Re: Gwen's favor. {{Invite only now}}

[Gwendolan]

Gwen looked at the castle taking it all in, it was a massive structure and it was very beautiful, the castle still had the ancient look to it.

The walls were perfectly squared north, east, west, and south. She looked at the moat, the murky water disturbed her, she could make it clean with little effort and would offer to do so later.

She smiled at Venis when she looked at her and shot an arrow over the wall. She stayed silent as they waited. This was time Venis needed to get her mind ready to walk into the keep and face her fears.

The drawbridge came down and the ground shook under the weight of it. Gwen waited, Venis had to go first. She saw Venis dismount and took the reigns as they were handed to her.

She heard what V said and it struck her as odd, one god asking another for serenity. She just smiled and waited as Venis crossed the bridge before following behind her.

[Guest]

Venis was still clutching that amulet as she stood there looking towards the inside of her castle. Her heart was pounding in her chest without her even thinking about making it pump. In fact, it was pounding so hard that she felt a hint of something she thought was gone. It almost made her feel better to know that someone else might be feeling her pain.

She could hear Gwendolan walking the unicorns across the drawbridge. She swallowed hard as she waited. But as Gwendolan was almost across someone opened the door to her right that was in the portal of the drawbridge. It was the door to the room where the wheel was for moving the drawbridge. The reason the door opened was because an employee was coming out of it to greet her. But she didn't know that when she heard the door. So she screamed and jumped to the side.

[Guest]

The man saw Venis and was startled himself. "Venis, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. Please forgive me. I only came out to report to you that there been some strange happenings around. The little lamb that usually comes to my door when it is set to roam free has not returned in two nights time. I worry that something is amiss. Other animals seem to be missing as well. Though it is too few to cause panic just yet." He waited for her to react.

[Guest]

Venis composed herself ad looked at the man. "Ok, thank you Robert. Have Luke investigate the matter for me please." She smiled at the man, though it was not very genuine at the moment. "Is that why the drawbridge was up?" She figured that had to be the reason.

She looked over at Gwendolan and smiled. "Gwendolan, Robert, Robert, Gwendolan. She is Manny's girlfriend. Robert is one of my gate keepers." She released her amulet for a moment as she looked out at her lands. Was there something out there that did not belong? And was it killing her animals?

[Guest]

Robert nodded to Venis. "Yes ma'am, I will call him right away." He smiled at her then. "Yes, we felt it best to keep the bridge closed We have devised a system of using flares to signal a gate opening." He looked over at the lady on Rapture and smiled. "Pleasure miss Gwendolan. Glad to see Manny has found someone. Here, let me take these lovelies for you." He reached up to take the reigns for Empyrean and Rapture, waiting for her to dismount of course.

[Gwendolan]

Gwen almost jumped when Venis did. But she saw right away that it was just a man. She rode the rest of the way across the bridge. She got a concerned look on her face as she heard about the missing animals.

Venis moved the conversation along before she had a chance to say anything. She was being introduced to the man.

"Hello Robert. it is a pleasure to meat you."

She was sliding off Rapture slowly as he reached for the reigns.

"I found Manny too."

She was blushing and glowing at the same time, it probably looked a bit funny.

[Guest]

Robert nodded to the lady. "Right, right. I dare say he is a lucky devil though miss." He reached up a hand so she wouldn't slip on her way down. "Let me tie these baby's to the hitching post and then I'll call for a stable hand. Venis, do you want the draw bridge open or closed while you are here?" He walked the unicorns over to the hitching post and tied them up.

After he got an answer from Venis he would head back to the gate room. His cell phone was in there and he would place the call as promised. And the stable hand would be there rather soon to come and care for the unicorns. While that was being done, Robert would also call Luke and ask him to come out to the castle as well so he could deliver the message for Venis. Because he felt that it was a matter of great importance.

[Guest]

Venis nodded to Robert as he said he would hitch up the unicorns. When he asked if she wanted the drawbridge up or down it only took seconds for her to respond. "Down!" *Ahem* "Down please Robert. Thank you." She looked over at Gwendolan and took a deep breath. As soon as Robert was back inside the gate room her heart started to pound again. Because that meant that it was time for them to move on.

