...OF THE ESTEEMED LORD ESSEK THELYSS (UN: SHADOWHAND), FIRST OF THEIR NAME, HAILING FROM THE REALM OF CRITICAL ROLE, RESIDING, AT PRESENT, IN THE GRAND CRESENT. SINGLE.
Good morning. An acquaintance of mine has arrived in Andovale, one Honoria Crabb. She has arrived here from two years in my future, which is a complication I still don’t know what to make of.
I’m mentioning her to you, because I know one thing is true in this or any other world, at any point in time: Honoria Crabb is the most reliable and worthy of trust of anyone I have ever met. If there’s another emergency that arises, she is a potential ally.
Honoria is a human woman with darker skin and short, curly brown hair. If you meet her, feel free to mention you’re an associate of mine. She is a good friend to have.
[This is almost as much a cry for help as it is an announcement of Honoria’s presence. There’s more than a little panic behind the polite words, and she’s vouching for Crabb more strongly than she’d ever speak for herself, for multiple reasons. Ducky would never describe herself as trustworthy, after all.]
[Essek finds himself curious about Ducky's rather sudden message. While he understands they are on the closer side here among strangers, he would not have thought her to inform him of such things - Ducky came off as secretive and closed off. So he cannot help but read into what is unsaid, to attempt to pull the tone from between the lines.]
Good morning. I am pleased to be informed about your Ms. Crabb, I will be sure to make her acquaintance at my earliest convenience. She sounds like a good ally to have in a place where there seem so many with their own objective. I too have a friend from home that is from my future, it can be complicated.
Would you care to discuss this further in person? The gardens are beautiful today and beg for people to stroll about them.
[At precisely two, Ducky is at the entrance to the garden with a parasol, dressed in her grey striped dress, hair just so as usual. At first glance, she seems fine, truly fine.
Essek arrives with his own parasol, though it isn't one he got from here so the fashion if it doesn't quite match, but it's still beautiful even if some of the lacing has what might look like dicks. His outfit is tight black pants, a white ruffled shirt, with a simply patterned cravat, and a double breasted waist coat in a lovely teal with black patterning. The only thing that perhaps looks unfitting to his outfit is his ears which are decorated in beautiful silver jewelry (he doesn't care, he'll make his jewelry work).
Quietly he looks her over, seeing that she looks fine, but he also know very well how to seem fine when one is not at all.
"Come, the gardens are beautiful," he pauses only long enough for her to fall into step with him.
"As are you, Mr. Thelyss." Look, someone ought to take a moment to appreciate Essek's fashion sense and poise. She does fall into step, relaxing just slightly in truth--having him beside her makes everything seem the slightest bit less dire. "I trust the day has treated you well?"
"Oh," he half wasn't expecting a compliment like that from Ducky and to receive one was very flattering. Confidence in his looks is something he has in spades, but he still finds it a pleasant surprise. "Well, thank you and my day is better now that I am in your company."
He gives her a smile as they stroll in a moment of silence. "So, tell me about your acquaintance, her presence seems to have upended your day," he sees no reason to beat around the bush, they both know why they are here.
"There is...context...that I don't want to explain in the fullness of its depth at this point. A lady likes to maintain some mystery, you understand. But there was a point in time where my employer and I were under investigation by legal authorities in Gallery, and Honoria Crabb was the police inspector assigned to the case. Her and the world-famous detective, Madame Theresa Ferrier, who'd traveled across the continent to take the case. By the time Sir Mimley and I spoke to Crabb and Ferrier, they'd realized that perhaps the case wasn't as simple as it seemed from the start. We became allies. Cautious allies, but allies nonetheless."
She pauses, looking at some nearby flowers. "That isn't to say that Crabb approved of our methods, mine in particular. And if she judged me for how I worked, perhaps I deserved it. Perhaps I still do. But in time, she became a part of our lives, even when Madame Ferrier left Gallery. A partner in our work, sometimes."
That answers a great many questions he had about Ducky honestly. It gave him a clearer perspective on who she was and her methods, even if the woman herself was vague in much of it.
"And her being from your future makes things complicated because she.. ah, knows where your relationship has evolved for better or worse and you are unsure how to handle how out of control that leaves you feeling?" It was a guess, he felt that way about Jester. She knows things about him that he cannot even if she explained it all. It leaves him feeling out of control and off balance.
