The First Psalm

Jötna notices the energy wakening her mind also exists in her flesh; a body she loathed. She begins to wriggle to give her arms the room to scrape the rest of her free. She begins thinking of revenge…

An arm emerges from the topsoil, flesh seared from intense burns. A gasping head next, red hair black with mud and soot. Zora takes her first breath in her new life... no, that's not quite right. Whatever this is, it is not life. Her breath enters scarred lungs, burning. Slowly, inch by inch, she drags herself from this grave. A chain is wrapped around her, itself showing signs of heat damage; she undoes the chain, coiling it over a shoulder.

Wait. She should not have shoulders. There is a difference between remembering and knowing. She remembers the sound of the voice that led her to this state. She knows she was betrayed. She remembers the feel of the knife slashing her face. She knows it was to silence her on the pyre. She remembers not how she died. She knows her flesh should be long gone, burnt away by the flames that had engulfed her. But here she stood, spirit made manifest. What now? Was she here for a purpose?

Not far from her, another corpse. This one had not made it to a grave. Perhaps it had not made it far from one. Very little remained, other than a tattered backpack with some goods inside, and a single, sturdy femur-bone that would have to do to defend herself. She doesn't remember the world, but she knows it is a harsh place. She will need sisters.

Confound those servants. Why is it still dark and why am I ...filthy? What the ....

Magdalene was confused. She was ever so slowly realizing that she wasn't at home. She wasn't sure exactly what was home, but this wasn't it...of that she was sure. At least she thought so.

Spitting out something from her mouth she realizes it's dirt but why can't she smell? Is this mud? One arm manages to wriggle free. It immediately goes to her neck and feels the mud-caked skin there, but why she knows not. Then she proceeds to wiggle her arms and legs until she can move more freely. Eventually, she painstakingly claws her way through the mud until she can sit upright above the mud and dirt. She's terribly disoriented and her body feels wrong.

"Is this ... a graveyard?" She slowly looks around. "I don't live here! Surely I can't be ... No. No." She looks around again, shakes her head and stares, refusing to believe what she thinks she knows.

"Mother!"

Panic stricken, she snaps open her eyes. The vision of the knife still fresh in her mind she jerks to avoid it, but something is wrong.

All is dark. All is pain.

With a cry that fills her mouth with sand she grapples with her bonds, a prison of earth and blood. Slowly, her thrashing gives way to sky, a sky as black as the grave.

Her grave.

The bundle of sackcloth and rope, like a long dormant maggot of human size, shudders violently as the dark energy saturates its hidden resting place. Bindings snap from a force within its mass and two long pale appendages emerge from the grotesque cocoon of fiber, dirt, and damp sod. Struggling and shimmying upward, the thing urged on by the wrongness of the necrotic surge, seeks to emerge.

Two long slender hands, ghostly pale, with long nails thrust upward defiantly from the soured earth. They are followed by the unnatural mass likened to a head and shoulders encased in ruined rough cloth and held together with a well-made rope. A frantic ripping ensues and quickly a head of long black hair appears.

The pale head enshrouded by the nimbus raven mane faces the shattered sky and finds a voice in a single hoarse scream.

It seemed to the young dead bride, as if she had awoken within the darkness that she had seen, in her last living moment, lurking behind her uxoricidal husband's eyes.

Now, with sight restored, she regards the dead women around her, and those beyond before the cry and the scream shake her out of her reverie. In a moment of clarity, Lilly Fey speaks, "We are a sisterhood of the dead. A sorority of the debased and disillusioned. Whatever has caused us to wake, perhaps intends that we return the evil done to us to our tormentors in kind? Which is the path that leades to justice?"

Magdalene hears the scream and then the woman who looks dead like herself speaks out and Magdalene answers. "Speak for yourself! I was never debased. Never!"

Magdalene was furious that she was being lumped into a sorority of any kind by someone she had never laid eyes on before. But then she noticed the other groups. Hideous beings, some without heads yet they walked. Rather than be alarmed she was angry. Angry that she was here and angry that she was surrounded by these ugly creatures. It felt so very wrong. She deserved better than this.

But where was this?

As the scream echoes throughout the unhallowed grounds, its source tears free of the covetous black soil. With much fury, it rips at the cloying burlap until most of it has been torn asunder. Beneath, the slender pale young woman now dons but the loosened coils of the sod-caked rope draped about her and the thread-bare remains of a fine chemise ruined by the interment and the cruel passage of time.

