NOVEL SIMPLE A Brief History of House Gloomcrest
Hours pass by as I tell Lady Gloomcrest about all the girls in my life. Even though I haven't known them for very long, I have so much to say about them all, and I enjoy singing their praises every step of the way.
As always, I have to start with the Lundreame-shaped elephant in the room. To get it over with, I outright tell Abigail that Sam is the missing Princess when telling her about my first lover. As expected, she’s not about to go tattling on me, considering how much more difficult it would make my life. The idea of Sam seems to frighten Abigail since she’s a natural introvert, but she's grateful to the Princess for pulling me out of my depression and wants to get to know her regardless. I warn the Necromancer about Sam's horrific handwriting, but someone else could dictate for Sam if it actually came down to it. I’m sure Her Highness will insist it’s not necessary, but...
Zutiria will likely try just as hard to hook us up as Opalina does, yet Abigail is intrigued by all the lovely things I say about the little lady. The noblewoman thinks she might have a lot in common with my lavender-haired lover, especially once I give a brief description of Zutiria's condition. There's also the fact that they both have a predisposition to magics of a darker persuasion, too. The two of them would have a great many things to talk about if given a chance.
Meri is the sweetest girl in all of Karnalle, so selling Abigail the idea of talking to her is simple enough. If it were up to me, I'd have Abigail start with getting to know the Shield Maiden first of all. Meri would be very straightforward, and it might be eye-opening for the privileged Lady to talk with someone from such a humble background who has had to pull herself up from her tragedy to improve her life. Both girls possess different levels of anxiety, as well.
Lastly, there are the maids. Considering Abigail absolutely adores animals, she has a great interest in Beastfolk. Unlike Sam, whose father keeps breedable, tailed maids within arm’s length at all times, Abigail hasn’t met all that many of the species. Castle Mourneheart doesn't have any tailed servants, apparently.
Cherry is probably the best person for Abigail to talk with as far as my feline friends are concerned. I love Peri with all my heart- truly, I do- but the last thing I need is for her to write page after page of her breeding fantasies out in exhaustive detail for Abigail’s relatively innocent eyes.
On the same note, I don't trust Snow to talk with the young Lady without trying to subtly play mind games meant to hook us up... then again, I'm probably worrying too much. It's not like Abigail won't talk to everyone eventually. Not if I have my way, at least.
Every step of the way, the Necromancer asks little questions about each girl. Things like,
'How old is Meri? Do you think she's ever been to Hunnihome?'
'You don't think Sam would hit on me, do you? What should I say to her if she does?'
'What are you going to do if Peri ever finds a way to skip out on her weekly birth-control?'
'Does Zutiria read anything besides spellbooks? Do you think she likes poetry?'
'What does Cherry do to relax? Things sound rough for her...'
'Snowball sounds a whole lot like my Misery, only scarier. Is she really that domineering?'
And so on.
However, the most recurring question I get from her is about all the adventurers they've been on. Abigail asks about each girl’s strengths, weaknesses, exploits, and skills, all while acting like a young child stricken with hero worship. The way she keeps asks actually reminds me of how I used to badger Niall into telling me all the stories I could get out of him.
Abigail is so interested in adventuring, yet I don't even know if she's aware of it...
And to think that she said she wasn't sure if she'd like to talk to anyone beyond me. Now it's like she can't stop thinking about everyone I've told her about. I guess it goes to show just how badly the young Lady secretly wants to have friends who aren't made of bone.
By the end of it, Abigail asks so many questions that I just have to tease her over it. 'If you want to know, you should really ask them yourself.'
After thinking on it for a moment, she finally admits, 'I think I'd like to try... if they won't mind talking to me, that is...'
As I watch those words appear in the journal, I feel like a momentous victory was just achieved, and I let out a contented sigh. Interest has been firmly established in the members of my Guild. Now, all I need to do is slowly make her realize her desire to become an adventurer and ensure that she comes to that conclusion herself.
I see another small glimmer of progress toward a different matter as she asks, 'Is it weird if I find myself feeling jealous of these girls who I've never before met...?' though.
'In what way are you jealous?'
'It just... feels like you love them all with all your heart. Then I get to thinking, I wonder what that would feel like... being loved by you.'
Damn. Abigail actually just outright said something so brave and forward. I wasn't expecting anything like that to come from her so soon. I should- wait... Abigail scribbles 'you' out hastily in a shoddy smear of black ink. Next to the deleted word, she writes, 'someone like you' in its place.
I smirk upon seeing this beautiful chance, then go on the attack. 'I saw that.'
'I don't know what you're talking about...' Abigail tries to cover her slip up, but to no avail.
‘You can’t erase what I just witnessed, my dear.’
‘I... spilled some ink... happens all the time.’ She says, despite having never spilled ink a single time in all of our messages thus far.
'Would you care to know what it's like to be loved by me? All you have to do is open that door and let me inside.'
'What?! That’s scandalous! I... um... I wrote the wrong thing by accident... no... stay away from the door...! My heart isn't ready!'
