The pair of girls blink up at the chuckling Gnoll as he sets the bottle down. “Anyway, Ah came here wi’ a purpose, but this li’l escapade has gi’en me fresh hope! Now… Why don’t ye try this one on fer size?”
He gestures with a thumb the size of a small cudgel at the rge wooden crate behind him. Dorothea tilts her head.
“How am I supposed to ‘try on’ a box??”
Ulged rolls his eyes and drags the crate in, setting it by the door as he shuts it.
“No’ the box, midy, the CONTENTS. Here!”
He rears back, wheels round with his forehead starting to glow, and brings it down with a short grunt. “Hmf!”
The box ceases to have more than one dimension, never mind piece of wood joined to another, as his Divine Headbutt explodes the crate instantly.
Morrigan whoops with glee at the brief flurry of destruction, cpping her hands, as Dorothea instinctively ducks a small chunk of fragmented timber that passes harmlessly through the top of her head.
Inside… Is a figure, wearing an elegant dress befitting any young high-society girl. It resembles a sculpture, but there’s something unusual about it. With its eyes closed, it looks almost asleep, like it could wake up at any moment. The height, the face, the hair, every single minute detail… is a 1:1 replica… of Dorothea Trevalli, Duchess of Vassim.
The tweenaged ghost stares, as Morrigan examines the figurine with great interest. Ulged lifts the arm, showing that it bends, the wrist works just like a normal human’s, the fingers curl and flex. He shows the pair the joints.
“Ah wis workin’ on this li’l project fer a fair auld while, tinkerin’ wi’ it when Ah had the time. Ah finished it this mornin’, an, thought Ah cuild bring it by fer yeh, t’see if ye might be able to possess it. Since yeh proved yeh can, thanks tae Mor, Ah want ye t’ gie it a shot wi’ the wee doll!”
Dorothea steps closer, eyes wide. “She… Looks just like me…. But I didn’t know anyone could make something so… Exact. How did you do it?”
Ulged grins. “There were a few sparse records o’ yehr kin. Yehr mam had a portrait o’ hersel’ in the Grand College thanks tae a donation she made, and Ah used that as the basis fer yehr measurements. Then, yer wee friends in th’ Dorothea Fan Club sent me magic images o’ yeh so’s Ah cuild really get yer height and proportions correct. Now… go ahead, midy. Try yer new body on! Gie it a whirl!”
Dorothea takes a purposeless breath, before unching herself straight at the figure, Morrigan leaping out of the way to avoid getting re-possessed. With another weird, wibbling shift, Dorothea finds herself staring back the way she’d come, with one small exception. Her eyelids are closed.
Slowly, she opens them, and Morrigan gasps, “She’s awake! Or… Well, I dunno what to call it, but she IS!”
Ulged leans down. “Duchess? Lady Dorothea, can ye hear me?”
Dorothea takes a breath, feeling what feels like her lungs infting, then looks down. Her chest is rising and falling, as air rushes into and out of her mouth. She tries to breathe through her nose, with the same result. Then she sticks her tongue out. Morrigan sniggers softly, and sticks her own out in kind.
Ulged snaps his furry fingers, and Dorothea whirls. He grins. “Aye, yeh c’n hear me!”
He pulls out a clipboard. “Now, Ah’ve got some tests tae run, if’n yeh’d be so kind? First, bance on yehr left leg…”
An hour ter, Dorothea flops into a chair, feeling actually exhausted. Ulged had thrown more holy water over her, which had had absolutely no effect. He’d made her run as fast as she could up and down the stairs, had her perform various simple physical exercises, and then made her hold her breath, to which her face had begun turning red.
Satisfied, the Gnoll lowers himself into a chair opposite her, which creaked armingly under his bulk. He looks very pleased with himself. “That went exceptionally weel, ye ken? Ah’ll be able tae make improvements tae yer body whenever yeh like, thanks to the data on yehr capabilities!”
Dorothea gasps, “You mean… I can… get older if I get upgraded…?”
Ulged grins. “Mebbe. Ah’ll have tae crunch th’ numbers, but Ah dinnae see why not.”
Dorothea’s eyes light up, before she stands, Ulged following her with his eyes, before the now-corporeal Duchess breathes, “Oh, sod the blooming chair!”
Launching herself across the room, she fttens Ulged, as well as the elegant seat, as she hugs him like a sentient and highly-touch-starved torpedo.
Morrigan sticks her head through the doorway, holding a tray of goblets, each filled with water. “Hey, no fair, Mr. Ulged! I wanna hug her, too!” She pouts, as Dorothea releases the cackling Gnoll. Eyes narrowed pyfully, the Duchess advances on her flying friend, arms coming up in grabbing position. With just enough time to set the tray on a small side-table, Mor braces herself. “My turn!”
WOMPF!
The Skyborne sails back through the door, wrapped in Dorothea’s heartfelt embrace. Picking herself up, howling with delighted mirth, Morrigan hugs the form of the no-longer-spectral girl. “Ohhh, I’ve wanted to hug you since we met! This is awesome!”
