[ - Author's Note - ]
Well, bit of a shorter chapter, at least by this story's standards... Still, we finally get to see what Unussol's map was pointing at, we get a peek into Roxellia's plans with the fall of Fort Seilarune... and, well, we'll leave it there for now.
In addition I'll be unleashing a new Questlines chapter, titled A Proper Host, in time with this one; involving James, Olga and Chloe. I'll leave things at that for now. I will say it's part of why it took a while to get this chapter out; the other being generally being under the weather as happens now and then. Rather then get into details I'll get to it.
Let's go!
[ - Act V - Chapter IV: Secrets Unseen - ]
There is no shame in retreat; when over-matched and overwhelmed it can often be better to fall back and conserve your forces, doubly so when what's there to defend isn't worth the cost in the Coins of War. To fall back, regenerate and reinforce can be the better option. You surrender initiative which is always a risk but without the right forces or the right conditions you might not be able to use such initiative. It must be understood; you can retreat, you can dig in, reinforce, train and more. Just remember; despite being on the defensive you cannot be inactive. Raise troops. Train. Scout. Prepare. Make use of your time; as of now the enemy controls the when and where of the next battle.
~Alexandria Casandria, Former Eostian General: Logistics, Tactics & the Means of War
[-]
I did my best to make the most of my downtime; after dropping Aurelia off at Ironside I'd end up ferrying Olga to Skyguard City for a meeting with Celestine in Skyguard. Honestly; while waiting for the Archbishop to move I was left wondering more and more what that place was and how Unussol knew of it... hell, maybe he just knew of it and hoped something important was there. What was there? A hidden treasury? A laboratory of some sort? A storehouse of weapons or supplies? The Archbishop's hidden cookbook for beef stew? Honestly; who knew?
It's been two days since Seilarune fell and damn, would I pay to be a fly on the wall in any of the Traditionalist's homes when that news dropped. Tiffany didn't just help the rebels take the fort she managed to take it under an hour. The how was kept out of the public eye but I gave a good chuckle once she told me she stole my drone idea to guide one of her summons to their powder room. I didn't mind at all.
What that meant in the grand scheme of things is they could deploy reinforcements north to break the siege on Fort Kincaid while others moved with another force onto Carter's Arrow to take that town. If they could take the center and north of Albia then the capital would be open to assault; holding the south as well would be ideal but not needed and given the push back the rebels were suffering there not likely. As long as they could hold the north then they wouldn't be pinched. However there would be two bigger obstacles before them; Fort Tenner and Fortress Trucis Mons... or translated to English, Grim Mountain which would be the larger of the two issues.
Fort Tenner was built across a bridge and was more like two, small forts on either side of a road with gates connecting them. Thirty foot high walls, one keep at fifty feet tall. Taking it would be an issue due to the choke-point the bridge to it's east would provide; I'd go so far as to say tackling it from that direction alone was suicide. You'd need to get forces on the other side; either by fording the river which could see an opposing force try and block the landing or by coming from the north. To come from the north you'd need to take Trucis Mons... and that was a fortress with a story...
Back in the days of the Arblade Empire a mighty fortress was commissioned and built as a strong point for invasions into Eostia and a defensive anchor in the event someone came north with a stern word and a large army. You need to understand what we're dealing with here; fifty foot, sloped outer walls with towers and siege weapons, eighty foot inner walls with it's own siege weaponry (Rumored to, currently, boast eight cannons) and a hundred and thirty foot inner keep with an elevator built in just to help people get up and down. It's nickname was 'The Fortress of Calamity', earned in the war where Albia joined Eostia... which ended up turning the fort on the Empire that built it. It would be taken after a year's long siege... but the army that took it was so battered and broken they couldn't hold it and the counter attack all but obliterated them.
The story would repeat in the Garan War; the fortress would be taken twice and both times the attacking force was so depleted it couldn't carry on. Three other assaults would just fail outright and cripple the attacking forces, cementing the reputation. To try and move from north to south to reach Fort Tenner then you would need to take Fortress Trucis Mons first; otherwise you'd have opposing raiders using it as a base to disrupt supplies. Even just laying siege without an attack risks problems; there's enough forces housed there to bolster a flanking army. I knew nothing of either forces commanders but I imagine they would be well trusted by Roxelia... It could be a grind...
On another note, and better one, the Archbishop finally left Quietam Locum City so it was time to move out. I had taken the time to better prepare this time; we wouldn't be going into the city via Cloud Rider, rather we'd walk into the city under disguise. I didn't want to tip my hand and given my meeting with Henry Caelum I knew the Church suspected I was looking into them. What they knew exactly I didn't know; they knew I was poking around but likely not why. Or rather maybe they had an idea and wasn't sure if I was on a trail or chasing my own tail. I was asking who I could in my contacts to see if they could work that out, but I wasn't confident.
I would park the Enterprise outside of the city over a forest while under cloak and use Levitation to get to the ground. Makoto and Riri would be coming with me with Illusions to look like normal mercs. We'd go to the district and start our stake out; using a Sky Eye to get watch as well as finding all the entrances while using the thermal vision to see what everyone was doing inside as best as we could. This helped us in an interesting way; there was... something underground; we could see a someone use a staircase leading down. I half wanted to use a smaller Sky Eye to sneak in and get a better view of the lay out without risking Riri but without knowing their enchantments they could have something that would disrupt it or expose it. Not to mention if I messed up it would be a safe bet for them to work out the who. Sadly Riri had to go in; she was trained to infiltrate and knew enough about enchantments (Not just from myself but in spotting them from Sora) to both avoid and understand them. Sure, not to the level I could understand them but enough to, hopefully, get the job done.
I would be outfitting her with a few enchantments of my own; a modified voxlux that would be a black earring so I could speak to her without anyone else hearing with it's twin set to her headband so I could see what she could see. I added a third spell stone set to a necklace with a modified Silence effect; she'd be able to hear everything around her but could talk without being heard save by person on the other end of her voxlux; in other words, me. One set to her waist would cast an invisibility based Illusion around her to further help her hide; mostly when she was holding still. There would be fields that could disable it meaning she'd need to rely on her skills (And a mask) to avoid detection. I further enchanted the glasses I put thermal vision on to further help her as I gave them to her.
