#curious to see how she and rakha are gonna get along

[blackjackkent]

Bit of a later start on liveblogging adventures today than I intended; work got a bit nutty right as I thought I was wrapping things up. XD But here we go, back into Moonrise Towers!

So far Rakha is not particularly enjoying her visit but she (and I) are very intrigued by the first encounter with Ketheric Thorm, who very strongly implied that Rakha has been here before her memory loss.

I'm trying to decide what order to do things and I think I wanna go ahead and get Minthara to safety immediately, so we're starting with the prison break immediately and then exploring the rest of the Tower afterwards. Fundamentally I don't think Rakha specifically cares about Minthara, but her greatest goal in Moonrise besides wreaking a bloody revenge on Ketheric is probably finding Wyll's father for him, which also would entail investigating the prison as soon as possible. (And Shadowheart has planted the idea that Minthara might be useful to them, since she's marked for death at the cult's hands already.)

To the basement!

The prison smells deeply of blood.

In a way it's something of a relief. The Towers' main level, while at least free of the painful prickle of corrupted magic, had a sharp decaying scent to it, something Rakha can't quite put a name to. The prison, however, smells like death - and for better or for worse, that is familiar.

(This ties, of course, with that continuing nagging feeling of certainty that she has been here before, that she knows these people. It itches at the back of her brain and makes the beast growl angrily.)

She follows the blood trail into the nearest room on the left, half by intention and half by instinct.

And, sure enough, there is Minthara, flanked by two Absolutist torturers and clutching her head in evident agony.

For a little while, Rakha stands in the doorway of the torture chamber, listening with muted curiosity as the torturers pepper the unfortunate prisoner with questions. What she hears is... illuminating.

Sumera: "Do you yet recall your name, prisoner?" Minthara: "Minthara Baenre." Jasin: "We will take it from you soon."

Minthara: "Queen of Spiders, I beseech of you the strength to destroy my foes." Jasin: "Lolth cannot hear you. She has forsaken you." Sumera: "There are no gods left to you, Minthara. You are alone."

Sumera: "How can you hope to resist the voice of a god?" Minthara: "It is no god!" Jasin: "Blasphemer!"

Jasin: "You are despised, Minthara." Sumera: "A blemish in the Absolute's design." Jasin: "We will cleanse you."

Rakha's jaw works thoughtfully. Some of the words here - Lolth in particular - are unfamiliar, but the implications are interesting, regardless. Minthara is being tortured with the intention of blanking her mind completely; "purification," one of the torturers calls it. And yet Minthara is fighting back, and not only that but is calling out to a different god, as if she is fighting not only the torture but the Absolute's control itself.

Beneath this cool analysis, Rakha's thoughts rage with other questions. She knew these people once, and in those memories lost to her, she is certain she once tortured and killed without question. Did she torture others like this, in this very room?

And deepest of all, a question she does not quite dare to examine - was she cleansed as Minthara is being cleansed? Is that what happened to her memory?

"You were adored, Minthara," one of the torturers purrs, looking pleased as Minthara doubles over with a new surge of pain. "Brought up from the darkness and into the Absolute's light."

"She cherished you," says the other. "But it wasn't enough. You were distracted by your own desires. Bloodlust. Murder. Chaos."

"And most damning of all," says the first, "an inability to follow orders."

"I obeyed to the best of my ability!" Minthara cries. Her voice is strained with agony.

"And isn't that depressing?" sneers the torturer. "You are nothing!"

Narrator: Minthara's mind connects with yours. Not strong as you remember it, but fractured... disintegrating.

The difference is stark. Rakha remembers Minthara's mind closing around hers in the dark dampness of the goblin camp - singleminded and full of purpose, driven by fervor for the Absolute. Nothing like this broken, shattered woman whose mind touches Rakha's in frightened wisps.

Is this how I too fell to oblivion?

"Come to observe, True Soul?" the torturer asks with casual eagerness, turning at the sound of Rakha's footsteps. "She is a lesson. None can rise so high that they cannot fall again?"

"What are you doing to her?" Rakha asks sharply.

The torturer gives Rakha a slow, gleeful smile. "We are erasing her."

Rakha does not care about Minthara's survival per se. In fact, she already thought she killed the drow once and in some ways would be happy to do it again. But Shadowheart's earlier suggestion was salient - there's reason to believe Minthara might be of use to them since the cult has discarded her. And she wants to know more about this cleansing, and anything Minthara might be able to tell her about her previous time here.

That, of course, requires getting rid of the two pipsqueaks. Tempting to simply kill them, but as usual... answers first.

[INTIMIDATION] "Stand aside. I'm taking charge here."

"Yes - your authority is great," the torturer says with eager deference, stepping aside. "We can learn, watching you break what little remains of her mind."

And indeed, there is some part of her that hums with instinct. She knows with sudden certainty that she could shatter Minthara's mind apart like a cracked egg, if she wished. It would take no effort at all; she would melt, broken beyond repair, her body sprawling upon the floor with a dying whine...

Reach out for the drow's mind.

It takes remarkable effort to maintain her focus, to ignore the destructive temptation and instead to listen.

Narrator: Immediately, your mind is swept into a greater vortex. A psionic storm with Minthara at its center.

Dizziness swamps her. For a moment she can't remember where she is or what is happening. There is only her mind and Minthara's, entwined in a dance that is mysterious and familiar at the same time.

But no-- there is something else.

"--CANNOT-- -hide- -SUBMIT-- -embrace-----"

The voice shudders through her like the blade of a knife - the same voice she heard on the path to the goblin camp, weeks ago.

Narrator: Her torturers are not dominating her. They are destroying her mental defenses and exposing her to something else. The Absolute?

[WISDOM] Push past the presence, towards Minthara.

Narrator: Navigating the storm, you reach the nexus of her mind. It is a wound, bleeding raw emotion and shattered memories. But she senses your arrival.

It feels deeply uncomfortable. Even with Wyll and Lae'zel, she has never connected so directly and deeply with another person. It is strange and intimate and sour-sweet; it tastes of the torture that part of her still longs to administer.

Minthara peers inwardly at her, the interloper within her broken mind.

"So it is you who will end me," she rasps. "Make it swift, then. Anything to silence that thing - that voice..."

Tempting. Tempting... so tempting to reach out and strangle her again, choking the life out of Minthara's mind as she once choked the life out of her body. But no. There are better targets now.

"Share my strength," she answers, cold and calm and practical against the battering waves of Minthara's terror. "And strike the guards down."

Minthara's breath catches; Rakha can feel the flash of hope through her where before there was only black despair. She nods. "But first... let's make these bastards bleed..." she snarls.

Narrator: Her mind fills with warmth, and she gently releases you.

Rakha feels the solidity of her body again; as her eyes open, she watches Minthara cease her trembling and struggle back to her feet, shaking off the torture and clenching her fists.

"Impossible!" she hears one of the torturers shout. "She was broken!"

Rakha pulls the staves from her back with a flash of brutal satisfaction. And now you will be.