Bianca had made a promise that they would take Attie to the old mansion that Bianca had been ‘created’ in. They had agreed upon a time and place to meet and that time had come, the location that Bianca had described to meet at was about half a block in distance away from the mansion. Bianca didn’t want to wait around in front of it before Attie showed up, it had been a long while since Bianca had been back here, last time with their lover Illiana. That was the first time Bianca had been back to the mansion since they left the first time.

The location they were actually in wasn’t in the city of Jayou itself, but about a mile outside of the city. However, Bianca knew that they underbelly of the city still extended out as far and further still than the mansion. The mansion itself was gothic in design, and with no lights in the windows it looked as abandoned as it was, and in the breeze a gate somewhere on the property could be heard screeching on its hinges.

Bianca waited until Attie arrived at which time Bianca smiled. ”Good to see you again, Attie.” It hadn’t been that long since they had first met, but even that one meeting had proved that Attie was a very interesting and determined young scholar. Something that Bianca appreciated a lot more than some might have thought. Even with the mind of a blood elemental making up part of their being, Bianca still did research into blood magic and blood itself with magic. Always striving to find new ways to use blood, or draw power from it.

”We can go in when you’re ready, however, I do want to warn you, because it has been so long since I was last here I am unaware of what could have taken up residence since then. I see no candle lights in any of the windows and I did a quick walk around and saw nothing.” They paused. ”But with everything that happened on these grounds I am not ignoring the fact that there could be malevolent spirits roaming the hallways. There wasn’t last time, but we could have gotten lucky.” What Bianca was unaware of, because the original Bathory was also unaware of it, was that there was a mana well buried under the mansion. Not a large one by any means, and it was totally unknown, but it still had an affect on the place nonetheless.

It was just hard to tell sometimes what those affects actually were.

Attie had agreed to meet up with Bianca at the mansion. Although Bianca probably knew what was in the building, Attie wasn't sure that it was a wise idea to come without some form of protection. She decided against her potato armor, as that restricted movement. Instead she put on her basic leather armor and brought a satchel with supplies, including a journal to record everything they found. After getting herself together, she rushed out of the inn that she was staying in and began to make her way to the mansion. It was early in the morning, the sun was barely rising. However, Attie knew that the walk would be long and that it was better to be early than to be late. She made her way out of the city and towards the mansion. 

Eventually, she managed to get there, slightly out of breath due to running part of the way. She stopped next to Bianca and allowed herself to breathe. After a few moments, she stood up with a renewed burst of energy. This was the chance to learn more and that always gave her energy, even if she felt half-dead. Thankfully there weren't any long paths to run down so this would be a relaxing exploration. Suddenly Bianca spoke up and mentioned how they didn't know whether or not there were malevolent spirits roaming in the hallways. 

"Well if there are some sort of spirits, I guess that just means we will get to say hello and ask some questions." Attie said with confidence, "Or have to fight them. Either way works." 

With that, she pushed the door, trying to see if it was locked or not. The door creaked open and Attie stepped inside, without thought to any monsters or spirits that might be lurking. The room was dark so Attie reached into her satchel and pulled out a lantern. 

"Sorry, I probably should have lit this outside." Attie said, bringing out a match and lighting up the lantern. 

She closed the glass doors of the lantern then held it towards the room, trying to see what was inside. 

”I’m leaning towards having to fight them, knowing how most of them died they won’t be able to rest easily. Illiana and I managed to avoid a lot of them before when we were here last, but we also encountered looters, so… their corpses are probably still in there to.” Bianca explained, and this was just getting darker and darker as time went on. It wouldn’t have surprised Bianca if Attie decided to not continued on with things, but they went inside anyway and Bianca was becoming more and more impressed with Attie. ~I will have to tell Illiana about her, and make sure her pack knows to leave Attie alone if they come across her.~ Bianca thought to themself.

As they entered Attie lit a lantern and Bianca in turn opened their palm and a flame appeared to light the area around Bianca. The old mansion was large and ornate, with a grand staircase at the end of a large entry way from where the pair had come in from. A door to their left led to a lavish, though now dust covered, lounge, and to the right a dining hall, also covered in dust. ”Upstairs are the bedrooms and where we encountered the looters before, also where most of Bathory’s work was done. The basement was just storage mostly with entrances to the underground tunnels that run around this city in a maze like network. I’ll leave it to you where you want to go first, Attie.” Bianca explained and waited to see where Attie wanted to explore first.

