Chapter One Hundred and Ninety One - 191
Morning light was a strident gold that filtered through the mansion's large, south-facing windows. Aside from it's central location and relative luxury, Eliza DuFont had chosen the place for its exposure to morning light. For two hours each morning, the rising sun streamed through the windows and illuminated her entire sitting room, where it glinted on the gold inlay of her polished ebony desk.
Eliza ran her gauntleted hands over the smooth surface, the touch enchantments allowing her to take a measure of relief from the cool wood. It was going to be another hot day, she knew. The mansion had a few enchanted fans that kept the air circulating, but her Acolytes were having trouble with most of them. They'd started malfunctioning. Something about shoddy scriptwork.
"--need to move," Inquisitor Rutger was saying. "The commoners in the Dust Quarter have claimed the mine already. One of the few where the wards haven't completely fallen into disrepair! We should gather the rest of our forces and march on it!"
"And what? Hold a position behind enemy lines? Because that is what they are, whatever you may consider them," DuFont said. "Those gathering under the Fiend's banner are not our allies, and we should expect considerable resistance. If what Initiate Hornsworth told us is accurate, they have at least a few capable combatants, one of which has an unknown Body transformation Skill. Four of their fighters tore through our Acolytes and three Initiates! Not only that, but I know for a fact that Harn Kastos is aiding them, among others."
Rutger's quietened, though his cheeks were still splotched with red. Not all Guilders were famed, but the Onslaught was well known in this corner of the Heirocracy. "So we give up the mine? We need resources!"
"I didn't say we give up. We have to leverage our strengths," DuFont pointed to an expertly crafted map of the city and surrounding areas. One of many that Eliza kept stored away. "We control three other mines, though they're not protected by their wards. We dispatch Acolytes to defend the miners and draw what we can, funnel it to our smiths for repairs."
"We don't have enough miners," Inquisitor Daur said, while DuFont groaned inwardly. "None of the Sunrise Quarter are really fit for manual labor."
"Not to mention, the merchants are complaining that recent Revenant attacks have proven our men are unreliable," Inquisitor Rutger said. "They're demanding more Acolytes as guards."
A few days ago, a wave of Revenants had somehow penetrated into their defenses, coming close but not quite close enough to killing some merchants. Now the people who were so eager to strike out on their own found their priorities shifting and had started setting up shop in their designated areas. A deft handling of the situation, if I do say so myself. DuFont smiled inwardly, but presented a neutral face to her fellow Inquisitors. Acting was a fantastically useful Skill.
"Pissants," scowled Daur. "Without us, the beasts would have killed the entire quarter already."
"Regardless, we should redouble the guard around the more important civillians. Pull them from the westerly side of the quarter," DuFont said. "It's mostly servants and low crafters there. Grab any that aren't pulling their weight. They can serve better in the mines."
Inquisitor Heuthorn smiled, his face an accordian of wrinkles. His eyes, however, were like daggers. "A proper suggestion. I'm impressed, Eliza."
DuFont spread her gauntleted hands and smiled. "Why thank you, Clovis." She emphasized his first name just a touch, just enough for him to notice. "I do try."
"But why not use the easier resources to hand?" Heuthorn continued. "We have our suspected heretics in hand. Use them in the mines as well. If the monsters take them, then so be it."
The others grumbled pleasantly in agreement, while Eliza fumed. Several of those "heretics" were her own people, those in her network that had followed her as she left the Guild. "As I've said before, taking men and women seemingly at random will cause an uproar. Your list names crafters, servants, minor nobles, even quite a few of the mercenaries at hand. Gutting them all would strike a blow to us from which we would not recover."
Heuthorn shook his head and smiled in a way that even his wrinkles looked condescending. " Eliza. You are unused to the way things are done. You have accomplished a great many things in these dire times, but we need to follow the tenets of our faith. Order, Strength, Purity. We--"
A trilling noise interrupted the man's pontificating, and four blue windows opened before each of them.
"What in the--?"
TERRITORY-WIDE QUEST ALERT!
"Trackless avert," Daur whispered as he read. The three older men all shared a look, each of them paler than the last. A sudden slamming on the table made Daur and Rutger jolt.
"Just as I predicted," Eliza said, her face serious and intent. "We take that Authority, and we take Haarwatch."
"This is more than the Guild ever had," Rutger mused in wonder. "That was merely Provisional Authority."
"We'll be able to oust the Sorcerers from the city, from the entire Territory," exclaimed Daur. "Our job, done. We could return home." The longing in his voice was palpable.
Heuthorn held back, his eyes flicking across the alert rapidly before it disappeared by itself. He met Eliza's eyes with reluctance writ large across his face. "...Very well. We search for this Nest."
"Agreed!" Eliza bared her teeth, and the man's frown deepened. It wasn't a smile so much as the visage of a hungry predator, one that promised a grisly end for those that crossed her. "This is what we must do..."
