Reviews
Joe Lawyer
My intention for this chapter and the last one was mostly to show more of Menzoberranzan and it's culture. It's my co-writer who came up with the idea for the political stuff. I think I managed to show that and the stuff I wanted to put in well enough.
You're right it is good prep for being a Harem-Master. As the Shadow Lord of Tamers he will have to deal with being an important person and getting more attention from VIPs.
Tamer Gothic – Book Two – The Shadow Lord
Part 46
Menzoberranzan – The Underdark
As it turned out I had another duty as a Patron of a Drow Coven, when the Matron was off meeting with her peers I got to sit in her throne and deal with some of minor issues. The whole thing made me feel like Ned Stark when he was Hand of the King. Only I hoped this wouldn't end with me getting my head cut off due some prick with a crown.
Currently most of the leaders of the coven, the Arch-Mage, the Guard-Captain and the Patrol-Captain, who was the Dark Elf who commanded all the warriors who patrolled the Underdark and the Forbidden Forest, and I were discussing what to do about Kara.
Navi had reported back to me and she had confirmed my fear about the Elf-Queen being very unhappy with her daughter. Kara was now under some form of house arrest at the Elf Court. Which in my view was another sign of how badly things were getting around here.
"We can send out a scouting party and have her rescued" suggested the Patrol-Captain.
The rest of the Coven, or at least those not busy elsewhere, were also present but they didn't say anything. Instead they all stood around waiting for orders. If they were expecting them from me then they would have to hold on a while because I had no idea what to tell them to do.
"We can't start a war" I reminded everyone "So I'll go and try to convince the Elf Queen to set Kara free".
Given the current situation down here it would be extremely unwise to pick a fight with the Elf Court, unless of course the conflict united the covens, but in the long run that might actually make things worse as if they did destroy the surface elves then the Matrons would have no enemy around to force them to work together in the future.
"Your pardon, my lord" said the Guard-Captain, "The Matron did actually order that your Gardelfwhor be recovered. She asked me to inform the Patrol-Captain".
I completely ignored the fact that she had used my title of 'The Shadow Lord of Tamers' in order to get away with calling me 'my lord' and I focused on the important matter at hand. Also it was clear to me that the Patrol-Captain had already gotten her orders and had just been trying to make it seem as if saving Kara with a strike team was my idea, but I put that aside too,
"So a full on assault or something more stealthy?" I inquired.
It might be possible for a small team of Drow to sneak into the Elf Court and grab Kara if they went at night, but if there was a real attack, one that got her relatives hurt or even killed, then I doubted my Beta would want to come back to me and I wouldn't blame her. Besides I also had vested interest in not letting the Elf Court be slaughtered.
"Parton, I believe a small team made up of my most cunning warriors could sneak into the Court, reclaim your servant and then return her here without any lose of life" said the Patrol-Captain "You would have her back by morning, my lord if that is your wish?".
Yesterday I had thought that the Matron hadn't been interested in making me learn about politics. I'd been wrong, she was throwing me in at the deep end it seemed. Soon she would get to see if I sank or swam. I could only hope to had a plan ready if I drowned.
"Do what you do best" I said.
The Patrol-Captain took that as permission to go plan the operation it seemed as she and a lot of the Drow-Zee warriors left the room. I knew that they would spend hours coming with a good plan for saving Kara. They seemed strongly motivated to do that even though my beta was actually there enemy.
"So anything else?" I asked.
Hopefully it would be something simpler, like a tea shortage. That I could handle.
(Line Break)
Menzoberranzan – The Underdark
The next morning when Kara had been brought back to me Kiransalee shooed out everyone but me, and the Matron then comforted Kara as if she was her mother.
Kira's mother was sort of Kara's stepmother, or at she had been, still was an odd sight, and I quickly left the room because I was pretty sure that this was all part of some big scheme, and if it wasn't then it was just too much to watch.
I left the throneroom and I found Thomas waiting for me. Ever since he had gotten back from visiting the Matrons who wanted a Patron we had been putting our heads together so we could plan about how we could best handle this delicate situation.
We had to take action because as Tamers part of our job was to protect people from pokegirls, and if the balance of power down here shifted, and the warmongers took control then human lives would be in danger.
That we couldn't allow to happen as if the League decided to deal with the problem then they might come in guns blazing. I had a sort of family here, even if it was a weird one, I didn't want them to die, also I had to consider the safety of my yet unborn offspring whose mothers were part of the Elf Court. If the League attack they might take out the elves living in the Forbidden Forest as well.
"I have an idea" Tom told me.
Rather than ask about it I led my buddy down the hallway and into a room I knew would be empty as it was my bedroom during those times when I wasn't going to sleep with the Matron. Which had been nearly every night the last time I had stayed here.
Like everywhere else in the city my bedroom was luxurious, but without darkvision you couldn't really tell just how much effort had gone into carving a space out of the solid stone. Also without being able to see so well in such low light levels I wouldn't have noticed that my bed was currently occupied.