"Well I guess we should check out the first floor. Then we can go to the second floor. If you are still up for it then we can check out the basement!" Attie suggested.

She knew that exploring the mansion would take a little while and didn't want to tire out her new friend. The building probably held all sorts of mysteries, items, or books to learn from. Attie, unable to contain her excitement anymore, headed to the door on the left. She gently pushed it open, attempting to be quiet in case there were any spirits. The door opened with a loud creak, the sound spreading through the first floor. Realizing that there wasn't a point in trying to be quiet anymore, she pushed the door open. There didn't appear to be any spirits inside. Instead there were chairs and red loveseats decorating the lounge. One of the chairs was knocked over and covered in dust. Everything was covered in dust. There was an unlit fireplace with wood piled inside it, also covered in dust. It was clear that nothing had been in this room for a very long time. Attie walked over the fireplace and observed it. Then she spotted a painting hanging above the fireplace. The painting was medium sized and displayed an image of a ship floating in icy waters. The ship had a particular design that Attie recognized.

“Bianca, come look at this!” She said with sudden excitement, “This was a painting made by Raya Lanthier. You can tell because of the signature hidden here. She was a painter who used to make all sorts of artwork for the nobility. Most of her artwork circled around legends, tales, and old mysteries. However, she was never remembered for that. Her paintings were popular with the nobles but it had more to do with a high society fad than actual admiration for the stories or artwork.”

Attie brushed off some dust on the painting, revealing a woman standing on the ship. The woman in the painting was dressed in pirate clothes and was staring out into the distance.

“The painting represents an old story in Adeluna.” Attie explained, “It's a story about a pirate queen who fell in love with a soft noble-man who was about to get married to another woman. The pirate queen wooed him then they ran away together. One day, the pirate queen heard of a treasure buried out on a faraway island.. The town she was living in needed that treasure to restore itself after a war. Before leaving, she swore to her husband that she would return to him once she found the treasure. The pirate queen did find the treasure but before they could return, a particularly bad storm destroyed their ship, causing it to sink. The pirate queen’s husband waited by the sea for the rest of his life. Then he was buried on the top of a hill, so that he could always see the ocean. Legend has it that the pirate queen’s spirit still sails the sea, trying to find a way back home and keep her promise to her love.”

Attie couldn’t help but smile at the painting. In all her travels, she had learned many stories and legends. Yet the Pirate Queen and the Nobleman was still one of her favorites. She was slightly surprised that Raya used that story as it wasn’t a huge story or as well known as some others. Attie left the painting and decided to explore other parts of the room. She inspected the furniture closely, curious as to who created it. There wasn’t a signature, which didn’t surprise Attie since most nobles disliked artists putting signatures on their property. Attie then looked at the window and noticed that there was a window seat with pillows. She plopped herself down on the seat then looked to Bianca.

“So what do you plan to do with the mansion?” She asked, “I mean since its owner is gone and all.” 

Bianca couldn’t keep the small grin off of their face as Attie went ahead to open a door. Such excitement and curiosity, Bianca loved to see that in someone like Attie. Indeed Attie was someone special for sure. Bianca followed Attie through the door as she opened it, memories from the human Bianca flooded into this Bianca’s mind, though some were rather hazy as they were starting to fade. Bianca figured this would be the last time they’d be in this place anyway, which was fine. Bianca was inspecting the fireplace as well as Attie was, though as Attie’s attention was taken towards the painting Bianca shifted some of the ashes around. Bones, human bones, were buried in the ashes.

When Attie wanted their attention Bianca covered the bones up again and stood to look at the painting as Attie told the story of it. Bianca’s eyes closed and they fluttered for a moment before they opened again and Bianca spoke. ”Ah, I remember the day that Bathory acquired this piece, she was so happy and flaunted it to what few friends she had.” Reaching up Bianca snuffed the little fire they were holding and wiggled the painting until it came down from the down and they carefully set it on the floor. ”It’s yours if you want it, Attie, anything here can be if you want something.” Bianca informed as Attie took a seat near a window and asked what Bianca’s plans were for the mansion. With no emotion Bianca shrugged. ”I’m going to make sure there’s nothing but ashes left once we’re done. So make sure you explore as much as you want today, Attie, by morning this place will be cinders.” Bianca explained simply. ”This place, there is no need for it to be standing anymore, as far as I’m concerned anyway.”

