A DEVILS DUE

[Karina 1894]

 

[!]

A few missives were placed sporadically near the roads of Haense. A simple message. The symbol of an eye, drawn in erratic lines, decorated the top of each page.

—---------------------------------------

Congratulations, Villorik. You’ve become a pain. I should have realized she was working for you. There’s so little left of her in there. Isn’t it fantastic? I wonder what use you’ll find for the husk that remains. Let it remind you, there are fates worse than death.

Five hundred mina to any hunter that claims his head.

O’zen'jkastum

—---------------------------------------

[Rushodan 191]

Kiyoshi casts his eyes over the short missive, a smile crossing his features. "I knew you could do it, Villorik. Make her life hell."

[KillerMaid 636]

Malna - Annika had seen Serwa, not knowing any better she sat down with her. 

 

"Want some company?..."

[satin 7600]

Spoiler

 

 

Serwa sat in the Chapel by Haense, gazing at the wall opposite her - waiting for Villorik.

 

Waiting. It was taking so long. Hours. She felt at the hole in her throat, and knew: Sarryn had stolen a portion of her soul from her. But she did not feel frustration. She did not feel anger. She did not feel anything. Not even the presence of her God, something that she had never not felt.

 

What did it mean, to live a life without feeling? Without happiness, sadness, joy, desire, anger, grief - without anything? She thought about it for a brief moment, and concluded: such a life, without emotion, meant nothing. And that was what Sarryn and Sermi had cursed her with.

 

She waited for Villorik. She would sit there for days, if she had to. And she would not eat or drink, because she no longer felt the need to. She would starve and die all the same.

 

Is this total defeat?

 

She could only look at it objectively. Sermi's choice of word - husk - had been very appropriate. She waited for Villorik.

[Unwillingly 18122]

"Villorik is worth more than any amount of coin," a thing murmured.

 

"Far more."

[Xarkly 17299]

 

Villorik set down the parchment.

 

He looked down the table, to Joakim, Tatiyana, Lorcán, Caspian, and Rhys. The wood in the brazier, hanging over the table, crackled softly, and a faint autumn wind carried snatches of the bustle of New Valdev beyond the walls of the White Comet's Chapter House.

 

"She wishes to send Shadowspawn to us," he summarised idly, and tapped a finger on the tabletop. That finger bore a plain ring of petrified ring; a ring that might have been more important to Villorik than nearly anything else. "Instead of us having to painstakingly hunt them to the ends of the earth?"

 

An inadvertent gift, from his most inadvertent ally.

 

"Well, Sermi never was the sharpest blade on the rack."

[Sandman_Plays 659]

The marshal read the message his smile increasing slightly.

"If only I could warn them of how many brothers and sisters of Saint Karl await the day they would try it, typical of them to hire out for their dirty work, too scared I imagine to make the move themselves"

He hums idly placing the missive into the fireplace and watching it burn

"Woe to the ones who do, for the fate of death will be delivered in quick succession"

With that Caspian made the orders, the Brotherhood soldiers patrolled the streets the gates were closed and sealed, and watches were drafted, it was as if he had been waiting for this moment the entire time.

[sam33497 7356]

Az'rekash reviewed the bounty. "They offered 3,000 to kill Haus, you need to up the budget here." Thus, he decided not to become Toji Fushiguro for the second time. He did not comment further on her shady matters.

[Morigung-oog 5697]

Barrowlord Fornotos watched onwards, a faint smile curling at the corners of their lips. It was not a pleasant expression and by no means conveyed any respite from their eternal torment. Alas, it seemed they had a plan...

[asoart 133]

Brother Godfrey screamed with laughter in the middle of New Valdev, striking his knee with a slap. "Undead set bounties now?? You were crafted to kill! Not hide a mile underground while waiting for bounty hunters!" he then wiped a tear in between his laughter