Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

As expected, the troublemaker was good old Quideos Audit, once again letting his manic tendencies lose in public, the fact that he hadn't arrived at the same time as the page was because he had brought with him someone with more manners, the woman was just itching to start speaking but held it in, veins throbbing on her forehead, constantly pushing her glasses back up as it kept slipping.

The third visitor was really the one who had made the young servant sprint at a speed he hadn't even thought possible, even though she was clearly the most composed and ready to wait.

'Well, that is… Quite the line-up…' Agilulf Wanneck was back sitting on his throne, not quite certain who to hear out first, he wasn't even certain who the woman accompanying Quideos was, she was dressed in nice brown pants, a waistcoat of the same colour and white shirt, clearly more of an intellectual than anything, he tried to search his memory for who it would be, he had met and read many things, so he had probably engaged with her in some way before.

But before solving that mystery, he instead signalled for the third visitor to speak up, he did not need any introduction to know who she was.

"Greetings, King Agilulf Wanneck, I am Lady Syklon, and I wish to ask for asylum" the petite woman went straight to the point, not any less eloquent and graceful than the king himself.

"Are you willing to help me with your great knowledge of battle arts? To train troops? As well as lending your strength to this nation?" he asked, already fairly familiar with her from a few business dealings, as well as one other source, though that last one wasn't very reliable.

"Sure" Lady Syklon wasn't feeling like engaging in negotiations with him, everyone had their area of expertise and this one was the domain of the king of Tamaris, he could blatantly scam people even with a blade against his neck, an absolute nightmare it was to engage him in money talk.

Moreover, she really did not see a problem with what he asked of her, uninterested in ruling over Tochi, she had travelled to Tamaris, the best place to settle down by far, although his demands seemed to indicate that he was meaning to get into a fight, she did not question him on the spot, simply nodding with a satisfied smile, it was time to have a place of her own again.

"Quideos, what do you want to say to me? It if is concerning your accord with archbishop Joala, I have already been made aware of this"

"Ah!" the prophet shouted, looking around for a few seconds.

"Sorry about that, it is simply that, as you know, as I know, as everybody should know, oh is it known-"

"Sorry again, my visions tell me much of the horror coming ahead, of the utter strength of the forces that will soon march upon us all, trampling down onto us, we well be like ants missing half their legs faced with an entire pack of anteaters that can manipulated the winds as they wish…"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Shaking his head, he presented the woman vibrating in place.

"This here is the illustrious, the grand, the one and only, the smartest woman I have ever met, far ahead of my own mother, I can tell as much! Bethome Meleme, she writes books as fast as I can have uncontrolled seizures on the floor from my mind numbing visions, it takes some skill!" he presented her, the king's eyebrows rising in understanding upon hearing that name.

"Hum, ah yes, I meant to say beforehand that my visions whilst harrowing and rather detailed, details I am not allowed to share, I can say that the exact nature of the disaster has never been made obvious, all that I know is that enormous amount of death they'll cause, and here is my good friend, Bethome is convinced that-"

"The undead! It's the freaking walking corpses, it's obvious, all of your visions clearly point to the danger having to do with death, so much that it is almost comical, the undead are rising again!" she had a small outburst before settling down, assuming a very composed attitude out of the blue.

'They attract one another like magnets…'

"Aherm, my king, I have been working on uncovering the truth of the ancient past for most of my life now, and the most interesting period is one that seemed to have lasted for centuries at a minimum"

"The war against the undead?" the king was indeed quite familiar with her works, he just didn't realise that Bethome Meleme was a woman at all, she published her works herself and did not have a known address, writers did like their privacy, so he had not had the occasion of meeting her before.

"Well, it is more like the war against life… I wholeheartedly believe that what Quideos is predicting is the rising of the undead filth once again, although I was able of confirming that whilst the undead forces were defeated then, none mentioned a total victory, none of the gravelords that I found out about were even guessed to have been taken out, all that I know, is that their king was tightly sealed in his crypt, which I can only suppose is linked to the guarded ruin of Starkefolten, as for the rest, it is all up in the air"

"Well, I am not very knowledgeable of the war with the undead, details are hard to come by, you are the only one that seem to have any sort of knowledge on it, and still, I don't suppose that you know much about the gravelords and such?" the king asked, considering the possibility, if it was really an undead menace that was coming, then it was even worse than his wildest ideas.

He had thought of many things, but none were as obviously damning as the dead that hates life, their numbers could endlessly grow as they lost theirs, although incredibly rare nowadays and regularly hunted down by death hunters, the undeads still hold a reputation as difficult enemies to face.

"The folks of the underground tower probably know more" she refrained her want to spat on the ground, not a very big fan of those corpse lovers, who hid in their towers situated somewhere hidden, sending out papers singing the praises of the undead.

"Very well then, let me try to contact them" the king casually mentioned.

'He makes it sound like that is an easy thing to do…'