1 Soul Bound
1.1 Finding her Feet
1.1.5 An Inscrutable Mastermind
1.1.5.18 The only good necromancers are...
As it turned out, Ruffiana wasn’t an ageless raven-haired beauty with pale skin. She was old, jolly, with plenty of wrinkles and a wicked earthy laugh that told you she’d gotten up to plenty of no good in her youth, and wasn’t ashamed of a bit of it. She did wear a deep scarlet dress, but it was decorated with bright ribbons.
She ushered them around to a courtyard at the rear and with a wave of her hand she ‘Summoned Flesh’ away from them, and all the bits crawled off them and down a drain, not leaving even a hint of smell behind them. Evidently all the kerfuffle with bells and candles wasn’t strictly necessary if you were powerful enough. Kafana used her mage sight. Ruffiana was probably nearly as strong as the two Grand Master mages she’d met.
“There, that’s better dear” she gave Bulgaria, who looked young in comparison, a pat. “Introduce your friends, and then we can all have a good gossip over tea.”
Bulgaria: “High Mage Ruffiana, please may I present to you my fellow questing spirits, Tomsk, Bungo, Wellington, Alderney and Kafana.”
They acknowledged her in turn as they were named, and she nodded and smiled back to them.
Bulgaria: “Guys, this is my teacher, one of the wisest people I’ve ever met, a member of Torello’s ruling council, and a good person.”
Ruffiana: “How tactful. You didn’t mention my flaws. I know far too much about other people’s business for their peace of mind. I am disgustingly common, and shameless about getting my own way. I meddle. I hoard secrets. I’ve had the bad grace to refuse to be obediently assassinated on any number of occasions. The last time they tried, I filled in a score card, giving the fool marks out of ten in the categories: originality, practicality, elegance and lethality. On his forehead. In permanent ink.”
Alderney: “Public humiliation is good. Could you persuade an inn to change its sign to being ‘The Assassin’s Head’? Perhaps start a song going around?”
Wellington: “Start a rumour that if they do manage to kill you, you’ve put in place a spell that will return you stronger than ever as a lich, and you’ll make all their ancestors arise, walk over to the Plaza of the Public, and honestly answer any question that anyone asks of them.”
Tomsk: “Then go out of your way to officially deny the rumour. Don’t deny you’d do it. Deny that it is technically possible.”
Bungo: “But make your denial unconvincing, and contain a number of factual errors that would be spotted as such by other necromancers.”
Kafana: “And allow someone to ‘accidentally’ discover that you’ve made preparations that would only make sense for someone who’d put that spell in place. If challenged, give contradictory and flimsy excuses, such as ‘Yes, I did visit House Bruno’s ancestral mausoleum, but only because that’s the best place to hunt ducks.’.”
Wellington: “Follow the money. Bill the assassin’s guild for damages, so they have to increase the price they charge to make further attempts.”
Bulgaria: “Did I mention that, as well as being my friends, they also used to be my students? I’m rather proud of them.”
Ruffiana: “I think we’re going to get on. Come inside” and she led the way in.
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The corridor beyond the door was dimly lit and the walls were slightly tilted inwards, giving a closed in feel. Kafana looked up to see if the ceiling was pointed. She thought not, but the flickering of the lights made it appear to move, so it was hard to tell. She carried on, and refused to look down to see what the crunching noise under her feet was.
Wellington looked at Bulgaria, who appeared suspiciously pleased with himself.
Wellington: “Bulgaria, there’s mind magic going on here, isn’t there. Did you advise Ruffiana, by any chance?”
Bulgaria grinned. “Subtle isn’t it? I mentioned to Ruffiana that some questing spirits enjoyed haunted houses and horror films, so we devised a way to bring up associations and then project them just at the edges of your senses. So if you have a fear of spiders, the ceiling might or might not seem to be covered in fat hairy ones with evil eyes and poisonous fangs. If you are a claustrophobe, it might appear to be getting lower and lower. If you’ve seen a film about someone trapped in a burning house, the handles might seem to be hard to turn, and you’d get a whiff of what might be smoke.”
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Ruffiana: “You wouldn’t believe how much easier I’ve been finding negotiations over the last two days. Lady Carmela of the Messengers Guild really hates slugs, apparently.”
