Sometimes Clarabella likes to stand on top, and look at the ships coming into port.

Most of the time Clarabella's on the lowest balcony, talking to the neighborhood children, the women doing laundry, the beggars and the itinerant merchants. 

Userhat does a difficult and dangerous job, he gets paid well, and he is sleeping with three different adventurers who regularly call on Osirion. He has a good life.

Not counting moments like this. 

He looks up at the mummified badger now leaning across the balcony. It has stopped poisoning the minds of the children, and is now gazing at him with its empty and dead eyes.

"Is now your dread and unholy mistress available this day, o cursed creature of the night?"

It's Userhat! He's Likely still Sore that Eriape didn't want live in a Faraway Tower, and is instead Living in Downtown Sothis. 

"I keep Telling You, my Name is Clarabella!"

"Indeed, O Unholy Beast, you Do Keep Telling Me!"

"You're Making Fun of Me!"

"No I am Not. I Always speak like This."

"Anyway, she is home. Do you need her for something?"

"There's a strange undead thing on the border, near the Eyes of the Bronze Man. We'd like her to teleport out and take a look, usual fees."

"I will tell her, O Hideous Bipedal Freak."

Eriape [Teleport]s to the Eyes of the Bronze Man, and starts looking around using [Overland Flight]

There is a Colossal crimson burrowing worm menacing a caravan. Either it hasn't killed anyone yet or it ate them whole, because there aren't any dead humanoids or pieces thereof lying around. ...Animals are another story. 

It's honestly kind of impressive that the guy with the emergency Sending wand was able to identify the worm as undead; it's very well-preserved. Not a patch on Eriape's own skin, of course, but then people know what human skin is supposed to look like; a marginally more horrible worm-hide is hardly remarkable. 

...Less impressive if you have a sense of smell. It's not that well-preserved. 

There are three figures hiding behind a large rock a ways away from the main caravan, trying to avoid attention from their erstwhile companions as well as the giant necromonster. 

[Command Undead] has no limit to the size of the undead. Let's start with that. "Bad worm!" she shouts. "Stop that right now!"

Her Splendor is—okay yep worm friend is hers now.

She flies closer. "Good worm! Stay There, and Coil Up!" She pats it idly, and flies down to the Caravan. 

"Hello! I am Lady Eriape, Princess of Badgers!"

Then she noticeably thinks of something, holds up a black-nailed finger and digs into her purse for a moment, only to pull up a crumpled piece of paper. 

"Oh yes, I have to read this to you: I am a Lawful Lich, and a Legal Resident of Osirion under the Laws of Ruby Prince Khemet Number Three, Pharaoh of Osirion. I will not Hurt You. Do not Attempt to Hurt me as I am Allowed to Defend Myself."

The caravan master is very grateful! He was pretty sure they were all going to die! The next time someone argues with him about the expense of an emergency Sending wand, he wins!

He makes no attempt whatsoever to reassure or retrieve the rock-hiding guys.

Eriape absorbs the praise that is her due, and then flies over to the rocks. "Hello!" She goes through the spiel.

"--Hi." 

Of the three figures--

Two, including the one who just spoke, are female; the speaker and the man are both either alive or a very convincing facsimile thereof, but also have an ashy tone to their complexion that healthy humans don't, and black in the corners of their eyes and the delicate blood vessels scrawled across their sclera. The remaining woman does not have these features, but is also a pretty normal zombie. 

She looks at the zombie. "Can you Talk?", then at the speaker. "Is this your Zombie? I'm looking for a Strange Undead Creature for the Undead Office of the Government of the Prince of Osirion."

The zombie does not talk. 

"She's--ours, yes. I...think she's less strange than the worm?"

Eriape lands heavily in a puff of sand. The sparks in her eyes flicker as she blinks, in a completely unnecessary way.. 

"I See! was it Your Worm, Necromancer....?" Eriape leaves a pause for the girl to say her name. "I would Magically Inspect Both, with your Permission?"

"The worm's not ours. And he's the necromancer," she points at her brother, "I'm an enchanter. Actually." 

"...Hello." It's not exactly Luzai's fault for throwing him under the carriage but. Hm. Not loving it down here. 

"Hello, Necromancer...." Eriape leaves another pause for this man to give his name. These people are very secretive. "Would you Permit me to Magically Inspect your Creation? I am a Specialist in the Obverse Power."

“Villibor. —Please don’t hurt her.”

"I shall Most Certainly Not. Would be Most Unprofessional" Eriape takes a large enchanted magnifying glass out of her purse, and looks at the Zombie through it for some moments. "Looks Normal Enough. Are you Good Folk moving to Osirion? It is a Great Place for Lawfully Exploring the Obverse Power."

“Mostly it was the nearest place that wasn’t Geb. I don’t know if we’re going to stay long-term.”