Before we leave this school, there is a wrong I have done against our alliance that must be righted. I will await you in the rooms they use for punishment here after dark.
[He will literally wait there every night until A) Essek shows up or B) They have to leave the school]
I will explain my actions at the time of your arrival and will accept whatever retribution you wish to visit upon me for breech of agreement.
[There is no reply, but Essek does eventually show up the first night after the message is sent, deep into the night that is it nearly sunrise. He made the man wait intentionally, to test his resolve of needing whatever punishment he deems himself worthy of.
What little Caleb mentioned of being bruised by Eadwulf, that he was subdued by the man, makes him wonder what went wrong. Exactly what transpired that needs punishment.
Arriving in the deep night, Essek is wearing his mantle and cloak, draped to obscure the deep purple tunic, dark pants, and boots he wears underneath. The man asked for the Shadowhand and the Shadowhand is who he will get.]
A full explanation. [He doesn't even wait as he floats into the room Eadwulf is in front of without so much as a glance at the other man.]
[He'd have waited every night until they left this place if that's what it'd take. Because he deserves this. Whatever this is going to be. Of course, he might have to explain an unfortunate side effect of his coping mechanisms, but he is certain the Shadowhand can get creative.
He's still in the center of the room, waiting when the man arrives. His head down, hands clasped behind his back, still as a statue. He's likely been in this exact position in this exact spot since his arrival. He's nothing if not serious about this.
He doesn't stiffen or turn. He doesn't even look at Essek. He's clearly done this before. He's clearly had to explain to someone with a great deal of power over him what went wrong. He's expecting the worst from a man with magic that can crush a person into a pretzel. Especially after what he had done.
His tone is clipped. A soldier reporting because that's all he knows how to do right now. Report his infraction and await judgement.]
I broke our alliance. Our agreement was Caleb Widogast's happiness. I hurt him. I became the thing he fears me becoming, the thing he warned me not to become, and I hurt him. I put him on the ground and choked him until he passed out.
[No excuses about how Bren had to be stopped. No explanations as to how hard he fought not to actually become that thing. None of that matters. To Eadwulf, the infraction is clear. He put hands on Caleb and harmed him. It's a clear breach of their agreement to look after the wizard's happiness.]
As per our alliance, I am here for you retribution for breaking my word.
[Essek looks to the wall that is littered with tools of punishment and wonders if he will be using any of that tonight. Part of him hopes not, but he will if needed. If this is meant to be a punishment, he wants to know the exact reason around all of it before enacting anything.
So, when the explanation comes, Essek finds it lacking.
Moving to sit on the table in the room, Essek crosses his legs and watches Eadwulf for a long moment, eyes stern and serious as they fall on the man finally. It is east to fall back into the skin of an interrogator, of a man who has tortured and executed people without remorse, who can do it again with ease.
When he speaks, his voice is sharp and cold like a glacier ripping through a mountain, carving stone and earth to its pleasing.]
This was done in an act of subduing Bren Aldric Ermendrud who was in possession of Caleb Widogast's body, was it not? I asked for a full explanation.
[A heavy heavy pause that says that Eadwulf is not yet allowed to talk, is not yet allowed to give that explanation, not until the Shadowhand finishes what he is saying.]
[There is no flinch from him when there should be. He's been trained for endurance, even more so than that woman in Essek's dungeons all those months ago. He doesn't flinch because he knows he deserves it for failing again. This time at the most simple of tasks of making a proper report.
The voice washes over him and he is silent. He doesn't even breathe for a moment in his stillness. He still doesn't look up. He is still silent after. It's not for the lack of wanting to report. He almost parrots Ikithon. About whys being excuses. He has no need for the why. Just that it was done. Eadwulf isn't allowed reasoning. It's only because of that that his answer is halting, stilted.]
You are correct. I recognized the wrongness of the work. Caleb is incomplete. [There's no judgement in his tone. Just pure statement of facts. The man they both wanted to watch over was not Volstrucker. Essek has seen one that was completed. Not one of the hand chosen, of course. But Volstrucker the same. A finished masterwork of Ikithon stood before him now.] I knew the work immediately. I knew who and what he was. I suspected that he would be eager for the power made here and I feared what he might do. I know exactly what Volstrucker are capable of but I didn't know what he would be willing to do. I could not take the risk.