I'd rather risk myself then her but let's not kid ourselves here; Riri had the skills and abilities to pull this off easier, plus her smaller size and higher pound for pound strength would serve her well in the efforts. She studied our Sky Eye's footage for the two days we were in the inn; myself and Makoto, still under disguise, would go about and learn what else we could without drawing attention.
It wasn't a known Church location (Although where the Archbishop would park was; an older cathedral that was being repaired and refurbished), rather it was a private laboratory that produced and sold alchemy regents. That was curious but it didn't explain why the Archbishop visited for days to this place, taking a hidden side door. Using said door wasn't going to happen; it was guarded twenty-four/seven from the inside (We knew thanks to thermal vision).
She made up her plan and, soon, would deploy in the early evening when there was still light up; risky but it was just before the day shift turned over to the night shift and she was under the assumption she could get downstairs easier in that time...
Fingers crossed...
[-]
Quietam Locum City
Duchy of Sanka
Lead & Gold Alchemy Components
Early Evening
"I'm still surprised you think you saw the Archbishop here." A man let off, snorting. Clad as he was in simple, if well made, chain mail he held a five foot halberd in his hand, propped on his shoulder as he walked the halls on his patrol. He was a former adventurer in need of a more stable job once he married; his wife deserved the ability to see him each day and not be left alone for a day or more at a time. Sure, some of the guild jobs paid better and he'd take the odd one to pad his accounts but there was also less risk of being killed and eaten in a job like this.
"Heard, I said heard. Listen, dammit." His companion wore likewise armor and a likewise weapon in length save it was a pike. He was a bit shorter and lacked the trimmed beard or any facial hair of his partner. "I got to hear some of his sermons before; I know his voice."
"Riiiiiight; what would a guy that high up be doing here?" The first man said, snorting as they made a turn.
"The same reason this place has so many damn guards; they make important stuff in here." The second said as the first frowned but didn't dispute the point; he wasn't wrong, per say. Powdered and liquid mana, powdered spell crystal, high quality spell glass and more. It had a garden on the upper two floors dedicated to growing the flowers and plants to be made into extracts for all sorts of potions and hired magicians who were experimenting to harmonize the magical signatures of spell stones to make larger ones by fusing two together... Both even overheard one man talk about condensing magic into stones to make them more potent. They didn't have the education to know the details but they knew these experiments had gone on for decades and might not showcase results for decades more. Even then these works were based on works themselves decades in the making. The products on hand, if sold at market value, could buy a small city. It was tempting for thieves to target and thus needed guards on patrol and other measures to protect them.
The one waiting for them to pass, however, was not a thief.
Riri used a combat art to attach her hands and feet to climb up the side of the building; they were enchanted to prevent that but she noticed a part of the building had been added on after the structure was built and a bulge for chimney wasn't guarded. Once on the roof her soft steps carried her to where she could drop down to the second story, gripping a window's ledge. During her observation she saw the office's window was left open an inch giving her access. The person the office was for left at this point for the day but she kept leaving the window open at the end, letting her open it up enough to slip in. Once the guards passed the door she was able to slip out into the hall, the Illusion blurring softly as she moved down the hall, keeping close to the wall while keeping a few inches from it. The next part was to go down a floor; hence she rushed there as much as she could without noise, pausing and holding still as a patrol rounded the corner, as expected.
One benefit of the enchantments her master outfitted her with was the modified silence spell let her hear them but they couldn't hear her breathing; one less sound to be picked up by those with good ears. Neither guard in the patrol seemed to be diligent; likely years of nothing happening on a patrol dulling their senses. Lucky for her. Both passed her by and she waited for a moment before carrying on.
Her Combat Art would work on the stair way's walls so she would move to climb along the ceiling to avoid anyone that might have come up, A test at the bottom showed she could stick to the ceiling without leaving an imprint so, like a large, girly spider, she crawled along the ceiling. She knew where to go thanks to the thermal vision and no one noticed as she passed by; a few workers under her readying to leave. She would use the glasses to double check and almost hummed.
The door was hidden in a wall behind a shelf; that was no surprise. She moved over the shelf and, under the Illusion, waited. It took almost fifteen minutes before one of the workers came by; a redheaded man in a long, white tunic and black pants. Mildly cute, she imagined. He yawned and reached to the shelf and reached to the top and pressed his hand to one spot for a moment, then another, then another before the shelf shivered and, without noise, moved to slide to the side, the wall beside it opening to let it in as the wall behind it slid down into the floor. The man would enter and she would crawl behind him on the ceiling, adjusting her glasses to spot possible anti-Illusion fields. It wasn't until the bottom she saw one; just before the exit door with two, human guards... in the garb of the Church Forces.
She clicked her tongue but relaxed. She dropped behind the man silently and followed to the edge of the field. The man offered greetings as she switched to thermal vision and glanced about. Aside from the guards there were three people, the new arrival included. She couldn't see them without the vision so she waited until after the redhead was out of sight before dropping her Illusion and moving fast; crouching low and staying quiet as she moved between the two guards...
Being so low she was under their line of sight and being so silent they never heard her as she moved between them and used Reflex Boost and Shadow's Dash; rocketing to the side and beside a work desk turning and moving behind it before turning the Illusion back on. A look around the desk would show her the guards didn't react. One coughed for a moment but that was it. Sighing in relief she then moved to take stock of what sort of room she was in now.
Whatever there was to see would be here. Slowly she started to walk, moving close to a wall. The room she was in now seemed to be a mix of storage and administration with a lot of files and books. Grey walls greeted her with a stone floor. There was no adornments; the furniture and shelving was functional, plain wood. She was sure something was in there her master could use but nothing she could grab without risk of being noticed by the guards who were still in sight. Moreover she didn't know where to start looking. Speaking of; she squeezed her earring. "I'm here."
"I can see. Good job." Her master's voice came softly from the earring as she looked around. "Don't worry about the books; it would take hours to find anything without people watching. Do you see anywhere else to go?"
"There's a hall. Two of them. Side and middle."
"Side; let's not risk the guards seeing anything." She nodded, even if he could only see it by his view shifting before moving down the side hall. She would stay slow and paced in her motions until she knew she was out of anyone's line of sight before moving at a better pace. With the thermal vision she could see the locations of everyone so knew which doors to avoid opening.