Silver blue eyes glint in the chance peeking of the moon through the darkness above, framed by the long serpents of her black hair. cascading down her milk white face. At the the sound of a voice, the recently returned young woman turns sharply to its owner and then to the second.

"Why..?" Is the only word that finds purchase to her lips.

Zora looks on the women gathered. Miserable wretches, much like herself. Small details flash glimpses of their former lives, shadows of who they used to be when they were filled with beauty, warmth, and vibrance. But only shadows, fleeting. Without a mirror, she had no idea what stories she told... but her current state, burnt as it was, told plenty.

She moves stiffly, her flesh not flexing the way it had prior to her death, as she shuffles to the others. "We wake because the shadow that covers our shattered land respects nothing, not even death. There is no purpose but our own. And may the gods have mercy should my purpose come to pass, for they have shown me none." Her voice comes out harsh, and after speaking she folds over in a body-wracking fit of coughing. The material expelled from her lungs could be nothing other than ash and dirt.

Althea turns towards the woman in the bride's gown and begins to cry.

"Dead? Are we dead? I don't remember what happened, I don't... I don't remember dying."

"Oh hush woman. I have an inkling, but I don't remember the way of my death either. There's no point in mewling about it. What's done is done. The question we should all be asking ourselves is what do we plan to do next?"

Magdalene tries to brush off the caked-on dirt from what is left of her fine clothes which are now full of rips and holes.

Althea scowls at Magdalene,

"Maybe you're better off this way! Who crawls out of the ground and thinks, ho-hum, just another day?"

The young lady stands from her grave and walks towards the others, testing her Shakey legs with each step. She notices a crow perched near her who seems to be staring with rapt attention.

"I remember that bird..."

She puts out an arm and the crow flies over to land upon it.

"For me, I must get back home. My sister has no one. Where in hell are we? Does anyone know the way to Galgenbeck?"
Jötna’s attempt to stop her drool makes a slurping sound. She stares at anyone looking for judgment. She’s had a rough night and may pick a fight if she doesn’t get some food.

Magdalene just scowls back at Althea whose name is surprisingly similar to her sister's she thinks but doesn't quite remember what her sister's name actually is.

"How did you do that with the bird? she wonders wide-eyed as Althea calls the crow over. Then to the slurper, she says, "Gods be damned if I know. I don't even know what Galgenbeck is? That a place or a tavern?"

"Galgenbeck... I know the name, but I don't know where it is. Or where we are. But that gives us a goal, a direction. Let us take what we can, and find this Galgenbeck." Zora looks around at some of the legible gravestones for markings that the corpse below is a witch, or for shambling corpses with remnants of gear that may be useful. She avoids getting involved in the bickering between the two.

"Yes, we should stick together. Safety in numbers. I wish I'd had that luxury whilst I was still alive"

Lilly follows Zora, examinmg headstones, wondering what their corpse's stories were.

At the mention of hunger, the pale one feels a familiar twinge in her stomach. She looks about the other occupants and an unmoving unfortunates to see if she can sense the presence of life in them and to possibly find items and better accoutrements than she has found herself in possession of for her latest debut.

With no one taking the bait to argue with her, Madalene loses interest and decides to search some of the properly dead bodies. She hides the few belongings she noticed she was buried with knowing that she will come back at least to the bottle of wine later.

Getting used to moving with this new tattered shell of a body she now inhabits, she tentatively places one foot in front of the other. After a few steps, she can walk almost regally and she approaches the nearest horizontal body that doesn't appear to be moving. Awkwardly kneeling down beside it, her bones popping with disuse, she starts to rummage through its clothing or belongings if it has any.

Seeing Magdalena searching a corpse, Jötna peers over her shoulder. "anyfing to eat?"

Something about the third gravestone, "Here lays Vilna Nox. Good riddance, witch," catches Zora's attention. If she was to fight back in her weakened state, she would need powerful magicks. Magicks that may have been left behind. She drops to her knees and frantically begins digging at the soil with her bare hands. She looks up at Lilly almost pleadingly, "Please, help!"

Magdalene looks back over her shoulder at the annoying hungry and drooling undead thing.

