No Time for Explanations

"What are they?" Lorissia half yells, half screams it out, we're surrounded by the former members of the fancy party.

"I could tell you but I'm a little busy right now." We had gone back to back to fight them off.  I did know what they were, a little too late to help our current situation but I'm sure Lorissia would be happy to know I never again fell into a similar trap.  So there was that. Lorissia had loosed a couple of arrows at the undead surrounding us, but it wasn't really doing enough to keep them back (arrows are not great against the undead, you tend to pierce something useless and they just keep coming).  I was gathering my power, in the back of my mind I'd seen Valyra do something similar once (not fight off a trap of the undead, but unleash a new spell I hadn't tried before).

"Do something fast, I think they are catching on that I don't have much here." Saying it out loud wasn't the brightest idea, then again its not like the undead couldn't have figured it out anyway.  There were thirty or so around us now. Their gathering numbers were kind of working against them as the more that gathered took up spots from the ones already there. And they sort of banged against each other in trying to eat us.  I felt the power rising up inside, I rattled off the words from Valyra's memory and then grabbed Lorissia driving her to the ground.

I lobbed fire and power upwards, a ball of pure energy that exploded at shoulder height.  It washed out around us and our enemies were decapitated.  I felt drained as the fire dispitated at the edges of the room (which now looked like Lorissia had once described it, burned and partially destroyed). The initial group of undead were gone, but more were coming I could hear the thump of feet on wood. Lorissia drug me up by the shoulder and lead me down through some rotted wood into a cellar. Down a dark hallway we came to a room with a heavy metal door that she slammed and latched. The room was completely blackened, I willed a bit of light to illuminate it and Lorissia found a discarded working oil lamp.  The room looked to be a former treasury as there were shelves and trunks long empty nearby. We could hear the thumps of our pursuers on the door outside.

"Well I think I have time for that explanation now." I had to smile, if I wasn't feeling like I needed a two day nap I would have laughed.  So there we were swapping a trap for being trapped, and the oil in the lantern didn't seem like it had a lot in it.  I could see despite Lorissia's smile she also didn't feel we were in a good place.  And that's where I'll leave you for now, trapped in a room with the light running out.  Sleep well!

Welcome to The Party

"Lorissia Trumane and guest yes you are expected." The servant at the front was dressed in an impossibly clean suit.  Black with a white shirt underneath, silly little trail dropped off his suit coat. We had approached the front area cautiously (which seemed a bit silly considering the servants out front, and they had looked at us with scorn of course), once at the front everything seemed normal, which screamed trap to me.  Past the guard I leaned close to Lorissia.

"Expected? Did you send a message in advance?" We were walking to the front of the house trying to be all non chalant.  I honestly expected the doors to open and a flood of blood to come rushing out.

"No not at all, when would I have? I honestly expected this place to be empty Trezlan." Lorissia was on edge, I could see it in the way her hands shook. We came to the front door and inside there was grand gala going on. Music that I hadn't previously heard was all over, a full band playing on strange instruments.  People dressed in clothes a lot nice than what Lorissia and I were wearing (she had her cloak and some form of scale mail armor underneath it, I was wearing my robe with pants that had sadly seen better days). A servant came by and offered me a drink I politely declined.

"Eat nothing, we don't know if this is a trick of some kind." I couldn't see magic behind anything, but honestly a good illusion is very difficult to spot. We gravitated toward some tables away from the couple dancing in the middle.  I felt a sense of unease there, I knew something was wrong, Lorissia knew something was wrong, but for some reason we didn't just flee immediately. I want to say it was some magical desire holding us there, but mostly it was morbid curiosity. The revelers all had on masks of one type or another, they were the type rich people attending a really fancy party liked to wear (garish decorations with gems and other such designs on them). In the center of the room was a raised dias in front of where the band was playing. We weren't inside a couple minutes when I heard the doors behind us slam and latch.  A man made his way to the dias, he was dressed the most garish of anyone there.

"Lorissia so good of you to finally come," His eyes were off, he was wearing a mask so I couldn't see them exactly, but they appeared red, "Welcome to the party!" The words might have been jovial but all around us I could see the intent was not.  One second it was a room full of people in garish masks and fancy clothes, the next they were corpse looking ghouls in rotted clothes and distended broken bodies. The illusion was off, and the party, was on.

Who Doesn't like a Fancy Party?

The estate that laid in front of us was lit up like a small city.  The estate broken into three buildings.  The main house where the Kulinara family used to live.  A barn for their animals and visiting peoples animals, and a what was probably slave/servant quarters in the back of the main building.  The estate itself had been built next to a hill side, and from a distance it was like a one armed person reaching out to hug you. We arrived just after night time and there were oil lamps all over lighting the way into the estate. I could make out what appeared to be well dressed guards/servants patroling the grounds as well.  Lorissia and I had stopped short once we could properly make things out, she looked completely stunned.

"Thought you said this place was empty?" We were both off our horses, I felt a vague sense of unease in the air, could have just been the beginning of a storm really, in a way it was.

"It's supposed to be empty, the last time I was here was shortly after my family was killed, most of it was burned down, but now, now it looks just like I remember it looking." Her voice was distant, that kind of walking in a dream tone that comes with uncertainty.

"Well looks like its lit up for a party, and I know someone who's in desperate need of a drink." I started walking forward Lorissia grabbed me by the arm.

"What if its a trap?" Her eyes said the story here, fear was in them like when I get told someone needs my help.

"Then my dear we burn the place down again." Over confidence is a drug, once your hooked you never see that you're in way over your head until your hung up by your heels and screaming about the lizard people (Ok I admit that was one time and in my defense, there are actual lizard people). Next entry I will go over the party of the century (several centuries even).

The Kulinara legacy

The Kulinara family was a merchant family, they had started out running a caravan, made a lot of money at it, and eventually ran five seperate caravans from all parts of the world.  Catching the eye of the Red Hand government they were granted special government status.  Their caravans began to be protected by the Red Hand specifically, a high honor for any merchant group.  Unfortunately like any rise to power in a merchant group this served to upset other merchant groups who weren't getting protected.

Rumors started flying about dark heresy committed by Kulinara family members, secret deals with shadowy creatures.  It was all bullshit of course, but once you've destroyed a families reputation or wounded it, anything that happens after is thought of by the general public at large as their "just desserts" I know this, because I've done this to people, its surpringly effective. It took two generations of Kulinara dominance until someone decided enough was enough. In a cowardly evening assassination a group of men aided by their servants assaulted and murdered every Kulinara except one.  Lorissia Kulinara (her original name before changing it naturally) was away at a finishing school when her family was killed.  When news reached the school she was saved by an instructor who believed in the Fire God and felt that their religion would be the best place for her to hide (Fire God followers are very martial in their belief as I have mentioned, also revenge is a strong belief as well).  So Lorissia Kulinara became Lorissia Trumane and she was shipped south to Ronerawth territory to save her.