Bianca paused for a moment and closed their eyes, again they fluttered before opening again and Bianca went back to the fireplace. ”Slowly some memories are coming to me, most are hazy, but some are clearer.” Bianca ran a hand along the brickwork for a few feet before stopping on one brick and pressing it in. There was a dull clang of metal moving before a false bookshelf a few feet away shifted on hidden hinges. Bianca went over to it and forced it opened fully and used a flame to light up in the inside of the small space. ”Hm, too bad I didn’t remember this was here before.” Bianca removed a small box from the hidey hole, went over to a table and opened the unlocked box. ”Well then.” Bianca chuckled lightly to themselves.

Inside the box was a good amount of jewellery, very finely crafted stuff at that. Bianca laid the selection of rings, necklaces and armbands out on the table so Attie could see. ”Take what you like, Attie, keep or sell it, I don’t care. I’m going to give some to Illiana as a gift, I know she’ll like some of this.” Bianca smiled but as they did an unnatural breeze ran through the room. Bianca’s eyes narrowed and they looked around. ”We aren’t alone anymore, I’ll keep an eye out.”

When Bianca mentioned how Attie could keep the painting, her eyes lit up with joy.

"Really!?" Attie squealed with delight. 

She looked around the room for something to carry it in, as she didn't have a bag big enough for it. The painting wasn't huge but it also wasn't small. It was medium size but still larger than her satchel. Unlike Bianca, she didn't have an infinite place to put it in. An old crate sat in the corner. Despite its age, the crate didn't have any mold or mildew on it. Yet that wasn't a guarantee it would work efficiently. She walked over to the crate, picked it up, then knocked on the bottom of it with her knuckles. Despite its age, the wood was hardy and wouldn't easily break. She didn't need something that was super. Something that would hold up was good enough. Attie took the crate and placed it next to the painting. Then she placed the painting inside the crate.

By the time she was done, Bianca had found the secret compartment and all of its jewels. They laid out the selection of jewels on the table. Every time Bianca did something, they seemed to display a large amount of generosity. Most wouldn’t even consider giving away items like this. Then again, perhaps they didn’t care about this or just wanted to get rid of it. After all, the entire mansion only held nothing but bad memories for somebody like Bianca. Attie looked over the selection of jewels.

"If you're sure…I guess I'll take something." Attie said with a cheery smile, "Thanks! You are very thoughtful." 

Many of the jewelry were fancy, held lots of gems, or were elaborate. But instead of taking one of the more elaborate items, Attie plucked from the pile a dusty old oval locket. She carefully opened the locket and saw a small painting that had been scratched with ink. The only thing that was recognizable on this person was a dark red glove on the person’s right hand. Otherwise, everything else had been destroyed through ink and scratches. Attie carefully removed the small portrait from the locket and was about to hand it over to Bianca but was stopped by the arrival of a stranger. It was a pale spirit, a woman like being. The spirit’s eyes were empty, like a black abyss that was endless. Her hair was pale and so was the rest of her body, as though she had been drained of all other colors.

At the sight of Bianca, the spirit released a piercing scream and pointed at them. The scream was so loud that Attie had to cover her ears. But instead of attacking Bianca, the spirit flew over to Attie and picked her up. Despite being a ghost, it appeared to have enough strength and power to snatch up a human. Suddenly, ghostly hands began to rise from the floor, as though they were coming from somewhere deep below. The spirit hands attempted to grab at Bianca’s legs and feet. Meanwhile, Attie was carried out of the lounge room and towards the basement.

“Could you put me down please?” Attie said, thoroughly confused.

It was difficult to use her abilities since she had no idea what was happening and needed to concentrate. How was she supposed to concentrate when there was a ghost carrying her? How did ghosts carry things? That was the part that distracted her the most. Weren't spirits supposed to go through stuff, not carry things? Did they have magical powers? Was there a spirit system or skill set that allowed that? 

Bianca grinned at Attie’s reaction to being given the painting. ”Indeed, I have no need of it, you know more than I do about it to. It makes more sense for you to have it. Besides, since I plan to raze this place once we’re done, at least it won’t be lost to the world.” Bianca explained, knowing full well that they would end up destroying some very valuable things when the place went up in flames later. But, such was the price of trying to erase the past and wipe it clean, not that Bianca really cared for their past anyway. She gave much the same reaction when Bianca said that Attie could take some of the jewellery as well.

