Alma Blanc had spent her entire life cultivating an outward appearance of unassuming innocence. From her manner of speaking to her position as a humble servant of the church, there were scarce occasions when she had been remembered as anything but a shining example of purity.
But if that truly was the case, then why was she following along in the paces of a scab-infested rodent through the city's disreputable northern district?
From the moment it had wormed its way into the cave, Alma could tell that there was something off about the creature. While she practised her necromantic incantations, it circled her shoes like an excitable mutt. Just before she was about to put the rat out of its misery, a shaft of darklight descending from the cavern's entrance reflected the sheer nothingness in its eyes--pools of foggy white uninhabited by the shackles of the soul.
The rodent couldn't speak--not that she expected it to. But the fervour with which it tried to grab her attention told Alma all she needed to know. So began an embarrassing chase through the grasslands of the countryside. From the perspective of a commoner, she appeared to be frolicking in the moonlight, but the truth was far more demeaning. It was a miracle that she was able to keep the rodent in her sights all the way to the city gates, whereupon strange glances fell towards the frenzied nun as she dipped in and out of alleyways in an effort to keep up with her guide.
Was Lieze in trouble? Alma couldn't imagine another possibility. She certainly wasn't the type of person to send such a cryptic message for no good reason. Why, the two of them had only just met--and as terse about their relationship as she was, Lieze had taken a tremendous risk in recruiting Alma. Truthfully, she was a little afraid of her. The daughter of the dread Lich Sokalar was just as cold and ambitious as she would have expected. So then, why was she reacting to the girl's cry for help with such determination?
Perhaps it was because Lieze was the first person to ever see through her facade. All of a sudden, she had been granted the opportunity to satisfy her dark obsession with forbidden magic. She wanted to understand the beauty in death that necromancers worshipped. All that, under the tutelage of Sokalar's daughter herself? It wasn't a chance she could simply give up on.
Alma wanted Lieze to trust her. The fact that the girl had threatened to report her to the priesthood if ever so much as a sliver of defiance escaped her mouth spoke of just how hard that trust would be to earn. But aiding Lieze at her most vulnerable was going to be a step in the right direction.
The rodent's final destination was a place forgotten by the city. With its grand spires and stained-glass windows, one wouldn't hesitate to call the building a chapel--albeit an abandoned one. But Alma recognised its true nature. It was a relic from the days of her youth. At its peak, the priesthood's ranks were conjoined with the city guard, and sacrilege became a crime comparable to that of murder or treason. Those who so much as spoke out against the Church of the Dragon found themselves on the gallows alongside common criminals. The precincts of Dragon Cardinals, left to rot after the reformation, often found their cells overflowing with those unlucky souls.
The rat disappeared towards the building, but Alma felt hesitant to approach it.
"Excuse me."
A voice deeper than any other startled her from behind. As she turned her head, an enormous man clad in the colours of the Church was walking towards her. She recognised the amateurish patch sewn into the cloth of his arm as the emblem of an Acolyte.
"Ah, a sister." The man's fierce expression softened as he looked Alma up and down, "Forgive me for frightening you. My name is Helmach Lawain."
"Helmach…" She repeated. Like all citizens of Tonberg, she knew the name well. Only, she never expected the leader of the Acolytes of Reunification to be such an imposing figure--or to be running into him while searching for Lieze.
"It's dangerous to be wandering this district. All manner of brigands and cutpurses are making use of the destroyed homes." He warned, "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Ah- no… I was just on a walk." She lied hurriedly, "What is this place?"
"Our headquarters." He answered, crossing his arms, "-Pitiful, I know. As of yet, we are still unrecognised by the priesthood, so we must make use of what we can. But we won't take the silence of His Eminence as an insult. While the dogged treaties of the reformation persist, his hands are completely tied."
Lieze was inside that building. Besides the royal castle itself, it was quite possibly the worst place she could have been. If Helmach had captured her, Alma would need more than her wits to break the girl out. A thought pulsed at the back of her mind that told her it simply wasn't worth the effort--to abandon Lieze and pursue a life of peace. Going up against one so influential as Helmach was going to spell trouble no matter how smart she was about it.
"I'm afraid I must leave. There are some urgent matters in need of my attention." The man apologised, "Go with the Dragon."
"Uh- yes…" Alma stammered, "Go with the Dragon…"
In any case, she wasn't going to be breaking into the dilapidated precinct by herself. It was going to take a small army to overcome the headquarters of the Acolytes, and--more importantly--immobilise Helmach for long enough. Killing him outright was almost certainly out of the question. Alma grimaced as stray flecks of blood reflected in the moonlight from his greatsword, wondering if it was already too late to save Lieze.
If Helmach lacked anything, it was stealth.
Lieze thought that to herself as she heard the clattering of his footfalls before the man had even entered the building. He wasted no time in making his way down to the cells with a ring of keys in hand, having apparently taken over the last guard's duty.
She hadn't knapped another knife. She didn't see the point in trying.
"White hair." He spoke as the rusted door creaked open, "I would consider myself a learned man, but never have I known a human of any sort to have white hair at such a young age. Exactly where do you hail from?"
