The Keepers of Chaos: A Vault of Hell

Ammalia Cassalanter: XCIII

Resolve: XCIII

Ammalia's lips were trembling. She raised a hand wanting to get a word in but nothing could escape her tongue. She thought of a hundred different answers, desperate for a single response. What on Toril were they going to do? The situation was.. So much worse.

"Victoro." She whispered, trying to catch a word from her pacing husband. "Victoro." She tried again, he was walking back and forth in deep thought. His eyes narrowed and his hands were clenched tightly together behind his back. "Victoro."

"I'm thinking." He snapped. His voice wasn't hostile just.. On edge. She let off a tired sigh. "They had one job." He added, he stood still now staring up at the temple's drapes with a furious look of anger pulsating off his face. She hated it, seeing her husband this way.

"Dearest." She felt panic creep up her throat, where there was once calm she now felt fear. "Can.. Can we still do it? Can we save the kids? They have the stone dear. T-they-"

"Killed them all.." Ryvvik growled from across the room. She was thankful for the isolation, the chance to talk to what remained of Victoro's separate task force. She was reeling from the news. How could one person, one member of that wretched party destroy the entirety of Yalah's forces?

"How many died..?" Cersei mused, her voice was little louder than a whisper.

"Over a hundred and fifty it seems," Ammalia answered. She was still trying to understand how it could even be possible. One person? One man managing to take down the entirety of Yalah's faith?

"That's not important." Victoro declared, he paced back to the table pulling up a pawn before setting it forward on the board. "This.. Estral, is dead. Gone. as far as we are clear. That is all that matters. We, however, are safe." Ryvvik stood up instantly slamming a fist against the table.

"My Lord our brothers died-"

"And they will be missed." Victoro's voice cracked, his blue eyes welled with tears, Ammalia held her breath realizing how much they had just lost. The stone... so many members. "Dlardrageth.. We can't bring them back by simply being upset. We have to move forward. Cersei." He turned his attention to the girl. Slowly his words began to feel more and more distant. Ammalia couldn't believe what she was hearing. He hadn't even answered her question. Was it possible? Were their goals still achievable, even now? She closed her arms wishing to pull Terenzio and Elzerina close to her. But they weren't down there. Images raced through her head, what if.. What if they failed? Their gamble would be for nothing! Terenzio.. Elzerina, both of her babies would be pulled down and corrupted into demon spawn! She felt Victoro's hand grasp her shoulder, she looked up seeing a sense of warmth and compassion in his eyes. He was busy.. But she knew he cared. "You may have the bodies.. Do with them what you can."

"Thank you, my lord." Cersei's tone slipped up at the title ill-fitted to speaking formally.

"Prayer. Now is the time for prayer, but it is also the time for a new plan.." Ammalia was shocked. It was the first time since their deal that Victoro had ever discussed a new plan, a bold new idea. "Clearly.. These Keepers of Chaos are masterful tacticians in their own right." Victoro stood over the table stroking his beard. "Learn where they shop, where they eat. Their base of operations, their members." He stood above the room, his dark black cane clicked against the floor constantly while he walked. "Gysheer."

"Yes my lord?" The hooded woman stood up, her head swayed to one side.

"Send reinforcements to the Bone's windmill. They.. should have made contact by now." Victoro's voice slipped for a moment his eyes drifting off into the distance. She felt it, the unease. The unspoken agreement amongst them all, to speak not of the windmill. Whether or not it was currently successful. Her mind flickered to Seffia like a shadow from candlelight, she pursed her lip, curious if the girl had survived. "After such, I want you to investigate The Keepers of Chaos, particularly.. Learn about their members. We know of a few, Riu Astrial, the cultist, and a new elf who escaped from the Underdark. However, this is not enough."