NUIA part 3: Dwarf [COMPLETED]

Chapter 3: Marianople

After a long time, during which she was unable to distinguish the top from the bottom, Ludovika finally felt something hard and cold against her bottom. As she also no longer felt like she was turning, she opened her eyes. She was sitting on the floor in a room that contained letters and packages, all arranged in boxes, apparently in alphabetical order.

A heavy wooden door opened in front of her, revealing a Dwarf wearing the long black robes of the postmasters.

"Ah, it seems that this is the first time you have been sent with a teleportation feather! laughed the postmaster. But who are you? I've never seen you before."

"My name is Ludovika, and the archives asked me to find a certain Biern" explained the amnesiac.

"That's me!" exclaimed her interlocutor. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for a particular address in Marianople" said Ludovika, handing him the paper the postmistress had given her at the archives. "I was told that you could help me."

"Indeed, I know where to find this house" said Biern, confidently. "Follow me, it's on the west side of town, we have a bit of walking to do!"

Ludovika followed Biern outside the building. When she found herself outside, her eyes widened. She had just stumbled onto a huge cobbled plaza that seemed to stretch for hundreds of metres. A huge statue stood above a fountain, featuring three Nuians she could not recognise. All around the square, tall stone buildings with wooden half-timbering stood, encircling it like menacing giants. The largest of them, a castle standing behind the stone statue, seemed almost as tall as Andelph. The Nuians were truly living in excess.

"You'll get used to it!" laughed Biern, seeing Ludovika's face. "But believe me, it feels good to finally see someone of normal size! You look up to talk to people and you get such neck pains..."

Biern led Ludovika through the maze of cobbled streets and alleys that was Marianople. After a good fifteen minutes of walking and passing the residential quarters of the nobles, they arrived in a much less wealthy part of the city. Here, the houses were much more modest, and the paths between them were not even paved in some places.

"If you look between those two houses" Biern explained, pointing, "you can see the one you're looking for right at the back, against the city wall. I'm not sure what condition it's in, as it has been empty since before I started working in this city. Be careful in there, you never know, the floor might be damaged."

"Thank you for your help" Ludovika said, before heading towards the old building.

The building, really modest in size even compared to the others around, was made of stone and wooden half-timbering. Ludovika wrinkled her nose. Was it really possible that such a small house had once housed Mikael Ynga's laboratory?

The Dwarf had to use all her physical strength to push open the heavy creaking door and enter. The main room was only occupied by a few old pieces of furniture covered with an impressive amount of dust. Not much to see here.

A sound similar to a crash startled her out of the macabre silence that reigned in the place. She turned, thinking the door had slammed behind her back, but it was still wide open. Suddenly she heard hurried footsteps on the floor upstairs. She was not alone in here.

Ludovika climbed the stairs as quickly as possible, trying not to make any noise. Unfortunately, the old wood did not allow her to keep the silence of the building, and creaked as she passed.

The first door she found upstairs was already open. She slipped discreetly inside the room... which was in fact empty of any human presence.

The room was a sort of study, with a large desk and a large bookcase full of dusty books. Ludovika, this time highly intrigued, was about to take one of them, when she heard a giggle behind her back.
She turned around, and recognised with astonishment Baron Masred, the Nuian she had met back in Aubre Cradle, in the old house of Ynga. He was accompanied by two other Nuians who, judging by their attire, were mercenaries.