04x07 - The Ghosts of Whitestone

[bunniefuu]

[door slams shut]

[Percy] Really, Vex, I'm fine. I...

[Vex] No.

I just need to check
on the Orb containment field for...

[Vex] Absolutely not.

-But... [gasps]
-No buts.

[groans]

The Paleguard has been doubled.

Protection wards have been up
since Raishan.

Percy, when was the last time
you got a full night's sleep?

Oh, somewhere
between the second and third dragons.

In my defense, you were the cause

of most of those sleepless nights.

[laughs softly] Mmm.

-[Vex yelps]
-[Percy grunts]

Ha-ha! Hm.

Aah! [grunts]

[growling]

Thank you, Trinket.

Darling, to bed.

Yes, dear.

Percival, we have
been through hell lately.

For tonight, the Orb is contained,

and we're waiting
on Pike and Grog's return.

Let's take advantage of the respite.

I know you're right.

I've just never been at ease
in the palace.

It hasn't felt like home since...

Well, you know.

-[insects chirring]
-[bird calls in distance]

-[children giggling]
-[footsteps pattering]

Huh?

[mysterious music playing]

-[laughing]
-[Lady De Rolo, echoing] Percy...

[laughing continues]

[sighs]

You do need sleep.

Couldn't be.

[click]

[rumbling]

[gasps softly]

[dramatic music playing]

♪♪

♪♪

[insects chirring in distance]

-[groans]
-[contemplative music playing]

Oh, gods.

[Vax] It's really not so bad.

Only hurts when it spreads.

You're not fooling anyone.

I just don't understand
why we can't heal it.

God stuff. Look, like it or not,

the Matron has a reason for everything.

You don't really believe your fate

is endless suffering, do you?

[sighs] The alternative is that
this blight is for nothing,

which makes it far too difficult to bear.

[Keyleth] Hmm. Well, I don't accept it.

[clattering in distance]

[panting]

[stammers] End your coitus
and clothe yourselves.

There's trouble afoot in Whitestone!

Oh.

Oh!

The stonework is recent.

Certainly wasn't there
when we were children.

The Briarwoods had full run
of the castle for years.

Who knows
what other secrets they've hidden?

Underground tunnels would explain
how that animal-man dodged security.

Right. If it's a dungeon crawl,

I suppose we're the ones to go delving.

I'll have the guard search
for other entrances.

At least
now we know what we're looking for.

[atmospheric music playing]

f*cking Briarwoods.

Will I ever be rid of them?

[growling]

Buddy, it's all right.

You can't blame the poor thing
for being unnerved by a spiral

into unknown horrors and a...

Did you say "ghost voice"
or "ghostly voice"? There is a difference.

Taryon, seeing how Trinket is so nervous,

perhaps you should stay behind.

You know,
to protect him with your bravery.

My bravery. Yes. Y-Yes.

Capital idea. Ha. Ha-ha! Heh...

Let's move.

[low growl]

[Taryon] You and me. Last line of defense.

[Trinket grumbles]

Let's split up. We can cover more ground.

I was afraid you would say that.

I'll give you some light, Percy.

Guys, be careful.

[both grunt]

[Percy] A copy of my parents' room?

Yeah, that's not creepy at all.

Delilah must have built this place
for Sylas.

An alternate living space,
away from sunlight.

[Keyleth] It's crazy what love will do.

Love?

Well, she built all of this
to bring back her husband.

Obviously, the m*rder
and apocalyptic insanity was... is...

it's not a great look.
But it's still a love story.

Sylas and Delilah Briarwood
were psychopaths,

pure and simple.

The sooner we can board this place up,
the sooner they can be forgotten.

[grunting]

-[rumbling]
-[exclaims]

Keyleth?

sh*t.

Bear, take this down.

Or, you know, take heed or whatever.

Darrington sweeps the room
with the discerning eye of a detective.

Memorizing the space.

-No stone unturned, no shadow unlit.
-[sniffs, growls]

Nothing escapes the attention
of Taryon Darrington.

[growls]

-[eerie music playing]
-[pale guard] Wait. Stop.

-[clattering]
-[grunts]

[panting]

Nothing escapes the attention
of Taryon Darrington.

-[gasps]
-Boo.

Aah!

[growls]

[whimpers]

[Delilah] So, they've found our nest.