"Do you think you could drool somewhere else? I'm not hungry. Besides, I have to watch my figure. Oh, wait a minute. Try this." Magdalene notices the rope wound around the neck of the grotesque body. She teases it away from her skin and small chunks of the rotten flesh come away from the body and stick to the noose.

"Here, gnaw on this why don't you? Looks like some choice bits of skin are stuck to it." Handing the woman the rope she takes the rusty sword for herself. It may come in handy for her later or even now.

Katalin's foot brushes against something on the ground. She takes a stiff step back and sees a sharp wooden stake. "Well now. That is rude." She picks it up and ties it off in the coils of her ropes around her waist. "I cannot go leaving that lying around. It could give someone heartburn."

Eyeing the bloodied fat man and sizing up his head against the gravemarkers surrounding her, she spots one that looks to be perfect; not too heavy and wide enough to put a kibosh on the huge shambling corpse's locomotion...and hopefully its pitiful existence.

... "Please, help!"

"Yes, of course", Lilly drops to her knees and begins clawing at the soil, occassionally looking at Zora with a concerned expression.

Jötna eagerly grabs the bloody noose from Magdalena and starts nibbling the bits of flesh. She is simultaneously famished and repulsed by the experience.

Horrified by the hand grasping for her, Lilly attempts to throw herself backwards

Taking tombstone in hand, Katalin blindsides the fat man, bringing the grave marker down over his head and breaking it in half.

Katalin crouches beside the headless corpse of he fat man and dips two fingers in his blood. She brings it up to her mouth and tastes it, only then noticing two of her fellow dead girls have attracted the ire of another whose grave they were attempting to rob.

Lilly is unable to evade the zombie hand which now holds her neck in a vice-like, crushing grip. Desperately, she claws at the hand in an attempt to prevent her neck being crushed

"Alright, that's quite enough of that!"

Magdalene wasn't about to let some zombie choke the undead life out of the woman whose neck its hand was wrapped tightly around. She moves surprisingly quickly toward the grave and attempts to shove her newly acquired rusty knife into its boney hand hoping to break its bones.

Jötna, quite used to leaving people to fight their own battles, finds herself automatically slinking into a deeper shadow among shadows. She watches carefully until the danger settles.

Althea still stands by her own grave, trying desperately to remember anything about what were apparently her final moments. The commotion with the grave robbing draws her attention away from lamentation and she rushes over to try and help Lilly. With Magdalene already on the scene, Althea merely stands and watches helplessly. It occurs to he that the crow on her shoulder has been staring at her patiently as though awaiting instructions, so Althea locks eyes with the dead bird and speaks to it softly and slowly.

"Fly around, see where we are, see the way to Galgenbeck."

Zora leta out a little shriek as the hand erupts from the grave, falling backwards and scrambling away. Her involuntary reaction only lasts a minute before she grabs ahold of the femur she had found and begins smacking the fingers with it.

When Zora had been thrown into a grave, it seems a scroll had been thrown in with her. The magicks contained we're not benevolent, but rather malevolent. Dark, unclean powers. In her heart of hearts, she knew it was not the type of magic she had practiced... but that was before she had been murdered.

Drawing the scroll before her, Zora chants in the tongue in which it was written, one accusatory hand pointing at the undead horror flying around the graveyard. She feels the power building as she speaks, and finally the arcane energies reach out to the flying witch, intending to strangle her... though Zora was unsure if it would have any effect.

Lilly swings the back pack she was buried with off her shoulder and dashes into the tombstones and graves towards the right. As she crouches for cover she struggles to arm herself with the knife in the backpack - the very one that had taken her life. Steadily, Lilly attempts to get behind the apparition with the intent of striking, unseen, from the rear

Magdalene rushes back to her grave and grabs the crowbar, flinging it at the horrific creature. As she hurls it, another seam in her filthy dress rips, leaving her with no sleeve. The old Magdalene would have been horrified. The dead Magdalene decides that if this is the group that is her future, how she looks doesn't matter a jot.

"Aim be true!" She had heard some such nonsense being called out by an archer once upon a time. She has a very vague recollection of it as if that person belonged to her or maybe fought for her.

When the witch appears, Althea begins to cry. This is all just too much for the young woman and in an instant her fear turns to rage. Blood streams from her eyes which she wipes and flings at the witch in a blind fury.