And it worked for a time, she was safe from being murdered, and the merchant families had effectively destroyed the Kulinara family which allowed them to take over. And thats how things should have gone, but something happened.  And like when you play with dominoes one hit another hit another, until I got tortured and Lorissia had to come out of hiding to deal with a legacy that she had given up on. So that's the story as best I can tell it as we rode to the old Kulinara residence, which was supposed to be empty, but as we found it was most certainly not.

On Weeds and Personalities

"You ever see a Strangle Flower Trezlan?" Lorissia was riding close to me, we'd been riding like that since we had our encounter at the camp fire, it was actually refreshing to ride next to someone I didn't really dislike like Morley.

"Its a weed really, thick vines that work themselves over stone or trees, I want to say the flower can be made into a poison if you crush it up, but I can't really remember." We'd already swung by the archivist, he didn't give me any info because I had Lorissia with me (said that I already had all I needed, whatever that meant the jerk).  Now we were just riding to ride, I dunno at the time I was following Lorissia, because thats what you do when you're in love with someone.

"Thanks for the description loremaster." She hit me playfully and I almost lost control of my horse.  I'll admit never been a great horseman, its why I spend most of my time on trains now.

"Well you asked!"

"I just asked if you'd see one, I didn't want to know everything about them," She sighed and continued, "You remind me of a strangle flower."

"You think I'm a weed?"

"I think you are like a vine that strangles a lot of things you touch, but then you have a very pretty flower."

"That's deadly."

"Exactly, you're my very own deadly weed flower."

"Thanks, that's sweet." It really was sweet, in a weird sort of way being called a Strangle Flower made a lot of sense to me, though I'm sure Lorissia could have called me a piece of crap and I still would have found some beauty in it. "So where are we heading? We seem to just be riding south."

"We are heading to the Kulinara estate I need to settle things with my father." Suddenly I was reminded of why I was looking for her in the first place, and the torture that lead to it. An estate spoke of money, a heritage. Instantly I was aware I really didn't know anything about where we were going, and that was probably to my detriment (naturally).  If I could only go back to that moment and convince her to take a different path, to go to lork or somewhere else, maybe things would have turned out different.  Probably not, but you never know, its the stuff of fever dreams and broken hopes.

When Sorry Just Isn't Enough

The Chief and I parted ways pretty fast, I didn't want to be in town with questions about not mes activities.  He was tired and feeling drained from almost dying to a mimic.  It was one of those mutal "Yeah we're done here." type of conversations.  Lorissia and I didn't talk as we left town, she followed me as I went north to archivists caves (a deal is a deal, though I didn't really have a name for the mimics so they became the Golywoshabangas I figured no one would ever be named so horribly). We made camp hours later, I was tired and smelled, I made sure to make camp near a river to wash up, I threw caution to the wind and went full nude, its not like I had modesty anyway.  Lorissia didn't seem to mind, even if she giggled when I came back shivering in the morning sun.

"You have a lot of scars Lorentino." I normally don't, but I hadn't ummm "eaten" as it were since I was tortured.  Most of the wounds were superficial, and they looked nastier then they were, some of them had been exceptionally painful though, particularly the ones near my groin.

"I fell down a lot of stairs." I'll never understand how this became an accepted excuse, there aren't that many stairs in the world! More silence as I sat next to the fire nakedly waiting for the cold and wet to go away (in retrospec washing up without a towel? Bad idea).

"I'm sorry." We both blurted it out, it was that kind of hasty admission you give someone like trying to take off an old bandage, fast and to the point.

"Wait you're sorry? For what? I'm the one who used necromancy to keep restore you to health without your permission." It was about as honest as I ever get with regards to necromancy, sometimes I claim the gods saved someone or that their wounds didn't look as bad as they thought.

"For putting you in that position in the first place, I should have checked in with you when I found Mervis, but I thought I could handle him and show you how strong I was, it was idiotic." We both sat looking across each other in the fire.  I was uncomfortable, and not just because I was without my clothes (though that did play a part in it honestly). I was all set to just leave it as an akward night of apologizing for something we both felt bad about.  But Lorissia crossed over and kissed me, it was passionate and sensuous (and not just because I was naked, but that once again did play a part), we embraced what felt like hours and then did other stuff for what felt like days (look thats as far as I'm going with that ok). 

When I awoke it was hours later and the sun felt like it was right over my damn head (stupid overcast weather is never there when you need it). Lorissia was nearby smiling, I was actually surprised she hadn't left me while I was sleeping, or that she wasn't actually there and it had all been a weird fever dream. But no she was still there, making sure her bowstring or something was still tight. I smiled back at her and went off to find my pants hoping that the heat had actually served me in getting them dry. I tell you of all the days I often fantasize about returning to, that one is my personal favorite.  It's a shame that in being in love with her I killed her, but like most things in my life, everything I touch turns to ashes, its just a matter of how long the fire burns.

Damn thats a good line I'll have to save that up for the next time I'm feeling artsy.

Arrown't you Glad To see Me?

"Lorentino aren't you going to do something about this?" The chief was talking, I could see the claw very much near his neck.  It was one of those precarious situations where one false move could kill both people.  For a moment I thought what would the harm be in killing the chief, and then I recalled all his lawmen coming back and stomping me into a stain in the ground.

"Working on it." I wasn't really, I mean what could I do, the fake me Mimic had the chief by the neck, and I was awful at being precise with fire. So there I stood staring down a fake me with creepy lizard claws hanging on the neck of a man who if he died I would die horribly, if the mimic left me alone after he killed the chief.  One of those lose lose situations.

"Lllllorentino," The mimic was talking, his voice was part lisp, part empty hollow tone, "I'll kill this man, and you."

"That's a great start to negotiation just to tell you." I could see the chief wince, but again assholery over diplomacy everytime, its the Lorentino way.

"Yoooooou dddddon't want mmmmmeeee to killll him, llllleeeeet mmmmmeeee goooo." It was weird which letters he drug out, it made me wonder how people confused me for these freaks in the first place (I mean I don't talk weird at all, I talk dignified damn it!) I was about to serve up my response when an arrow hit the fake me through his head (ever see those stupid fake arrow through the head little hairband things? yeah like that except real).  The creature turned to where the arrow had come through the broken door (score one for my haphazard door opening techniques) and caught a couple more arrows through his eyes. With his grip on the chief slackened, the old man quickly ran toward me (I don't really know why, I guess in case the arrows were meant for him?).  The mysterious bowman came through the shattered glass door and withdrew an ugly looking short sword and behead fake me, the head rolled toward myself and I was mildly alarmed looking down at what appeared to be my own decapitated head.  The bowman was wearing a heavy cloak covering up some kind of armor that jingled a bit as they walked.  They drew back their hood and it was Lorrisia.

"Happy to see me Lorentino?"