Time to welcome them properly.

What is all this?

[Vax] It's some sort of laboratory.

For what?

[Vax] Nothing good.

[groans loudly]

You're getting worse.

-We should head back.
-No, I'm fine.

-Percy needs us to...
-[glass breaking]

-What the f*ck?
-[low growling]

-[Vex] What the f*ck?!
-[roars]

-[grunting]
-[growling]

Vax!

[grunting]

-[gasps]
-[laughs]

Aah!

[all giggling, chattering]

Well, that's bad. [gasps]

[suspenseful music playing]

That's worse.

-[growling]
-[grunting]

The hell?

Sylas?

[Keyleth panting]

Percy?

Hello? Percy?

Whoa.

[eerie music playing]

What were you up to, Delilah?

[clattering]

[exclaims]

What in the world?

[gentle, melancholy tune playing
on music box]

"Ninth of Thunsheer.

The master has succeeded in returning

my beloved Sylas to me.

But something is wrong with him."

[Keyleth and Delilah] "The Rites
of Vampirism have altered his physiology

beyond recognition."

-[bites]
-[gasps, groans]

[gasps]

[Delilah] "I fear the cure
was worse than the disease."

[Delilah] "Twentieth of Thunsheer."

-[mournful music playing]
-[Sylas groans]

[Delilah] "His blood hunger
is increasing faster"

than I can provide him animals to feed on.

Though his heart remains with me,

his instincts are...

-primal."
-[roars]

[Delilah] "Thirteenth of Unndilar."

After months of research
and too many failures,

I think I've found a way to purge Sylas

of his vampirism.

-A necrotic rite that can remove.
-[Keyleth] "Remove

-a divine curse."
-a divine curse."

Vax.

[eerie music playing]

[Vex] All right.

Who are you and where's my brother?

Talk.

No. No, please.

-No. [whimpering]
-I'm sorry.

I'm not here for you. I'm looking for...

-My mistress?
-Who?

The witch inside my head.

The voice that never leaves.

She did things. Bad things.

Things I can't remember and...

can't quite forget.

The voice won't let me.

If you help me find my brother,
maybe I can help you.

Is he a ghost?

So many ghosts in Whitestone.

I can feel them stirring.

Drawing me back here.

Warning of her return. No.

What? Who has returned?

-[gasps]
-[gasps]

[gasps]

-[crow cawing]
-[soft creaking]

You mean... that was you?

Then... Oh, gods.

Your mistress is...

No. No, she can't be back. We k*lled her.

Oh, Percy!

Damn it.

Keyleth, can you hear me?

-[stone scraping]
-Aah! [shouts]

[Vax] Vex'ahlia?

Keyleth?

Ah. Taryon?

[Percy yelling]

[both grunt]

[grunts] You are literally the only one

I didn't call for.

[sighs] Apologies.

Was never a fan of haunted houses.

Ironic that I apparently live in one.

-What the f*ck is that?
-Um,

wait. You might not want to, uh...

No. Sylas? No.

Not him. [groans]

[whimpers]

[trigger clicking]

Percival, calm down.

Don't tell me to calm down.

These people are a rot
I will never be rid of.

This isn't Sylas.
It's some failed experiment.

All right? It's not real.

[Delilah] Oh, but I am.

[ominous music playing]

[gasps]

Delilah. [grunts]

[strained grunting]

[Delilah] I wondered how long
it would take you to find us out.

Oh. What have those

monsters done to you, my love?

Soon you will have a new body,
free of ills.

He will bring you back as he did me.

And death will never part us again.

[Percy grunting]

Hmm. Trouble with your trigger finger?

I only came to collect a few belongings,

but you had to spoil the surprise.

How?

We watched you dissolve.
I shut down your Orb.

All things are possible

if you put your faith in the right god.

I thought I failed that night, but no.

No. I succeeded

and have been reborn.

Well, that's debatable.

This reunion has been fun,

but I'd like some privacy.

[grunting]

Percy!

So you're the Children of Truth.

All of his faithful.

If I can be reborn, so can others.

The De Rolos, your mother.

Come to think of it,

there's an awful lot
of dead parents amongst you.

I almost feel bad
about blinding the Ashari's father.

Almost.

[yells]

Oh?

Get out of my head.

[Delilah] This life
could be yours, you know.