The side rooms offered little of interest; odd regents and notes but James would quickly tell her they weren't something that could be used against the Church and were mundane.
It was one of the rooms deeper in he expressed concern finally. "That's... Get closer so I can see..." He let off as she moved to a workstation, looking it over. Books were open with magic circles drawn in them, regents she didn't know of (And while not magically educated one picked up a lot when working for a mage family) and tools she couldn't say she'd seen before; including a long and thin needle with a mild curve and a serrated inner edge. "These are transmutation tools... Quality and custom I'd say... Those tools are meant to cause a specific kind of harm to flesh that would help spells meld flesh to flesh..." She knew well her master's disdain for transmutation; borderline hatred even.
Given what they had run into that was spawned by it and related magics... she didn't blame him. "They must be making something down here..." She said as she moved to pick something up before hearing the door open. She ducked under the work station; even under the Illusion she could still be seen while moving due to the blur or if someone was close enough. She moved to the edge and around the station to see the red head walk in and sigh as he moved to a shelf, filling a small tray with items.
"Why can't they just leave things where they need to be..?" He complained to himself, unaware someone could hear him.
"Follow him." Came the order to her ear. She nodded and moved towards the door, trying to keep from his eye line as he walked to the door. He would open it and leave; she'd use a hand to delay it's closing to exit before following him further into the laboratory. Silent steps and boots designed to make no noises kept him from noticing her as he turned down the hall then turned down to another. The door awaiting them was impressive; the doors until now were plain wood while this was mythril and eight feet tall with rounded corners. The redhead would move to the door's side as she made sure her glasses were ready to look for possible anti-Illusion enchantments as he pressed an amulet to a panel besides the door. The door would shudder and then open slowly to one side. There was no signs of counter-enchantments as he walked in and she followed. The door would close shortly after as she moved to the room's side to look it over... and gasped.
The room was circular, a thirty foot wide cylinder with a rounded ceiling twenty feet up. The walls were coated with a layer of mythril and it was only because of the vault in the Thunderblaze Mountains that she noted the spell quartz in patterns on the walls; magical circles of some sort... not unlike the one in the transmutation book she just saw. Those quartz lines followed along in the mythril coated floor. From the ceiling hung a large chunk of spell quartz in the shape of a rough cone, point down. It was at least twelve feet long with a ten foot base attached to the ceiling... somehow...
(James would suggest later that there was more to the quartz they couldn't see in the ceiling... that made her uneasy...)
Mythril tubes, twice as thick as her thumb, was attached to it and dropped down, ten in all. Ninety degree joints would connect to something in the center of the room; something casket like and colored in a greenish bronze tone but smooth and mirrored in polish, laid down with one side raised slightly. (James would later call it bronzed mythril; four parts bronze, one silver and five mythril. Weaker then steel although still strong and light, it bore more magical conductive properties then normal mythril.) A glass (Or clear spell stone) cover showed glowing, silver-green liquid as the man moved to the casket and pulled a level on it's side; from where she stood she could see the liquid drain out. After a moment he would open the casket and pull out a hypodermic needle.
She blinked until he reached down into it and, after a moment, pulled a needle filled with blood. She felt uneasy as he moved to the side of the room near some work station with a microscope and other magical instruments. While he worked she moved to the still open casket and looked inside. "What the..."
"She looks like..." Inside the casket was a woman, an elven woman. Slender, hands folded over her abs and maybe double D breasts. Her eyes was shut but Riri took a moment to move a lid open, making sure the man wasn't looking. Deep, watery blue eyes were there but bore no life behind them. Slender curves for the hips and she laid on a cushion of her own hair; longer then heel length and thick it made it look like she was laying on a blanket of gold. "She looks like she could be Celestine's sister... What is going on here..?" Her master asked in her ear. The body didn't move; not even to breathe.
"It's all going well." The man said as Riri ducked down and moved around the casket to it's rear. He would lean over and do something she couldn't see as he hummed. "Good, good... Yes, all good. Here we go." She rounded to the other side to peek her head out, a needle filled with more blood but this with a hint of cyan liquid within that didn't mix with the blood within. He would reach in and she knew, before the empty needle came out, where it went. He would shut the lid and move to pull the level back to it's original position. Job done he would leave, a lever on the door's side opening it for him to exit.
"That's weird..." Riri let off as she moved to the tube once more, looking into it. "...Who is she? She looks like she could be related to Celestine..."
"No idea... I don't recall Cele having sisters... A cousin? But even so..."
"Could she be another aspect of Larentia?" Riri asked; she could sense her master's head shake from there.
"No; the knight's location is known and the wanderer was reported to be on the other continent. I doubt that's her." He replied. "Did that man leave any tools?" She blinked and moved to the tray at the workstation. There would be a few, but among them was three, unused needles. "Good. Fetch a blood sample from her and a sample of that liquid she's in."
"Shouldn't we... rescue her?" Riri asked as she considered how she could even try and smuggle the woman out of there...
"No. Trust me, I understand but no." He said firmly. "We don't know who she is and could be loyal to the Church... moreover I think..."
"Master..?"
"I have a feeling her... creation isn't by normal means... I don't want to get into it now but... I have a bad feeling... Maybe I'm wrong, I hope I am but if I'm not..."
"Got it. Hold on." She would move to take a needle and, like the man, pulled the lever to drain the casket. Once it was empty she opened the casket and moved to draw blood from her arm. Once done she put the needle into a pouch at her hip before using an empty vial from the pouch to reach in and scoop up some liquid caught in her hair, setting it away as she sighed. She moved to close it then blinked and looked to her hands. After a moment she pulled her hands up a bit higher to see under them. "...Master... She... has no belly button..."
"...Shit... Put her hands back before you go... I might be right..."
Soon the casket would be shut and closed and the level moved to refill it. The thermal vision of her glasses would confirm no one was on the other side of the door and she'd pull the lever to open the door and leave. The guards were easy to avoid; her Illusion only fell after she passed them and she was able to reapply it once she was half the way up. Up the stairs, into the office and out the window, dropping to the ground. It was easy to get enough distance to drop the invisibility Illusion for the disguise one and head back to the inn.
A recording of her excursion and blood of... a person in her pouch she wasn't sure what they found... but it was... something...
