/monster/ - The Last Bastion of Romance

"There are good news and bad news.” The warrior finally spoke out and put the communion matrix away. He did not receive any responses from Mathew or Patricia, oddly enough, so there was no more use for it for the time being.

“Oh no.” The wizard paled in the face immediately.

“H-hey, he said good news too?” The witch stuttered slightly as she spoke out next, but judging by her expression, the announcement was making her feel anxious as well.

“Let’s start with the bad.” The lion suggested, narrowing his eyes.

“Anderson did not take kindly to refusing his direct orders on multiple occasions and us going missing for a while. Me and Webster have been discharged. As our last order, we are to return to the capital, relinquish our equipment, the two magic suppression devices, the constructs we stole and…” The warrior’s head moved slightly to look at the balrog.

“Arrest and escort me to prison.” The horned woman answered with a grim tone of voice before he could finish.

“Yes.” Bernsen confirmed it quietly and looked away.

The members of his group eyed the massive monster warily, their bodies tensing up as some of them mentally regretted allowing Skorne access to a weapon and a new set of armor.

But the horned woman did not move and her shoulders remained loose and drooped, if a bit tense. “Did you expect that I would fight you?” She asked, a tiny fraction of bitterness mixed in her question. “I know better than do that. No. If this is how it must be, then I accept my fate. My only wish is that my life gets spared. Even if I have to spend the rest of it in chains to pay for all the sins that I had committed in the name of vengeance, it is a preferable conclusion to execution.”

“Oh.” The dwarf suddenly felt her face heat up in shame and the faint glow of magic that was condensing in her hand faded. “Sorry, we didn’t mean to-”

“Do not apologize.” The balrog cut her off firmly. “I have not earned anyone’s thrust and perhaps now, never will. Your reaction only proves that you are not blinded by idealism and understand that people can’t change on such a short notice.”

“Perhaps not.” The armor the warrior wore spoke out, her voice carrying a wistful tone. “But they can try.”

“We are not giving you up either way.” The warrior shook his head. “At least not until I am certain that it is safe to do so.”

“Do you not trust the man known as Anderson?” His familiar asked, giving him a meaningful look.

“I never did.” The warrior replied honestly and crossed his arms while looking up at the night sky that was faintly illuminated by the moon and stars above. “Lately, I trust him even less. Assuming it is the same person that I met who wrote this message. And even if it was…” The warrior frowned inside his helmet. The memory of the gremlin’s genuine fury and sadness painted on her face with streaks of futile tears of anger made his heart tighten.

“I was always only obliged to do one thing and one thing alone.” He continued, the metallic gauntlets of his armor tightening up with groan. “To terminate all traces of the cult of Al-Sabbath in Deleor. And I will only quit when that is accomplished. With or without DSS helping us or not.”

“Boss, not to second guess you at this point, but this sounds like a very bad idea.” The wizard quickly glanced at the balrog with a suppressed, fearful look before turning to the warrior. “If we are no longer under the service of the crown, that would make us vigilantes and while I know that it is extremely ironic coming from me of all people, that is illegal.”

“Only if we are caught.” Sahra called out, making everyone turn their heads at her. Her previous concern was gone and she appeared to be relaxed and even confident in her idle stance. She opened one of her eyes and slightly cocked her head at the warrior. “Right Bern?”

The warrior smiled, glad that someone understood him so well.

“Hmmph, hmphm, hmph.” The lion chuckled. “I suppose it does not matter in the end under which banner we fight. As long as we stop Al-Sabbath from reaching their goal, it will work out in the end.”

“So what are the good news then?” Kenzie who was previously curiously observing everyone spoke out.

“Oh yea!” The warrior realized that he almost forgot to mention it. “I have been offered a title.”

An awkward silence befell the group as everyone stared at him in disbelief.

“You mean like… a lord?” The wizard slowly asked.

“It says sir and that I can receive it at my leisure in the capital if I pledge my allegiance to a member of nobility.” Bernsen explained.

“Well obviously. I mean, I am pretty sure only the king would be able to make someone an actual lord and that is only with the support of the rest of the ruling class.” The witch laughed nervously.

“Sir is the highest privilege a commoner may receive, if the ranking in the country did not change in the last hundred years.” Maxxie pointed out with suppressed curiosity. “Is it being bestowed to you because of what happened in Cair?”

“Among other things, yea.” The warrior nodded, remembering his timely interruption in the arena, just before Richter could execute the entire VIP section of the coliseum.

“Becoming a lesser noble would open a lot of doors for sure. Not as many as a DSS agent, but it’s not something you should disregard boss.” The blonde wizard pointed out while seemingly deep in thought. “Did Anderson say anything about a date?”

“No, why?” The warrior asked, curious at the sudden question.

“It’s just that knighting usually takes place during a major event, like a party or a wedding since it requires reliable witnesses from members of nobility to be present. Hmm.” The wizard scratched his chin in contemplation.

“The message implied that I would get more information when we arrive. Either way, we’ll figure out what to do after we get to Sanctiford so let’s go. A leyway is waiting for us, right?” The warrior quickly changed the topic and addressed the wizard.

“Not us specifically boss, but the midnight train will be leaving soon.” The wizard reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a round gilded watch that flipped open with a soft click to reveal that it was almost time. ‘We better make a move on, if we don’t want to wait until the morning one.”

“Can’t you pull rank and order it to wait?” The dwarf asked as the group quickly left the alley and began to move toward the station.

“What? Hells no! The leyway system is famous for it’s speed and precision. Our trains ALWAYS leave and arrive on time. The schedule was not shifted even during the riots.” The wizard looked at her with a shocked expression, as if her very question was offensive.

“What if there is some damage on the tracks or the train is not in working condition?” Skorne joined in on the conversation, curious about the subject as well.

“First off.” The wizard sharply turned around and pointed his finger at the woman that was a few heads taller than him. “Our trains are ALWAYS in working condition. Second, if there is some damage on the tracks, it gets repaired immediately. We have specifically enchanted constructs monitoring the state of the whole length of the leyway line at all times.”

“That’s… pretty dedicated.” Maxie spoke out, sounding impressed.

“Obsessive, more like it.” The witch smirked.

The rest of the way went smoothly. Despite Cair being occupied by the military, the grounds around the train station were vacant of any patrols. The actual security, in the form of sleek metal constructs that silently eyed them in the darkness with their faintly glowing eyes, let them pass without a sound, recognizing them as members of the personnel, no different than the various green skinned women who dealt with the day to day affairs.

“Hmph.” The troll ahead of them carefully looked over Webster’s and Bernsen’s ID’s and after confirming them to be legitimate, allowed them into the softly hissing cart of the leyway. “You may take any of the rooms in the VIP cart save for room six. It’s reserved. The rest are empty and aren’t reserved for anyone all the way to Sanctiford. The servants have already been informed about your arrival.”

The group spread out along the cart, curiously eyeing the interior of the leyway cart. Most of them, including the warrior himself, had never been in a regular leyway cart, let alone a VIP one, reserved only for the most rich and influential people in the country.

The décor was splendid to say the least, even making the wizard smile in approval at the rich soft carpets underneath their feet and the elaborate flowery pattern on the walls and ceiling drawn with gold on polished mahogany covers. Banners and small paintings hung on the spots between the cabins and the windows, depicting various landscapes across the vast country of Deleor. Even the windows were all covered with expensive red silk drapes.

“Boy, this sure will feel weird.” The witch muttered to herself as she pulled open the door to her cabin.

“Not used to living on such a grand scale?” The wizard winked next to her.

“No, it’s just. When was the last time we had our own rooms?” The witch pondered while rolling her fingers on the handle of the broom she held. “I kind of got used to us always sticking together for safety like in safe houses or the like.”

“Oh.” The wizard blinked twice and nodded. “Yea, I get what you mean. We will all be close to one another though. It’ll be fine. The security on leyway trains is much better than boats, that I assure you. We only have issues with it out in the southwest, with the monster gangs who try to rob the ones carrying valuable cargo.”

“I guess you are right, but it’s not the robbers that I am worried about though.” Sahra added quietly and glanced at the door leading to Skorne’s cabin, which the balrog silently entered almost as soon as they got on the train.

“You think she might try something?” The wizard asked, his voice sounding tense.

“Who knows.” The dwarf quickly shook her head. “I am not really that tired but I think I am going to go rest for a while. Good night.”

“Good night.” The wizard spoke out softly and watched the girl close the door to her room. He stared at it for a few more seconds, his face showing conflicting emotions, like he wanted to say something else.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

Before the witch could even sit down, a noise came from the door. She quickly turned around and opened it to reveal the awkwardly smiling form of the wizard.

“You know, if you are not tired then maybe we could talk?”

“Talk?” The witch slowly raised one of her eyebrows. “About what?”

“Magic stuff?” The wizard shrugged casually.

The witch eyed him suspiciously for a moment but then slowly opened the door all the way. “Sure, why not. Come in.”

~~~

The cart soon turned quiet, save for the subtle sounds of the wheels underneath it carrying it towards the capital at great speeds. It was hard to believe that such a distance, a journey that took them a couple weeks to complete would be crossed in only a single day on this express leyline.

Bernsen did not feel tired at all however. He kept staring at the elaborately drawn patterns on the ceiling of his cabin for a while and considered looking into the communion matrix briefly again, but chose against it. He doubted that anything he could say to Anderson would change his mind.

Maxie was quietly standing next to the door. He was not sure if the armor could actually sleep. She probably could, since otherwise her existence as a museum exhibit for so many years would be like a living nightmare otherwise. Zapp was sleeping in a separate room next door and the man could sense that he was in deep slumber through his familiar link. Even the usually hyper-energetic and nocturnal Kenzie was sound asleep in her own private flat located under his chin.

Bored of simply laying on the bed, he decided to go for a walk. Maybe Sahra or Webster were having trouble sleeping as well and he could chat them up.

He quickly put on his black bodysuit and stepped out of the cabin. The hallway was dark, only illuminated by the moonlight gently cast from outside. He was not alone though.

The warrior tensed up, reaching toward his axe by instinct. The person standing next to one of the windows was not part of his group. It stood opposite to the sixth cabin. Come to think of it, who could be coming from Cair at this point and have enough influence to get a spot on this part of the train?

It’s body was covered with a shimmering purple cloak made out of silk or perhaps some other partially see through fabric.

The figure slowly turned her head to reveal a single large and expressive eye. It’s gaze met with the warrior’s, the faint moonlight reflecting off it with a beautiful pale shine.

“Oh my.” The monster spoke out timidly and smiled before turning her head towards him and pulling the hood of her cloak down which immediately revealed multiple fleshy strands in place of hair that lazily stirred awake, the eyes on their ends opening up and blinking as they tried to focus on him.

“Bearson.” The woman spoke in seamless ancient elvish. “What a pleasant surprise. It has been a while.”

“Forsythe…?” The warrior’s eyes widened in surprise and the grip on his axe softened as he pulled his hand away. There was no need for weapons in presence of an old friend. “By the gods! It’s been so long!” He could not help but smile. To see a familiar face here of all places was a blessing.

“Shh.” She pursed her lips and put her index finger up to it. “Everyone is most likely asleep already. Let’s not disturb them.”

The warrior quickly nodded, feeling his face turn slightly red in embarrassment over his burst of childish excitement. “Sorry. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Neither did I. Fate has a strange way to bring people together.” The gazer smiled again and gestured the warrior to come closer, which he did.

The two stood next to each other, both looking out through the window at the rapidly moving landscape illuminated by the starlight in the clear sky above. The memories of the monster who helped him out so much quickly emerged in his mind. While sir Mathew was the key in liberating his home from the clutches of the mistress, it was the lorekeeper, the ambassador of the monster nation who allowed the Order to connect with the natives of the Black Forest to unite together against their false goddess and bring an end to her.

“What are you doing out here?” The warrior broke the silence, unable to hold his excitement back any longer.

“I am returning from the Monster Nation. There was a certain bit of business I had to take care off. There was an attempted coup in the capital some time ago. With the monster lady absent, some members of the opposition saw it as a window of opportunity. Regent Chaika has contained the situation, fortunately.”

“Al-Sabbath?” The warrior narrowed his eyebrows.

“Yes, as a matter of fact.” The gazer blinked once with her primary eye and turned her head at him. “I am surprised you know about it. This information hasn’t been released to the public yet, as far as I am aware.”

“Oh well, uh, you know. Who else?” The warrior chuckled awkwardly while looking into the depths of the orb before him that was the beholder’s eye, the bottomless darkness within it, making him feel calm and at ease.

“Oh my,” Her voice called out. But her mouth did not move.

“Oh-oh crap I forgot about that} The warrior stumbled over his words as he realized that he was talking with one of the most powerful practitioners of mind manipulation magic in the country. {Uhh, is it too late to politely ask you not to read my mind?}

{Sorry. A bit too late for that.} A girlish giggle sounded in the confines of his mind while the gazer herself smiled mischievously.

{Darn. So…how much did you-} He began to respond by forming his thoughts into words.

{Too much, I’d wager.} Her expression turned more serious. {If I knew you were a member of DSS, I would not have done it. You’ve certainly come a long way since being an illiterate tribesman. No offense.}

{None taken.} The warrior chuckled. {The world outside is pretty amazing. I am glad that I could become a part of it thanks to you.}

{Yes. It is quite a wondrous place. Not to say that your homeland is bad, it is a beautiful place, but only one of many that this vast world holds in them. We are all blessed to live within it to be able to experience it all for ourselves} The gazer smiled faintly as she observed the passing images of the land outside the leyway train window.

{Have there been any news from-} Bernsen began to speak in his mind but the gazer interrupted him.

{The Black Forest? Last I heard, emissaries from the monster nation were sent there to ease the population into a modern society and teach them things like reading and writing, as well as proper land cultivation techniques. I believe the Union also expressed interest in building a leyway leading there to help with the travel. I don’t think the land itself has been assigned to any particular lord yet, it’s a heated debate, now that the news of it being opened up are spreading. The noble family that used to rule that area is long gone. The king is considering offering incentives to citizens interested in moving there too. It is quite a bountiful place and practically untouched by civilization and ripe for cultivating all sorts of things.}

{I see. That’s good.} The warrior nodded, albeit not sure about the Black Forest being passed on around the table like a bottle of wine without any consideration of what the locals thought about it. Then again, considering they could not even recall their names, it was perhaps for the best.

{You’ve done an amazing thing defending Cair not only from internal strife but also external attempts of subjugation by the way. The offer for a title you received is well deserved. I don’t suppose you would be willing to receive it during the celebrations?} Forsythe turned her head away from the windows at last to look the warrior in the eyes again with that same warm and welcoming expression that almost made him think of his mother.

{Celebrations?} He asked, blinking in confusion.

{Yes. For Deleor’s victory in Cair. A big celebration is coming up in a couple days. In fact, the reason I am returning to the capital is to attend it. It’s a pretty important event.} The pale-faced monster explained.

{But, wait this doesn’t make sense. I read recently that Galmathoria had breached the south western border while this was going on. Isn’t it too early to celebrate?} The man looked down at her smaller form in disbelief.

{Perhaps. But it is important to keep everyone’s spirits up and to make it seem like nothing is wrong. Do not undersell the events in Cair either. The victory against general Callisto was decisive. It is an event well worth celebrating, even while the rest of the country is at war.} The woman narrowed her eyes judgingly and slowly shook her head.

{I suppose so. I am not one to rest while my enemies are still alive though. Where is it going to take place at? The Palace?} The warrior asked, his mind immediately jumping at the opportunity. If he could get access to it like that, then he could look for the white integrity core relatively unopposed.

{It was going to.} Foresythe frowned and bit on her lower lip softly. {However there were some last minute changes. Not without your hand in the matter either, come tot think of it.} She looked at the man with both her primary and secondary eyes narrowed in displeasure.

{Huh?} Bernsen looked around himself, feeling confused and also nervous at the way that Forsythe was looking at him. {What do you mean?}

{The palace is under lockdown, with orders to raise security. All social events that were planned to be held there for the next two months have been either canceled or were moved to another area. In the case for this particular celebration: the monster embassy.} The monster sighed faintly and looked away again with a small blush on her cheeks. {I am sorry. I did not mean to judge you like that. It is not your fault, you are acting in the best interests of the country and if the threat of Al-Sabbath is so great that they have the potential to infiltrate the palace, then it’s probably for the best. I’ll… just have to deal with all the extra paper work that hosting such an event implies.} The gazer giggled again.

{Oh wow. I didn’t expect Anderson would actually take me that seriously.} The warrior scratched the back of his head, genuinely surprised at the consequences that a simple message of his managed to produce.

{Bearson.} The girl’s expression turned serious again. {Like I said earlier, I accidentally saw too much when I looked into your heart just now. What you are planning. Forgive me if I sound too bold but it’s a fool’s errand. You are no longer bound to follow anyone’s orders. You are free to do as you please. The plan that Al-Sabbath had in regards of the integrity cores can’t come into fruition, now that they will never be able to collect all six of them. For all intents and purposes, you have already won. Whatever they might plan to do next is not of your concern and can be handled by others just as well.}

The warrior gave her an even look but did not speak. He merely continued to listen.

{You fought so much already. Done so many good deeds and now you have finally been recognized for them. Why not stop while you are ahead? You may still wish to fight, but what about those you hold dear?} The fleshy strands holding the beholder’s eyes turned at the different cabins in the cart that housed his friends. {Don’t you think they deserve peace?}

The warrior closed his eyes and thought about her words, her council was something that he could not simply overlook. The lorekeeper was wise and old, despite her youthful appearance.

{I know you have not asked for my advice, but I implore you to listen to what I have to say anyway. Take your title. Leverage it to return home like I see you want to deep in your heart, despite how painful you know it might turn out. Your friends will undoubtedly follow you there and support you, none of them, save for perhaps the wizard, have a real home they could call their own. I am certain you would find happiness that way. I can also see that your wanderlust has been quenched, at least partially. You no longer seek thrills and new experiences nearly as much.} Forsythe’s face was sad now and full of concern. Like a mother being worried for the well-being of her child. She was genuine in her suggestions.

And while he could not fully agree with her, he also realized that she was not entirely wrong. What did he have to gain here? What drove him on? By Anderson’s own word, he was no longer obligated to complete his promise to destroy the cult. Revenge then? He was not foolish enough to be led by something so basic and everything the cult owed to him, he had already paid back tenfold with how much he meddled in their affairs. What was it then that still drove him on. Honor? JUSTICE? No. He did not believe in the philosophy the Order held despite how beautiful it was. Duty? To whom? He was always his own man. Responsibility? If anything, that should have directed him to avoid conflict instead of seeking it.

What was it then?

What was he fighting for?

>What do you do?

>>335541

Real talk slav anon

Do you want us to end this?

Because if you have no interest in running this particular story out any further then we can stop….

…

…

If you want to keep going though……..do the thing with the spirit strands if we can shes looked into our heart of hearts we can at least reciprocate, show her that we can understand eavhother on mutual grounds

Maybe offer her a place if we decide to become a lord

Also reclaiming the forest… i really dont know, could we rule it? Or would seeing all our old friends be to much for us…. i guess thats for other anons to decide

>>335540

Why are we doing it? Simple our jorney still not over, we promised to help our friend Zapp, we learned about the end goal of Al-Sabbath, we learned about all the suffering and horrible things done by Al-Sabbath, and we know too much, the core locations, their goals, the fact they got moles everywhere and the fact they are connected to Galmathoria and a certain "aquaintance" of ours is back from the dead and working for them and who knows what else might happen if we left them by thenselves. Also…It might be important to bring to attention something with her you know the first thing she does after sooo much time is read our mind but only after we mentioned Al-Sabbath so… thinking again its strange why is our little fungal friend still alive, I mean everyone at the time was was I believe either out of comission or…dead…. except her, we only met her later on and suddenly the mushroom is still alive… Not getting suspiscious but she has mental powers and after being so much weakened what could mushy do if someone were to make contact with it, and here she is trying so much to convince us to stop so desperately, after taking all those things in account ain't that a bit toooo….suspiscious?

>>335555

Sorry for the Double-Post but I might be wrong but, wasn't she the one who also gave us the autopsy of our little Danuki friend? We are not medics and we weren't there at the moment and I can't remind anyone goign to check for the body…or finding one, also why is she going exactly in our train for the same place we are going when we just gave Anderson some info about the location of another core and the fact Al-Sabbath is about to strike, yeah she was part from the Black Forest crew sooo shi might going to reunite with them but….just now after all this time, when shit is about to hit the fan??? Weird isn't? And extremely convenient and might suspiscious….

>>335555

>Double quads

Very nice. Don't go around pushing too hard with that intense meta knowledge though. It has to make sense for it to work.

>>335550

Oh don't go reading between the lines too hard now. Holy shit man, why would I want to waste the final battle after I spend a year planning all the potential events and outcomes that could transpire there. I am just fucking with your head like Forsythe any good GM is supposed to.

>>335560

Well then how about that, let's politely fuck off from the eye of the Beholder and give Bernsen some time to think since a Life changing decision like that is not something you think from the get go, also we have been slacking a bit on our Papas handy dandy instruction notebook let's get back to pratcise it when we get back to our room.

>>335536

>The cart soon turned quiet, save for the subtle sounds of the wheels underneath it

there goes my image of Leyways being a combination of a mag-lev train and a monorail

>>335537

>I don’t think the land itself has been assigned to any particular lord yet

if we do become a Sir/Lord, we might as well ask for the Black Forest

it also gives us the chance to waifu Masha

>>335569

Like my and your post show we have no reason to trust her, thats why I though about try to make Bersen join the dots but Slavsan said no Meta-Knoledge also I might have half-assed my post since I was jumping between barbarian and warrior looking about her so my logic looks like a cluster-fuck,anyway we have 2 problems:

1- He trusts her.

2- We know she is full of shit so how to make him understand what we know ?

So even if don't let him give up the quest how to make him see through that bullshit, I am lost.

>>335558

No the healer guy, Norin I think his name was, did the autopsy on our dear danuki friend who likes to draw, whose name is Minerva by the way. He realized that she didn't die from a broken neck, but by a heart attack which was strange since she was healthy before that ultra attack on martel's tree that broke the ground and caused her to fall to her death.

Since Forscythe knows a lot about what we know now, we should ask how her black flame attack works. If she doesn't really say, then ask our party members if they know how later. After asking that question to her, we should tell her the mushroom bitch is still alive and ask how when we saw Forscythe burn her away with her black flames. If we get this right then Bearson will realize something is wrong with what she says and her explanation. Also, why does Forscythes speech at the end reminds me of when the mistress tried to convince bearson to join her side in Barbarian Quest when he cornered her?

>>335560

So we have to structure it in a way as to have it make sense to Bernsen in order for it to appear in the story. Wish we recruited Norin and Emilia earlier, would have made it easier to do so but we have make do with what Bearson knows now.

Also would like to remind everyone that the fake mushroom goddess stores the memories of those she infects. Which includes those who are no longer infected by her shrooms or those who are already long dead.

>>335540

They're still dangerous and will probably come after us anyway, I wouldn't be suprised if they could get into el-dorito via some bullshit and even if not they no doubt have other abhorrent shit going on like the magic powder factory. Lets not forget that they have those spores too, maybe that's their backup plan, to turn all males in deleor into retards?

tl;dr Al Sabaath are fucked up assholes and must be disbanded and they're sandniggers

>>335570

They actually do have double tracks and I never really described them as anything more than:

"For the most part, they were just large boxes linked together and propelled through the land by drawing energy from the natural Ley-lines that connected the corners of the world."

And: “Soooooo coooooool.” You say, watching it go before your ears perk up as another Leyway, going in the opposite direction, pulls into the station, stopping in a cloud of aetheric particles that quickly vanish from sight."

All in all they were invisioned to be mag-lev devices, which is why they only emit a soft hum while in motion and it's actually difficult to tell they're moving at times.

Oh yeah I should comment on the other stuff too. Later tho.

>>335540

Why do we still fight? What a dumb question. Al-Sabbath isn't going to forgive or forget. Us and our friends will never be safe until Al-Sabbath is gone. As long as they exist, we'll be constantly watching our back for assassins seeking revenge for all we've done to them. Heck, even in the unlikely circumstance they decide we're no longer a threat and forgo revenge, their goals and methods haven't changed. We could sit on our hands and let others take care of the problem, but even if they can't summon Dollora they can cause a lot of damage. What would have happened at Cair if we weren't there? Who's to say wherever we go won't be next? Speaking of Cair, have we forgotten why we saved it? To stop the war. We may not have prevented it, but without Al-Sabbath we can halt it in its tracks. And what if nobody does stop them? Is that the kind of world we want to live in? For our friends to live in?

>>335550

>Spirit strands

Kinda brilliant. May need a better reason, though. Maybe to see if there's any valuable info to be gained about what Al-Sabbath was doing in the Monster Nation?

Is this what would have happened if we hadn't gone to the Union? On a train to Sanctifrond, with Al-Sabbath looking to prevent Skorne from leaking info by… OH SHI-

>>335539

>Celebration

Sounds like an excellent target. In fact, it's almost the exact scenario as Cair so it's not meta if we figure it out. Lots of high value persons in the area for a spectacle. Place your bets! Is Al-Sabbath going to finish the job it started in Cair and take out other key targets like the king in a decapitating strike? Starting odds are 3:1! Buy in before it gets higher!

Also, Al-Sabbath likes its false flags, right? And the celebration is being held at the monster embassy. Plus forsythe was just in the monster nation for some reason and is attending the celebration, though that's meta for now. You know what would really suck? If Al-Sabbath killed everyone at the celebration and framed the Monster Nation. Deleor's retaliation might even drive the Monster Nation right into Galmathoria's arms. In fact, if Galmathoria and the Monster Nation won that war, monsters would reign supreme, just like Al-Sabbath wants.

You know what would suck even more? If it turns out that the increased security at the palace meant the celebration's security was weak. It'd be all our fault in a way.

>>335661

Oh my.

>>335661

Man.

What a shitty time for the Monster Lady to go on vacation.

Is our witch and wizard banging in the cabin next to us?

>>335569

>Forsythe

>She's a member of Al-Sabbeth and a direct subordinate to Dia

>She killed best girl Minerva after she found out about Minerva knew

Yes. Let's not forget this. This bitch murdered our friend and needs to die. Sadly Bernsen doesn't know about this but now she knows everything about our Union operations.

If we can help it lets not try to get too friendly with her until we find a way to let Bernsen know what kind of person she is.

>>335708

Well things are getting pretty hot in there and might even end with a bang,

>>335730

Unfortunately as far as bearson is aware she is a good allie and a dear friend and we have no real good reason not to trust her ""yet""

Other than it being a little odd shes here at all…

>>335540

Yeah, what are we doing. Let’s just hit the sack and repopulate many dead species i.e. give Skorne, Sahra and Kenzie our well endowed slab of meat. Which means we search for a cure to our fertility, duh. There is obviously nothing more pressing or concerning to worry about.

>>335708

Well looks like someone must leave the tribe…

The gazer's piercing look was cutting hard through his thoughts, directing him to a certain conclusion that he was almost swept by. Bernsen almost agreed with her right there and then until something else briefly flashed through his mind. A memory that made him shiver.

The pale-faced girl slowly reached her hand up to caress his face, but he grabbed her wrist before she could and tightened his grip on it enough to make the monster exhale sharply in surprise.

"The reason why I must keep fighting?" He foregone speaking in his head and gently pushed her hand away. "Is to win."

{…beware…the dark priestess…beware…} The message of the mistress echoed in his head.

“Maybe you are right about Al-Sabbath, Forsythe. I might have even turned around some time ago, given the chance. But not anymore. Now it’s become personal. You know ‘’she’’ is back.”

The gazer looked up at him sadly and nodded before closing her eye and turning away. “I do.”

“How could this happen?” The warrior frowned and leaned on the wall of the cart with one hand. “How did she survive?”

“Who knows?” Forsythe’s secondary eyes drooped slowly. “I am certain that I destroyed what was left of her physical body in the chamber after Martel used the power of the arcane nexus to purge her. I am not a biomancer and I know little of the circumstances behind her creation, but it is possible that a piece of her fractured essence might have escaped and attached itself to another piece of her body somewhere else. Performing such an act however, especially after being cut off from her source of power…? Her magical power and mental duress must be remarkable.” The lorekeeper concluded.

“Or someone helped her.” The warrior whispered.

A dark cloud passed over the moon, briefly casting the interior of the cart in pitch black darkness. The gazer shifted in place uneasily and looked up at the looming dark shape of the warrior over her.

“Bearson…?” Her voice asked softly.

“If you read my mind, you know that I believe that Al-Sabbath might have compromised DSS. What are the odds that The Order has been as well?” The man inquired, his voice tense.

The moonlight bathed the cart again after the cloud moved aside, revealing the warrior’s concerned face.

“It is possible.” The gazer blinked and turned away. “Their security and recruitment policies are much more lax.”

The warrior nodded in response. It could not have been the Union who did that. Reagan was not present during the liberation of the Black forest, that he was certain in. So it only left the heroes and the magitek maintenance specialists among their ranks.

“There is no way to tell anymore anyway.” He shook his head. “No point in looking back. What’s done is done. I can only look ahead now and make sure I finish the job for certain this time.”

“Do you yearn to end her existence?” The gazer glanced up at him with a worried expression.

“Yes.” The warrior answered without hesitation. “Above all else. Not only because of what she did to me personally. But because the consequences of her breaking out of whatever control Al-Sabbath had put her under would be disastrous. I grew to love this land after exploring it. I do not wish for it to hurt because I decided not to clean up after my own mess and leave things to chance.”

“I see. I suppose it’s understandable. I hope you will succeed in your task Bearson. For the sake of all of us.” The monster smiled sadly again and reached toward him to wrap her hands around his waist. “No matter what happens, make sure to stay decisive and do not hesitate. This is what makes you stand above the rest.”

“Forsythe…?” The warrior blinked in confusion and returned the hug, leaning forward and putting his hands behind her shoulders. “Is something wrong?”

“No.” She shook her head slightly while burying her face in his chest. “Forgive me for my selfishness, but can we stay like this for a bit please? I know you do not love me but I want to remember this sensation. How it feels to be held by someone like that again.”

The warrior did not respond and merely nodded, holding the gazer close, feeling her warmth and the beating of her heart for a while. He almost wanted to see what she felt at that moment by reaching into her body with his spirit sense but there was no sunlight around. The light of the moon was bright but not warm. It was not enough to light up the fires of his spirit. He could tell she was lonely, regretful and longing for something that she lost a long time ago, but decided not to press her on this matter.

“Thank you.” She finally let go of him and smiled faintly.

“Don’t mention it.” He smiled in turn and pulled his hands back.

The lorekeeper retreated to her cabin afterwards to rest and the warrior followed her example as well, feeling much more at ease and tired after the encounter. His dreams that night were not plagued with nightmares, despite the tension that the task ahead of him would bring.

~~~

The train stopped with a faint hiss as streams of shimmering steam escaped from the various carts that it was composed out of. The morning sun was shining brightly on the dew covered platform.

Bernsen opened his eyes and straightened up in his bed, rubbing his eyes. {Zapp?} He called out.

{We are here.} The lion responded in confirmation and the warrior looked behind him to see the leyway platform. A large gilded plaque was proudly displaying [SANCTIFORD] in bold capital letters on the opposite side.

“That was fast…” The warrior muttered under his breath in amazement. The Union’s magitek was something else to cross such distances so quickly. It was an express train to be fair but still, it was difficult for him to wrap his head around it.

“Mmm…” A tired looking bundle popped out of his beard. “Do we have to get up already?” Kenzie rubbed her eyes and yawned.

“You can rest some more if you like.” Bernsen smiled and rubbed his pinkie finger under the caith sith’s chin, which made her let out a content purr. “Mmmnah. It’s fine.”

The fairy spread her wings and flapped them a few times, sending loose black shimmering particles around her and after making a circle around the warrior, floated up to the armor and patted it on the head.

“Morning Maxie!”

“Good morning Kenzie.” The armor responded kindly. “It’s been a while since I visited Sanctiford. I wonder if it changed a lot.”

“You’ve been here before?” The warrior glanced at the armor curiously as he dressed.

“A few times. Pappas was quite famous back in the day and an esteemed guest in any event that he participated in. He also acted as an instructor for the Order a while.” The armor explained with an excited buzz in her voice.

“Humm.” The warrior grunted and made a mental note to finish his book when things were less crazy. He spread his arms out and with a series of loud metallic snapping noises the armor fell apart and it’s pieces quickly enveloped him, attaching to his body and connecting to one another.

He stepped out of his cabin with heavy footsteps, the lion already standing outside it. He looked the warrior over and nodded in approval. “Slept well?”

The three nodded in unison. “Good. We have a big day ahead of us.” The lion shook his head to fix the mess of mane growing around his head. “Let’s group up with the rest and let’s go.”

“One moment.” The warrior reached toward the sixth cabin and tried to knock on it but the door slid aside from the force of his armor. He could walk relatively steadily in this, but precise hand motions were still out of the question. “Whoops!” He muttered in embarrassment, hoping that he didn’t catch the gazer in an unsavory position, but the cabin was empty.

“Ehh?” Kenzie floated in front of his helmet. “Why did we stop Bernie? Is there something here?”

“Huh. Not anymore.” The warrior pulled his hand back in disappointment. “She must have left the train already.”

“She?” Maxie inquired and he could almost sense something akin to jealousy in her voice. Kenzie frowned as well, looking suspicious. “Are you cheating on me Bernie?”

“Don’t be silly.” The warrior chuckled, finding their reactions endearing. “I just met an old friend here last night. Forsythe, the gazer who helped me out in the past, remember?”

“Ooooh, the one that helped you beat up that big dream bear in your head?” The fairy put her index finger up to her lower lip and looked up thoughtfully, recalling the story that the warrior had told her some time ago.

“That’s the one.” The man nodded.

“Did she write this then?” The lion gazed at the table and gestured at it with his muzzle. The warrior quickly followed his eyes and noticed a piece of paper. He stepped into the cart and picked it up. He managed to do so on his third try after nearly breaking the table and leaving a deep indent on it. It was fortunate that he was a Union operative and would not have to pay for the damages.

[Thank you again for last night Bearson, I will see you at the embassy later. <3]

The letter did not have the writer’s signature, but it did have a small drawing of a heart with a smiling face inside of it. Kenzie narrowed her eyes even more accusingly as she read the message.

“Friend, huh?”

“She can be pretty playful sometimes.” The warrior smiled and carefully tried to fold the message before noticing something else.

On the other side was a much more formal written text in fancy cursive letters as well as a seal of some sort in the shape of a cat’s paw. It was a formal invitation for a social gathering that will take place in the monster embassy. The date listed was today and the suggest time for arrival was 19:00. The invitation also extended to one more person besides himself.

