QUEEN ESMERELDA

During the days of Kwisko (c. 150~175 GUE), the young Esmerelda lived within her father’s castle, hidden deep within the bowels of Mauldwood. This young and beautiful maiden was stuck-up, arrogant, snobbish, haughty, adamantly refused to tread any path but her own intricate selfish highway, and was always endowed with the most paramount gems of society.

As a young maiden, the hair of the slender Esmerelda was black as night. Her cheeks were rose, and her lips were red as blood. Those around her said there was a kind of beautific light that seemed to emanate from her. In her castle days, she commonly wore attire such as gowns of creamy silk, all embroidered with white and red flowers, and black velvet slippers.

Esmerelda’s father passed away, and her stepmother, Nasturtium became her guardian. She always hated the nickname she had given her, "Essie." An although Nasturtium was a witch, Esmerelda never learned anything about magic. When the maiden was both mature of age and countenance, Esmerelda was the sight of every man. Despite her most crafty and shrewd means, Nasturtium was almost unable to stop the overly comely woman from throwing herself at everything in pants. Originally the witch forbade her from leaving the castle, but the selfish Esmerelda was not about to submit herself to any form of parental obedience. These days presented her with many opportunities to perfect her stealth abilities by sneaking in and out of the castle right under Nasturtium’s nose. Esmerelda presumed that her terribly ugly stepmother was jealous of her beauty, but this was a false claim. A mother had a responsibility, and finally Nasturtium had to resort to enchantment. It was the only way she could keep her home.

Nasturtium spent a lot of money on a casket, the finest in Quendor (to match Esmerelda’s obsession for the best of everything), and placed a time-suspension spell upon the needle of a spinning wheel. Esmerelda was lured by the witch into a room where the wheel was set. Upon set her hands to it, she pricked a finger and fell victim to the time-suspension spell. She placed Esmerelda into a casket in one of the upper tower rooms. This was where the comely maiden would sleep and retain her youth and beauty for five hundred years, when a kiss would awaken her during the days of Duncanthrax.

But magic must be constantly renewed. Even so, it is not quite stable. It leaks. Thus over the years, the leakage affected her coffin first, slowing down time within. Then it spread throughout the tower room. As the spell was constantly renewed over and over, the effect eventually permeated the entire castle and enveloped the entire forest of Mauldwood. Thus an hour or two to one wandering within its ancient depths could be years, or even entire decades in the realm without.

Sometime between 665~668 GUE (this is difficult to date as passage time flows much more rapidly within the cursed Mauldwood), three men, Caspar Wartsworth, Sunrise, and Satchmoz the Incomparable, stumbled upon Nasturtium's castle after surviving a shipwreck. While exploring, Caspar and Sunrise not only found Esmerelda's hideous, although friendly cat, Meezel, but came upon the high tower room where her crystal coffin was. The beautiful young maiden was still asleep, but they assumed she was dead. After pressuring one another to kiss her, Sunrise took up the dare. The sleeping beauty reared to life, screaming, “Rape!” and with a fast uppercut, caught Sunrise in the jaw.

Esmerelda was not yet aware that she had been sleeping for five-hundred years, nor was she aware of the enchantments over the castle and woods. When they were about to depart the castle, the witch Nasturtium returned. After a lengthy argument, the stepmother finally gave in to their pleas and allowed for Esmerelda to depart with the men.  As they left, Nasturtium called behind them, “I told you boys you’d pay for waking her up. Well, you will, too. I’m letting you take her.” Esmerelda adjusted her bodice and put on a pouty little smile: “Which one of you gentlemen is going tocarry me? My slippers weren’t made from this kind of ground.”

Esmerelda turned out to be an incredibly spoiled, selfish, demanding, complaining woman. She asked one of them to carry her, then chastised them for holding her too sensually. This constant bickering irritated everyone. When she was assaulted by brigands desiring to rape her, she showed feisty determination and adept skills with the dagger. Despite the protesting of the other companions, she refused to depart without her cat Meezel. Eventually Satchmoz was able to use one of her AIMFIZ scrolls to return them all to the Borphee Guild of Enchanters, which by that time would tbe in the year 668 GUE, after Pseudo-Duncanthrax had already conquered both Antharia and the Eastlands.

Believing that Berknip was imprisoned with the dungeons of the Borphee Royal Palace, Satchmoz sought to rescue him. Esmerelda outlined a bold, though risky, plan to enter the castle. This plan was quickly put into action. Before leaving, she changed into garments of all black silk. Her trousers clung to every curve of her body, and her lace-up tunic was unlaced to reveal the ample flesh of her bosom. She found a pair of sturdy boots and shoved in the top of each one a knife.

Caspar's impersonating of a drunkard before the guards of the Borphee Royal Palace prompted him with passage to the dungeon, so he could be used as an AIMFIZ anchor. Once there, Esmerelda, who was offended by the idea that Meezel had to remain behind in the cell, set off on her own, proving to be a formiable assassin. None of the intruders were able to find anything of value, and Esmerelda's own stealth was eventually found out. They reconvened together at the dungeon and Satchmoz casted AIMFIZ to return them to the guild hall, but Meezel was left behind. The selfish woman could only think about unreasonably returning to the palace to rescue the cat.

In the meantime, the palace guards recognized the usage of the party’s magic from their break-in attempt. They equipped themselves to raid the guild. Knowing this was evitable, Satchmoz knew that they could not remain in the guild. They had to flee before the soldiers arrived. But blocking them from leaving was Nasturtium herself. She was agitated because of the shaking caused by the digging of the Great Underground Highway beneath her basement—the entire north tower of her castle had fallen in. She was determined to find those responsible and had followed the tunnel all the way to Borphee. She joined the group as they fled the courtyard to an old warehouse near the wharves. They agreed to reenter the palace.

This time Nasturtium would be the anchor for AIMFIZ. She flew into the courtyard on her broom and used a powerful spell to put all of the guards on the exterior of the palace to sleep. Satchmoz AIMFIZed them to her position inside the palace. Without anyone noticing when she left, Esmerelda went in search of Meezel. She found the cat in the dungeon, who had been terrorizing the guards and then went in search of the others. In the lower regions of the castle, she tumbled down a chute in the darkness which landed her with the rest of her companions. Unable to stop her momentum, she knocked Pseudo-Duncanthrax over who had held the others prisoner with a VAXUM spell. A harsh word from him broke the enchantment.The king eventually escaped through a hidden door.

They passed through the crystal door into the Great Underground Highway, and came to a place where hundreds of men, woman, and children were making mortar for the highway’s roadbed. The real King Duncanthrax in amongst this group, that had all been ensorcelled by Pseudo-Duncanthrax’s VAXUM. An outburst of anger at Duncanthrax from the party instantly broke the VAXUM spell. Crafty Nasturtium had always desired for Esmerelda to be in a good marriage, and cast a love spell. Because of the enchantment, Esmerelda was instantly attracted to the king. The two were amorous for each other from that day forth.

At the turn of the century, King Duncanthrax retired with Queen Esmerelda to his castle at Egreth in 670, victorious. Upon settling, one of Duncanthrax’s first tasks was to start a family. This was something he took very seriously. History, at this point, did not preserve the results of Duncanthrax’s marriage with Esmerelda. Whether it was the breaking of the love-spell or her death that dissolved the marriage, or merely that Duncanthrax sought to collect a horde of wives, he sought after the most flatheaded woman in the land to become his queen.

TRIVIA:
Esmerelda snores in her sleep.