The Undertow: Session Five

Mikansia: the main character, a female sword singer elf played by Lena. Last session Mikansia finally met her father, the vile Krakeru. Entranced, she asked him to show her The Music, a term for a mysterious phenomenon that Krakeru raved about. Krakeru's response was to rape his own daughter. And then bring down the ship that Captain Akseli and Firstsword Yngvar were using to defend Elfwatch.

Elfwatch: the human fort that was set up to watch over Elfharrow. Last session the dark elves took advantage of the tunnel system beneath the fort to launch a surprise attack. They were driven back, but not before killing a number of humans, setting fire to several buildings, and causing general mayhem. They've now begun a siege of Elfwatch.

Captain Akseli: Mikansia's superior commander sword singer, from The White Tower. He had flown down with Firstsword Yngvar to find Mikansia after she had deserted the sword singers to find Krakeru. He comforted Mikansia in the wake of the rape and has since become an emotional bedrock to the young elf. He claims to have known Makirta, Mikansia's mother, but has said nothing more about it.


Two weeks passed. The tunnels beneath Elfwatch were collapsed. The dark elves began their siege and everyone hunkered down. Mikansia, Captain Akseli, and Firstword Yngvar were treated as officers, with their own rooms, as representatives of The White Tower. No other elves had survived the crash. Supplies weren't gone yet, but the grain was in a bad spot, and so what wasn't fit to eat was made into everclear for the enlisted soldiers; Mikansia always kept a stash in her room. It helped her sleep at night.

One day, as she was leaving a briefing in the evening with Captain Akseli and FS Yngvar, she heard the Music. She knew it immediately. It was coming from Renough, the General's aide. Mikansia gasped and fell against a nearby wall. She couldn't move. Renough ran to her, asking if she was alright. The Music got louder. Captain Akseli and Firstsword Yngvar came running. Captain Akseli picked up Mikansia, while Firstsword Yngvar menaced the distressed Renough. Captain Akseli hurried back to Mikansia's room. Mikansia thought about resisting how comforting he was, but couldn't bring herself to do so. She shouldn't need comforting. Soldiers move on. She shouldn't need any comforting, from anyone.

Captain Akseli gently fished the key out of Mikansia's pocket, opened the door, and stepped over the threshold and the hot mess that was Mikansia's room and tucked her in. Mikansia tried to get up, but Captain Akseli gently told her to rest. He asked if Renough had attacked her. She shook her head, not sure if she was going to tell him about The Music or not. She decided to hold that back, for now, as she'd already had a moment of craziness in front of him. So much was already in doubt about who she was and her place with the sword singers, why complicate it further by telling the captain about The Music, at least yet? So she said nothing. Captain Akseli stood up and called Mikansia to attention. She stood up, surprised. He told her to take the rest of the night off.

He left.

She went and drank all the alcohol in her stash. She wasn't drunk enough to sleep.  So she went out, to the bar, and sat down. On her way she heard the whispers about her and smiled as someone stood up to defend her honor. A fat hair lady by the name of Emsa ran the bar, and she was happy to see Mikansia. She pulled out a fresh new  batch of everclear for Mikansia and they talked awhile. Mikansia and Emsa complained about what pigs the men of the fort were. Seeing that Mikansia was having an especially bad night, Emsa lightly touched Mikansia's wrist.

Mikansia didn't realize that she had stood up hurriedly and swatted Esma's hand off.

She could hear other patrons shouting at her, and her other wrist was grabbed. It wasn't gentle. She drew one of her daggers and swung, fortunately only hitting air.  Everyone had begun to back out as she held the dagger out in front of her. And then she heard The Music again. There was Renough, peaking around someone. He bolted for the door.

Mikansia caught Renough just outside the bar, grabbed him, and pulled him around the corner, out of general knoweldge. She demanded to know how he made The Music happen, and he realized that she could hear it too, much to his relief. She realized he was scared and aroused, just like her. She was one hair's breath from killing him. Renough told her he would do what the voices in the music demanded: kill the General of the fort. Mikansia heard someone coming, so she let Renough go.