"What is this line of questioning?" She wondered, genuinely confused, "Are you expecting me to say that I'm the half-child of a human and an Elf?"
"The outlanders arrive in Tonberg with flea-ridden heads, scabbed hands, and sour faces. But never white hair." He replied, "I was only curious. I've heard of a land deep in the south, far beyond the influence of the Order, where Demons wear the faces of men and sacrifice newborns to Gods slumbering beneath the earth. I wondered if you were one of them."
"Nri'ozra."
"Excuse me?"
"They're called Nri'ozra. I've seen one before." She recounted, "It was dead--but that didn't stop it from being dangerous. The air around it was… warping, as if caught in a lens. My father warned me not to get anywhere near it. No matter how closely I looked, there was no making sense of the shape it took. If I have to be honest, it frightened me. My father wasn't afraid of anything. That was the first time I ever saw him so cautious."
"So you are an outlander."
"Something like that."
"I've always been wary of your sort." He continued, "If His Majesty knew any better and forbade people like you from entering the city, my sister would still be alive."
"Who's to say she isn't?"
"I always told her getting mixed up with the guild would cause trouble." Helmach ignored her comment, "When we were children, she was a sickly girl. I laboured for years to buy expensive medicine from passing chemists. When the priesthood came to our village and used their divine magic to cure her, I couldn't allow that debt to go unfulfilled. Until the reformation, I served the Church faithfully. For the first time, we had warm bread and a home without any holes in the ceiling. We were finally-."
"I don't need to hear any more of this." Lieze interrupted, "Are you trying to coax some sympathy out of me? I suppose your wages weren't as generous once you left the church and became an Acolyte? And young Noma donned the mantle of an adventurer to provide for the two of you? Perhaps she wanted to repay you for helping her as a child? Well--if it wasn't for your decision to abandon that cosy life under the Church's heel, she wouldn't have lowered herself to robbing me."
"...You don't hold back your words, do you?" Helmach's calm expression was close to faltering. If Lieze pushed him even an inch further, he wouldn't hesitate to kill her on the spot, "I don't suppose you've ever experienced loss for yourself?"
"I've been through far worse than that."
"I very much doubt that." He replied, reaching for the knife on his belt, "Having a few teeth carved out from your gums will keep you occupied for a number of hours, I'd imagine."
Reaching out, he took hold of Lieze's arm to prevent her from escaping. She hadn't planned to try--it was a given that Helmach was going to torture her. Though she put on a defiant expression, she couldn't help but recoil as the knife's tip moved towards her mouth.
Only, just as it was beginning to pry her lips, the blade stopped.
"Hm?" An inquisitive sound worked its way up from Helmach's throat, "What is…"
As she raised her head, Lieze could spot his gaze fixating on her raised arm. It only occurred to her a few seconds later that the golden scale embedded in her palm was in plain view. It was the first time anyone had ever noticed the strange deformation.
"That-" He choked out, "That can't be…"
Whatever had gripped him so fiercely about her scale was enough to make him drop the knife being balanced on Lieze's lower lip. The expression on his face was something between astonished and enlightened.
"...So that's how it is." He lowered his head, "Of course. I should have known all along."
"What are you prattling on about?"
"Quite adept at playing the fool, aren't you?" He noticed, "...So that's why I couldn't…"
"Kindly begin making some sense." Lieze requested.
"All you need to understand is that your wellbeing has just been preserved for the foreseeable future." He explained, releasing his iron grip on her wrist, "How cruel a mistress fate can be…"
"If there's one thing I dislike more than anything else, it's when people speak in riddles." She frowned, "You were just about to yank my teeth out, and now you're suddenly guaranteeing my safety? If you're so certain that I murdered your sister, why not kill me right now?"
"Noma…" Helmach seemed conflicted as he muttered her name, "This must be a trial… a test of my faith. But I will not falter in the mission I've been given."
"Excuse me." Lieze called, recoiling as Helmach slammed the cell door shut, hurriedly twisting his keyring into the lock before departing "...Excuse me!"
He was barely listening to her. The barely-contained rage he'd been holding in a moment ago seemed to have been replaced with something more purposeful. It boiled Lieze's blood not knowing why his reaction to seeing her scale was so strange. As the prison once more descended into silence, she was at least able to relax knowing there was no longer any torture awaiting her.
"What a farce…" She sighed, "...Hm?"
As Helmach opened a door out of sight, the shaft of light descending into the jail illuminated the chalk eyes of a rodent scampering across the floor. Slipping between the bars of her cell, the creature obediently came to a stop at her feet. It was the first time the sight of a rat had ever pleased Lieze.
"You've returned." She noticed, "I suppose that means you were successful in your mission?"
The rodent gave no response. She had given the miniscule thrall an order, and it wouldn't have returned without seeing it through. For better or for worse, Alma had been alerted to Lieze's imprisonment. A wave of anxiety washed over the girl as she imagined placing her life in the hands of another, but there simply wasn't another choice.
A blacklight burning from her scale caught Lieze's attention as she worried.
New Quest Received!
'Deliverance' - Escape
Reward - 1,400xp
"1,400!?" The number was enough to bring something resembling a smile to her face, "...Perhaps being captured isn't so bad after all."