"I command all the nameless powers and principalities, cast down this holy place! Rebuke the old enchantments and break the ancient wards! Erase the sacred signs and open the door that was shut! By Zuvassin and Necoho and fiery Phraz-Etar do I compel the Daemons of sky, earth and flame to heed my bidding! By the black name of Be'lakor do I command the ruin of this sacred place!"
- —Jacquetta's incantation to break the blessing of the Lady of the Lake on the tomb of the Red Duke.[1c]
Jacquetta was a witch who worshipped Chaos and lived in the Bretonnian dukedom of Aquitaine during the second return of the Red Duke. After one of Jacquetta's rituals unexpectedly freed the Vampire knight, he slew her and then transformed her into a Banshee who served the Vampire Lord in a campaign to claim the dukedom.
History[]
The witch Jacquetta had offered her service to Earl Gaubert d'Elbiq, who had drawn on her service to hex crops and spoil milk.[1a] A secret servant of the Chaos Gods, Jacquetta dwelled in a cave far from civilisation, tolerated by the earl for the services she was willing to provide. With her dwelled numerous mutants.[1b]
Gaubert d'Elbiq came to her in search of a way to kill Armand du Maisne, believed to be greatest swordsman of Aquitaine. The witch counselled that to truly break his enemy, d'Elbiq needed to humiliate him by besting him in battle. In exchange for providing him with such power, Jacquetta demanded that she and her followers be allowed to worship their dark masters in the open, under the official protection of the earl. Blind with hatred for his rival, Gaubert accepted the dark bargain.[1b]
During a night when Mannslieb was dark and only Morrslieb's light shone, the earl and Jacquetta met at Ceren Field, at the tomb that held the body of the Red Duke. Allying themselves with the necromancer Renar, the witch enacted the ritual to break the enchantments woven with the Blessing of the Lady, while the necromancer would infuse Gaubert with the essence and the skill of the legendary knight.[1c]
Their plan failed, for the Red Duke still lived, although maddened with hunger for blood, as he had been transformed into a Vampire long ago. Upon being released from his tomb he slew Jacquetta and her Chaos Cultists.[1c] In the aftermath, he raised her back to unlife as a Banshee.[1d] As servant to the Red Duke, Jacquetta aided her master in sacking Chateau du Maisne by seducing one of the Men-at-Arms stationed there to open the gate.[1e]
Renar sent the Banshee into the Tower of Wizardry in order to slay the servants of the Prophetess Iselda of Aquitaine. Yet the prophetess hid in the room sealed from the eyes of spirits. Two knights, Ergon du Maisne and Leuthere d'Elbiq, lured the Banshee into a space sanctified by the Lady of the Lake, where the prophetess managed to destroy the Undead spirit, dispersing her essence with a dozen mirrors.[1f]