#eskke

Eskke hasn’t always been on the Lawful Evil side of the scale, and would have definitely fallen into a Neutral position when I first made her. Happy little Eskke was both lab and life partners with Klivvik for years working on Sylvari and synthetic Sylvari parts. Kliv’s ethics remain fairly grey (they occasionally dissect Ateyla, awake, for research purposes. Teyla’s totally OK with this) but Eskke’s plummeted from ambiguous to total lack of, which resulted in her being forcibly removed from the pair’s lab, krewe and a messy break up.

Eskke took as much research as she could and bought her way into the Inquest for safety and resources, eventually proving her worth and working her way up the ranks. Her current projects are...highly confidential and she’s the only person to know of their details. All her (neglected) student, Zarus, knows is that the room her creations live in stinks when the power’s turned out and that turning the power out will get you screamed at.

Whether it’s part of her main project or not, Eskke also develops extremely high tech equipment for the severely ill Varente which gives her sight, hearing and strength. Varente is another of Eskke’s neglected and mistreated students, if reluctantly.

I ddon’t intend to write up Eskke’s research for a while. It’s very similar to Klivvik’s but Eskke is a sick fuck.

“Initiate action 35, please.”

Action 35 was only triggered once every season. Only when equipment inspection was due with the mentor and overseer. Said action was more a process, a series of programs and behaviours given to the golem including a friendly welcome, a charming voice and stealth sensors. Yes, the mentor wasn’t a kind hearted individual that had helped the struggling necromancer from the kindness of her own heart. She was more a tyrant, snatching the progeny from her sorrows and carelessly tossing her into a world of experimentation. 

Varente wasn’t exactly Inquest by choice. She was Inquest because mentor Eskke said she had to be or else she’d lose her equipment.

The equipment in question was a sensory device. As Varente had been born blind as a cave bat with dwindling hearing and poor health, Eskke had decided to take some of her dynamics research and theories and build a device that supported and strengthened the young Asura. Not without extensive painful testing and lingering reminders of such. The sockets and connectors that littered parts of her body, tucked under layers of robes and miraculously thick hair, were vital but sometimes ached and stung.

“Greetings-Eskke. Allow-me-to-escort-you-to-the-lab.”

A hushed string of curses suggested that the engineer had hoped to sneak in unannounced, but the golem was good. Varente expected so, she’d only programmed it herself.

Without the device attached she had to rely on what was left of her natural hearing to tell when the pair entered the room, Eskke opting to stand uncomfortably close to the young Asura.

“That time again already, little mouse.”

Pointing out her stature was one of the engineer’s favourite pastimes. She got used to it long ago. Completely unable to see, she reached up to touch Eskke’s face in greeting, patting again gingerly as she noticed the patch.

“Some clearly damaged Sylvari destroyed it. End of story.”

‘It’ being her eye, she assumed, lowing her hands again.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

Eskke’s irritated sigh punctuated her sentence, “Speak up, mouse. You’re too quiet.”

Varente just pouted and ceased her talking, simply listening to the elder Asura tinkering with the support device and occasionally reaching over to tug back a fold of clothing or lock of hair.

It never took long. Eskke was always far too busy.

“There we go. Fine tuned and upgraded with a few things I was working on. Don’t break it.”

Fitting it back on the necromancer was also a quick ordeal, if uncomfortable. Without another word the engineer left, the clank of the golem’s heavy footsteps following her out.

“YOU DID WHAT?”

Zarus shuffles her feet a little, eyes still keeping contact with the furious red face of the other Inquest agent.

“I switched it off a few days ago. I heard weird noises coming from your lab and figured your Golem was malfunctioning. It was just to be safe, we don’t need the lab burning-”

“A FEW DAYS? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”

She didn’t exactly wait for an answer, shoving her apprentice bodily out of the way and storming straight to her lab.

“It smelt funny too-” she added to deaf ears.

Hammering the button that opened the lab door with a little too much force, Eskke fidgeted impatiently. Had this glitch brained fool ruined her work? Why could she never get a reasonable functioning apprentice? What had she done to deserve this?

The smell was immediate on opening the door, wafting heavily straight to her nostrils and apparently her gag reflex. It was unbearable. 

“By the Alchemy, Zarus you fucking moron.”