She cleared her throat in hopes of preventing her voice from cracking. "So, where do you want to go first? If we explore first, then you don't have to carry everything around as we explore." It was a suggestion, though she really wished she could just send her in to get the stuff and then go. But that was not going to work, she had made Gwendolan promise to force her into the castle, no matter what.

[Gwendolan]

She knew this was hard for Venis and so was patient with her. She nodded to Robert as he took the unicorns away. She was moving slowly as she was a bit stiff, it would quickly work its way out.

Now what Gwen did next was out of character for her but she felt that Venis needed the extra encouragement and comfort. She took Venis' hand in her own and began walking.

"Let us explore first."

[Guest]

Venis smiled with the touch. Then she nodded. "Top to bottom or bottom to top. The storage room is in the basement. Oh, and East to West, or vice versa?" She had no idea which way was even up at this point. Were it not for Gwendolan taking her hand, she might have very well passed out at this point.

[Gwendolan]

She smiled and squeezed her hand.

"If the storage is in the basement than top to bottom and east to west."

She moved further into the castle.

[Guest]

When they moved forward they made an immediate turn to the right and went into the first door they came to. The kitchen. She released Gwendolan's hand as she smiled to the employee who was in there preparing something. It looked to be a meal or something for the employees who were on duty within the castle. They said their hello's and made their way through the breakfast room. It was done in bright colors and had a bay window that filled the room with morning light in the mornings. The kitchen had also been done in bright colors so the cooks could see better. There was a table for ten in the room done in cedar for the light hue of the wood. Venis was not all that fond of the room, but she rarely ate breakfast so it was fine.

From there they moved to the formal dinning room. It had a very long oak table that could seat fifty. There were also buffet tables with Lazy Susan's along the wall for the food to be placed. It was done in darker colors and had scones along the walls as well as diamond chandeliers. All of which would hold candles or could run off of electricity. There were candelabras and center pieces with silk roses upon the table as well as a full place setting for fifty in gold leaf china with gold flatware.

From there they moved into the first stairwell in the tower. So they headed up the stairs. The stairwell wound with the tower as it climbed up to the second floor. At the top, over by the window, there were some bean bag chairs. A black one and a red one. They looked perfect in that spot. She understood what Manny meant by perfect places to read. She moved to the door and opened it. They were then facing a hallway that went forward or to the left. The hall of rooms that were made into closets.

[Gwendolan]

Gwen nodded at any employees they passed. She looked at the different rooms they went through. She loved all the bright colors. The buffet tables made her stop. She walked over to them and spun the lazy susan. She looked at Venis the delight in her face made her look like a child.

She followed Venis into the stairwell and climbed up the stairs behind her. When they reached the second floor. She saw the beanbag chairs and stopped. She had to look at them; she had never seen anything like them before. She could tell they where supposed to be chairs so she sat down in one. She looked out the window and then stood up.

"That chair feels funny."

She then followed down the hallway. To the left she saw a dead end so they must be going straight. The first door on the right said Mikayla. The next door said Krystal. Gwen noticed there were no doors on the left side of the hall. The next door had Tasha's name on it but there was an E under her name. Then Tasha again with a D.

They continued further down the hallway. She saw Venis and Khan had rooms too with E and D. Then there was another door at the end of the hall; this one stood open revealing stairs. Off to the left was another hallway.

"Venis, why do some of the doors have an E and a D on them?"

[Guest]

Venis smiled. "Those are closets. Some of my followers (She wasn't going to call them flamers in front of Gwendolan.) give gifts of clothing to me and my family. There is so much of it, that we needed to store it. Those are supposed to be bedrooms, but we converted them, sort of. The D stands for day wear, and the E is evening wear." She opened the door to her day wear closet. "The sad thing is, this is mostly stuff we either can't wear or would never wear."

The room was filled with chests of drawers along the North and South walls of the room. And then there were racks and racks of clothing. It was like a clothing store that was very overstocked. Venis and Kahn both had clothing in the room. "I am thinking that I should open my boutique and put these clothes in it. There's just too many. You're welcome to come raid these closets any time." She figured that there was bound to be some stuff in there that would fit her, in Tasha's closets maybe.

[Gwendolan]

She looked in the room. It was massive there was stuff everywhere, She had never seen so much clothing in one place in her life.

"I guess it makes sense that they would give you gifts."