Used to sneaking and hiding to eavesdrop or avoid unwanted attention, Jötna stays in the deepest shadows in awe of the power displayed by the rest. She feels as ill-equipped in death as she did in life.

Blood dripping from the corners of her lips, Katalin stands. She hefts the half tombstone in both hands and flings it at the floating witch-corpse.

Lilly feels as if her heart should be beating at her chest, but it does not. The murdered bride shakes her head to concentrate upon the task at hand. Just a few more steps......

Zora feels the connection of her spell maintained. Is this power what her old magic had felt like? That burning in her veins? She waits from where she stands, willing the crushing to continue. Willing the corpse to be destroyed.

"Well don't I feel dumb." Magdalene utters in disgust after she almost took out two of her allies with her inferior crowbar throwing technique.

Allies? Is that what they were?

"Did we kill her? Did we put an end to the witch?"

Katalin grabs the stake she has looped into her rope and stands ready to use it on the witch should it not succumb to the immediate efforts of the others.

"bravo, me ladees! Ne’er have I seen such bravery. Wish I wuz ‘aff as brave."

"I wish you were too!" Magdalene barks at Jotna, "Because we need to put down this evil witch before she kills us ... again."

If she has time to go back to her grave and grab the rusty sword she found she will also attack the witch.

'How are they bickering at a time like this,' Zora thinks to herself as she clenches her teeth. The flow of magic slowly becomes easier, and the dead witch finds herself more able to act while concentrating on the spell. Taking the femur out in a defensive stance, she continues crushing the Lady Nox.

With a banshee-like scream, Lilly rushes towards the witch and plunges her knife into her back

Katalin twists away from the witch's attempt to grab her with a laugh. "Too slow old hag!" She twirls about and takes a poke at the witch with her stake, but is more concerned with staying at arm's length away than seriously stabbing with it. All the more to distract their enemy from the backstab attempt.

Jötna shrinks at the sharp words of rebuke yet she wants to be helpful so she grabs a stone to throw, although she felt no confidence for a success.
Then, after seeing her pitiful throw, she mutters almost imperceptibly,
"I'm useless, I swear it"

Feeling drained and terrified, Althea is out of ideas. She looks around for something to hit the horrid creature with and spies an old hammer laying against a gravestone. She hefts the thing with pure adrenaline and runs like a madwoman towards the witch...

"That is well done!" Magdalene says to the woman with the hammer as she offers her a slow hand clap. She hopes the rest of the undead creatures which she supposes are now allies completely forget her paltry attempt at throwing the crowbar.

More determined than before, Zora returns to her search. The power still pulsed through her veins, though it began to fade. She digs away at the hole that Vilna Nox had erupted from, knowing that there must be something inside to help her... No, them.

As no one else has yet claimed the cinder crown from the ground where it fell, Katalin picks it up and examines it. She has a strange deja vu feeling, remembering her ordeals before a woman who often wore a crown.

Althea drops the hammer and slumps to the ground next to the dead witch. She makes no move to stop Katalin from retrieving the crown, only stares at the shattered skull of the woman before her.

"Here, I'll take that. If anyone should be wearing a crown, it's me," Magdalene says to the black-haired woman with the long nails as she approaches her and makes a move to take it.

"Me ladies, beggin you, no squabblin’ amongst us. Seems as we all been thrown into ‘ell and that we may need one ‘nother ’fore long. If one among you ain’t gotta blade, ‘seems I’se buried with one."
Jötna holds up the short sword that was laid upon her chest in the grave. She wasn’t certain but the blood that stained it may be hers.

Katalin moves away from both of them. "But, you weren't wearing one in the ground were you?" She retorts to the woman with her corpsed-up face. "The blood that once flowed in my veins were the purest of blue. How about yours?"

She holds out her hand to the corpulent one. "Here. Let me see the blade, please."

Jötna hands the sword to Katalin but worries when tensions seem to have remained.

Magdalene ignores the admonition. "I have a short sword but it's rusty. And though I wear no crown now I was in line for one. Now give it here if you would ... please."

She had a strong feeling she was in line for a crown but she wasn't about to admit her doubt. Why she used the word please she didn't quite understand. It made her weak and her lips could barely form upon the word.

"Do we all have names that we remember?"

