevurah places deep salamander earwax paste in her ears as she ascends the tunnel. The surface’s air pressure causes moderate ear pain every time she surfaces, and the noble simply cannot grow accustomed to the difference. The paste helps her gradually adjust to the shift in pressure, but also hampers her hearing. Thus a spell which makes sound waves visible is also in effect. Gevurah can now see in the infrared and color spectrums, and the audible wave map. Trippy. Only one bodyguard, a drow rogue, accompanies her on this short and clandestine trip to Vailkrin to drop in on a certain necromancer who typically resents her visits. By High Priestess and noble standards, she is dressed down in a long, double slit black skirt and full torso corset that gathers at a choker around her neck. Only the D’Artes insignia that adorns her choker would suggest her prominent status in drow society.
Latulepi 's impromptu path, unlike Gevurah's, leads the dead girl -into- the Underdark instead of out of. Lacking her master, the 'sentient' corpse might merely be wandering without purpose, or perhaps pre-death habits die-hard. And with possible reason. Though her flesh is not as deep as it once was the ashen dark gray of her body might suggest that her origin, when she -was- alive is the same the High Priestess and her bodyguard. The undead's fate might be a far more obvious one, too, for her limbs and neck are ringed with connective stitches; and, her head scalped of any tresses that once were. A gruesome end indeed. With gait unsteady and slightly swaying, the stitched undead hobbles into view and stops briefly to stare up at the drow and drowess with ashy, almost rust brown eyes---decay fading the genetic blood red that once was. Her expression is blank, much like her hazy gaze. After a moment or two, the brief round of staring ends and she proceeds forward.
Gevurah sees the sound waves emanating from Latulepi’s plodding gait before she sees the undead drow. In fact it’s near impossible to see the undead in this dark, for the dead leave no heat signature. But Gevurah deciphers to disruptive sound wave that slices through the soft rings of chirping critters, and deduces a bipedal and unstable stride. She casts faerie fire towards their source and involuntarily hisses at Latulepi’s now illuminated approach. Her rogue draws his crossbow and aims between the ghoul’s vacant eyes. The priestess’s fingers twitch in a stiff, ritualistic pattern, evoking the power of Vakmatharas which now glows darkly around her hand. “Who is your master?” Necromancers rarely lose their creations, but it happens. It’s unlikely this one escaped Daath, but if she did, luck be to Gevurah. It’s best to show up with a gift when trying to solidify political treaties.
Latulepi halts again at Gevurah's inquiry, looking distant for a moment before her jaws open, lightly molded tongue possibly visible due to the fae's flame which alights the cave around her. "Lllaarr...eh..h..wwenn." The stitched corpse answers, voice dry and raspy, with some trouble in forming the more liquid constants. With this she continues forward right up to the crossbow that aims between her dead eyes, apparently oblivious to the threat of it or of the power Gevurah posseses, and reaches out to touch the arrow head with knobby fingers.
Gevurah wrinkles her nose in disgust at Latulepi’s tongue and halitosis. Larewen? The rogue doesn’t move his bolt as Latulepi presses forward, and slightly dents her forehead. Oops. Luckily Gevurah signals for him to stand down, and he obeys before anything worse happens. Decisions, decisions. Larewen and Gevurah met briefly, and at the time the drow failed to find common ground. But things change rapidly. With the drow’s army dwindling due to the political turmoil of the Underdark, surface allies become high prize indeed. That’s that, then. Gevurah will bring Latulepi to Larewen in hopes of gaining another necromancer on her side of the battle lines. “Where is Larewen now?”
Latulepi does not seem to notice the hostility of the High Priestess' body guard, appearing to be distracted by the arrow head she touches as he presses it to her forehead. Her skull is still intact, but Latulepi gets a makeshift bindi jabbed onto her pale flesh with the sharp end of the bolt. She does not appear to feel it either. When the crossbow is withdrawn, Latulepi leans forward to try and reach for it again, possibly to the drow guards annoyance, but stops when at Gevurah's following question. Slowly her deadened gaze glides toward the woman, and after a beat, she turns and clumsily totters back out toward the entrance of the cave.
Gevurah grows increasingly annoyed at Latulepi’s slow pace. Oh Vakmatharas, give me the strength to not end this animated sack of uselessness, so that I may perhaps gain a powerful ally in my war. The rogue and Gevurah glance at each other, neither one of them clear on whether or not the undead is leading them towards Larewen. Maybe? Either way, Gevurah cannot tolerate moving at this pace. Gevurah signs something to the rogue in the sign language of the drow and he nods then disappears into the shadows. Gevurah follows Latulepi in irritated silence for one, then five, then ten, then twenty minutes that feel like days. But only twenty minutes have passed, and Latulepi and Gevurah have barely advanced from their spot in the tunnel when the D’Artes rogue returns with two lizard mounts and one giant spider mount. Gevurah swings onto the back of her spider, Halbyrn, and the rogue moves towards Latulepi to pick her up and place her on the back of a lizard. He moves cautiously at first, indicating that he means no harm. Actually, he would love to harm her, so perhaps the more accurate description is that he indicates that he isn’t permitted to act upon the frustrated malice he feels for her. He must help her ride a lizard.