Bernsen pulled his helmet off and put the paper inside his beard for safekeeping.

>Bernsen obtained [Party invitation]

When they knocked on the door of Sahra’s cabin, two people emerged instead. Both the wizard and the witch looked tired and their hair and clothes were messy, but they shared a satisfied grin on their lips. The interior of the cabin smelled burned as well as having a subtle scent of… rain?

“Huh? You two are already up?” The warrior asked, sounding surprised. The wizard was one thing but the witch liked to sleep in.

“Did you two fuck or something?” The fairy bluntly cut the warrior off and looked them over with a perverted shine in her eyes.

“W-what!?” The wizard went pale in the face.

“Eww! No Kenzie! What the hells? Why did you even think that!?” The witch on the other hand turned red. “We were practicing magic! Look!” She sharply raised her hand and with a loud popping crackle, a white current of electricity suddenly manifested. It ran over her hand and arm quickly, flashing brightly every few seconds, before fading away at the girl’s command.

Everyone oooed, except for the fairy who groaned in disappointed instead. “That’s boring.” The caith sith pouted.

“It’s something I have been meaning to do for a while.” Webster coughed awkwardly into his hand after color returned to his face. “Sahra did not really have a proper education in the arcane arts or a teacher of any sort and was entirely self taught. And yet, she STILL managed to reach a level of proficiency few sorcerers or hells, even wizards I met have.”

“I am an apprentice now!” The witch beamed excitedly.

“So you can shoot lightning?” The warrior’s eyes widened in surprise. “That’s incredible Sahra! Way to go!”

“Err, well not shoot it per se.” She turned even redder and rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. “I learned how to conjure it, but directing it is an entirely different matter. It’s very different compared to pyromancy, you can’t just toss it around like a regular projectile, you need to mentally calculate an arc then conjure and shape a thin thread of mana that matches it, then send the current through it and basically this shit is pretty goddamn hard.” The witch narrowed her eyes and flexed her hand, conjuring another current of electricity that harmlessly passed through her flesh without causing any damage.

“Don’t feel bad, Fulgomancy despite it being considered a basic offensive elemental magic school, is actually rather complicated in it’s execution, especially if you try to use it for fancier stuff like defense or weather manipulation.” The wizard nodded in satisfactory fashion.

“No kidding.” The warrior nodded in agreement, having seen the more advanced maneuvers himself firsthand.

Skorne was the last person to rejoin the group, sliding the door to the side as soon as the warrior reached toward it to knock. “Is it time?” She asked matter of factly and the warrior nodded before stepping aside to let the tall woman step into the hallway of the cart, her horns nearly brushing over the top of the doorway.

The city was silent. It was still early in the morning and the platform was almost empty. There was hardly even any cargo that needed to be unloaded, as the trains were focused on delivering things to Cair instead of from it.

“It’s quiet.” Skorne noted as she calmly looked around the empty platform.

“Yea, I admit I was kind of expecting a welcome committee in the form of a squad of armed DSS agents.” Sahra nervously laughed and slowly looked around as well.

“To be fair, Anderson would not know when we would arrive, since he is no longer able to track us using our scrying bowls. I would not be surprised if there is someone observing the platform for suspicious activity however. It’s too important of a target to not have constant watch over it.” The wizard’s eyes subtly shimmered, a sign that he was using magesight to examine his surroundings.

“Webster can disguise us again if necessary. Until you revealed your affiliation, no one was any wiser in Cair about our real identities.” Zapp pondered out loud. “That is of course if you are planning not to make contact with DSS immediately.”

“I am pretty sure you must have already figured it out while I was not present, but how exactly do we get into the palace?” Maxie asked.

Everyone went quiet.

“Wait, you can’t be serious. You made such a big deal about it, but we have no plan for it at all!?” Maxie raised her voice in disbelief and vibrated in shock.

“It’s not that.” The warrior shook his head. He did not have a clear plan, but there was more than that. “We might not be going there first.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” The witch turned her head up to look at the man with a confused look.

“Oh yea! The party that Bernie was invited to!” Kenzie balled her right hand into a fist and struck it against the open palm of her other hand.

“Wait, what?” The witch blanched.

“Context please?” The wizard cocked his head sideways.

Skorne turned her head at him, interested as well.

After a brief explanation, the man let the wizard examine the paper at his request. “Hmm. This is legit boss. I’ve been to a lot of these kinds of social gatherings in the past.”

“Why would we waste time for something as frivolous as a party?” The witch grimaced in disbelief and shook her head. “Bern, is it really the time? I know you are eager to become a lord and all, but earlier you were so urgent about us getting that core from the palace.”

“It’s not that I am particularly interested in visiting it. It’s that I am worried about what might happen there. The monster nation owns the building doesn’t it?” The man narrowed his eyes as he studied the paper for a second time.

“Well obviously.” The wizard shrugged. “It’s even more than that. It’s actually legally considered to be monster nation territory.”

“Webster, who else do you suppose will attend a victory party like that?” The man asked tensely.

“Hmm. Well, mostly noblemen and rich merchant families seeking more influence and connections. Since it’s related to the victory in Cair, I suspect there will be members of the Order and the military as well. Maybe someone from the church will make an appearance.” The wizard listed as he thought it over.

“Is the order in charge of security there?” The warrior asked next, but somehow already knew the answer.

“Huh? Of course not. Like I said, the embassy is foreign territory, the order and Deleor military are not allowed to have presence there. They have their own guards there.” The wizard shook his head immediately.

“Who will get blamed if something happens there?” Bernsen pressed on.

“The monster nation.” Skorne answered instead of the wizard and the air around her began to heat up as she continued to speak. “Do you think Al-Sabbath might attempt to repeat the same thing as they did in Cair?”

“Worse.” Maxie’s voice suddenly went deathly serious and authoritative. “They will not just cause chaos among the upper circles of the chain of command if they succeed. This will spark a war with the Monster Nation.”

…

“Holy shit.” The dwarf breathed out, her expression frozen in horror.

“N-n-n-n-n-now hold on!” The wizard stuttered and snapped out of his stupor. “Look, Cair is one thing boss, that place is a corrupt backwards shithole at the northern edge of the country, but this is the capital! The very heart of Deleor! Both the Order HQ and the Palace are right around the corner and the law enforcement here is strict and tight. There is no way Al-Sabbath would be able to set up here in advance to execute something like that. Don’t underestimate the monsters guarding the embassy either. They are some of the most fierce and experienced fighters around, a lot of them being around even back during Valinthia’s reign!”

“Valinthia’s…” The armor quietly muttered.

“Yea Web, normally I would be inclined to agree with you, but I would like to remind you that we met when a pack of ferocious fucking ghouls popped out of nowhere in the middle of a theater performance and jumped us along with that immortal leather-clad psycho.” The witch pointed behind her with her thumb in the direction of the noble district.

“That…” The wizard was at a loss for words.

“Either way.” The warrior spoke out and everyone immediately looked up at him. “We need to figure out our course of action for today. Maybe I am being too paranoid. The city does look peaceful at the moment and if members of the Order will be attending the party as well, then they could very well handle whatever Al-Sabbath might attempt.”

Everyone nodded at that and began to discuss among themselves how to possibly infiltrate the palace and whenever Al-Sabbath striking out at the embassy was improbable or not. There was also the question of Anderson’s orders and how to circumvent them if necessary.

The warrior walked over the to the edge of the platform and took his helmet off to watch the morning sun rise over the capital.

The leyway station was located at an elevated spot near the middle of the city and allowed one to get a good look around. With a subtle whirr, his artificial eye zoomed in and began to scan the city.

Current Time: 6:00 AM

[Available locations]

1)Order of Heroic Brotherhood Headquarters

2)The Royal palace

3)Monster nation Embassy

4)Temple of Solos

5)The royal Library

6)The docks

7)City Hospital

8)Leyway central station

9)L’argent Industries offices

10)Noble district

11)Market district

12)Outer wall

>What do you do?

Time to put on our thinking caps boys

Really dig deep

>>336601

Well first things first, I think we need to decide about Skorne, my vote is not deliver her to Anderson, yeah, she said she is fine to get jailed but I don't think Bersen would want that to a member of his tribe, not only that we still don't know if there is a mole or not so I think she is safer with us.

Also, We might need to do some recon, split up give Sahra a brownie and send her and Kenzie to see the place where the orb is and confirm if the safety is airtight just in case. Send Zap and Webster to check the Order to gauge how able they are in case the Al-Kebab attack and then send then to get supplies for our possible incoming battle, potions, mana potions, free-fall potions the usual. And Bernsen and Skorne should checkout the monster embassy if they ask say you're a couple and decided to check the place or try to come with another thing, the point is to check the place and see if there is anything or anyone suspicious, if there is something like any places were our enemies could enter in secret try to not let any spot unchecked on our little tour, it might be a good idea to use spirit sense, just in case we find someone suspicious. When we reunite finish our Papas training book, his techniques were useful till now, we might need a few more to face any new foes we meet.

>>336656

> i havent been following wizard quest sorry ace

>we need to decide about Skorne, my vote is not deliver her to Anderson

Agreed. We should keep her around at least till after the party at the Embassy. Which is were I think we should be headed. Maybe find a trustworthy person or two check their security scout the surrounding buildings etc

>>336601

Well gang, looks like we've got another mystery on our hands!

Hope we do better than last time.

I'm glad I figured out the possibility of an embassy attack, but I'm really not sure how it will go down. One thing to remember people, to paraphrase the great Sherlock Holmes, don't twist facts to suit theories. That said, what do we KNOW?

The monster nation has its own version of DSS, Chat Noire. They'll likely be a leading part of security at the event.

Some of the guards at the embassy are from back during Valinthia's reign. If they believed in what Valinthia was doing, they'd likely be sympathetic to Al-Sabbath's goals.

Forsythe was just in the monster nation. May be related to the above, but we have zero evidence, and cannot conclude one way or the other and it's meta.

Al-Sabbath has control of fungal bitch. They likely know what she and her infectees know. Unknown if they intend to employ her talents here.

Al-Sabbath knows everything the released gremlin knows, which includes the location of the red integrity core.

DSS is probably watching the group. That may include the moles.

As much as I was hoping Anderson would be on our side, his actions play right into Al-Sabbath's hands. The cancellation of palace events are what drove the celebration to be at the monster embassy. That wouldn't be enough to suspect on its own, but a few of his other actions have been suspicious too. Doesn't mean he's been turned, but we can't rule it out either.

The battle in Cair was started by a distraction, the freeing of the slaves. If they follow the pattern of Cair, they will attempt to perform a distraction here too. Can't say for sure if there will be one, or what it will be.

The gremlin did mention two Al-Sabbath agents in Sanctifrond. Did Bern figure that out during the spirit strand search of her, or is that still meta?

Al-Sabbath imported spice through the docks back when we met Sahra. Security may be tighter here, so they may be doing something else.

…Wait. Oh shoot. Remember that thing about the distraction in Cair? Allow me to add some more facts.

L'Argent Industries manufactures automatons/constructs.

A chantry man once used constructs to go on a monster killing spree.

We don't know who controls L'Argent Industries now.

This raises the possibility that an automaton attack may be the distraction. Evidence against is that DSS has short range jammers (at minimum), so may be able to counter the attack, though it still might be enough time to complete the embassy job. I suggest we keep at least one of the magic jammers until further notice.

Also, that undying thing that kept attacking us, Blitzkrieg, did so in the noble district here.

Feel free to add, but ultimately, we need more information. I have an idea. Two of our group can use spirit strands to read people, Bern and Zapp. To a lesser extent, Webster can read people based on body language. Based on that, I suggest we split up as follows:

>Sahra to the docks to investigate if there are Al-Sabbath spice operations going on. She would know best what to look for. Send Skorne with her, disguised by Webster.

>Webster would be best for looking into L'Argent Industries. He'll have to disguise himself so as not to gain the ire of DSS. Send Kenzie with him, he may need the backup if DSS figures it out.

>Bern and Zapp to the monster embassy. Between the two of them using spirit strand, they should be able to discover something.

We can visit other places later, unless someone has a better idea?

And if we ever need muscle, the Union trolls at the leyway station would be handy.

>>336868

>This raises the possibility that an automaton attack may be the distraction.

Would be kind of hard to utilize them in that fashion, unless they have orichalcum shielding. :^)))))))))

>>336596

>The monster smiled sadly again and reached toward him to wrap her hands around his waist.

So. What did Forsythe plant/steal?

CHECK BEARD FOR RED CORE.

NOW.

>>336893

We left it with Hardinclouse, check the end of the last thread.

>>336893

>such paranoia

I am impressed and commend it but in this instance there was no catch. If she wanted to, she could have mindwiped or hipnotized everyone and no one would realize it before it would be too late. But she didn't. Really makes you think.

"Alright…" The warrior finished examining the city and put his helmet back on, the locking mechanism on it snapping in place loudly and sealing him completely inside the armor. "Everyone listen up. Here is what we are going to do." He turned around, his voice distorted by the voicebox located below the visor.

~~~

By the time Sahra and Skorne made it to the docks, the day had begun in earnest. The city was awake and the riverside of it was particularly busy. Sanctiford was built on a crossing point between two large rivers that reached practically everywhere in Deleor with their branching paths. Before the construction of the Leyway system, they used to be the main source of transportation both for the people and goods, but even nowadays the rivers were an important and valuable asset to the country, as the Leyway system was highly expensive and required special licenses and other various paperwork to employ it.

As such, while the larger market moved on to the modern additions of magitek, the smaller one prospered with the now vacant space, allowing new blood to enter the competition with their goods.

"I really hope this works, I feel like everyone is staring at us." Sahra quietly whispered as she walked along the shore of the river that cut straight through the city from northeast to southwest. Sanctiford did not have a single central port, due to it's structure, unlike Cair and Somalot. Instead, there were several smaller ones spread out around the city, which made their task all the more difficult.

"They aren't." The balrog's response was short and dry, without even bothering to look down at the dwarf. Her usually curled horns were currently pointing straight up and her helmet was absent, stored away into a bag of holding that the witch next to her held over her shoulder. Most of the scars that left her disfigured, had been magically removed, leaving only a handful that, coupled with her rough but firm skin, gave her a fierce but also exotic and dangerous look that made occasional passerby either turn around or move out of the way. The master aesthetician even went as far as to regrow her hair into a dark red boyish pixie cut with black highlights.

The dwarf next to her on the other hand assumed her youthful elven look that was first used when she infiltrated Derrick’s witch academy. From an outsider’s point of view, they were easily mistaken for a young member of monster nation nobility being escorted around town by an embassy guard. A rather common sight, as was explained by Webster who lived in the capital for most of his life and knew from experience and his specialized skillset how to remain inconspicuous even in the higher circles of society.

“Okay, here we are.” The witch took a deep breath and folded the piece of paper given to her by the wizard that listed all the “seedier” smaller ports in the city that the law enforcement did not usually care to monitor due to either excessive bribery to officials, or not being strategically important enough to warrant attention.

“Okay Sahra, focus.” The witch kept muttering to herself. “You can do this. That old fart was full of shit when he said that you can’t act. I’ll show him in an act. I’ll blow their god damn minds when I shake all the info out of all those dirty sailors he-”

“Hey kid, what the hells are you doing here?” A rough male voice called out next to her.

“Gah!” The witch jumped in surprise and turned around to see a rather mean looking tanned man carrying a crate on his shoulder.

“What are you sneaking around here for? You trying to snatch something?” The sailor narrowed his eyes.

“I umm… hey, hey what’s t-that you are carrying in your crate?” The witch tried to make a cute expression and lean forward in an innocent way like she was instructed to, but clearly she was doing something wrong as the sailor just gave her a look of disbelief and suddenly placed the crate he was carrying hard on the ground, making it rattle.

“Okay kid, I don’t know what the fuck your deal is but this is privat-” The sailor began and started to threateningly move toward the short girl, making her tense up and instinctively begin to channel a fire spell until a firm, gauntlet covered hand was suddenly placed on the man’s shoulder.

“Is there a problem lady Blackwood?” The balrog roughly pulled the man aside effortlessly, making him stumble and addressed the “elf” in front of her.

“Ah, n-no I just…” The witch laughed nervously and straightened her dress up, making an awkward smile.

The sailor regained his composure, glancing between the huge minotaur and the brat and suddenly something clicked in his head and he went pale in the face. “O-oh are you-”

“Miss Blackwood had just arrived in the capital a few days ago. She is very interested in exploring the city.” The Balrog slowly turned her head towards the sailor, making him swallow hard when his eyes met the red burning stare of the monster. There was no threat in her voice or statement, but the sight of the armored woman two heads taller than him, with her hand idly resting on the handle of a massive claymore that was almost as long as he was tall, made him break into sweat. Or was that because the air suddenly started to feel hotter around the minotaur?

“Oh, is that so? I apologize, I should have known based on the clothes. It’s just that random kids keep sneaking into here all the time trying to snatch-”

“Hngh.” The monster grunted and moved her head sideways, popping a joint in her neck loudly which made the man start to sweat even harder. “What’s in the crate?” The monster kicked the box next to the sailor’s feet, making it rattle.

“F-fish! Just dried fish from the south!” The man hastily opened it up to reveal that it was indeed stacked to the brim full with it.

“Carrying sea fish all the way from the south?” Skorne slowly asked.

“Hey I know it’s weird, but with the war going on, the crown is paying good money for these kinds of preservable supplies, so it’s actually worthwhile to transport them right now.” The sailor hastily explained.

“Hngh.” The balrog grunted again and turned away. “Let’s go lady Blackwood. This is no place for people of your stature.”

“Y-yea, of course!” The dwarf quickly ran up to the taller woman and the two left on a short notice, leaving the sailor to breath out a sigh of relief.

“Well that was underwhelming.” The witch growled in annoyance. The next several docks they visited did not show anything unusual either, at least at the surface level. Even the ones that actually did carry illegal substances had never heard of anything like spice, even though they had actual fairy dust for sale in small quantities and with freakishly expensive price tags.

“I hope this wasn’t just Bern making up an excuse to get us out of the way while he gets himself into trouble.” The witch pouted. “I mean, look around the docks in the city for suspicious activity is as vague as it gets.”

“He must have had a reason for it. Even if it was just some gut sense.” The balrog replied as she scanned her surroundings for signs of being followed. Fortunately, the disguises were holding for now, or her instincts were not as sharp as she thought.

“Eh, we are almost done anyway. Good timing too, my legs are killing me. I can’t believe how much walking actually sucks.” Sahra complained and looked into her bag with longing, being forced to ditch her broom to not attract attention. She closed the bag again and instead glanced at the list she was holding. “So do we try the lost little girl routine again, or will you just do that thing where you look at someone and they just tell you all they know right off the bat?’ The witch smirked as she asked her companion sarcastically and looked back only to see her absent.

“Sko- I mean Julia?” The witch’s eyes widened and she sharply looked around herself. Thankfully she immediately spotted the balrog, only a few dozen feet behind, standing next to a store window that they had passed by moments ago.

The girl hastily ran back to the taller monster and looked at where she was staring. It turned out to be a body length mirror that was for sale. Skorn had a strange expression on her face as she studied her reflection in it.

“Uh? Hello? Julia?” The witch called the balrog out, even going as far as to grab her hand and pull on it.

“Huh?” The horned monster’s eyes widened in surprise as she snapped out of her entranced state. She blinked repeatedly before looking down at the dwarf. “Sorry, I spaced out for a moment. Did you say something?”

“Yea, we are at the last dock that Web listed. Come on, don’t drop your guard now!” Sahra egged her on and started walking.

Skorne nodded and after taking another look into the mirror and idly touching her neck, followed after her. It felt strange. Usually she tried to avoid reflective surfaces and frequently smashed every mirror that she would come across, especially when not wearing her helmet.

~~~

While the people on the river were busy bringing food and other key supplies to the capital, the rest of the town was preparing for war in their own ways. The L’argent industries offices had closed their doors to the public some time ago, forgoing their renown customer support and service in favor of restructuring for exclusively government based contracts.

It was not something that the employees looked forward to. While the ones on the factory lines only had to deal with increased stress and workload, many people who used to work in sales were let go, their services no longer required.

The death of Mousier L’argent was only the beginning of the dark times that the company had ahead of them. While many owners of similar establishments would jump in joy at the opportunity to become directly funded by the crown, the current director was instead slowly wasting away in her office, nursing a fresh bottle of wine.

Miss Devoir had been a part of L’argent industries since the beginning. Practically picked up from the street when offered a job by the mousier himself all those years ago. Due to her obedient and patient nature, as well as her natural friendly disposition she had made great strides in her career, going from a humble salesperson all the way to Mousier’s second in command in daily affairs.

But the truth of the matter was, she was not a leader. She was a follower.

The kobold let out a quiet pained whine, her ears held low and tail hanging limp from the chair she was not supposed to sit in and yet now had to, because she was the only one who knew all the day to day issues and challenges that L’argent industries had to face. The profits were raising but the mood in both the offices and the factory was at an all time low. The workers truly believed in mousier L’argents dreams and ideas of making the world a better and more beautiful place with their products but now they were just another weapon manufacturer.

The factory was in the last stages of restructuring the assembly lines to start building some new line of magitek war automatons based on some mining unit design of an unknown source. For the time being however, the MaidOS units their company was famous for were reworked from a civilian assistant use to a remorseless killing machine armed with the latest cutting edge weaponry.

She should have just said no to the crown agents, torn up and threw away the obviously fake paperwork that showed that the mousier had instructed the company and all of it’s resources to be passed on to the crown in case of his death. But she was too cowardly.

“Tch! Tch! Tch!” A sound of someone sharply clicking their tongue cut through the silence, making the dog girl jump up in surprise and let out a growl. She frantically looked around the room, trying to find it’s source, but the door leading outside was locked and there was no one besides herself in the office.

Did she just imagine it? She almost sat back down when the noise came again. This time she realized that it was coming from behind her and she quickly turned around.

On the windowsill behind her desk, a cloaked figure laid casually sprawled out on it’s elbow with one of it’s legs lazily dangling over the edge. Miss Devoir nearly reached for the panic button under the desk that would sound the alarm in the building, but something made her hesitate when her nose caught a painfully familiar smell that made her freeze in her tracks.

The stranger playfully wiggled his finger at the kobold and then reached with his hand behind his head to pull down the hood of his cloak.