"I am Katalin de Dampierre. Daughter of Gregor de Dampierre, Lord of Nevers." The pale dark-haired young woman replies and presents the signet of her House; a rampant black wolf on the band about her finger, as she grips the short sword. "Do you have proof of your lineage and being in line for a crown?" She asks in return. "Show me and I will relinquish the crown to you."

Without looking up from the grave she digs at, "Zora. Just Zora. Quit your bickering, this place has enough negative energy without you two adding to it."

"I beg your pardon? I'm not quite used to others telling me what to do. But it is tiring to argue especially under the current duress, so as long as people show me some respect I will cooperate! Very well then, Zora. A pretty name I have to say. Simple, but pretty. And Katalin de Dampierre. Any relation to the Dampers of Kergus? The names are so close."

Now why did I think of that place? Is that where I'm from?

"Proof? What proof do you need? Can't you tell from my finery ..." she looks down at her now drab, filthy, and torn robes, "that I am from noble lineage? Do you doubt my claims?"

Nevermind that she doubted them herself.

At mention of fineries, Katalin casts a second's glance at what shredded bits of her own chemise still clung to her slender frame and held on mostly by the rope tied about her. "Yes." She answers. "The Kergüs Dampers are distance cousins." She makes no attempt to answer the questions of her doubt to the woman's lineage.

"They mostly callt me ‘girl’ or if in a mood or sumthin’, I’d hear ‘lowling’ or ‘bilgerat’ or worse. But ma momma named me Jötna after her momma. Always thought my name was purtier than I wus."

"I am Althea" says Althea without taking her eyes off the shattered skull of the witch.

Slowly she stands up, lifting the hammer and looking at the blood and hair that cakes the thing now.

"Hello ladies, I'm Lilly. I'm sorry I wasn't any use with the ... thing. I'm afraid I've not much experience with fighting. Well.... none", Lilly laughs nervously

"Well then. Now that we all know each other, what in the name of this graveyard hell hole are we going to do next?"

"Imma itchin to get to mah sister but dunno the way to Galgenbeck. If’n nuttin’ else, Ise hopin’ we go thataway."

At the mention of Galgenbeck Althea snaps out of her daze and points to the south.

"The bird! I told the bird to look for Galgenbeck and it went south, I think that's the way we should go."

"Bah! There is nothing more here for us except death. Valet us go south, then. It is the only path we see." Zora looks annoyed at the empty grave, and doubly annoyed at the women squabbling over a crown. Who cares what blood used to run through their veins, it had lost all meaning in death.

Magdalene sees the unfettered judgement in Zora's eyes.

"I disagree. There is a queenship for me and who says I can't rule in death?"

"And just what is it you want to rule? The end is coming, we're just a little closer than the rest. You want a nice chair and bickering sycophants? Take it. Just stop with your incessant whinging about blood." Zora finds her blood boiling as she snaps at the woman. Perhaps a remnant of the pyre.

"Then give me the crown and I'll stop being such a thorn in your side madame."

Magdalene doesn't really know why exactly she needs that crown as much as she does but it feels very important. Little pathways are being forged between memories and things of the current world but no concrete pattern of a way of proceeding has emerged as of yet.

Katalin is moving in the direction that has been indicated as South, having left the pointless argument behind her. Discussion was over at the point the woman could not prove her claims or even give her name. She places the crown on her head and grips the shortsword tight in one fist.

Feigning ignorance, or else indifference, Lilly silently, follows Katalin

Jötna knows not who to follow but South is the direction she heads. Keeping her eyes peeled for signs of anything edible, she plods forward.

Finished with the argument and still stinging over the failure to find any power in the witch's death, Zora moves with the group. There must be something to explain what is happening.

Magdalene glares at Katalin through narrow eyes. She has lost the battle for the crown for now but she is as tenacious as a pit viper and plans to revisit the matter soon.

She doesn't mind the increased darkness. It suits her mood, dark and brooding. When they come upon the well she frowns.

"Seems like an odd place for a well, eh ladies?"

"In mah experients, the well be always too far and the water carryin’ is put upon the ’elp. Ise ‘appy to be only gettin’ a drink for me own thurst now."
Jötna checks the pulley for workability and begins to lower the bucket by crank.