Nothing Good Comes From Underground

The stench was the first thing that I noticed as I was climbing down the makeshift ladder to the creepy underground cavern. I was glad for the ladder, because if we had to just fall down a dark hole, well I would have just sealed the cavern and walked away from the whole dumb thing. The hole we were going down looked to be coated in some kind of sticky residue (which was like the eww cherry on the eww sundae). The chief grumbled something above me but I was too concerned not touching the walls with anything of mine to really hear what he said. On the ground the cave radiated with a weird green glow, the walls were circular in nature (probably clawed out with the residue to hold them up) they were decently man sized, which was a relief I really did not want to have to go sliding on my stomach, and with the glow being able to see was a plus.

"What is that smell?" It was the first thing I could make out what he was saying since we started down the makeshift ladder.

"Corpses, lots of them by the reek of it." I was kind of surprised the chief wouldn't know the smell, but then again I do have a unique life style and recognizing the smell of rotting bodies is one of those supreme "benefits" of it.

"Well I knew we had some missing town's people, guess I know where they went, well come on Lorentino lets get this over with." It's easy to say that when you're following someone else into a creatures nest. The cave grew bigger as we walked along until we came to a central chamber. It was full of corpses, probably at least thirty seperate bodies in various states of being eaten/rotting (the smell was overwhelming, as were all the bugs that feed on flesh). Beyond the pile of corpses were eggs, a lot of eggs (I didn't know at the time mimics laid eggs, the things you learn underground), I didn't see that any had hatched, and I didn't see any other creatures in the nest.  So I had to wonder if the mimic could just hatch eggs on its own? Was it eating all the bodies? These were questions that flashed through my mind (well that and trying not to barf).

"Ok Chief its your show destroy the eggs." I motioned a hand forward in a go on type way.

"Destroy them with what? It's not like there's an excess of water down here, why don't you burn them?"

"We're in a cave and just came by the one place that had a vent, do you want to be choking on charred corpses all the way out of here?" Because I certainly did not. The chief shrugged at me and pointed at the eggs again, I told him to get back up the way we came in and he was all to happy to leave me down there (naturally).  So there I was amidst corpses and creepy monster eggs hoping to burn them all up, before I conjured fire I wondered for just a half second if this wasn't going to do the opposite of what I wanted. Turns out that mimic eggs? Highly flammable.  The fire hit the cluster and detonated.  I hardly had time to start running before the chamber behind me was engulfed in flames.  I felt really smart sending the chief back up the tunnel for a half a second before I almost got burned to damn death (now smart observers would go "Trezlan why didn't you try and change the fire since its your element?" It would be like the chief trying to stop the rain entirely, I could have at best redirected it, if there was somewhere else for it to go!).  I don't know the record for climbing a makeshift ladder out of a Mimic nest (a competition somewhere I'm sure) but I bet I broke the record hauling my ass out of there.

I got out of the hole and lunged aside as a fireball erupted from underneath.  The gods were with me as that fireball didn't thankfully set the rest of the damn building on fire.  I was about to ask why the Chief wasn't helping me up when I noticed he was standing with me next to him.  Crap.  For those playing along at home that's another Trezlan, I know I'm handsome and all, but two copies of me? COME ON!

The Other Lorentino

Rain had caused puddles in the street, the mud slopped over my boots in an annoying squish as I walked toward the other me.  The chief was behind me, keeping his distance.  He told me his men were all out securing the towns borders so as to prevent fake me from getting out (which also had the side effect of keeping real me trapped in town should I try and leave before the job was done). I didn't really have a lot of different monster killing items.  I had my sword, I had my ability to conjure fire (which admittedly is about all you need) and I had my raw courage (stop laughing!).  The chief (he had a name but honestly I prefered chief to Elroy) had a weird looking crossbow contraption he got from his office and of course his ice magic.

Fake me kept sitting down where he was at.  It was kind of alarming honestly.  He hadn't moved since I spied him from the second floor at the chiefs station. This was an indication something was of course horribly wrong. We approached cautiously, well I say we, I mean the Chief did, I kicked in the door which shattered the glass and got me stuck in it (its never as cool as you think it would be).  Fake me reacted immediately, his flesh shivered is how I can best explain it, and then he came after me with some kind of freakish talons.  It was like he was at one time me, and then something else entirely, some weird kind of reptile creature (I personally had never fought a mimic, they are by their nature reptilian, which makes sense sort of?). I had my sword up and kind of hopped back into the street and the rain. I lost track of where the Chief had gone because I was too busy not getting slashed open by false me's claws. The mimic started with an overhead slash that would have sliced me to ribbons.  The rain was kind of melting the false skin it had put up off itself, which was fairly gross.  I dodged the slash and launched fire as a follow up, well I tried to, the damn rain kind of fizzled the fire with as much intensity as put into it (even with good magic power being immersed in the opposite element tends to mess with your ability to conjure it). I swear the creature laughed at me.

I was about to close the distance and try and cut that ugly lizard in two when a crossbow bolt hit it dead in the chest. It didn't seem phased at all, a second bolt struck close to where the first landed again to the same effect.  I couldn't see the Chief, with the rain and the worrying about dying, but I could only imagine his dismay that the crossbow wasn't working. The lizard was now fully just a lizard, his disguised flesh was an oozing pile in the mud (I felt bad for whoever came across that later). It came running at me both claws stretched out as wide as they would go, I rolled past it and slashed backwards with my sword (which I'm sure looked like I slipped in the mud and kind of flailed backwards, which I totally did not do). The sword strike caused the beast to howl in pain and collapse into the muddy street.  I took a moment to regain my footing (from the roll mind you, not slipping, totally didn't slip) and turned around to see the Chief standing over the lizard.  I was about to call out a warning when I saw one of the more terrifying uses of magic I've ever seen.

The thing about magic is that while depending on power level you can bring stuff into being, if there is already some of your element around to begin with you can do some pretty nasty things with minimal exertion.  The Chief being an ice user was at a strength to the lizard creature.  He turned the rain into a shards of falling blades with a simple twist of his hands.  One minute snarly mcclawsatme was there, the next he was being ripped to shreds by tiny shards of ice. The creature couldn't even get off a scream.

"Well thanks for not waiting until it ripped me in two to kill the creature." The chief was bent over collecting the remains of his bolts, the creature was a bloody paste at his feet.

"Had to get close and you out of the way, its not like I can control the rain Lorentino." It was true enough, still I couldn't help but feel I wasn't getting screwed, well more than usual.

"So that's it were done here?" I wanted to get out of the street, commotion had brought some of the townsfolk from their homes, and I don't think my twin was the most well liked in town, and outside of the chief, its not like people knew he wasn't me.

"Not quite I need to look over the shop he was set up in, something could be going on there." I groaned, but followed the chief into the store.  Most of what was for sale was cheap garbage or just outright garbage.  The store looked to be nothing more than a hollow front to look like a real thing. I looked where the fake me had been sitting and noticed he was strangely sitting on a rug.  I moved the chair and pulled back the rug, there was a bit of a circular cover over what appeared to be a basement or cellar.

"This place have a cellar?" The chief was looking at the rear of the store.

"Not that I can recall."

"Shit." And we were in shit, I knew it then that whatever was down there should never be seen, and yet into the dark we went, being stupid sucks.