It took all of the woman’s willpower and years of professionalism not to break down into tears and tackle Mousier L’argent.

~~~

“So that’s the embassy, huh?” Bernsen wondered out loud as he examined his surroundings. He was expecting a single building, but in reality, the embassy took an entire city block. Besides the tall, dark, gothic looking mansion where the ambassador’s office was located, the surrounding area had a touch of many various artisan styles. Crude earth homes that would be almost impossible to differentiate from hills, if not for small trails of smoke signaling that someone lived inside. Ellaborately carved and cozy looking wooden houses. Simple huts. Elevated structures built upon wooden stilts instead of solid stone foundations with sheets of paper placed in the windows instead of glass. There were even groups of tents here and there.

And somehow, this whole mess looked welcoming to the warrior, even after seeing the grand orderly marble buildings that made up the majority of the capital. Despite their clear differences in both mentality and culture, no one seemed to be getting in each other’s way and was going about their business. The men and monsters chatted casually with their neighbors or prepared food as well as performing other chores while the children ran around and played together. It was it’s own strange state of order within chaos.

{The current monster lady must be quite a person. In my time, it was hard to just get the representatives of the various tribes in one room without them attempting to kill each other. At least not without a promise for plunder, men and riches.} Maxie thought out loud, foregoing using her voice box to not attract unwanted attention… or at least more of it.

“Hey mister, are you an chantryman? Have you come to exterminate us?”

“Whoa! He is so tall! Is he an Order hero?”

“Is that a freaking lion?”

{In retrospective, perhaps sending the wizard to investigate here would have been wiser.} Zapp rolled his eyes as the group walked through the so called “monstertown”: a supposed ghetto that surrounded the embassy. The children kept pestering the warrior with questions about his strange appearance and company and he tried his best just wave them away. He carefully walked forward, trying not to step on any of the bolder ones, like the little lizardman child who kept pestering him to spar with her. Normally he would at least humor them, but he was on a tight schedule right now.

{It is a strange sight for them to be so unafraid.} Maxie continued her line of thought. {In retrospect, my new appearance is quite apparently inspired by the chantry armor designs. It should at the very least, make them vary to approach you.}

{Quite a lot of things can change in just a single generation.} Zapp swatted a particularly bold kobold with his tail, making her let out a surprised yip and back away. {These children were born and raised after the church militant order was disbanded and the new laws forbidding religious extremism were put in place. They only know of the realities of war from stories told by their parents and old texts.}

{This… this is a good thing.} The warrior almost felt like the armor choked up for a moment but the next moment, he could only feel the same even arm length distance between them through their mental link.

{Let’s try and make sure we keep things that way then.} The warrior finally responded and he could feel both his familiar and armor agree.

Growing bored from being ignored, the monster kids soon scampered away and the warrior found himself standing in front of a large iron gate guarded by a pair of armored minotaurs, each wielding a massive battle axe that put his own to shame. He made a mental note to grab one of these later.

“Do you have business here, sir?” The one on the left, that was a dead ringer for Skorne’s current appearance, politely inquired while glancing at the lion next to him.

“Yes.” The warrior’s response was straightforward and he extended the carefully folded piece of paper out. The minotaur grabbed it and opened it. “Thank you again for last night Bearson, I will see you at the embassy later, heart symbol?”

The second minotaur let out a stiffed laugh.

“The other side.” The warrior felt his face redden a little. Good thing he was wearing a helmet.

The minotaur flipped the letter over and studied it much more precisely, even pulling out another piece of paper out of her pocket to compare the two. “This invitation is legitimate, but I am afraid I must refuse you entry sir, the party begins at seven as it’s written here.” The tall woman pointed at the text for emphasis. “The embassy is still in a state of preparation, please come back later.”

“I have some business to discuss with the lorekeeper regarding the security in the embassy tonight. Can you inform her that we require an audience?” The warrior remained straightforward and honest in his approach, trying to match the no nonsense vibe he was getting from the monster through his spirit sense read on her.

The minotaur carefully studied him, trying to get a read of him herself. “Are you from the Order?Take off your helmet.”

The man tensed up. He didn’t expect any ire from the monster nation representatives, but was it possible that DSS had made inquires and instructed the security here to be on the lookout for him for some reason?

“L’habit ne fait pas le moine.” A mature elegant voice came out from the voicebox instead of his own.

“H-huh?” The minotaur’s eyes widened in surprise. “What did you just-”

“We are here to examine the security for potential breaches like the sir already explained. Tell the ambassador that we are here. The fact that we are invited should be all the clearance you need.” Maxie continued to speak in a surprisingly assertive and authoritative tone.

“Armure vivante?” The second minotaur blinked slowly and turned her head at the first one with a quizzical look.

“Look.” The first minotaur frowned and turned back to the warrior. “We can’t do that at the moment. The ambassador had just returned from official business in the Monster Nation this morning and the staff is instructed not to disturb her. We haven’t received any notice of additional security arriving either. You can assume your post at the evening if you have to, until then, the embassy is closed, everything is under control.”

“Just like you didn’t receive any notice of a party being held at the embassy, right until two days ago, when there was barely any time to plan?” The lion spoke out and smirked, making the duo of guards nearly jump.

“Did that lion just fucking talk?” The second guard uttered in disbelief.

{Play along.} Zapp ordered internally.

“We are not questioning your skill, but the Chat Noire are specialized in assassinations, not preventing them.” The warrior decided to go for the boldest bluff he could muster after noticing the particular insignia of a cat's paw on the list that the minotaur compared his invitation to. “And the last thing we need is for the mess that happened in Cair to happen here. Things are as shaky as they are with Galmathoria invading, making people give every monster weird looks, expecting them to be infiltrators and traitors.” The warrior growled.

“If something happens tonight, this war is going to turn a ménage à trois, and not the fun one.” Maxie spoke out next with a sense of finality in her words.

“Uh, Julia, maaaybe we should let them in? They do technically have an invitation.” The second minotaur made a strained smile while the first one looked conflicted.

“Mieux vaut prévenir que guérir, as they say?” The lion cocked his head quizzically and gave the guard an expectant look.

“Merde…” Julia whispered to herself. “Alright fine, get in but don’t bother the ambassador with questions regarding security, she just arrived today, like I said and doesn’t know much about it herself. Agent Ecureu is in charge of that, she should be in her office on the ground floor.”

“Merci.” Maxie spoke out and then followed it with a thought. {Quick, don’t move.}

Bernsen obliged her and suddenly felt the armor take charge and make him bow in a strange flamboyant way that ended with him making a flair with his hand.

The minotaur nodded at that, seemingly content and gestured at the other guard to put down her axe and pull open the heavy gates to allow the group entry.

{Man, that went better than expected. Way to go you two, what’s with that strange language you spoke?} The warrior let out a sigh of relief as he traversed the grassy garden decorated with various improper looking bushes that were carefully cut in a way to depict various monsters getting intimate with men.

{Elvish.} Zapp explained.

{Monster nation does not really have it’s own national language, but the elves were always the most cultured among the tribes that make their home in the northern mountains and wastelands. They also frequently acted as intermediaries between them, so the language sort of stuck.} Maxie followed it up a little more in-depth.

{Huh. So that’s what Web is always trying to imitate?} The warrior blinked in realization.

{His accent is atrocious.} Maxie added with distaste. {Not as bad as yours though Zapp. Please never try to speak elvish again, at least not until you get a better voice box.}

{Well excuse me, not everyone has been trained in monster court etiquette. I only know a handful of things that I picked up while traveling the northern lands with Jordan.} The lion smirked. {But you are right on the voice unit, how come you can get such a better range of emotions on it, they can’t be that different, can they?}

{It’s because of how the connection between the individual and the construct is made.} The warrior was the one to answer surprisingly enough. After the awkward moment of silence the warrior sighed and elaborated further. {I asked Horace about it once. A revenant can directly interface with the magic of the enchantment due to it’s incorporeal nature, while everyone else is forced to use a filter to interact with it, so the nuance like intonation and the like is lost during thought transfer process.}

{That…} Maxie appeared thoughtful.

{Makes a lot of sense. Anyways, moving on.} Zapp pushed on the front door of the embassy and the group entered the building.

The building had three floors in it and was very spacious, despite the dense interior decoration design. Possibly to accommodate the likes of oni and other larger monsters. The floor was covered with a classic black and white chess pattern made out of marble and granite respectively. The majority of the decorations came in the form of elaborate and scandalous looking statues that were spread out around the floor, usually in pairs besides the various doorways.

{Really wish we knew someone who knew their way around this place.} The warrior looked around, trying get a sense of his surroundings, but the range of his spirit energy was still too limited.

The first floor was not completely deserted however. A lone, strange monster in a maid’s uniform with a long feathery tail was looking at the new arrivals with a mix of curiosity and fear. She did not seem to want to approach them either and instead was walking from one statue to the next, dusting them off.

{So what exactly are we looking for here? Should we try to get a read on the intentions of the staff members here?} Zapp asked and looked around, the range of his spirit sense far superior and allowing him to even look one floor above him, judging by the concentrated look on his muzzle when he looked up.

{Perhaps we could try to meet up with Forscythe, warn her of what might go down tonight?} Maxie offered.

The warrior frowned and reached into his beard to pull out his communion matrix. There were no new messages. He didn’t expect any so soon, but Webster’s and Sahra’s groups were supposed to meet up after their tasks were complete and give him a summary of anything they would find. Clearly they were still working on it however. He put the implement away. Webster had never been to the embassy either and did not have much info to share regarding it. Having DSS resources or a good relationship with Chat Noire would have been really useful right about now but he had to work with what he had.

>What do you do?

>>337696

At least L'Argent Industries leadership doesn't seem compromised. Can't say anything about the people buying the war machines, but we can look into any suspicious purchases.

Well, the party's got to be held somewhere. They're probably still getting things ready, so if Al-Sabbath wanted to plant a fungus bomb, set up ghouls like they did with Blitzkrieg, or otherwise sabotage things in some manner, they'd need someone on the staff that's setting it all up. They'd be the people to spirit strand. A secondary person to talk to would be this Agent Ecureu. We simply ask if she's heard of Al-Sabbath. Her reaction over spirit strand should tell if she's compromised or not. If she is, we say simply that we think they may have a presence in Sanctifrond and ask if she's heard anything, leave, and raid her office later. If she's not, we present our suspicions, and inform her we'll be in touch if we find solid evidence. If we've got time, maybe check in on the embassy's guard captain. If we can passively get a read on the embassy guards (especially officers and veterans that served under Valinthia) and staff while we're doing all this, even better.

If this turns bust, there's another possible lead to add to the list. Those ghouls that attacked with Blitzkrieg at the theater, Al-Sabbath had to get them somewhere and have some kind of operation to have them on standby at. Where did they come from, are there more, and if there are, will Al-Sabbath use them?

>>337696

>my new appearance is quite apparently inspired by the chantry armor designs

Black templars confirmed

>>337693

>The current Monster Lady

I wonder though if Maxie knows who the current Monster Lady is. Because she would certainly know of Selene, which would seriously surprise her based on Selene's prior motivations.

Of course, this is meta since I don't think Bearson knows who Maxie used to be.

As far as what to do… this is a difficult one because everyone is split up. Might as well scout the place out more and see what the defenses are in the embassy.

{First of, let's meet up with that person the guards upfront mentioned. If she is in charge of security then she would be the one who can sabotage it most easily.} The warrior concluded and began to walk, picking the closest hallway to him.

{Do you believe that the monster nation officials might be compromised as well?} Maxie asked tensely.

{I don't feel any danger from this place to be honest.} The warrior admitted. {But we can't relax just yet.}

{My instincts are in tune with yours then.} Zapp's whiskers twitched twice and he snorted. {I reached out towards some of the servants here, as well as the guards. They appear cautious, but not malicious. Spirit sense is not perfect in determining a person's motives however, so take it with a grain of salt.}

{Guards?} The warrior's eyes widened under his helmet and he looked around himself in surprise.{Where?}

{All over the place. They are all wearing chameleon cloaks and some enchanted jewelry that is suppressing the sound around them. The one closest to us is the catgirl sitting on top of one of the statues to the left.} Zapp quickly explained.

Bernsen did not turn his head but instead took a few calm breaths and using the sunlight passing through one of the windows conjured a single strand of spirit energy and reached toward where Zapp was directing him.

Surely enough, he quickly felt a living presence half crouched on the shoulder of the statue. The guard was observing them calmly but cautiously, one of her hands resting on the grip of one of the many sharp looking daggers that she carried.

{That's… I can't believe I didn't notice any of them. I was wondering why this place looked so empty.} The warrior swallowed hard.

{How… many are there?} Maxie inquired, sounding impressed.

{In the entrance hallway?} Zapp snorted again. {Nine. Don't feel bad. I haven't felt them when we entered either until I started to actively scan the area.}

{Even armed with such magical tools, it takes a great deal of training to be able to remain still and conceal one's presence so thoroughly. I wonder if they are the Hunter's disciples. The name Chat Noire would certainly make sense then.} Maxie muttered.

{Who?} Bernsen asked.

{A powerful and ancient monster that prides itself in her power and cruelty. I can only hope that she is not foolish enough to support someone like Al-Sabbath. Their traditionalist ideals would greatly appeal to her.} The armor whispered and the warrior could feel the inner padding of the armor tighten around him as if hugging him in fear.

The lion let out something akin to a chuckle at that. {I wouldn't worry about that if I were you.}

{I suppose you are right, she never did show any particular interest in areas outside the monster nation before, even during invasions, her participation was often brief. I can't imagine her being interested in politics.} Maxie agreed.

{Well, if the guards were compromised, they could have easily ambushed us the moment we walked in, so that's reassuring.} Bernsen concluded.

"Umm, excuse me sir." A timid voice of the kikimora maid, broke him away from the internal debate going inside his head. "May I help you? You appear lost."

"Could you point me in the direction of Ecureu's office? I need to speak with her about the extra security measures tonight." Bernsen replied professionally and immediately noted that the maid was armed, carrying more knives under her dress than the majority of the guards in the room combined. Even her spirit felt sharp to the touch. This was either no ordinary maid or the job requirements here were a bit specialized.

"How should I introduce you sir?" The maid bowed her head and gestured something with her hand held behind her back.

"Agent B, DSS. Also, the one on your left ankle is about to slip out. You better secure it." The warrior decided to bluff again. He was not exactly going for a low profile entrance here and if the staff was already informed about him, they would figure out who he was based on his company.

"My one what sir?" The maid looked at him with a trained confused expression and then shook her head. "Please follow me."

The maid gestured them to follow her and after a short trip through a couple hallways on the ground floor, the maid stopped in front of an unmarked door. “Please wait here.” She asked and bowed her head again before entering the room.

As soon as the door closed, the warrior concentrated his superior hearing to see if he could listen in but not a single noise came from the door.

{Don’t bother. Privacy barriers on every door here.} Zapp sniffed the air once. {This seems like a human made architecture from outside but the interior was heavily renovated with specific purposes. Whoever is in charge here doesn’t want any unwanted information slips.}

The door opened again a few moments later and the maid emerged from it, bowing her head again. “Lady Ecureu will see you now agent. You may enter.”

Bernsen returned the gesture and stepped into the office.

“So, why exactly is a foreign intelligence agent forcing his way into the monster nation embassy? Are you trying to start an international incident or something?” A sharp high pitched voice immediately assaulted him and made him reel back in surprise.

The office could hardly be called one, with how small and cramped it felt. There was barely enough space for him to even stand and he had to slightly kneel to not hit the ceiling. Almost every inch of the floor and walls was covered with countless shelves and drawers holding mountains upon mountains of documents and other various papers.

And sitting right in front of him in the middle of it all was a squirrel.

“Are you deaf or what?” The small woman with the massive bushy brown tail barked again. “Explain yourself. You are lucky that I didn’t order the staff to knock your ass out and drag you to the torture chambers the moment you set foot inside, because you are supposed to attend the party tonight, but my patience is growing thin.” The woman wore a tight fitting, black, sleeveless tank-top and was glaring at him with her beady brown eyes while holding her hands crossed on the table in front of her.

“Uh, sorry. I just expected someone… taller to be the chief of security here. No offense.” The warrior chuckled nervously while scanning the room out with his spirit sense.

“A comedian who also dodges direct questions, huh? Gods you DSS assholes just can’t stop yourselves from sticking your dick in everything can’t you? What’s this bullshit you spewed to the two knuckleheads outside about extra security? I’ve already pulled out all the damn resources I could on a short notice and this place is more secure right now than a Danusreal bank safe deposit box. I already told your boss to fuck off.” The ratatoskr scowled and leaned back in her chair with a groan.

{So Anderson already asked about it?} Maxie contemplated to herself.

{She appears clear. I don’t feel any malicious intent from her. Only annoyance and stress.} Zapp concluded his own spirit sense search as well.

{Son, you don’t know the meaning of the word stress.} Ecureu’s voice called out, this time within the confines of the warrior’s head, making him nearly jump.

{W-what? Did you ju-” He finished his thought and spoke out loud in shock before getting interrupted.

“Enter your familiar link connection? Yes? Why are you so surprised? You didn’t even make any attempt to conceal or protect it. Is this your first day on the job or wha-oh yea, I guess you would be technically a rookie. Great. That spectacled asshole didn’t even bother to send someone competent to scout this place out.” The squirrel woman sighed and began to rub her temples, clearly suffering from a headache.

“Uhh-” Bernsen struggled to come up with a response, still stunned at her casual declaration that she hear the conversations between him Zapp and Maxie.

“You know what, fuck it. It would be a bigger pain in my ass to attempt to throw you out and even if I do, your stalker boss will just order you to attempt to clumsily sneak back in anyway, so whatever. You have full access big guy or bear or whatever, go knock yourself out. Now get the fuck out of my office.” The chief angrily barked and pointed her index finger forward, toward the door behind the warrior.

The warrior was hoping to ask some more questions but he could sense, even without the use of spirit energy, that this monster’s patience was at an end and so he quickly nodded and left.

{Wow, talk about lucky.} Maxie was the first one to speak. {She just took everything we said at face value. Although this is worrisome if the security here is that poor.}

{I wouldn’t underestimate her so soon. She knew exactly who we are. She just didn’t say it. I think that might be the reason we were given a free pass.} The warrior realized.

“Has your meeting concluded? Would sir like a tour of the embassy now perhaps?” The kikimora suddenly appeared out of nowhere, almost making the warrior slash at her with the beidhander by pure instinct.

“I uh, yes. Yes please.” He nodded and glanced at Zapp who just shrugged in return. {Chameleon cloaks}

“Then please follow me.” The maid smiled warmly and gestured at the hallway with a half open palm of her hand.

“This mansion was originally used as a temporary business residence for one of the noble lords of Deleor when his presence would be required in the capital. It was purchased privately by the crown and gifted to the monster lady as a sign of good will shortly after the end of the last monster invasion. It was intended to be used in similar fashion as the previous owner did, a comfortable, staffed, temporary residence during the lady’s stay in the human capital.” The maid began to calmly recite the history of the building as she guided the warrior and his familiar through the place.

“However, as the years went by and more treaties and new laws were passed, it was fully renovated and re-purposed as a general area for political and social gatherings. All the land around the building was purchased by the monster nation and plots of it were handed to exceptional citizens who desired to participate in the monster integration joint project between Deleor and the Monster Nation. As of today, over five hundred participants were cleared for citizenship in the capital and each year the number increases exponentially, as the people grow more accepting to our kind and presence and interest in the project grows.” The maid continued offhandedly while the warrior and Zapp focused on scanning the floors and the rooms for suspicious activity or presence the likes of a magic suppression device.

“Ah, but you are more interested in the structure itself, are you not? It is a three story building. The exterior was mostly left untouched, save for a fresh coat of paint, but the interior was heavily renovated. The embassy has plenty of rooms on the third floor for visiting foreign diplomats and VIP’s, as well as a fully staffed kitchen and a dinning hall that is ready to prepare any type of unusual cuisine to sate the appetite of any monster or man. The ballroom hall has been designed by the best masons of the monster nation and takes up the majority of the second floor. There are several entrances to it, including an emergency escape route to be used in case of fires. The first floor is mostly dedicated to offices of monster nation officials who make their residence here, including madam ambassador Forsythe. They are usually open to visitors during the day and accept formal written requests as well as meeting in person with concerned monsters that make their home in Deleor who require various help and support, but we are closed today due to the preparations for the party tonight.”

“What about the basement?” The warrior cut her off.

“Hmm? It’s mostly used for storage space. There is also an entrance to the city’s sewer system and the catacombs, to be used for emergency evacuations.” The maid quickly explained.

“Catacombs?” The warrior cringed.

“Yes. Sanctiford used to have a dedicated area for a cemetery near the temple of Solos, but as the city expanded and the space became required, the dead were moved deep underground and that type of burial has been used ever since.” The kikimora explained casually but somehow sensed the warrior’s unease at that and quickly added something else. “Monster nation practices the burning of their dead still of course. The act of burial is a human exclusive cultural phenomenon.”

“That so, huh? Well to each their own.” The man swallowed hard, shuddering at the idea of rotting underground for years until the flesh would liquefy and slide right off the bones. Some of Deleor’s practices were still something he doubted he would ever be able to accept.

After making the rounds around the first two floors and the basement and being unable to find anything out of place, save for many working monsters setting up the ballroom for the event, the group finally reached the top floor.

“An unusual place to put a kitchen and a dining hall at.” The lion pointed out, not bothering to speak internally anymore.

“This particular design choice was made at the request of the monster lady. Many monsters prefer elevated places when eating. They feel more comfortable this way. There is a magitek elevator set up in the kitchen that leads directly to the basement, so the staff does not need to bother visitors when moving supplies around.” The maid explained.

“An… elevator?” The warrior did a double take at the unfamiliar word.

“It’s a device designed to move heavy objects and people up and down quickly. Would you like me to explain the principle behind the design?” The maid smiled patiently.

“No need. It’s not important anyway.” Zapp cut her off. “Let’s enter the kitchens now. They are beyond the dining hall I presume?”

“Ah. That, might be difficult at the moment.” The maid still smiled but now it looked strained. “The cooking staff is very busy preparing a feast for the event tonight right now and the head chef does not like to be interrupted during her work.”

“We’ll just come in and out quickly.” The warrior reassured her and the maid, after a moment of hesitation, nodded. “I suppose there is no harm in that. I would ask the sir not to bother the chef with any lines of inquiry however. She is short tempered and very combative.”

The kikimora opened the dining hall doors and gestured the group inside. It was spacious but clearly pragmatic in nature. Compared to the wealth and decorations on the first floor, it almost looked humble. Long brown wooden tables filled the room, matching benches standing next to them. The floors were clean and polished with wax and wooden paneling covered the walls along with some tasteful landscape paintings and stills depicting various fruits and foods to stimulate the appetite. The opposite wall on the other side had large spacious windows that gave a nice look toward the monstertown area and let a large amount of natural light in.

But what immediately made the warrior’s attention snap in place was not the décor, but rather the group of visitors there.

“GAH!” Bellatrix slammed all four of her hands on the table in frustration and plopped face down on it. “HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO WAIT!?”

“Please, your majesty. Be patient, the embassy is not a restaurant. Breakfast starts at seven. It’s only a little while longer.” Camilla pointed at the large clock hanging on the wall that said that it was six forty seven in the morning.

“THIS IS TORTURE!” The tarasque slammed the table again, nearly snapping it in half and made a couple of lizard kobolds jump back in fear. “I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS! I AM THE QUEEN OF BLACKFIRE REACH!”

“Can’t we just like, take some stuff to order your majesty?” One kobold that was lazily laying her head on the table suggested.

“NONE OF THE FOOD PLACES IN THE CITY ARE OPEN THIS EARLY!” Bellatrix roared, making the windows vibrate dangerously.

{Oh dear.} Maxie muttered quietly.

{Well this won’t be the first time I have to deal with a hungry dragon.} Zapp noted with a tone of sarcasm in his internal voice.

“Huh?” Bellatrix blinked once and sniffed the air suspicious before turning her head at the newly arrived group. “Wait a minute, that lion.” Her eyes widened in surprise and she suddenly jumped up from her seat and roared, startling some of her servants again. “BIG BEAR!”

“Oh hello Bell-WHOA!” The warrior raised his hand in greeting and exhaled in surprise as the tarasque suddenly charged at him, knocking aside the bench she was previously sitting at, to tackle him and trap him in a big four armed muscular hug.

“Ha ha! You are alive you big bearded oaf! I knew it! There is no way you could have died back there! Did you save your friend? What happened? It was like you vanished into another dimension!”

“Not too far from truth.” The warrior patted the tarasque on the back, careful not to hit any of the wicked spikes covering it and then took off his helmet. “Could ask the same of you though. What are you doing at the embassy? Weren’t you planning to retake your homeland?”

“Hah! Nice try bozo, but I asked first!” Bellatrix grinned and poked his breastplate forcibly which would normally topple him over but, with the upgraded maximum armor, he did not even feel her touch.

“Fair enough.” The warrior smiled. “I was working. Sahra is fine by the way thanks for asking.”

“Working, right? You weird government spooks and your “classified” information!” The woman snorted in amusement. “I kept trying to ask about you, but the majority of people even here in the capital don’t even know that DSS exists and those who do, have no idea where your headquarters are. I thought money spoke around here, but I legitimately was unable to find anything to trace back to you, even when I asked the embassy for help!”

“Sorry about that. The work I was doing was important though. Good work on handling Richter by the way. You paid back that chest full of gold in spades.” Bernsen complimented her, making the tarasque blush slightly and cross her top row of arms behind her head while the lower pair started to twiddle their thumbs.

“Ah, well you know. The other beardie pitched in too and Richter was already pretty badly beat up after you kicked his butt. Honestly, dealing with his girlfriend was more trouble than he was.”

“Girlfriend?” Bernsen’s face tensed up.

“Yea, the ushi chick. I mean, I heard the stories about them but wow! When I stomped that black armored clown into the ground, she thought he had actually died and went completely berserk, screeching and crying, even though she was completely surrounded and outnumbered, she fought back for a while and only when she realized that she could not win, did she start stabbing herself over and over!” Bellatrix recalled with an expression of morbid curiosity.

“Stabbed?” The warrior’s eyes widened. “Is she-”

“Oh no no no! That’s the most bizarre part, it looked like she tried to end her life in earnest, but every knife she plunged into herself just kept melting away from her acid blood and her wounds closed over and over and eventually, she just broke down crying over Richter’s form until the freak came to and said that he surrendered. She calmed down after that and it went relatively easy. Even the freaky gals who got burned from being hit by direct sunlight did not resist after that. The Order packed them all of them up and sent them to the capital after that.”

“I see. Thanks again for your help. It was fortunate that we were able to take him in alive.” The warrior bowed his head in gratitude.

“Hey don’t mention it. You can always count on me, I might not be the sharpest one in the tool shed, but I am sure as heck the heaviest!” Bellatrix laughed and patted one of her biceps for emphasis.

“So did you really came here looking for me?” Bernsen asked next.

“Weeeeelll, not exactly. I mean, that was one of the reasons, sure, but it turns out you can’t just go hire a bunch of mercenaries and call every single lizardman in the land and tell them to go retake your homeland overnight.” Bellatrix shrugged and deflated slightly at her own remark.

“What her highness is saying.” Camilla cleared her throat and approached the warrior as well. “Is that we are currently placing formal requests to the various noble families of Deleor and the Monster Nation to provide support for our claim and to recognize her as the sole sovereign of Blackfire reach. A somewhat difficult notion due to hmm, foreign interests so to speak.” The kobold coughed politely and readjusted her glasses.

“Those dirty raccoon dogs! They apparently own the entire gold mining operation there and are using every resource at their disposal to push us out!” Bellatrix growled.

“There are also laws regarding forming large scale private military groups, so even with all the funding that you graciously provided us with, we are at an impasse until we can make some powerful connections of our own. This is why I suggested her highness to stay in the embassy for some time to build up her reputation. The frequent social gatherings here are an excellent opportunity for that and the local ruling class already looks very favorably upon her thanks to her direct involvement in the capture of general Stahlherz.” Camilla explained.

“And while I do that, I have hired messengers to spread the word across the land about my intentions!” Bellatrix puffed her chest proudly. “I am going to make those filthy dirt dwelling wurms go back and build a huge wall around Blackfire reach, so they will never be able to return!”

{Uh, won’t the wurms just dig right underneath it?} Maxie pointed out but the warrior ignored the internal remark even while Zapp let out a suppressed grunt in an attempt to conceal his laugh.

“I wish you luck in that then. Losing one’s home is a terrible thing and your goals are noble.” The warrior raised his fist and the tarasque grinned again and bumped her own against it. “Oh don’t you worry. I am going to become a real queen in no time and when I do, I am going to build the biggest freaking statue of you, so you better come visit and look at it when that happens.”

>Bernsen obtained Bellatrix’es communion matrix address

>Blackfire Reach reputation changed to Idolized

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, the breakfast time had finally began and several servants brought it many plates full of delicious and hot steaming food, much to the tarasque’s delight and the warrior left her be, promising to chat later when he had the time.

~~~

“Julka. Why is der’ a paladin in my kitchen?” A towering, dark-brown skinned figure asked while holding a massive meat cleaver in her right hand. The woman’s face was not pretty, it was covered in scars and her hard facial features were made even more grotesque by the two massive fangs that protruded from her lower jaw and pointed straight up.

“Ah, well Bellagog, that’s not actually a paladin, it’s an agent of DSS. The chief gave him full access, so he can examine the security in the embassy.” The kikimora hastily explained, looking flustered.

“Hnn…” The orc slowly licked her fangs and turned her yellow eyes at the armored figure, her monstrous stare almost burning a hole in the armor. “I known a paladin when I see one. That one smells of light so strong it’s overwhelming. The beast too.” She pointed at the lion with her meat cleaver.

{Well?} Maxie asked.

{Not sure.} The warrior pondered.

{Same here. She is definitely directing her aggression to us, even suppressing a great of blood lust.} Zapp pointed out, seemingly absentmindedly.

{Is she the one then? I can’t imagine an orc warchief to seriously act as a cook. This has to be a setup.} Maxie pressed on.

“You know, seeing a lion like that in a kitchen makes me remember the good old days.” The orc smirked. “I had to prepare plenty of mountain lions during long campaigns in the north. Food is always scarce in the mountains during winter and even the predators can quickly become prey if they are not careful. I wonder if Ectrian lions taste different.”

“Want to find out? Careful though, you might bite off more than you can chew.” The lion bared his teeth.

“Ha ha ha.” The orc laughed in a crude low tone. “A familiar huh? Never seen one so big, at least when it’s not going dire. Then again, your master is pretty big too.” The orc scanned the warrior and licked her lips again, this time lecherously. “Wonder how big he can get when he goes dire.”

“Not looking for a mating partner at the moment.” The warrior spoke out.

“Oh relax, I am married.” The orc sighed and put her cleaver on the counter. “You are a choice cut though, you know? It’s a waste to leave good food out like that.”

“I am considering my options.” Bernsen replied casually and shrugged.

“Don’t take too long to pick now. Relationships tend to spoil if not properly preserved with marriage.” The orc shrugged and crossed her arms on her apron. “But I digress. I assume you came here for business and not for relationship advice? I am kind of busy here, these simpletons can’t be left alone for a minute without ruining things.” The orc suddenly grabbed a wooden spoon and forcibly brought it against the buttocks of another nearby boar woman with a much lighter shade of skin.

“WATCH IT YOU PIG! YOU ALMOST OVERCOOKED THAT! IF YOU RUIN THIS BATCH IT’S YOUR BEHIND THAT WE’LL TAKE THE MEAT OFF FOR THE NEXT ONE!”

The second orc let out a surprised squeal and quickly pulled one of the pans away from the fire.

“Anyways, you were saying?” Bellagog turned back to the warrior with a much calmer and quizzical expression.

“I won’t take much of your time. Just worried about the food here. Is there a chance someone might try to poison it?” The warrior asked.

“I’d like to see someone try. Nothing gets by me in the kitchen. If these buffoons so much as try to add an extra pinch of salt, their buttocks will feel it. And besides, these gits either have been with me for years or are the daughters of my tribe members here to be taught discipline. I can vouch for all of them!” The orc proudly announced.

“I see. That’s all I wanted to find out, thank you.” The warrior bowed politely and quickly left, leaving the woman to her work.

~~~

The warrior spend a couple more hours in the embassy, this time exploring it without the maid now that he knew the general layout. Despite his and Zapp’s best efforts however, he was unable to find anything that could be deemed suspicious let alone dangerous. Bernsen couldn’t even get an audience with Forsythe, as she was busy discussing current events and catching up on paperwork that had accumulated after her recent departure. He hoped that he would be able to speak with her during the evening at least. There was still so much to catch on to, even though she already learned everything with accidental use of her mind reading power.

He did however procure something useful. A list of guests of who would be attending the event. There were many unfamiliar names there but also some familiar ones like Sir Mathew and lord Barik. It would be quite a grand scale event to celebrate their victory in Cair against the Galmathorian forces.

“So basically it was a bust.” Sahra sighed and shrugged, looking apologetic. “Just regular food supplies mixed with occasional shady stuff. I guess some of it might be poisoned, but I am pretty sure the officials check for that before repackaging it.”

“Some of the sailors raised complaints about the state of the market, but they didn’t appear to be members of Al-Sabbath.” Skorne nodded, adding her own conclusions as well.

“State of the market?” The warrior asked, munching on a heated bread pouch. The tribe had regrouped in one of the cafe’s that they had first visited with L during their initial stay in Sanctiford.

“Oh yea, I heard about it too during my own scouting.” Webster nodded, seemingly understanding what Skorne meant. “You know Kaoku, the owner of the only casino in the city, right?”

“Oh yea! That cheating bitch!” Kenzie angrily hissed at the memory of losing her winnings.

“Kenzie, you were cheating too.” Shara giggled.

“Yea, but I had finesse!” Kenzie puffed her cheeks and sat down in the middle of the warrior’s plate.

“Anyway.” The wizard continued, trying to suppress his amusement. “Basically, a few days ago she had announced that she would be pulling out all the resources her husband owned out of the country. You know, the hostage we were supposed to rescue?”

The atmosphere immediately turned much more grim.

“He was a major player in the food market, wasn’t he?” The warrior recalled.

“Yup. Had a monopoly practically. Like sixty percent market share in the food industry. Fruits, meats, grain? Tuchniy’s family had his hands in all and with no heirs, all ownership of it legally passed to his wife. You can imagine what her announcement caused?”

“The prices on the food must have skyrocketed.” Sahra bit on her thumb.

“It nearly caused a citywide panic at the prospect of food shortages. Apparently the king of Deleor had to personally step in to convince her to change her mind. However, the few days that the market for food was crashed, a lot of opportunists tried to profit from it and loaded as much foodstuffs as they could from nearby regions and went straight for the capital. Just in time for Kaoku to announce that she had changed her mind. So now there is a surplus of it and the opportunists are forced to sell it even below the average market prices and are losing out.” Webster elaborated.

“That’s too bad for them I guess, but the alternative would have been much worse. It’s a good thing our fuckup did not come to bite us in the ass this time.” The dwarf whispered darkly.

“So the city is filled with fresh Danusreal produce right now. Daikon, cauliflowers, shiitake, you name it.” Webster pondered out loud. “Hmm. Would be nice to get some shiitake, they are usually hard to proclaim.”

“With what now?” The warrior did a double take.

“Oh, I mean radishes, lettuce and mushrooms. They call them a bit different over there. Some of their plants look downright weird, but they are pretty tasty and exotic.” The wizard explained.

“What about you?” Zapp inquired. “You were not sent to examine the food market in the capital last I remember.”

The aesthetician laughed at that. “Ah, true enough. But honestly, there is not much to tell. The crown completely seized production, like I suspected already. Doesn’t seem dangerous, besides, you know, the obvious production of weapons of murder. Seems orderly and clean. Though they are going to discontinue the poor MaidOS and start producing some new design which I am pretty sure was stolen from the Lloma manufactorium from Loveura. Considering how adamant that family is about refusing government contracts and to disclose their designs, it would make sense. Just in case however, I remotely altered the control enchantment. The only person with global administrative privileges now is I, instead of the king and lord Braun of the king’s guard, so if someone tries to use them, I can shut everything down with a single communion matrix command.” The wizard shrugged.

The warrior nodded at that. There was still time before the embassy event, providing he would even go there. He also needed to decide who to bring with him to it if he does go. The invitation was only for him and one additional person after all. He glanced across the table at his allies, chatting among themselves or eating various pastries with coffee and tea. The atmosphere was an easy and casual one, but something was bothering him. Something in the air in Sanctiford felt off. Like a still before the storm.

>What do you do?

>>338740

>bearson not asking where the lamb SAUCE is

So we didn't find shit? Great. We know that Al-Sabbath is probably still after the stone that's in the royal treasury and that Forsythe who is an important member of the cult is hosting a big party full of fancy people.

We could go dungeon crawling under the embassy but I'm not sure if that will do anything at this point. If Al-Sabbath plans something at the party they could do something much more subtle with Forsythe and her overpowered mind magic around. She alone could do a ton of damage with all the royalty order heroes and monster nation leaders at one place just with some mind reading and manipulating. Not sure how we would prepare for that though especially with Bernsen still trusting her.

I got nothing. The only new lead I can think of is the pissed of Danuki. She wasn't a particularly strong proponent of Deleor in this conflict to begin with if I recall correctly. Us fucking up on the whole hostage situation certainly didn't help. Maybe it be worth looking into her again. But times running out and we accomplished nothing yet since our arrival. This could get ugly.

>>338740

>Relationships tend to spoil if not properly preserved with marriage

I see what you are trying to do here slavsan. It is time. We must choose the waifu now, or forever see her stolen from our hands.

Time to activate harem route.

>>338742

>Previously ambushed by ghouls (ghoulgirls?) in a theater

>There are catacombs beneath the embassy with lots of dead people

Sounds like Al-Sabbath would like to play its own rendition of Thriller at the party.

Hate to waste our time if this is nothing, but it fits. The catacombs certainly explain where they got the ghouls. If we really want to go somewhere else, maybe get Bellatrix and her crew to take a look down there? If it's in communion matrix range, she could contact us if she finds anything. Should probably do it ourselves if we've got nothing else to do, though.

Might be paranoid, but there only being one fire exit sounds bad. It'd be a very predictable place to kill anyone that flees.

>>338766

I have some investment advice for you. Never speculate on danuki.

>>338808

harems' are for sand niggers

>>338742

Well we weren't able to find anything, but the party is our best lead. Whether they're attempting to cause a huge distraction or cause a political shitstorm we can't stop it if we aren't there. Webster knows the most about these kinds of social gatherings and would be right at home there with us.

>>338771

Having a disguise is definitely a good idea. Our DSS persona has already worn thin and won't help us anymore. Having Webster change our face won't stop the Gazer from reading our mind, but it will at least make us a bit more inconspicuous. Bearson really needs to upgrade his mental resistance.

The plus side to our trip to the embassy is that we gained another recruitment opportunity. Bellatrix needs to increase her renown to gain more political clout right? Well what could do better for her reputation than taking down a terrorist cell and saving the world? She would have no problem gaining favor with the ruling class after helping exterminate one of the largest threats to both kingdoms. Let's extend the invitation and make our group stronger.

>catacombs connect to basement

>elevator connects basement to kitchen

>kitchen is connected to party

what could possibly go wrong.jpg

At the very least, we need the basement locked down now and during the party, if it's not already. Guards in constant communication, wards, the works. Maybe even put Zapp down there during the party. Possibly also send a party down to the catacombs to investigate in the meantime like another anon suggested.

Also, if there's a way to check the food and drink for poison before people have a chance to try any we should do it. Either with our spirit sense or just by sneaking a bite early (since Bern is resistant to poisons and such). The chef seems innocent enough, but I could see some of the supplies getting tainted in the basement by intruders.

Been thinking guys.

Forsythe could have easily killed Bern on the train. Instead, she not only spared him, but invited him to the celebration.

The question is, of course, why?

There is an obvious answer, which >>338771 was close to. We've all been worrying about how Al-Sabbath could attack, and they still might do that, but they may not even need to lift a finger. Just an eyestalk.

Forsythe spared Bern on the train and invited him to the embassy so that she could hypnotize him there and cause untold chaos. If we hadn't already shown our colors, it wouldn't have taken much to find out Bern was DSS. Instant war, just add international incident. And it removes Bern as a thorn in their side too.

If we go to the party, we go wearing something vision concealing that will block her gazer abilites maybe those DSS magesight shades? It'd be easy to justify, magesight would be handy in detecting Al-Sabbath fuckery, but do they block that sort of thing?, and we go in a disguise Forsythe doesn't recognize. That goes for everyone with us. Leave Zapp if need be, we can call him in through the link if we need to.

Of course, Forsythe can still hypnotize the embassy guards, but if Bern just so happens to detect her intent with spirit strand before that happens…

>>339087

>Forsythe could have easily killed Bern on the train. Instead, she not only spared him, but invited him to the celebration.

>The question is, of course, why?

She seemed to still have a soft spot for Bernsen and tried to get him to stop taking part in this conflict since she doesn't want to see him hurt or hurt him herself. She's in love.

That would be the most optimistic answer the worst case scenario would be what you said and Bernsen will end up on another blind Rampage like he did under the influence of the Mistress when the Black Forest got invaded.

If Al-Sabbath truly wants to massacre the guests at the embassy inviting someone like Bernsen on short notice would seem like a really dumb idea unless they have a good reason to do so.

Webster." The warrior finally spoke out in a grave tone, making everyone immediately go quiet and turn their heads toward him. "You’ve lived in Sanctiford for a while, correct? Do you know where the entrance to the catacombs is?"

~~~

With a dull metallic groan followed by a loud scraping noise, the large round disk made form cast iron slid aside. Skorne stepped away from the manhole, pulling aside her claymore, that she used as a lever to open the lid, back into it's sheath.

Immediately, a slightly sweet and nauseating smell of miasma began to arise from the dark depths of the city's vast sewer system, making everyone gag or step back in disgust.

"Do we really have to do this?" The dwarf complained and raised her hand to cover her face in a vain attempt to block out the powerful scent.

"That's the only way we can use I am afraid." The wizard shrugged. "The temple entrance is restricted. Only members of the faith can access it. Sewers aren't so bad, really. I had to do my own share of "diving for pearls" during my activities as Silver Heart, we'll be fine."

"Are the catacombs really directly connected to the sewers?" Maxie inquired, sounding mildly horrified. "I am not familiar with the customs humans have regarding honoring their dead, but shouldn't this be highly sacrilegious?"

"I mean, it's not like there is a drain going straight through them… I think?" The wizard scratched his head after a moment, sounding unsure.

"You think?" The lion scrunched his muzzle in doubt.

"Hey look, I may have been a thief, but I didn't go around robbing tombs. I have standards so I've never visited the catacombs directly." The wizard shrugged again.

"What's wrong with robbing tombs?" Kenzie cocked her head in confusion. "I used to do it all the time, people always bury all sorts of cool stuff with their dead."

"I fail to understand the difficulties behind looting corpses as well. Their souls have passed on already and have no use for material items." Skorne turned her head at the wizard, her voice carrying a slight tone of inquiry.

"A matter of cultural differences really." The lion rolled his eyes. "If you think putting your dead underground is strange, then never visit Ectria. The locals there build grand structures for their burial tombs and store as all sorts of necessities like food and drink with their dead that just spoil over time."

"As much as I would like to discuss the matters of moral relativity between the various ethnicities of the world with you all, is this really the time for it?” The wizard gestured at the open hole in the ground with a meaningful look.

“Webster is right.” The warrior nodded. “Let’s just get this over it. I am not any more excited about the prospect of diving through rivers of filth and walking among decaying bodies than any of you are, but we need to make sure it’s safe.” Bernsen then stepped forward and tried to climb into the hole, only to realize the glaring flaw in this plan when only the boot of the upgraded magitek armor had barely enough room to fit in.

“Huh.” Sahra smirked. “Looks like you will be sitting this one out Be-”

As if on cue, all the pieces of the armor suddenly disengaged and fell around the warrior, leaving his body exposed, only covered by the Union operative outfit. He quickly climbed down the hole and vanished into the darkness below.

“Well uh, guess you can stay here and watch out for trouble then Ma-” The witch tried to speak again after a brief awkward pause but then all the pieces suddenly rolled around the ground and fell into the hole one after another.

“Okay, right. Magical talking and self reassembling armor.” The witch sighed and climbed in after the warrior. The rest quickly followed suit. Skorne had some trouble fitting in herself, but managed to squeeze in with some help.

“You can climb ladders?” Webster stared at the lion after the familiar hopped down from the ladder and next to him.

“That’s what you find strange about me?” Zapp gave the wizard an incredulous look and walked past him.

“Eww. It smells like sour poo in here.” The fairy grimaced and covered her face.

The sewers were rather spacious now that the warrior looked around. A river of unspeakable composition and mass was slowly flowing or rather crawling along the long, pitch-black hallway they were in.

After Skorne closed the manhole behind her, it also became apparent that there was no natural light in here.

“Hold on I got thi-” Sahra raised her hand casually when the wizard suddenly screeched and dashed toward her, startling the girl as he clutched her hand.

“NO FIRES!”

“Holy shit, Web! Why are you screaming like that?” The dwarf stared at him with her eyes wide.

“There could be pockets of methane anywhere in here! One spark and we’ll all get roasted!” The wizard yelled and forcibly pulled her arm down, making the witch swallow hard.

“Yea, okay. That would be really bad.” Sahra quickly nodded. “But how do we move around here then? I can barely see a few feet ahead.”

“I can see just fine. There is plenty of light coming from the cracks in the covers.” Kenzie blinked, her eyes shimmering in the darkness, revealing her exposed irises.

“It’s not much trouble to move around when using spirit sense but without a direct source of light down here it won’t last too long.” Zapp sniffed the air and grimaced.

“I’ll take care of it, no worries.” The wizard waved his hand absentmindedly and pulled out a silver cylinder from his bag that he then quickly unfolded into a metallic staff the tip of which then immediately flashed alight, illuminating the passage they were in with a clear, white magical light.

“Nice work.” The warrior praised the wizard. “You and me will be upfront, leading the way. Sahra, Skorne and Kenzie in the middle and Zapp in the back, so if anyone tries to ambush us, we can react immediately.”

“Geez Bernie, aren’t you being too paranoid?” Kenzie crossed her arms on her chest and cocked her head.

“Paranoia is a healthy state of mind. A warrior must always be ready for anything.” Skorne spoke out, sounding approving and nodded.

“…Isn’t that a quote from How to become Proficient?” Maxie piqued up in realization. “Did you read it?”

“I…” The balrog seemed to be taken aback at that. “I was allowed to, yes.”

“I really should finish it one of these days.” The warrior tried to reach toward his face to scratch his beard only to bonk his gauntlet against the helmet. “It’s an interesting read.”

The wizard turned out to be surprisingly knowledgeable about the layout of the sewers in the city which was a blessing, because even with the warrior’s superior spacial awareness, he realized that he would get immediately lost in the endlessly branching pathways underground. Despite his sense of unease, they did not encounter any resistance, save for rats which quickly scurried away in fear as his heavy footsteps quaked through the underground.

