Book 1: ” Born Again” Page 18
TRAVELOGUE
CHARACTER SPOTLIGHT DEPT: THE COUNTESS-A MAGICAL, MYSTICAL WOMAN!
7 June 2014
Greetings and welcome, most honored reader, to the pages of the Tales of the Traveller as I recount the ongoing saga of the Terrific Trio.
Our young friends, now joined by the old warrior, the Grey Archer, are nearing their goal of retrieving the mighty Vanguard-Z armor for their father. They’ve at last entered the Underwyrd and behold! They’ve even caught up to another old friend-the Countess!
The Countess (whom we first met HERE), like the Grey Archer, was another “celebrity” figure during this period of history on the Wyrld-and what a powerful figure she was! But let’s view her from a closer angle as seen by the Thinker in his Notes from the Underground,
… the Countess I counted as one of my greatest rivals. A powerful sorceress of the 5th Rank, she could create potent blasts of energy to level oppon-ents. Alternatively, she possessed powerful spells of enchantment with which to convince others (usually males) to do her bidding. She was a canny adven-turer and chose her projects with care. I can easily imagine her sitting at her morning boudoir, drink 117 hand, as she ruthlessly ran Risk-Benefit-Cost analyses on the various adventure opportunities at hand. She was truly a worthy opponent…
Let us, however, take a more personal and person-able view of the Countess as seen through the eyes of the Grey Archer himself, who penned the follow-ing in his own journal entry of this very same en-counter years later (Memoirs of an Archer),
The Countess appeared exactly as the kids […i.e. the Dragans and Seth] had remembered her: regal, charismatic, commanding, and breathtakingly beau-tiful, all in one person and at the same time. The kids never really knew just how old the Countess was (nor, apparently, did they ever dare to ask!): she appeared to be in her early thirties, but could have been in her forties or even fifties for all they knew (further exacerbating the issue was the undisputed fact that since their childhood, they had heard anec-dotes of an adventuress, also called the Countess, who was also a sorceress and who also hailed from around the same district as this Countess, but who was in action at least 40 years prior!).
For a powerful adventuress as she was, the Count-ess’ manner of dress seemed to be, for lack of a better word, unorthodox. In fact, her “costume” would have been better suited to the bedroom than to a slimy dungeon or clammy cave on an adventure somewhere. But the boys didn’t seem to care for her reasons; they were just happy to see her.
Thus, the only real protection she had was her long black cloak which hung clear clown to her ankles. This cloak of hers (Nikki informed rne) was a magic cloak which could supposedly absorb both brutish blow and mystic blast. The kids themselves told me how effectively it was able to protect the Countess even against the death blasters of the Demagogue in the Dungeons of Urka-dun (which unfortunately were powerful enough to kill the three of them).
She was loaded up with other clearly magical items as well. They had always seer) her using her magic staff„ W17,17 was thicker and more ornate than Nikki, (which was not magic). She also wore two gold ankle bracelets with ornate silver wings sprouting from their sides, which she called her magic Ankle Bracelets of Speed, reputedly created by the God of Speed himself (and used often by kingdoms for courier runners and mailmen in later days). Lastly, just to top off the whole package and add to the en-tire effect, the Countess wore a pair of silver arm bands on her upper arms, silver bands at her wrists, and a gem-studded golden tiara 017 her forehead (which was probably magical as well).
Much of the Countess’ past, which she absolutely and under no circumstances would ever speak of, was shrouded 117 mystery and rumor. She claimed to be a titled landowner from the Boltava district and owned about 500 serfs who worked her estates (the Boltava district being a rather poor backwater rural district lying some 500 leagues northeast of Kapit-alium. However, 170 checking of the Imperial registry could find any mention of a particular noblewoman with the title of Countess; however, faithful to the Wizard’s Code, the Countess doubtlessly and zeal-ously hid her true name).
Of this, however, the kids had 00 doubt: the Count-ess was not a person to be taker) lightly as her power and experience far exceeded their own. She was both a powerful sorceress and an accomplished warrior, and though they never discussed it in front of her, the kids suspected that the Countess was able to use the powerful Encharm spell to great effect. Indeed, word was that the Countess was quite skillful at ‘persuading” others to do her bidding -especially males!
There you have it, dear reader, straight from the archer’s mouth. Next week we’ll find out just how the kids and their new “friends” fare against the Thinker’s Stone-Men. Until then…
Cognescentii health and blessings!
—The Traveller