She heard Venis say that she could raid the closet just as something caught her eye. She walked into the closet and picked up a blue cloak. It was a summer cloak very light weight. She smiled at her.

"Maybe just this."

She placed it around her shoulders and smiled again.

"I think opening a shop would be a lovely idea."

She then headed up the stairs to the next floor. When they reached the top of the stairs there was another sitting area off to the right. In the little alcove was a window seat. It looked like it had been recently vacated because there was an open book sitting on it.

[Guest]

Venis noticed the open book in the window seat as well. She was happy to see that someone was getting some use out of this place. "I've never been up here before." They headed down the East hall again. It seemed to have the same number of doors as the second floor. She wondered if it was more bedrooms. So she opened one of the doors. And it was. The room was the same size as the rooms below. She smiled. "Guess this hall is a copy of the one downstairs, only empty." She had more room than she thought.

When they reached the South end of the hall, they went into the tower to climb the next set of stairs. Her heart was still pounding in her chest, but she thought she was doing a pretty good job of hiding it. She had been listening the whole time they had been exploring for any sounds that weren't supposed to be there. So far the place had been quiet. But that didn't make her let her guard down. At the top of the stairs, there were two inflatable chairs. She arched an eyebrow at them before she opened the door to the fourth floor hall.

[Gwendolan]

"It looks like it."

They walked the rest of the way down the hallway ignoring the other doors, they would open them later. They climbed the stairs to the forth floor. When she saw the inflatable chairs and scratched her head. She was not going to try sitting in one of those.

As soon as the door to the forth floor was opened she got a very strange feeling. Something here was not right. She tried to shake it off but couldn't Maybe there was something to the haunting after all.

All the door on this hall where on the right side. She didn't open any of them she just wanted off this floor. They made there way to the end of the hallway and began to climb the stair to the fifth floor. What was that in the little alcove to the right? Where those giant flowers? No, they where chairs that where made to look like flowers.

[Guest]

Venis' brow furrowed as they headed down the hall. She had been feeling a little extra ill, but it seemed the higher they went within the castle the worse it got. She had thought the flower shaped chairs were rather cute, but that was all the thought she could afford them because she was really starting to feel very sick to her stomach.

She opened the door to the fifth floor hall and decided to go South along the East hall first. They would just make their way around the floor and back to the same stairwell to go back down. Exploring everything along the way. This hall only had five doors. Which made Venis think that they were not bedrooms like the previous three floors.

So she went to the first door on the right. She gripped the amulet as it had started to get rather warm against her flesh. She opened the door and inside there was twenty couches. Venis' mouth fell open. She had no idea that these were even here. She walked in to let Gwendolan have a look too. They were each different in some way. She was amazed. There were couches along the walls, and then other ones mounted to the wall above those. And then there were six more in the middle of the room.

When they moved on to the second room, Venis arched both eyebrows before opening the door. Inside the second room there were twenty love seats that matched the twenty couches from room one. She was definitely going to have to ask someone about this furniture. She moved so Gwendolan could see as well before moving onto the next room. They were all placed in the same design as the couches, including the number of them upon the walls. So this room looked like it had more walking space.

She moved to the third door and looked at Gwendolan. "Chairs?" And low and behold, there were about fifty various chairs and ottomans in the room. They all matched the couches and love seats. But they were of different styles. Some were recliners, some were cushion chairs, some had matching ottomans. It was very interesting. Venis was still feeling ill, but she didn't want to worry Gwendolan, so she kept quiet as she moved to let her see the room.

The fourth room was opened to reveal twenty different sets of coffee tables, each with two end tables. Obviously this was set up to furnish a living room, well, twenty of them. With several combinations possible. One would just have to pick a style for the couch and love seat, then pick the type of chair from the ones available that matched, then pick a set of tables. This made Venis smile. She moved to let Gwendolan in as she ran her fingers along one of the tables. Real wood, no particle board.

The fifth and final room had ten sectional couch sets. They were arranged in much the same fashion as the couches were, but instead of a different couch being mounted on the wall there was the other two pieces of the sectional. And there was only three in the middle of the floor. Though, they were clustered together, not put together the way they belonged. She moved to let Gwendolan in.

