This post has the following content warnings:
a Lucy is born in Geb
+ Show First Post
Total: 3736
Posts Per Page:
Permalink

Well after THAT there's no way Luzai isn't going to follow. 

"She's not wrong about the smoke part, at least if you didn't, you know, warn us that you were going to set something on fire." Is there a chimney in here??? Wait, she should actually say that one out loud. "Is there a chimney in here, because if not--Camellia, you prepared Create Water today, right?" 

Permalink

"Yes, there's no way I'm touching the water from a well in the state this city is in."

Permalink

"Okay, if the fire starts causing problems you can probably put it out."

Permalink

This secret room has a somewhat eclectic inventory; there’s a small rack of weapons, a few sealed chests, and a number of papers and folders, but Horgus Gwerm seems chiefly concerned with the paintings on the walls. He takes down a number of them, empties a bottle over the images, and sets them aflame.

Permalink

 

"Soooooooo that was you in one of those paintings," Luzai says slowly to Camellia. 

Permalink

“Indeed. It’s quite the unusual state of affairs for the daughter of a servant to be important enough for a noble to have their childhood portraits done, but it’s even more unusual to go through that effort just to hide them away - almost as though there was something to be embarrassed about. Then again, the same is true of Horgus Gwerm’s own childhood portraits.”

It’s the kind of thing that’s possible to miss at a glance, but Horgus Gwerm looks significantly more like his solo childhood portraits than he does any of the ones that feature his parents.

Permalink

“…Those are of…I sort of figured you’d had a kid and named him after yourself and then he died.” Or got turned into a girl and was Camellia, but the kid in the picture doesn’t look a bit elven.

Permalink

Horgus Gwerm sighs, his lips pressing into a hard line.

"I suppose it was too much to expect it would stay secret with Camellia helping you. I have two secrets - the first, that Camellia is my illegitimate daughter, and the second that I was not born Horgus Gwerm."

Permalink

 


“Wait, hang on, I’m confused, why is Camellia being your daughter secret?”

Permalink

"I fell in love with Iris for her beauty and kindness, but she was a half elf of humble origins; when I met her, she was employed as my gardener. If I was to marry her it would irreparably harm the standing of the Gwerm family, so we kept the relationship a secret and I did not claim Camellia as my own. As far as anyone in Mendev knows, she is a daughter of an old friend who died in the crusades who I took in to raise."

Permalink

???

Luzai is not...less confused...

"I still don't understand, but I'm not going to stand here and try to make you explain all the cultural context it would take to get it, I think. Is Iris alright?"

Permalink

He shakes his head.

"No, she passed on when Camellia was young."

Permalink

 

"I'm so sorry." 

Permalink

"Thank you."

He has conflicted feelings on getting that apology, but he's hardly going to advertise that. He stays silent for a few moments more, and then returns to set the last of the offending pictures alight.

"With that, it's done. I'll still need to salvage what I can from this place to somewhere safer from thieves and brigands, but the worst has been avoided."

Permalink

Luzai feels like Horgus Gwerm is overestimating the risk of anything happening as a result of those paintings being found, but--he's been hiding a lot for a long time; that can make someone paranoid. 

Aaaaaalso she's probably not calibrated on the risk since she's still not entirely clear on why it's a risk in the first place. 

 

"Who painted these, if they're so secret?"

Permalink

"For the oldest ones... I am not certain. It was before I took on the name Horgus Gwerm, and I did not pay much attention to such matters. Camellia's were done by an acquaintance of mine, who I trusted not to gossip about such matters."

Permalink

"So that kid was Horgus Gwerm first?"

Permalink

"Yes, and I was Damien Wytt. Lord and Lady Gwerm were kind and generous souls who made it their mission to help those less fortunate than they, and as my parents were servants at their estate in north-eastern Mendev that included allowing me to befriend and play with their son. What they were not, however, was careful with their own lives. As a result, far more of their fortune went to charity than ensuring their own safety, and when a group of demons made it through the wardstone barrier there was nobody there to save us from the attack. We had been playing in the garden at the time, and where he fled towards the mansion, I fled away from it, and when crusaders eventually arrived at the mansion to rescue us I was the only one still alive. When they asked who I was, I said I was Horgus Gwerm, and the rest is history."

Permalink

"Oh. I'm sorry about your parents, too." Also the original Gwerms but she's not a hundred percent sure that would be appropriate to say. 

Permalink

"Thank you."

His task accomplished, he sets about loading as many of the chests in the room as he can into a pouch he keeps at his side, which turns out to be a small bag of holding. The lot of them fit well enough, but he's pretty much out of room at that point. 

"I suppose if any of you want something from the weapons here, you might as well. Better that than some looters finding this room once we go and becoming better armed."

Permalink

Villibor and Luzai are both going to take cold iron daggers. If Luzai objects at all he is absolutely willing to overrule her. 

Permalink

She has no reason to object, but, also, valid of him to be upset. They can also refill on crossbow bolts. 

Permalink

Wenduag will also pick up some arrows. They’re weighted and fletched differently, so it’ll take a bit of practice to get quite as good with them as she was her old ones, but she doesn’t have the time or resources to make as many new arrows as she would need to keep up with her current rates. Metal arrowheads are also a luxury she’s never had the opportunity to try, but she’s seen the difference when it comes to knives and is pretty optimistic.

Permalink

Seelah will, after a bit of dithering, swap out her shield for another one. It’s taken a lot of punishment over these last few days, and she doesn’t want it to end up splintering or shattering on her when she’s in the middle of fighting a demon. She’s already got a better sword than any of these, though.

Permalink

Once everyone is out and the secret door shut again, Camellia and Horgus both take a few minutes  to grab some other odds and ends from the building, but their temporary employer seems fairly resigned to the plausible fate of everything he’s leaving behind.

”I’ll hand out your payments once we make it back to the defender’s heart safely.”

Total: 3736
Posts Per Page: