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ST Myrrh struggled toward wakefulness after a long night's rest in his bed, the big soft bed he enjoyed back home on Brume. With a lazy yawn and stretch, the happily content Solar pondered how best to spend his day. No work, Corve hadn't been by recently, nothing was about to destroy the world. So he was free to do whatever he wanted.
ST As Myrrh puddered around his bed room, he noticed a black envelope with the professionally unpersonable handwriting of a private scribe, marked with a blob of red wax and no seal.
ST The name on the envelope was simple "Nellens Myrrh"
Myrrh scratches his head for a moment before glancing down at the letter. He picks it up and shakes it gently.
ST It makes the sound paper makes when shaken around inside an envelope.
Myrrh hmms and carefuly opens the wax, trying not to get red everywhere.
ST Inside is a simple letter written in the same perfect handwriting as the name on the envelope. It reads:
ST Myrrh,
ST I am writing to inform you that we are no longer married as of today. A business deal I transacted on the third day of last week has had unanticipated results. I will be leaving Brume the day you receive this for parts unknown. I apologize, but there is nothing I can do. Please have all my affairs tended to, as I will not be returning.
ST With respect,
ST Nellens Calderi
Myrrh gawks at the letter for a good long while.
Myrrh "Oh Luna's teats..." Rereads the letter and then gets dressed in a hurry, this is not a good way to start his days of things not exploding!
Myrrh heads downstairs after hastily putting on his shoes. "Just what I needed, an accountant!" Unsure what to make of Calderi's "problems" in this deal.
Myrrh figures that if it was enough to make her run off it was bound to be trouble and so heads to where the business records are kept.
ST Myrrh could wish Corve, with his knack for finding trails and clues in anything, was here to help but he manages on his own. The records are, in fact, the first set he comes across. Calderi might have been reviewing them just before she left. They detail a transaction with a man named Iezu, a large quantity of high-quality metal was delivered to Calderi's warehouse two days ago.
ST A copy of the contract is included. When Myrrh lifts the contract, he feels something...strange about it.
Myrrh studies the contract carefuly, feeling the texture and looking why it would give him such an odd feeling.
ST A close inspection of the contract reveals a sinister surprise! Scratched into the surface of the parchment rather then written with ink are a few lines between the end of the visible contract and the signature line. Calderi could easily have missed these if she didn't examine the contract's physical substance too closely. And distracted by its legal technicalities, she may not have glanced twice at the paper itself.
Myrrh peers at the scratched in lines, wondering what they could have added to cause such a reversal.
ST Myrrh can't read them, they are too faint to make out what they might say or even what language they
ST might be in
Myrrh perplexed by the size, Myrrh gets his goggles and lowers the collection of magnification lenses at the side of them that he uses for clockwork.
Myrrh not able to make it out the lost markings made out Myrrh uses his exalted senses to try and "read" the writing through the texture of the paper.
ST Myrrh discovers that, to his horror, a secondary contract has been written in under the first. And, unknowingly, Calderi has signed both at once! His poor mortal wife has agreed to forsake all ties binding her to Creation and travel with Iezu to a doorway into the Demon's Prison of Malfeas where she will be wed to Voridad the Wife-Eater.
Myrrh nearly falls out of his chair in shock! Voridad? Iezu?! MALFEAS?! This was not a good day at all! Myrrh is going to need some help with this!
ST As Myrrh sits, shocked, he hears a familiar voice: Calderi! She utters one scream for help before being muffled! She sounds nearby, within the house even!
Myrrh bolts from his chair and runs to the place he had heard the sound come from!
Myrrh "Calderi? Where are you?" He runs through the large house, desperately looking for his wife.
ST Myrrh sees his wife being taken away from their home by a tall man with maroon hair and skin the oily green-copper color of a demon-bug's backside. The man is hurrying her away by the arm, looking about to see if her scream was noticed.
Myrrh wastes no time, Myrrh runs after this Iezu..."man" and tries to take him unawares.
ST Before Myrrh can reach them, the man he presumes to be Iezu throws a brass sphere onto the ground in front of him and it explodes into a cloud of noxious-smelling purple smoke. Calderi and Iezu vanish into the smoke, leaving behind only a faint echoing scream from Myrrh's wife. Now, trapped in the Demon World, bride-to-be of Voridad the Wife-Eater.
Myrrh desperately tries to follow them through the smoke, knowing he's probably too late. "Calderi!"
ST Myrrh wakes up as he falls from his bunk to the floor, no, deck of the Ill-Omen
Myrrh "Cal-Oof!" Lies on the deck in a daze.
Myrrh wakes from his daze and slowly gets to his feet. He mutters something about needing a drink and heads for the galley.
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