[echoing] Or you could
remain loyal to your matron,

and suffer the fate
she has condemned you to.

For soon, the Whispered One

will be a god.

What? A god?

[Delilah] Shh.

[muffled shouting]

Come on.

Come on, where is it?

Wait. What is that?

"Eighteenth of Duscar.

-The Renatus Flower blooms..."
-[Delilah] "The Renatus Flower blooms

"once per century
at the base of the Birthheart,

a tree legend says was planted

by the Wildmother herself.

Its blooms are said to heal any wound,

undo any curse,

even if divinely dealt.

At great personal cost, I procured

the last surviving bloom from Vasselheim.

"It withered in transit.
Nothing in my power can revive it."

But maybe my power can.

[Delilah] "So I return"

to my previous efforts:

Cloning a new body for Sylas,

free of vampirism...

in the hopes that
our lord can restore his essence.

Unfortunately,
each of my subjects has proven...

"unviable."

Wait, did she say...

"subjects"?

sh*t.

-[heavy footsteps approaching]
-Come on, come on.

[quiet snarling]

-[clattering]
-[running footsteps]

Show yourself!

[tense music playing]

[snarling]

How are you showing me this?

I've always had a spark,

even as a girl.

It scared people.

She said she would teach me how to control

my magic, but instead...

[gasps]

If you died, why are you...

[Laudna] No idea.

I woke up hanging.

When they cut me down, I ran,

half-alive, half... this.

And just when I thought
maybe I'd been given a second chance,

she came back. In here.

The voice, beckoning me.

If your mistress is back,
we are all in danger.

Unless...

You say you know magic?

[gasps]

Aah!

[panting]

I dabble.

If she can get into your head,

perhaps you can get into hers.

[muffled gasping]

Hard to breathe?

Try having a sword through your throat.

[sighs] Not much left.

But enough for one last clone,

given life by the Whispered One.

We are truly his blood,

and Sylas will always be mine.

[growls softly]

Oh! You startled me.

Step aside, dear. I'm leaving.

[growling] No.

What? You can speak?

B… But how?

Look what you've done to me,

what you've made me.

Is this the mark of your love?

Darling, no, I...

-[growls]
-[screams]

[grunts]

[roars]

Don't like bright lights, do you?

sh*t.

[rousing music playing]

For too long, I've lived in fear of you.

Of your atrocities. Of your cruelty.

Of not knowing if you'd come back.

Now it's your turn to fear me.

This is my house.

Sylas, what are you doing?

If you really loved me,

you would have let me go.

No, you don't mean that.

No, please, don't...

-[giggles]
-[Delilah] What?

-Gotcha.
-You.

[Vex] Don't forget about me.

[gags]

[Vex] Down!

That was scary.

Fun scary?

Thank you. I never thought

I could control the power.

Not without her.

For now, but be careful.

Ghosts like these can haunt us forever.

Trust me.

-[Vax gasping, coughing]
-Brother!

Delilah. [gasps]

I-It's all right. She's a friend.

And I k*lled Delilah.

No, you didn't.

She's one of them.

I believe I've had enough of our reunion.

Consider my offer, champion,

and heed my warning.

Damn it. Let's move.

[panting]

[coughing]

[Keyleth] What the hell just happened?

[Vax] Delilah must have had a failsafe

if her tunnels were found.

Wait, she's here?

Not anymore.

Are you all right, darling?

No, not all right.

But the closest I've been

in quite a while.

Wait, where's that spooky girl?

-Did she...
-I think she's pretty hard to k*ll.

[low growling]

[panting]

Did I scare her off?

[serene music playing]

[birdsong]

You've helped me before, Sun Tree.

Please, one more time.

[horse whinnies]

[panting] Pike! Grog!

It shouldn't have been Wilhand.

He was my pop-pop.

[cries]

Oh, Pike.

I'm so sorry.

I don't want sorries.

I want the Children of Truth to pay.

And I want to shove my mace

so far up the Whispered One's a*s

he can never come back.

That might not be so easy.

It's all connected... the cult,

the Whispered One, the Briarwoods.

This has been playing out
far longer than we knew.

The Whispered One isn't just
amassing power and new followers.

He means to become a god.

Then I know just the weapon
that can k*ll him.

We got to find Scanlan.

[energetic music playing]

♪♪

Chirp.