"Are we dead or alive, Jötna? Why would the dead thirst? I'm very confused. I mean, a well in the middle of a dark forest? No good can come of it; can it? I......", Lilly's words tail off replaced by tears.

....I thought the knife ended my pain, but here we are! Here I am! These women! You're not the only to suffer, silly girl. But what now? An eternity of pain and shame. Oh god, when will it end?......

Something in Zora was repulsed by the well. It didn't feel like a memory... it felt new. She backs up in the clearing away from her gathering companions and the anathema, watching what happens.

"oh Miss Lilly, I’m sure I don’ know but me thurst and me ‘ungering is mighty real."

"We're all lassies" says Althea as if waking from a dream.

She holds out her arm to call back her Raven whom she strokes adoringly. Looking around the clearing for anything other than the well, Althea keeps her eyes peeled for any sign of movement.

Katalin has not spoken much since donning the crown and stepping south into the forest. She takes up a position on the other side of the well with the shortsword in hand, as Jötna approaches the forlorn structure and lowers the bucket to get a drink.

"I wouldn't be doing that if I was you, Jötna, but then I am not. The well is likely contaminated though, and you might want to think twice about what you are about to do."

Noticing Zora back up Magdalene asks, "What is it, Zora? What frightens you so about this well?"

Katalin is unmoving, staring blankly through the well as if it is not even there, as the buckets squeaks back up via the crank.

She is still processing the sudden flash of memory restored by the crown as it touched her head.

A roaring fire in the fireplace of the dining hall on the first night of arrival at the palace of Alliáns. It was the only room in the whole palace that felt warm. Seated at the table with her were six other young maidens from the region. All from noble families. All come to be wards within the citadel of black glass. She remembers the first moment she laid eyes upon the Blood Countess, illuminated by that fire.

"Won’t be quenchin’ me thurst this night, me ladees. This ain’t no drinkin’ water. Smells rusty it does. Right foul."
Jötna, deeply disappointed in the draw from the well, lets the bucket drain sitting on the ledge and walks away mumbling.

Magdalene was disappointed. She was hoping someone would imbibe. She was curious. And why were there holes in the bucket? It was all so very strange.

"It looks more purple to me. Rust isn't purple as far as I know."

"I don't know. It's the well itself. I just feel repulsed by it. I know nothing of it nor where the fear comes from, but I can feel it where my heart used to beat." She looks as she is struggling to compose herself.

"I see. Well, maybe it would be better to confront that fear head-on and move closer. Perhaps something will be revealed by doing so."

It was easy for her to say. She felt no such fear but felt nothing else either and she wasn't about to taste the strangely colored liquid. She was no fool, alive or dead.

"Well, if no one is going to drink from the well, we could cut the bucket off the rope and use it to carry things." Katalin suggests.

Lilly feels impatient, something in her gut tells her that the women must keep moving. "Do you think there are regular cycles of day and night here", she asks of anyone who will listen to her. "Shall we move on?

"I say we move on and we will find out about day and night soon enough I'd fancy, Miss Lilly Fey. And Katalin, that's a good idea and we should take the rope as well."

"Jotna, if you won't drink from the well then come along. Perhaps there will be a pool or lake along our way. Maybe even a river."

Looking at the paths, Magdalene sctaches her itchy scalp. "Which path ladies?"

Zora seems more than happy to move on. She remains curious about the rust-colored water, though...

"Perhaps something was down there, something meant to remain hidden. Something powerful. We could use something like that..." She waits till the group is several meters from the well before speaking.

"Are you volunteering to be let down into the well to see? We could lower you down on the rope." Magdalene smirks as she doesn't expect Zora to actually do it. "I'll even hold the rope."

Zora hesitates for a moment before speaking. "I wouldn't trust you with a cup of water. No, I'll do it. I need to know I am more than just... whatever this all is. And if something there can help..." Her voice is not at all convincing, but there is some conviction in her eyes.

Jötna had begun to amble further south a few steps and almost forgot about the group and being dead. She was lost in a limbo of thought. Then, the tone in Zora’s voice breaks through her trance. Wait! She’s going down the well?!

Eager to keep moving, but curious to see exactly transpires with talk of someone going down in the well, Katalin holds up at the edge of the small clearing, between to two paths leading further into the forest.

