"And the women who served there?" King Uranel asked. The paladin's eyes looked at the ground momentarily, but then, as though remembering who he was talking to, he looked right back up again.
"We captured most of them. The ones we have are currently locked in the tower rooms," the paladin hesitated but then continued. "Some of them ran off. We sent pursuers, but we have been unable to locate them. Others of them took their own lives before we could stop them." The paladin blinked as he delivered this information but did not otherwise exhibit emotion. The king looked him over skeptically.
"How many did we capture?"
"Of the 43 priestesses who were on record," the paladin began, "we captured 27. Eleven others are otherwise accounted for."
Five left, the king thought. The lines on his face deepened with anger, though there was a wide look in his eyes.
"Keep looking. Ask the nearby towns to submit reports of the arrivals of strange women. Get the sorcerers on the task as well. The priestesses can't use their magic without leaving evidence of the Demon Queen's power. And interrogate the priestesses who knew the others. Ask them where they could have gone. You have permission to use any means necessary."
"Yes, Your Majesty. We will not rest until they are discovered." The man held up a fist and crossed it over his chest, looking to the king for dismissal. The king nodded, though he did not look directly at the man. He was already deep in thought. He supposed he was grateful that he had a fanatical religious order willing to eradicate the traces of what they believed to be a heretical goddess. He knew her to be otherwise, though. He had, after all, met with her on multiple occasions in person. He smiled menacingly at the thought. The way her hair had felt intertwined with his fingers, the way she urged him to push her down, down... Enough. She'd kill you now if she ever got the chance, he reminded himself. No point in longing after the past. What was done was done, and he would reap the rewards of his time with her for as long as eternity would allow. He had begun his dynasty, a dynasty made from the gods.
The king thought about returning to his other tasks, but he doubted his mind would settle now after the paladin's report. In fact, he may as well go and interrogate the priestesses himself. There was plenty he could learn from them, though he had the impression that many of them had never actually seen or met with the goddess. Perhaps he already knew more than they did. The thought pleased him.
Already, his feet were carrying him up the long set of stairs leading to the tower dungeons. There were locked rooms with bars on the top section of the door all the way up, and the sounds of the prisoners echoed down the stairs. The king listened acutely for any bits of conversation he might be able to glean from the girls before they knew they were being heard.
According to his own instructions, they hadn't been placed together in groups larger than four, which meant they spanned over seven of the dungeon rooms. Straightening his red fur vestments and smoothing back his hair with one hand, he held out his hand to take the key from the guard and unlocked the first dungeon room.
((OOC: Okay... so feel free to ad lib whatever details you think would be relevant. I'm fine with Sonya and Catheryn being in the same room or different rooms. Up to you. The dungeon room itself has a small dingy bed for each person (little more than straw and a covering), and there's a pisspot. The floor appears to have been cleaned shortly before they were imprisoned. In terms of their capture, they were likely bound and placed into a wagon. You can estimate the length and time of that journey, and they have likely only just arrived (maybe a day or so ago). I'm happy to play the other women in the room if necessary. In terms of the magic they have access to, I'm assuming that most of the priestesses have been instructed in group rituals that involve five or more of them, but they may have learned some magic through some of the older priestesses, which Dehaljadrun seems to have little sway over. I haven't made many decisions about the way magic works in the human realm, so feel free to use it as feels right to you. I can talk more about the type of rituals I would imagine they would do if you would like. The priestesses are almost definitely still wearing their robes. I'm assuming that the temples to Dehaljadrun were probably a little taboo or at least odd to most people, but no one was really outright against them until the king. Let me know if that's enough info to get started. Hopefully this is fun.
Been meaning to get to it.))