Chapter 18

Picking Sides

Far away from the Wachter's basement, Fabian and Rictavio finished setting up their puppet show in the city square to a gathering crowd of children. Rictavio asked Fabian to pick the morning's story, and offered a great deal of human tales for Fabian to choose from, surprisingly including her childhood favorite. The two performed the show without a hitch, Fabian getting into the drama and Rictavio slipping approving smiles her way from time to time. After the show the two talked some more about Fabian's childhood among other things, when Fabian pressed for more information about the Dominionists, questions like when Rictavio got to the city and wether or not he'd heard of the disappearing citizens. Rictavio's demeaner changed but he refused to answer, only asking that she and her friends meet him at the Inn that evening. Then a loud crack echoed through the square, ending their conversation. Most seemed curious but not knowing the origin returned to their business while Fabian knew exactly what made such a sound. She found it troubling that Eliza would fire her gun not an hour into their disguised recon of the Wachter house. She thanked the inquisitive Rictavio and ran to help. At that same moment the shot was heard in the Blue Water Inn where Pieron and Dyson were sharing a cup of tea. When they rose to run for the house as well, Danika called out in a similarly nosy way to Rictavio. They ignored her and crashed into the street, finding Fabian and moving as swift as possible for the house.

Fiona paled at the sound of Izek and his guards opening the back door and making their way into the house above them. She held up a hand which froze her undead in place, and curled it into a single finger pressed to her lips. Don't say a word she told the party. Everyone in that basement stood paralyzed for a moment as poor Majestro's blood seeped into the dirt. Erros looked about to his companions as they all silently asked each other if they were really going to listen to Fiona's command. The answer was no and Erros gave out an ear piercing shriek of Izek's name. With a curse under her breath Fiona called her skeletons back into action and the battle commenced. Eliza was the first to get surrounded as three skeletons clawed their way up the landing, slashing at her back and at her feet. She wriggled out of their grasp and got off a few shots, crippling one of them. Athrin's muscles ripped tore and turned black as he altered into his panther form roar echoing off the stone walls, immediately taking an arrow in the shoulder. Two skeletons pushed in to defend Fiona and took swipes at Erros, winding and drawing blood. He saw his opportunity shrinking and took it, lunging between his attackers and piercing Fiona beneath her ribs. She sucked air and red soaked her corset, crying as Erros withdrew the blade. He went for a finishing strike but she staggered away. A second arrow flew, catching Athrin in the arm. The skeletons cut Erros off from the kill, and Fiona lifted her hand and pointed. Run she told Erros and suddenly it was too much, the basement, the fighting, he needed to get out, he couldn't die down here. Fabian Dyson and Pieron reached the front door and together with Izek began searching the first floor for an entrance to the battle they all heard below. Eliza gripped the rails of the stairs and lifted her legs above a sweeping attack as Athrin took another arrow. Bellowing like a beast he dug his claws deep into his chest, the dark blood drawing from his fur and into his claws like a siphon as they began crackling with a purple eldritch energy. His great mits palmed a skeleton's skull shattering into silt. Erros used the distraction to slip past unharmed and run to the top of the stairs where he began banging on the closed door for help. Athrin took another arrow. He thrashed wildly, slamming another skeleton against the wall, as Fiona backed silently into the corner to duck for cover behind a stone slab. She grimaced and pointed a hand at Athrin before forming a fist. Holding it tight Athrin slowed and stopped altogether as if he'd been taxidermized in a menacing pose for some exotic hunter's trophy room. Eliza leveled her wrist against her forearm and steadied her breathing, her sharp eye pinning Fiona in her iron sights. She fired. Fiona dropped. The spell faded and Athrin regained himself, immediately taking another arrow. Pieron and Fabian discovered the closet wall where Erros banged for help and activated the switch, nearly being trampled as Erros pushed through and out of the house. Athrin took another arrow. Eliza saw the light of the opened door out the side of her eye and with Athrin's aid fought off the skeletons to the top of the stairs and escaped. Fabian slammed the door behind her, stopping the skeletons for now.

Izek demanded they explain themselves, but the party knew they had moments before the thin plaster door was destroyed and the hoard would flood out. They barred several rooms in the house and opened the back door wide in an attempt to funnel the mindless undead outside, then set up an ambush around the door. Dyson activated his turret Eliza reloaded her gun, Athrin plucked out his arrows, and the rest waited weapons in hand. With a crash they burst forth from the house into bullets and silvered steel, Dyson's turret splattering a few against the wall. The tide turned when several outflanked the party from the forgotten side entrance and the group took several blows, one catching Dyson unaware and nearly taking off his head before Fabian's shield could interject. With two deftly quick thrusts Izek dropped as many skeletons and for a moment the group could agree that they'd chosen the right side of that man, the fury of battle burning in his dark brown eyes. As the final skeleton crumbled into a heap of motionless splinters of bone the group took a breath, relaxed and checked their wounds, and a dreadful thought entered Erros's mind and churned his stomach into a knot. He ran, wordless, back into the depths of the basement to the corner of the room where Fiona had fallen into a splatter of her own blood. It was empty, she wasn't there. The blood prints formed a trail out the side entrance and into the street. Erros tracked it to the  bushes where Eliza and Athrin had been moments ago and found only her blood soaked shoes. The blood trail stopped there as if she'd found a way to halt the bleeding, and while someone had seen her walk further into the city, without the trail Erros stood in the street alone. They'd lost her.

Back at the house Fabian and Eliza addressed Izek's questions directly and explained in truth their part in the afternoon's events. Izek seemed to be on their side and raised no charges but didn't match their urgency to find Fiona, claiming that there was no where in the city where she could hide for long. In fact Izek had no desire to act in any way before first reporting to the Baron and receiving his command, but Fabian's persuasiveness lead to his lending of his two guards to aid in their search. Erros returned just as Izek departed for the Baron and the group decided that their best leads would be with her two known associates, Ernst Larnak and Lord Vasili von Holtz. They sent the two guards to keep an eye on Ernst's house and Dyson and Fabian decided to check the city healers and physicians. The rest of the group traveled to the Baron's mansion to request horses for the journey to Lord von Holtz estate several miles out of town, and the Baron, now giddy with the good news of his rival's defeat, was happy to lend whatever the party requested. The four left him ahorse for Vasili's manor as he schemed with Izek how best to capitalize on the victory the party had gifted him.