"I need the room" I told Ransa.
The poke was barely out the crèche so it was understandable that she was infatuated with me as I was the first human male to do anything sexual with her. Plus I was the closet thing she had to a father figure, so she liked it when I paid her attention, and she was willing to do what it took in order to get that attention.
"You can come back later" I told her as she used a blanket to cover her body so that Tom wouldn't get an eyeful while she left the room "I should be free in a few hours".
While the Drow-Zee scampered from the room Thomas gave me a look that compelled me to give him an explanation despite the fact that I was sure that he was really just amused by what had just happened.
"They say that Psychic Charm is a Blood Gift" I remarked "There are times when I am not sure about that".
Within my room there was a decent sized table, which for some reason always food and wine on it. Which meant we had things to snack on while we discussed our clever schemes. It really was like playing Game of Thrones what with all plotting, the only differences was that we were underground and there was a lot more sex.
"My plan is that I will fight the leader of the Warmongers Covens, she's called Zinzerena by the way" Tom informed me after we'd sat down.
I'd not gotten her name until now, and from what I knew about Dark Elf names the longer they were the more important the elf was. Also I knew that Matrons used parts of their name when naming their children. Kira and Ransa both came from Kiransalee.
"This will, I hope, lead to her getting beaten down and humiliated by me" Tom went on to say "I've already offered myself to her as a patron if she wins, and Kiransalee is backing my play".
Normally a human choosing to fight a pokegirl was a sign that they were a tad suicidal. But while Dark Elves were more agile than humans and good with spells, they weren't actually stronger than us. Also they were arrogant and therefore it was highly likely that the leader of Warmonger faction would underestimate Thomas.
"But if I beat her down then, her Coven must submit to Kiransalee's Coven on the matter of how the city expands, but she will still get me as her Patron. Which she wants, badly" the Hunter than added.
I didn't know why this Matron wanted Thomas so badly, but I was able to hazard a guess and my theory was soon confirmed by him.
"She attempted to assert her dominance over me during our first night together" he informed me.
That was odd behaviour for a Dark Elf as despite enjoying dominance games they were normally very eager to please human males, but perhaps that was only after they bonded with the man. I wouldn't know first hand as Kira had been devoted right from the start, but she was younger.
"She failed epically because she used some Lust Dust on me and I am sensitive to it" Tom went on to say "It turns me into a sexual berserker. Anyway to cut a long story short I had to carry her down to breakfast in the morning cause she couldn't feel anything below the waist".
While Thomas had one of the worst Blood Curses it was possible to have, which was really saying something as a lot of them really sucked, he had Blood Gifts that were no near as subtle as mine.
He didn't need to drink Recovery or Stamina XXX like I did in order to make sex last well into the night, he was always like that. So I could well imagine that by now the Matron who was leading the Warmongers was now totally hooked on the hunter.
"That will only partly solve the problem" Tom reasoned "She might lose some standing, but the aggressive covens would still be a threat to Kiransalee's leadership".
If the Matron that Tom had shagged until she couldn't walk was indeed strongly bonded with Thomas then she would want him to do whatever he wanted, even it was to do things to her. If that meant getting beaten up in front of other people. Tamer/pokegirl bonds could have a powerful effect even on strong willed pokewomen. Besides Tom was the kind of person who could kill a poke with surprise, the guy was like Batman when it came to the toys.
"I have an idea about that" I then said. "We can use the main arena for the fight, and invite everyone".
Every coven had it's own battle arena, for the training of warriors and during very special events, like say the birth of the son currently growing inside Kiransalee, the best warriors in the coven would fight captured ferals in order to entertain the crowd. Thankfully these games didn't happen very often, and they seemed to be going out of style as according to tradition there should have a few matches when I became the patron.
Also there was an even larger arena in the city that was used for more public events. Executions were hosted there, as there were ferals who could rip even a matron apart. And another thing they could be used for was to settle disputes.
"All the covens will have to attend, so it can serve as distraction to draw them away from their compounds" I went on to say.
Tom must have been thinking a long those lines as he was already nodding to signal his agreement.
"Right so you, Kiransalee, and Kira have got to attend" Tom said "and I'll be fighting so that leaves Raven free to lead a team of your Pokegirls and mine to look for evidence of any dirty dealings.
Daphe would be better suited to such a mission as my alpha wasn't much for sneaking around, but she would figure that out when I when I put her in charge of the mission. And even she didn't some of Drow-Zee around here would help.
"We need proof that Zinzerena and her allies provoked the Elf Court into skirmishes, or maybe they could find some evidence that there was some sort of shady dealings with the other covens" Thomas then reasoned.
This time I nodded my head in agreement.
"That sounds like a plan" I said.