Then, Dorothea’s eyes widen. “Hold on… I want to check something. I’ve been bound to this manor since I died here. But maybe…”
With a flurry of movements, she bolts for the door, colliding with it with a loud thump, before wrenching it open and haring off down the gravel drive, skirts billowing as she picks up the front so she can run faster.
By the time Morrigan’s caught up, wings fpping, Dorothea is standing before the gates, looking out into the street. A few passers-by smile and greet her, having grown fond of the small ghost, not yet having realised that the greatest day of her death is happening to her right now. With slow, deliberate steps, Dorothea Trevalli approaches the boundary line of her estate, toeing the invisible periphery, before….
Morrigan’s battle-cry of pure, delighted howling shatters the peace, as Dorothea walks through the gates and out into the city at rge, as if there was nothing to stop her. She pauses, twirling, as people stare and gasp in surprise, before she curtseys to them.
“Thank you, Ulged! This is the best day ever!” she cries, the telltale cackle of a very happy Gnoll filling the air from the direction of the mansion….
After spending an hour just walking through the streets, Dorothea stops. “Hold on… I’ve had a wonderful idea! Ms. Morrigan, you’re an adventurer, yes? Could you… teach me how to be an adventurer too?”
Mor grins. “First, we need to find out what type of equipment you’re most suited for. I’m guessing you don’t know how to use magic?”
Dorothea shakes her head. “No, I wasn’t born with the gift, and after I died, even if I could cast spells, I would have lost the ability to do so. My mother loved hunting, though, and would sometimes show me how to use her special crossbow, before I got too sick and couldn’t be outside anymore…”
Morrigan’s eyes shine. “You wanna go and try using a crossbow again? Mr. Ulged makes weapons, I’m sure he’d be more than happy to let you have a look at his stock!”
Dorothea nods frantically, her long hair swishing. “Please take me to his shop, Ms. Morrigan?!”
Mor holds up a finger. “On one condition. Stop calling me ‘Ms. Morrigan’. Call me Mor, like everyone I care about does!”
Dorothea feels a faint warmth pass over her face, and nods, a little shyly. “Okay… Mor.”
The Skyborne giggles, “Awwww, you’re blushing! Wow, Mr. Ulged really meant it when he said your new body was realistic! You breathe, you can blush, it’s incredible!”
With Mor’s pyful teasing and Dorothea’s flustered protests ringing through the air, the two of them make it to Bloodbath & Beyond in record time, where Mor pleads with Ulged to allow them to peruse his stock of ranged weapons. From blocky, powerful heavy crossbows, to the utterly enormous hand-ballistae, to the sleek sniper crossbows, to the repeating, the two girls examine all of them intently. Then, Dorothea spots a small, darkwood box. Opening it, she gasps in awe. Nestled within are a pair of matched hand-crossbows, carved from ebony and chased with silver ornamentation, a pair of matching quivers filled with bolts. She reaches out and picks one of the handbows up, feeling the weight, then tugs the string into pce.
“Oh, these are beautiful… may I test it, please?”
The cheerfully-grinning Gnoll nods. “Bale o’ hay against the wall there. Go ahead an’ tek yer shot, Duchess.”
Slipping a quarrel into the recessed groove, Dorothea whirls, raising the weapon with her arm out.
Twang!
The string snaps forward with a squeeze of the lever, the bolt rocketing across the empty store and burying itself deep in the hay-bale, right where a human would have their heart. With eyes shining, Dorothea looks up at the hairy bcksmith.
“I’ll take them! And a set of light armour, too, please! You must forward the bill to the Trevalli estate, and I will compensate you in full as soon as I go… and… Get the money. Ghosts don’t really have need of anything, so my funds are usually an afterthought, you see…”
Ulged grins. “Nae trouble. Ah’ll drop by t’ collect ter, but as for a set of armour, Ah’d recommend drakehide. Light, but as sturdy as a mid-tier set o’ full-pte. Wi’ the weapons, it’ll run you a total of… let’s call it a nice round thousand gold.”
Dorothea curtseys, twirling her new weapon with dexterity, delighting in how responsive her new body is. It’s almost like she’d never died to begin with, with no trace of the racking coughs, the physical weakness and frailty, or the crippling shortness of breath she’d had in her short life. She beams at her benefactor.
“You may come by at your leisure! I will most certainly pay you in full, as soon as you wish! My home is open to you, good sir!”
With armour and weapons now acquired, Dorothea turns to her new mentor.
“Now what?”
Morrigan grins. “Well, I’ve been told by my teacher that the best way to learn is by doing. So, get that armour on and let’s go and fight something!”
“Okay!”
AEGIS ONLINE, KETTRIN’S P.O.V
“-And then, just when I thought we were finished, BAM! ANOTHER wave of goblins!” Asteria babbles, making me smile as she expounds on the DnD session we’d just wrapped up. I giggle.
“I know, love. I was there, after all! But I like seeing you getting all excited about things… Hey, hold up. What’s with all the crazy people running around and kicking doors in?!”
Sure enough, there are lots of pyers causing havoc. I grab one by the arm as he sprints past. He squirms for a moment, before I shout, “What’s happening?! Some kind of event or something???”
He pants, “Disaster! Camity! Betrayal! The Duchess…She’s vanished! No-one’s seen her in hours!”
