The salty air gusted in the sails. Small waves lapped about her ship. Myra sat against the mast of her ship and sighed quietly, almost contentedly. She'd been at sea for quite some time. How long? She could only guess. She couldn't remember. The days and nights bled together. Nightmares, waking... again, it was becoming all the same. At least out here at sea, they couldn't get to her. They didn't know where she was. Any of them. Only the nightmares. And they couldn't hurt her, right?She opened the hold to grab her next meal. The hold was empty. She frowned. Ah well, time for a visit to land. With a little cajoling, she convinced the tillerman to give her back her means of magical travel. She had given them to him, on the off chance that she might feel 'compelled' to do something she shouldn't. She didn't want to think of that right now. So off she went to the Silver Arrow. Barth always had something good to eat.
Slipping inside, past the group returning from the evening's Fara, she sat down in the far corner, munching on her dinner. A feeling of unease settled over her. Something was not right. She sighed. Not again, she thought. But she didn't notice anything out of place. Then Euol walked in. Myra had become particularly nervous around any drow lately. Her nightmares had gotten worse. And they wore on her. But she shook it off.
There was a commotion outside. Mentions were made of a 'creepy fellow' and a 'dead guy'. Myra paled. She knew who it must be, and made her way outside, just in time to see Khellenduras disappear into the ether. He had apparently touched Euol and poisoned her body. The poison seemed recurrent. In the flurry of accusations and confusion, Euol had stumbled behind the Arrow. Myra and others hurried after her. Myra came around the back of the building just in time to see Euol's lifeless body fall to the ground, and hear Khellenduras begin to laugh.
Before the very eyes of all present, Khellenduras began regenerating. Strands of tendons, strips of muscle... all began to form across the lich lord's decaying skeletal form. Myra's eyes fixed on the gruesome sight, unable to look away. As the process slowed, the lich turned to look at her. "Thank you" he said, and Myra suddenly knew her suspicions were right.
And when the lich departed, still lacking enough lifeforce to regenerate his entire form, Strongbow looked to Myra. She did not want to report to the Council. What good had it done her the last time, she stubbornly questioned the priest. And yet, the elven way resounded in her mind. Would it do more harm to leave them in the dark, or to shed light on the evening's happenings?Reluctantly she agreed.Magma and Strongbow buried Euol's remains at the base of the foundation of the Temple.
And she made her way to the Arrow to write her letter. She wrote for a while, and told a brief history of Baal'morda to Ainuyr. He had been fortunate enough to have missed those events. She detailed her role in the entire diabolical scheme, layed out by Mord'sythe, and how exactly it tied to what had happened just behind the Arrow. She wasn't proud of her roles in these events, but she still held that she was doing what she thought would in the end be the 'right' thing.
Suddenly there was a presence in her mind. She knew it. He had violated her mind twice before. Khellenduras. He was at her home. Waiting...
Hurriedly, she finished her tale and note and stuffed it in her pocket, hastily excusing herself - leaving a baffled Ainuyr, and a concerned Sinjun to sit in the Arrow.
She proceeded into her home carefully, and made her way to the roof, working her way down. When she reached the first floor again (she was certain no one was there on her way up), she froze in place. There he stood, perusing her shelves. He turned to face her and spoke from behind his headdress.
You impress me Sunveil...
She cringed a bit at the use of her last name, but covered the cringe by relaxing slightly. Half limping, he made his way across the floor toward her, stopping just short of being in front of her. He slowly removed his headdress, exposing his gruesome visage. It was far worse than his decaying form had ever been. Myra swallowed back against the wave of nausea that hit her.
It isss far from complete, however.
He slipped the goat skull headdress back on. Myra nodded, "....it is..."
He turned from her, moving back towards the shelves, glancing over the books again, chuckling hoarsely.
You ssspoke more when i was fading. What iss the matter?
He turned to face her.
"I am supposed to make a report to the Council on the evening's happenings."
He stared blankly at her, and so she continued,
"And it is agreed among most of them whose responsibility you are, so to speak."
You know nothing
He strode toward her, almost angrily.
Defiantly, Myra stood her ground until he got close to her. "They know I had the book, which had the information..." She finally leaned back against the wall at his nearness.
He simply stood there in thought for a few long moments.
Do as i say. Addressss the Council. Tell them you were forced to aid me. I held your life above you. I took the tome from you forcibly. You know nothing beyond that. After the meeting, tell me what transsp...
A cough forced him to stop and redouble his efforts to speak clearly.
You will tell me what transssspired. Do what I ask, and I will reward you, chylde.
Myra cast her eyes downward, and quietly said, as he disappeared into the ether once more, "I'll do what you ask."
Moving to her shelves, she began looking for any information she could find on 'phylacteries'. Giving up, knowing her library held nothing, she instead returned to the Arrow, to pick up a few more days' food and let Sinjun and Ainuyr know she was alright. She finished her letter to the Council, marking through what she had written, while assuring Sinjun she would be well at sea, and secure, she said her goodnights, and returned, magically to her boat. From there, she sent a pigeon to deliver her missive to the Council in the Great Hall.
"Tillerman, set a course to Moonglow."
"Aye, aye sir."
'Sir', she muttered as the boat got underway.