Asherons Call: Masked Memories Event Fiction

The fiction for this month's event, Masked Memories, has been posted:

The messenger strode swiftly through the halls of the royal palace, headed for the map room. He stopped in front of a pair of thick oaken doors, flanked by two guardsmen in the royal livery of the House of Strathelar.

"Message for General Tharnoch," the messenger announced to the guards. He showed them a roll of parchment sealed with black wax. One of the guards pounded the butt of his spear against the door, and shortly afterward the doors swung slowly open to reveal the fierce, craggy face of the aged Aluvian warrior.

"What have you got for us?" Tharnoch asked.

The messenger clicked his heels together and bowed quickly. "Undead unrest in Al Jalima, General." He offered up his message scroll.

"My thanks, soldier," Tharnoch muttered as he took the scroll. "Go to the armory about your boots, though, the heels click too much." He snorted, gave the soldier a dismissive nod, and closed the doors again.

There was a soft laugh from the center of the room. Tharnoch turned away from the doors as he broke the seal off the scroll and looked to the source of the sound.

"That was an unkind comment to that poor messenger, General," Queen Elysa said. She sat at the head of the great map table. Her son Prince Borelean sat at her right side and a huge leather map of the realm of Dereth was on the table before them. The map was dotted with colored pins and scraps of paper bearing annotations. So far there were nine pins on the map, scattered all around without any apparent pattern. To the side of the map, in front of the unoccupied chair to the queen's left, was a small wooden box that emitted a faint glow.

"I should not be so flippant with these youngsters, I know," Tharnoch conceded as he walked to the table, scanning the contents of the note. He sat in the chair to the Queen's left and handed her the note. "It's been a while since I had to deal with soldiers who actually cared enough about such trivialities as to click their boot-heels together. That's all."

"Is this incident of particular interest to us, General?" the Queen asked as she took the note, glancing significantly at the annotated map in front of them. "If undead are rising in Al Jalima, has our enemy perhaps found a way to corrupt one of those into a... Prodigal?"

Surprising both of the older people in the room, Prince Borelean spoke up. "I highly doubt that the undead would fall prey to the crude manipulations of the other Prodigals," he said. "They seem to keep their own kingdom well in line. Even if it's a kingdom long extinct, that exists only in the memories of walking corpses."

Queen Elysa stared at her son. "I had no idea you were so well-versed in the politics of Dericost, my son."

"I know a great many things that may surprise you, mother," Borelean said through a thin smile.

Tharnoch cleared his throat before things could get any more tense between the royal mother and son. "Majesty, I too doubt that this undead uprising is related to the Aerbax problem. This does seem to be the season for such unrest. These attacks always seem to come around this time of year. Remember the reports we've been getting out of Glenden Wood, as well. While undead assaulting Al Jalima is indeed a matter that requires our attention, it is not the reason we are gathered in this room."

Queen Elysa turned away from her son to look at the general. "As you say, General. Let us discuss the items your scouts brought back from the laboratory on the Singularity Caul."

The general nodded in agreement and turned his attention to the small wooden box on the table in front of him. "Let me show you something interesting, Your Majesty."

He flipped open the clasp on the box and lifted the lid. As soon as he lifted the lid, his face was bathed in purple light. There was also a noticeable smell coming from the box, the pungent smell of dried herbs. The old soldier put an uncharacteristically sly expression on his face as he paused to make eye contact with both Elysa and Borelean. "Before we discuss this," he said to the Queen, "I must ask what we know about that archmage in Ayan Baqur..."