I attempted a more diplomatic approach to lure him to a place where he could only hurt me. It failed. Mine is not to give orders. I then appealed to his hunger for power and control. I knelt at his feet and offered myself to retake my place at his side. I seduced him with promises to be his sword and obey him as I was always meant to do after he succeeded to Archmage. I offered him every last bit of Thumos I had and he accepted.
We kissed.
I used the intimacy, the memory of what we once were together, what we could be again, against him. I caught him off guard. I pinned him to the ground so he couldn't use his hands. I put my arm against his throat so he couldn't speak spells. Then I leaned. I looked him in the eyes as I watched his consciousness fade. I then carried him to seek medical attention and left him there. I left him because I knew he would not want to see my face as soon as he woke again.
That is what happened. I did what I was trained to do so that Bren could not hurt those Caleb cares for. But in doing so, I still visited harm upon Caleb. I broke my word to him that I'd not harm him or anyone he cares for. And I broke my word to you by hurting him. He remembers everything, Shadowhand. He has since we were boys in our village together. He will remember how I watched him choke and just kept pressing. And he will remember how I used what we once were together as a weapon against him.
[Wulf goes silent once more, having given full account of his actions.]
[Essek quietly and patiently waits to hear the full explanation. There is a small unpleasant downward curl of his lip at the statement that Caleb was incomplete, but he understands the intention of it. Knows that Caleb is complete, just that he isn't what he was created to be. Besides, he can tell that Eadwulf seems to be in a state of mind that has likely regressed into something Ikithon trained and honed from the man.
Eadwulf was like a marble statue, meticulously crafted but inflexible. Only time and effort would blunt his edges.
Sitting there, Essek does listen to everything, still and careful to mask all his emotions -- he wants to recoil at the mention of the kiss, of how it makes his stomach churn and heart twist painfully. He has no claim over Caleb, but every mention of a kiss makes him doubt the one he shared with him more. But there was the dream.. A dream that ended in rejection.
No, he refocuses his mind on the task at hand and only the tightening of his hands under his cloak could give him away. Except, the mention that Caleb remembers everything makes him struggle to keep his composure once again -- biting the inside of his cheek until it bleeds to keep his head straight, to focus on this and not how Caleb knows. He knows when he rejected Essek. So it was a full and proper rejection then.
No, he needs to compartmentalize that and deal with his own torments alone.]
You did break your word, by not only harming him but in doing so in a way that left him with a lingering pain beyond the physical. [Caleb will say it was alright, but Essek had been mad when he heard the man's neck was ringed with bruises.]
But.. [A silence.] You helped save him from the entity he became through the production of Thumos - which the fault of his initial change lies with me. Nor was I able to stop him after the change occurred.
[His voice is still cold and cutting, there isn't anything giving about his tone.] That thing needed to be stopped to save Caleb, but your methods still caused him injury.
[He doesn't know how his words might be hurting this man. In his mind, Eadwulf is only doing what he's supposed to do. He's supposed to turn himself over to whatever retribution will come his way. That is the price of failure.
Each sentence, each cool summation of his actions gets a single nod of the head. He doesn't speak because he's not been told he can. His report is done and he's not permitted to say more. This is the mindless shadow looming just behind Ikithon that Essek might recall. Bren's appearance had done much to rob Wulf of the small forward strides he had taken.
Essek calls Bren a thing. He wants to defend the spector of his old companion, but even he knows it's true. That Bren hadn't been his Bren. He'd been a taste of a world where Ikithon had won and tied his strings around all of them in ways that would have rocked all of Exandria in time, when his completed trio became what he'd envisioned them to be. Besides, he's also a thing. He's barely a person right now. He's simply Ikithon's discarded sword. He's the broken toy soldier who has turned himself over to the enemy because that was the agreement between them.
He won't even speak to tell this man that that method was exactly what he had been made for. Ikithon had built monsters. He'd made assassins and Eadwulf was the mage slayer of the trio, even if he lied and told people he was more of a scout. Counterspell doesn't work on a sword through the chest. He didn't think he had to. Surely, a man like the Shadowhand would be intelligent and shrewd enough, hard enough to know the uses for a wizard like Wulf.