“She’s ambitious. So we’ll probably go to Thuvia or Avistan or something, in the long run.”

Her head swings to the girl. Is she in charge?

"Oh I am from Avistan. I would not go There. It is full of Prats, especially the Most Unpleasant country of Cheliax. And many places Prohibit the Undead."

“…How many of those places are the Worldwound?”

"They Prohibit [Animate Dead] and similar effects, but allow Sapient Undead such as my Badgers. Or Myself, I Suppose."

"...We're still first circle. We had to steal a scroll, for Villibor to reanimate Mama." 

"This is Your Mother? I would have Visited my Mother in Axis, but I am Still Sore about my Treatment as a Child. She Favored my Sister, who had the Sorcerous Talents."

"Well, first circle is definitely too weak to visit anyone anywhere! But--in Geb, all the dead who aren't lucky enough to be ghouls or vampires or something else free-willed already are enslaved. So--when she was killed--we had to get her out. And she--did everything she could for us, when she was a slave herself, and--our father wasn't. Him I wouldn't visit in Axis or anywhere, but Mama did her very best." 

"None of the children who are sorcerers were hers, anyway." 

Eyeroll. "She wouldn't've played favorites even if I was a sorcerer, anyhow." 

"What do you Intend with her Now?"

Sad sigh. 

"Find a temple of Pharasma or something and put her down again so nobody from Geb can get her." 

"Making Very Sure will cost you a lot of Money- Permanent [Sanctify Undead] costs Five Hundred Pounds Absalom. Full Immolation will work against Most Threats- what Threats are you Defending Against?" 

"...Well, mostly random opportunists?"

"Maybe our dad but probably not."

"Then the Flames will Suffice! But there is a Temple of Pharasma in Sothis, if you would Like to try that. They don't allow me Inside, which is Very Unfair. You can Come with me on the Teleport Back if you Like"

"--That would be nice. Thank you very much."

Eriape commands the crimson worm to go to a specific set of coordinates for pickup, comes back for the three figures, and then Teleports home.

"Badgers, I'm home!"

"Hello! Who is This?"

"I'm Luzai and this is my brother Villibor and our mother Ruvina."

"I am Clarabella! I am the Senior Badger!"

Luzai bows. "Hello Clarabella." Probably if Clarabella wanted a title she would have said one, unless Senior Badger is a title she should have used in which case oh well she can apologize. 

"Are you Staying Here as a Guest? We're having Singing Lessons in Half an Hour and you are Welcome to Join Us!"

--Ooh. "I'd love to!"

"Excellent! What's your Brother's Vocal Range? The Choir is Weak in the Lower Registers."

"Baritone." It is actually not Luzai's fault he knows this, it's Naithrope's. 

"That is Splendid! Just what we need! Let me get you the Score of the Eriape Song! We also have Mortal Refreshments, because our Song-Sorcerer is Very Mortal. We have Onions and Water and several Fresh Roadrunners! Would you like an Onion or Something?"

"--Yes please. And some water." 

"Water would be amazing. The Eriape song?"

A blurred patch of air comes by with a large yellow onion on a tray, and a carafe of water

"We had it composed by a Bard! It's About Eriape and also Badgers! Do you Have a Theme Song?"

"Not yet! We're only first circle! We haven't done most of the things you would put in a song yet!"

"I'm Sure you'll Get There! It is important to Kill Many Things, and then you will get More Powerful! Haria has Been Adventuring a Bit! She could Teach you the Ropes!"

"Oh, that sounds wonderful! We were considering going to the Worldwound, or the House of Oblivion, because those places have lots of things to kill that nobody'll miss."

"Haria!" she calls, not being a Wizard. 

Haria hops down the stairs in several large bounds. Haria looks similar, though with a different pattern on her back, and carrying a little spellbook decorated in amethyst in a slim leather harness slung over her back.

"Yes! Oh, our Guests. Welcome to Osirion!"

"They are Going Adventuring! I think you will have Advice!"

"Plenty! I am Third Circle now, because I went Adventuring! I am the greatest badger Wizard that Lady Eriape is Aware of! I am a Role Model for the Badger Community!"

"Oh wow! We're first circle wizards right now, because we've only just escaped our father, and he didn't want us going on adventures. We have a sister who's second circle, because she got up to a lot of shenanigans she needed to hide from him, but she's not a wizard." 

"Oh that is Interesting. Is she a Priest then or a Sorcerer? Here in Osirion they have Contracts for Adventuring! It is a Good Idea! Make sure you get Exclusivity, Indemnification, and a Liability Waiver!" 

"She's a thing called a witch, which people mostly aren't but hags sometimes are! She's not a hag but her mother is." 

"I have never Met a Hag. Are they Nice?"

“No.”