Like The Worst Mirror Ever

Tormillo, it was a town north of Zorn, in later years it would become a principal rail station for Zorn itself (due to the mountains surrounding Zorn and concerns for safety no direct rail lines connected to Zorn Proper).  Back when I first arrived there it was a caravan hang out, run by a couple trade bosses who didn't like each other. Since it was a waystation it was great for picking up goods cheap before they found their way to Zorn store shelves (if you knew the right people, sometimes these deals were not exactly legal). Also because of all the trade and potential for theft it had a fairly large Red Hand authorized police force.  Tormillo was actually quite well known for its lawmen, using a combination of magically inclinded and just nasty people, breaking the law in Tormillo was not advised for anyone (which made the prospect of murdering someone well a little bit harder).

I came into Tormillo at nighttime (I had arrived earlier in the afternoon but figured it best to not arrive in daylight to try and find fake me), the weather was with me as a nasty rain storm had come in, so the streets were mostly clear and I didn't look weird coming in with my hood up.  I went to the first lighted sign promising drinks and ducked inside. The bar was a two story wooden affair, there was a piano player plinking away badly and a couple sorry looking drunks working their way through watered down liquor (The watering down was for the drunks benefit, the police force was not known for their kind arrest procedures).  When I stepped inside people looked up briefly and then went back to their depressing boring lives (look they weren't there on a mission from an undead spirit historian all right! Their lives were meaningless). As I got closer to the bartender he gave me a rather nasty glare.

"Thought I told you to never come back here." A phrase I'm all to common to hearing, but this time I hadn't recalled ever being in there.  See prior to this I was assuming the fake me looked like me in general, something I was about to find out was not entirely accurate.

"Excuse me? This is the first time I've ever been in here." Drunks started to sit up and take notice, the potential for a fight was brewing.

"Lorentino you are a terrible liar, now you get out of here before I make do on my other promise." He took a nasty looking club from under the bar.  I suddenly noticed how big the bartender was, and how nasty that club looked.

"Calm down Jeb, I'm sure Trezlan was just stopping in to see me, weren't you Trezlan." The new voice was behind me.  He was a tall thing looking guy, I didn't see any weapons on him, but noticed the badge on his chest proclaimed him the local head of the police.  I again had never been to Tormillo, but Valrya had, I had a vague sense of knowing this man, but could not place his name and face together.

"Yeah uhh good to see you." If you can't figure it out, I'm terrible with playing along with others. The chief lead me out of the bar and back into the rain.  I put my hood up back up and we walked in silence to his office a couple dirty streets over.  It was surpingly empty, I guess the rest of the group was out for the night or were told to stay away, never a good sign to come to a police station empty.

"You're early, I figured you'd take a couple days to scout it out, figured one of my boys would catch you on the outside and we could keep this quiet." To say I was really lost here was putting it mildly.

"I uhh don't understand?"

"Who do you think drew you the map?" He smiled, something in his eyes I didn't like, something dark that wasn't in the color, "Honestly I don't know what deal the Archivist has working with you and I frankly don't care, you're here and you can take care of my issue off the books and thats good enough for me." I tell you two Trezlans apparently really angers everyone! I had no idea.

"Is another me really that much of an issue?" I was sitting down in a wooden chair, the chief was sitting at his desk across from me, I felt like he was measuring me up for something, hopefully not a coffin.

"Based on the reports I've seen about you, yes two of you is one too many, probably could do better with none of you, but that's not my place to say." He leaned back in his chair and chewed his bottom lip, "It's also not that it looks like you, it could look like anyone, the problem being until you got here I didn't know if it really was you." Mimics, nasty creatures never fully killed off despite many attempts.  As one can imagine its almost impossible to kill off a creature that can look like anyone.

"A mimic? But I was under the impression this was something your people set up?" The Red Hand despite being spread all over usually maintained a uniform purpose.  It was the one thing they were good at, well that and murdering people in horrific ways, so two things.

"My people? Who do you think I am Lorentino? The Red Hand is just the government now, they won't be always, I work with them, but not for them, understand the difference." I heard this a lot prior to The Red Hand's collapse, its partially why they collapsed, theirs was an empire based on fear of a central authority that didn't really exist in actual practice. "Whoever brought that thing into my town is going to pay, but for the moment I need you to take care of it."

"How do you know I'm me and not it?"

"Because I've been watching it all day, come I'll show you." He lead me upstairs to a panoramic view, I thought at first it was probably a dumb thing for security until I noticed the glass was only one way, we could see out, but people couldn't see in. He handed me a scope and pointed across the town at a shop.  And there I was sitting there, it was off putting.  I mean I knew where I currently was, but I could not tell the difference between fake me and real me.

"Ok thats alarming, how did you even know he was a mimic?"

"Murders in town, I went to the archivist he owed me, mimics tend to feed often, prefered food is someones inner organs, you don't want to see how they eat."

"And when you went to the archivist he told you that there is a real Lorentino and he wasn't some kind of organ eating fiend."

"Yep, then he told me that if I collected information on the creature he'd send someone to take care of it, I just happened to figure it would be you based on what information I have on you."

"Oh you've got some stuff on me? That's nice." This is even worse now, three hundred years of blundering through the world has left quite a record of my failures. "So how do we kill it?"

"You don't know? I thought you were some big shot monster hunter?"

"Heh that was my aunt, I'm a blundering moron compared to her, I've always liked fire though." The chief smiled, and held out a sliver of ice from no where.

"Been partial to ice myself, guess we were destined to be opposites." We both sat in silence in the room for a time. I could hear the patter of rain on the roof above as the storm got worse. The storm was a precursor to the problems me and the chief were about to face, unfortunately for me, my storm was just beginning. Apparently killing yourself, harder than I had previously thought!

To Kill Ones Self

"You want me to kill me?" This seemed counterintuitive to helping me, in fact pretty sure being dead would effect my plans to get help.

"Not literally you moron, someone pretending to be you has to die. You see my records only have place for one Trezlan Lorentino, so its either you or him, I'd prefer you since I'm dealing with you and not him, but I guess if you were to be him then I'd have to deal with him to kill you, understand?"

"No."

"Good, well you know my price kill this fake lorentino get back to me and I'll help you, besides killing fake you will probably help you out anyway since I'm sure he's only pretending to be you to lure your friend in." If this reads insane, it didn't make anymore sense when he actually said it to me.'

"So you want me to kill this guy because he's pretending to be me and that messes up your records?"

"Precisely."

"Are you telling me you don't have two people named the same thing in your records?"

"I do have that, but not pretending to be the same person.  It's more than a name Lorentino, its that he is assuming your identity, that creates a problem, a subset of filing I don't want to have to do, so solve my problem and I'll solve yours."

"Won't it also mess up your records when I kill fake me, that being I'm alive he's dead?" I forgot to mention since the Archivist is a spirit he needs no light in his cave, so you have to bring your own or remain in the dark.  Its really a pain in the ass to keep a torch down there, especially around all that paper, I've tried to sell him on oil lanterns, but its still a no go.