Alderney: “You two are dreadful. Did Bulgaria tell you about the time a bunch of pseuds criticised my clothing designs for being juvenile? They found themselves trapped in a room waist high full of children’s toy balls. The key to the door could only be retrieved by throwing a ball to hit a small target on the high ceiling.”
By now they’d reached the dining room, and a skeleton dressed in clothing brought through a plate of refreshments.
Kafana: {Do skeletons have spirits or are they the equivalent of golems and robots?}
Wellington: {Nobody is quite sure how the ancients made golems. One theory is that they used necromancy to transfer living spirits into metal bodies.}
Bungo: {Lots of people think that, even if expert systems are not alive now, a sufficiently advanced system would count as a person, and such a system could be put inside a robot.}
Bulgaria: “There are two approaches to necromancy: benedic and maledic. Benedic necromancers may dispel the undead back to being spirits, and may bar them from passing a ward, but they only raise a spirit as an undead with the spirit’s consent.”
Ruffiana: “We make requests of them rather than compel them, and we don’t keep them as undead if they wish to return to being a spirit. Indeed, one of the functions of a necromancer is to find out what spirits want, what’s holding them here, and help them move on, return to the cycle. We may sweet talk or make deals, but we don’t deceive or coerce them. They are friends to us because we are friends to them, and over time we build up favours and reputation.”
Kafana: “Ah, similar to the property ‘Sea Friend’.”
Wellington: “There’s also two approaches to taming. Those who win the loyalty of their summoned pets. And those who treat them as beasts to be whipped and starved into submission.”
Tomsk: “So does that mean the rising numbers of ghouls and other undead is due to the presence of a maledic necromancer?”
Ruffiana: “It could do, but there are other options. It could be their food supply has increased and they’re breeding, at least for the contagious sorts. It could be the presence of a new artifact, or some influence that’s pulling the relevant sorts of mana into the area, making existing effects stronger. But I think the most likely explanation is that there’s a higher level sentient undead behind this. A ghost lord, a vampire, or a direct servant of a lich such as a death knight. The worst case scenario is that a lich or a direct servant of Bel are involved, but I don’t think that’s likely.”
Bungo: “Why not.”
She waved a hand. “Because the city is still here, rather than a charnel house devoid of life.”
Alderney: “I keep hearing rumours about vampires. What are they like? Is this the sort of thing they’d do?”
She shrugged. “Vampires vary. The older ones often keep themselves to themselves, focusing on their own whims, and feuding with other vampires. Some even grow sentimental about families or locations, and have been known to defend them. But most are evil bastards, and younger ones can be full of resentment and ambition. It wouldn’t be out of character for one of them to cause problems in the territory of another vampire, as a challenge or just out of mean amusement.”
For the rest of the meal they discussed various forms of magic and peccadillos of local politicians. Kafana admired the skill with which she extracted from them at least as much information as she gave out, all the while giving the impression that they had become her close and particular friends. It was flattering that she went to the effort, but Kafana suspected she wanted something from them. Something she’d not yet asked.
Her premonition strengthened when Ruffiana took time to explain how Seers worked, and even gave Bungo a deck of tarot cards to practice with. She turned to Kafana and said:
“Vittoria tells me you’ve been visiting Basso. If you find yourselves in need down there, drop by the Vecci and show Olga my card” She flicked out a very quick pair of fingers and lifted ‘The Hierophant’ from Bungo’s grasp, passing it to Kafana.
Kafana: {Guys, play along with me.}
She spoke suddenly.
“Ruffiana, you’ve been very kind, but we’re taking up far too much of your valuable time. I think we ought to head off immediately.” She moved to stand up, and everybody else did too.
Ruffiana was startled into exclaiming “No, wait!” and Kafana looked at her, not saying anything but raising an eyebrow.
Ruffiana grinned ruefully. “There is something I wanted to show you, as I think you’ve guessed Kafana.”
“And ask of us?” Kafana added innocently, “I notice your lecture on the ethics of necromancy didn’t include restrictions on how you behave towards the living.”
She pointedly took out the diadem with the stone of truth upon it and placed it firmly upon her own head.
Ruffiana promptly said “All cats have three legs” and watched the stone glow a baleful red. She looked a little peeved. “Now that’s just plain mean of you. Takes the fun out of it.” The stone turned back green.
Ruffiana said: “Follow me.”