'Let me know when it is, and I'll find a way back to Dawnstead in a heartbeat. Even if I have to crawl through your doggy door.'
'Oh, Goddess below... can we please talk about something else? Please?' I can just imagine the adorable look on her face, even if I’ve never seen it.
And so with great dismay, I relent my assault, and the two of us we talk about all sorts of things until inevitably Bertrand returns to summon me for dinner with the Count. The look on his face when I tell him to extend my apologies to Solomon and decline his offer all so that I can continue this wonderful conversation with Abigail is priceless. I could have gone without him screaming like a banshee and scratching the sides of his face hard enough to draw blood, though. Amidst searing pain both physically and emotionally, the bitchy Chamberlain leaves me to have food and a table sent up, all while I continue to aggressively flirt with the woman of his dreams.
In no time at all, the accommodations arrive, and I have a nice dinner alone with Abigail and two of her pets, both of whom still retain their bad manners from life. Misery, especially. For a dead cat, she sure as hell seems to think she's entitled to my food.
As for the food itself, it's a blur. All I remember is drinking some expensive Hunnimead that Solomon personally sent up to me as a gift. Maybe he’s hoping for me to get drunk enough to make an explicit move on Abigail? Regardless, the food and everything else just sort of fades away while chatting with the captivating Lady Gloomcrest.
Somewhere along the way, I end up asking her about something that's been on my mind ever since I first laid eyes on it- why in the Realms does Castle Mourneheart look so much different than the rest of Dawnstead? I wasn't expecting the answer to involve a multi-paragraph history lesson, but the answer is more interesting than I imagined.
Turns out, House Gloomcrest was not the original Ducal house of Arrark.
Arrarkia Lightbringer had twin sons to her husband, Rhoivandis Lundreame. One of them continued the pious ways of the Lightbringers and succeeded his mother as the province's first Duke. At the same time, the other took on a new name and pledged to support the central family from the shadows and do what was necessary to maintain the peace in Arrark. That name was, of course, Gloomcrest.
For hundreds of years, the Gloomcrests reigned quietly from the southeast coastal city of Vurgestrom until tragedy struck... and by tragedy, I mean a mad King. Giovornus Lundreame, to be exact. The fact that there were seven Great Houses and seven provinces drove this obsessive ruler crazy. He wanted them to be an excellent, even six and claimed that the Goddesses demanded balance.
The King then summoned the six Dukes and their entire families to Castle Lundreame without giving them a reason and spun a roulette wheel to determine which of the seven houses would be purged entirely from history. Mad bastard that he was, even his own House Lundreame was on the chopping block.
House Lightbringer fought back as much as they could, but the King prepared for such and caught them in a trap while the other Great Houses assembled just sat there with their heads down. Terrible, yes, but it was out of a justified fear that King Giornus might decide to make it an even four houses should anyone defy his wishes.
Thus, the lineage of House Lightbringer was brought to a ridiculous yet all-too Karnallian end.
Giovornus didn't last much longer than that, at least. When that era's Count Gloomcrest heard the King's army was about to march on Arrark and split its territories between Rhoivan and Lillance, he didn't take it very well. As with many other times in Karnalle's history, everyone just sort of turned a collective blind eye when the Mad Lion's head was severed from his body by the very same sword that was just pawned off for my sake earlier in the day.
Now, I've never been to Vurgestrom myself, but I've heard the rumors about what sort of dark and depressing place it happens to be. When House Gloomcrest was chosen to replace their distantly related cousins as the new Great House, relocating to Dawnstead was one of the main concessions they had to make. The new King and the remaining Dukes refused to make Vurgestrom the new capital of Arrark.
Even though Abigail swears Vurgestrom is one of the most beautiful places in all of Karnalle, her ancestors accepted the stipulation. Rather than making the extinct Lightbringer’s dwelling of Castle Shimmershine their new home, an assload of Mages were used to dig Castle Mourneheart from the ground and transport it across the entire damn province. Rich people. Good for them though, Castle Shimmershine is an absurdly stupid name, anyway. Abigail isn't sure what happened to the old castle, but it's not relevant.
Gods, even reading Abigail writing about history is captivating...
I'm starting to suspect something, but testing it might prove difficult depending on how shy Lady Gloomcrest is feeling after all the time we’ve spent talking to each other. This all just doesn't feel entirely natural to me, like I’ve been through this dance before, and I know all the moves. That metaphor might upset her, but still...
Abigail and I fit each other too well like she holds a piece of me that I never knew was missing... and by no means should I be feeling that way over someone I've only ever talked with through text.
'It's getting late. As much as I wish for this talk to continue, I'd like to try and get to sleep a bit earlier tonight...' Abigail says, setting up my chance. 'Even if you're gone in the morning before I wake, we won't be apart any longer. Not really...'
'That's fine. I’d enjoy some time to check in with my Guild using my powers before Opalina returns from her shopping trip, anyway.' It's almost eight, so I can't imagine she'll take much longer... meaning if I want to confirm things, I’m going to have to be bold. 'Before you go, may I ask a favor of you, Abigail...?'
