Ash stared indignantly at the Swordsman as he pushed her away and walked over to Dawn. ‘How dare he treat me like that! The nerve of that man, rejecting me so out right!’ She quietly listened as he started explaining his plan. As the Erl King appeared she shivered, she did not want to get in his way. She would have to wait until he was gone before she tried another move on the adventurers.
“Now,” continued the Dark Elf with a sarcastic smirk. “The second guest appearance involves the disclosure of our guest villainess for tonight. We all know her, we all love her, I give you Tuculcha!” If looks could kill the Sterling would have died on the spot. Her eyes blazed in fury. ‘That bothersome Drow has found me out! How dare he! The nerve of that man! How am I supposed to fix this?!?!’
The Drow continued, talking nonsense as far as she was concerned, stuff about rockers, French, Darkhaven Web Page, and that Witch thing again.
She grasped the hilt of the sword at her side, prepared to fight them if she had to, but the Drow continued. He seemed to know what she was thinking, gave her a warning look and said, "Oh, and Tuculcha, before you go ballistic and start blasting people or casting any spells or trying to make an exit; I want you to bear in mind that between us, The Erl King, and his retainers, we'll kick your sorry butt up and down this swamp! We're not after you, Tuculcha, we just want our friends back safe and sound. All we want to do is just talk with you and negotiate for their release, that's all. So can you please stop insulting all of our intelligences, and just drop your little Halloween disguise? The sweet, young and innocent look is definitely not you!"
‘Halloween disguise?’ she wondered, ‘What is a Halloween disguise?’ She was about to say something in her defense when the Adventurer grinned idiotically at Sterling and said, "Jinkies Fred, how'd you figure out that is was cranky old maid, Tuculcha?" His grin turned serious in a mere instance, "Well, the jig is up...witch. As my favorite biblical character once said...Let my people go."
Her fury turned to confusion as she listened to the Adventurer, ‘What is he babbling about? Who’s Fred? Jinkies, what kind of word was that, French? What jig was he talking about? Biblical character, what is a biblical?’ She didn’t feel like asking, but one of his comments really annoyed her. Her eyes flamed as she addressed the Adventurer, he had just added his name to her most hated list, “Cranky Old Maid!” she fumed, “I am not cranky, I am not a maid and I am definitely NOT old! How dare you even suggest such a thing!?!”
She quickly shut up, realizing that her disguise was useless now and she had just ruined any chance she had of trying to deny her identity. Her eyes, already burning with fury started to glow bright red, “You all shall pay for this!” She cried as she spiraled her hands in the air. There was a bright light and when it dissipated the young warrior in a blue dress was gone and the Sorceress Tuculcha stood there in the same outfit as when they had first met her, the only things that were different was the sword at her side instead of the jeweled dagger and Ashleyien’s backpack was on her back. “Very well, the ruse is up.” She looked up warily at the Erl King, hoping he would stay out of it. She addressed her companions in a calm and serious voice, “I’m afraid that negotiation for your friends’ release will do no good. Even if I wanted to let them go, I couldn’t. By now Venger should have already collected that interfering Lorekeeper, so she is beyond your help. That infernal rabbit should already be a stew, awaiting my arrival.” She glanced at the Elven mage with a smug grin. “I cannot just let you walk up to Gareth’s wooden prison and release him. If I do not stop you Venger would surely see me dead.” She paused for a second, hoping that her poor raven, Amar, was all right.
She crossed her arms beneath her chest and smiled brightly at the Swordsman, “What do you suppose I should do? Fighting you here is certain dead, yet releasing your friends, if they still live, and allowing you to continue will also lead to my demise.”