[-]
With a little enchanting we had something to preserve the blood Riri retrieved from that... whatever was in that tube... I had a feeling she was a clone but that seemed... off; for one thing I never heard of the idea in this world before. That didn't mean someone couldn't come up with the idea of a clone; people in my old one did, after all. To what end though? She didn't seem like a clone of Celestine so... another of the aspects, past or present? Okay but... that still didn't explain the effort; that amount of spell quartz isn't easy or cheap to make, let alone form into such patterns or such a sizable chunk... That... person is a huge investment...
I didn't have the equipment on board the Enterprise to examine it and while I could go home and do it I wanted to bring the Black Watch in on it so I went to Fortress Ken directly. We went in and spoke with Akane Lee directly before she took us deep down into the cellars of the fortress' keep. She ordered one man in particular to examine the blood and liquid and hummed as he looked at the first under the microscope as I explained everything to Akane; Unussol's hidden maps, the meeting with the Scorned Circle (I didn't give away where they were but Akane name dropped the right city so I suspected she had an eye on them... maybe...), the meeting with Henry Caelum, tracking the Archbishop in Quietam Locum and finally sending Riri and what she found in the lab.
She frowned, tapping her chin. "Interesting. Forward me the footage of the infiltration." We were away from the researcher as he worked so he didn't overhear. "But I have no idea what that body is doing there... is... she alive?"
"We didn't see breathing; I assume she's in some form of... magically induced stasis." I said as I looked to her. "I think the liquid is a modified liquid mana; it's possible it's being used to prevent the body from aging or rotting. The Abomination-" Gahhh, there's something to remember... "-proved that flesh can be prevented from rotting; it's possible the prevention of aging is possible, doubly so with an elf." The man moved the blood sample to another machine as I spoke. "What I don't understand is why all the effort. The body lacks a belly button-" Her eyebrows rose at that as I kept speaking. "-which suggests she wasn't born by natural means... That... body might have been made."
"But why all the effort to make an elf? Elves are a minority but not hard to find in Eostia..." She mused.
"My theory... My theory is the body was made in a manner similar to a spawnborne-" She paled a bit at that. "-and likely from the blood of... ... ...well..."
"Gods..."
"Ma'am, M'lord..." The man let off as he walked over to us. He was a lanky man; a half elf with short, steel blue hair and red eyes. He stood five nine and looked to me; Wyn Barkspeaker. "I'm not fully sure about what you are speaking of but based on my findings..." He said, sighing hard. "...we may wish to summon the High Queen to confirm my theory of what this blood is..."
[-]
Albia Palace
White Angel City, Barony of Albia
Palace War Room
"I... cannot... This isn't..." Roxellia grit her teeth, shivering as she clawed the table her map was on as she looked to it wide eyed. Her nails left small scratches as she tried to control herself but the situation she was seeing before her caused her no end of frustration... and more then a little fear, if she was forced to admit, even to just herself.
Tokens representing the armies of the two sides were moved. Rebel tokens moved deeper into the center towards Carter's Arrow and the north around Fort Kincaid. Reports of skirmishes around the first and preparations to attack the besieging forces in the second were coming in. Fort Seilarune was taken; a fort that should have held out for months had surrendered overnight. That had opened up the rebel's path onwards and she even redirected forces from the south to harden her center. "...what happened..?" She finally let off to Logan Uldon, standing to her left at the table's other side with her daughter to the right of the table.
"By what reports we have the keep's powder stores were exploded." He said simply with a grim look. "Tiffany Embercoat is credited for the feat and as a major factor of taking the fort afterwards. The lieutenant the command fell to is loyal and resolute but I imagine the sudden destruction off-balanced the defenders so much they surrendered rather then face what seemed futile."
"Dammit..." She let off before slamming a fist into the table. "DAMMIT!"
"There is some good news." She looked next to Logan at the smaller man who spoke next. "Fort Tenner and Fortress Trucis Mons gives us excellent defensive anchors. They can't take the first without taking the second... and we all know the history of the Mountain Made of Grim Stone." The man was in a silken looking, purple robe with a half breastplate of mythril over his chest with short pauldrons. Black pants were over his legs, tucked into black boots while brown gloves were over his fingers. The House Ardon emblem was over his pauldrons and a buckle on a belt wrapped about his purple, wizard's hat. At five feet tall the halfling mage was her court magician; a thin mustache matching his short, black hair. A wand was at one hip, a simple, mythril scepter capped with a red spell stone was at his back. "Even if they opt to avoid Trucis that'll give us the means to harass and strike at their rear. We can even use it as a base if we get an army there." Arttra, Son of Tennet added with a soft smile.
"That said we should consider something." Across from the halfling mage and next to Brienna someone else spoke up. A woman with dual, spell stone eyes in purple looked to the baroness with a serious look, a bald head looking back. The five foot ten woman wore mythril chain mail with a breast plate and plates over her forearms, shins and pauldrons of matching metal. A heavier scepter then Arttra's was at her back in mythril, if a lead core under the pointed, diamond shaped green spell stone, along with an oval tower shield with attached, smaller ovals on the sides, painted in the manner of the House Ardon banner; Xena 'The Wall' Ardon was a cousin of Roxellia's, a cleric of no small skill and able magical and martial combatant in her own right. "She's attached herself to that Noxdecus Champion and we all know how many 'impossibles' he performed over one incursion."
"Indeed..." Logan grumbled out. "The voxlux, the Cloud Rider, the Blood Bear, the Dread Field, Olga Discordia and the Abomination." He said with a sneer. "He's made the impossible possible several times. And with Seilarune the Embercoat wench is emulating his success to a degree. Fortress Trucis Mons is a powerful defensive force... but if we assume it cannot fall we will be proven wrong."
"...We cannot afford to be pushed further back." Roxellia said as Brienna crossed her arms. "We need a solution."
"We could attack with everything we have." Brienna let off as she was given a glare from her mother. "We find this claimant's location and throw all we have at her."
"Scouting reports say she's moving to the Kincaid theater of the war." Logan said as he frowned. "A massive assault could be reckless; we don't know the exact location of their war camp. That said if we could work out it's location and put it to assault we could end the wench once and for all; the rebels could crumble without a figure to rally about."