At several points they were forced to go even deeper underground, climbing several more ladders or in Sahra’s and Kenzie’s case, gently floating down using their wings and broom respectively. According to Webster, the sewers eventually dumped all the waste into an underground river that then joined with the main one running through the city, carrying the city’s refuse all the way into the ocean.

After climbing down another set of ladders and pulling aside a rusty drainage gate, an alarm from the warrior’s communion matrix announced that they were out of range of the leyway network. He exchanged a tense look between him and his allies but said nothing. There was not much he could do in the situation but at least, according to the wizard, they were not too far away now.

After a long and strenuous journey that felt like it had took hours, the tribe finally found themselves in front of ancient looking wooden door. It was barely standing upright, one of the hinges and the handle had rusted from the moisture in the air so utterly that they had crumbled away and the wood was black and covered with moss, fungal growths and some other unspeakable black oozing mass.

“Well, that’s the place. The catacombs start beyond this point.” Webster explained and gagged, the smell was particularly foul in here.

“Ugh, finally. It feels like this stench is setting down in my very bones.” The witch coughed as well.

Kenzie said nothing, only gasping heavily as she rested in one of Sahra’s pockets, the polluted air in the depths of the sewers seemed to affect her the most.

The warrior carefully grabbed the edge of the door, or at least attempted to, only to crush it in his grip due to the armor’s poor dexterity and sending a spray of some vicious fluid right in his face.

He was spared from the splash by the fact that he was wearing a helmet, but he almost felt like Maxie retched in the confines of his mind and the inner padding of the armor spasmed.

“Sorry.” The warrior apologized awkwardly and pulled his arm back. The door opened with a rough scrape of wood against stone followed by a pained screech of the last remaining hinge.

Somehow, the depths beyond were even darker than the lowest level of the sewers and a chilling wind escaped from the entrance, making everyone shiver.

“You know, I am starting to think Bern might have a point about the whole ghouls being down there thing.” The witch swallowed hard.

“I am still skeptical myself. Members of the faith regularly visit the catacombs to care for the dead and sanctify their remains.” The wizard narrowed his eyes.

The group entered the doorway in silence. Soon, the smell of refuse had faded away and was replaced with a different oppressive stench. The one of rotting and decaying flesh.

“Oh fuck me-” The dwarf doubled over and vomited, unable to hold back the nausea anymore.

The warrior was starting to regret bringing everyone here. Just him and Zapp would have probably been more than enough. He knelt down next to the dwarf and patted her on the back as gently as he could. “Are you alright? Want to go back to the Union HQ and rest for a bit?”

“No, I am… I am fine.” The girl shook her head after spitting a few times and straightened out, her knees shaking a little. “I feel better now.”

“Only so much that aromatic oils can do, huh?” The wizard frowned, his mouth and nose covered with a handkerchief and planted his staff into the ground to free his other hand. After rummaging in his bag for a while, he pulled out a strange round bundle of silvery thread and tied it’s end over a large stone that had broken away from a nearby column.

“What are you doing?” The warrior asked, confused at the wizard’s actions.

“From here on out, it’s unexplored territory boss. The catacombs are not exactly big enough to get lost in for days and die from starvation and thirst, but it’s best to have a security blanket in case we need to retrace our steps.” He picked the staff back up and began to walk forward, letting the ball of yarn unfold in his other hand and leave a faint silver trail that glowed in the darkness.

“Can you feel anything yet Kenzie?” The warrior asked, holding the fairy in front of him on his extended hand as he walked next to Webster.

“Hmmm. Lots and lots of bonemen but they are all asleep.” Kenzie sat cross-legged on the palm of his hand and looked around, sniffing the air while her ears twitched. Unlike the sewers, the catacombs were comprised of small, tight spindling passageways. There was little to no order or pattern to it and it almost looked like a natural underground formation. The warrior even wondered if this used to be a cave system at some point that was later appropriated for the spiritual needs of the populace.

“Told ya boss, this was a waste of time. If Al-Sabbath could really get access to the catacombs so easily here, they would have fucked up the city years ago.” The wizard smirked and spread his hands out.

“Wait. Stop.” The lion walking at the end of their group suddenly called out, making everyone freeze in place and ready their weapons and magic.

“Can you smell that?” The lion slowly inhaled, making his nostrils flare up.

“I would rather not.” The witch turned green in the face again.

The warrior took his helmet off and sniffed the air, Kenzie mimicking the motion as well.

“What is it Zapp? I don’t smell anything out of place.” The warrior asked.

“Blood. Fresh blood.” The beast answered, looking around himself and sniffing the air again, trying to pinpoint the exact source of the smell.

“Uhh, duh?” Webster narrowed his eyes. “We are in a tomb? People kind of get buried here every day? Probably some poor sap who got stabbed in a bar fight last night or something”

Before the lion could protest, a noise coming ahead from them made him sharply turn his head forward. The others heard it too and followed suit. It was not a subtle noise. It was several sets of heavy footsteps, not unlike the warrior’s own. Another source of light was also approaching them.

“Oh great, now we alerted the priests to our presence.” The wizard frowned. “We can probably avoid getting arrested if we show our badges but we are getting escorted out of here on a short notice now.”

But it was not a trio of priests that appeared from the passageway in front of them. Or at least, not the sort of priests that they had expected.

“Halt! Who goes there! Identify yourselves!”

Three men stood across from them. Tall, clad in shining steel-plate and in peak physical condition. Both were armed with distinct, long two handed swords that were currently sheathed. Although their faces were covered by their bucket shaped helmets, their allegiance was immediately revealed by the image of a golden crown emblazoned in the middle of their chestplates.

“King’s guard?” The wizard blinked in confusion.

“I will not repeat myself again. Who are you and what are you doing here?” The first knight that carried a ball of glowing magical light in his outstretched hand warned and reached toward the handle of his weapon.

“Agent B, DSS. This is agent W and the rest are hired mercenaries. We are checking the catacombs for undead activity.” The warrior quickly answered and raised his hand over the group behind him.

The three knights looked the group over carefully and then exchanged a look between them. “Show your badge.” The lead knight ordered and the warrior took off his helmet to reach into his beard and present the item in question.

After studying it for a few seconds, one of the knights nodded. “It’s genuine but what’s this undead activity you mentioned?”

“We are suspecting that members of a terrorist cell known as Al-Sabbath have infiltrated this area in an attempt to rouse the dead resting here to be used as weapons against the citizens of Sanctiford.” Bernsen explained as he took the badge back.

“You might be an agent of the crown like us, but the catacombs are restricted from access, unless you have a special permit from a high ranking member of the church like the Ascendant. If you do not have it, then I must ask you to leave immediately.” The knight straightened out and pulled his hand away from the handle of his weapon. “As for the potential of an undead outbreak, let me assure you that no such thing is likely. Me and my battle brothers have been patrolling the underground for several hours today for that very reason and found naught a trace of any foul presence of necromancy. So you and your superiors may rest assured. Come, we shall escort you outside.”

The knight gestured the warrior to follow him and the man nodded before starting to walk after the trio of knights. He knew it was a long shot but he felt better knowing that, for once, his gut sense was false.

“Where is yours?” The fairy sitting on his shoulder suddenly called out,

The knight in the lead slowly turned around. “I beg your pardon?”

“Where is your permit?” Kenzie asked again, narrowing her eyes. “Only members of the church are allowed here and you don’t look like any holy men I ever saw to me. So where is your permit?”

The knight in the lead looked back at the other two slowly then back at the fairy. “We are on a special mission from the king. His authority is absolute, even within the hierarchy of the church.”

“The special mission of the king’s guard right now should be to guard the palace, because there is a high risk of someone attempting to break into it.” The warrior pointed out and slowly slid one of his legs in front of him.

“Also, why is your armor stained with fresh blo-” Bernsen opened his mouth again but did not get to finish his sentence.

“Searing light!” The ball of light that the lead paladin was holding popped like a balloon and the calm glow emanating from it suddenly condensed into a crackling golden lance that was launched directly at the warrior.

The projectile passed through the air with a noise akin to the ringing of glass chimes and shattered against his body, sending a shower of golden sparks to fly everywhere as well as making him stagger backward.

The trio of knights brandished their great swords immediately, revealing that they were covered in blood. By murmuring some sort of mantra to themselves, their weapons and armors then began to emit a faint white glow, making them stand out distinctly in the pitch blackness of the catacombs.

“Bern! Get down!” The witch behind him shouted and the warrior crouched immediately, regaining his balance after the sudden impact.

Another lance, this one cast in a raging inferno, passed over his head and flew down the passageway they were in, intending to hit the knight in the lead.

“Sanctuary!” The paladin behind him roared and slammed the tip of his blade into the floor, causing a shimmering shock wave to explode outward around the point of impact and envelop the trio.

Instead of incinerating the lead knight, the flame lance seemed to fizzle and fade out of existence as it struck the shimmering hemisphere without it so much as rippling.

“Oh crap!” The witch muttered in surprise as the lead knight readied another crackling lance akin to a golden bolt of lightning.

The warrior was faster though and straightened out. There was barely anywhere to move in this repurposed cavernous system, so he did the only thing he could. He charged.

The searing spell of light surged forward again, impacting against his helmet and making him stagger back from the force of the blow. The spell was powerful, he could feel the force behind it and yet he was not even scratched by it. The Union efforts paid off and this gave him a huge bout of confidence now that he knew that he was safe against enemy retaliation.

Recovering much faster this time, the warrior reached the edge of the barrier within moments before the lead knight could ready another spell and thrust his beidhander right in front of him in an attempt to skewer the paladin.

It felt like he just tried to stab a mountain, if not for his superior grip and the armor’s gauntlet, his fingers would have shattered from the forceful impact that just resulted in him bouncing back.

The third paladin used this opening and stepped out of the hemisphere slashing sideways at his abdomen only for his weapon to bounce back almost as harmlessly against the maximus armor and making him cry out in pain as he staggered back into the cover of his second companion’s shield.

Bernsen heard annoyed and frustrated shouts of his allies behind him who were unable to help him due to the limited space that was just barely enough to contain his own bulk.

He wondered if he could break the shield with a spirit overdrive like he did with the magic suppression device in fort Carlsbad but hesitated. There was no sunlight this deep underground for him to call upon more spirit energy once Zapp’s limited storage of it would be exhausted.

While he wondered what to do, the crusaders ahead of him did not waste any time and the one in the lead sheathed his sword and knelt down while clasping his hands together in a stance akin to a prayer. His hands were then enveloped in pure white flames, their glow spreading over his body and the knight sharply looked up, the same light pouring from the eye slits of his helm and rushed forward, jumping up from his kneeling position.

The warrior quickly grabbed the bladed edge of his beidhander with his power fist and attempted to stab the now exposed enemy but his charge was not a lone one. His companion, the one that had attempted to strike the warrior physically last time charged with him.

Blade meeting blade, the knight parried the warrior’s thrust, forcibly redirecting it into the wall of the tight corridor while the paladin with the glowing hands clasped the warrior’s head.

Bernsen roared at the sudden overwhelming burst of pain. The white flames covering the knights hands seemed to phase right through the solid mass of the armor and burned his flesh with the intensity of the sun while simultaneously blinding him with their radiance. But an even louder scream, the one from Maxie came out from the voice box in garbled warped static noise of unspeakable agony before being cut off.

All of a sudden, a great weight crashed down upon him as the armor’s feather enchantment failed. Despite this, he punched forward by instinct with his power fist and slammed it into the torso of the knight holding him in place. His punch bounced off from the platemail that should have caved in from a single blow however. Whatever glow that covered the group’s weapons and armor was not just for show, it was clearly augmenting their equipment as well as their physical forms.

He gritted his teeth, fighting back the agonizing pain of his flesh melting into formless, steaming goo and an enraged burning silhouette burst from existence ahead of him.

The knight kept holding on, seemingly obvious to the presence of Ursa Major, even as it mauled him in the side of the head. The warrior’s intention was to make Ursa phase through the armor and crush the knight’s brain in one fell swoop, but the glowing light surrounding him was protecting him from it as well.

Still, being unable to see the summon spirit, he did not anticipate the sudden impact directed at the side of his head.

With a disgusting crunch, Ursa Major broke his neck in a single blow, the shattered vertebrae sharply jutting out from the neck with a spray of blood. The glow around his body flickered and faded away as the paladin’s lifeless body collapsed on the floor.

“Brother! No! You’ll pay for this heretic!” The third knight shouted in rage and slid his gauntlet over the edge of his weapon, enveloping it in the same white flame that his ally just used on the warrior.

The warrior half crawled back a few steps, desperately trying to get a feel for his surroundings, which was difficult considering the fact that he was blinded and nearly paralyzed by the crushing weight of his own armor. Suddenly, something struck him and he grunted in pain, stepping back again as he felt a gash or a burn of some sort form on his abdomen at the point of impact.

The warrior swung around him blindly, hitting the walls and the ceilings uselessly while being peppered by a hit after hit of the paladin’s magically enhanced blade. He realized then how little experience he actually had in fighting in tight enclosed quarters and this was biting him hard. He could not even rely on his allies without leaving them exposed, or at least he thought that he couldn’t.

“Get out of the way!” Skorne roared and he felt someone push him sideways, slamming him into the wall of the passage as the large figure of the balrog squeezed past him to take the lead.

He heard clashes of metal and angry shouts as he collapsed down the side of the passage to catch his breath. Vision was slowly returning to him but only in his artificial eye which was displaying several strange runic texts which was probably not a good thing.

“Die foul daemon! Return to the abyss you came fro-hurghh!” A wet gurgling sound cut the knight’s battlecry off as the balrog cut away his head, making it fall on the ground with a clatter.

“You talk too much.” The balrog growled and stepped toward the last knight that still sat in that kneeling position, grasping his sword. The balrog poked the barrier with her weapon, checking out it’s density and then stepped back, her weapon still at the ready.

The knight stood still, his concentration unwavering.

“Sanctuary, huh? How annoying.” The balrog growled again.

“Bern, are you okay?” Sahra ran up to the warrior, putting her hand on his shoulder and looking him over before looking back at the hastily approaching wizard. “What happened? Why was he hurt, there isn’t a single scratch on the armor?!”

“I have no idea, but we have health potions to spare, boss, can you hear me? Get your helmet off.” The wizard ordered while clutching a bottle of red liquid.

The man groaned in confirmation and shakily reached toward his head, trying to pull the helmet off all the while a deep sense of dread formed in the pit of his stomach as he realized he could no longer feel Maxie’s presence. Thankfully, the mechanical components of the armor did not get jammed and he managed to open the lock on his helmet and tried to pull it off.

“Ughh…mmmph.” The warrior responded with a hoarse voice and his shaking hands collapsed, unable to hold the massive weight of the gauntlets they wore.

“Hold on, we’ll help!” The witch grabbed the helmet and pulled on it as hard as she could, trying to pry it off.

“Nnngh! Nmmmo, URGHH!” The warrior roared in pain as terrible noise of flesh being ripped came about, making the girl let go in fear.

“W-what the hells?” She whispered in terror.

“Don’t…touch it…” Zapp’s strained voice came from behind them. The lion was sweating heavily and his limbs were shaking. The familiar link between him and the warrior passed on all the stress and pain the man had to endure all at once. “His flesh had melted into the armor’s interior.”

The girl opened her mouth with a blank expression in her eyes, trying form words silently but failing.

“Wound… never expected we would be fighting former chantry members. I can see why the monster nation insisted on banning the usage of that spell.” The lion continued and grimaced, staring at the motionless form of the paladin that Skorne was keeping an eye out for.

“Why, why did they attack us like that?” The wizard looked in disbelief.

“Ha ha ha. Well now.” A chilling voice dripping with malice made everyone jump in shock. The others didn’t realize immediately who it was, but the warrior’s eyes widened under the crust of the remains of his own partially melted face in realization. He struggled and managed to raise his head toward the ceiling to see a pair of red glowing eyes peeking at him from the darkness.

“What an interesting turn of events.” Blitzkrieg partially decayed face twisted in a wicked smile that exposed his sharp pointed teeth. “You are a bit early for the show, but I am not going to complain. I have been looking forward to settling the score.”

“Yea, okay fuck this shit.” The wizard’s eyes widened in terror after he followed the warrior’s gaze and he touched his bag. “Everyone grab me and let’s get the fuck out of here!”

“Ah, ah, ah!” Blitzkrieg waggled his finger playfully and let out a hoarse creeping laugh before reaching into his coat to pull someone out.

“MMMMMPHH!” The warrior’s muscles bulged as liquid fire filled his form and he seamlessly merged with his summon spirit, granting him a titanic burst of physical strength even beyond that of bearzerk. He got up, even as his spine creaked in protest, his eyes filled with burning rage.

In his crushing grasp, the immortal assassin was holding Kenzie with complete disregard of her frail form. Her wings were crumpled roughly to the point of breaking and she looked like she was in immense pain but she was alive.

“Now.” The shade gestured at the gateway bag with his eyes. “Throw it to the paladin over there.”

The king’s guard member finally pulled his sword out of the ground and straightened out, but Skorne did not attack him immediately, instead looking at the warrior for directives.

“Don’t keep me waiting now. You know I don’t bluff.” The assassin squeezed harder, making the fairy let out an agonized shriek.

>What do you do?

>“Yea, okay fuck this shit.”

I'm with the wizard on this one. At least we found our target I suppose.

When we saw Blitzkrieg the last time Sahra's magic was quite weaker than it is now and she didn't know Fulgomancy. We also got Ursa Major now. Back when we last defeated him we just learned about spirit energy (or did we learn that right after our last encounter?) so that's going to be a lot more refined now.

Since Blitzkrieg seems to be more vulnerable to magic than physical attacks this could be a real advantage depending on how much intel he has on us. If he doesn't know about Ursa and the extend of our spirit energy control we might be able to take him by surprise and overwhelm him.

But it's a shame we don't have that DSS elf around now her ice magic was quite effective in keeping him restrained and in a solid state. How good's Webster with ice?

>>339755

We should fake throwing the bag at him, then hit him with the lightning from our left hand. After that, Skorne can take the last paladin while we rush Blitzkrieg with magic.

Also, a reminder for the future.

Finish the fucking book the next chance we get.

I doubt Slavsan keeps bringing it up for no reason, I just hope it's not too late.

>>339755

>Blitzkrieg is free of DSS custody

>The Royal Palace's King's Guard is working with him

Something is very VERY wrong.

How did Blitzkrieg escape? Did he just get free on his own? Did one of the traitor King's Guard free him? Did a DSS mole free him? Have DSS been subverted?

Why would the King's Guards be working with an enemy of the state? Are there enough traitors among them to kill the king and heads of government with an order 66?

And did Blitzkrieg go through with his "short vacation" to the Black Forest after he was freed?

The gateway bag in the hands of Al-Sabbath means they have a way into El Dorito. Which in turn means they have a path to the final integrity core. I don't think I need to say how bad that is.

Well, if Kenzie is ice resistant, we could always have Webster do the same thing he did to that stick of thunderclay Blitzkrieg had a while back. Can't hurt her if his hand is a block of ice.

That holy magic sure seems effective. I wonder if Webster can replicate it. Or if the swords they use have the same properties. It'd do wonders on Blitzkrieg. And if it neither of those work, I doubt we'll find a better enemy to use the leftover spirit energy on before we get back to the surface. I wonder if spirit strand would show us where his phylactery is before we overdrive him.

>>339882

The gates can only be used by wizards, they are useless in the hands of everyone else, so no need to worry about that. Now whenever a freeze bolt can reach and hit blitzkrieg before he crushes Kenzie while he is at the height of his power due to being in direct proximity of his phylactery? Thats a really good question. Are you a gambling man?

Also the knights templar order working with the cult of baphomet. Really makes you think.

>order 66

:^))))))))

>>339882

>Why would the King's Guards be working with an enemy of the state?

They were chantry members. I'm sure a lot of former chantry paladins were not too happy with their order being shut down in favour of good relations with filthy monsters that now freely roam the city.

If they can incite an incident and subsequently war with the monster nation things might just go back to the way they used to be.

If this is indeed what is happening the question is how many chantry members have been compromised and how far up this goes. And also how far they are willing to take it. If one of the personal bodyguards of the king decides a less monster friendly member of the royal family would do a better job thinks could turn a lot worse.

If we get out of this embassy situation ok we might wan to try to learn about what exactly those Paladins were doing down there and look into who the most anti monster hardliners are within the nobility and royal family and if they in any way might have supported those rogue Guards. That they were willing to attack DSS members makes me think the DSS as a whole isn't part of this so maybe we can try to get in contact with some trustworthy members there like Agent L. Or talk to the Chat Noir I'm guessing they are keeping tabs on stuff like that.

>>339755

>Royal Palace's Kings Guard

Interesting seeing as paladin comes from palatinus which means "officer of the palace", you probably didn't think of that but thats fine

Also the baphomet thing was just a meme

>>339882

>if Kenzie is ice resistant

I don't know, she froze to death in the river remember?, is it at all possible to shoot water at Blitzkrieg's hand to blast Kenzie out of his hand? I guess he would need to create ice and then melt it imediately without heating it to boiling and also have the water stream fire with enough force to weaken Blitzkrieg's grip, that's my suggestion regarding Kenzie.

The way I see it, the knight is the only real threat to Bernsen since that holy fire of his can go through our armor, unless Blitzkrieg can faze through our armor or something like that it's been a while since we fought him so I can't remember. It seems like they aren't wearing chainmail since that other guy got his head chopped off, so the joins are the weak points, we should disable the arms first so he can't use the spell anyone ever wonder why magic can only be used through the hands then stab the neck. Or you could go for the legs if you want to make a monty python reference

The warrior’s mind raced: simultaneously trying to suppress his overwhelming urge to leap at the ceiling to splatter the assassin against it and the growing sense of panic that was keeping him grounded in indecisiveness, fearing of what might happen if he acted too quickly.

Webster’s El Dorito gateway was their primary escape tool, should something go afoul and the enemy knew it from their previous encounters. He doubted Al-Sabbath could do much with the bag on it’s own without the help of a wizard but, knowing their resourcefulness, giving one to them like that was a bad idea in more ways than one.

“Alright! Alright!” The wizard shouted in panic and pulled the bag off his shoulder. “You can have it! Just don’t hurt her!”

“Nnnugh-” The warrior tried to groan in protest but stopped mid-word when his familiar cut him off through their mental link.

“Good. Nice and easy. Maybe you’ll get to live through this night after all.” The grim figure chuckled dryly. “Now throw it to-”

Before Blitzkrieg could finish his sentence, the wizard threw the bag up at him. “Not me you idiot!” The shade growled but quickly reached his other hand out to grab the gate, his eyes flaring an even deeper shade of red in triumph.

And then he exploded in a bright flash of pale, bluish light, accompanied by an inhuman high pitched screech of fury. The warrior’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight and as soon as the light faded, it was revealed that the black leather-clad abomination and his hostage had become covered up with  a thick layer of frost.

“You…?! Damn you wizard!” Blitzkrieg screeched and struggled against his binds, causing them to immediately start breaking apart with a distinct sound of cracking ice. The frost rune that was hastily placed upon the bag was not powerful enough to truly trap his form.

It did create an opening however.

Before the temporary bindings could break completely, something blasted through the air like a runaway sawmill buzzsaw. The warrior’s ax spun in a blur before striking the ghastly apparition in the shoulder and severing the arm that was holding Kenzie clean off.

The icy appendage fell down toward the floor like a stone, the warrior’s heart skipping a beat as he realized the folly of his quick thinking. What would this impact with the stone floor do to the caith sith’s fragile body? He reached his hand up, in a desperate attempt to catch her, but was beaten to the punch by a fiery red blur that zoomed through the passage on a broom and caught the severed apendage.

“I got her!” The witch yelled and this was the signal for the lion to leap up at the opposite wall and then boost himself away from it to reach the assassin. His maw flew wide open as he let out a ferocious roar while his outstretched limbs shone with a brilliant golden light that condensed on the tips of his claws, making them look like razor-sharp diamonds, aiming to rip the shade’s throat out.

For a moment the warrior could have sworn that he saw fear in the assassin’s eyes, the brilliant golden glow reflecting in his red ghostly vision as Zapp descended upon him.

The lion’s claws, burning with the fires of his soul, plunged into Blitzkrieg’s body like water, neither the leftover layer of frost, nor the warped decayed flesh providing any resistance whatsoever against the familiar’s fury and with a savage snarl, the lion ripped the wraith’s rib cage open, sending a shower of murky black ichor spraying everywhere.  

“RRRRaaaaaaaaaghhhh!” The assassin screamed in genuine pain as opposed to rage and suddenly his body caught on fire. The wisps of spirit energy quickly turned into a raging inferno that consumed his whole body, using his blighted, decayed flesh to fuel itself and purge the underground clean from his putrid and cursed presence. Within seconds, Blitzkrieg’s form disintegrated into nothingness, leaving only his clothes, the warrior’s axe, Webster’s bag and a cloud of vicious, swirling black gnat-like particles behind. It spasmed in the air, rapidly growing in size and shrinking over and over until it suddenly exploded, creating a powerful shockwave that sent the black swirling shards of his shattered essence flying everywhere.

A warped, otherworldly scream of pure unbridled anger and malice reverberated through the catacombs, seemingly coming from everywhere at once. Or rather, actually coming from everywhere at once, which became apparent when skeletal limbs began to burst from the countless ancient coffins that were lining the walls of the catacombs.

“Oh crap.” The wizard spoke out in fear.

“HE IS STILL ALIVE?” The witch let out a screech of terror while cradling Kenzie’s unconscious form close to her chest as the coffin behind her burst open and an ancient decaying corpse raised from it, the empty black eye sockets of the skull revealing a malicious and familiar red glow of unspeakable fury.

“Watch out!” The wizard shouted and blasted a bolt of freezing magic at the rising skeleton, encasing it in a solid block of ice that trapped the boneman within the opening in the wall.

“Ha…ha…ha… there is no escape, you know?” The skeleton’s jaw opened with a creak, allowing Blitzkrieg’s disembodied voice to pour out, his words and laughter dry and threatening.

Angry, vicious rattling noises and screeches of the dead began to fill the halls of the catacombs as the immortal assassin’s essence spread out everywhere and assumed manual control of the long deceased occupants, rousing them from their eternal slumber to rend the flesh from the bones of those who dared to defy the will of Al-Sabbath.

Things were rapidly going from bad to worse, despite the current lack of casualties and the warrior almost rushed forward as he noticed the shambling mob at the end of the corridor make their way towards them until he noticed something else.

Sounds of metal clashing behind him made the him turn around to see that the balrog was engaged in a deadly duel against the last member of the king’s guard. The former chantry soldier was standing his ground quite remarkably, compared to his brothers, either through superior personal skill or through the fury of seeing them die giving him a new desperate surge of strength. Perhaps it was a bit of both, the glow around the armored figure turned into an outright brilliant corona of radiance that concentrated the highest around his head, giving the man an appearance of a saint straight from a panned glass picture or an illustration from a holy book that could be found within the walls of the countless temples of Solos that were spread around Deleor.

The pure searing light of faith met the deep crimson glow of flames of Skorne’s defiant hatred, each blow they exchanged releasing a shower of sparks and clouds of acrid black smoke.

As much as the warrior would have normally loved to observe such an exciting fight, the encroaching army of undead moving toward their location left little time to dawdle and he charged down the underground passageway, instructing Zapp to keep their two casters safe.

Noticing the oppressive, crashing footsteps coming from behind her that felt akin to a boulder rolling down a passageway instead of a person, the Balrog stepped back and hugged the wall of the passage to allow Bernsen to pass by her.

The knight missed his strike and then tried to step forward to close the sudden gap that appeared between them. It was too late that he noticed the shape of the maximus armor, that took up almost the entirety of the limited space in the passage, fly at him.

He crossed his armored gauntlets over his head by reflex and placed his sword sideways over them in a desperate attempt to block the vertical swing, knowing that there was no room to dodge or time to properly parry the attack. The warrior’s muffled roar was the last thing he heard as the beidhander of discord, enveloped in enchanted chaotic fires crashed down upon him, carrying the entirety of the overwhelming weight of the blessed clay and adamantium armor, along with the barely contained and nearly limitless power of the warrior’s summon spirit that was surging throughout his body in a raging eruption of physical strength that made him feel like he was about to explode.

The bright corona of light surrounding the knight’s armor flared bright upon impact, the divine light shielding and reinforcing his steelplate. Through the grace of the gods, the power of the paladin’s faith protected his holy arms. Instead of being bisected in a single blow, the man’s blade bent like a flimsy piece of copper wire, the same quickly happening to the metal in his gauntlets. He screamed briefly in agony as his bones were crushed and shattered like glass and then pushed down against his forehead. His spine crunched, his neck snapped and the head sunk into the rib cage until his entire form collapsed into the floor, the light surrounding it fading away as a vicious spray of gore and blood blasted out of every crack in his collapsed and crushed armor.

When the warrior pulled his sword back, the gruesome sight was more reminiscent of a can of sardines that was ran over by a leyway train rather than a person. Even the Balrog had to do a double take at the carnage.

{Ughh…} Suddenly the crushing weight on the warrior’s shoulders vanished, nearly making him stumble.

{Maxie!?} The man yelled internally, a huge relief washing over him.

{Oh gods, my head… what happened just now?} The revenant groaned as if in deep pain but then suddenly let out a screech. {By Dollora! Bernsen, your face! Oh my goodness, who did this to you?!}

{I am fine. It doesn’t hurt anymore.} The warrior sighed in relief. {Be on your guard, we are not out of this yet.} He then quickly added before letting out a grunt. “Nmmmph!” The warrior sharply pointed behind him with the tip of his sword and the Balrog turned her head to see the panicked forms forms of Sahra, Webster and Zapp running toward them. And they weren’t alone. A horde of screeching snarling and clattering corpses was forcing their way through the passage, their motion mindless and almost drone-like in their single desire to kill everything that got in their way.

Corpses both fresh and decayed. Some that were so old that only their bones remained, some that had only begun to decompose, their bodies heavy and bloated with pus and festering maggots that spilled out on the floor with each step. The only single trait they all shared was the faint red glow in their eyes, the sign of the strings that the immortal wraith was pulling on to guide their empty soulless shells like puppets.

“RUN!” The wizard yelled as he passed by him. The lion quickly spat the axe out, next to the warrior and followed suit. Sahra was last in line, holding the disoriented looking fairy as she zoomed by.

Bernsen considered everything for a moment and reached down to grab his weapon. The faint golden glint of the orichalcum axe shimmered in the darkness. Nothing ever good came from him running away and despite the perilous situation he felt… oddly at ease right now. After witnessing his tribe completely decimate an enemy that used to make him wake up in cold sweat at night for a while, any sense of fear and urgency seemed to fade away. And without it clouding his mind he realized something.

Everyone was afraid right now because they didn’t understand yet how strong they all had became. But he did. And he was going to show them. The warrior firmly tightened his grip on the handle of the axe and raised both of his weapons, wielding them in tandem with ease.

Webster spun around in place after realizing that he was not following them and looked at the warrior with a mix of shock and disbelief. “Boss, what the hell are you doing?!”

But then another mix of growls and screeches came from ahead, making everyone go rigid. The wizard slowly turned his head ahead once more to see an exact mob that chased them approaching from the front. Blitzkrieg had them trapped.

“This is too many!” Skorne shouted and grabbed the wizard by the shoulder. “Hurry! Use your bag and get us out of here!”

“I can’t…” The aesthetician’s voice cracked. “We couldn’t retrieve it in time. I left it behind.”

Sahra looked terrified and on the verge of having a panic attack from being forced to face the source of her childhood phobia in such close proximity. Kenzie was shivering in her grasp and not just from the cold that she was suddenly exposed to moments earlier. Zapp, Maxie and Skorne were a little more confident, but even they were vary of facing such overwhelming odds.

The odds were indeed overwhelming. Overwhelmingly in their favor.

With a heavy stomp, the warrior spread his legs out and turned toward the rushing tidal wave of death formed by the shapeless wraith. He extended both of his hand out sideways, his weapons at the ready while arching his back slightly.

Suddenly, his summon spirit burst forth from his body, the infernal orange energy flowing around him and forming itself into a shape of savage looking burning grizzly that threw her head back and roared. Something was different this time however. Instead of standing next to him, the summon spirit was hovering in the air behind him, her bright orange form casting the underground in a bright and powerful light that seemed to make the darkness that surrounded them relent and pull away in fear.

He felt the immense burst of strength brought forth from [Furor] immediately fade. The adrenaline rush of battle and the thirst of blood dampened as the intimate personal connection between him and his summon spirit broke. Only a single ember was left from the former raging inferno that had consumed his body moments ago.

“Nghhhhhhrrrrrraaaaaaaagh!” Clutching that final spark within, the warrior threw his head back and forcibly ripped his own mouth and eyes open. The summon spirit mimicked the motion, her roar reverberating seemingly throughout the entire underground, making the walls and the ceiling shudder from the intensity of magical energies swirling around it’s form.

“Ursa Major…” The warrior growled and lowered his head to face their enemy, the words of the incantation burning in his heart. “GREAT HUNT!”

In that instant it looked like the immaterial grizzly had exploded, as a gust of hot and dry air blasted away from it, flying at the opposite ends of the underground corridor and striking the horde of walking corpses on both sides with enough force to make them stagger and briefly stop, as they reeled back like the simple burst of scorching air had physically struck them.

But that was only an afterthought of what the power of the warrior’s summon spirit had really unleashed.

“Wh-what just-” The witch blinked and suddenly gasped, clutching her heart. She was not in pain, far from it. Sahra felt a sudden rush of energy coming from seemingly nowhere that was so intense that not even the most potent and purified spice high could match it. Her eyes widened and her face flushed red as she felt a powerful warm sensation spread out throughout her body from her heart.

She was not the only one that was experiencing this bizarre effect either. The lion’s fur bristled and he bared his teeth, growling loudly as the muscles underneath his coat seemed to grow and visibly bulge in tension.

Skorne brandished her sword over her head and let out a bestial guttural noise as deep red fires burst forth from the cracks in her armor, enveloping her entire body. Even the tiny fairy pulsated purple, startling Sahra as Kenzie suddenly jumped up in the air out of her hands with an angry hiss.

“WHAT IS HAAAPPEEENNING!?” The wizard screamed in confusion as his own magic began to surge outward from his body, forming a silver aura around him.

“EVERYONE!” The wild king roared and slashed the air in front of him. “DO NOT BE AFRAID! WE ARE GOING TO WIN! FIGHT! FIGHT WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!”

This was insane. They were completely outnumbered, surrounded and outmatched with no way to escape or even survive and yet, Bernsen’s words seemed to carry such incredible weight and confidence in them that it instantly blew away any sense of doubt of their success.