"True I'll have to come up with a name for fake you, Oh great idea, find out his real name so that I can put that on the record, and we're done here." He handed me a piece of paper with a crudely drawn map and times for when I'll be able to find fake me at certain locations (it wasn't very surprising to find out the map was not drawn by the archivist, but another of his helpers guy is huge on bartering). With that he excused himself and told me that he expected the job to be done in no later than a week (with travel time, he's not a monster, well he is, but not like ok this got away from me moving on). So there I tasked with killing a fake me, and finding out fake me real indentity for a ghost record keeper.  I have to tell you, one of the more straight forward jobs I've ever worked.

Off To See the Archivist

"Were you followed?" That's how I'm greeted.  Its actually a common question with the people I normally deal with, either because they are on the run, I'm on the run, or were all just paranoid. Where I was at was deep underground far away from Zorn, it had been three weeks since I'd been freed from my minor imprisonment (compared to five years everything was minor). The underground location was far to the north almost near the coast.  I had to tap into Valrya's memories to find someone who would be able to help me (it was a scary road trying to search memories I didn't actually live) the one that was most prominent was with a collector of sorts.  Valrya had only dealt with him one time and it did not go well for her, but he did know things and so I sought him out. He called himself the "Archivist" a knowledge accumulater.  It was said he had the history of the world in his shelves and I'd believe it from all the stuff that was accumulated there. The one thing that jumped out at me about the man, he was dead.  Not undead, just flat out dead, he was a spirit (normally spirits remain because they have unresolved things they want to resolve, I got the impression from the archivist, he just remained because he didn't feel like going away upon his death), being a spirit made surviving easy, he didn't have to eat, drink, or even sleep. I still don't necessarily understand how he accumulated more knowledge.  I could understand some kind of bartering for his old knowledge, but everytime I've visited him since then he's had new info, almost instantly.  At times I wonder if he was ever alive, or if he's just some kind of god hiding out as a spirit.

"Probably you know I've never been good at hiding from people." The cave system was full of books, some with text I didn't understand at all, I still find volumes I've never been able to figure the language from, questions directed at the archivist just get me stares and mind your own business.

"Honesty, its what I've heard about you, well that and idiocy, funny how often the two go hand in hand." The archivist was in a suit of sorts, well thats what he appeared as, it looked like the kind of thing you bury someone in, but that could have just been his favorite suit anyway.

"Well thanks, I think sort of?"

"Be at ease Lorentino, if you were any threat to me I'd have had you killed long before you got here." Oh yeah thats the other thing about the archivist, he's the kind of person that flat out admits he can have you killed and means it. Another thing that he shares with everyone else in my damn life, I think I'm the least threatening person I know, and I'm a murderer!

"So can you help me?" I figure since he knew my name and what I was doing there, he probably knew why I was there.

"I can help you, but you need to help me first."

"Ok and what do you need?"

"I need you to kill someone for me, and before you say anything, I will not help you unless you do this for me." Why must everyone need something from me before I can need things from them? Its so not fair!

"Well thats, damn, who do you need killed?"

"You actually." He smiled and I could see through his head. Yeah things were about to get odd, well odder.  Honestly its really hard to even say my life isn't confusing because seeing it written down I've got some serious problems. And some serious oddness, frankly I'm amazed when I can just eat a meal by myself without like the meal becoming sentient and trying to eat me (which you know funny story did happen once). You'll have to wait till tomorrow little journal before I explain how I killed myself and still remained living.

When Freedom Isn't Free

"You're free to go Mr. Lorentino." They say this now, two weeks of
torture, and now I was free? I knew something was wrong, but you
don't look a gift freedom in the mouth (well you could but you'd be
pretty stupid). It was the beaurocrat again, the old man interrogator
apparently had something else to do.

"Why now? I mean I've still got fingernails, teeth, able to talk, clearly
there is still something that could be done to me." Ok so maybe I did
look a gift freedom in the mouth.

"You know nothing, so you're worth nothing. I'd like to apologize for
the incovenience, but I'm sure what we did to you is less than you
deserve for something else." The beaurocrat nodded to his guards
and they escorted me out (I say escorted it was more like drug out, I
wasn't really that great at standing at that point). "If you see Lady
Lorissia Lorentino, you know where we are." I was dumped outside,
it looked like I was in Zorn proper (I wasn't used to the natural
sunlight so it took me a moment, but all the spires and people
walking by keyed me in that I wasn't on the outskirts). There was a
small package near the doors, inside was my sword, money and
some food.  There also was a note "Look up the Kulinara Family",
my captors apparently were trying a new long game.  Get me
interested in the mystery and then follow me to Lorissia, it was a
smart move because I'm naturally curious, but it was a dumb move
because I get lost so easily expecting me to find anyone in a fast or
timely fashion was expecting way way too much.

I was walking down a side street when that annoying pang of guilt
hit me.  Morley was still back there, why I cared was beyond me.  He
tried to kill me all the time, he was one of Valyra's nastiest most
pliant pupils, but still being tortured isn't fair even for a dick like
Morley. I walked back and started banging on the door. No one
answered, I looked up, it appeared to be some kind of large stone
tower, I don't even know if thats where I was originally. I sat banging
for a bit, eventually I gave up and sat down next to the door.  If you
asked me why I did it, even now I can't tell you. An old man
approached me and tossed a couple coins, it was marginally
insulting.

So I abandoned Morley, I'll admit it wasn't the best effort to actually
get him back, I didn't use magic, I didn't try and kidnap someone or
cause a ruckus.  I just banged on a door and then gave up. About as
much effort as he could expect from me honestly. I didn't hang
around Zorn for very long, figured I had a better chance of spotting
pursuers/followers/anybody if I made some time elsewhere.  Zorn
wasn't the only town with records and resources, and I had a lead to
something. Though as much as I was afraid of what the Red Hand
wanted, I was doubly afraid of running into Lorissia, I still had no
idea what she was going to do to me when she caught up with me. If
she caught up with me. Yeah things were looking bad, but then
again at least I wasn't being tortured.  There's always that "Man got
hit by a bull today, but at least I wasn't tortured" its a low water
mark, but you know me I take what I can get.

Exactly as I Suspected

"So are you going to tell me you screwed me or are you going to hide behind a lie?" My patience for dealing with Morley is always very short.

"No hello? No good to see you in my hour of need Morley?" Our cell was the same type I'd been tossed into for a couple of days hard stone walls, solid iron door with no real viewing area, low ceiling.

"Going with a lie then? Or just distract me from the fact you completely hosed me!" Room was small and I still shouted because honestly yelling at Morley is my favorite thing in the world.

"I'll admit I misjudged this situation and may or may not have lead you to a point where you could get the feeling I put you at a disadvantage." Morley looked frazzled, which was different from his usual smug look of smugness.  Dare I say he was actually in a bad spot.

"Thats about as close as I'll get with you isn't it?"

"Yes lets move on, don't tell me anything, don't tell them anything."

"I don't know anything."