"Alas! So many People spend their Days being Unpleasant to Folk. It is not Mandatory. Your Father was an Unpleasant Man as Well?"

She make a so-so gesture. "He's less unpleasant than Naithrope's mother. He made sure we were all fed, clothed, and educated. And if you have a genuinely interesting question or insight about magic he can be very enthusiastic about discussing it. But, also, he doesn't really...care, about any of us, as people instead of experiments. He didn't do anything to help Mama while she was dying, and he would have happily turned Naithrope over to her mother if she had turned into a hag, and he turned Auntie Mali into a mhorg while she was pregnant in case a dhampir fetus had any interesting effects on the resulting mother mohrg. It didn't. He's--not the worst Blood Lord to be in the power of but as a parent he's pretty underwhelming."

"Ah hah! A Blood Lord! Eriape doesn't Like getting mixed up in Politics. It gets in the way of Having a Good Time. You can Just Not, she says, and she is Right. It is why we didn't go to Geb Ourselves after we were Chased out of Cheliax."

"Father is relatively good at staying out of politics for a Blood Lord but, like, I agree that being in Osirion instead is a good move. ...On the other hand, when Father left Avistan, he was fleeing Iomedae and the Shining Crusade, and may have felt that Osirion didn't afford enough protection against the future goddess." 

"That was a Long Time ago. I am Only Sixty! He must have had Many Children over so Long a Period."

She wiggles, in thought.

"Eriape makes one of us Awakened Badgers every Seven Years, but we are Undying and you are Not. It must be a Strange Experience for Him."

"I don't know if he ever had any children before us. Actually I think he didn't--we were an experimental project, you see, once the concept of dhampirs caught his attention, and if he had had any children before us--that he knew about, anyway, I guess--it probably would have caught his attention sooner." 

"And he plans to turn--well, some of us--into vampires, eventually." 

Nod nod. "Definitely Istraya--she's the cleverest and the least healthy of us--he thinks she's the best result he got, it's not like the fact that she bruises in a stiff wind will matter if she becomes undead. I...think probably any of the rest of us could refuse and he wouldn't care much." 

"If she said she wanted to be a lich rather than a vampire he might accept that." 

"Yeah, I don't know." 

Eriape pops her head in through a doorframe.

"Lich is Much Better! No Dependency on the Living! Sustained by your Skill in Magic Alone! Also you can Keep your Skin! Or there is the Grand Zombification that I do with the Badgers. Could Send her a Letter to Let her Know you managed to Escape Successfully and Give her some Tips!"

"I'm not gonna lie, lichdom sounds a lot better compared to vampirism if you can keep your skin. I'd never heard of a lich doing that before."

The "compared to vampirism" part is important because she in fact has less than zero desire to be any kind of undead. 

A bell sounds. Which is strange, because Badger House doesn't have a doorbell. 

"Jac!"

"Hey, Haria, assorted badgers. Who's this lovely lady?"

"I'm Luzai! And this is my brother Villibor, and," her smile wavers, "our mother, Ruvina." 

"Very nice to meet you and your family... Luzai."

"This is Jac! He is a Song-Sorcerer and Music Teacher!"

"Hello! I like music! Are you flirting with me and that's why you're mostly talking to me and not my brother, or is it just that obvious that I'm more comfortable talking to people, between the two of us."

"Most song-sorcerers would have started flirting with your brother, but I can tell these things."

Oh NO. Does he have to avoid all song-sorcerers forever now. 

"Tell that I'm more sociable, or that I'm better at singing?"

Jac switches modes in an instant. "Oh, you're here to sing! Amazing! We could use more non-undead voices. So Eriape likes songs about badgers and/or herself, but I'm sure we can convince her-"

She nods along. "Not that I'm opposed to singing about her, or badgers--actually before she rescued us from a giant undead worm I'd never seen a badger before."

"Worm? That's strange, this isn't really the season for giant undead worms."

He pulls open his satchel. "I have a songbook here, just in case Eriape ever changes her mind."

"--Ooh, can I see--"

"There's a season for giant undead worms?"

Jac holds out the book to her, and nods at Villibor. "Yeah, they spend time deep below the sands, and they sometimes move up to the surface about the same time as the spring floods."

Oooh. She starts flipping through the book. 

"Is there a known necromancer behind this, some kind of underground energy emanation, some other known source, some unknown source..." 

"Nope! Nobody knows why! I expect someone will find out one of these days, probably by raiding a tomb. That's usually how it goes in Osirion. I do it a bit myself."

"--Oh, huh. That would be such a bad idea in Geb."

Eriape pops her head back in, this time from a hatch in the roof.

"Geb is a Lousy Country. No Badgers and Too Much Politics. Osirion has No Badgers, but I intend to Introduce a Living Population along the Major Rivers as soon as I convince the Ruby Prince of the Idea!"