Instead of huddling together in a tight circle for safety, the tribe split up, most of them barely aware of what was happening to them. Right now, only a single thing was abundantly was clear to everyone: they were going to win.

Without so much as a single word or any attempt to coordinate their assault in advance, the group split in teams of three: Kenzie and Zapp leaping next to the warrior while the two casters and Skorne faced the horde upfront.

The shouted a bellow of a battlecry as she charged, appearing not unlike the warrior back when he hadn’t yet mastered his state of Bearzerk and yet, her movements were not that of a simple beast directed by pure carnage. Each of her slashes were precise, deadly and devastating to the horde of undead puppets. Sharp claws dripping with disease and ichor uselessly broke against the adamantium plate mail, the unlucky few who got within melee range and avoided getting bisected bursting into flames upon coming into physical contact with her.

But even with the sudden rush of power she felt, it was not enough. Individually, each of the reanimated corpses was nothing to her might, but their numbers were staggering and although they were unable to reach her flesh, they had latched on to her body, even as they burned apart into ash, trapping and holding her in place, their claws trying to rip the armor away from her body. At last, the combined weight of her enemies caused her knees to buckle and she collapsed under the pressure, the corpses crawling all over her form, pulling at her armor to rip it off and expose her body. Her task was fulfilled already however.

While the Balrog had attacked the horde head on to stall it’s flow, the witch jumped down from her broom and closed her eyes, feeling the overflowing surge of power inside her sharpen her senses and resolve. It was a strange but pleasant sensation, like a veil had been lifted over her head that she never realized was there. The sense of liberation from that artificial limit and the proximity of her family brought her blood to a boiling point, making her feel more alive than ever.

She inhaled slowly, filling her lungs with the scalding hot air around her while the wizard moved around in front of her, putting down little wooden pegs and nailing them into the stone floor, walls and ceilings with a small wooden mallet, each of his motions decisive and precise, driving the implements halfway into the rock with single directed blows.

The noise of the balrog collapsing signaled that it was time and the dwarf’s eyes shot wide open, glowing with power as some smoke and a few embers escaped from the corners of her mouth and nostrils. She swung her arms behind her and leaned forward, a vision of a dragon, roaring and spreading it’s wings shaping itself within her mind as she reached out and pulled out all of her mana reserves at once.

She opened her mouth, an earsplitting, whistling noise coming from it as the air ahead of her thinned out and began to distort and ripple from the heat until she finally exhaled sharply.

Nothing could stand up against the stream of condensed liquid fire that poured out, so richly infused with magic and so violent that it crashed through the horde like it was not even there, their undead forms providing not even a fraction of resistance as they disintegrated into nothingness one after another while the raging inferno carried itself forward, destroying everything in it’s way, not stopping even as the passages had begun to branch out. The claustrophobic interiors of the catacombs left nowhere to hide or seek cover. The trap sprung on them by the immortal assassin was turned right back against him.

The stream finally died down and the witch collapsed forward on her knees, gasping for breath and the wizard snapped his fingers, remotely activating the ward he had set up before the air behind them could get sucked into the burned out passage and suffocate them. He stared intently at the glowing red path ahead of him that was quickly dimming. A thick cloud of ash was slowly descending upon the floor, the only thing left from the horde. A large pile of it next to the shimmering ward stirred as the form of Skorne arose from it, her armor glowing white hot from taking the blast of Sahra’s dragon’s breath head on.

She staggered toward the ward, clutching her throat and the wizard plunged his hand through the barrier wincing in pain as his sleeve began to blacken from the heat along with his flesh but reached toward the balrog and pulled her in. Skorne collapsed on the floor, gasping for air like the dwarf while the wizard slumped against the wall of the passage, and reached into his inner coat pocket to pull out a healing potion that he immediately chugged down to dull the pain in his burned hand.

They were only halfway done however. The battle behind them was still raging on. The warrior roared, his voice warped as it came from the voicebox in the helmet, constantly overlaying with Maxie’s draconic serpentine snarls. While Ursa Major floated behind him like a living banner or a totem like this, projecting the warrior’s power to his allies, he was unable to call for it himself, so he was surprised when the usually reserved armor seemed to go completely berserk and multiply his natural strength. His motions were no longer sluggish, there was next to no delay in his movements. The precision at which he could manipulate it had skyrocketed as well, the pulsating glow coming from his summon spirit empowering even the revenant bound to his armor.

He moved through the enemies: cutting, slashing, chopping and smashing them with both of his weapons, passing through the wall of bodies like a living meat grinder. One was slashed in half, the top of the body fell by his feet and raised it’s partially decayed skull to meet his boot that crushed it into paste, spraying vicious liquid everywhere. Next one was bisected clean in half from top to bottom, allowing the warrior to step through and continue his assault. Whenever the enemies tried to move past him, the lion next to the warrior tore them off their feet and smashed them into the walls of the passage, crushing their bodies and ripping them apart using his powerful jaw and claws.

The attack was halted and then the warrior and his allies started to push back, forcing the horde of undead deeper into the tunnel. Realizing that he could not match the warrior’s near limitless stamina and indestructible armor, in this tight passage that allowed him to systematically slaughter his puppets in almost routine like fashion, the wraith shifted his tactics and began to latch on to his body, trying to pull him down and pry him out of the armor.

Something strange began to happen then. Some of the soulless husks seemed to stop as a purple pulsating blur whizzed past them, letting some black powdery substance rain upon them. Spasming viciously, their mouths wete flung wide open as black mist burst forth from their bodies along with a screech of rage as Blitzkrieg’s essence was forcibly expelled and the dull, dark red glow in their eyes was replaced with a brilliant pink one.

His control over them partially lost, the husks began to fight among each other, spreading the assassin’s already limited attention span and allowing the warrior and his familiar to redouble their efforts and start to outright plow through the mob with all of their wrath.

They fought and fought for what felt like an eternity, their bodies caked with blood and ichor until finally the last husk collapsed, it’s head split in half with an ax strike. With a faint hiss, the last of Blitzkrieg’s essence escaped from the wound, forming a barely tangible still shape on the floor in front of the warrior.

“Bern!” Sahra called out from behind them, making her way past the countless bodies that now littered the floor along with the wizard and the balrog. Webster looked hurt, based on a bandage hastily wrapped around his hand but they were otherwise unharmed.

“Haha…” The wraith’s voice sounded quiet and weak. “You are really… quite something people. But you are… too late.”

“I don’t see how. You are done for from the looks of things.” The warrior knelt down, the summon behind him dispersing and immediately flooding his body with a nearly debilitating amount of fatigue.

“No more bodies to control either.” Kenzie hissed again and bared her little claws and fangs at the black misty cloud.

“The embassy will be safe now.” The wizard concluded and stepped next to the warrior.

“The embassy…?” The wraith asked, sounding quizzical and then chuckled again. “Is that what you thought we were- Ha… ahahahaha!” Even crippled and weakened, the shadow’s voice made the warrior’s skin crawl.

“Oh that’s precious. The irony is almost painful. You would have been quite safe there. No, our target is much, much bigger.” Blitzkrieg’s immaterial shape spasmed as it laughed.

“The king…!” The lion’s eyes widened. “The king’s guard is going to assassinate the king of Deleor!”

“Ah, you are catching on quickly.” The wraith replied playfully. “Not everyone is happy with the way things have been going between monsters and men lately. Some believe that a return to tradition is in order. Unfortunately, king Alexander has been rather liberal compared to his predecessors and so, several parties have grown interested in his removal. It’s a shame you broke all my toys, it would have been delightful to go out and take them out for a test drive tonight, when the show starts. Ah well, what’s done is done. It doesn’t matter anyway. You’ll never find your way out in time to warn anyone. These catacombs are dark and mazelike. Without a guide, you will be lost here for quite some time.”

“We’ll see about that.” The warrior growled and brought his orichalcum ax down, cutting the immaterial shape in half. It rippled violently, letting out one final desperate wail and burst like a balloon, leaving nothing behind.

“Okay, I know we are supposed to save the king now but can you please explain WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT JUST NOW!?” The dwarf pointed behind her with her thumb.

“Ursa Major.” The warrior sighed, closing his weary eyes, trying to not fall asleep. He was tired. Gods, when was the last time he was tired like that? Not even the trashing he got in Somalot made him feel so weary and hungry. “That’s her true ability, she can give others a temporary boost in physical and mental strength, or rather… no. It just brings out the strength that is already there at the expense of an increased stamina consumption.”

“But I don’t feel any tired?” The fairy looked down at her little hands in confusion. “If anything, I still feel super great! Like I just ate several bars of chocolate!”

“I agree. I haven’t felt this strong since… since before I was put to sleep by the queen of the dwarves.” Skorne raised her fist and tightened it with an audible metal groan of her gauntlet.

“Yea, are you sure about this stamina consumption thing boss? Or are we all going to crash down from this high in a few seconds?” The wizard joked but gave the warrior a vary glance.

“Not yours.” The warrior’s knee buckled, unable to support him anymore and he crashed down face first on the floor.

“Bernie!” The caith sith cried out in fear as she began to circle around him frantically.

“Oh shit!” The wizard shouted in panic. “Okay screw this, get that helmet off, I can fix his face later if we have to, he needs a health potion pronto!”

“No.” The warrior shook his head and got up on all fours with the help of Skorne and Sahra, sweating heavily and panting. “It won’t help. I am not hurt. Just….exhausted. It wasn’t so bad when I just used it on myself, but spreading it out like that takes too much energy.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” The lion looked him over with a worried expression. “Your spirit energy reserves are nearly depleted. You need a rest and a high calorie meal.”

“Well good thing it’s just within a stone throw’s reach!” The wizard glanced at the end of the corridor and suddenly smiled in excitement.

The warrior raised his head to see what improved Webster’s mood so much. In front of them, in the middle of a passage that was completely devoid of anything else laid the discarded El dorito gate, some moisture still covering it.

“Thank goodness, it’s still here!” The witch sighed in relief.

“Alright.” The wizard grabbed the bag and walked back to them, patting it affectionately. “Now let’s REALLY get the hells out of here. We won’t be able to get into the city this way, but I know for certain that at least one other wizard is in the capital right now and he should be able to inform the authorities and the Order of what went down here and what is about happen in the palace. They won’t be able to just ignore this much carnage and will send someone down here to investigate, who we will then be able to ask to help us leave. Everyone get over here and touch me, we are going back to HQ for a bit.”

The group quickly surrounded the wizard, placing their hands on his shoulders or legs, looking a bit shaken but healthy.

The warrior lowered his head and swallowed hard. Everyone survived somehow. Now it was a matter of finding out a way to intercept the royal guard.

“Alright boss, let’s go!” The wizard extended his bandaged hand toward the warrior with a confident smile while holding his bag close to his chest with the other.

>What do you do?

I took some liberties with suggestions for a more dramatic encounter. It was a real blast to write.

>>340694

I'm somewhat supicious of whether the king will be assassinated, it could just be blitzkreg trying to trick us, after all if he wanted the king assassinated why would he tell us? Why are paladins working with a member of a monster group like Al-Sabbath, especially one whose undead? Do Perhaps there will be an assassination attempt but it's merely a decoy for some other plan? Something seems fishy about all of this.

That being said if the king is being assasinated I doubt we can rely on the authorities to prevent the king's assassination, esspecially not considering any number of them could be in league with the kings guard, in any case they may have a backup plan, like bowing up the palace or something.

If we decide to infiltrate the palace then I think All group members should go inside the el-dorito bag except for kenzie, who will sneak over to the kings place with the bag in tow so that if anyone tries to kill the king the rest of the group can teleport from the bag with full gear

>Some believe that a return to tradition is in order. Unfortunately, king Alexander has been rather liberal compared to his predecessors

**No offense but that came across as a little /leftypol/

>>340803

I should have proof-read this before posting

>>340803

Liberal, as in willing to embrace new ideas and letting hordes of degenerate monster barbarians into the country as a direct counterpart to late Roman history, when empire citizenship was given to every unwashed savage and it caused a massive demographic shift and eventual collapse.

Wait a minute.

>>340805

Ah, I see

Once I again I wasn't smart enough to understand, like before with bernsen saying that armor was too heavy and I though that was what you thought when really the joke was that bernsen didn't know anything about armor. I am sorry.

>>340813

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Warrior Quest. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of ancient history most of the jokes will go over a typical reader’s head. There’s also Bernsen’s nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Also sprach Zarathustra literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realise that they’re not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Warrior quest truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the humour in Bernsen’s existential catchphrase “OH NO!,” which itself is a cryptic reference to Dante Alighieri’s Italian epic Divine comedy. I’m smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as slavsan’s genius wit unfolds itself on their computer screens. What fools.. how I pity them. 😂

And yes, by the way, i DO have a Rick & Morty tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It’s for the ladies’ eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they’re within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid 😎

>>340694

A palace coup, eh? I wonder who the replacement waiting in the wings is.

>at least one other wizard is in the capital right now

Right as the carnage is about to start? That's very convenient. Maybe too convenient.

Anyway, getting the word out is only a one or two person job, and if we're waiting for rescue, there's no harm in wandering around looking for an exit, we may find it faster. Besides, we still have to search the bodies of the King's Guard for fungus clues, maybe loot their swords if they do holy damage and if that thing that got crushed wasn't Blitz's phylactery, stumble upon it.

Be selective about who to inform, too. Can't let word to get back to Al-Sabbath or the king's guard about this. Don't want a repeat of Cair where the enemy hears that we know too early. Heck, a group sent to search the catacombs alone may tip them off. Can't we just borrow a geomancer to dig us out, or at least [survey] us to an exit instead?

Good thing we went to L'Argent Industries, though. >>338742

>The only person with global administrative privileges now is I, instead of the king and lord Braun of the king’s guard

Wait a minute…

>>284417

>Anderson spoke calmly but his voiced carried just the tiniest amount of tension that made the leader of the king’s guard turn quiet.

I think we may have found who's been misleading Anderson. There may still be moles in DSS, but Anderson seems to trust Braun, and Braun is definitely a leak. I wonder if Braun had a hand in that message we got, it did give him the keys to the palace and discourage Webster away from the constructs he has control of. If only we had proof of all this.

Still one question, though. If the embassy wasn't the target, why would they need the ghouls to cause chaos?

Nothing says they can't both kill the king and attack the embassy. Leaving someone or two someones to go to the embassy (in disguise and wearing magesight sunglasses) would be prudent.

Getting into the palace should actually be pretty easy, though. Get some chameleon cloaks from the Union, chomp on that brownie if it can be undone easily, can't remember, and waltz right in or fly in through a window. Primary objective, find the king and act as invisible bodyguards. Secondary objective, once the king is found and protected, send someone to gather evidence on Braun and his troops. A scrying bowl recording of him giving the order would be great.

>>340816

Only the truly erudite may understand this captivating tale. Truly, as I salivate waiting for that mother fucking wubaluba dub dub sauce to come out tomorrow, I read this over and over, amazed how this man could bring such excellence out of the literally shit source material.

>>340813

Deleor is very progressive. Look at how cultural Ectria is. They respect Monsters.

So cultural.

>>340871

Now I see, we must remove everyone from the palace who has a skeleton, it's the only way to keep the king safe

>>341012

Only so much I can do to warn you without outright stating it and spoiling the fun. I am giving you too much leeway as is, due to personal investment.

>>341021

Are you saying Blitzkreg is going to summon skeletons? If so then I wonder where he is going to get them from, I thought we destroyed all the corpses under the palace.

Some other anons will have to figure this out

>>341033

Maybe… get Kenzie to summon skeletons to look for an exit for us? Covers more ground.

Or…

>>339751

>The catacombs are not exactly big enough to get lost in for days and die from starvation and thirst, but it’s best to have a security blanket in case we need to retrace our steps.”

Retrace steps?

Or from the same post…

>“Can you feel anything yet Kenzie?” The warrior asked, holding the fairy in front of him on his extended hand as he walked next to Webster.

>“Hmmm. Lots and lots of bonemen but they are all asleep.”

Another undead army? It'd surely delay a rescue or an escape. Handy for attacking places, too. But can't we just lure them to the sewers, set up a [Bomb Transmutation] in or near some gas (>>339750), and after we escape, blow 'em all to Nerg?

>>341161

>“Hmmm. Lots and lots of bonemen but they are all asleep.”

Huh, I thought that was refering to the corpses we fought, but I guess they still had flesh on them, I suppose Kenzie can tell whether or not a corpse is a skeleton? Can kenzie destroy those skeletons? It may be good to prevent Blizkreg from using them. Kenzie was only powerful enough to control a portion of Blizkreg's undead and that may have been because Blizkreg's attention was focused on us and not maintaining control of every skeleton, perhaps we should ask kenzie about this?

The man looked at the hand extended over to him with weary eyes, feeling a slight pang of guilt over the fact that the wizard got wounded, however slightly. Instead of immediately grabbing it however, a few thoughts sluggishly began to form in his head about how to potentially get out of this damp, dark cave system underneath the city in time.

He knew better than to expect that tattling on the cult like that would actually work, especially with no real proof of Al-Sabbath’s intentions besides their personal accounts, three dead chantrymen and a huge pile of decomposing bodies. He briefly considered asking Kenzie to reanimate some of the remaining bonemen in the catacombs to use them as scouts and find a way out. Despite the harsh battle just now, he doubted that he had just desecrated the remains of every single person who ever died in Sanctiford. Otherwise, he would have been forced to fight for days. Just killing and killing endlessly.

“Bern? Bern!” He snapped out, hearing various voices both internal and external calling his name and someone shaking him awake.

“Huh?” The warrior opened his eyes, realizing that he was laying on the floor facedown. Did he just briefly fall unconscious? That was not a good sign. “No, wait.” The man protested weakly. “There is no need for us all to go back to the Union at once to deliver the news. We need to get out of here.”

“We are getting out of here, Bernie!” The fairy buzzed around him angrily, irritated at his obvious statement.

“Take it easy.” Zapp suggested and gently placed his paw over the warrior’s shoulder. “You need a breather.”

The man shuddered and slowly stood up, his body feeling heavier than his armor right now and extended his hand out to the wizard. “Alright, fine. Let’s go back and regroup.” He finally relented. With his senses dull and weak like this, it was plain suicide to keep moving about anyway and there was no telling if there were more enemies awaiting them.

“Just hold yourself together for a minute boss, we’ll get Doc fix you up back at the tower in a jiffy.” The wizard smiled and gave Bernsen a thumbs up as he grabbed his hand and opened the bag. Webster’s expression paled for a moment as he did so, the mirth vanishing from his face in an instant.

“GET BACK!” The wizard suddenly screamed and jerked forward, pushing everyone away and hugging the bag tightly to himself as he dropped down. A split second later he was gone, vanishing in a flash of light.

Everyone was left dumbstruck at Webster’s sudden reaction, blinking in confusion with their mouths wide open as they tried to process what just happened. It was only the warrior who found himself suddenly overwhelmed with a deep sense of dread, shivering from the sudden chill in the air as his honed instincts told him that something terrible had occurred. He was planning to send him out alone to deliver the news while the rest of the tribe stayed behind, but the way he had frantically vanished felt wrong.

A terrible, scratchy fit of laughter cut through the stunned silence, making everyone jump and turn to face it’s source. The raspy voice was coming from somewhere above them, deeper in the passage. It turned out to belong to the assassin who sat in one of the empty alcoves that used to be occupied by the dead, letting his feet dangle freely over the edge as he leaned slightly forward. His dry, gray skin stretched taut over the shape of his skull, giving his inappropriate smile an unsettling vibe.

Everyone reacted immediately, readying their weapons, claws and magic.”Shit! That asshole was faking it!” The witch yelled in disbelief as she held two fireballs aloft.

“But how!? He just died, hasn’t he?” Skorne growled while rising her weapon.

“Yea.” Kenzie balled her little hands into fists as she glared at the shade. “He did.”

The balrog exchanged a confused look between her and the assassin until the warrior spoke out to explain. “That’s Blitzkrieg, the immortal assassin of Al-Sabbath.”

“Appreciate the introduction.” Bliztkrieg’s eyes flared as he exposed his jagged teeth with a grin and took off his wide brimmed hat with a flair in a mock display of politeness.

“Immortal?” Maxie spoke out in confusion, being out of the loop as well.”Don’t be ridiculous, immortality is a myth!”

“Strange, to hear that coming from you lady Ophelia. I heard you were killed almost twenty years ago, possibly even earlier depending on one’s definition of death.” Blitzkrieg put his hat back on and leaned back against the wall of the alcove, casually crossing his hands on his lap.

The group blanched at that while the armor’s padding squirmed violently as if physically struck. The warrior already knew and merely kept standing stoically, to his best efforts, trying to not show that he was on the verge of blacking out from physical exhaustion.

For the time being at least, it didn’t look like the assassin was going to attack. His body language was casual, at ease, like he was in full control of the situation. It was a whole different level of unnerving when compared to his usually wordless, direct, encroaching and unstoppable approach with the sole intent to kill.

“Why are you not attacking us?” Bearson asked directly, keeping his voice steady as he maintained his attention on the assassin in case he would try something.

“I am just in a good mood right now. So I thought we could sit back and relax for a bit, have a nice, relaxing chat. Get to know each other better.” The wraith replied sarcastically, it’s toothy grin widening even more.

“Bullshit! He’s pussying out, that’s why!” The witch snarled and took a step forward threateningly. “We just wrecked his shit so badly that he is afraid of taking us on!”

“Afraid of you?” The wraith asked mockingly, barely holding back the smugness in his voice. “Don’t be ridiculous. Why would I be afraid of you. You’ve already threw everything you had at me and here I am.” Blitzkrieg casually gestured at himself with his hands. “Still here. What am I supposed to be afraid of exactly? That you will stab me? Burn me? Cut me into pieces, smash my skull open, rip me apart? Blast me with your oriental flavor of holy magic? Please. We’ve been through it all already. You might drive me away for a time but you will never…” The assassin leaned forward again and looked down at the group below, his voice turning quieter.

“Ever, be able to get rid of me. You may triumph and avoid me time and time again, but it only takes for you to make one single slip for me to win. One tiny mistake. Overlooking a tiny out of place detail like say: why I haven’t taken your wizard friend’s bag after I specifically set up a hostage exchange so I could have it earlier?”

Everyone turned quiet at that, this time Sahra feeling something amiss along with the warrior as her face paled from the cold as her lower lip trembled. “What the hells did you do?” She tried to sound threatening but her voice sounded hoarse and weak all of a sudden.

Blitzkrieg’s only response was to smile again.

“WHAT THE HELLS DID YOU DO TO HIM!” The girl’s voice cracked as she screamed in fury, letting her magic flow wildly around her form.

~~~

A soft and barely audible pop came from the gate, followed by a faint hiss. The bag was well weathered from Webster’s recently started new life, but still pertained a certain kind of simple and beautiful aesthetic that gave it a certain rugged style. No one except for him had even realized what was about to happen.

The time around the all-powerful child of Solos appeared to slow down to a crawl, as all of his senses went into panic. He could suddenly smell the overpowering scent of sulfur and felt the crushing weight of death coming from the heat that was rapidly expanding from within the container slung over his shoulder.

His mind raced for a way out, as fractions of a second counted down. Everyone was standing around him in a circle: smiling, happy at their victory and completely obvious that they were about to die.

Webster was if anything, a smart and careful man. Sometimes, it made him appear somewhat cowardly and indecisive because of it. He did not get to live as a wizard for as long as he did by taking things for granted however. He saw nations rise and fall. He experienced monsters go from being hated and killed on sight to walking hand in hand with people. He was right there when the wizards regained their old glory and turned from a myth into a secret society with near limitless power, reach and resources.

The wizard desperately tried to calculate if he could throw the bag hard and fast enough away from himself to get it out of range, or whenever he could freeze the already lit payload of Blitzkrieg’s final gift in time, before it would go off and kill him and all of his friends. He was an escape artist at heart and could crack any puzzle that came his way like any true wizard. He was certain that, with enough time, he would be able to figure a safe way out of this predicament as well. But he had none.

So, for the first time in his long, lonely life, the aesthetician let his heart take charge instead of his head. It already knew from the start what Webster had to and his body responded to his innermost, desperate desire without hesitation.

“GET BACK!”The wizard suddenly screamed and jerked forward, pushing everyone away and hugging the bag tightly to himself as he dropped down.

None of his friends could even draw a breath in the time it had took for the heavy cluster of explosives placed inside the gate to detonate. But before the terrible sound of the explosion or it’s blast wave could reach them, the radiant flash of light coming from the gate pulled the wizard away from this world.

When Bill, the union’s resident accountician noticed the familiar flash of a gate activating in the atrium of the tower, he hastily put down his heated bread pouch and turned around, expecting to see master Webster return along with his allies with an update regarding their project.

Instead, he was met with a blinding flash of light, followed by the crashing noise of an explosion. The pudgy wizard yelled in pain and surprise as he was struck by the blast wave that was powerful enough to flip over his stained wooden desk and make all the items on it fall down on the floor, including his communion matrix which shattered into a million pieces.

As soon as it was over, an alarm began to blare out throughout the building as water enchantments, placed within the walls, activated to douse down the few simmering embers that were left in the wake of the detonation of several pounds worth of thunderclay.

The aesthetician’s folding silver staff made a few spins through the air and landed into one of the quickly formed puddles of water with a splash and a clatter. It was burnt and badly bent out of shape beyond repair. The light inside the clear gem on it’s tip flickered a few more times, the magic within it desperately trying to stay active, before finally fading away.

~~~

“Setting up traps like that isn’t usually my style, you know.” Bliztrkieg clicked his tongue and crossed his arms on his chest while looking up at the ceiling. “I like to be a fair sport, look my target in the eye, give them a chance to run or defend themselves before I slaughter them.”

“Then why?” The warrior’s grip on his weapon tightened and he grit his teeth hard enough to feel them crack from the stress.

“Honestly?” The mummy cocked his head and then narrowed his eyes menacingly, the glow in them flaring up brightly. “I really hated that fucking wizard. There are very few people who can claim that they have “killed” me, you included. But there is only one that has ever managed to entrap me. Even if it was only for a short while, that experience was… agonizing. Being forced to be stuck in a solid block of ice. Unable to move, unable to speak, unable to scream. Truly, a fate worse than death. don’t you think?” The wraith asked, the evil glow in his eyes flickering between madness and pure malice.

“So I beat that tricky wizard at his own little game. No more blinking in and out of existence to avoid my blades, no more freezing me and preventing me from moving or switching hosts. I am glad that he realized what was going to happen moments before it did though. Not only did it spare you from a dishonorable death through a cave in, but also that face! That wonderful look on his face, as he was overwhelmed with despair, knowing that he was about to die and had no way out. I will cherish it within my memories forever.”

The warrior’s hands shook but he didn’t jump at the wight with all of his fury. It was more than apparent now how futile killing him again would be. He needed to bide his time and gather information and for some reason, Blitzkrieg still hadn’t attacked them and was speaking more than he ever had before.

“Awfully quiet, aren’t you?” The shade cocked his head in a different direction. “Why don’t you take off that helmet of yours? I want to see your face. I suspect that you have a marvelous expression to behold as well! The pain of loss you are feeling right now must be overwhelming! So pure, so… intoxicating. The anger, the helplessness, the regret you must feel right now, knowing that one of your loved ones is dead and that there is not a single damn thing that you can do to bring him back. It truly makes you appreciate the value of a life, doesn’t it?” The wight chuckled and spread his arms out.

“What do you think his final thoughts were?.” The assassin appeared to contemplate deeply as he looked around himself before suddenly grinning. “Oh, do you think he was worried that the blast would ruin his haircut!?”

He then leaned forward and put his hands on his knees before whispering. “Or maybe he was wondering why you let him di-”

“Raaaaaaaaaagh!” The witch suddenly yelled, unable to hold her anger anymore and thrust one of her hands out at the shade, launching a massive flame lance in his direction. Unfortunately, the assassin was anticipating it and dispersed into a black cloud, allowing the spell to phase harmlessly through him and explode against the wall with a blinding cluster of orange sparks.

“You son of a bitch! I’ll kill you! I WILL KILL YOU!” The dwarf screamed, tears streaking down her face as she launched a spell after spell at the shade in a desperate attempt to destroy him, only for the assassin to laugh and effortlessly dodge every one of them with disturbingly unnatural ease.

“Oh ho?! You are not the one who I was trying to get a rise out of, but I like your attitude girl! Keep at it! You just might be the one who will finally end me for good!” Blitzkrieg egged her on, his leather coat flaring behind him as he pulled his wide brimmed hat back to look ahead of himself.

“Die! Die! Die! Why won’t you die!” The girl’s voice cracked as she screamed, pulling out more strength than she knew she had, attacking over and over in a frenzy with no result. That was enough. The warrior appeared behind her and forcibly grabbed her by her hair and pulled her down hard enough to push her face against the floor.

“Let me go!” She screamed hysterically, trying to wriggle and pull herself free of his firm hold.”He killed Web! He killed him! I will kill him! He needs to die! He must die! I don’t care how, even if I have to incinerate every speck of his body! He has to pay!”

“Sahra stop! If you keep fighting him like that, then we are all going to die!” The warrior shouted and as if on que, the earth around them shuddered as a piece of the ceiling suddenly came crashing down in the distance. In her desperate rage, she could not even see what her magic outburst was doing to the unstable structure of the cavern that was already weakened by the earlier fighting.

The shattering of the falling stone against the floor before her very eyes made for one hell of a reality check and the witch stopped struggling, going limp in his grasp and instead curled into a ball and started to cry in helplessness over being unable to do anything.

“Tch, a spoil sport aren’t you?” The wraith shook his head and shrugged again. “You know, the strangest thing about this chain of events that lead you here is that it didn’t have to end this way. You could have just walked away, but you instead kept trying to force yourself into matters you had nothing to do with and now…” The shade narrowed his eyes and reached into the inner pocket of his coat.

“The people you love are dying. Remember that promise I made during our last meeting?”

Bearson’s blood stilled in his veins at the assassin’s words, temporarily cooling his anger. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t you recall? I made a certain promise about bringing you a souvenir.” The wraith taunted.

The warrior rose to his feet, pulling his hand away from Sahra’s sobbing form on the floor to put it on the handle of his beidhander.

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to visit your home, I have been released just this morning you see. Buuuut, it just so happens that I got lucky and one of my associates had a run in with someone you know. She is quite a handful, can take a crazy beating and is not very talkative either, just like you!” Blitzkrieg finally pulled his hand out of his coat and flicked the item he grabbed forward. The round, meaty and fur covered chunk arced through the air before landing by warrior’s feet with a wet slap against the stone floor that seemed to echo throughout the catacombs.

“What is that?” The fairy carefully descended to examine the object closer.

“The souvenir I promised.” The wraith tipped his hat and then stood up within the alcove, dusting his coat off. “In hindsight, I should have started with this right away, but well… where is the fun in showing your hand right off the bat like that? Follow me, if you wish to see her.”

With one last cackle, the shade burst into a black formless cloud of mist and zoomed away at great speeds, deeper into the depths of the passage.

Everyone stared at the spot he vanished into in stunned silence until the warrior knelt down and picked up the meaty chunk slowly.

>Bernsen obtained [Emiliya’s ear.}

There were no words exchanged at first. The tribe simply looked among themselves, everyone sharing meaningful looks. Their thoughts a wild incoherent storm.

“He is lying.” Kenzie was the one who broke the silence.

“No.” The warrior cut her off. “I would recognize this smell anywhere. I don’t know how, but he got his hands on one of my old friends.”

The fairy shook her head. “Not what I meant Bernie.”

“About the explosives then?” There was a note of hopefulness in Sahra’s voice as she swallowed hard.

“No, not those either. I mean his immortality. He is lying.” The fairy raised her head, sounding uncharacteristically serious. “Did you notice how much stronger he was just now? He dodged all of Sahra’s magic like nothing and he was able to control hundreds of bodies.”

“Wait.” Something seemed to click in the lion’s head. “You don’t think-”

“I do.” Kenzie nodded slowly. “His source of power, his phylactery must be close."

When the warrior slowly turned his head at her, the caith sith continued. “This trick of his, I don’t know how he is doing this, even though he is clearly a guy, but it’s not new. Jumping between different hosts and bodies like that. Others did it before in the past. By sealing their soul away in an enchanted container, certain monsters were able to freely roam in their spirit form to assume control of other bodies, providing they weren’t occupied. He boasts about his invincibility but if something were to happen to said container…”

“He would die.” The dwarf rose to her feet, voice dripping with hatred.

“How do we know it’s here for sure?” Skorne sounded skeptical, her judgment unclouded by the wizard’s death, as she, unfortunately, never got an opportunity to know him better.

“No. Kenzie is correct.” The lion was the one to answer and nodded. “I fought a lich once before. All the signs match. Once we get closer, I will be able to locate it using spirit sense but-” The lion hesitated.

“How much energy do you have left Zapp?” The warrior inquired without turning around.

“After using spirit sense to locate the container? One shot will be all I’ll be able to manage.” The familiar shook his head.

Bernsen nodded at that. One shot was all he needed.

“Is this- is this course of action really wise?” Maxie suddenly asked. “He is clearly luring us into a trap.”

“I am not one to run from combat either, but these condition are far from favorable for us.” The balrog agreed.

“They are not, but there is nowhere for us to go but forward now.” Bernsen gripped the handle of his sword and raised his head.

No one said anything to object to that, knowing that to be the absolute truth. They were hopelessly lost down in these halls of the dead. Even if they were to try and attempt to retrace their steps, they would be leaving themselves exposed to a surprise attack from the assassin.

“Before knowing him, I would say that he would suggest us to run.” The lion spoke out after a moment of silence. “But I have greatly underestimated the strength of his spirit and am not ashamed to admit it. If he was still here among us, then he would say that we must keep going. Whatever this creeping darkness that had took root deep within the capital is, we must destroy it before it makes it’s move.”

And so, they began to move forward in the direction the shade had vanished into in tense silence. The warrior heard suppressed choking noises coming from the witch while the fairy tried to quietly whisper encouraging words in her ears, but he knew that the only thing that would cheer her up would be vengeance. She would never admit it before, but he knew from the way she acted and casually moved around the wizard that she looked up to him in ways that he could not provide. Acting as a role model with his expert magic and unfathomable knowledge of the arcane and history, he was the first person she had ever connected with, based on her affinity for magic.

The fairy who was accepting of death, having grown numb to it from her intimate experience with it was trying to put up a brave face for the grieving dwarf, but he could tell that she was shaken too: the fur on her tail bristled in barely suppressed rage over the loss of one of their tribe members.

Zapp was hard to read and not only because he lacked a way to express himself. The distant feeling coming from him through their familiar link was full of regret and seemingly shame, with the warrior being able to catch fleeting thoughts of the lion blaming himself partially for what happened, because he was trying to conserve his spirit energy and didn’t check his surroundings for the trap like he should have.