I freeze, as the pyer struggles in my grip. Asteria gasps, “How could she just up and disappear! She’s bound to the mansion!”
The pyer, one of the Dorothea Fan Club guild, judging by the initialled emblem on his breastpte, stammers, “That’s what we’re trying to piece together! All our conclusions are dire…”
I snap out of it. “You think someone might have… CAUSED Dorothea to go missing? Oh… Oh no…”
I go pale. The pyer grabs my pauldrons and shakes me. “What is it?! If you have any information, PLEASE share it with me!”
I swallow. “If Dorothea can’t leave the house or the grounds… And she’s not there… Maybe someone exorcized her…”
The D.F.C member swears bloody vengeance up and down at the implications of someone who might mean harm to the adorable ghost being involved with, or responsible, for her disappearance, as I yank open my friends-list and start frantically messaging anyone I can think of.
Marika and Sionnach haven’t heard anything, nor have Graus, Bassan, or Ferrule. Conn and Lobo, the Vulpa twins, are offline. Genevieve isn’t responding, and I start to freak out. Tugging open my Guild Charter, I spot Mor’s name, with a location on it not far from Vassim.
“Hold on… We left her in Mortis City with the Devil Hunter! What’s she doing over here?!”
I point it out for Asteria. My wife-to-be nods, frowning. “We should check on her. I have a bad feeling that she’s in danger!”
Asteria and I take off, my wings snapping as Astie’s Faeflight spell kicks in, her dragonfly-like glowing wings humming and leaving trails of sparkles behind her as we power off, full-speed, to find our favourite guild-member. I know, we’re not supposed to have favourites, but she’s just too precious!
The distance Morrigan’s covered from Vassim is rather impressive, and I find myself getting as caught up in doom-spiralling as my fiancée. There are a few pyers around, but not enough to indicate that the chaos inside the city has spread outwards yet. Most of them are low-level, too. Mor wouldn’t lose to scrubs like these, not with her skills. But still, the fact that she’s all the way over here, so far from where we left her, is concerning… I can feel my nerves building.
As we fly, I keep checking the Guild Charter, using it to keep an eye on Morrigan. My heart leaps into my mouth when I spot her HP take a sudden dip! Then, it fills back up a few moments ter. Something REALLY weird is going on…
The sound of fighting from below catches Astie’s attention, and she points, before diving like a hawk. My own wings boom in kind as I follow, streaking through the sky in a blur of bck armour and white feathers, fshes of light coming from up ahead.
Bursting through the treetops, my eyes alight on a pair of figures, one of whom I recognize from her red wings and curved sword. She’s currently locked in combat with a rge, musclebound troll of some description, her bde flickering neatly through the air as she ys a fresh cut along the monster’s forearm.
“Morrigan!”
The stranger with her shouts, and my guildmember vaults back as they raise a pair of sleek, elegant miniature crossbows, two silvery barbs glinting as the shooter reloads with breathless enthusiasm, their movements a little clumsy.
“Nice shot, Dor!” Morrigan calls, as the bolts impact with meaty thumps, joining half-a-dozen matching quarrels sticking out of the ogre’s flesh. None of the shots appear to be more than inconveniences to the massive beast, though. It roars and swings its club, a huge, knotted tree-branch, wildly, Morrigan’s bde always pced just-so in order to redirect or deflect the forceful strikes.
I call to my wife-to-be, “Let’s give them a hand, darling!” before beating my wings faster, lunging with my swordspear as the troll raises its club in order to smash the annoying bugs stinging at it.
“Sky Hammer!”
I blur, my greatshield intercepting the blow and causing the huge monster to stagger back from the sheer force of collision, its single eye rolling as it tries to process what just happened. Morrigan’s gasped “Guildmaster?!” almost distracts me as a huge foot stomps down towards me.
I jab at the ankle as Mor’s bde whistles through the cool air. I shout, “Fight first, talk ter! You and your friend can take a breather. Astie!”
“Right!”
A bolt of blue fme sms down, scorching flesh and bone, as the behemoth brute howls in furious pain, swatting at the sapph-fire enshrouding its head. I crouch, bracing my back foot, and lunge upwards, my swordspear-point taking the creature full in the chest and bursting out through its back in a weltering spray of dark, foul-smelling ichor. The creature slumps, and I swivel my position, using the haft of my weapon to send the creature onto its side, allowing me to pull my Stormbringer out of its chest.
Morrigan looks a little sheepish. “Uhhh… Hi, Guildmaster, Vice-Captain…”
We stare at her. “Mor, how did you GET here? Why are you fighting a monster?? And who’s this suspicious individual?”
Morrigan huffs, “I was bored and you just left me in a strange city with the ship! I used that funny magic stone that moves you from pce to pce I found in Vice-Captain Asteria’s cabin, and I wanted to help Dor go on an adventure!”
I blink. “Dor? Is that your name-”
I turn to the stranger, then my eyes widen. From neck to toe, the stranger is cd in a gorgeous suit of dark blue hide armour, her handbows in hand. Her face is…
I scream. “Dorothea?! What the actual hell is HAPPENING right now?!”
