Meeting the Duchess

The group had a general idea of where to go, thanks to Marcalumis’s work as a merchant before her corruption and Rtsmohuternd’s information provided from her former life as the lord’s daughter. This lord, Ludmira, was a bit of a departure from the traditional approach when it came to lordship, but as the queen's sister, she was granted the title of Duchess and given the border area that the guild and in occupied to watch over, it also helped she had a few accomplishments of note under her belt. That all said, the more were a number of more well-established noble families that didn’t care much for her, so they deliberately only referred to her as the general Lord title when referring to her. They were accepting of Queen Ludmilla due to her status as an accomplished hero, but Ludmira’s status as the younger sibling of a hero didn’t help her out all that much. Of course, this also stoked the fires of Ludmira’s one-sided sibling rivalry, which manifested in the form of attempts to one-up and rile up the queen.

Ganmither, Rtsmohuternd, and Murcalumis, all in their mortal guises, were on the road to the grounds that acted as the new residence of the duchess. When Rtsmohuternd was growing up as Ludmara, the residence was in a noticeably different location, but after Ludmara had left home, her mother made arrangements for a new manor to act as her new residence. While Rtsmohuternd would not really know the layout or trap. She knew more than enough about Ludmira on a more personal level for that to almost be a moot point. Ganmither was pulling the merchant cart behind her.

Before they knew it, the small hamlet that the manor was in view. It didn’t look like anything special, other than the seventy-foot-high wall that encircled the hamlet, and said wall seemed to be plated in bronze or some similar metal. Usually, city walls like this were made of wood or stone that was reinforced with various materials and enchantments.

“Well,” said Ganmither, as Madre, “that’s different. What do you think warrants such a towering bulwark.”

“Yeah,” said Ludmara, “she always did like to be a bit flashy. My guess is the place had a history of being assaulted by some really nasty monsters, or has a history of bandit attacks.”

A few minutes later, they were at the gates and met by a pair of guards who were completely covered in heavy armor with an intimidating design; you couldn’t even tell if they were a man or woman under the armor before they made a sound. “Identification, if you please,” said the guard on the right with what sounded like a man’s voice reverberating a bit in his armor. “We are required to check and see if you are permitted entry.”

Dalmira presented her merchant’s license, while Madre and Ludmara presented their adventurer identification tags. The guard took them, then pulled a crossbow-like device, and placed all three on it; after a few minutes, they handed the items back and said, “You’re all clear for entry,” then turned to Ludmara and said, “Her ladyship requested you visit her when you arrive at your earliest convenience.”

“Well,” said Ludmara, “that makes things easier on all of us; we actually came here with the intent of seeing her.”

“Very good,” said the guard on the left with a more feminine-sounding reverberating voice, “just follow the main road down until you pass the inn, then make a left at the fountain, be sure to pay your respects to the figure atop the fountain, keep on for a bit until you meet the intersection and turn right, the rest will take care of itself.”

The three expressed some sense of confusion over the instructions over the private demonic line but didn’t voice anything. They gave the guards a courteous gesture and then followed the path as instructed. The moment they reached the end of the instructions, the three of them, and the cart, were suddenly on a hill before a four-story manor that was gated with an impressive-looking iron fence. Turning around to get a better look at the setting, they saw they were on a hill that overlooked the town that had miraculously not been seen by any of them.

“I’m guessing she set up an illusion spell around the entire hill to hide it; that had to take quite a bit of time and magic to pull off. And it’s probably a pain to actually maintain.”

Ganmither unhooked herself from the cart and trotted up to stand next to her two companions before saying, “I do hope we didn’t make a miscalculation; we could have had a more impressive entourage.”

“But I advised against it,” said Ludmara, “don’t worry. Even if this plan is a wash, we can at least bring back some useful info.” After spending a moment looking around, the three found the gate; it seems something messed with the magic that brought them to the hill because there were some very confused guards when they approached the gate.

“You were supposed to appear at this gate,” said a guard a female guard in armor that was much more revealing on who was wearing it; it seemed to be some kind of accented leather armor. The other guard was a man who was attired similarly.