Bianca saw the look on Attie’s face and turned to face the spirit that Attie had spotted a moment before. Bianca studied for a moment and just before it screamed their mind finally recalled something. ”Shit.” Bianca swore just as it started to scream and even they were forced to cover their ears from the scream. Bianca did expected the spirit to attack them, but instead their eyes widened as the spirit started to carry away Attie! ”Attie! Ah!” Bianca fell as their ankle was grabbed by ghostly hands rising from the floor.

The moment Bianca’s knee hit the floor more hands came up to grab their leg and keep Bianca pinned and struggling. But Bianca almost fell back as well and had to put their left hand out to steady themselves, which was then also grabbed. Panicked for a moment Bianca struggled while trying to think of a way to escape and help Attie. The fireplace! Looking to it, though there was only ashes left, Bianca used their free hand to throw a fireball into the fireplace and then another while the ghostly hands kept tried to grab their arm.

A third fireball flew out but a spirit hand caught Bianca’s hand dragged her down to the floor. But that last fireball caught something in the fireplace alight and that was enough. Bianca focused on the fire to increase its size before melding to it. This cause their body to turn to flame, which the spirit hands couldn’t grasp and Bianca became one with the fire. But only long enough to get away from the ghostly hands. A moment late Bianca was out of the fire and back to normal again taking off down the hall to find Attie.

Attie could hear Bianca's call out and started to realize that they might be able to use some help. The trick was getting out of the grip of the spirit. Could she even attack it? Or would her attacks only go through it? Before she could really question it, she watched as the spirit holding her opened the door to the basement. This was not a place that Attie wanted to end up so she began struggling to get free. They went further into the tunnel until they came to an open space that had many passages connecting to it. The spirit placed Attie down then wrapped its arms around her, in an embrace. This surprised Attie, as she had been expecting some sort of attack or curse. Instead, the spirit woman merely hugged her and suddenly started sobbing. 

Meanwhile, the house was filling with unhappy spirits, as they had been awoken by the woman's wail. They were crowded around the door to the basement but it seemed none of them could enter. So instead, they focused their anger on Bianca if they could find them. One spirit was a large man with woodcutter's axe while another one was a soldier woman with a sword. Some of the spirits held weapons while most were unarmed. The majority of them were angry, and ready to attack. The anger from what had been done to them lingered and they had been trapped in the ghastly house for too long. 

Back with Attie, the spirit had been sobbing for a while and Attie was doing her best to comfort the spirit. She patted the spirit's head and held her in her arms, trying to think of some way to properly help the ghost. The ghost began to shrink and shrink until it was the form of a little girl. Her eyes were still empty and her hair was long but it seemed that this was a more accurate form of herself. 

"I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?" Attie asked. 

The spirit looked up to her and nodded. Then the spirit floated towards a small skeleton shoved in the corner. The skeleton had chains around its wrists and had a cracked skull. It was clear that the child had never made it to the house and was abandoned in the tunnel. Attie walked over to the skeleton and knelt next to it, looking back at the spirit. The spirit nodded towards the cuffs that still rested around the skeleton's wrists. Realizing what she had to do, Attie reached into her bag, looking for her lock picking set. She had learned how to lock pick a bit but was not a professional. She began to pick the lock and had to try multiple times before she was able to get the cuffs off the skeleton. The spirit looked back at her with a small smile.

Before Bianca could get down the stairs to help Attie, who didn’t actually need help but Bianca didn’t know that, they had to skid to a halt as larger spirits blocked the way to the door. Bianca’s eyes narrowed as they studied the spirits, there seemed to be more of them than before! A sense from behind them made Bianca move as something swung past where their neck had been, but whatever it was still caught Bianca in the shoulder. That staggered Bianca and gashed their flesh open as well. Bianca recovered before falling and turned to look at the spirit with the sword, these things were corporeal?! Without thinking Bianca threw a fireball at the spirit but it only passed through and hit the wall behind it. ”Not fair.”

They closed in on Bianca who threw another fireball past the ones at the stairs, hitting the stairs themselves. Bianca took two running steps in the direction of the stairs and once more melded into the fire, their form becoming fire as it past through the spirits and into the fire on the stairs. However in their haste Bianca made the mistake of un-melding themselves from the fire while still on the stairs and in motion. The result was a few dull thuds as Bianca fell the rest of the way down the stairs, curing as they did.