"The issue is if we charge in unknowing of where she is we risk being ambushed with ease and losing forces." Xena replied with a huff and a deep frown. "Our contacts in the enemy force haven't called in?"
"They were placed in the forces under siege." Arttra replied with a sigh. "We have a general idea... but it would take days to comb it all and the enemy scouts would need to be blind and deaf to not notice."
"Do we have other options?" Roxellia asked as she sneered, glaring back to the man. Logan moved to point to the man.
"We can order our forces in the north to retreat and gather around Alcatta." He began with a frown. "That means we'll surrender control of Kincaid but it forces them to besiege Trucis Mons to make head way. They could pull forces from their Carter's Arrow assault to further their attack on the Fortress. Once they set to siege we can harass them until we're ready to launch a counter attack. If we play our cards right we can send a force to be the hammer to Trucis' anvil. It does surrender the initiative and ground to them but it gives us the chance to force them into a slog of a siege. Moreover we'll have months to recover while they bang their faces to the Grim Mountain's walls."
"Any other options..?" Roxellia let off as she stood up fully. There was no answers; merely looking to her as she frowned harder. "...Very well then..." She said as she considered her options; attack or defend.
Did she risk everything on an all out offensive assault that could break the rebels? If she could find their hidden camp she stood a strong chance of assassinating Tiffany Embercoat in or out of combat. She could pull off a harsh, decapitation attack that could end the war there and then... that would leave her greatly weakened if it failed... and maybe lose a good commander of her own; she could only entrust Logan or Xena for the assault and would need to have Arttra or Brienna in support... Such losses would decapitate her forces almost as badly...
The other option would allow her to build her forces instead and recover loses. She could train her armies, rebuild her forces, gather mercenaries and, at her leisure, launch an attack with Fortress Trucis Mons as an anvil to hammer her foes into. The problem would be she would be granting the rebels the initiative and allow them deeper into Albia, letting their scouts move in deeper... Moreover as sturdy as the fortress was Xena was right; it could be felled... and if it could be done without crippling the enemy forces Tenner could be taken with relative ease and leave her capital open to assault.
Fully commit to an attack that would be crippling if it failed or let Fortress Trucis Mons bear the weight of a siege and hope it holds until she can launch a devastating counter.
...
"We will fall back and allow Trucis Mons to hold them." She finally said.
"Mother!?"
"Without details of where the camp is an assault is too reckless." She said as she ignored her daughter's outburst. "Our goal is to survive above all else." She said, sternly. "Surrendering the initiative has it's own risks, I won't lie, but we must admit this; we need to rebuild from our losses. Our failures until now in taking Kincaid and the loss of Seilarune is going to further weaken us. We need to rebuild our forces and train them to better their strength."
"Should we fall back from Carter's Arrow and hold in Tenner as well or challenge them in Arrow?" Logan asked as she let off a 'tsk'.
"...Do it. Call a retreat. Our defenses are insufficient and the numbers are too few there to hold. Have them re-base in Tenner and build a palisade outside of the Fort." She said sternly. She noted her daughter's frown and gave her look in return; that made her flinch and stand down, looking away. Good; she wasn't in the mood to discipline her right now. Beat maybe; if the girl pushed her luck... "Let's begin discussion how we'll begin our retreat... Luckily we'll have an ace up our sleeve to begin our extraction..."
[-]
"You did what..!?"
"...I had Riri infiltrate a hidden Church laboratory, found an experiment of theirs and took samples of what may or may not be a spawneborne..."
"Gah..." Celestine had joined us in the Black Watch's lab under Fortress Ken and reached up to pinch her nose like a disappointed mother. She took in a long breath before speaking once more do my in a calm but clearly upset manner. "Do you know... how reckless such a thing is?" She let off, her hands moving to her hips as she stared me down.
"I'm not unaware, Cele. But it's one of the few clues I had to operate on... and... I think we need to see what that blood sample is..." I said as she looked to the needle of blood.
(For the curious; I was right about the liquid being liquid mana but it was mixed with liquid spell crystal as well, a very difficult thing to make and it was nearly one to one with the liquid mana.)
"And if I may, Your Highness-" Wyn let off as he looked to her. "-I think you really should use your magic to scan it along with the instruments. I... I think we need to know... because that blood seems to be mixed of multiple sources..." She blinked at that as surprise showed on her face.
(On another side note; he was able to isolate that blue stuff that was injected; liquid spell crystal. What was it being pumped in for? I had guesses...)
She moved over to the instrument in question and adjusted the scope that let one look into it. Finally she would look into the viewer; she wasn't sure what she was looking at at first, I imagine. The device was used to, mostly, see lingering mana in blood samples; when you draw blood some mana from the mana system comes along for the ride and you can see it under the scope... Normally it showed as a sort of wavering chain of light that varied from person to person and how intense they were varied on the mana potential. A normal person had thin threads and an able mage, like myself, had thicker ones. The sample... didn't have that.
There was, first of all, a solid vein of mana caused by the additive the worker added to the body could be seen but the chains of mana present were thick, twice as thick as you'd expect... and multicolored. That did not happen. No normal person had multicolored mana like that under a scope; it was one, unified color. This sample was the entire rainbow, twice over! You can imagine why that might be a little weird.
Indeed; confusion showed on Celestine face as she lifted her face from the scope, frowning in thought before reaching a hand down to scan the blood more directly with her own magic... and recoiled in horror for a long moment, hand shooting away as she shook in place. "Cele?" I let off as she lowered her hand back down, now trembling as she looked to the sample wide eyed and almost fearful as she scanned it once more. This time she forced herself to scan it, scan long and hard to understand what was there... We were silent as she did so for a full minute while her skin paled, going towards chalk white at an alarming rate as her eyes opened wider and wider. "...Cele..?"
"...oh gods... ...by the gods..." She let off, finally backing up, trembling the whole while before clamping a hand over her mouth. She dashed to the side and moved to an empty spot before she finally puked and hard. I was moving to follow her already but as she bent over to spew I was beside her, moving a hand to rub her back as she tossed up more of her last meal. "...gods..."
"Cele... what is it..?" I asked as I pulled a flask from my armor's bag of holding; she took from it and took in the water to swirl it in her mouth and spit it out.