Latulepi likely has no concept of time and is further oblivious to the frustration she was causing the other two, or at whatever is going on behind her as she sluggishly leads the strangers to who knows where. Before long, she is hefted up by strong arms and placed on the back of an unfamiliar creature. From there she falls into one of those quite and still pauses as if attempting to register what is going on. Naturally, she reaches for the first new thing she sees: the reigns. Her bony fingers clutch tightly around them and slowly she tries to yank them off of the lizard with surprising strength, possibly causing some discomfort and agitation to the scaley mount too.
Gevurah scowls as the lizard snakes and thrashes violently from side to side as it tries to dismount Latulepi. She mutters the drow word for ‘idiot’ as the rogue tries to calm the lizard. If Latulepi is bucked off lizard’s back, he doesn’t care or try to prevent it. In fact, he seems a bit slow himself in calming the lizard, as if he wants Latulepi to fall. Whether or not she falls, he busies himself with removed the bridle from the lizard’s snout and reversing it so that he can tie it to the back of his saddle and literally pull Latulepi in the right direction. He murmurs in drow, “Why do necromancers bother…” Gevurah answers, “Make sure her eye hasn’t popped out. That can happen.”
Latulepi is thrashed violently in all her deadweight smallness, her head snapping from side to side threatening to come loose from its stitches until she is finally flung off the lizard with a tumbling thud. A hand was still gripping onto the reigns about this time, so the moment she is flung, her deadweight strains the bindings there instead... yanking her arm (the left) loose. The guard's readjustment of the reigns results her further being dragged back toward the lizard until he yanks them free from that iron grip of hers. Sitting up, Latulepi appears to have sustained some damage to the skin on a side of her face, torn and speckled with stones. Oddly enough, her eyes stayed in place, though one is stuck staring off to a side. With some effort the stitched corpse lifts herself to her feet, her left limb dangling by the stitches, and approaches the lizard again. "Caref..ul." The girl rasps quietly.
Gevurah cannot believe she is still in this tunnel dealing with a brain dead corpse. Things have gotten pretty desperate for the drow army, and it’s only for that reason that the priestess stays. Completely unphased by the separation of the undead’s limb, she snaps her fingers impatiently. “Give me the arm. I don’t want it falling off on the ride.” She will give it to Larewen to reattach. The priestess pulls a large handkerchief out of her corset and smooth it over her lap. The rogue finishes fastening the lizard’s bridle to his saddle then turns to Latulepi to carry out his mistress’s command. If Latulepi allows it, the rogue will cut the stitching with his knife and hand the arm to Gevurah’s gloved hands.
Latulepi just idly watches the rogue severe the bindings which keeps her arm loosely connected. With her still attached arm, she tries to touch the detached limb once he finishes, just before the limb is handed Gevurah. While the rogue is does as ordered, Latulepi slowly encroaches upon the lizard mount and reaches with that remaining arm to grab as the reigns again. The one eye still able to move about freely gazes upon the strap while the other is more-or-less stuck watching reptilian eye her incredulously. However, instead of yanking on the controls again, Latulepi leans onto the beast and pushes up with her toes as though she is trying to climb atop of it. Apparently she doesn't get the concept of using her arm to make this easier.
Gevurah folds the arm in her handkerchief and tucks it against the crook of her lap. The rogue smacks Latulepi’s hand away from the reins and looks at Gevurah with an exasperated expression. “Give it something to hold onto. It’s like an infant,” the priestess commands and explains in equal parts. The rogue hesitates and pats himself down looking for something he is willing to give up. He’s a selfish drow, thus he comes up empty-handed, despite carrying an entire survival arsenal hidden in secret pockets. He grabs a fist-sized stone from the ground and hands it to Latulepi. He watches her to make sure she won’t use it as a weapon before helping her back onto the lizard’s back.With luck, they can all leave now and finally go to the Necromancer’s Guild headquarters, find Larewen and dump off this irritating cargo in exchange for something actually useful.
Latulepi takes the stone and stares at it with the one working eye and absent cause, even as she is set back onto the lizard's back. Luckily that appears to distract her for the time being until she realizes she is back on the lizard again. Staring back from the rock to the beast, the former is suddenly released and sent rolling off the large reptile's back. This attracts that moving, dead-eye, to watch it plop onto the ground. It is not spoken, but Latulepi seems to have forgotten there was no longer an arm there to pass the rock to, as was intended. She does not chase after it, however, but her sight lingers upon it for a prolonged period before her head angles itself awkwardly to stare back at the drow assumed to be sitting behind her.
Infant indeed. The rogue now understands how to handle Latulepi and the trio cross towards the Necromancer’s Guild mostly underground, using the secret passageways known to the drow to be too small for larger predators, and to be a safe distance from shadow gnome towns. From time to time they must stop so that the rogue can adjust Latulepi’s position upon the lizard or give her a new rock to entertain herself with, but this method of travel is by far faster than following behind a lethargic undead crawl.
Latulepi becomes still as she focuses on the rock much more certain now to remain inhand now that the absence of the other limb is realized. Luckily the first few times she starts to slide off center of the lizard's back, the rogue catches her quickly enough before she semi-instinctively flails her arms out to catch herself onto something. "Caref..ul." She would utter whenever that happens, then pat the drow's arm before he remounts their ride and proceeds forward once again. For the most part, the rest of the ride is relatively absent of any new struggles.