When they left the room they were at the South east corner, there was a door to go into the tower. But the only thing that was in there was a set of stairs that led up. At the top of those stairs there was a door in the roof. It opened up to the outside area atop the tower. Venis peeked and asked Gwendolan if she wanted to look too. Because from there they would head across the South hall headed West.

[Gwendolan]

When they got to the fifth floor instead of getting better the feeling got worse. She tried to hide it from Venis by smiling but it didn't reach her eyes. She moved along after Venis trying to shake the feeling that was getting worse. She looked in the rooms one by one.

The amount of furniture had her in aww the rooms where huge. Couches, love seats. What was next. She would feel a few of the pieces and then move on.

"I'll bet you are right."

She was when the door was opened there where chairs of all types and sizes. Then the next room was the tables that matched the rest of the furniture, This was a lot of stuff. What would it all be used for?

Venis opened the last door on this side and moved to let her in. She moved to sit down on one of the sectionals. She was actually looking around for something to pop up from around a corner.

Then Came the tower. Venis went up.

"No that's ok I'll got up the last one."

Gwen moved to the doors this time, it seemed like they had been taking turns the whole way up and this would be her turn.

She opened the first door and looked in there where several beds of different sizes and styles. Well they should have been beds but the mattresses where not there. There were a few set up to show the different styles but the others were stacked neatly along racks on the walls.

She went to the next room and opened the door. in here she saw dresser matching the different beds they had just seen. Some had mirrors some did not. They were all beautiful and had a varnished finish.

She moved to the third door this room looked almost empty after the other room but it was not, it just had smaller nightstands in it, the took up less room than the other pieces.

The forth door she opened had huge chests, armoires, and the taller dressers. This was so much furniture, She felt a sudden sadness at the loss of so much wood. She hoped they had at least replanted the trees they cut to make this.

She left that room and opened the final door. There where the mattresses, oh and the bedding too. The mattresses where stacked along the wall with the bedding on shelves. They had finished this side of the fifth floor. They rounded the corner.

The feeling kept getting worse. What was going on up here?

[Guest]

((Language warning.))

Venis stopped at the corner by the door into the tower. She opened the door and looked up in. There was the hatch just as in the previous tower. But she got a little dizzy from her upset stomach. She shook it off and headed up the West hall going North.

The first of the five doors was opened to reveal dinette sets. The chairs were lined up side by side, and the tables had their legs removed so that everything would sit in the chairs. It was rather efficient. Venis just closed her eyes and took a few cleansing breaths as she moved to let Gwendolan see in.

The next room had bookcases everywhere. Lots of them, of all different shapes and sizes. It was rather neat to be able to walk through it, it was like an empty library. She let Gwendolan see the room before they moved on. She was sure that there was something wrong. She even started hearing voices again. His voice.

By the third room she was sure that the ghosts had found her. She was snapping her head this way and that to see where the voices were coming from. She walked into the room that was full of entertainment centers. She started looking behind them and around them. She was on the verge of panic already. She shook it off as she let Gwendolan look into the room.

The fourth room had very ornate china cabinets and buffet tables. Venis loved her buffet tables for storing her dishes. It made it easier if she had to move. No emptying the kitchen drawers. Her head was spinning with all the noises and the voices. She moved to let Gwendolan see as she asked her the obvious question. "Gwendolan, do you hear voices?" She had a feeling that she knew the answer already.

She moved to the fifth room, the last room in this section. She opened the door to reveal desks. Several desks of different shapes, sizes, and designs. Venis looked at the desks, even moved to let Gwendolan see them. But it wasn't really registering in her head. What was registering was the heat of the amulet and the noise in her head.

As they left the room of desks and headed to the North West tower one voice was registering in her head louder than anything else. In fact, this was the clearest it had ever been. And there was nothing she could do to block it out. She tried screaming in her head and that didn't even work. She was ready to call in a Catholic Priest. This was getting ridiculous.

~You stupid witch, how dare you. You never should have done what you did to me. I loved you you psychotic bitch. I left my wife for you. You're going to pay for what you did for the rest of your unnatural life. You are an abomination. You shouldn't even exist. How dare you do what you did to me. I deserve better than what you did. Everything would have been fine if you had just left that dumbassed husband of yours. He's not worthy of your love, not worthy of you. I made myself half evil just to be with you and you do this to me?~

Those words just kept repeating themselves, over and over again in her head. All she could do was argue back. ~I love my husband and he loves me. I never loved you, I never wanted you. You should have just left me alone and stayed with your wife. You got what you deserved, leave me alone.~ A blood tear ran down her face. She just waited for Gwendolan to open the door to the tower and go look at the top of the stairs to see the view. She had said she would in this tower.