"...gods... James... this is... gods... there is... my blood is in there!" She let off as I flinched in shock, jaw dropping; worse she was using that tone she used when I told her Qatil was coming to kill me. "But that's not all... Four other aspects of Larentia I've met over my years and I'm confident to say all have theirs mixed in... and at least a dozen more aspects I haven't met..." She shivered as she looked to me directly. "More over I am... one of those I knew died nine hundred years ago... This... Whoever or whatever that... thing is, she has been planned for maybe a thousand years or more... I do not know what it is but that... person is... a combination, a spawnborne, of over a dozen of the goddess' reincarnation..."
"Gods..." Akane let off, overhearing it as I frowned. "But... to what end..?"
"...Guys..." I began as I frowned hard. "I have a theory but... before I explain it I want a second opinion..." Normally that would be... sadly Klaus I would ask but in his... absence I knew another man to rely on. "Given the sensitive nature we'll need to go to Hakla directly to get it face to face..."
[-]
Carter's Arrow
Central Barony of Albia
"Come on! Ready for march, now! Now!" Sergeant Miles Kilroy was not eager to fight the rebels there; while the forces under his commander's influence was solid at one thousand strong they knew the rebels were marching with at least two thousand, maybe more. That meant either digging in for a hard fight or retreating to another location and joining other units. The orders came in and, luckily, it was the second; they were ordered to evacuate all they could... and remove all they couldn't.
From his position, on the palisade that was positioned as their base, he could see a farmer and his family pulled away (With the farmer being met with the butt end of a spear) as a torch was tossed into his wheat fields. Miles winced as the fire lit the oil spread about and helped the dry wheat catch fire faster; it was a brutal measure to go Scorched Earth on their own people but they had to deny the rebels everything and anything they could; doubly so food resupply. That wasn't all they were doing; every weapon in the town and tool that could be used as a weapon was thrown into supply wagons and would be taken with them. Cattle and other livestock would be slaughtered for all the meat on hand before whatever couldn't be taken was coated in oil and set alight.
Even if the peasants starved and suffered it didn't matter; nothing usable could be left save the buildings themselves. Finally he would move from the wall, his men spreading oil along the wooden fort. He gave a nod as one man saluted, torch in hand and tossing it in as Miles passed; the fire rising quickly behind him. It took another hour to finish their work, needing to beat and batter villagers back to ensure the destruction was carried out. Then they could march out, moving to a meeting point past the forest line.
As the men readied to march he looked to something new; a wagon with no horse before it and a bench at it's front. The commander and his best, elite troops mounted aboard it and, once he saw Miles gave a nod and salute before the wagon lifted to the air.
The Eagle Carrier wasn't the Cloud Rider; he'd been on a Cloud Rider and knew the difference in size and design. He knew it was a copy made by Ardon's allies and sent to their aide. They only had the one for now but, supposedly, more were promised. That left them with an advantage over the rebels; aerial resupply and troop deployment. He wasn't sure if the rebels would get a Cloud Rider in turn but if they didn't...
He huffed and grinned before moving to organize the troops and march them to the west. It would be a long march and once the Eagle Rider was done it would return for more. For now they would fight another day as they left Carter's Arrow to head west.
Hours later Carter's Arrow would be placed under the eyes of rebel scouts with one opting to approach the town. After contact he would report what he had found and been told.
Over the course of the next day food would be rushed to the town with a small amount of troops. Over the next five days food, tools and supplies would flow in along with Guild Reporters who would interview the locals; the rebels opening their own stocks to help the town and nearby villages that had suffered likewise. For a week people wouldn't have enough to eat but they would manage. Afterwards the situation would stabilize and new livestock promised from outside of the barony.
House Ardon's forces would retreat with no injuries or losses recorded.
Rebel forces would arrive and absorb over three hundred new volunteers; willing to fight and overthrow House Ardon.
[-]
Blake von Adelle welcomed us warmly when we arrived and while he was quick to offer hospitality I needed to stress that we were here for his insight on a highly important matter and one that was both sensitive and possibly horrific. To his credit he led us to his office; myself, Celestine, Akane and him. "Well my lad, how can I be of service?"
(Being House Adelle you'd be unsurprised at the darker colors, or that the supports for shelves looked like webs, or that he kept a candy bowl that looked like a skull with small mints in it. Shaped like skulls. House Adelle, everyone.)
I explained everything save where the Scorned Circle made their home; Unussol, the map he left pointing to Quietam Locum City in Sanka, Henry's warning, the time that the Archbishop spent there and finally what we found in the location... and what the Black Watch and Celestine determined the... body to be...
I was... of mixed opinions on what the... clone body of the... Aspect amalgamation; was... I supposed to refer to the body as a her or an it? Was... it or she alive, dead or something else? Was I referring to a shell of a being, something that was going to have another mind put into it, or was there a living mind in there that could be taught? If we destroyed the body was that murder or... disposal..? I... have no idea what the hell to think nor what to do if the choice was set at my feet.
Blake, to his credit sat on his desk, nodding and frowning in thought as he nodded as I explained, only injecting to ask questions or clarifications. "I see... I see... Transmutation magic is, as we all know, a source for much potential good... and grand harms and evils..." There was something... chilling hearing a man who celebrated the macabre so much say that in a serious tone. "That such a... creature has been made is surprising to me; they must have collected the blood or other samples of Aspects for a millennia... Your Highness." He began, looking to her. "You say you can tell all the... donors to this being were Aspects; how can you be so sure? Blood is a hard thing to scan on it's own."
"Indeed." Celestine replied; having recovered a bit from the shock she was hit with. "But that blood holds the magic still of them; if you know what to sense the mana of an Aspect is clear... the blood held all their mana..."
"And like the human body blood can only hold mana for so long... one cannot get it from a corpse suggesting they've collected these samples from them alive... and kept them viable for centuries until they were used..." Blake said with a nod. I frowned but couldn't argue; he wasn't wrong... "Which begs the question of why..?" He said before looking to me, taking a moment to wipe his monocle with a cloth. "I assume you've a theory?"
"I just wanted to be sure my theory was feasible... and you're the best I know to second the theory or reject it." I said as I looked to him with a frown of my own. "I think they're trying to make, or rather remake Larentia in a form they could control..." Celestine winced and Akane frowned as Blake hummed in thought. "Of course she, if we can call this experiment of there's a she, would be lacking what makes Larentia Larentia... unless they could... well, merge into it..."