He simply waits for Essek's judgement. It only occurs to him in his silence that he might have to divulge his predilections. His jaw clenches tighter, to stop himself from speaking out of turn. He has been well and thoroughly trained.]
[Essek definitely knows the dangers that he is in at this very moment in time, that Eadwulf could choose to strangle him, but seeing this man brought to his knees to repent for the broken oath they took, for hurting Caleb... Well, he feels safe enough that he doubts heavily that this man wants to risk Caleb's hatred by breaking his word and harming Essek. For the moment, he has no fear of the mage slayer, just a healthy caution.
Still, he lets the silence hang heavy with his thoughts, with his choosing how he wants to go about this.
It was clear this man wanted a punishment and was seeking Essek out for it, but he was no stranger to people made to be swords of those in power, especially twisted, vile men like Ikiton. No, Eadwulf likely has learned ways to not be as affected by the mistreatment and horrors of his former master and Essek wasn't here to play into some fantasy that was created to cope with terrible people.
Essek might be terrible too, might be best suited to this, but he did not want to be Ikithon's replacement. If Eadwulf wanted to be punished, Essek would want to do it properly.
Afterall, he he's tortured and interrogated enough scourgers to have an idea of how to break them.]
I will need to know the methods of punishment that work on you and what do not. There is no judgement for how your mind has learned to endure your former master's treatment. [He knows his own mind has learned to twist things that should revolt him into pleasure.]
[He knows that this is treason what he is doing. He's about to tell the enemy his weaknesses. But Essek isn't his enemy. Not anymore. And he has to know. It will come out eventually.]
He learned very early on in my forging that physical pain stopped working on me. I began to enjoy the hurting. The more I am hurt, the more I like it. Now, physical pain brings nothing but arousal and pleasure. It is the same with deprivation.
[He shouldn't say this. This was supposed to be Caleb's to tell Essek, when he was ready. But Wulf has to be thurough. He won't make the same mistake twice.]
He would strip us down to nothing and lock the three of us away with nothing but each other. Sometimes for days on end. We don't have the sort of time it would take to deprive me long enough to do anything but annoy me.
Instead, he found that to hurt me, to truly hurt me, all he needed was words and magic. He would tell me over and over again, how worthless I was. How ungrateful I was for the gift he has chosen to bestow upon me. Bren was brilliant, naturally talented. He would be molded in Master Ikithon's image to take the reigns after he decided to retire. Astrid was ambitious. Her political savvy and goals made her the perfect person to whisper into the Kings ear. But me... there's all kinds like me. He can find strong boys anywhere who would be more than grateful for the power and strength he gave them. He would expound on my uselessness, my failures. He was fond of reminding me that swords that were useless got unmade and replaced with better versions. He would discard me like the worthless blade I am. [It makes no sense, logically. The process of making a Volstrucker cost far too much time and magic and resources to simply throw one away. Especially one as specialized as Eadwulf. But he had been young and terrified that he would be replaced and leave Bren and Astrid without the protection of a meat shield that actually gave a damn about them. And after Bren broke, such threats were even more powerful. Eadwulf couldn't leave Astrid alone to handle what was to come. He still couldn't, even a decade later. It had taken divine intervention to force him from her side.]
But when he truly wanted to hurt me, truly punish me, he'd remove my will. [Not that he'd had much of that the longer he'd been under that man] He used Gaes once on me that I am aware of. But if I didn't want to obey him he could simply make me. I have many resistance to magic because of what I was made for, but not to magic of the mind. His go to was Dominate Monster.
[Both are higher level spells. Honestly, Eadwulf probably could resist Dominate Person or Suggestion, but even his utter conviction that he couldn't resist Enchantment School magics was all part of Ikithon's mind games and manipulation. Why try to resist magic he "knows" he can't. The later spell was an even more insidious hidden manipulation. Ikithon was burning a high level spell to enforce the narrative he'd painstakingly weaved around the man that said Eadwulf was not a person.]
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text; un: magret
I’m mentioning her to you, because I know one thing is true in this or any other world, at any point in time: Honoria Crabb is the most reliable and worthy of trust of anyone I have ever met. If there’s another emergency that arises, she is a potential ally.
