Dubhaine Family/Moira/Roleplays/2019/December

Dubhaine Family
Fame	40
Wealth	19485
Home Region	Ashforth
Home World	East Continent

Clan Dubhaine:

• Aednadh
• Aibhlidhn
• Aoifa
• Brigdha
• Cathal
• Ciarghuala
• Etain
• Moira
• Rhidhana
• Scein
• Threiginion

December 22nd

Evening -- Mhed

Nerta

It hurt. It always hurts when things go wrong. That's how you known that thing's have gone wrong

It started wrong admittedly. I found the old shack leaning against the curtain wall, a halfway house that contained my second ghost for the evening. She was old, older than anyone I'd ever seen before, well almost. All deep wrinkles, gnarled joints and smelled faintly of tanning. To cap it off as I stepped into the gloom she took one look at me and cackled.

“One of you?! I haven't seen one of you since I was a girl,” her voice grated like a washing board, “Finally decided to come crawling out of your forest? Or no wait, no. You're from the mountains aren't you? It doesn't really matter, you're here now and that's interesting."

I didn't like how she looked at me, her eyes shimmering with something far more dangerous than nightsight. I never liked how they looked at me, a mix of confusion, curiosity and revulsion. That she didn’t recoil would be an improvement, except I was waiting for her to pull out a knife to dissect me. I tried to carry a calm persona, to avoid curling my lips in a sneer but given her laughter I must have failed. It didn't seem to bother her though.

"Yes, yes I'm old and strange. And you are young and strange but here for a reason," She holds up her hand and continues to inspect me like a prized pig. "No Don't bother lying I don't care enough to ask. The room is yours if you have the silver, and if you don't I have work enough for you."

I didn't have the silver, not much use for coin where I'm from, but around here and every pleb seems to want it.

So I took the job, and here I am now, in pain.

The third old ghost of the evening haunts the deserted crafting yard, drifting amidst tools and timber used for making something. I hadn’t asked, maybe a cooper or a wheelwright. He’d lashed out when he spotted me, hurling hammers and a pepper of nails my way. I’d avoided those, but then one of his more ethereal mallets had slid through the timber pile I’d dove behind leaving an arm numb from the elbow down. Oh it would hurt later, I knew that well enough.

Old ghosts; I can't get away from them.

The plan had been simple: sneak past the thing, find his anchor and smash it. Simple straightforward, and a complete failure. I’d spent hours with this stupid wailing pleb moaning about some old hurt or who knows what. But the Gods are fickle, cruel and vindictive. So that meant plan B. I hate plan B. It just ends with me deeper.

Evening -- Mhed

Nerta

My room in that tiny shack, if you can call it that, smells faintly of rice. I don't know why. I also don't know why the old women gave it to me.

I came back from the yard to report that the ghost was still at large and she waved me in with a droll murmur, "Well you tried, which is more than most, but I guess old Bartress was more than you could handle. You can rest up in here before trying again, I've even got some stew."

I must have looked confused at the crone's kindness, because she let out another one of those cackles, "This is no charity, you just had a bad hunt," she grinned like a wolf, "Don't worry you'll owe me later."

Resting an arm across my brow I snort at the memory: Plebs and their debts. "I won't owe you," I said to which she replied was gleam in her eye, "If you don't want to owe me then don't fail. In the meantime you need sleep and pride won't change that."

Though I kept an eye on the crone in case she tried to collect something else, I grudgingly admit I felt better for the rest, and the food. While I ate she told me of a Lurker scuttling along in the sewers. It'd eaten a child and the mother was keen on revenge.

Good money in revenge she claimed with a knowing grin.

And so out I went armed with my spear and a description of the closest sewer grate. What I needed though was something for the smell. I had no idea that pleb sewers would stink like this. And after a couple hours I realized I also had no idea that they were this big.

Everything about this was just, disgusting but I wasn't going to return empty handed again and so pressed on. By the fourth hour I'd found nothing of the Lurker but I had found a child; the reanimated remains jumped me as I crawled through a pipe.

A hideous thing, all mottled and gnawing teeth. It had died a long time ago and only found rats for sustenance. If we'd be anywhere else I would have smelled it long before it jumped onto my back but as it was the thing got the drop on me. My armor protected me from the first blow, broken needle teeth losing to leather. It gave me more than enough time to reach back, grab the thing, and smash it against the pipe.

I try not to think of what happened after. There are too many horrors in this world, way too many. And the worst part of it all was finding the thing's nest. There was a little toy, covered in grime but still working. It had been alive once, playful, but now…

I sign. The Old Man is going to be insufferable.

---

I’d only just crawled out of the sewer when the alarm bells started to ring. Turns out the watch needed some help and their captain was even willing to pay for it. He was a gruff man brandishing an axe and sporting an eye-patch, lost to some Alpha attack a few years back. But what really stood out was the clasp on his cloak, a charm for the Dark Mistress.

I was surprised to find a follower of the Old Gods out here but as we went out to shatter the small group of restless dead it became obvious that there was more than one. Nearly every soldier had some rune or charm dedicated to one of the Gods. One even fearlessly brandished a mark for the Crystal Maiden.

I gave him a wide berth.

When we finished the captain passed me a small purse with more of those coins the plebs like so much, and from the heft I could pay off my debts to the old woman. The man further suggested I return tomorrow for more work if I had nothing else to do, after a bath.

This time I manage to avoid sneering, I certainly needed a wash after half a day raking through the muck. I’m going to need some privacy though, for a few reasons.