Celestine took a half step back with a look of hard shock, her skin paling as the full impact of my suggestion hit. Akane was the one to speak. "Fusing the three reincarnations into one body... one of their choosing..."
"It's a mere theory, bare in mind." I have considered the implications; and yes, the thought horrified me too. "There's no means to prove it, at current. More over with the three Aspects so physically removed from one another they can't pull it off yet; they could feasibly only reach Celestine and kidnapping her would be a tall order, even for them. Moreover I don't think they'd want the chaos that would cause; not until they were prepared to take advantage of it. Of course it's merely a theory..." I said as I looked to Blake. "And I have no idea what such a merger would do."
"I see... That is a frightening idea..." He began with a frown. "...Transmutation of two living beings into one hasn't been done much, and never above board... What notes we have come from those... unscrupulous enough to do it but... combining minds in such a way trends to... end poorly..."
"... ...Define 'poorly'." I asked him. Was I eager to hear? No. Should I hear it? Given the situation; yes.
"At best? Someone with a mixture of the personalities and memories of both either partially blending together causing insanity in the person." He said as I winced. "At worst you have two minds fighting over one body; unable to retreat to the background and unable to fully command the new body. It is a nightmare and often in both cases they... remove themselves from life." He added the last part in rather darkly. "I imagine in both cases a triple fusion would make it all worse..."
"...unless..." I began softly as I moved to tap my chin. Everyone looked to me and blinked. It took me a moment to consider things and everyone gave me the space and time. "...unless you render the bodies to be fused together brain dead; ensure there are no thoughts or memories..." He blinked as I began my explanation. "Then you could fuse them to the body and then fuse that with someone else; someone loyal... If that was a human woman I could see fusing her to the body, then the three aspects with their brains rendered to nothing but what's needed to breathe..."
"...by the gods..." Celestine hissed out. "If you're right... If you're even in part right... the results could be catastrophic... I do not think the goddess can be remade in such a way... nor do I think the Church would want her to be remade; while in many ways good she could be unkind as well."
"That's assuming the goddess comes together and whatever results isn't controlled by the mind of whomever the Church chooses." Akane added in with her own frown. "It wouldn't even be a false goddess, not truly... just her mind... And if she puppets the words of her masters in the Cardinals and the Archbishop..."
"If she held the power of all three aspects, if they had a way to prove it..." Celestine began as she shut her eyes. "They would consider her the Goddess Fully Reborn..."
"I have to ask what, if anything, Unussol knew about this." I said with a frown. "I hate to say it; he could have worked under them willingly in any transmutation project they had... or unknowingly under some front. Transmutation is, technically, a branch of enchantment... I think to get a better view we need to find him..."
"Agreed..." Celestine said as she looked to me. "I will ask the Black Watch to keep a further eye on this shop and, if able, get eyes in their lab. I will wish to be well armed once the time comes; we only have assumptions and theories as to what that body is for but we can assume it's not good. More over I can say I offered no permission for my blood to be used in such a manner. Risky as it is, much as I wish to not ask you to continue your investigations... carry them on you must..."
"Yeah..." I let off. Of course there was a new question...
...how do I pick up the trail..?
[-]
The big issue was I only had the two leads to find Unussol; one led to the Scorned Circle and the other to a Church lab... Both turned up something useful but not what I was looking for... so... Hmmm...
I suggested to Akane that maybe she should try and find rumors of a worker who went missing but she already had the same idea. With luck we'd pick something up soon. I took everyone home, thanked Blake on the way out and tried to work out where to go from here. That was... hard to say... I did have an idea that I decided to pass onto my new network; to dig up information about Stellaclamor.
I had a feeling that he'd be one of the biggest weak points in the Church's upper ranks and if I played my cards right maybe, maybe he'd unwittingly point me in the right direction... For now I opted to wait and see what I could do on that end of things.
For now I opted to dig up more information about the Waterlily Rebellion; with Seilarune taken the rebels advanced on Carter's Arrow to challenge the loyalist forces there... only to have their scouts find out Ardon's people were retreating and having gone Scorched Earth on the town and nearby villages before leaving. Once Tiffany and Zack von Rhack heard both agreed they needed to move supplies in and prevent a possible disaster. While I understood why Ardon went Scorched Earth this was, I think, a case where pulling that move was going to backfire; Roxellia was already unpopular and this would not help in the least. And yes, the guild's news network was reporting on it.
On that same note the siege of Fort Kincaid was abandoned as well, leaving the rebels in command there uncontested. With that the east of Albia was rebel territory with no contest with the center-east now in contention. With Fort Tenner and Fortress Trucis Mons ahead of them the rebels would likely take a brief pause, train up, readjust their logistics and take a moment to take stock before marching ahead once more.
With things going against Roxellia I had to wonder what her plan was? If I had to guess it was to use Tenner and Grim Mountain to try and whittle the rebels down which... wasn't that bad of an idea; Trucis was known to 'fall upon those who conquer it' and anyone who's managed to take it exhausted themselves so much they couldn't do much else after.
There was... no good way to deal with it I knew of; want to undermine it? There's spell orbs the size of carriages buried down there to harden the earth to point it would be a grind with any tool and any spell would fail once close enough. Siege warfare? Possible with enough time and effort but the walls were magically reinforced and they were sloped making them even harder to break through. Fill the moat? It's a hundred feet deep and fifty wide; good luck with that.
Get past wall one? Great! Now you can deal with the area between the walls... which is soaked with oil and sawdust. Not olive oil or sunflower oil or canola oil; black, crude oil. One match and... whoosh! Get past the second wall somehow? Awesome! Now you have to fight your way to a keep along a ten foot wide path or brave a courtyard that has deploy-able spikes and short pits. So either be an easy target or enjoy a mini-Vietnam jungle romp. Somehow breach the keep? Amazing! Now enjoy laying siege to a building with portcullis gates at the top of every stairs and major hall.
Manage to conquer the whole thing? Superb! So, what do you have left for the coming counter attack?
No, really; if I had been tasked with taking it down I'd just fully go all in on 'apply Enterprise' to the problem and bombard the fortress to submission or annihilation; there would be no middle ground. And Tiffany... lacks any form of air support... She was going to have a rough time if she couldn't take or neutralize the Grim Mountain...