"Keep not knowing anything!" I'd figured they were probably listening to us in the cell (its the oldest trick in the book torture someone, put them in a cell with someone nice and see what they say).

"No you see I really don't know anything Morley, I'm just getting tortured for the fun of it at this point." Someone was having fun, it wasn't me, but someone was!

"And as soon as you tell them something we're both dead, so keep on telling them nothing." Morley as always wasn't listening to what I was saying.  A jailor arrived and removed Morley from me.  It was a blessing and a curse, I wanted to know more from Morley, but since they were listening I knew he wouldn't tell me anything else. So there I sat in my cell awaiting the next round of torture, at least I knew that I could entirely blame this on Morley, that was nice.  I hate having to think this was somehow my fault!

When I know something I'll let you Know

There is one easy way to never crack during torture; and thats to not know what they want you to know.  See its simple in its execution, they'll torture all day and you won't be able to break because you don't actually have what they want.  I'll give the Red Hand credit for being creative.  My first bit of torture was being in a room with an annoying bell ringing for hours.  It wasn't painful, it was just annoying, you couldn't sleep, you couldn't think, you only heard that damn bell always ringing. After I didn't break to that (well I did lose my temper and invent some swear words personal favorite "Mogarblywister!" it just rolls off the tongue) I was taken from my cell and stretched out for a bit (hands and feet tied on a table winch use to pull me in opposite directions, hurt so much). No questions were asked during that period just the pulling to soften me up (I actually began asking them questions like "Why are you doing this to me?").

After the stretching I was brought to another room with a table and asked by a kind old man about Lorissia and her current location. He would plead with me to tell him all I knew, after I stonewalled him I'd be dragged off to be tortured more.  And so things went for a few days. I think it was a few days, torture and lightless areas tend to blend days and hours.  Its the nature of doing things in repetition.  Like once I was sewing for what felt like hours on hours, turned out had only been an hour.

Still I was beginning to be weary when they brought me to a new cell and I had a cell mate.  I wasn't too surprised to see it was Morley, of course it would be Morley.  When my life sucks Morley is right there waiting for me.  Though this time I was quite surprised to find out how exactly we began to share a cell. Alas that will have to wait till tommorrow, I have a birthday party to attend to today (my own actually) yes yes well wishes and all that, when you're reading this it might not even be my birthday (or its just me reading it later in which case maybe it will be? I dunno) all the same Happy Birthday to me! And I'll see you tommorrow!

Caught Red Handed

"Trezlan Lorentino." Sitting in a chair no shackles.  There was a table in front of me room appeared to be stone, couldn't hear water, couldn't really hear anything so sound was pretty much locked out. The man across from me was dressed very nicely, regal robes well maintained long hair, I could smell a hint of perfume even.

"You have me at a loss, you know my name but who are you? Just another beaurocrat who thinks he can scare someone into talking by abducting them off the street?"

"Who I am is unimportant, who you are? Trezlan Lorentino: Murderer, necromancer, former prisoner, frankly I'm amazed you and I hadn't previously met already." He was pacing in front of me.  Me I just sat still in my chair and waited it out, I was unarmed (naturally they wouldn't leave me my sword) but I was still dressed as I had been when I left my room that night? I couldn't tell what day it really was.

"I see my reputation proceeds me, but I do have to say I was not involved in the attack, I ran into some idiots a few days back who used similar weaponry, but if you think I did that you've got the wrong guy." It was the only logical conclusion for why I'd been kidnapped.

"Oh we know, that attack was carried out by bandits, we haven't found them yet, but we will, their new toys while deadly can not stop us.  No Trezlan you are here because we need information you do have." Here's where I got thrown for a bit, because quite honestly I wasn't expecting to just be needed for information, it goes counter to everything thats ever happened to me.

"You could have just asked you know, 'Hey Trezlan we need to speak with you' this kind of black bag over the head drug to an undisclosed location stuff just puts me in the wrong mood to share." It really does.

"Forgive me Lorentino, but I was under the impression you wouldn't assist us if we asked."

"Us?"

"The Red Hand of course."

"Oh right secret imprisonments are used the world over, you'll forgive me if I didn't know immediately." Sad I can admit I've been taken like this MULTIPLE TIMES!

"To the point Lorentino I need you to find me Lorissia Trumane I believe you know of her."

"Nope never met her in my life can I go now." I attempted to leave and the diplomat got in the way.

"Come now Lorentino I know you know her, make this easy on yourself, tell us what you know we'll let you go and life moves on, don't tell us what you know we'll torture you, you'll eventually give it up and you'll leave a broken man or perhaps dead." The door was in front of me, behind the diplomat his eyes pleaded with me man to man.

I smiled, "Well you're welcome to try and break me, and when you're done we'll settle the tab." And with that I opened the door and into a dungeon.  I didn't fight the guards that grabbed me and drug me off, I knew what I was walking into, but for some stupid reason being loyal to a woman I hardly knew and had failed was more important than my own comfort. Perhaps it was love I see that now, figuring if I held out against them it would make up for what I did to her, or maybe I just thought they weren't really going to let me go so why give them what they wanted anyway.  All the same I made things harder on myself for either love (which is dumb) or because I'd figured I was dead (so why not just get that over with, no suffering better way).  Of course I know now I was being an idiot and should have just listened to them, but its not like I can go back into the past and tell myself that!  Yet, I'm still working on spells that might do just that!

Boom Goes the Wake Up Squad

The sound of gunfire is a lousy way to wake up (not as bad as a knife to the throat, worse than a pack animal licking your face).  It was a new sensation when I was startled awake in that small inn on the outskirts of Zorn (more commonplace now, usually a punk being an ass or two drunks settling a debate on who's dumber). I hadn't heard the fire arm I'd exploded the days before actually being used in its intended purpose, but I could figure that this was definately more of those "bang sticks" as they were called back then. People in the inn were shouting and stomping around.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in all the commotion. The bangs seemed to come in waves (because the firearms back then were single shot stuff and reload types, now bullets are self contained), the inn keeper had ducked down beneath his desk as I passed by.  I didn't have much on me at the time, just an open chested robe, pants, slippers, and my sword (I do find it funny how often I carry the sword since I'm a very poor swordsman compared to others).

Outside was utter chaos, fires were spreading, there were corpses in the streets that looked like they'd been ripped to shreads (fire arms back then used larger projectiles then today, they were basically hand held cannons).  I could see Red Hand officials running back and forth trying to determine where the shooting was coming from. And just like that it was gone. No announcement or loud anything, one second there were loud bangs, and then nothing.  I could hear anguished screams and people barking orders to put out fires, but the mysterious gunmen were no where to be found. I was about to turn around and go back to my room when a bag went over my head.

Now there's something about having a bag over ones head, its disarming.  You can't see anything, you worry about whats going to happen next, and in the end you end up doing whatever the person who bagged you wants because you really don't want the bag to remain OVER YOUR HEAD!  Also they shackled my wrists, because you really can't do the bag thing without restricting hand movements as well.  No words were spoken during this, I could only assume my captors were Red Hand because despite there being confusion you really couldn't snatch someone off the street in Red Hand territory without it being authorized by them.