Bernsen was not sure what the Balrog was thinking but her gait was slow, careful and deliberate, the monster constantly checking her surroundings and turning around to see if anything was trying to ambush them. The armor on his body was tense as well, still shocked from her spirit nearly being banished out from it’s adamantium container by the blessed fires of a warrior of Solos.

“Yes, deeper.” Blitzkrieg’s voice suddenly echoed from ahead. “Into the bowels.”

The group traveled further and further down, the tunnel beginning to slope downwards somewhere along the line, as they were guided where to turn by the disembodied voice of the assassin. The darkness of the catacombs seemed to begin to recede the deeper they went, confusingly enough, slowly being replaced by a faint purple light that reflected from the walls, giving the underground an eerie glow.

“Where is this light coming from?” Skorne asked out loud, holding her weapon close as she studied the passage. Everyone looked around, trying to find the source of it until the fairy looked straight up.

“Ew! Look! It’s that gross looking mushroom patch that’s glowing!”

The warrior looked up and then immediately inhaled sharply and jumped back, slamming into the wall, feeling a bottomless pit suddenly form in his stomach as the stump on his arm began to burn and itch.

Growing all over the ceiling was a white-purplish and weakly pulsating fungal mass, It’s mycelium strands, that looked like blood vessels, dangling loosely and moving around as they were pushed by the faint wind currents underground. The tips almost looked like they were trying to reach out to him to dig into his flesh and fill him with their stomach acid that would then melt his innards into formless goop that the mass would then suck into itself to absorb for nut-

BANG!

A loud gonglike noise snapped him out of his hallucination and he recoiled from the powerful punch directed at his face by the Balrog.

“Chief. Snap out of it.” The balrog said firmly while the rest of his tribe fussed around, looking startled and worried.

“Thank you Skorne.” The warrior shuddered and shook his head, suppressing the memories deeper into himself.

“Bernie. Is that what I think it is? Is this why you…” The fairy looked up again and grimaced before looking down at him again with an understanding expression.

“Why the hesitation? You are almost there! Your prize awaits below.” Blitzkrieg cut the warrior off before he could respond.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” The dwarf angrily shouted and threw a fireball into the darkness ahead, making the voice laugh and move even further away.

The warrior firmly grabbed the sides of his helmet.

“Should we take a moment to rest?” The lion suggested but the warrior shook his head and began to breath in and out hard.

“Bern…?” Sahra turned around to look at the man with a worried expression. “Are you okay?”

“You should probably stand back.” Maxie spoke out from the voice box on the helmet quietly. “This is going to hurt.”

“What is-” The balrog cocked her head before the warrior suddenly tugged at his helmet and roared in agony. In one fell swoop, the helmet was removed, along with the most of the warrior’s face and fell down on the ground heavily, splashing some blood on the floor.

Everyone stared at the grotesque picture with terror, as the warrior placed his trembling hand into his now exposed beard.

“Hurry.” He fished out a small wooden box and opened the lid with a click, revealing several syringes. “Spread them out and use these.”

“Bern…! Y-you!” The witch extended her hand shakily towards the box and grabbed one before quickly looking away and covering her mouth.

After everyone was properly injected with the serum, the group kept moving and at last, after what felt like an eternity of traversing the maze-like structure of the catacombs, they stood before a grand set of elaborately carved iron doors. Surprisingly enough, they appeared to be well maintained. The mass of glowing fungal growth pushed itself out from every crack in it, revealing that it’s source laid beyond.

“Welcome to the Hall of Heroes Bearson!” The wraith’s voice beckoned from beyond the door. “This is the resting place reserved only for the greatest and most noble individuals who had proved without a shadow of a doubt their exceptional valor and bravery during their life. Don’t you feel honored, being among them?”

The warrior silently grabbed the handle and looked back at everyone.

“I like the new look you are rocking by the way. It really suits you. With that red, exposed muscle tissue and the mechanical eye? Why, you might be almost as handsome as me!” Blitzkrieg laughed again.

None of his tribe dared to look Bearson in the eye and he did not blame them, nor felt offended by it. The heart is what matted after all.

With a single push, the heavy double set of doors was flung open. Inside, a massive underground chamber could be seen, completely overgrown with the all too familiar body of his arch nemesis, now revealing itself without a doubt.

Rubbery pale flesh of the Mistress bulged out of every crack in the floor. It hugged the countless columns supporting the ceiling, covered the ancient statues depicting the ancient heroes of the Order. The caps covering the stalks began to open lazily, revealing eyes that stared at them blankly.

“What…the…fuck..?” The witch muttered as she let the sight before her set in.

Many of the sarcophagi that were arranged in lines of the chamber were smashed open and empty. Drag marks on the floor revealed that the remains had been moved somewhere forward. The group followed them unanimously as Blitzkrieg no longer seemed to care to guide them.

{I am going to start scanning the area now. The phylactery has to be close.} The lion announced internally and Bernsen nodded in response.

Soon, they arrived before an elevated platform where the drag marks ended. A few dozen armored statues of chantrymen stood along the path, pointing their weapons straight towards the ceiling.

At the top of said platform, a single hooded figure in black stood with it’s back turned to the group, running her hands over the body that was carefully set on top of a stone table before her. More remains were carelessly dumped to the left and right of the altar, where a priest would normally read a final prayer to guide the deceased into the realm of Nerg in peace.

“Ahhh! Finally!” Blitzkrieg shouted in excitement, sounding giddy and suddenly seemed to materialize out of thin air, forming itself into a black cloud that then compressed into the familiar form that landed to the left of the robed figure.

{Bearson.}

The warrior shivered and stepped back in disgust as a serene, calm voice seemed to cut right into his very soul, coming from everywhere at once. Judging by his allies surprised and startled reactions, he was not the only one who heard it either.

A white lump of cancerous mass slowly descended from the ceiling, wriggling and dripping some cloudy mucus. As it got closer, the lump began to take an appearance of a vaguely feminine, textureless white shape that appeared to be restrained by strands of it’s own body. Tiny, white and wormlike tethers of mycelium rapidly grew from it’s “head”, forming a mockery of hair and then two purple eyes opened on it’s face, the same ones as the countless mushrooms around them had.

{My son… you are here at last. I knew you would come… to save me.}

“Oh fuck me.” The dwarf barely held back the wave of bile forming in her throat.

“…son?” The balrog glanced briefly at the warrior but he did not respond. He pried his eyes off the restrained form of the Mistress to look at the robed figure again because, despite the horror around him, there was something else he wanted to desperately know.

“Hello again.” The figure in the dark purple robe finally spoke out in ancient elven quietly and slowly turned around before pulling her hood down to expose a dozen of black eye tendrils that grew on her head in place of hair.

“Bearson.” Foresight finished sadly. Even though she was now facing the warrior, all of her eyes were focused somewhere distant and to the side, like she was unable to face him for some reason. She held her hands crossed in front of her, holding a peculiar round gem that seemed to be blacker than the deepest night, the darkness emanating from it seemingly absorbing the residual light around it, instead of reflecting it.

“Forsythe.” The warrior replied quietly in turn.

“Wait, THAT’s Forsythe!?” Kenzie spoke out in surprise. “But, but I thought she was the monster nation ambassador!”

“Lorekeeper…?” Maxie seemed to speak out in recognition.

The assassin thunderous laugh reverberated throughout the underground. “Look at that! It’s practically a family reunion we are having here! Took your sweet time coming here, didn’t you! I almost thought you didn’t want to get your friend back!”

Forsythe’s many eyes seemed to close tightly and she trembled, like she was trying to suppress tears.

“Where is Emiliya?” The warrior took his eyes off the lorekeeper to address the assassin.

“Oh don’t you worry.” Blitzkrieg grinned. “She is safe and sound. For now. And if you-”

{My so-} The Mistress tried to speak again.

“Shut the fuck up, freak!” The assassin suddenly snarled and pulled out something out of his coat with lightning speed. There was a loud crashing sound and a chunk of the abomination’s flesh was blown out and set on fire, making it screech and squirm for a few seconds before the wound closed up before the warrior’s very eyes like it was never there.

The magitek rifle that the assassin held in one hand had a curious design. It was much shorter than what he saw Galmathorians use, but the reason for it was because the majority of it was crudely sawed off to make it easier to carry. He was not sure how exactly that impacted on it’s performance but at close range it had almost tore the mistress in half. The weapon let out a faint smoke trail and the assassin continued to speak while casually flicking it open to discard the used up mana crystal chunks that powered it up and then replacing them. “As I was saying, If you do what you are told for once in your miserable, pathetic life, you will get to see her again.”

The warrior looked at the ambassador once more, noting the remains on the altar behind her which were slowly reforming into the shape of a ghoul.

“Why.” The gazer opened her eyes, her voice quivering. “Why did you come here? How did you know?”

“I had a hunch.” He responded after a moment of silence. For some reason, he was feeling completely hollow and dead inside at the moment, unable to even summon any rage at her betrayal.

“You were supposed to stay in the embassy tonight. You were supposed to stay safe.” Forsythe grit her teeth in frustration.

{Bearson. I found it.} Zapp spoke out through their familiar link. {It’s right here.}

{Where?} The man asked aloofly.

{That’s the bad news. I don’t know how it happened or what’s going on here but… you should see for yourself, hold on.} The lion sent a mental image to the warrior through their familiar link that made the man’s eyes widen.

He now saw the very clear tether of magic growing out of Blitzkrieg’s pitch black form, almost the same one that warlocks had between them and their summon spirits. It was connected directly to the lorekeeper’s heart. But what made it even more shocking was that the gazer had not one, but two of them, beating together out of rhythm in her body. A terrible scar covered her chest that was concealed by her bra, a sign from being forced open, at some point, long ago. Within that wound, a second, sickly looking heart was crudely sewn right into the flesh, connecting it to the lorekeeper. It stood out so distinctly, making it look like some vile parasite made it’s home within her chest cavity. And that heart was the phylactery.

The warrior blinked and the image vanished. The gazer was still looking to the side, trying to wrap herself up in her cloak and did not speak.

“Alright motherfucker, listen up.” Blitzkrieg spoke out again and brandished a jagged looking machete that he pointed directly at the warrior. “Drop all your weapons and get on the floor with your arms behind your back. Today is your lucky day! Neither you, nor any more of your friends are going to die!” The mummy grinned.

“Like I said earlier, I am in a good mood today, now that I got my payback on that faggy wizard buddy of yours and I do owe you a small favor for killing that asshole Reagan and saving me the trouble of doing that myself. Also, Forsythe seems to have taken a liking of you for some reason and begged me on her knees to let you go. So that’s exactly what I will do. Of course, we can’t let you go around spilling the beans about the fun that will go down in the city tonight, so as a precaution, this freaky mushroom bitch over here…” The wraith poked in the general direction of the dangling body of the mistress with his machete.

“Is going to take away your memories. Not much, mind you. Unfortunately my lovely wife doesn’t want you to end up as a vegetable either, so it will be just the past twenty four hours that you will forget. Then when the party is over, you can all go home or wherever the fuck you want, as long as you stay out of my way afterward.”

>What do you do?

Oh and before you complain about me being too hardcore, here is what would happen if you didn't have enough loyalty with Webster.

https://pastebin.com/0PBHNBtU

>Hey you guys didn't notice this extremely minute detail so I'm just gonna start killing party members

If this is going to be the case from now on I think i'm just gonna bail on this story now

Bensen is half dead as usual Sahra is rapidly depleting mana and Zapp is almost out of juice too. Under those circumstances I normally wouldn't be too mad about retreating but this opportunity is just too good.

We have the chance to get rid of two big AL Sabbath players and kill the parasite (again). Although I'm pretty sure this is not the only "copy" they made. Plus we don't know if we will ever get another shot at getting this close to Blitzkriegs weak point. Theoretically we "just" have to punch a hole in Forsythe chest I wonder what would happen if we ate Blitzkriegs rotten heart but under the current circumstances I'm not really sure how to do that without risking more party lives and I have no clue how capable Forsythe is in a combat situation in the first place. Maybe someone can come up with a fool proof strategy if that is even possible at this point.

Websters death (?) felt pretty sudden and unexpected not sure how I feel about that yet.

>>342221

Well, that was a low one of you Slavsan, oh well can't bring him back but we can avenge him.

What we do? I think everyone here know what to do, we're gonna take them down once and for all the problem is everyone here is fucked so how? Simple I suggest we start to get angry, and no not simply Tranquil Fury angry I am saying we should should transcend Bearserk on our rage.

I say that for 2 reasons: 1- Our Ursa Major is called forth through our anger, so I believe the more anger and wrath we feel the more powerful that gonna make her, we would be able to fight them be ourselves while our friends work on protecting us, themselves and giving support which we gonna need.

2- Thanks to Tranquil Fury Bernsen can go all out on his rage while maintaining control and increasing his power and ability's beyond his limits but I feel even though he can control his rage he almost never feels true rage. When he got to deal with that scorpion while he wanted revenge he wasn't feeling rage, yes he was out for blood but I felt he did more for JUSTICE rather than pure rage, when he was dealing with the many encounters with Blitzkrieg he was focused on surviving and outsmarting him he only got angry when he threatened his family and even then he was in control at the time so that threat at him felt empty, the encounter with the Tarasque, at the arena in Cair, against both Balrog and the Dulahan and on and on, the closest thing to rage was when Kenzie was though dead and even then he was more shocked than mad since he was going back and forth between almost dying and his discovery about the return of the Mistress. The time is now, 2 of his most hatred enemies are here making unreasonable demands at him, his "tribe" got fucked on those battles, his old love interest who he might still have feelings is being held hostage and on top of all of this one of his friends just pulled a Wiggles on us, enough is enough, its time to give them hell and show them what happens when someone makes the Bearzerker transcend beyond his rage.

>>342333

Fuck it. Victory or death. If blitzkrieg is allowed to survive here he will simply keep returning and eventually we will lose someone else or ourselves to him. Blitzkrieg will simply keep returning over and over again and we will eventually make a mistake. In addition to this they may infect people with the parasiteif they haven't already this cannot be allowed. we may risk death in this battle but if they are allowed to continue with some of their top operatives and the parasite right underneath the capital then many thousands are at risk of death..

actually now that I think of it could the parasite have been used upon some high ranking members of the monster nation and deleor? Like the attack goes through as planned, but the nations both blame the other and cause a war between them? With the parasite under their control they could do a lot of damage before anyone realizes what's going on.

>Webster is dead

>W e b s t e r i s d e a d

>W e b s t e r

>WIGGLES IS DEAD

Parlay is no longer an option. We cannot reason with the enemy. We cannot plead or beg. Really, there's only one course of action to take. And there will be no mercy, nor quarter given.

RIP AND TEAR

Blitzkrieg's heart out, that is. Then consume it.

>>342503

They're quite comfy, even if this one here looks like Geralt a little. Anyway getting fanart is super nice. Other than there's just that Kenzie pic. I wonder what other character Slavsan would like to see in art if he had a choice?

>>342221

>Blitzkrieg is Forsythe's husband

ohboy.jpg

>"My son… you are here at last. I knew you would come… to save me."

I figured Al-Sabbath would have some sort of torture/control system in place for the mushroom mutant, considering their goals were completely opposite to each other. Was not expecting this to be her re introductory line though. Has she been broken by torture and grown to love Bern? Does she really consider him her son? He kinda is though.

>>342333

Trips confirm. Time for anger upon anger. Rend and maim every skeleton, ghoul, and zombie there and give Zap his opening to strike the phylactery.

>>342578

Wait, no, it's not a trap joke, "He" refered to Bernsen.

>>342433

>Maybe the spirit rope technique we invented will work on Blitzkreg's qas form and we can use it to fling him around or something, worth a try right?

Keep in mind that there is no sunlight anywhere around you and Zapp has only enough energy saved up for one more burst. So it's either an attempt to restrain or attack.

tfw no one figured the game breaking combination of asking Webster to send Zapp to El Dorito for a quick recharge when forced to fight indoors or at night, since it's always daytime there and there are three suns, which allows one to build up spirit energy three times as fast.

>>342602

Hey slavsan, is the character sheet updated?

>>342666

I'll uh, get down to it soon Satan.

>>342602

Uh, can skorne blast a hole through the roof with her arm cannon? Can it blast through multiple roofs, are we too far underground? Does her arm cannon even work?

How about we attack Blizkreg in such a way that he dodges up to the roof and have Sahra melt the roof with her fire covering Blizkreg in molten stone and then have Sahra suck out all off the heat from the stone to freeze Blizkreg, that way even if the hole doesn't make it to the surface and we don't get any sunlight, he'll still be trapped.

Come to think of it we might not need to use spirit energy to pressure him into the right spot so we may not even need to let sunlight in. I was just thinking that using the spirit rope to wrangle Blizkreg would have been a creative way of using it, but a savvy warrior doesn't make things more complicated than necessary.

So basically my idea is to trap Blizkreg again and then use our remaining spirit energy to overdrive Forsythe's phylactery heart which will hopefully destroy it's function as a phylactery without destroying the heart, if that doesn't work then we can just rip and tear it out.

>>342221

>>342343

Wait, you mean the portal isn't the only thing in the bag? Well shit. Never realized that.

Still a bit miffed because picking up an empty bag feels way different than a bag with even something as light as cellular phone in it, so Web should have felt the explosives when he picked up the bag. Try it if you don't believe me. Unless the bomb was in the bag's hammerspace, in which case the explosion should have been contained to hammerspace. An explosion is tiny compared to an infinitely large bag.

That said, the planner in me relishes how difficult this makes things. Not with Blitzkrieg, that's easy. The powerfist looks like a gauntlet. Bern drops the other weapons, walks up to Forsythe with his eye or eyes, does the mechanical one blink? closed like he's giving up and asking why. Why she's doing this, what made her side with Al-Sabbath, why the ghouls, maybe even ask who Dia is since we're getting mindwiped anyway. Then powerfist her chest and crush the phylactery heart.

Or if the mana crystal in the fist is charged, just distract Blitz and use a standard beam.

No, the challenge comes afterward. Without Webster, this situation gets much harder to handle. The ghouls are dealt with, sure, but we no longer have our master of disguise, we can't shut down the automatons if Braun decides to pull something with them, AND we have no way to get out of here without the portal to El Dorito or some way to trace that magical trail out to the sewers maybe Sahra can do that. At least not in time to prevent an assasination unless we happen to find a way out fast.

We'll have to decide what to with fungal bitch afterwards too. If all the syringes are used, we can probably kill her with fire. However. She may be more useful alive for now since she no longer has the power of the nexus. She has knowledge of Al-Sabbath plans and is probably itching for revenge on them. If we can get her to the Union they can probably contain her, and imagine Al-Sabbath's reaction when we somehow SWAT every hidden facility they have with a fungal trooper in it. Or have their fungal supersoldiers turn on them. On the other hand, if she escapes before we get her to the Union, we won't just have Al-Sabbath to worry about.

Whether or not we kill her, can we get her to restore Emiliya's memory? And if we let her live, restore the memory of everyone in the Black Forest?

By the way, we're in a chamber with old order and chantry heroes. With the mistress. Who can get at their memories. Anyone else remember from Reagan's book that Al-Sabbath is also looking for the crown of the first king of men? Something that the dead people here may know the whereabouts of?

>>342697

Skorne's arm canon was dumped into a lake of lava and the new replica she got ,that was based on Charter Nexus security automaton design that Bern provided Horace with, lacks the compact plasma cannon, because it was made from inferior materials that would instantly melt upon firing it.

Also you are vastly overistimating Sahra's skill in pyromancy. She is not a wizard and can't do the really overpowered bullshit like lavaflow or remotely pull out energy out of superheated materials. She can cause a hell of a cave in that will kill everyone in the most spectacular fashion tho.

>>342736

Well I guess my ideas are all useless then. At least I tried.

>>342715

>Whether or not we kill her, can we get her to restore Emiliya's memory? And if we let her live, restore the memory of everyone in the Black Forest?

I think we need to have Forscythe alive for that plan to work as she can read peoples memories and erase them as well. So logic would dictate that she can give peoples memories too and I don't trust the mushroom bitch to not fuck us over again if do try to get the stolen memories of the black forest denizens without forscythes help. I do have a few particularly ideas in attempts to end this fight with one being dangerous and possibly very very stupid and another that would waste an expensive item that we only have on us once. For the latter plan, I propose that we should use the [Galmathorian firelfy oil] on an arrow and then apply a <bestowal of spirit> on it while our teammates distract the lich and then shoot it at blitzkriegs heart when we get a chance to do so. That way we can destroy the rotten heart and kill him off permanently while doing minimum harm to the gazer in the process and if he orders the mistress to block the shot or tries to jump in front of forsythe to stop the arrow, it will hopefully shoot through him and towards his rotten heart as well. Only problem with this plan is that forsythe may still die in the process if we don't angle the shot in such a way to avoid most of the damage on her, another problem is that if forscythe is pushed out of the way either by the evil mushroom bitch or the lich, then the plan might not work as well either. Also, the heart wouldn't survive if we want to eat the rotten thing afterwards too.

The former plan I had requires me to ask slavsan if [The Great Hunt] also affects the hearts of those who are affected by the invocation, as overuse causes it to stop. Since blitzkriegs heart is described as sickly and crudely attached to the gazers insides, it is also possible that forcing it to beat faster then it can will cause it to fall apart due to the way it was described. The problems with this plan becomes immediatly apparent as I basically just implied was to gamble that our greater invocation will tear his heart apart before he kills us all with a temporary power boost given to him by us. I don't recommend doing this plan as it is risky as fuck. Alternatively we can boost forscythes heart instead but I doubt an increase in blood pressure will tear apart his heart as fast the other plan since his heart is crudely attached to the gazer which isn't probably attached to many or any blood vessels at all.

Other ideas that I had thought up with was to have our stand fight blitzkrieg because [Ursa Major] has very strong grappling abilities and can directly harm blitzkrieg wraith form as well. Problem is that it leaves her open to attacks if he decides to use the magic powered shotgun on her and that he is fast and it is unknown if our stand can keep up with his gaseous form either. Another problem is that we won't be able to buff ourselves with [Furor] nor buff our party with [Great Hunt] either too, so this isn't that good of an idea either unless we can somehow disarm him or destroy his weapon first.

The last idea I have is that we use the silver knife we used once when we me this lich the 2nd time to stab blitzkriegs heart with it instead. Since silver is harmful to undead, that means that we can use it to damage blitzkriegs wraith form too while we are at it. It is also a good back up weapon in case we wasted the last bit of spirit energy we have or if we want to save it until later on in the battle. Hell, we can even give it to Sahra so that she can still participate in the fight while not having to be as limited in what she can do. I am not sure how effective the silver knife will be in this battle, but it is a pretty good back up weapon that can damage the heart of blitzkrieg or let sahra hurt a few times more. Besides that, I got nothing.We probably still need to plan around fighting the mistress and possibly forscythe too as I doubt they will remain idle during this fight. I always wondered why we have a lot of abilities but don't use them as much during this adventure, like with the arc of eden skill or the taunt ability we learned a long time ago. I guess everyone doesn't know of a good plan to use them or know when to as well.

Wouldn't we need Forsythe alive to learn Emiliya's whereabouts from her, assuming she doesn't flee?

>>343122

As morbid as it may seems we can use her ear to find out were she is, by using any leftover scent present on her ear we might be able to find out something of her or even track her down, or we can simple try to find a wizard and I dunno use the ear to find were Emiliya might be with some location spell, I dunno.

>>343122

She has two hearts, so she should survive as long as she doesn't die of shock, or blood loss

I don't think we should get angry at Forsthye, it's easy to get mad at our enemies, and tbh I myself have done so, even that gremlin annoyed me quite a lot, but like with skorne we have to be nice. Forsthye seems like she could be redeemed assuming she doesn't die of bloodloss from having her heart ripped out.

>I don't think we should get angry at Forsthye

Yeah she is only the one person responsible that the Parasite the creature that haunts our dreams destroyed our home killed our parents and our Wiggles is still alive. And she also murdered one of our closest friends in the process.

And shes's loyal the an organization that wants to bring chaos to our new home and reverse everything we accomplished in Wizardquest. Aiding the dude who just killed Webster doesn't look that good either.

Let's just give her a stern talking and sent her on her way. Having a soft spot for Bern is redemption enough for killing the fluffy tail.

>>343211

Well anyone can sound like an asshole when you say it like that

>>343125

Or we can give her ear to zapp so he can sniff out her scent and find her if she's near by. Zapp probably has a better sense of smell than us, since he has a large snout and all.

There will probably be another day of delay today. The fight is a bit on the crazy side and required some research on my part.

>>342403

>eating his phylactery which would probably end with us getting possessed or some bullshit

Yeah can we not do something so stupid

The exposed facial muscles wrapped around Bernsen’s skull twitched violently, betraying the warrior’s emotions. He still felt an eerie sense of emptiness at the gazer’s betrayal, but that emotion did not extend to the shadowy figure standing next to her.

Hate was a difficult state to achieve for the warrior. Hatred was something that he was quite vary of, having been taught from an early age of it’s destructive properties. When properly harnessed, it, just like anger, was a powerful tool, but one that needed very careful and precise measurements to use.

He was enraged when his grandmother was murdered before his very eyes by the shaman of the fox tribe. He got furious when the Red Scorpion gang beat him and Sahra up within an inch of their lives. He felt himself seething with anger when he thought that Kenzie had died sacrificing her life to save him.

But hate? One had to do something extraordinary, something completely irredeemably unforgiving to earn his hate. And right now, both of the primary sources of hatred in his life were standing right in front of him, next to each other. It was not an easy feat to match someone who had completely ruined his life and literally erased him from the collective consciousness of his family and friends, but the assassin succeeded in his endeavor.

Time and time again, he kept coming at them, getting dangerously close to killing the warrior or the rest of the tribe, always stalking them, always one step behind and ready to attack whenever their guard was low until he finally succeeded, getting a sick, warped sense of pleasure from his hunt as he taunted and intimidated them. Indeed, Blitzkrieg was an abomination well worthy to stand next to the likes of the Mistress, with his seemingly complete immortality that prevented the warrior from removing him as a threat permanently. For all of his supposed showy sense of honor, the warrior knew that this man, no, this creature existed solely to feed upon the misery of others, his assassin persona merely an excuse to hurt people for his sick, perverted pleasure. Blitzkrieg was a depraved, deranged and degenerate monster in the truest, original and all-encompassing meaning of that word.

Yes, he hated Blitzkrieg. With a suffocating, blinding hatred that made every passing second of the wraith’s continued existence agonizing and personally insulting to the warrior.

“I haven’t got all day to watch you stand there and gawk Bearson. Make your call.” The shade swung his serrated machete back and forth for emphasis. “Or would you rather have me get you another souvenir?”

The gazer winced at that remark and pulled her hood back over her head. “Mako, please, that’s enough. Stop antagonizing him!”

“Ohhh? What was that?” The wraith slowly turned his head around to face the cloaked priestess of Dollora. “I could have almost sworn that you just told me what to do Forsythe. But that’s silly, you would never do something that stupid, would you dear?”

The lorekeeper did not move or respond, merely keeping her head low underneath her hood and holding her hands out in front of her.

“That’s what I thought.” The wraith narrowed his eyes dangerously and turned back to the warrior. “Now, where have we left of?”

“Do you remember what I promised you Blitzkrieg?” The warrior replied with an eerie calmness in his voice, the man’s eyes locked with the crimson, ghostly orbs of the assassin.

“Hmm?” The assassin’s eyes lit up maliciously.”Oh! Indeed, I remember it well! Last time we met, you did make quite a boast! Do you intend to carry it out?” He asked before exposing his jagged teeth in an excited grin. “Please tell me that you do.”

“Oh, I do.” The warrior said and grabbed the handle of his beidhander, making the lorekeeper gasp in surprise and look up in shock. “Bearson! No! Stop, don’t do it! You can’t beat Mako like this!”

Blitzkrieg began to chuckle menacingly, his voice slowly turning into an outright holler of delight. “Oh this day just keeps getting better and…better…?” The assassin finished with disappointment in his voice when the beidhander clattered against the ground in front of the warrior, followed shortly by his axe and bow.

“But not today. Drop your weapons everyone. We surrender.” The man added with a sense of finality.

“What the fuck!? Like hell we are! That son of a bitch killed Web!” The witch looked at the warrior with betrayal in her eyes and snarled as she forcibly thrust both of her hands behind her, conjuring concentrated fires in both of them when the lion suddenly bared her path.

“Are you so foolish as to go against the will of the leader of our pride?” His monotone, artificial voice inquired threateningly, completely concealing the hidden meaning behind the question. The witch blinked once looking between the lion and the warrior’s back.

Do you not trust me?

She grit her teeth in anger and clenched her fists, the two partially conjured flame lances in her hands dispersing with a hiss, followed by sharp jets of smoke escaping in-between her fingers.

“O-oh come on, you can’t be serious!” The assassin snarled, sounding irritated when Skorne dropped her weapon just as unceremoniously as the warrior did and knelt down with her hands crossed behind her head in a disturbingly natural motion, like she was used to it.

The mistress swung from the ceiling idly, silently studying the scene with her piercing lavender eyes.

“I couldn’t smell Emiliya anywhere. She is not here, is she?” The warrior turned his head away from the fuming assassin and toward the gazer, making sure to not look her in the eye and trying to portray disgust in his voice.

The lorekeeper seemed to hesitate, trying to wrap herself up in her purple cloak more before she responded. ”This is the first question you have for me? No, of course it is. You always had your priorities straight.” Her grip on the black integrity core tightened after she continued with a regretful tone in her voice.

“No. She is not. She is in a safe space, hypnotized into a state of a blissful sleep.”

The warrior nodded at that before responding. “So it was you who did it. You “preserved” her.” The warrior cast a sidelong glance at the silent, pale mass of pulpy flesh roughly shaped like a bound woman hanging upside down from the ceiling. “Is that why you came to my home then? So you could use this abomination for your own interests? To build yourself an army of emotionless, unfeeling husks that obey any command without hesitation?”

“No. It was for a different reason.” Forsythe shook her head and covered the black gem she held with the palm of her hand. “But once I saw her, I … I needed to see and learn the limits of her abilities. She is a monster unlike any other that have ever been recorded in our history, if she even is a monster at all. Simply killing her there and then, I could not do that before I could make sure-”

“Forsythe.” Blitzkrieg’s voice took on a dangerous tone as he leaned forward at the gazer, looming over her relatively short form.

“I am sorry.” The monster whispered.

“You better be woman, you know I hate it when people waste time. Make that thing get to work, my patience is growing thin.” He gestured at the fungal monster dismissively with the machete in his hand.

“Of course.” The girl nodded somberly and pulled her hood back again. Suddenly, her eye stalks straightened up and began to glow with an ethereal ghostly light, all of them pointing directly at the Mistress.

‘Rrraa…eeeeghh…yuuuuaaaargh!” The hanging body bulged out grotesquely in multiple spots, letting out a garbled scream of agony. Her left eye began to rapidly grow, the liquid within it bubbling up and foaming. The flesh shaping her head began to stretch taut from the pressure, the boneless mass letting out a pained whine as it struggled to contain the mass and weight of its own, grossly inflated, eye until it finally tore open, foul pressurized liquid akin to puss escaping from it before the eyeball unfolded like a bulb of a flower made entirely out of flesh. Wriggling thorny feelers quickly grew out from the iris and began to move around viciously, while the rest of the body went completely limp.

The warrior noticed the sound of the fairy vomiting somewhere behind him. He did not blame her

“It looks unsettling but it’s safe.” The gazer explained quietly. “It was already tried on several test subjects before. There are near to no ill side effects when removing short term memory.” Forsythe lowered her eyes and pulled her hood back on. “It will not hurt and she will not dare to defy me. When you wake up, everything will be already over.”

“What will be over? The assassination?” The man pushed on, ignoring the putrid fungal growth trying to reach out to him.

Before Forsythe could open her mouth in response, the assassin stepped in front of her. “Awfully nosy, aren’t you? What does it matter? You will not remember anything that transpired in the last twenty four hours anyway. If this is some cheap attempt to stall, then don’t bother. No one is coming to save you. So shut up and stand still.” Blitzkrieg forcibly grabbed the wriggling mass of purple flesh and pulled it down, the eye stalk stretching and sliding out from the rest of the body.

This was it. He would have liked to obtain more information, but the assassin had different plans. The lorekeeper was currently completely exposed, with her guard wide open. Still not being able to look at him, her eyes, that would normally give her a perfect visual coverage with no blind spots, were directed anywhere else but the warrior, in an effort to avoid facing the consequences of her actions.

He did not need any weapons to kill. His hands were more than enough pierce the frail body of the gazer and crush the cursed black heart beating inside her. He felt a brief pang guilt then, but it was quickly washed away after seeing Blitzkrieg step towards him while clutching the purple mass of wriggling tentacles. Whatever her reasons for getting roped up in this mess might have been, they were not good enough for him.

“Open wide!” The assassin mocked him as he pulled down the mass of feelers over his face.

“GRRROOOAAAR!” Ursa Major burst into existence with a gout of flame in an instant and pounced at the side of Blitzkrieg’s face. The assassin’s skull partially caved in with a sickening crunch, followed by the removal of the majority of his face, as the grizzly’s fiery claws scraped it clean off .

Forsythe snapped up in surprise at the sudden noise only to see the form of the warrior already before her, with his power fist pulled back and aimed directly at her torso. She barely managed to open her mouth in time when the adamantium magic powered gauntlet impacted…

…against an edge of a greatsword that redirected it right into the floor underneath her feet, with a sharp screech of metal and a loud crash. The sneak attack only managed to smash a hole in the ancient stone floor, leaving the lorekeeper unscathed.

“What the…?” The warrior blinked exactly once and when he opened his eye again, he saw the edge of a blade, that deflected his strike earlier, flying at him with blinding speed.

Moving by pure instinct, he barely managed to rise his gauntlets to protect his exposed head from getting cut clean off by the powerful spinning slash. There was a thunderous clash followed by another screech of metal and the warrior suddenly was torn off the ground and launched backwards, rolling down the slope of the raised platform. His back smashed into the floor but thanks to the padding of the armor, the landing only made him flinch.

Everyone quickly jumped to arms, retrieving their weapons and were next to him within a moment as the warrior rose to his feet to look up and try to process what just happened. Standing surprisingly tall, an armored figure stood next to the gazer. It’s armor looked old and decayed, the blue sash wrapped around the shoulders partially rotten away and covered with ancient blood stains that had turned black over the years.

He was clearly a former member of the chantry, as was apparent by the massive blade he was wielding but curiously enough, he was holding it with only one hand, while the other was occupied by a tall, towering shield that was nearly as large as the figure itself and was adorned with an intricate pattern vaguely resembling a wolf.