(Line Break)
Menzoberranzan – The Underdark
I had fully expected that after throwing down the gauntlet with our challenge that the warmonger's leader would have found a way to cheat before, during, and perhaps even after the match. Of course she had still lost to Thomas as he was better at cheating, and because of that her defeat had been all the more humiliating.
Tom had expected that the matron would try to sabotage him, she didn't go as far as to actually injury him, at least before the fight, but she wouldn't have been above giving him food poisoning, somehow drugging him, slipping laxatives into his drink, and so on. So we'd prepared for all of it as best we could.
Before the match had started Thomas had taken a cocktail of anti-poison and anti-paralysis drugs, he'd filled his stomach with Cecelia's milk rather than eat anything, he'd put on a cup, then his body armour, he'd stashed a flash bang on his person and he'd had his weapon cleaned.
Thomas knew as well as I did that Zinzerena would have the means to poison or paralyze someone during a tussel of any sort. The delivery would have come in the form of a ring spike, a hair pin, or maybe even some Pokegirl in the audience with a blow gun. When it came to the Dark Elves you had to try to prepare for the most sneaky of things.
Also despite the weapons training Tom had gotten in the past his opponent had been more skilled and faster than him. However he had at least been able to hit her harder, as he had taken the enchanted bracers that enhanced strength as a prize during the tournament. He had also been willing to fight dirtier, he wasn't above hair pulling and biting.
In the end it had been the flash bang that had won him the day. He had set it off and the Matron had been rendered both blind and deaf, due to the brightness of the grenade. After that it had been simple enough for Tom to win as he had closed his eyes and stuck his fingers in his ears.
Any other group of pokes would have considered such a sneaky thing to be cheating, but Dark Elves admired such cleverness. In fact they had been impressed to see a human acting so cunning.
But what had really won the day was the evidence the pokes had found. They had discovered proof that a member of the Elf Court was conspiring with the war hungry covens. Actually they'd found the Grandelf and had questioned her only to discover that she had been the one whispering in the Elf's Queen. Kara had been locked upon the Grandelf's advice so I hadn't been to upset to see her put to death.
My Matron also a signed confession which while not enough to turn the whole city against Tom's Matron, as it was the word of a surface elf, it had gotten Zinzerena to switch her alligence which meant the warmongers had no leader now.
"So how is he doing?" I asked my Matron as she sat the edge of the bath and studied her crystal ball.
Kira had insisted that she go back to cleaning me when possible, and she was not happy that her little sister had taken over that duty while she'd been busy.
I'd made it up to my sort of stepdaughter by letting her cut my hair, as that was something she'd wanted to do but hadn't been able to as women being near with sharp objects was unnerving. I'd always felt that way ever since my little sister had stabbed with a bread knife, accidentally.
Which meant that yet again I was in the pool with a naked pokegirl sitting behind me as she washed my hair.
"The image is not clear" said the Matron "I think Zinzerena has some wards in place, but as far as I can tell some handmaidens were just holding your friend down and dousing him with Lust Dust".
Kiransalee projected the image, somehow, so I got to watch as of another of Zinzerena's handmaiden hit the floor with a glazed over expression of euphoria in her eyes. Thomas had already finished with that one it seemed.
The rest of the Drow-Zee fled and moments later Thomas was stomping around her room looking for his Matron while sounding a lot like some savage beast. Zinzerena was hiding under the bed and when he discovered that Tom grabbed her leg and pulled her out from under it while she screamed. How loud that scream was I didn't know as we had no sound but we could see the Matrons mouth so I was pretty sure it had been a big one.
"At least he remembered to put on the cock-ring" Kira commented.
I had purposely not checked to see if he was, but I was glad that he had decided to us it as it would allow him to impregnate Zinzerena tonight, and once she confirmed pregnant the alliance between this coven and the one Tom belonged to would be secure. Which in turn would calm things down around here.
Thinking about setting up this deal made me chuckle. While telling my buddy about magical item I'd gotten as far as calling it the cock ring, before he'd dropped the thing and gone on to wipe his hands off on his coat, before thinking better and using my table cloth.
"When was the last time you washed that thing?" he'd asked me.
I'd actually boiled the ring in the water mixed with salt before handing it over as I was no fool.
"Last night you were unhinged. You were like some desperate, howling demon. You frightened me. Do it again!" my Matron then said.
Apprantly she could lip read as well.
"How come your never that wild with me?" Kira then asked me as she started to trim my hair.
It didn't take me long to come up with an answer.
"Because I'm sane" I said.
Well that was a matter of opinion really.
"Few men can keep their cool when they drink Morimatra wine and get doused with Lust Dust" Kira's mother informed us "It is a potent mixture".
I'd been exposed to Lust Dust and I had drank Morimatra so I could well imagine then when mixed together they would make for some intense sex.
"Ransa go get some Morimatra and some Lust Dust" Kira ordered her little sister "Master needs to punish you for trying to take my place".
Suddenly I had a bad feeling about tonight.