Inquisitor Heuthorn was seething.
Rutger had become quite proficient at spotting the old man's moods, and it often had served him well. It was easy to see in his stance, his step, and in the way his aged face tightened across the eyes and chin. Acting when the elder Inquisitor was in a proper mood was an important aspect to Rutger's personal success. If the younger Inquisitor had normally encountered Heuthorn in such a mood he would have made all efforts to avoid the man.
That was significantly harder to do, however, when said man was waiting in his rooms.
"Inquisitor Heuthorn," Rutger managed as he closed his door, though not before shooting a withering glance behind him. The Acolyte standing guard outside had not mentioned any visitors. She would pay for that lapse. "How may I be of service?"
"That woman will be the death of us," the Inquisitor hissed. Rutger didn't have to guess as to who he meant. "This is a new high of stupidity, even from her."
Curious.
He read the alert and nodded. He'd been expecting this, ever since he'd heard the Charter had been torn up. The Guild only ever had Provisional Authority, while the Heirocracy gave them the power over the city. They'd never even been able to fully tap into the Wall's true defenses. And now that was biting them in the ass as the monsters kept throwing themselves at the city.
Those Wretches, strange giant otters, some sort of acid-spitting lizards. They didn't stop, and his people were getting exhausted. It wouldn't have mattered one way or another to him, but the constant fighting was depriving him of capabale assistants. One could not do proper research without at least one assistant.
Closer now, Teine spotted the Revenant's head. It had no eyes, no nose, only a wide, fanged maw that glistened wetly. Yet it's head was moving gently back and forth. Almost as if...
Teine's hand slammed into the creature's throat.
Purloined Vision
His Skill flared through his channels, pouring out of his mechanized core and into his jagged channels. Those hours beneath the earth had hurt his foundations worse than he had suspected, but it was more than enough for this.
A screen appeared before the Revenant. A blue notification screen, and it said something altogether different than Teine's.
TERRITORY-WIDE QUEST ALERT!
Protect the Nest!
The Nest is in danger! Your enemies search even now for the home of your people! They pose a threat to all life within the Nest! Seek out and destroy the threats, by whatever means necessary!
Rewards:
x1 Gold Chest
Territorial Authority
They can receive Quests?! Teine's eyes shot wide and the Revenant began thrashing with greater vigor than before. Dark fluid spilled from it's open chest cavity as organs squirmed and pulled back together. The thing was trying all it could to escape. To...It can understand the System?
"Shh shh shh," Teine whispered, placing his unharmed hand atop the Revenant's scaled throat. He squeezed, hard. "None of that."
Air Mana discharged from his palm, a simple spell for simple, clean results. Drained as it was, very little blood spilled as it's head detached from its body. He had no time to waste on this creature, not any longer.
He had a Nest to find.
"Read it to us."
Tipan could not scream. Something had reached into her chest and blocked it, a fist of ice that stoppered her lungs. Wurms, huge, segmented monstrosities undulated slowly through the earth around her, menacing her with their fire-bright mouths. Jaws like axe blades ate through the earth as water.
"Mortal," the tinny voice said again, and Tipan felt that pressure release. "Read it to us. Now."
"Te-territory wide Quest alert," she began, barely able to focus on the words for the immense, skeletal creature before her. It was tall, unnaturally so, covered in armor the shade of vomit, and fire burned from its face. She had seen others, two others, one normal height and the other impossible round; the both of them covered in armor, burning from within like Avet's own. Fear beat so deeply in her chest, awful and bright, that Tipan didn't notice she had finished speaking until another chimed in.
"Authority," it said, and it's bulbous, slate gray body shifted against a stand of trees. They creaked beneath its immense weight, despite being thicker than four Tipans could encompass.
"Territorial Authority," hummed the skeletal one. It's face, so far from the earth, was hard to make out in the shadows of the deep forest. She'd been sent to scout out the monster horde and...and these things had found her. They'd cut into her, so deep it felt as if she'd never stop hurting. Then the questions started. The only relief to be found was when the Quest alert appeared. Skeleton tapped its razor sharp fingers against it's bony thigh. "A Territory that stretches from the mountains..."
"...to the Sea," said the third creature. This one was approximately her sized, but colored like deep, loamy soil. "Master needs to know."
"Master trusts us to act," Skeleton said. "We cannot leave until we have completed our mission."
"Very well, but it will be made clear that I did not choose this path," the smaller one said, petulantly. "We must take care of the Human."
Skeleton turned back to Tipan, but the grotto had started spinning. Everything felt strangely warm, like she was cozied up against a well stocked stove. The heat moved, up her back and onto her head. Strange.
"It is already done."
Tipan's last thought was that the summer morning had grown unreasonably hot, entirely too quickly, before a Wurm tore off her head.