With a grunt they landed on the cold floor, shook their head and started to stand as their sense caught up again. Attie! ”Attie?!” Bianca called and headed down the tunnel until they found Attie and the spirit of the little girl, who upon seeing Bianca cowered in terror behind Attie. It was then that Bianca saw the small skeleton and the chains that Attie had picked the locks on and memories from the past hit Bianca like a train. ”Oh gods.” They breathed and leaned back against a wall.

This Bianca was by no means a good or honourable being, Bianca had no issues with killing if it furthered their own ends. But a child? That was a hard line that Bianca and Illiana did not pass, not matter how much their bloodlusts fed off each other when together there were some lines that you just didn’t pass. But, the old Bathory noble, she had no lines, no conscious to stop her from doing such evil things, like leaving a child down here, forgotten, until she had starved to death.

Bianca eyed the child and reached out a hand, but didn’t approach. ”I, I’m sorry, I am so sorry.” They spoke, glancing to Attie to make sure she was ok and it seemed she was. ”I can give you a proper burial, sweetheart, make sure that the Goddess of Life finds you soul.” One step forward from Bianca meant one step back from the child spirit. Bianca dropped to their knees. ”Please, let me help you. I am not the same woman that left you down here, she is gone in all but the memories that I carry in my mind. But I am not the Bianca Bathory that did this to you.”

A crash from upstairs announced that whatever had been stopping the spirits from coming down here before had been broken. Perhaps it had been Bianca’s passage through the barrier that had done it? Either way, before Bianca could grab Attie and get out if there the whole basement was crowded with angry spirits, while the child stayed close to Attie. ”I AM NOT BATHORY!” Bianca screamed and looked around at the spirits before Bianca grabbed her head as voices from the spirits flooded their mind, whether Attie could hear them or not was unknown to Bianca.

They cried out for revenge, for closure, questioning why they had to die, where their loved ones were. All Bianca could do at the moment was try and force them out of their head, but there were too many and interacting with the child had lowered Bianca’s defences. At the moment Bianca was helpless.

Suddenly Attie heard Bianca call her name. Her friend had arrived to help! She had forgotten that the child spirit may not like Bianca and that Bianca might be in danger. Attie was just happy to hear a friendly voice. It didn't take Bianca long to find her but they stopped when they saw the little girl and realized what happened. The little girl hide behind Attie, staring at Bianca with a mixture of fear and suspicion. Yet the spirit seemed fearful and tired more than angry. Attie noticed this but at the moment she just needed to help Bianca. Killing a child would mess up anybody's mental state.

"Bianca..." Attie said trying to think of something comforting to say. 

But there were no words to say. Instead Bianca reached out a hand to the child, offering to give the spirit help and for forgiveness for something somebody else did. The child remained cautious and seemed to stay behind Attie, and kept a certain distance. A crash from upstairs indicated that the angry spirits, whom Attie knew little about, had mad etheir way into the basement. In a matter of seconds, spirits filled with basement and began to torment Bianca. Attie couldn't hear the spirits but she could recognize the signs of spiritual torment, thanks to an old friend of hers. 

Springing into action, Attie grabbed a bushel of sage from her bag that she kept for medicinal purposes. She tossed it onto a pile on the ground. A burning sensation began in her throat and flames burst from her mouth, setting the sage on fire. Attie closed her mouth quickly and then watched as the smoke from the fire filled the room. The spirits suddenly were becoming confused, their minds were crowded and they were unable to think straight. Attie had learned from an old friend about spirits. Burning sage would fill them with confusion. As long as there was smoke, the spirits would be unable to think properly or perform actions. Even the little girl seemed confused. 

Attie picked up the little girl's bones, which were small and light, and stuffed them in her satchel. The old bones were practically falling apart so she didn't have to worry about skeleton structure for burial purposes. Then she ran over to Bianca and attempted to pull them to their feet. The spirits were scratching at their heads or wondering around the room, feeling angry but unable to process what to do. Attie attempted to run with Bianca down one of the tunnels that led to other places. The way to the house had been blocked off by the spirits, so the tunnels were the only way out. She wasn't worrying about navigation. Her only concerns were to get far away from the spirits. 

The little girl spirit was close behind them, but she wasn't chasing them. If anything it seemed like she was being dragged along with them. Attie quickly realized that the little girl was attached to her long-dead corpse. Wherever the corpse went, the little girl would have to follow. 

"Sorry sweetie." She said quickly "I promise we will bury you nicely and help you with whatever you have left to do."