Standing just behind her at the door had apparently been an awful idea as she received a face full of spitting insults and pungent odor. 

“It was just a Golem-”

“IT WAS NOT JUST A GOLEM, YOU ARE SO DENSE. WHICH PART OF ‘DO NOT ENTER MY LAB AT ANY TIME’ WAS TOO COMPLICATED FOR YOU? YOU STUDY LEYLINE MAGIC YET YOU’RE TOO IMPAIRED TO FOLLOW A SIMPLE INSTRUCTION...”

She continued on, face growing redder and redder with each word before inhaling deeply and gagging on the stench again.

“Fuck’s sake. Get out, Zarus.”

“Maybe I can help fix it-”

It was a shrill noise, startling in it’s immediacy, drawing attention from everyone in the vicinity. Priory researchers often knew better than to run towards a source of screaming so Klivvik drew a few watchful worried eyes as she dashed towards the sound.

Worryingly coming from the infirmary.

The closer she drew the more she could make out Eskke’s torrent of curses in a high pitched voice filled with terror and the gravelly snarl of a threat that made Klivvik want to about face and leave.

Alchemy spare her, why was she awake now?

The doors slammed open, daggers drawn. The sight of Eskke scrambling up a headboard, a blood soaked hand clasped over her right eye had Klivvik in an immediate panic. The very awake, seething necromancer dual wielding a scalpel and a syringe of sedative, splattered with blood and still laced with tubes didn’t help either.

“Your plant is fucking crazy what the fuck is wrong with her?” shrieked Eskke, backed up as far as she could be, “My eye, Klivvik. She’s fucking stabbed me.”

Judging by the way she wavered and stumbled towards the other Asura, ‘very awake’ was an exaggeration. Perhaps ‘slightly awake but uncontrollably furious’ was a better descriptor. 

Klivvik’s legs were frozen. She didn’t know how Caerthys did this.

“Ateyla...”

Frenzied black eyes snapped onto her, body lurching around in the same direction. She looked stronger, that was good. She also looked like she was going to tear the throats out of every living being that got within grasping distance so Klivvik quickly blasted her down with a gust and scrambled to meet Eskke.

“What did you do?”

The Inquest agent shoved at her, whining, “I didn’t do shit. She’s crazy. First you punch me and then your batshit salad tries to stab me in the brain. Klivvik!” She pulls her hand back and the sight isn’t pretty. Ateyla had clearly been aiming for a kill and her unstable condition had thrown her off. Still, Eskke didn’t look like she’d be keeping that eye.

“You’re lucky to be alive. Now flee. I’ll take care of her. Find medical attention immediately.”

Not that she needed to be told twice. Eskke was out the door before the Sylvari had figured out which way was up, Klivvik wasn’t so fortunate.

“What is all this, Magister?” the sapling spat, every syllable dripping venom despite the obvious struggle to form sentences.

“Ateyla, you have to understand it was for the best-”

A hiss through gritted teeth cut the Magister short, “I am going to destroy you.”

There were no words for the terror coursing through the Asura. Only a desperate whimper as she took up Eskke’s previous space, high up and away. Not that she could attack, only fumbling with her daggers as she watched the Sylvari sway, slow step by step towards her.

“A-Ateyla please, I was trying to help. I-I did this for you!”

The Sylvari didn’t even wince, utterly focused on the Asura, the blade in her hand tearing raggedly through her own flesh. Corruption magic. Klivvik gritted her teeth, frantically searching for a way out before the sapling could get any closer, already leaning on the bed.

“I w-won’t hurt you again I-I swear. Ateyla please. M-Mercy!”

The metal headboard shook as sap slicked hands gripped at it, wrenching it almost free of the bed. Klivvik tumbled to the ground, quickly scuttling away, finding her feet before the sapling could get back to her. Her movements were like slow motion, lagging almost comically if it weren’t for the previous promise of death.

“W-We can talk this out! Y-You and me and C-Caerthys. I’ll g-get C-”

How she’d managed the lightning fast movement was beyond the Asura, but there was the weight of the Sylvari on her chest, blade and syringe scattered across the ground, fists wrapped tightly around the Magister’s throat. With murder in her eyes and a hellish snarl rumbling in her chest, the necromancer leaned down to the spluttering, choking Asura flashing her teeth, her voice low and rough.