Honoria is a human woman with darker skin and short, curly brown hair. If you meet her, feel free to mention you’re an associate of mine. She is a good friend to have.
[This is almost as much a cry for help as it is an announcement of Honoria’s presence. There’s more than a little panic behind the polite words, and she’s vouching for Crabb more strongly than she’d ever speak for herself, for multiple reasons. Ducky would never describe herself as trustworthy, after all.]
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Good morning. I am pleased to be informed about your Ms. Crabb, I will be sure to make her acquaintance at my earliest convenience. She sounds like a good ally to have in a place where there seem so many with their own objective. I too have a friend from home that is from my future, it can be complicated.
Would you care to discuss this further in person? The gardens are beautiful today and beg for people to stroll about them.
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[Thank fuck. Essek's coolheaded nature will be a boon to her.]
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[He was very glad to offer it to her, he knows his own head is muddled with Caleb, but that would not color the logic he often operated under.]
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She's good at seeming fine.]
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Quietly he looks her over, seeing that she looks fine, but he also know very well how to seem fine when one is not at all.
"Come, the gardens are beautiful," he pauses only long enough for her to fall into step with him.
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He gives her a smile as they stroll in a moment of silence. "So, tell me about your acquaintance, her presence seems to have upended your day," he sees no reason to beat around the bush, they both know why they are here.
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She pauses, looking at some nearby flowers. "That isn't to say that Crabb approved of our methods, mine in particular. And if she judged me for how I worked, perhaps I deserved it. Perhaps I still do. But in time, she became a part of our lives, even when Madame Ferrier left Gallery. A partner in our work, sometimes."
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"And her being from your future makes things complicated because she.. ah, knows where your relationship has evolved for better or worse and you are unsure how to handle how out of control that leaves you feeling?" It was a guess, he felt that way about Jester. She knows things about him that he cannot even if she explained it all. It leaves him feeling out of control and off balance.
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UN: Wulf
Before we leave this school, there is a wrong I have done against our alliance that must be righted. I will await you in the rooms they use for punishment here after dark.
[He will literally wait there every night until A) Essek shows up or B) They have to leave the school]
I will explain my actions at the time of your arrival and will accept whatever retribution you wish to visit upon me for breech of agreement.
Eadwulf Grieve
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What little Caleb mentioned of being bruised by Eadwulf, that he was subdued by the man, makes him wonder what went wrong. Exactly what transpired that needs punishment.
Arriving in the deep night, Essek is wearing his mantle and cloak, draped to obscure the deep purple tunic, dark pants, and boots he wears underneath. The man asked for the Shadowhand and the Shadowhand is who he will get.]
A full explanation. [He doesn't even wait as he floats into the room Eadwulf is in front of without so much as a glance at the other man.]
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He's still in the center of the room, waiting when the man arrives. His head down, hands clasped behind his back, still as a statue. He's likely been in this exact position in this exact spot since his arrival. He's nothing if not serious about this.
He doesn't stiffen or turn. He doesn't even look at Essek. He's clearly done this before. He's clearly had to explain to someone with a great deal of power over him what went wrong. He's expecting the worst from a man with magic that can crush a person into a pretzel. Especially after what he had done.
His tone is clipped. A soldier reporting because that's all he knows how to do right now. Report his infraction and await judgement.]
I broke our alliance. Our agreement was Caleb Widogast's happiness. I hurt him. I became the thing he fears me becoming, the thing he warned me not to become, and I hurt him. I put him on the ground and choked him until he passed out.
[No excuses about how Bren had to be stopped. No explanations as to how hard he fought not to actually become that thing. None of that matters. To Eadwulf, the infraction is clear. He put hands on Caleb and harmed him. It's a clear breach of their agreement to look after the wizard's happiness.]
As per our alliance, I am here for you retribution for breaking my word.
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So, when the explanation comes, Essek finds it lacking.
Moving to sit on the table in the room, Essek crosses his legs and watches Eadwulf for a long moment, eyes stern and serious as they fall on the man finally. It is east to fall back into the skin of an interrogator, of a man who has tortured and executed people without remorse, who can do it again with ease.
When he speaks, his voice is sharp and cold like a glacier ripping through a mountain, carving stone and earth to its pleasing.]