Mikansia went and sobered up before going to see Captain Akseli. She told him about The Music and how Renough was being turned to kill the General. Captain Akseli ran out to alert the General.

Mikansia was alone. Again.

Mikansia tried not to go back out. But she wasn't drunk enough to be able to get rid of the nightmares. So she headed back out. On her way to the bar she ran into a group of human men, all of them dead drunk. One of them looked at her, and there was a sorrow in both of them that made them stop.

Everyone else moved on.

The man told Mikansia about his friend, who had jumped off of the wall earlier that day, in an effort to kill himself. So many dark elf arrows had hit him that he never touched the ground. The man tripped and Mikansia caught him. He stank of everclear. All of a sudden he hugged her. It was tender. He felt safe. So did she. Looking into her eyes he told her she was somehow hurting worse than he was. He pulled a huge bottle out of his jacket. He asked her if she knew of a place that was quiet. He didn't want to be in a crowded and noisy place that night.

As they groped about in the dark Mikansia found him awkward. And bumbling. And smelly. He asked for her name; she froze. He said that where he came from, way down south in the Fer Kingdoms, that it was good manners to know what the girl's name was. She said he didn't need to know. And then she showed him.

The morning came. Mikansia woke up, vulnerable and alone. Her head ached. There came FS Yngvar's knock. Stumbling, Mikansia covered herself with a robe, after cleaning up.

It didn't matter. Firstsword Yngvar knew with but a look. He was disgusted. He told her that Renough, who had been captured last night, had begged to see her. Captain Akseli, busy with other matters, had requested that Mikansia go see Renough; the Firstsword told her it wasn't actually a suggestion, so far as he was concerned.  As he turned to leave he told Mikansia to clean up some more. She needed to be presentable, after all.

As Mikansia left her room "One Night" stumbled into her. He apologized profusely: he hadn't meant to leave her that morning, but he had woken up late for his guard shift and had to hurry. This was his first break and he had come to explain himself. Mikansia told him there was nothing to explain; it didn't matter if he had been there or not. She hurried away.

When Mikansia got to the prison she could hear The Music again. Renough was relieved to see her. Captain Akseli had walked in, not even a minute previous. He asked her if she could still hear The Music coming off of Renough, and Mikansia confirmed she could. Renough tried to get her sympathy, begging for help, but Mikansia had a panic attack when he mentioned the night the elven ship had crashed and Krakeru had screamed; that was when Renough had started hearing The Music, and he wanted to know why. Mikansia found she was being walked past the guards by Captain Akseli. Furious at herself for once again being a mess in front of Akseli, she tried to pull herself together. As she worked to calm herself again "One Night" came running. He asked Captain Akseli what was wrong with Mikansia, and was told not so politely by both of them where he could stick his concern.

There was shouting back inside the prison.

The cell was covered in blood.

Renough had been brought food. He'd grabbed the fork they'd given him and stabbed it into his throat repeatedly. The Music was gone. Mikansia's body relaxed. She turned on the guards and asked how they could be so incompetent. One of them retorted she should go have another panic attack, maybe go screw another one of his buddies too? He was one of the "One Night"'s companions from the previous evening. Captain Akseli flew off the handle, accusing the guard of disrespect and slander. His commander would hear about this! Walking out behind him Miksansia told the guard with an cold glare that it would be tragic if he spread that story any farther.

And for one second her eyes, if she could have seen them in a mirror, would have reminded her of Krakeru's. She caught up with Captain Akseli outside. Firstsword Yngvar came walking up and Captain Akseli fumed at him for a few minutes about the disrespect humans seemed to have. Firstsword Yngvar shot Mikansia a look, but said nothing. She left them to their counsels.

She bumped into "One Night" again. He said he didn't want to bother her, but he thought the last night was special. They had connected, he had felt it, and he just wanted to make sure he wasn't crazy. It was his first time, after all, and he was glad it was with her. Mikansia, gently as she could, told him the night was nice, but that was all it was. She walked away. She did not look back.