I was right of course, and this was just the start of my troubles.  Like I said nothing ever goes right for me for long, what makes me really sad though? Never even got to visit Zorn proper back then, I'm sure it would have been a treat.

New Weapons, Same Dumb

*Click* It was an interesting sound to wake up to. Back then it was the first I'd ever heard of it, metal being locked back, a hammer held from its blast cap, now well I hear it all the fire arms are a lot more prevalent then they were back then.  My eyes open slowly, I hadn't connected the sound with anything dangerous and figured one of my horses had stepped on a twig or something.  Two dirty looking bandits looked back at me, one had a tube, the source of the click pointed directly at me.

"Give us all your money merchant." Why they didn't just steal my horses while I slept? Well if they were smart they wouldn't be dirty bandits.

"Or you'll wave your tube at me? What is that?"

"Its a gun you idjit, I pull the trigger you die." A concept so stupid even an idiot like these guys could figure it out, how they got the firearm to begin with? Well something sinister was a foot (naturally).

"Ahh I see so like a smaller cannnon? Interesting, one problem though."

"What's that?" Morons never ever think their plans through ever.  I mean if it were me and I saw a guy sleeping by himself with only a sword for protection, I'd give him a wide birth.  Because he's either a magic user or crazy, or a crazy magic user, you don't mess with those guys! So why shouldn't you stick a firearm near a magic user? Because you have no idea what kind of magic user they are, and for me someone who can conjure fire having something that is basically a mini bomb held in your hands is a bad bad idea (later on they developed enchantments to protect the powder from being exploded so easily, thankfully its more expensive so idiots usually don't use it). The explosion blew the guy carrying the firearm into chunks (oh do I miss this kind of rifle they were so easy to explode, even more so than modern ones so much powder just sitting there), his dirty friend looked on in horror, pissed himself and begged for his life. I calmly got up from where I was laying down (because casually killing people is cooler than exerting effort) and put my sword to his neck.

"Don't kill me, Don't kill me I swear I didn't mean anything by it." Its funny how often people change from wanting to kill you to meaning no offense when the tables turn.  I never beg for my life like this, mostly because I'm not given the chance to, and frequently did not intend on killing anyone! I mulled over not killing this dirty bandit, on the one hand I'd have to clean my sword after, on the other hand if I let him live and he killed someone else, wouldn't that also be on me? In the end cleanliness won out (and frankly my concern for others is really minimal), I sent the wouldbe bandit running and gathered my stuff up (well the stuff that wasn't covered in former bandit).

I made Zorn within a few days.  It was a sunny day and there wasn't a huge clash of people at the docks to get into the city proper.  I paid for a night at the local inn and made myself ready for the water travel (I hate going by boat, even boats over a mostly placid lake/river). I recall thinking that the bed felt nice after my days of being on the road.  Its a shame I wasn't able to get a full nights sleep in it, but alas folks that will be the next entry I'm tired and have a long day ahead of me tommorrow.  I'll write when I can!

Capitol Idea

With some money in my pocket and no other direction I decided it was best to visit the Capitol of the Red Hand lands.  Partly because I figured there was money to be had, and partly because I'd never seen it, also partly because I figured I'd be safe in a place like the capitol of a big scary mage empire (because I'm an idiot you see). Thankfully I had the spiderman interrogators memories of how to get the hell out of where I was (I'd lost the map to find the mine along the way, and I was also in a different place than I originally arived anyway). Leading my mini caravan out of the narrow gulch I found myself in was trying (mainly because I'm at best a passable rider and never had to lead a second pack animal), but after cursing most of the morning away I got myself on the way to a major road and for the trek to the Capitol.

The Capitol of the Red Hand areas (and later The Guard) was Zorn (the Red Hand weren't big on naming their cities something grand).  Zorn was a city set in a valley, surrounded by mountains. There was a large moat/lake that surrounded the city so the only way to get access was by boat (they built no bridge across, still haven't, as its part of the cities defenses to be inaccessible).  In the center of Zorn is a tower that reaches as high as the mountains that surround it (constructed by magic, no current construction technique could make a tower that tall/sustain it).  The tower is the seat of power in Zorn and where the government meets (it had no name other than The Tower of Zorn), it's also where their most powerful weapon was kept (I say was because well its no longer standing, I've heard talks of rebuilding it, but the Guard really is hesitant to employ the same techniques of construction).  The weapon was some kind of sun redirecting device with mirrors and magic.  Basically it could call down a beam of light and annihilate enemies before they even got close to the city (you could see why destroying it was important in the rebellion).

Unfortunately for me I was quite far from Zorn when I set out and the journey was long and boring.  I passed time talking to my horses (after I examined them to make sure they weren't freakish demons, I mean they had been sumoned from no where).  I don't know if they liked the sound of my voice but I didn't hear any complaints. We discussed politics even, it was great I got all my points in they chewed grass, it was the best conversation I never had with anyone else.  As I laid down for a night of rest I thought that maybe things were looking up.  Oh to be so naive again.

The Devil Is in the Details

"And you are?" Even fresh out of a nightmare, still a smart ass, whoever this thing was (I made no belief he was an actual person, because he certainly was not, I only call him he because he appeared as a male).

"The Villain Mr. Lorentino, or a Villain, certainly someone you would have aquainted yourself at one point or another, though I must commend you on your veracity to survive, I cautioned Loshan not to underestimate you and she completely did." I had gotten to a sitting posture.  I couldn't neccessarily figure out this Villain, other than he was obviously powerful, I saw no horse that brought him here, nor could I see a scuff of dirt on him, however he got around it was not by normal means.

"Well I'm glad at least someone was standing up for me."

"But of course Lorentino, it would probably please your ego to know that amongst my circle you are known, a feat that is quite the accomplishment, though no where near the level that Morley is." It did impress my ego, well aside from that Morley was more regarded, look they may have been evil, but they were powerful and I have a massive ego.

"What do you want?" I like talking with people who appear out of no where as much as the next guy (if the next guy happens to be like I dunno insane) but my legs were starting to ache.

"Straight to the point, I like that.  I want you gone, I know you want to extract revenge against the Loshans or whatever, but I can assure you they are all dead anyway, they just don't know it yet, I only ask that you be on your way and let," He smiled for a moment as if recalling a funny joke, "Nature take its course."

"And if I don't."

"I'll kill you here and be done with you, you're not too powerful to challenge one such as myself, and as amusing as your continued survival is, you will not interrupt what I'm doing." No idle threat, I had no idea what this guy was but I figured he could own up to his promise.

"So thats that, I lose, you win?" Frustrating to the extreme, I planned on leaving anyway, but I figured I'd have some money, or at least the assorted crap I'd accumulated, it was starting to look like I'd been screwed again.

"Oh don't pout," He snapped his fingers and two horses appeared, they appeared to be loaded with my stuff from the hotel room, "I wouldn't say you lose, I'm even kind enough to honor your deal with the Loshans, though she never actually intended to pay you anything which I'm sure you're aware of."