This was done in an act of subduing Bren Aldric Ermendrud who was in possession of Caleb Widogast's body, was it not? I asked for a full explanation.
[A heavy heavy pause that says that Eadwulf is not yet allowed to talk, is not yet allowed to give that explanation, not until the Shadowhand finishes what he is saying.]
I will not ask again.
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The voice washes over him and he is silent. He doesn't even breathe for a moment in his stillness. He still doesn't look up. He is still silent after. It's not for the lack of wanting to report. He almost parrots Ikithon. About whys being excuses. He has no need for the why. Just that it was done. Eadwulf isn't allowed reasoning. It's only because of that that his answer is halting, stilted.]
You are correct. I recognized the wrongness of the work. Caleb is incomplete. [There's no judgement in his tone. Just pure statement of facts. The man they both wanted to watch over was not Volstrucker. Essek has seen one that was completed. Not one of the hand chosen, of course. But Volstrucker the same. A finished masterwork of Ikithon stood before him now.] I knew the work immediately. I knew who and what he was. I suspected that he would be eager for the power made here and I feared what he might do. I know exactly what Volstrucker are capable of but I didn't know what he would be willing to do. I could not take the risk.
I attempted a more diplomatic approach to lure him to a place where he could only hurt me. It failed. Mine is not to give orders. I then appealed to his hunger for power and control. I knelt at his feet and offered myself to retake my place at his side. I seduced him with promises to be his sword and obey him as I was always meant to do after he succeeded to Archmage. I offered him every last bit of Thumos I had and he accepted.
We kissed.
I used the intimacy, the memory of what we once were together, what we could be again, against him. I caught him off guard. I pinned him to the ground so he couldn't use his hands. I put my arm against his throat so he couldn't speak spells. Then I leaned. I looked him in the eyes as I watched his consciousness fade. I then carried him to seek medical attention and left him there. I left him because I knew he would not want to see my face as soon as he woke again.
That is what happened. I did what I was trained to do so that Bren could not hurt those Caleb cares for. But in doing so, I still visited harm upon Caleb. I broke my word to him that I'd not harm him or anyone he cares for. And I broke my word to you by hurting him. He remembers everything, Shadowhand. He has since we were boys in our village together. He will remember how I watched him choke and just kept pressing. And he will remember how I used what we once were together as a weapon against him.
[Wulf goes silent once more, having given full account of his actions.]
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Eadwulf was like a marble statue, meticulously crafted but inflexible. Only time and effort would blunt his edges.
Sitting there, Essek does listen to everything, still and careful to mask all his emotions -- he wants to recoil at the mention of the kiss, of how it makes his stomach churn and heart twist painfully. He has no claim over Caleb, but every mention of a kiss makes him doubt the one he shared with him more. But there was the dream.. A dream that ended in rejection.
No, he refocuses his mind on the task at hand and only the tightening of his hands under his cloak could give him away. Except, the mention that Caleb remembers everything makes him struggle to keep his composure once again -- biting the inside of his cheek until it bleeds to keep his head straight, to focus on this and not how Caleb knows. He knows when he rejected Essek. So it was a full and proper rejection then.
No, he needs to compartmentalize that and deal with his own torments alone.]
You did break your word, by not only harming him but in doing so in a way that left him with a lingering pain beyond the physical. [Caleb will say it was alright, but Essek had been mad when he heard the man's neck was ringed with bruises.]
But.. [A silence.] You helped save him from the entity he became through the production of Thumos - which the fault of his initial change lies with me. Nor was I able to stop him after the change occurred.
[His voice is still cold and cutting, there isn't anything giving about his tone.] That thing needed to be stopped to save Caleb, but your methods still caused him injury.
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Each sentence, each cool summation of his actions gets a single nod of the head. He doesn't speak because he's not been told he can. His report is done and he's not permitted to say more. This is the mindless shadow looming just behind Ikithon that Essek might recall. Bren's appearance had done much to rob Wulf of the small forward strides he had taken.
Essek calls Bren a thing. He wants to defend the spector of his old companion, but even he knows it's true. That Bren hadn't been his Bren. He'd been a taste of a world where Ikithon had won and tied his strings around all of them in ways that would have rocked all of Exandria in time, when his completed trio became what he'd envisioned them to be. Besides, he's also a thing. He's barely a person right now. He's simply Ikithon's discarded sword. He's the broken toy soldier who has turned himself over to the enemy because that was the agreement between them.
