Session 8 : All is well
All is well.
***
“I’m confused, why can’t Watch and I enter the church? You say it stops bad people from entering, but we’re good people! Is it because we killed this Bluto person? You know it was an accident right and he was a BAAAD person. Killing a bad person is good, right? Please please please explain this to Father Lucian so he let us in! I don’t want to sleep in the inn by myself!” Destiny pleaded.
Serenity shook her head. This was the third time she'd tried to explain things to Destiny.
“Hoskgak, you explain it. St Andralos is your idol, after all.”
“Hoskgak try.” He looked at Destiny. “Andralos is hero, greatest hero in world! He gone four hundred years ago. No one knows where. Maybe he came here, first as friend of this Devil, but then he fought against Devil to protect people. When he died, his bones placed in church. Chaman says bones protect grounds of church from evil things, like your Imp and your tail. You can enter, but not tail.”
“My tail is NOT EVIL! It is blessed by my Angel, if anything it is celestial!”
“Chaman says it same thing.” Hoskgak shrugged.
“So, what should we do today?” Serenity cut in, “I can’t go anywhere further than half a day away until we've figured out how to handle these hags… or I’ll probably die from their curse.”
“Oh, I nearly forgot. Someone came this morning to invite us to meet the Baron,” Destiny said.
“The Baron? As in the Burgomaster of this town?” Ireena asked.
“Yes, that’s him.”
Serenity rolled her eyes. “And you didn’t think to tell us earlier?”
“I told you, I forgot.”
Serenity looked about to say something, but then she sighed and walked away.
***
All appears well in the mansion of Baron Vargas Vallakovich, Burgomaster of the town of Vallaki. He holds weekly festivals where attendance is mandatory, or you’ll be punished. Be joyful or you’ll be punished. Criticise the Baron and you’ll be punished. All will be well.
***
Destiny did not trust this Baron. As soon as they entered the mansion, she asked Watch to scout the house. The imp discovered a poor man beaten and locked in a dark room just for making a joke about the Baron at the last festival. And it seemed the baron’s son was living up in the attic with lots of cats, with the words “All is NOT well” written on his room door. What’s more, he appeared to be some kind of wizard who could animate dead cats. Strange.
The Baron asked them to spy on this Lady Wachter. Why? Simply because he suspected her to be saying bad things about the Baron. And of kidnapping two of his servants.
No, Destiny did not trust this Baron one bit. They had to find a way to warn this Lady Wachter. But how...
***
“My dear ladies, unfortunately one does not just knock on Lady Wachter’s door to speak to her. She is of the noble houses and one must be invited for an audience. The normal way for adventurers such as yourself to be invited is if you perform some notable deeds, feats of great courage, you know, that sort of stuff.”
The person talking was Vassili, the accountant they saved from wolves on the way here to Vallaki. Destiny liked this human, mostly his smooth silky blonde hair. The way he brushed his hair as he talked was just… mesmerising. Since the hair was attached to the person, Destiny decided to extend the attraction to the person as well. Besides, the face was also quite pleasant to look at, for a human.
“This is important though. The reason we want to speak to Lady…” Destiny began.
“I think it’s best not to trouble Vassili more than we have already.” Serenity said, giving Destiny the stop-talking-now-look.
Destiny sighed, but stopped talking. Serenity was so suspicious of everyone. How could someone with such nice hair and such polite manners be a bad person?
“More drinks, ladies?” Vassili asked with a bright smile.
All was well, in the town of Vallaki.
***
Morning. Destiny slept alone at the inn while the others slept at the church. Damn those silly bones.
Breakfast. The others joined eventually.
“So Vassili asked to see you? At the church? And he wanted help to locate a ledger from this Romanov person who left town recently?” Destiny asked Ireena.
“Yes” Ireena.
“Ha, Vassili is a good person! I knew it! You were wrong to be so suspicious of him, Serenity!” Destiny said.
“Because he wants to recover a ledger from someone? If anything this makes him more suspicious.” Serenity countered.
“Ah, but he visited the church and Hoskgak said that only good people can enter the church. So he must be good!”
“I don’t think it’s as simple as that. Anyway, let’s head off to find this Romanov, may be he can tell us more about this Vassili person..."
But as soon the group headed west towards the city gates, Yeska, the altar boy from the church, ran towards them.
“Serenity, Ireena, I’m glad I found you! Please come at once to the church, Father Lucian says he must speak with you immediately.”
***
Destiny was waiting outside the church while the others spoke with Father Lucian.
“Watch, do you think killing Bluto made us evil? It was an accident, right?”
“Was it now? He was completely unarmed, half drunk and you made me attack him. I only have one way to do that, with my poisoned tail. It was a rather predictable outcome.”
“Yes, but only because I wanted to make sure he didn’t escape!”
“Well, it worked.” Watch said with a devious grin.
Destiny gave Watch a stern look. “Look, I don’t take pleasure in killing people, you might, but I don’t. I’m a GOOD person! I bet it was just a mistake last time. Even saints can get it wrong sometimes you know."
Destiny suddenly had an idea.
She took a deep breath, walked to the gates of the church and... stepped through.
It worked!!! It worked!!! She was a GOOD person!
At that very moment, inside the church, Father Lucian looked up at Serenity and said,
“The bones... they are gone. Vallaki no longer has the protection of St. Andral.”
All is not well, in the town of Vallaki.
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