"Geb is awful!" she agrees immediately. Admittedly not specifically for badger related reasons, but hey, she's not going to object. Clarabella seems lovely so far. "Do you really think you can get an audience with the Pharaoh?" She is objectively aware that the Ruby Prince is several orders of magnitude less impressive than Arazni or Geb, but--still. 

"It is Easy to get an Audience with the Ruby Prince! You just Pay Enough Money into a Bond that is Forfeit if you are Not Interesting. Or you can Convince the Prince's Audience Market that you are Sufficiently Interesting, he might Meet you all on his Own!"

"...Huh. Must be a lot of money." On the other hand, Eriape has plenty of time to save up. Quite plausibly worthwhile, if it's a good way to achieve her badger-related goals. 

"We Make and Sell Magic Items of Many Kinds for the General Consumer!"

"It's true! I'm getting a discount on Bag of Holding for teaching music."

"Oh wow. I've studied magic item creation, some, but," shrug, "Father wasn't interested in letting us play with the materials to really learn."

"Spellsilver is Expensive! Eriape is looking at Branching out into Awakening Dire Badgers for Mining Purposes- they can Claw through Rock and are therefore Better than Dwarves."

"Wow." Probably she would then make the badgers undead, which isn't great, but on the other hand, at least the undead badgers aren't mindless zombies or skeletons. It could be worse. 

Eriape sticks her head back into the room, this time through a hatch in the floor. "Yes! The Great Badger is a Solution to all the World's Problems!"

"Really? Even evil archmages and gods?" 

"Haria is Third Circle at Sixty! Unprecedented Circling Speed for an Undead Wizard! In Two Hundred Years we will have a Million Arch-Badgers!"

“—That is unprecedented. You solved undead stagnation?”

If the answer to undead stagnation is actually “badgers” he’s going to go back to Geb just so he can watch Father tear his hair out about it.

"Certainly seems So, Doesn't It? Montserrat is Second Circle now, and is Second Best. If she or her Sister Manages to Get to Third Circle as Well, I will consider my Methods Proven."

“Wow. That’s amazing. Is it just badgers or is there a separate trick.”

"There's Several Parts to the Secret, but I have not Seen it work outside Badgers. I believe they are Essential."

Nod nod. “Do they have to start out a badger, or would polymorphing someone work?”

"Good Question! I have been Looking for People who want to Become Undead Badgers- are You Interested? The Badgers report that the is Not That Unpleasant to be an Undead of this Type."

"It is True. It is Mildly Uncomfortable, like Waking Up after Sleeping on a Pinecone."

"Not for me, thank you." The statement is somewhat hurried.

"I think I'm too attached to my current set of abilities. Would an undead badger be able to drink blood? I would miss that!"

"We Still Enjoy the Consumption of Moles, so I think So."

"And Cats!"

"Yes!"

"Well, I'll think about it. But if I try it and I don't like it it'd be really hard to put back, so I want to be really conservative there."

"A Raise Dead is Easily Sourced in this City, but Expensive. Good to be Sure. Think about It!"

Nod. “And a Raise Dead won’t cover it if you’ve been undead, and a Resurrection is even more expensive. If we thought we could reasonably save up for one we’d want it for Mama.”

Clarabella nods. "How long has She been Dead?"

“A few weeks.”

"Too long for the Cheapest Type of Clerical Resurrection. And you are Sure she would not Prefer to Be a Badger?"

“…I am…surer that she would be fine with being a badger in Nirvana than that she would be fine being an undead badger.”

"We Could Ask! Eriape has a Spell for Speaking with Dead! She made an Arcane Version of the Popular Divine One!"

“—You did? Really? That’s amazing!”

“I think at some point we have to stop being surprised that she’s accomplished incredibly cool shit.”

"I think she Has to be Really Dead Though."

“Yeah. We were going to have to do that anyway.”

"Would you like someone to do it...respectfully...and where you don't need to see it?"

“…Seeing it isn’t the problem, just, I don’t—know how to do it as painlessly as possible. …Actually if it’s possible I’d like to hold her hand while it happens.”

Nod nod.

"Not fire, not Principal Energies, I would Suggest Then."

"Dagger through the heart?"

"If the Heart was cut Fully Apart, That would Work and Be Quick, unless she was a Very Great Adventurer"

Jac looks at Luzai with some sympathy. 

"There's a roof terrace with a gorgeous view, upstairs. You can see the ocean, and the ships coming in. There's even some plants."

“That sounds—very good. Thank you.”

The roof terrace is everything that's promised, with splendid view of Sothis, looking down at the port, coated with rugs. A cluster of Avistani plants are planted in pots rimmed with carefully glazed dancing badgers.  The multi-hued sails of the ships coming into port dance across the bright water. It is somewhat above the city din, and every so often there's the sound of a sea bird.