“Ha ha ha.” The assassin’s familiar voice came from the figure. “Well Forsythe, there you have it.” The knight then addressed the trembling figure behind him. “All that nonsense about him being a “noble savage”, what a joke. Honor? Grace? There exist no such things in the minds of a mindless beast like us. As soon as he saw an opportunity to strike, he took it, ready to kill you without remorse or hesitation, even though you were trying so hard to keep him safe.”

The woman looked down the steps at the warrior in shock, no longer trying to avoid his gaze. “Bearson, you- why?”

“Could ask you the same thing.” The man replied sharply and grabbed the sword he had dropped earlier, his vice-like grip locking around the handle. “You killed Minerva, didn’t you?”

The warrior was bluffing and grasping at straws of course, but the more he learned, the faster the gears in his head were starting to move. Coincidences began to quickly pile up and form correlations between events he had previously paid no particular attention to. Like, why the only real casualty from the fight for the Black Forest against it’s false fungal goddess was a raccoon of particular intellect, who had the misfortune of breaking her neck during a fall that everyone else had survived unscathed. A raccoon who happened to land outside of the Mistress's reach along with the lorekeeper at that time.

The gazer reeled back, as if slapped across the face, confirming his suspicions and turned away. “I didn’t mean to. She was concealing her presence using invisibility and I was paranoid about being discovered before I could complete my goal. I heard a sudden noise and my body moved by instinct, before I knew it-”

“That’s enough.” The man growled, feeling his anger starting to simmer. “If Emiliya isn’t here, then there is no more reason to hold back.” The warrior reached into his beard and put his helmet back on with a sharp click. “If you have any sense left then surrender. I will not hesitate to kill you if you don’t. Not anymore.”

The gazer lowered her head again sadly while the wraith possessing the unnamed knight’s body chuckled in amusement.

“Ho hoh? You know, I think I will almost regret ending your life tonight. I was dreading the dull, unchallenging slaughter that I would have to lead tonight against the mindless masses of cattle that live in this city, but here you are, giving me an excuse to really go wild with the bodies of these four famous dragon hunters.”

“Four?” The man blinked once and immediately three more figures stepped out from behind the columns around the altar. One was a knight wearing a gray metallic scale mail with a helmet decorated by what appeared to have been a plume of feathers at some point that was now barely there, wielding a spear. The second figure was the shortest of them and much lighter equipped. Even in it’s current state it appeared lithe and feminine and held two daggers made out of gold and silver in its bony fingers The final body was almost as tall as the first one, covered by layers of decayed furs and leathers and held a bow in it’s hands that made even the warrior feel conscious about the size of his own. It was like a disassembled ballistae that was taken off it’s post. The strange pauldrons covering his shoulders seemed to have been carved out of the bones of some monster as a morbid war trophy.

{Oh dear.} Maxie muttered in abstract horror. {This is very bad.}

{He said dragon hunters. Did you meet them when you were-} The man quickly asked, vaguely guessing the source of her sudden concern.

{N-no. I never met them personally, but they killed my- a monster lady from an era long past. Don’t underestimate them. Their skill and power in life were unmatched. Even as they are right now, their remains must still hold an imprint of their heroic spirit.}

The warrior nodded sharply and raised his other hand, clutching the axe. “Everyone stay close! Me and Skorne will take the lea-”

“I don’t think so.” The shortest knight playfully waggled the two daggers held in it’s hands.

“You expect me to take you head on after I saw that little stunt you pulled earlier?” The massive figure wrapped in furs inquired and slowly began to pull back the string of it’s gargantuan bow with a groan.

“I am Blitzkrieg. The immortal assassin of Al-Sabbath.” The spear wielding body slammed the butt of it’s weapon into the ground, which released some sparks of electricity from the tip.

“And what sort of an assassin would I be, if I fought in broad daylight?” The knight with the tower shield and greatsword finished and made a flourish with his weapon.

There was a loud snap from the corner of the altar as the “original” rose back to his feet, the superficial damage caused by Ursa’s attack to his face already quickly receding as the grayish skin began to unnaturally reform, seemingly grown from the thick black mist enveloping his and the knight’s forms.

“So let’s make this interesting. Forsythe, honey, be a dear, turn off the lights.”

The gazer took one last conflicted look from underneath her hood and raised the black integrity core to her chest. “Of course Mako.”

She began whispering a series of bizarre incantations into the gem and within seconds, all of her eyes began to glow with an eerie light.

“Don’t look her in the eye!” The lion snarled and turned his head away.

The warrior immediately closed his eyes, following his familiar’s advice. He heard the painful high pitched screech of dark magic and raised his hands defensively in front of his head but nothing came flying at him.

He dared to open his eyes only to be met with darkness. He blinked a few times. No, not just any darkness, this was not like being blindfolded or being trapped underground. He could see everything with a near perfect clarity that hurt his eyes, it was just that all around him, the only thing that existed now was an all-encompassing, black, bottomless void.

He shouted in surprise trying to call for his allies, only to realize that nothing came out. He felt his throat tense and struggle as air passed through but there was no sound. Not just his voice. There was no sound of his breathing, not even the sound of his own hearteat. The silence was overwhelming and oppressive and in a way deafening in it’s total absence of any noise. Not only that, even the feeling of scent and taste was completely gone in this absolute darkness.

Bernsen almost stumbled, suddenly feeling completely disoriented and short for breath, as he struggled to tell left from right and up from down in this endless suffocating and crushing black void he had suddenly found himself in.

“Welcome to my world Bearson.”

The voice of the assassin came from somewhere and the warrior swung around himself blindly, only for the voice to let out an amused chuckle in response.

“Not even close.”

Something suddenly struck Bernsen on the back of his head with incredible force, his instincts failing to warn him completely. If not for the incredible defense provided by the Maximus armor and the clever design that protected the neck from impact, that blow would have been fatal. As it was however, it only made him stumble forward.

“Hnn.” The voice grunted in annoyance. “What a troublesome armor you got there. I heard this blade was powerful enough to cut a dragon’s scales and crush it’s bones, but this did not even leave a dent. Had it grown that dull over the years?”

The warrior continued wildly swinging his weapons at random, trying to formulate a plan or even get a rough grip over his surroundings. But not even his familiar and empathy links with Zapp and Maxie seemed to be working. Judging by how hard the armor was squirming and how out of synch her movements were with his, it appeared that she was just as disoriented and terrified as he was.

Another powerful blow directed at his middle made him double over. The warrior swung forward, only meeting air, until a sweeping blow directed at his ankles knocked him down. He fell down with what felt like a crash but no sound came from it. He began to roll away from the direction that the blow came from, trying to build some distance.

The man was not fast enough though, a massive crushing blow came from above and he actually did feel it. The air was knocked out of his lungs for a moment, as his ribs creaked from the impact of, what he could only guess, was the greatsword crashing into his abdomen somewhere from above.

Something grabbed him by the helmet and yanked him off the ground then. Bernsen chopped sideways at his front but the orichalcum ax was deflected and another, earth shattering impact against his abdomen sent him flying backwards.

He braced himself for another hard impact but it did not come. Instead he hit something soft and mushy. The warrior blinked uselessly a few more times, trying to figure what it could be. There was no time however, he strained his body and tried to get up only to realize that something was holding him in place.

The man struggled, his panic suddenly growing as he felt something actually cover and move over his armor. The realization slowly set in and he screamed, his anger manifesting in a burst of furor that filled his body with liquid fire of his summon spirit.

“Ha ha. Oh, did you figure it out already? Honesty, I was hoping to get a clean kill on you, so I could wear that hefty body of yours myself for a bit before I would get my perfect vessel, but oh well. This is a sufficiently fitting end for you. I heard you two go way back. I would say get comfortable but…”

The shade chuckled with an icy malice.

“…that would be a lie. I’ve already seen how this thing consumes it’s prey. Not a pretty sight, even for my standards.”

The man screamed and screamed in total silence as he struggled against invisible bounds the true nature of which he knew all too well. He managed to free a limb or two several times, only for it to get immediately wrapped up and pulled in into the fleshy cocoon around him. The more he struggled, the more he got trapped, the farther he got pulled in.

But this was only the beginning. The maximus armor was mighty but incomplete and as such, some of it’s features like environmental protection suggested by the plagamancers of the Union was never implemented. The armor was not airtight. It had opening in it, however small they were.

The warrior roared even louder, feeling his vocal cords tear from the stress but he did not care. He felt the slimy, wriggling mass invade the interior of the armor. He tried everything he could, dispelling furor and using Ursa Major as it was to burn and phase through the flesh but disoriented as he was, he could do nothing against it. Even his most brutal attacks by the summon spirit seemed to be canceled out by the speed of the growth of the cancerous mass that was the Mistress.

Soon, he was unable to scream as the mass completely filled up the interior and began to force itself into his mouth, nose and ears. Agonizing indescribable pain and terror filled his body as the tendrils began to inject him with acid. Pieces of the armor began to peel away from him to let the rest of the fungal mass envelop him completely and totally.

His movements turned sluggish and then stopped completely.

~~~

“You are Skorne, right? I heard about you. Dia was greatly displeased when she heard of your betrayal.”

“Blitzkrieg.” Skorne opened her mouth and spoke out. Although no sound came out, she somehow felt like this was only a trick. This was not her first time fighting dark magic users and while the scale of this spell was impressive, it was almost mundane in it’s execution, knowing the limits of Dollora’s power. “I would say I had heard of you as well, but that would be a lie.”

“Of course not. Fame is a sign of failure in my line of work, not success.” The shade responded snidely.

The source of the voice was unclear, muddled, but the assassin had to be close. Fortunately, fighting blind was not new to the balrog. With a single fluid motion she pulled out her new weapon out of it’s sheath. It was not a weapon as grand or durable as the beidhander of discord, but she was getting used to it’s weight and form. It was made from an orichalcum alloy, apparently titled magekiller by it’s previous owner according to the Union records. The mystic metal did little to dispel the unnatural void-like veil around her, but it did not need to.

Skorne closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling some control return to her. With her eyes closed, she was now only stricken with mere blindness and not fatigued with the sight of the endless void around her. She spread her hooved feet out firmly, assuming a solid stance. She tensed and felt a powerful heat erupt from her body as a burning shroud of fire enveloped her. She could not see the flames, but she could feel the warmth of them blasting out from every crack in her armor, yearning to escape the tight confines they were in. A natural gift granted to her by Dollora and Sveth, her only legacy, but one that she spent her whole life mastering.

“Hmmm. An interesting trick you got there. Do you plan to burn me with those flames? Hm hm hm. You would have to reach me first to do that. You are awfully calm compared to the others. Oh hold on, I remember now. You betrayed Al-Sabbath for the god of death haven’t you? Is that why you are so calm? Do you perhaps have some sort of a deal going with the corpse king in case you die?”

With every word the assassin spoke, the flames that enveloped her body flickered oh so slightly.

“I had.” Skorne replied calmly, keeping her breathing steady and eyes closed. “I was promised the greatest reward he could grant to his servants for crossing your cult. A quick death followed by peaceful eternal rest within his realm.”

This made the assassin let out a holler that blew the flames backward.

“That’s it? That is the price you so desperately yearned for! This is hilarious! Honestly, I am not sure why you even bothered to betray us then! If all this time all you wanted was to die then-”

The flames sharply blasted backward again and Skorne raised her left hand lightning fast, smashing her gauntlet against the wrist of the assassin’s hand that clutched the silver dagger aimed to pierce her skull through the eye-slit of her helmet.

“What th-” There was a distinct feeling of steel ripping through fabric and flesh as Skorne drove the greatsword in her right hand through the stomach of the corpse before it could regain it’s stability after the balrog had parried it’s knife strike.

The assassin struggled to pull himself back but was suddenly yanked off his feet and raised over the balrog’s head, hanging on her sword like a piece of meat on a shishkebab.

“Y-you bitch! You can see me!?” Blitzkrieg snarled and tried to force himself downward along the length of the blade, instead of pushing back, only for his face to be met with the armored burning gauntlet.

He screeched in anger wildly swinging the daggers but the short body he was possessing did not have the necessary range and the daggers uselessly scratched and dulled against the adamantium gauntlet that held him in place.

A wise man once said that the best offense is a good defense. Skorne thought and smirked underneath her helmet before flexing the fingers she was gripping her assailants skull with. The fire enveloping her body suddenly spread out to cover the knight she held aloft as well. Blitzkrieg’s scream of rage grew even louder, as the intense flames from earths uttermost depths quickly burned up his vessel. But only if you fully understood what defense meant could you fully harness it. It was not just standing there and taking blows. It was not avoiding damage through precise calculated dodging either. Nor was it running away from battle to meet the enemy later at a more favorable condition.

Defense was everything above and more. Why expose yourself to unnecessary danger and risk to move towards the enemy when you could instead bait them to attack you in a certain way and then turn it right against them, striking at every opening they have at once. Yes. This was the art of becoming proficient in combat.

The flames covering her flared up again, moving forward this time. The monster kicked off the ground with her left hoof, making a sharp turn and swung her sword, eviscerating the burning body hanging on it in half to meet the dual machetes of the assassin.

She could feel their weapons clash, Blitzkrieg somehow managing to meet the force of her blow. Something felt odd however, she felt her weapon being pulled back instead of being pushed away. Reacting instantly, she grabbed the edge of her blade with her empty hand, clasping it tightly and kicked in front of her.

Her armored leg prosthetic whiffed, meeting only air, but she immediately felt that very air forcibly get disturbed above her as the pulling sensation on her weapon briefly turned into a push and then vanished. Quickly pulling her sword with both of her hands, she sharply raised it upward and thrust it at a forty five degree angle above her.

Blitzkrieg’s eyes widened at being caught off-guard in midair and he did the only sensible thing to avoid getting skewered a second time. Twisting his body like a snake, he readjusted his position in the air and kicked as hard as he could against the flat side of the blade to push himself away, landing a few feet back with a flip.

“How the hells…? This is ridiculous! I attacked from your blind spot! I didn’t even make any sound! How did you intercept it, you bitch!?” The assassin snarled in disbelief.

“You are not very good at this are you? Fighting, I mean.” Skorne spoke out with a dry condescending tone.

She was met with silence but the assassin did not make any moves so she continued.

“You claim yourself as superior but besides that immortality, you are not much good for anything. You are weak and unskilled. Even when you do kill, you do it like a rat, skulking in the shadows until you can ambush your opponent when their guard is down.” Skorne slowly turned her head, following the direction of the shifting air that announced that the assassin was slowly moving to the right.

Something flew at her, but it was small and compact. A throwing knife? No, he knew it wouldn’t even make her flinch. The balrog thought. Is it a distraction? No, he moved back when he threw it instead of advancing. Then-

The balrog’s eyes widened and she rolled forward, suddenly crossing a surprisingly large distance. There was a powerful disturbance behind her that nearly blew out the flames covering her. So he switched to using explosives, knowing that he can’t match her in melee. A viable, if cowardly, tactic. This could get ugly. Her armor might protect her from the shrapnel, but not a direct impact.

“Your aim is off “Mako.” The balrog taunted in the same dry tone and straightened up, trying to get a close approximation of his location. But her unique application of her body’s natural properties had limits. She could only tell where something was when it was moving and the further away it was, the more vague her approximation became. If Blitzkrieg would figure that out, then he could easily turn the tables back. Fortunately, her taunt had struck a nerve.

She began to get bombarded at random by what she could only assume were short fused thunderclay bars The throws lacked finesse, some of the projectiles missed her completely. Hopefully there was no one around her to be hit by the clouds of shrapnel erupting from the explosion one after another.

~~~

“Getting warmer!” The assassin teased mockingly, letting out a laughter.

Sahra breathed in and out hard, feeling short of breath. Her hands were trembling and burned from the amount of spells she kept firing or at least thinking that she was. For all she knew, this was

some sort of abstract illusion or hypnosis used by the gazer and she was currently laying on the floor and drooling instead of helping out. She vaguely remembered reading about this particular trait of gazers in a book from a church in Cair about the most dangerous monsters in Deleor. She was certain she did not look that thing in the eye though. At least not when the monster was casting her spell.

Something jabbed her in the back of the knee and she cried out in pain and stumbled forward, launching an invisible fireball behind her. She collapsed on her knees feeling a sharp burning sensation and something trickling down her leg. To make matters worse, every time this asshole stabbed her, she could feel her body grow more and more numb.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” She punched the ground in frustration, bruising her knuckles and gritting her teeth. If only she was a better sorceress, witch whatever instead of a one trick pony she was. If Webster was here, she was sure, he could pull out something cool out of his hat or give some good advice for how to handle this situation. She couldn’t do anything and was completely helpless on her own and worst of all, that son of a bitch knew it.

Instead of killing her outright, he toyed with her like a cat would do with a mouse or a bird before slaughtering it. And while she could endure his cutting words, his cutting spear was an entirely different matter.

Damn it Sahra, think! Think! As soon as this asshole is done getting his cheap laughs at her expense he will slaughter you. She had to think of something, anything to get this son of a bitch of her back or at least buy some time. She mentally tried to recall what she had on her person in her own bag of holding. Some potions, her broom, a knife and other assorted junk. None of that would help right now.

Wait.

The girl blinked in confusion. She was sitting like that for nearly a minute now, thinking and yet she was not nicked or stabbed yet. The assassin’s mockery seemed to quiet down as well. She would normally find this unnerving, her paranoid mind wondering if he was preparing for the coup de grace, but something felt off. He was not the kind of guy who would off her quickly, quietly and unceremoniously. He liked his victims to suffer and face the end with horror and despair.

So why did he stop hurting her then?

~~~

{Bearson!} The lion tried to reach his young new master once more to no avail. The foul black magics of the priestess of Dollora had completely dampened the familiar link they shared along with the rest of his senses.

If only there was a source of light. Zapp was not sure if his body could handle the strain of spirit overload even in his dire or fiendish forms, but that would dispel any and all dark magic in an instant. As it was, he was forced to ration and stretch the last remaining sparks of sunlight he had saved up to not die immediately.

He desperately wanted to help the others, especially Bearson who he could sense was pulled into the body of the fungal abomination some time ago, but the assassin had other ideas. While he gleefully toyed with the witch, he must have still felt sore over the lion’s precise killing blow delivered through a spirit overdrive earlier.

And so, another arrow, if you could even call it that, was set loose and the lion was forced to leap behind one of the sarcophagi for cover as the massive bolt-like projectile punched through the top of the stone coffin and embedded itself into the granite floor of the catacombs after shattering another floor panel into pieces.

He expected to see a lot of trouble tonight, but not even in his wildest dreams did he think he would be forced to dodge and weave to avoid being skewered by an arrow launched by the legendary dragonslayer Gauff.

The lion was not merely avoiding the attacks however, he was slowly but surely closing in upon the former lord of the forest rangers, a long since discontinued branch of the Order that used to patrol the woods surrounding the northern mountain range that separated the monster nation from the rest of the civilized world.

While the hero Gauff was no slouch when it came to melee according to legends, it was the preferred place to be in, since in his prime he was able to take out even the swiftest of black winged raven harpies with but a single shot and his mighty bow was able to even pierce the body of a dragon with the weight and size of it’s enormous projectiles.

It was very fortunate that Blitzkrieg was not even half the marksman that the body he was possessing was.

The massive figure reached for another arrow from his seemingly bottomless quiver but then hesitated. The lion sat still behind another sarcophagi and held his breath, wondering if this was an attempt to bait him out of cover.

Gauff slowly turned around to look somewhere to the side, the lion flickered his deliberately low powered spirit sense there for a moment only for his eyes to widen in surprise.

~~~

{Awaken, my son.}

The warrior’s body convulsed violently as his consciousness was suddenly forced open. The indescribable pain from before was gone, replaced by a strange floaty sensation that felt almost blissful.

He tried to open his eyes but nothing seemed to happen. It was still dark, but it was not the oppressive darkness from before. And yet something felt terribly, terribly wrong. He could not move, or rather was not even able to perceive his body anymore.

What, what happened? He tried to say but he had no mouth anymore.

{Bearson, my son. Listen very carefully. There is not much time. With every passing second, the chance of the dark priestess discovering my intervention grows. She and her cohort believe you to have perished, that you have been devoured, just like all the previous sacrifices they fed me to make me grow. I made sure to put a show that would convince them, I apologize for hurting you to do so. I have already healed the wounds I had inflicted upon you to make sure you are ready for your task.}

The warrior tried to open his mouth before focusing on his thoughts instead.

{Your allies are still safe. The one known as Skorne was an unexpected variable that Mako the Hunter and his mate hadn’t anticipated. She is currently fending the hunter off.}

Suddenly the darkness around the warrior seemed to part, as he felt a terrible sense of vertigo. He began to perceive the world again. From hundreds of different angles at once. Trying not to get overwhelmed, he focused only at a few and what he saw would have made him cheer if he could.

“How the…?!” The assassin swore before jumping back. “How the hells are you doing this, you bitch!” Blitzkrieg roared in pure rage.

Standing on the raised platform, was Skorne, her body ablaze with an infernal shroud of crimson flames enveloped in pitch black smoke. At her feet laid countless charred corpses of ghouls and standing on four opposite ends of the platform were the four bodies possessed by Blitzkrieg, the three remaining knights and the one clad in black leather. Holding out his shortened rifle he cursed, hitting the barrel with the pommel of the machete held in his other hand, trying to speed up the cooling delay.

As he did so, the two knights armed with melee weapons charged at Skorne. The sword and shield wearing one seemed to defy the laws of nature and leaped high into the sky, pulling his sword back to deliver an earth shattering vertical blow against the Balrog. The one with the lightning infused spear thrust his weapon out at the same time, a blinding golden current forming on it’s tip.

Like water flowing around a stone, the balrog spun gently, her footwork never leaving her flatfooted, letting the current fly past her and impact against one of the columns in a shower of sparks and crumbling stone.

“Just fucking die already!” The assassin screamed and the greatsword smashed against the podium, splitting the stone in half and missing the balrog completely after she made a short hop backwards that ended with a roll that carried her out of range and simultaneously allowed her to avoid the destructive shock wave traveling out from the point of impact.

That left her standing precisely behind the massive knight. The monster roared in defiance and stabbed her weapon right into the undead warrior’s back. The rusted and decayed armor folded like tinfoil and her sword exploded out of the knight’s chest in a shower of ichor that was then set ablaze.

“Rrrryyyyyyaaaaaghhhh!” The knight screamed as he was roughly kicked in the back and collapsed on it’s face, his body now ablaze.

TWANG

A dreadful noise of a balistae being set loose reverberated throughout the catacombs.

But instead of trying to weave aside, Skorne rolled again, right at Gauff, catching the assassin off guard. The massive arrow slid along her back with a screech, glancing along it instead of hitting it head on and then struck the knight trying to get up. The arrow skewered his body completely trough, creating another gaping hole and making him collapse on the floor again.

Coming out of her roll, the balrog stood up sharply in a single motion and swung at the ranger horizontally. Her sword impacted against the tall bow in a shower of sparks and she quickly pulled it back and struck again and again and again, the material of the bow groaning in protest of being used as a shield while the bow wielding corpse was forced further and further back.

“Forsythe! Why the fuck is your spell not working on her!!!?” The figure screeched in rage.

“I- I don’t understand! I am certain that she is fully afflicted by the void shroud! All of her primary senses have been shut down, she shouldn’t-” The gazer stuttered in disbelief herself before getting cut off.

“I don’t give a shit about your excuses! Don’t just fucking stand there! Do something!” He assassin ordered and directed the spear wielding knight to charge at the Balrog’s exposed back only for her to roll out of the way once again, the assassin barely managing to stop in his tracks in time. He turned his head quickly only to see Skorne standing upright with both of her hands stretched out at her sides.

“Well?” The balrog asked with a barely noticeable presence of mirth in her voice. “What is it?”

“But I can’t!” Forsythe protested. “I can only cast one spell at a time! I would need to pull the sh-”

“THEN FUCKING DO IT! YOUR WORTHLESS SHROUD IS CLEARLY NOT DOING JACK FUCKING SHIT!” The assassin exploded, the rude disrespectful gesture finally shattering his temper and better judgment.

And just like that, the darkness was suddenly gone. Her senses suddenly returning to her in an instant made the balrog stumble. At the same time Blitzkrieg pulled the trigger on his magitek rifle. A thunderous clash rolled around the air as a cloud of burning particles struck the balrog in the back making her grunt and fall forward right into the spear.

Skorne screamed in pain, the tip of the spear was unable to penetrate her armor, but the enchanted electricity burned even her flame resistant body.

{Now.} Suddenly the Mistress’es voice was heard again in the warrior’s mind. {Look closely.}

The many different viewpoints seemed to focus on a single target. The warrior blinked. He was seeing with his own eyes again and he suddenly could feel his body once more. Only his head was poking out from the grotesque mass on the floor, looking straight ahead at the gazer who was channeling another spell. Darkness in the room seemed to condense in her hands around the black sphere she held. All of her eyes looking straight into the implement.

{She is unable to keep a close track of me while she is channeling a complex spell like that. The spell she is casting, it is known as [Black Hole],it creates a gate to a bottomless void where nothing exists. If she succeeds in casting it, all of your allies will be dragged inside of it.}

The warrior felt something being placed in his hands.

{She will notice if I attempt something, but she believes you to be dead. The source of her and her mate’s power is within her heart. If you slay the dark priestess, the wraith will be dispelled as well. Go my son. Go, end this wretched creature’s existance while she is distracted.}

>Hide activated

The flesh around him quickly pulled back and he was once again standing on both of his feet a few paces behind the gazer, no one yet aware of his presence besides the countless eyes staring down at him. His armor was missing but the Union operative suit was still there.

He flexed his hands around his wea- He had to blink and do a double take then blinked again and touched his face, then blinked a third time and looked himself over in silent disbelief.

Somehow, the sight in his missing eye had returned to him and his left hand was back. The ruined face had regrown as well. Come to think of it, he felt more healthy and powerful than ever, like he had just been reborn.

>What do you do?

You forgot to bump

>>344379

Remember we are half hummunculus thats why we got healed so easily, just to be sure, after we are done taking a new shot will be our top priority. Now end it, kill Forsythe and destroy both hearts, don't even dare to consume them just no, destroy them both once and for all.

>>344412

Also, after we are done, don't forget to check out for Maxie, and inquire with the mushroom what she has done to our body.

>>344412

Eh I think the only time we got some negative effects from heart eating was when we ate waifus instead of enemies. But I think Bernsen is in a decent spot ability wise so I think it's fine if we don't want to take any risks here.

I would be pretty sad though if Slavsan told us afterwards that we just missed out on some op gazer mind magic or something

>>344379

Double fist her, one in her brain so she doesn't finish processing that spell, the other grabbing the phylactery to give it its daily dose of Sunny D.

>>344379

Well, if we're only a few paces away from her then there's not much room out of the box plans is there? We just plunch our fish into her chest, crush her heart, and tear it out, specifically in that order because if we tear it out without crushing it first then it may still function as a phylactory. The magic link was only connected to one of her hearts not both so it would be bullshit if Blizkreg could use her second heart as a backup. that's not how pylactories work, he'd have to place a portion of his soul in both at once and we didn't notice anything magical about the second heart so there's no way it could be a backup phylactery.

Anyway, now that the fog spell is dispersed we should be able to communicate with Zapp again, so I suggest telling him to keep Blizkreg distracted so that he doesn't warn Forsythe. I know he's may seem pretty distracted as it is and we're pretty close to Forsythe but unless it will take less than a second to do I think it would be better to be safe than sorry, and because Blitzkreg's so hot-headed at the moment he shouldn't realize that it's a distraction, provided Zapp isn't too obvious about it.

I agree with >>344489 that we should knock her out as soon as possible, however I'm not sure if we can "double fist her" because I think we'll need to use one of our hands to hold her body in place otherwise we'll just move her entire body when we pull back, maybe I'm wrong about this? In anycase she should be to disorientated from the pain having her heart or is it blizkreg's heart? torn out to finish her spell and we'll stomp on her head for good measure.

That's all I got for now, if this works then the zombie knights should de-animate so I don't think the other group members need to do anything, right? Or will the knights remain animated as autonomous zombies, it's been so long that I can't remember how blizkreg's powers work.

Guys. I just noticed something.

>leader of the king's guard is Nicholas Braun

>leader of galmathoria is Diana von Braun

Coincidence?

>>344382

Research of the battlefield? We knew there were old heroes here. No surprise that Blitz brought them back. But where was he hiding them that we missed seeing all of them or hearing all that clanky armor? And what research would have gotten us to see them?

>>344422

Well, there's technically two hearts. We only need to destroy Blitz's. Forsythe's is probably edible. Unless he can live off her heart or something.

Ideally, we'd take Forsythe alive for interrogation. She's an intel goldmine. Unfortunately, I don't think we have time for that with the black hole charging up. Only way I see to pull it off is absolutely insane. Kill Blitz's phylactery by bow or blade, maybe with firefly oil for good measure if it doesn't take more than a few seconds, then KO Forsythe, use a healing potion on her once we're sure Blitz is dead, and if the black hole is still a problem, my Space Station 13 instincts say to shove it in a bag of holding. Yep, totally insane.

Kind of worried about what fungal bitch did with Maxie and the implants. Don't want some kind of metroid fusion crap going on. Fuckin X parasite wearing Samus's power armor and shit.

Black integrity core. Wow. Ain't that some shit. We take that core, we put Al-Sabbath back even further. Though if they win the war, that might be a moot point.

And we gotta spar with Skorne later, learn whatever combat shit was doing.

>>344498

>learn whatever combat shit she was doing.

She was using her fire to detect movement, I guess we could use Ursa Major's fire to do that, or maybe just use Ursa Major herself to feel the ground around.

>>344498

> if the black hole is still a problem, my Space Station 13 instincts say to shove it in a bag of holding. Yep, totally insane.

With Webster gone I think the only bag of holding is Bernsens beard. Which would probably mean we loose all our stuff and destroy Kenzies home. It could also mean we now have a stable black hole on our face which would be the meme-iest shit ever. Or we just die or something.

>>344370

>Artorias, Biggie and Smalls, Gough, and Ciaran

we dark souls now

funnily enough, if Smough didn't like being a cannibal so much, he would've been a Knight just like the other four

>>344579

MOTHER FUCK I FORGOT MY SAH GAY

DISHONERUUUUUUU

>>344590

Funny coming from the guy that had us walk straight into Dark Magic in wizardquest because he wants Dollora to be one big dindu nuffin

>>344590

You heard slavsan it's obvious what we must do. Kill the shroom with our Ursa while we kill Blitzkrieg, whatever she done it's likely for her own benefit. So either we get an answer or mush goes toasty.

>>344590

Well, that's either a warning or a mindgame. For your consideration.

Consider what happens if we don't go through with it. Forsythe will take notice of us eventually and then we're fighting Blitz, Forsythe, and fungal bitch all at once, while the clock ticks down on that black hole. I don't like two-front wars, and I really don't like timed three-front wars. Not like fungal bitch has the power of the nexus anymore. Besides, didn't we have our team inject themselves with anti-fungal serum before this started?

Also consider this. How did she heal us with the anti-fungal stuff in us? Shouldn't that have hurt her? That's a pretty big red flag. And if Forsythe is casting something like a black hole, won't it target everyone else in the room too? Pic related. There's also the possibility that whatever was done to heal us included a new, more effective kill-switch. Remember, she's probably free if Forsythe dies. And it has to be asked, WHAT THE FUCK DID SHE DO TO MAXIE.

I'm liking my KO Forsythe plan more and more, though there is a middle ground, come to think of it. Have Ursa light up fungal bitch. Either Forsythe will be distracted enough to stop casting, or she maintains focus on the spell and then we attack. Either way, it's a win. Fungal bitch is hurt/dead, and Forsythe is not casting due to distraction/KO/death, though I don't think I can recommend death as an option. A variant of this plan is to aim an arrow at Blitz's phylactery heart, and ONLY that, then light up fungal bitch after firing the arrow.

>>344639

Well we could Ask for Zapp to shows once again where is the phylactry, then ask him to give us his last spirit juice and use spirit overdrive to destroy the phylactry and Blitzkrieg once for all without major damage to the gazer.

>>344643

Two problems.

1. We may very well need that power for fungal bitch, especially if she uses Maxie as a defense because it may be the only thing that penetrates the armor.

2. Forsythe is channeling dark magic right now, but even if she wasn't, Forsythe is a creature of dark magic, so how would spirit overdrive powered by the sun *not* kill her?

Oh, and I just realized there is a power source that fungal bitch can use as a substitute for the nexus. This would be absolutely catastrophic, so at all costs,

DO NOT LET HER TOUCH THE BLACK INTEGRITY CORE.

>>344590

Well Forthsythe has two hearts so losing one won't kill her right? I suppose she would die from blood lose if we ripped it out.

If it's really too risky to kill her then I agree with >>344643

We should use whatever spirit energy we have left to use spirit overdrive on the phylactery heart, I don't think we've used up all our reserve yet infact I don't remember us using any during the previous fight so we may not need to ask for Zapp's energy, I suppose it depends on how much energy is required to use overdrive. Last time we used overdrive on Blizkreg it didn't work but I think that was because his soul wasn't in the body that was overdrived, I imagine that using overdrive on the phylactery where Blizkreg's actual soul is located will kill him this time, My theory is that the phylactery heart wasn't originally in Forsthye's body but was actualy Blizkreg's original heart and was implanted in, so I don't think she will die if it's destroyed.

So we use spirit overdrive on the phylactery heart, which should destroy the heart or at least destroy it's function as a phylactery, then Blizkreg will be dead and Forsthye will still be alive.

The only problem now is what to do with Forsthye, if we knock her out than we're at risk of the Fungas lady attacking us, but if we don't knock her out than we're at risk of Forsthye attacking us. We're really between a rock and a hard place here.

It seems like Forsthye is only attacking us because she's being forced to by blizkreg, so I'd say she's the best choice, not a good choice mind you, but the best out of the two, in my opinion.

I'm not really creative enough to come up with a better plan than that right now.

>>344655

Well, spirit overdrive is "particularly effective on evil aligned targets" and Forsthye doesn't seem outright evil, or at least not as evil as Blizkreg anyway. If we don't kill Blizkreg than not only will his knights kill us but Forsythe will turn the fungal monster on us again so the best course of action seems to be to destroy the phylactery.

>>344660

Another plan; we can use ursa to toss the fungal monster into the black hole and then spirit overdrive on the phylactery.

So if we go for the spirit overdrive strat the spirit energy either passes through Forsythe relatively harmlessly but in the process completely destroys Blitzkriegs rotten heart. Or it will completely annihilate Forsythe since she is full of dark magic.

At least these seem to be our two theories right now. In the first case we can try to capture Forsythe alive and won't have to deal with fighting mama parasite as long as we keep Forsythe under control.