“We are almost as much at a loss as you are,” said Dalmira diplomatically, “maybe it had something to do with some of my enchanted cargo, I made a request to the guild where I started my journey, and these two were the only takers,” she gestured to Ganmither and Ludmara.

“Yes, of course,” said the guard, “we will inform her ladyship of this development.” She made a gesture to her partner before rushing over to the manors front door, a pair of double doors that appeared to be some kind of oak with silver and gold and gemstone filigree painting a mural of Ludmira herself casting some kind of spell. The guard took a knocker which was amusingly placed in such a way as to cover up Ludmira’s bosom while also giving the impression that the size of the knocker was the size of her bust, and brought down the knocking bit five times in a peculiar pattern. Ludmara knew her mother’s bust was an impressive L-Cup, but the knocker shenanigan ironically made them look smaller instead of bigger.

The three watched as the guard exchanged some sort of conversation with whoever the door attendant was for an extended moment before returning to the gate. “So,” said Ludmara as the guard finished approaching the gate, “what’s the word?”

“Her ladyship will likely be a bit surprised at the presence of a few additional guests,” said the guard, “but it should not be of too much concern.” The two guards opened the gate through some odd ritual instead of the use of a key; then the female guard led the three inside.

The three were met by an elf maid who led them to the room that had been designated as their meeting area. Along the way, there were ostentatious presentations that all glorified Ludumira, and Ludmara in a few places, but nothing to praise the royal family. When they got to the room for the intended meeting, a small handful of ornate paintings of the royal family could be seen around the room, but that was it for royal symbology. The room was rather ostentatious and gaudy, but not in a way that was tacky yet fell short of being classy. Greens and indigoes with a few hints of blue were the color scheme of the room; ironically, those were the colors mages typically associated with summoning magics.

In the center of the room, in a gaudy highback chair with ornate angel wings that seemed to be crafted of silver or platinum, where the middle of her back met the chair, sat their host, Ludmira. She was sipping tea from an ornate porcelain cup that almost looked like it was carved from ivory and was covered in gold filigree to give the impression it had been cracked before, but she didn’t want to get rid of it for one reason or another.

“I was wondering when you would wander into the area,” said Ludmira in a voice that sounded like it was a cultivated sophistication, “The last I heard from you was that letter two years ago.”

“You know how the life is, Mother,” said Ludmara, “you did it yourself.”

“Only so I could get away from the inane chatter and rumors from my family regarding my sister,” said Ludmira in an annoyed tone. “So, what brings you here.”

“Business,” said Dalmira, “I am a merchant by trade; I find it more fulfilling to not stay in one place too long; it also means I can go where the wares are when I need them and where I think I can get some good customers.”

“What sort of wares,” inquired Ludmira as she watched the three each take their own seats in the room as to be more comfortable talking to her.

“Mundane and magical,” said Dalmira, “I heard you are a collector of sorts; perhaps you would like to browse my wares to see if anything catches your attention.”

“That sounds like it could be lovely,” said Ludmira, “I’ll need to check my collection to see what I could have room for.”

“Feel free to take your time,” said Dalmira, “I know rushing customers is usually bad for business.”

“I’m thankful to hear there are some in the trade that get it,” said Ludmira.

“Sorry about the late introduction,” said Dalmira, “I’m Dalmira, the centaur is Madre,” she gestured to Madre, who was now in a sort of half sit near the couch Dalmira chose to sit in, “and I think you’re familiar with my third companion, seeing as you had the guards at the gate give her a message.”

“Yes,” said Ludmira, “we are quite familiar with each other. I am Duchess Ludmira; it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Now then, where did you leave your cart.”

“Near where the spell to bring us here dropped us off,” said Madre, “it’s not by the gate, more like a short walk to the left of the gate.”

“Yes,” said Ludmira, “the charm to bring guests to my abode seems to have misfired a bit. I’ll need to inspect the cart and its contents thoroughly to see what sort of enchantments are in play, and your gear as well. Sometimes spell arrays have some interesting side effects on each other.”