A tortured scream of rage burst forth from Arienne's lips; a thin, swirling column of blue flame coursed within the core of her exhalation. Arms splayed before her, Arienne lunged forward, intent on closing the long gap between them and grabbing the elf. Erissa remained on her stool as she focused quickly on Arienne's left foot. The incensed woman, already off balance, tripped and cratered to the ground, face first, in an inebriated heap.
"Look at what you have become," Erissa hissed in rebuke, "and hang your head in shame." Arienne crawled onerously forward, the front of her dress catching and snagging on the rough floor. Blood and tears streaked down her face, following the lines etched there by the intensity of her hatred.
"You've no idea what I've become," Arienne said with a visceral edge, still on all fours like an animal.
"Keep the gold," Erissa said as she rose from her stool, gathering her things, "and your life. Live in the misery of your own making; I needn't lift a finger." Erissa turned her back on Arienne and walked to the front of the tavern. She opened the door and stepped out, only to be heaved forward by a whooshing bolt of flame. As the pungent scent of burning cloth registered with her, Erissa hastily slipped out of the heavy cloak and tossed it away. The sound of maniacal laughter drifted from inside The Dark Horse. Osher barked wildly and let loose a growl, aroused by Erissa's trouble.
"Self-righteous cur," Arienne said as she staggered out of the tavern. Night accentuated her already dark features and lent her an air of eeriness. "The darkness is my domain, and it has whispered powerful secrets in my sleep." Osher cowered behind Erissa as Arienne's incantation began, echoing across the wide, empty square.
"Where life has fled and grave-worms writhe
Let bone be joined and sinew tithe
Against the debt that owns thy soul
Obey ye now and pay thy toll
For crossing o'er that river gray
Ne'er again to see the day."
Erisssa cried out in dismay, realizing Arienne was not bluffing in her earlier declaration. The dry crust of ground began to break and writhe before her as it gave birth to its dead. Fingers groped and clawed at her feet, sending Erissa running to the tightly-laid cobblestone nearby. Scores of grotesquely malformed creatures rendered of bone and withered flesh broke free from their prisons of dirt and staggered forward; Erissa clutched her staff before her, hoping to ward off the evil. She could hear the dry, slow scraping against the cobblestones beneath her feet. Erissa let loose a scream as the horrors closed in around her. She swung her staff wildly, shattering one here and another there; the spell that knit the undead together was weak and the abominations toppled like dry reeds. Arienne was quickly growing weary; after only a few moments the creatures of her creation broke asunder, disjointed and lifeless again. When Osher saw the surrounding nightmares fail, he tucked his tail and bolted for the alley.
Arienne doubled over, her energy spent for the moment. Erissa was dumbfounded by the display of power and backed away slowly; she tripped and fell among the bones, to her great terror. Arienne began cackling again. From her bodice she removed a small, rune-engraved divining rod. She dropped to her knees and plunged the sharp end into the dirt.
"My vows I made, by blood constrained,
Now manifest, from Hell unchained.
Possess the bones that lay below,
And lend thy aid against my foe."
The very ground beneath them began to rumble and groan; a hellish screech arose from abysmal depths, muffled but moving ever closer.
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