"And all I have to do is walk away."

"Your specialty right?" He smiled again, I saw almost for a half second the being behind the illusion, something that I did not want to know more about, ever.  I bit my lip and got to my feet. He waved good bye and was gone. I mounted the horse and did the same, leaving is my specialty.  I cause a problem, I do nothing to resolve it, and then I leave. I did make note to find out more about the creature, if only so next time I ran across one I'd be more informed. I didn't know where I was heading, or when I'd get there, but I was glad to have some coin and be mostly in tact (mostly, I mean I still was reeling from the nightmares, but such is life). And so I put the lovely town of Duvein behind me for a time, as I said I returned from time to time, but never for as long as when I'd hurt my ankle. My next adventure wasn't that long in coming either, they never are, its like as soon as I put my load down some place I have to pick it back up again!

Sweet Dreams Are Made of Nightmares

When you take someones soul there are complications.  Always complications, its the hardest part about unstable necromancy (and any necromancy commited during corruption is by its nature very very unstable). Most of the time you'll know when you screwed up, something will be readily apparent (feeling sick, weird after effects, one time I peed violet, though that could have been unrelated), as I crawled out of the lair of the spidermancer, I could already feel messed up.  Physically I felt great, but mentally? I had damage (more than usual), sleeping seemed like a good idea, perhaps I was just tired from being smacked around like a rag doll.  It seemed as good a plan as any (and it was horribly wrong but so are a lot of things) so when I laid down I thought maybe things would turn around and I'd be feeling better when I woke up.

The dreams came immediately, nightmarish images of spiders and doing things to spiders that no one should ever do (I didn't know people mated with spiders, I don't think "people" do, but all the same its one of the things I saw).  I saw the life of the interrogator (he wasn't born a spider person but from what I saw he was hardly a person at all), he did things behind spider mating that should never happen, during the night I saw attrocities I'll never commit to anything (and you've seen what I write down so that tells you how bad it was).

The main thing I learned from these horrendous nightmares was the deal the Loshans made to get the spider silk (still didn't see how they harvested it, or I did and I chose to forget, take your pick).  The matriarch had promised one of her daughters to the interrogator and as you can assume she backed out of the deal and that lead to people being dead (whats more bodies compared to your daughter living a life indebted to a spider monster).  Also something weird (well weirder) the Loshans didn't make their money, they just had it, the interrogator tried to find out where they got it to try and stop it, but he could not, the money was just there for all he could figure.  He was actually in the process of trying to find out where they got their money when I happened to arrive in the spider cave.  Something I immediately noted was probably not accidental.

When I awoke I was hungry, haunted, and not alone. The man standing in front of me was in a suit too finely made, with a dangerous smile, his facial features outside of the smile were hard to pin down as they seemed to shift as I looked at him (not from being awake out of a nightmarish sleep).

"Mr. Lorentino I believe you and I need to be aquainted." His voice melodious inviting, I suspected him immediately.

In the Lair of the Spidermancer

"Wake up Fool." It was a lispy voice, the kind of comically evil tone you hear in most of your super insane murderer guys (its one reason I maintain perfect diction, it tells me I'm not comically evil, yet). I opened my eyes, I was topless (thank god I still had pants) and was stuck to a wall by spider silk.  My sword was still on my belt where I left it prior to passing out.  The chamber was illuminated by a freakish blue light, the guy talking to me was cloaked in brown, he appeared human but I couldn't see his face.

"Oh goody as if this day couldn't get worse." I'll admit my first choice of words, probably not the most diplomatic.  I could see behind the person there were other spiders held at bay, as big as the one I accidentally blew up.

"Before my pets drain you of your life, I have to ask, because I'm curious, what are you doing here?" Evil people are always curious, its why they let good people live (or in my case neutral sort of bad people, look I'm trying to be nice in saying sort of bad!)

"Made a wrong turn at Lork, so if you don't mind." I could feel a lash of cold rip across my torso, so lispy was a mage too.

"Oh please do not mistake me for the fool you are, Loshan sent you did she not?" He was pacing in front of me, I had to wonder why I still had my sword attached.

"I was sent to look into this place, upon getting down here I was sealed in to be eaten, which your pets attempted to do already." Those are facts they were written all over the room behind me.

"What is she planning? ANSWER ME!" He had approached close to me, I could see under the hood a bit, mandibles, whatever this guy was, human was long since gone from it.

"For me to get eaten did you not understand what I said?" Another lash of cold, I didn't see him using hand motions, so he was using some kind of mental spell casting (you don't even need to voice magic to use it, which is why gagging magic users is useless).

"Do not think me the fool you are! She sent you here with that sword, she knows what she did to us, what she promised me and failed to deliver!" My sword? I got it from a short guy who used to be a god (flip back I totally did I'm not making that up, or I'm at least sticking with the story I made up before? Wait that sounds worse).

"I think you're ugly all day, and you live with spiders," Another lash this time he held it on my gut it was like a sharp stab of a sword deep inside.  I felt something snap inside, the last barrier controlling a beast I'd kept shackled since before Valrya.

"ENOUGH!" Fire lashed out from my hands and my restraints were gone. The spiders behind my interrogator tried to come forward, but they were washed away in a sea of red. I had lost control, few men know what the corruption does to your mind, fewer still who are still talking about it.  Its freedom for the most part, you feel free to do a lot of things you want to do, no restraint, no worry, just pure freedom.  I can see why people turn to creatures of malice and suffering. My interrogator tried to lash back with that cold power, but I wasn't feeling it, I could see it hacking away parts of my flesh, but I didn't care. I marched on him like the tides march to the shore. I drew my sword and impaled him through his lower torso, he went crazy trying to free himself, I could smell a burning smell that was not related to the spiders I'd just cooked. My right hand free I touched his forehead drawing back the hood I got to see the horror underneath.  He was more spider than man, eight eyes and clammy flesh underneath. His mouth was all spider, mandibles that almost looked to big for the mouth they came out of. He tried to scream, but my magic cut it off. The corruption taps into all or your abilities, its like the primal you, thankfully in my case I used necromancy to heal myself and thus cleansed myself of the corruption (painfully of course, which I did feel every damn bit of it, the corruption faded just enough for me to get that full experience). Also because I wasn't in my right mind I didn't prepare for the soul rip part and got the full experience of my interogator (can you take a spider persons memories? Yes you can and its as awful as you would think).

I was hurting, not physically mind you, that part was all fixed up, but mentally I was completely ravaged.  The only saving grace of the memory experience was knowing a way out of the caves.  I managed to make it out in a daze, once free of the caves I made sure to unleash just enough fire to bury the route I'd taken to get out (I knew from the memories there were more spiders from within, and without the the way out they'd starve to death). My task accomplished (and sadly my robes inside lost in my haste), I laid down for a nap. Which turned out to be a bad idea, a very awful bad idea.  And I'll regale you of it tomorrow!