He won't even speak to tell this man that that method was exactly what he had been made for. Ikithon had built monsters. He'd made assassins and Eadwulf was the mage slayer of the trio, even if he lied and told people he was more of a scout. Counterspell doesn't work on a sword through the chest. He didn't think he had to. Surely, a man like the Shadowhand would be intelligent and shrewd enough, hard enough to know the uses for a wizard like Wulf.
He simply waits for Essek's judgement. It only occurs to him in his silence that he might have to divulge his predilections. His jaw clenches tighter, to stop himself from speaking out of turn. He has been well and thoroughly trained.]
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Still, he lets the silence hang heavy with his thoughts, with his choosing how he wants to go about this.
It was clear this man wanted a punishment and was seeking Essek out for it, but he was no stranger to people made to be swords of those in power, especially twisted, vile men like Ikiton. No, Eadwulf likely has learned ways to not be as affected by the mistreatment and horrors of his former master and Essek wasn't here to play into some fantasy that was created to cope with terrible people.
Essek might be terrible too, might be best suited to this, but he did not want to be Ikithon's replacement. If Eadwulf wanted to be punished, Essek would want to do it properly.
Afterall, he he's tortured and interrogated enough scourgers to have an idea of how to break them.]
I will need to know the methods of punishment that work on you and what do not. There is no judgement for how your mind has learned to endure your former master's treatment. [He knows his own mind has learned to twist things that should revolt him into pleasure.]
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He learned very early on in my forging that physical pain stopped working on me. I began to enjoy the hurting. The more I am hurt, the more I like it. Now, physical pain brings nothing but arousal and pleasure. It is the same with deprivation.
[He shouldn't say this. This was supposed to be Caleb's to tell Essek, when he was ready. But Wulf has to be thurough. He won't make the same mistake twice.]
He would strip us down to nothing and lock the three of us away with nothing but each other. Sometimes for days on end. We don't have the sort of time it would take to deprive me long enough to do anything but annoy me.
Instead, he found that to hurt me, to truly hurt me, all he needed was words and magic. He would tell me over and over again, how worthless I was. How ungrateful I was for the gift he has chosen to bestow upon me. Bren was brilliant, naturally talented. He would be molded in Master Ikithon's image to take the reigns after he decided to retire. Astrid was ambitious. Her political savvy and goals made her the perfect person to whisper into the Kings ear. But me... there's all kinds like me. He can find strong boys anywhere who would be more than grateful for the power and strength he gave them. He would expound on my uselessness, my failures. He was fond of reminding me that swords that were useless got unmade and replaced with better versions. He would discard me like the worthless blade I am. [It makes no sense, logically. The process of making a Volstrucker cost far too much time and magic and resources to simply throw one away. Especially one as specialized as Eadwulf. But he had been young and terrified that he would be replaced and leave Bren and Astrid without the protection of a meat shield that actually gave a damn about them. And after Bren broke, such threats were even more powerful. Eadwulf couldn't leave Astrid alone to handle what was to come. He still couldn't, even a decade later. It had taken divine intervention to force him from her side.]
But when he truly wanted to hurt me, truly punish me, he'd remove my will. [Not that he'd had much of that the longer he'd been under that man] He used Gaes once on me that I am aware of. But if I didn't want to obey him he could simply make me. I have many resistance to magic because of what I was made for, but not to magic of the mind. His go to was Dominate Monster.
[Both are higher level spells. Honestly, Eadwulf probably could resist Dominate Person or Suggestion, but even his utter conviction that he couldn't resist Enchantment School magics was all part of Ikithon's mind games and manipulation. Why try to resist magic he "knows" he can't. The later spell was an even more insidious hidden manipulation. Ikithon was burning a high level spell to enforce the narrative he'd painstakingly weaved around the man that said Eadwulf was not a person.]
A weapon doesn't need a will of it's own.
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insight = dirty 20
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june 10th, night
the soft crunch of vines underfot
I lok to see a pair of yes
Peeking out from inky black fur
The curious twich of a little wet nose
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Thank you Steve.