Every step is like pushing through molasses. Only it's fear. Not her fear, but the fear of something inside her. Zora makes her way to the well. The idea of the well was anathema to something that now resided with the dead woman. She stares at, and the down the dark pit.

Althea stands on the edge of the group as the other girls bicker about how to proceed. When it is suggested that they move on, Althea gently raises her arm and coaxes her bird to seek the way once more.

"Which way now friend?"

"I need someone to lower me. If there is power in the well, we would be remiss to miss it."

"’course I’ll ‘elp you miss, but Ise scared for you. Please be extry careful."
Jötna moves back to the well, takes a long look at the rope for sturdiness, and then grabs the handle. "Put yer foot in the bucket then. I’ll ‘old this here handle and let you down real easy, right?"

"Did someone say power? Step aside, woman. I'll go." Magdalene sits atop the well wall and puts her foot in the bucket while grasping the rope. Let me down gently and I will rappel off the well walls as I've seen my men do. Oh! A memory has returned. I had men that did as I bade."

Glaring at Katalin she then looks at Jotna. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

Zora nods at the woman, taking the rope gently from Jötna. There is a determination in her eye, likely due to the proximity of the well. The pulley of the well helps bear the weight of the other dead woman. Only once Magdalene is a ways down does Zora let go of the rope and watch the handle spin. She turns to Katalin. "Cut the rope."

Katalin nonchalantly closes to the well and slices the rope clean. "I am disappointed that we had to sacrifice the bucket, but that's the least we could expect." She immediately returns to her position between the two paths leading away and then heads down the one indicated by the raven's path. "This way everyone?"

Lilly's mouth hangs open but no sound comes out; her eyes are wide, but no light of understanding is to be found. Lilly looks from Katalin to Zora and back again. The she looks to the other dead girls.. can anyone explain what just happened?, her stare pleads

"The girl was a danger to us. She would have thrown us to the wolves for a rusted coin. She wants what is in the well? She can have it." Zora shrugs, but a hint of confliction hangs behind her eyes.

"Ise jus’ trying to ‘elp. Nunna my bizness, really, whut the fine ladeez duz." Jötna clearly is practiced at avoiding getting involved with the drama of the rich. She also backs away slowly.

"H E L P! YOU BITCHES. Get me out of here!"

She doesn't panic. She is much too angry and arrogant for such a useless emotion. She knows she has a crowbar and staff and a rusty sword attached or in her backpack. She plans to use those to walk her way up the wall of the well. She presumes the fall into the liquid saved her from .... from what exactly? She was already dead.

Althea gasps at the betrayal and lunges for the pulley in an attempt to grab the rope before it disappears.

"You can't!" she yells in a knee jerk way but then stops cold as Katalin cuts the rope.

Althea hangs her head in sorrow for a moment until Magdalene's voice barks from the well once more. She rushes over to the edge and peers down.

"Hold on! I'll find a branch!"

Lilly looks at Zora almost apologetically as Magdalene calls from the well, but then as Althea acts, she too rushes to the well and cries out, "Hold on, Magdalene, we’re going to get you out"

If the others are hellbent on helping her, at least she can help us. "What is down there, sister?"

Magdalene hears Lilly and Althea call out to her. "I'm not going anywhere soon."

Meanwhile, she tries to find irregularities in the well walls. Anything that gives her some kind of toehold that she can set a foot on and use her tools to hoist herself up somehow.

To Zora she replies, "Some strangely colored liquid is all I can tell and it hasn't killed me yet."

"Laaaadies!" Magdalene sings loudly in ascending notes. "Would you have me bring this disgusting bag with who knows what inside it, or should I leave it to rot and make it easier for you to help me up? Hmmm? I await your desires."

Lilly looks uncertainly at the other women, "what good can come of it? I'd leave it down there, wouldn't you?"

"Whatever it is in the bag was likely discarded, just as we were. There is power in us, and there must be power in it."

Althea comes trotting back toward the well with a suitable branch in hand.

"Bring the bag!"

Jötna moves into position to offer anchoring for anyone attempting to help the fallen lass.

"Does anyone agree on anything in this godforsaken place? I'll bring the bag then," Magdalene shouts up the well shaft.

Grabbing onto the proffered branch she attempts to stuff the bag under one arm and climb up but slips and falls plopping into the "water" with a splash as the bag sinks under to the bottom again.