The Carnival at Moonbright

Watching Leaf and Archmage Orin leave with the body of Sir Ulric, Myla looked over to her sister. Through their telepathic bond, they talked while walking out of the tent.

Lyla, that symbol…

What about it?

That symbol was in my visions. The night I left to get you, the people who attacked the monastery... They had that symbol on their armor.

Speaking out, away from the group, Lyla stopped walking and looked at her sister.

“Do you mean that the Dark Order is the ones that attacked the monastery?”

“Yes.”

The two stood silently for a moment, thinking about how this new connection related to their past events.

“I think we should follow them and see what information they gain,” Myla said.

“Honestly, I agree. If this Ulric returned from the dead once already, I don’t know how comfortable I feel walking away yet.” Lyla replied, a look of worry in her eyes.

The sisters walked away from the Arcana Emporium and into the Town of Moonbright. While not knowing the layout perfectly of the town, Myla had seen many maps of the continent during her time in guild training, as well as detailed maps of the towns and cities. She knew where the Archmage’s Tower would be. Keeping out of the main streets, they walked through alleys, past the Honey Barrow district, and along Haron’s Castle walls. Though the town was quiet, there was electricity in the air, a sudden stillness as if lightning could strike at any moment from the cloudless night sky.

Hidden in the shadows, the sisters made it to the front door of the Archmage’s Tower. Myla pulled a small lockpick kit from her belt and kneeled to inspect the lock while Lyla watched. Before getting a chance to decide on how best to get inside, the door started making strange ticking sounds before swinging inward. Myla and Lyla saw a spectral hand hovering about four feet into the air, moving its index finger as if to say, “Follow me.”

Myla put her kit back on her belt and stood up, and the two walked inside the dark room. As the door closed behind them, torches along the round walls sprang into life, blinding them in light until their eyes could adjust. As the hand moved across the room and floated slowly up the staircase, Myla and Lyla looked around the room while following. Bookshelves and a table that sat eight people were on the left. A few chairs of different sizes sat on the right wall next to a fireplace. Above the mantle, an enormous tapestry of brilliant colors hung on the wall. The fabric depicted humanoid shadows holding gems of different colors in the air while a large, multi-headed creature roared back at them. Above the humanoid figures, a large circular pattern with a multitude of colors floated in the sky. Lightning flashed in the background of the scene.

The sisters followed the hand up the staircase with closed doors, making it to the fourth floor. They could see firelight dancing on the staircase walls as they made their way through the threshold and into the room.

“Ah, the twins. You need not break into my home when knocking would suffice.” Orin stated. “It’s okay. I am sure I know why you are here. Please, sit.”

Orin gestured to a small table to his left, and the sisters sat down. The room itself had desks and bookshelves lining the walls. In the middle of the room lay Ulric’s body. Leaf and Orin were attempting to remove parts of the armor, setting anything they found on a table beside them.

Over the next few hours, Orin and Leaf poked, prodded, and cut Ulric’s body open, taking samples, gesticulating between themselves at random things they had found. Lyla and Myla sat quietly, waiting.

“It seems that there are a few oddities to this body,” Orin said, turning towards the sisters.

“Yes, for one, the armor on this body has been burned into his skin, making it impossible to take off without causing damage. Secondly, there seem to be no arcane attributes to this person. While it is clear that something had gripped into it and controlled the body to some degree, there seems to be no trace of it anymore.”

Leaf walked over to the sisters, set a small journal on the table, and began taking notes of their findings.

“Lyla, Myla, it seems there is nothing special about this man at all except that he was alive at one time and was involved in many nefarious deeds. Lyla and I killed him. He came back to life in some form, then was killed again. Though his heart was taken out the first time, I think losing his head from the fairy’s sword would stop him from coming back again.”

“It is getting late,” Orin said, walking over to the table as well. “You are more than welcome to rest here, or you can return to your people tonight. Either way, we should conclude the work for now, and we can do more tomorrow when the sun is up. Leaf, as I stated earlier, I would like you to go to the Athenaeum and do some research on Shades. I don’t know if it will help us, but knowing that one was connected to this body… I have nothing to go off of except for this one lead.”

“Yes, sir,” Leaf answered back, yawning loudly and rubbing at his face.

They, along with the inhabitants of the Arcana Emporium, finally found enough peace in the night for sleep.