[Gwendolan]

Gwen was not enjoying herself at all. This was very strange, she was hearing things now; a strange humming noise, she couldn't block it out. The rooms while interesting just were not holding her attention, she went into each one and looked, but her heart was not in it.

"No I don't hear voices, but I do hear a strange humming noise, and I have a feeling I can't shake."

The last room was filled with desks, she ran hand over one. Leaving the room she looked at the final tower. She opened the door.

"Venis, something is not right here. The ceiling is to low."

She went up the ladder; as soon as she touched the hatch she moved back down the ladder and came out of the tower room. She had a lost look on her face.

"What was I just doing?"

[Guest]

"Too low?" She shook her head as she tried once again to drown out the voices in her head. She went into the room and sure enough, the ceiling was lower. This was odd to her. The amulet within her shirt was now pressing against the fabric as if it was trying to get to that door. She headed up the steps to the door. When she placed her hand against it to open it she forgot what she was doing there.

But the amulet reminded her. It was as if it was magnetically drawn to the door. She placed her hand against the door again. "Coupure." One word, in French, and then a bright, blinding, light filled the room. It was enough for to make Venis back down a few steps and cover her eyes. Whatever ward was placed upon the room had just been broken. The advantages of being a God.

Once the light went out, Venis went back up to the door. She swung it open and the voices started screaming in her head. She could barely move they were so loud. When she got into the room she found out why. She had barely cleared the top step when she found herself doubled over in pain. "KAHN!" She screamed out to her husband as she dropped to her knees and covered her ears.

When she looked to the source of her misery she saw a floating orb. It beamed with a radiating inner light. She could see the souls swimming within the orb. They were calling out to her, begging for her to come and release them. "Help us, free us, protect us." Over and over again.

She brought her arms up over her face to shield her eyes from the orb and the souls that were reaching out to her from within it. "Somebody help me!" She was in tears and hissing at the orb. It was like a blessed cross. Only this orb was something far worse. This orb was pure, unadulterated evil. Too much evil for even Venis to touch.

[Gwendolan]

Gwen dazed in confused had really just forgotten what she was doing; when she saw Venis enter the tower room she remembered and went to the door in time so see a brilliant light fill the room. It was so bright that it blinded her for a few moments.

She was still seeing spots when she heard Venis scream out a name. The sound she had been hearing was louder now. She heard Venis crying out for someone to help her. She was not sure what she could do to help a god, but whatever she could do she would.

She claimed the ladder and went through the trap door, as soon as she got her head through the door she was hit with an overwhelming sense of evil. She was drawn to the orb floating in the middle of the room. She began heading towards it the humming in her ears getting louder vibrating through her whole body. She moved slowly her hand coming up reaching for it.

Her mind was screaming for her to stop but her body was moving on its own.

[Guest]

Venis could see Gwendolan from behind her arms that shaded her eyes. She was moving towards the orb with her hand outstretched towards it. "Don't touch it!" Said matter-of-factly. There was a sense of urgency to her voice. "Cover it, please! Cover it up Hide them, I don't want them looking at me." She might have sounded a bit scared at that point. But it wasn't exactly fear. It was something worse.

The darkness of those souls swimming within that orb were calling to her, trying to draw her in. They wanted her to set them free. They wanted to get out of the orb ... And into her. These were the ghosts of the castle. And that damned fallen Paladin had been keeping them here. Keeping them captive.

There was so much evil in that orb. She was trying to separate them in her head. Each soul had once been a living being. But there were too many. And they were all speaking at once. Even after the orb was covered, she would still hear them, but they would be muffled. Just like they had been before the door had been opened. Maybe then, Venis could make sense of their chorus of voices.

[Gwendolan]

Gwen stopped when she heard Venis. The command seemed to break the trance that she was under. She put her hand down and stood still. Cover it up; yes that was a good idea. She looked around the room, it was bare except for the orb and the two women.

She removed the cloak she had just put on and threw it over the orb. Then she went to Venis knelt down beside her.

"Are you ok?"

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