If the other theory should prove to be true we will need to deal with the fungi. Which we would probably have to do anyway if we choose to rip the heart out conventionally. I doubt that the fragile little Gazer would be able to exert too much control on the parasite with a gaping hole in her chest.

Either we greatly increase our chances of success or they stay roughly the same unless something completely different happens and Slavsan completely fucks us. We do have only enough juice for one spirit attack left but I think it's worth the shot.

>>344660

>>344667

>>344682

Guys. We don't need to waste the spirit energy as long as the wound to destroy the phylactery isn't immediately fatal. I accounted for that in >>344498. Wait until we're sure Blitz is dead from the wound, then give Forsythe a healing potion. Then we've saved the overdrive for fungal bitch. And Forsythe has been working for Al-Sabbath, willingly or not she's done some bad shit, so why do think overdrive wouldn't kill her?

>>344667

>toss the fungal monster into the black hole

That would be utterly BRILLIANT! Unfortunately, it seems Forsythe isn't finished casting yet, and that black sphere may not work like a black hole yet.

>>344703

>so why do think overdrive wouldn't kill her?

What >>344660 said basically

>Well, spirit overdrive is "particularly effective on evil aligned targets" and Forsthye doesn't seem outright evil, or at least not as evil as Blizkreg anyway.

The galmorthian general with the the german name that I forgot wasn't effected much by our spirit punch. He might have done some fucked up shit but his convictions weren't hateful or evil. He fought for what was in his mind a just cause.

We don't really know much about Forsythes motivations regarding all of this and that seems to be more important than the actions themselves. Working for Al-Sabbath might just make her more "evil" than the general by association alone but compared to psychopaths like Blitzkrieg or that turncoat wizard we killed she still seems to have a conscience.

>Autistic planning,weighting your options and limited resource management.

>Wild but partially correct mass guessing on what might happen.

Yes. This fuels me. I can feel the power of the warp overtaking me.

>>344735

Maybe. But we can't be sure it won't kill her. Why take that chance unnecessarily when there's an alternative available that lets us keep the overdrive as a trump card?

>>344948

See >>336908

By the way, the not-overdrive plan can still do spirit damage if you really want to see it done to Blitz. Just add firefly oil. Still probably less costly than a full overdrive, and more targeted.

Bernsen quickly shook his head and turned his eyes away from the suddenly regrown appendage. He still felt slightly lightheaded and his thoughts were dull, but he understood that time was of the essence. He had to kill Forsythe and quickly, before she could finish channeling her spell.

The man slowly crept forward through the darkness, his eyes locked to the exposed back of the gazer. He could hear the noise of the battle ahead, Skorne was not down for the count quite yet, but the electrical discharge from the magical spear must have scrambled the enchantments on her prosthetics and she was now half crouching on the floor, trying to defend herself at a massive disadvantage. Fortunately, she was not alone anymore and had only to fend off the knight in the scaled armor.

Blitzkrieg, in his blind rage did not quite realize the folly of ordering Forsythe to change her tactics on the fly like that and was now cursing loudly as he dodged and weaved from column to column, in his primary body, to avoid getting completely incinerated by the overpowering rain of fire that was crashing down around him from above. As soon as her eyesight had returned to her, the witch immediately pulled her broom out to claim the higher ground advantage and attack the assassin with all of her fury.

The limitations of Blitzkrieg's DIY upgrades to his rifle became readily apparent when it’s limited range, coupled with the long cooling period of the mana capacitor could do nothing to fend off the nimble dwarf. Trying to use his stash of thunderclay under the current condition would be very foolish as well. Even his shadow step ability was only useful for dodging, when he was unable to physically avoid the streams of flames and brimstone directed at him.

Of course he could easily snipe the dwarf out of the air and he had the perfect weapon for it. Unfortunately, the remains of Gauff had his hands full trying to tear a very large, angry and savage lion off his body and his massive bow was laying on the floor, completely abandoned.

“Damn it Forsythe! Hurry up!” The assassin shouted with anger at the gazer but immediately regretted his decision when the dwarf above stopped in her tracks and looked into the direction he was screaming at.

The wraith’s eyes widened, bearing a new expression that was unfamiliar to see on his dry, bony face. Concern.

Sahra was impulsive, passionate and stubborn, a prime specimen of her race. But despite her specialization in fire magic, she was not a hothead. She was smart and a quick thinker too and no matter how much she wanted to burn this shady son of a bitch that was running away from her now, she was not so stupid as to single him out while someone else was casting some sort of overpowered, dark ritual spell on the other side of the room.

She darted into the opposite direction without uttering a single word, raising one of her hands above her head and channeling another flame lance in it while clutching the broom with the other.

The gazer was standing amidst the carnage of the fight, her clothing flaring up around her body from the intense magical energies that surrounded her. All of her eyes were focused on the black integrity core held in her hands and her lips flapped rapidly as she chanted some complex incantation into the divine magical implement, completely obvious to her surroundings.

Another bright flash of orange light illuminated the catacombs as the dwarf launched another spell, the condensed column of fire spinning through the air like a drill with a roar as the flames burned a pathway directly at the gazer.

Feeling the sudden wave of heat approaching her, Forsythe briefly suspended her casting, her primary eye glancing up and widening as it saw the rapidly approaching flame lance. A massive figure suddenly leaped in front of her, holding the wolf pattern covered shield and the spell impacted against it with a loud fizzling noise, drilling into the enchanted piece of metal and blasting sparks and heat everywhere, but also rapidly shrinking in the process until it vanished with a pop and dispersed into a rippling cloud of raw mana.

Despite having not one, but two gaping holes in it’s torso, the reanimated chantry knight wielding the shield and greatsword was still on it’s feet, albeit now only wielding the shield, as the flames, that were even now eating away at him, had already burned the majority of the right side of his body off.

The dwarf clicked her tongue in annoyance and slowly did a half circle around the raised platform, looking for an opening, but instead her eyes widened in surprise when she noticed someone slowly sneaking behind the gazer and the burning knight.

“Forsythe, are you alright?” The assassin’s voice asked tensely.

“Yes. I am almost done. I just need one more minute.” The gazer quickly looked back down with a slight blush on her cheeks. “Thank y-”

With a sickening sound of tearing flesh, an arrow shot out from her chest with a burst of blood. The monster let out a weak gasp, shuddered and coughed out some blood. She then lowered her head to look down at her body in shock, the pain not setting in quite yet, due to the near surgical precision with which the arrow had pierced her body. It left a perfect hole in her chest cavity, having entered into the space in-between her ribs, piercing the phylactery heart containing her lover’s soul and leaving through another similar opening on the front side of her body, all the while not shattering a single bone or striking at any other vital organs save for her left lung.

“Ah…I…” The grip on the integrity core in her hands slipped and it fell down on the ground, the magical energies swirling around it quickly dispelling. Blood dripped loudly from the gaping wound on the floor with large, fat droplets and the gazer shakily put her right hand over it, choking and coughing out more blood with a look of horror in her eyes before her knees shook again and she collapsed on on them, suddenly unable to support herself anymore.

“M-mako?” She wimpered weakly and looked at the burning figure of the knight standing over her as the shield slipped out from it’s hand and fell on the ground with a loud metallic clatter followed by the knight collapsing on top of it, his body completely consumed with flames.

“Mako?” The gazer repeated and looked at where the Balrog was to see the other body, clad in scale mail and wielding a spear, suddenly crumple and collapse like a puppet that had all of it’s strings cut off in a one fell swoop.

“Mako!” Her voice grew in desperation as she sharply looked at where Gauff’s body was fighting Zapp, but the hunter laid still as well, with the lion sniffing his remains suspiciously.

“MAKO!” The gazer shrieked, all of her eyes widening and searching for the assassin. She quickly found him, the black leather clad figure laying flat on it’s back near the base of one of the columns, his weapons spread out on the floor around him.

“No, no, no!” Her voice grew in desperation. “Mako! Say something! Please! This can’t be happening! Not like this! Not when we were so close!” She started to shriek and looked down at her wound again before starting to spasm.

>Hide deactivated.

“It’s over Forsythe.” The warrior seemed to appear out of nowhere form the darkness behind her, holding his bow in one hand. His skin looked deathly pale and his right eye seemed to be glowing purple in the darkness of the underground. “He is dead. For real this time.”

“B-bearson? But-” She turned her head around to look at the dangling form of the mistress hanging down from the ceiling. “You…!”

Everyone quickly moved in, surrounding the monster with their weapons held out.

{Now my son! Hurry! End her life before she can retaliate!} The man heard a powerful presence in his mind and had to focus all of his willpower not to decapitate the gazer before him.

“I see. So that’s how.” The lorekeeper looked down at the floor before her where the black integrity core was.

The warrior almost cursed and let the presence in his mind overtake him at that moment, but a tiny figure quickly zoomed over the floor, grabbing the gem and flying back to the witch.

“Got it!” Kenzie shouted in a high pitched voice, raising the divine implement over her head. The warrior let out a strained sigh of relief at that.

This did not seem to phase the gazer whatsoever however, she merely continued to stare at the empty spot on the ground like nothing changed.

“Don’t try to do anything stupid.” The dwarf threatened her while holding a fireball aloft over her form. “I am seriously not in the mood for any more bullshit right now.”

The gazer closed all of her eyes and shuddered before laughing sadly and shaking her head. “I will not. It doesn’t matter. None of this matters anymore.”

“Are you surrendering then?” The lion asked and cocked his head.

The gazer slowly touched her open wound and smiled faintly. “For what it’s worth, this is not how I wanted things to go, but this world is cruel and unfair, most of it’s inhabitants only concerned about gaining more power and fortune.”

The woman let out a shuddering sigh as tears began to streak down her cheeks. “Emiliya is in my office at the embassy. Among my luggage is a bag of holding with a large opening. She is inside of it, along with the one who plagued your home for generations.”

The gazer clutched the wound in her chest and closed her eyes even tighter. “I am sorry Bearson. I know you you didn’t deserve any of this and must have a lot of questions for me but I can’t-” She choked. “I can’t let him go by himself to suffer for his sins alone, I must come with him. Good bye.”

The warrior inhaled sharply and tried to reach out for the gazer, but it was too late. With a piercing screech of dark magic, her back suddenly exploded out from the force of the spell, eviscerating her insides. She coughed once and fell on the floor, dead.

“Well.” The dwarf blinked and slowly lowered her hand, dispelling her magic. “Shit. There goes our intelligence gold mine. She must have been pretty god damn loyal to that death cult to kill herself off like that to avoid capture.”

The warrior looked at the lorekeeper’s still form and shook his head, reaching into his beard.

“Bernsen, what happened to you earlier?” The lion asked, sounding concerned. “I saw you get dragged into that thing and our familiar link still seems to be suppressed, even though the dark priestess is dead.”

“And what happened to you? Your face! And the eye!?” Sahra pointed at him with disbelief.

“Just a minute. I was just about to take care of it.” The man added grimly ignoring the increasingly anxious growing voice in his head. He pulled the wooden box holding their potions out and opened with a click. “In hindsight, I should have done this in advance, but I didn’t think I would be affected.”

“Affected… by what?” The balrog cautiously asked.

“Bernie? Are you ok?” The fairy fluttered closer to the warrior with concern in her voice.

“I’ll be in a minute. Keep an eye out for her. We are not done yet.” The man reached into the box and pulled a syringe full of clear liquid out.

“Wait, you mean THAT!?” The dwarf sharply looked at the ceiling where the mistress, or at least a part of her, was looking down at them silently.

The warrior did not reply and instead jabbed the needle into his neck, where one of his major arteries was. Normally, a very dangerous thing to do, but with his natural high speed regeneration, he could get away with it.

And then it happened again. The pain.

The empty syringe fell on the ground and the glass shell shattered. The warrior roared in pain and clutched his head, but more bizarrely, the dangling form of the fungal abomination began to scream and viciously spasm and all the growths in the massive chamber pulsated, wildly shriveling and expanding rapidly like a single living organism reeling from incredible agony.

The pale flesh forming his face and restored limb began to bubble up and distort, the skin swelled and ripped itself apart. His fingers began to spasm and twist in unnatural directions, the fragile bones composing the skeleton within breaking.

And then the skin began to peel off. Slowly at first, but then faster and faster until it completely lost it’s physical density and started to drip and pour off his body. The man doubled over and vomited viciously, the same bubbly white formless mush being ejected from his body with a splatter, while everyone else stared in horror, unable to comprehend what the hells was happening before them.

Bernsen gasped a few times, blinking with his one eye and supporting himself with his right hand. His face was gone again and all the aches and burns of his earlier battles had returned.

{Why, my son?} The voice called out and the dangling figure shook and turned to face him. {Why do you reject my gifts?}

The man spat out once more and straightened out, addressing his stunned tribe. “She just tried to assume control of my body by merging with me I think.”

{Zapp can you hear me now?} The warrior then asked quickly through his familiar link.

{Loud and clear. Good to have you back. Care to explain what just happened in detail?} The lion nodded and the warrior felt a great deal of relief through their link.

“In a moment Zapp.” The warrior chose to reply verbally. “First off, what did you do with Maxie?” He then turned his head upwards with a snarl.

The mistress looked down upon the group with her featureless mouthless and noseless face, the only humanoid feature left being her purple eerie and piercing eyes. {If you mean your armor my son, then I simply chose to borrow it.}

“Excuse me?” The warrior blanched in disbelief at the boldness of her admission.

{I am unable to move by myself easily you see. I would have prefered to have a living woman as a vessel, but this will have to do for the time being.} The false fungal goddess explained matter of factly {I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help my son. If it was not for you, then I would have been forced to act as a slave to the dark priestess and her masters, forcing to birth them my children to be used as soldiers in their agenda. But no more. With her life ended, the covenant that she forced me into is over and I am no longer bound to her will as her thrall. I am free to act on my own.}

“You are not going anywhere.” The warrior pointed his sword at the abomination, the beidhander bursting to life with a powerful flame of it’s enchantment. “There is no one to help you leave this time.”

{Do you truly hate me so, my son? Even though it was my essence which gave birth to you? My power that allowed you to raise so far above your enemies? My guidance that brought you here?}

“Stop calling me your son you wicked creature.” The warrior stepped forward, feeling enraged as ursa Major manifested next to him with a snarl. “I had only one mother and you are not her.”

{Even though I helped you best the dark priestess and her mate that had killed some of your closest friends? Is there truly nothing that I can do to earn your forgiveness and acknowledgment?} The mistress asked, sounding somber but the warrior knew better. Every word that came form this creature’s mouth was a lie shrouded with falsehoods and wrapped in fabrications.

“You want my forgiveness?” The warrior’s voice cracked. “How about giving me my real family back, huh? How about it? Can you do that?”

{Yes.} The mistress responded almost immediately and the warrior froze in his tracks with his mouth open.

~~~

The sun was slowly setting over the walls of the great city of Sanctiford. The palace in it’s center, laying in it’s very heart was quiet. Most of the staff was absent lately, with the increased security forcing frequent background checks on the workers. Very few passed them, but this was not a big deal, since none of the usual visitors were present, having been invited to the embassy or barred from entry until the situation would clear up.

A single armored figure sat on a chair with his legs crossed, leaning back and observing the sunset from the large open window in front of him as he waited. In his hand, he held a peculiar looking communion matrix, green in color and small in size, almost akin to a scrying bowl.

From his vantage point, he could see almost the entirety of Sanctiford spread out before him, being cast in the last few rays of the sun that descended over the horizon. The buildings, the river, the roads, the people and …the monsters.

The communion matrix in his hand flared to life softly.

“Green.” The graceful female voice asked. “We are nearly there. Are you and your men ready?”

“Of course. It’s almost time.” The man pulled out a gilded watch attached to a chain from his pocket. It said that it was three minutes before seven. “The sun is almost down. What about you? Are you ready?”

The voice coming from the communion matrix let out a mirthful giggle. “Of course. It is unfortunate that Reagan has failed, but so be it. Even with one of the key pieces missing, the ritual will be possible. I will await you at the temple of Solos as we agreed. Do not fail me.”

“Of course. I will be seeing you son my dear sister.” Nicholas Braun, the head of the King’s guard replied coolly and the implement in his hand went dark.

The former battle priest of the church of Solos looked outside once more, moving his eyes over the city and stood up, grabbing his helmet from the nearby table to put it on. Casting a deep black shadow on the wall in front of him, he opened the door and left the room. His steps echoed throughout the near empty palace, the usual patrols and guards protecting it strangely absent.

Within a couple minutes he stood up before the front doors of the palace and opened them, arriving before a sight of a few hundred men standing before the gate that lead into the city. Facing him in perfect even lines, they immediately straightened up and saluted him. Every single man under his command was present, save for those who were already in the city performing the final finishing touches of the plan. This was not a major amount by any means. Only three hundred people were on an active duty in the king’s guard, but this did not matter. Even back in the days when he was a member of the church militant order, it was always about quality over quantity. It was just The Order that took up every mongrel and piece of trash that would crawl to their front door in search of food and shelter and gave them a proud title of a “hero”.

But not the church. To become a member of the holy paladin order, you had to prove the strength of your faith without a shadow of a doubt. Train your body to become the perfect instrument of divine fury that would bring JUSTICE to the foul and wicked. Though few in number, each of these soldiers were worth ten of the bottom feeders that composed the order. And now, with their new divine blessing, they were worth a hundred of them.

Lord Braun raised his hand and the eye slits of his helmet flared with a faint green light, one that seemed to reflect in the eyes of the men before him. A strange, powerful aura seemed to permeate the area, the trees and the grass in the area growing more vibrant and powerful as a sudden streak of wind wildly shook their leaves.

“Brothers.” Nicholas began and raised his other arm, spreading them out in front of him. “Thank you for coming here, I can see that not a single one of you had chosen to turn his back on their faith, on their true mission. For years, we were forced to hide, to bend to the will of our mad king who would allow his land to be pillaged and raped by the foul parasites that we were sworn to protect humanity from. But tonight. Tonight, everything is going to change. We had to endure much, but this is the moment of truth. Tonight we will wash this holy city clean with the blood of the heretics and daemons who made their home in here. Return it to it’s pristine state. The royal bloodline had governed over our country for millennia and as humanity’s chosen champions, it’s our duty to uphold tradition and protect our culture. But in these exceptional circumstances, we must do what we must. Paladin primaris Victor may have turned his back on us, surrendered our legacy to that whore who dares to proclaim herself an ascendant! But the strength of our faith is unyielding! It shines as bright as the sun itself! And tonight our faith will shine it’s brightest! Lighting a path for humanity towards a brighter tomorrow!

Now my brothers! Go! Go and perform your sacred duty! Let no wicked or sinner any quarter! Do not let your sword arm falter for even a second, for our cause is righteous! Our beliefs just! We are merely humble servants performing the duty of the gods! So wills the great mother! The loyal wife of our lord and true king Solos! Deis Vult!”

“Deis vult! Deis Vult! Deis Vult!” The king’s guard chanted in perfect unison, their eyes flaring bright green. The gates leading outside opened and the garrison moved out, the horsemen taking the lead, followed by the heavily armored infantry, spreading out into the city that was completely unaware of the coming danger.

Lord Braun did not follow his men however, he instead turned around and entered the palace once more. His task was the greatest of all, he would have the honor to end the wicked mad king’s life and claim his crown for the true future ruler of Deleor. Himself.

~~~

The door in the basement of the temple opened with a creak, allowing a massive figure in red to step out. A single, red glowing eye shone from the slit of it’s helmet, it’s massive, bulky pauldrons barely fitting through the door.

It quickly walked up the steps, past all the dead priests and priestess laying on the floor and steps in puddles of their own blood. The main hall was deserted as well, showing signs of a recent slaughter.

“Help…” A weak voice called out from one of the benches, turning out to be a young woman in a white garb belonging to a hospitalier hiding underneath it and bleeding heavily from the gash over her abdomen. “P-please help me.”

The figure in red turned it’s head down and picked up the bench, easily throwing it aside to expose the woman. She must have somehow hid from the king’s guard members stationed here in advance and used her magic to sustain herself. Perfect.

The figure stepped over to the woman and took off it’s helmet, making the girl let out a terrified scream when instead of a head, a large white bundle of something came wriggling out from the armor and latched on to her.

~~~

“Hmm.” Sir Mathew looked at his pocket watch again and then looked over the embassy ballroom. The place was completely packed, but everything seemed to be in order, not that he doubted the prowess of Monster nation’s security. It was just that there was something odd in the air that made him feel anxious.

“And then pow!” The tarasque made an over the top motion mimicking a punch. “Slugged him right out of that stone giant he made!”

“Oh my goodness! How violent!” An old, important looking lady covered her mouth in surprise.

“Can monsters really do that? Grow up the size of a building? Not to say that you are lying miss Beatrix but…” A middle aged man holding a wine glass inquired.

“Nah, she totally did do that.” An old gentleman with white hair and beard answered and scratched his chin. “I’ve seen in it myself.”

“Oh that’s right lord Baha, you participated in that battle as well haven’t you?” The old noble woman asked and took a sip from her champagne glass.

“Well, participated is a strong word. The young lass here did most of the heavy lifting, I just told my girls to pitch in a little. I am a bit too old for this kind of action.” The old sailor chuckled and picked up an olive on a toothpick from a nearby table before placing it in his mouth.

“I have to say, it’s quite unusual to see a diplomat from the southern sea kingdom. This is quite an unprecedented occurrence.” A pudgy man nearby wiped some sweat off his brow. “I don’t show up in the capital too often, but I am pretty sure we have been an odds with you for as long as we were with the monster nation.”

“Well times are changing quickly nowadays.” Baha shrugged and flicked the toothpick left from the olive away. “With how friendly Deleor seems to be getting with the monster nation lately, I thought we should probably get in on that action too. You have done some pretty impressive stuff that we can’t even dream off back in Atlantis, that leyway system is a real beaut. I hope we can get some of these advancements as well in exchange for some of our more exotic goods.”

“Like the vast supplies of Orichalcum held at the ocean’s bottom?” Kaoku, the owner of the city’s casino raised her eyebrow curiously.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves there.” The sailor laughed nervously when the sahuagin next to him glared daggers at the raccoon who was now the kingdom’s primary food supplier in the war against Galmathoria.

“”Would you please tell a little bit about your country’s capital then lord Baha?” The old lady asked. “Your people are very secluded and the accounts of those lucky few who witnessed it have always seemed sketchy to me.”

“Of course, why not?” The sailor chuckled. “So as you all obviously can guess, it’s located deep under-”

Suddenly the earth shook and some powerful pulse flashed through the room, making everyone stumble and shout in surprise. The magitek lights near the ceiling flickered and shut down, casting the ballroom in pitch darkness. All hell broke loose.

~~~

All throughout the city, magical implements of all kinds began to shut down. Automatons stopped in their tracks and toppled over. Communion matrix communications went blank. Lights all around the city dimmed and turned off, casting the city in darkness. People using artificial prosthetics were suddenly unable to move them anymore, causing a mass panic.

No one understood what was happening, it was as if all magical energies in the city just up and vanished. The truth, of course, was more sinister in it’s nature ,as it always was. Four identical metallic and glass made devices activated on the four opposite corners of the city, set up on the top floors of the watchtowers lining the walls of the capital. The soldiers tasked with keeping watch there laid dead as members of the king’s guard descended the stairs to join their brothers who had already begun their purge throughout the city.

~~~

“What?” Bernsen’s voice felt hoarse in his throat. “What did you just say?”

{If you wish me to return the memories that I have stolen from your family and friends, I can do that.} The mutated matango replied descending closer to the ground where the warrior and his friends were.

“Y-you are lying! I do not believe you! You’ve erased everything!” The warrior’s voice cracked and he raised his weapons threateningly.

{I do not lie my son. And you should know better than to think that I would destroy something as valuable and important as my children’s memories. All of their experiences, all of their skills and abilities, they are all preserved inside of me. Down to the last detail. Information is the most valuable commodity, that’s what Minerva taught you, hasn’t she? This I agree with, all of my research and ambitions were based on discovering the solution to the question asked by Odin and Martel.} The bindings holding the mistress suddenly tore open, freeing her arms and she reached down with them. {And for that goal I have studied both monsters and men, reached deep into the limits of their bloodlines and essence, their memories are nothing but a drop in the ocean of vast knowledge that I have accumulated using the power of the Charter nexus for hundreds of years.}

The warrior suddenly began to feel lightheaded and his hands started to shake, not daring to admit to the sudden feeling of hope in his heart.

“And you are telling me.” He swallowed hard. “That you will just hand them over just like that, If I let you go, right?”

{I do not ask you to forgive me my son. I know you will not. Neither am I bargaining for my life, for it is not in peril. Even if you destroy this body, it will amount to nothing, for my soul lies elsewhere.} The mistress admitted quietly.

“The embassy.” The warrior recalled Forsythe’s parting words. “You, or whatever is left of the real you is there.”

{All I ask you is to not interfere. I am not so foolish as to openly oppose you, I have learned of your strength my son. You have grown far beyond any of my wildest expectations. All those essences you have claimed from countless other monsters have given you a power that I simply cannot match. I shall reclaim my source of life and quietly leave and if you wish so, I shall never seek you out or get in your way again. The conflict fought over those artifacts that gave birth to me…} The mistress slowly turned her head at the black integrity core held by the terrified looking Kenzie.

{Does not interest me. I have already extracted all the knowledge it held within it millennia ago back in the Black Forest and besides, without the power of the nexus to tap into it’s true power to shape the essence of monsters, it is worthless.}

The warrior swallowed hard, exchanging worried looks with his friends. He could not believe that he was actually considering her words.

{But I believe you might have more important things to concern yourself with. As we speak, the soldiers of this land’s chieftain lay waste to their own city. The greatest of this tribe’s hunters, Nicholas Braun wishes to slay his chief and take over his place and territory as the leader of the tribe. And there is more to it, even more enemies are approaching from the south, silently gliding along the bottom of the river’s bank, hidden from sight by the swift currents of the river running through the city. The enemy tribe known as Galmathoria will spring from the river using their metal rafts when the local tribemembers are done killing each other to lay waste to their camp and salt the earth so they may claim it’s territory as their own. And it’s leader, Dia will lead the attack to claim these gems you seek for herself, so she may use their power to unlock the true limits of the monster bloodline and become the true, pure embodiment of her race: great, terrible and invincible.

The dark priestess and her cohort wished to trick her, to steal her transformed body for themselves so that Mako the Hunter could finally have a vessel that would not decay and bring him endless agony with it.}

“Trick her? How?” The warrior blinked in disbelief at the sudden amount of information.

{The hunter known as Nicholas, Dia’s brother has crafted a weapon so terrible and evil that it can separate the essence of any living being from it’s body. Not even Dia’s transformed state will be able to protect her form it and once her body is devoid of any essence, Nicholas will take it for himself. By using the power of darkness that awakened in his heart when he was exposed to the black integrity core, he will take control of it and use it as a perfect weapon to enforce his rule with and destroy all who would dare to oppose his claim for leadership. The dark priestess learned the truth from him using her powers long ago and would have usurped his attempt if you hadn’t slain her.}

The warrior stared at the Mistress, unsure what to say.

{I will request it again my son. Let me leave in peace and you will never hear from me again. More than that, I will show you the shortcut leading outside from this dark cave you are trapped in so you may help your new allies and friends or else escape the city, should you wish so. You will find your armor there in the temple of Solos, I have no more need of it. I have found a superior vessel that will allow me to reclaim my essence and then run and hide. I will also direct your brothers that Galmathorians have brought into the city in advance with the help of the one known as Kaoku the raccoon to attack those who dared to bind me before, they will be powerful allies and should any of them survive tonight, they will follow after me.}

“My- my brothers?” The warrior asked with disgust.

{Yes.} The mistress nodded. {The one known as Kaoku was approached by one of Dia’s allies. Fueled by grief and thirst of revenge over the death of her husband, she had agreed to poison her benefactors. Her ships, that are supposed to deliver exotic produce from her homeland, carry my flesh in them, under the guise of a simple delicacy mushroom. It was intended to be used to drive the inhabitants who would taste it mad and dull their senses and thoughts, while my children ravage the city together with the dark priestess's and her mate’s undead army. With me now free, I hold no interest in helping them any longer and should you wish so, I will turn them against my former captors in exchange for letting me go free.}

>What do you do?

So now that the white goo arm is gone where is our robot arm…? And what about the eye? I think right now we are armor arm and eye-less and thoroughly fucked up. Not ideal for going into combat. We also have the integrity core with us which could be a huge liability in this situation. We should savely tuck that away inside the fairy cake and put it in Bernsens beard or stomach:

Though the most pressing matter right now is what the fuck do we do with the mistress. She sounds pretty reasonable and her offer makes sense but then again the first time we talked to her she also didn't seem that bad until we denied her.

If we decide to attack her we could just try to spirit overdrive her and hope that it' very effective and isn't stopped by the maximus armor. Maybe cannibalize Forsythes body to regain strength. We can forget about spirit healing with the sun going down. Then rush back to the embassy and hope that either her main body can't escape from the bag herself or that Sir Mathew will prevent her from walking out the front door. Killing the brain should also stop all the homunculi.

Or we do trust her probably loose the armor (unless we provide her with a living body) but potentially deal a heavy blow to the coup by either having the homunculi actively fight them or run amok. Depending on whether or not she keeps her word.

Either way heading for the embassy seems like a reasonable idea since most of our allies seem to be gathered there. Unless you guys think we have a chance of reaching the king before the dude does.

>>345638

While we can't trust her….we and our allies aren't in position to fight back, so for now let's leave as fast as we can and tell her we don't want her to fuck the people from black forest ever again and as long as she don't try any of the shit she tried before and don't disturb anyone ever again we won't track her down and destroy her once and for all, when we leave send our group to help our friend ask to Kenzie and Sahra to warn our allies, they can fly so they will deliver the news faster, Bersen should look for Emilya and Maxie after that we should regroup and bring forth Kaoku little scheme to light and discuss with our allies and friends if we should escape the city or fight back.

>>345644

>Bersen should look for Emilya and Maxie

Maxie is right there inside the body of the fungus in front of us right? And as I said as long as we don't provide her with an actually body or she doesn't take one herself it sounds like she intends to use the armor as her new host body. If we want to keep our Maxie we should figure that shit out. Either go to the embassy and kill her once and for all or pick up some half dead girl that got injured during the fighting that we can trade for the armor.

We could just provide her with the body of one of the Chantrymen we are inevitably going to kill if we decide to stay but I'm not sure if we should give the super fungus a body that's corrupted by Phallias blessing. That might not be the greatest idea.

>>345585

Warning Anderson might be a good idea.

>>345644

Getting Emilya and Maxie back would be a good idea.

>>345664

>Maxie is right there inside the body of the fungus in front of us right?

No. The fungus used Maxie to travel upstairs to find a human woman. >>345583

>body of one of the Chantrymen

The Blessing of Solos prevents this.

>>345585

Well shit has finally hit the fan.

>Good thinking on going to the catacombs everyone.

We kinda got lucky. If it didn't come up in the embassy, we would have waited to go to that theater with the ambush, and that might not have been in time.

Anyway, good thing we got infodumped, it makes thing so much easier and not meta.

>I do not lie my son.

Oh_wait_you're_serious_let_me_laugh_harder.mpeg9

>one of the campaign's possible final bosses

>one of

Will there be a final boss if we can prevent the ritual? If we stop everyone interested in using the ritual for their own ends before they get to the temple of Solos, we have no problem.

I see three more possibilities as to the final boss.

First is the royal guard leader, second is his arriving sister if he dies, and third is fungal bitch. I'm not buying that she has no interest, she specifically looked for a vessel in the temple of Solos rather than somewhere else, and that amount of power would make her job far easier.

Side note, either the gremlin lied to us, or Dia is a member of the Braun family other than Diana.

If we fail to stop the ritual, we'll need the weapon that the royal guard leader has, so targeting him first would be a good move, especially while he's in the palace and isolated from most of his troops. Might save the king, too.

The Galmathorian army would be easy if those anti-magic things weren't up. One lightning bitch ball would end that threat before they even land.

One thing that wasn't quite clear was if the fungus army she was talking about is already in the city, or if it's still on the ships, waiting to strike. If they're still on the ships, burning them would be a good idea.

Right now, though, we need to get out of the catacombs, and fungal bitch is willing to show us the way out if she thinks we're not a threat. She's not the only one that can lie.

List of threats:

King's guard

Galmathorian army

Fungal bitch's army (temporary allies?)

Possible allies to contact/rally:

Union trolls at the leyway station. They might be able to contact the wizards, too.

Bellatrix and crew.

Emiliya, though we've got to be careful freeing her. The last thing we want is to free fungal bitch, especially since the ability to kill her at any time would be very valuable.

DSS? I doubt Anderson has anything to do with this, and they may be able to stop or at least slow down Braun's assasination attempt. Get the Deleorian military in gear, too.

Order heroes? I think we have one or two contacts, and they can tell their friends.

>Atlantis has vast quantities of Orichalcum

Seems like it could be relevant in the future. Unless it's the source of Galmathoria's extreme resource surplus, in which case it's relevant now.

Oh, and grab Blitz's gun. Might come in handy.

>>345671

Oh nevermind then I somehow misread that part and if I read that part correctly (now) she left our augmentations inside the armor too. With the magic dampeners in place they wouldn't do us much good right now anyway but good to know we haven't lost anything permanently.

>>345679

>grab Blitz's gun

>Possible allies to contact/rally

Communion matrix won't work with those magic inhibitors in place. The gun should if it's a Galmathorian design. Might be the only working magitek rifle in the city right now until those submarines arrive. We should probably sent Sahra and Kenzie to the embassy asap like one anon suggested. There you have order heroes chat noir maybe an DSS agent or two plus Baha and Beatrix. The last two are already familiar with hunting down those fucking machines. Which we should probably do. Re-establishing communication could proof vital for saving the city.

>>345585

I don't trust that bitch any farther than I can throw her, but we can't kill 100 soldiers of the kingsguard and take on galmathoria's army even with an extended party (I can't believe it's not Ahab and the turtle dragon cunt)

First order of business, get badger waifu and the armor, which is actually inside the castle seeing how it et that woman.

Then I propose paying the Wall a visit and having a nice but quick chat. Best case scenario we can recruit him and the galmathorian army to crush all our enemies, fungal or cultists, and repair relations at the same time, and worst case scenario we have collateral.

p.s. any chance of the grand wizard and selene turning up?

>>345701

>That spoiler

>laughingwhores.jpg

Not until part three.

>>345701

No, they're busy getting slapped around by a guy who loves rocks.

>>345730

Let slavman finish his story and we'll eee what happens going forward.

>>345683

>Communion matrix won't work with those magic inhibitors in place.

Oh right. Dang. Well, we would have had to talk with some of them in person anyway.