For the moment I decided to shift back to my own issues; finding Unussol. Something occurred to me and asked to see the circlets we've collected once more; maybe scanning them deeper would reveal something. I had gotten the chance to look at the coding in them before, sure, but I was a bit more experienced now and, moreover, more aware of ways that Unussol could hide a message out of plain sight. So, what did I find?
Well there was something there; as a note we had a total of four circlets. And each one bore a line hidden in the code; as in under a piece of code and backwards to further obscure it.
Rest under the moon in the arms of the mother.
North of here the steam and green can be seen.
Smell the jasmine in the fields and see the sights.
Once armies rested their head here. Now the ghosts do.
So... what did it mean?
The first was the clue that helped limit my search for the moment; the banner for House Venus is a child held in a woman's arms under a crescent moon. That suggested Bria was the location being referred to here. Looking over a Bria map earned me an idea of where clue three pointed; a town/small city near the Price border called Jasmine Fields. The other two stumped me though; steam and green? Some... hot springs in a forest, maybe? That wasn't impossible I guess... As for the fourth... was it referring to an abandoned fort or base? That didn't help that much; do you know how many Imperium Era forts litter this part of the continent? Let alone how many were abandoned over the past two thousand years and change? There were two within a mile of Jasmine Fields, three more within ten miles and another two within fifteen miles.
Either way; next stop was Jasmine Fields.
[-]
Barony of Cameron
Capital of Starfort City
Heaven's Point Cathedral
Lucilius couldn't help but frown as he walked along the halls to where he was going. Starfort City was a city interestingly named; the city walls weren't simple square or round like most; rather it bore several outward points, a hundred and forty four in all. While the walls could mount siege weapons or even cannons at each point it had been two centuries since it was fully equipped for such; the Garan War hadn't reached that area for six centuries and effort and material, it was decided, was better spent elsewhere. It wasn't unequipped of course but it was a shadow of what it was; a defensive anchor in the Age of Conflict that followed the Imperium's fall. Once located inside the Kingdom of Ferion and bordering the Beramus Kingdom and Kingdom of Endonis it was a mighty fortress city in the early days of the Imperium. The thirty five foot walls were astounding at the time and wall's footprint made it a grand undertaking of it's time. Sieged, damaged and at times broken it had been repaired over and over. The last time it fell was to the forces of the future Brazen Emperor and Hector von Cameron would use it to secure his lands as the empire fell.
Joanna had never taken the city by force but rather appealed to Hector to surrender with a promise of no harm and that there was a place for him as ruler of his territory, named for his family, within what would come. The house would end up falling due to an internal struggle and Henry von Cameron would pass his rule to his nephew, Orson Terrasa, giving rise to that dynasty. Before the fall of House Cameron, however, they commissioned the Heaven's Point Cathedral which was, at the time, the tallest structure man had built at ninety feet tall... or at least the largest known, post-Imperium...
To hide his tour of their hidden laboratory in Sanka he would take his time to return to Skycrown and visit various holy sites and Church aligned cathedrals and speak to the faithful; something he had done in Quietam Locum while touring the lab.
In truth the idea of refusing the aspects into one body was... not something he felt was ideal but the project had been ongoing for three hundred years... with many of his predecessors having the wisdom and insight to claim the blood of various aspects for future use. In his mind the possibility of a united aspect, maybe even a true goddess reborn was a worthwhile project... and yet he had his reservations; what if such a project backfired? After all it's not like such a project hadn't caused massive issues and stomped a city flat within recent memory.
What could an insane woman with all the power of the Aspects be capable of? More so with her magical nature nurtured so well?
No; it would be a backup plan; to be disposed of if it was no longer useful... nothing more and nothing less. That said others under him were... less restrained in their desire to see a united Aspect. He wasn't unaware of what Stellaclamor was doing; seeing the other members of the Twelve behind his back and other members of the Church. Lucilius was not unaware of his own age; he had a decade at best before needing to retire; four years was more realistic. A successor was needed... and he held on for longer then he should have simply because he saw none worthy...
Stellaclamor was a good showman and orator but lacked the wisdom and patience an archbishop needed... moreover he worried in his haste what damage he could do to the Church...
Karin Darkpurge was the other front runner and in some ways she was a better pick in terms of wisdom... yet worse as he worried that she might be too ruthless and aggressive to maintain the gentle hand that would be required. He was worried that she could do damage to the Church in her own right through simple heavy handiness when a gentle push could accomplish so much more...
Of the other Cardinals there was Michael Firebrand but for his wisdom and restraint he lacked the vision needed to see the Ascendancy's rebirth. Urak Pacc had the contacts needed to hold the position but neither the drive nor intelligence to push forwards their goals. The best choice was Cardinal Victor Wiccandale... but that bore it's own problems in turn.
Victor lacked the wisdom mostly due to his own inexperience and youth being merely twenty three, bore all the drive and vision needed but had yet to learn the restraint to direct them and had the intelligence and education to further their goals but had yet to temper it with insight and patience. He was being well tutored and, had he the time, Lucilius would have taken him directly under his wing... but for now he needed to focus on what lay before him...
"There ye are, Father." He heard, pausing his steps as Harrison Hamilton walked up from behind him. "Stollin' to see the good mural, eh?"
"Indeed." He said, looking to the doors before him, stepping in and opening it. A short set of stairs was before him, spiraling up. It was only ten feet upwards but as he ascended with Harrison following he smiled wistfully. There, at the top of Heaven's Point, was a dome of magically reinforced stained glass. An alter was at the center with curved benches facing it... but while he walked to the alter he was looking up to the glass.
From the north was the image of Larentia, standing in victory after the War of the Gods ended, one arm raised but looking dazed. To the east was her light and the first of the three Aspects standing below it in their birth. To the south was an image of the knight and sage offering the original tablets bearing their words and wisdom to man with the wanderer in the distance, a bag of seeds in hand. Finally to the west was an image of the three Aspects taking different roads as a means to showcase that all three took their own paths to help humanity... A brief tale of their goddess' history; told in colored glass made with deep care and high craftsmanship. "It's always a heck of a sight, ain't it Father?" Harrison said as he followed while looking up as well. "A story painted in all the colors of the rainbow... makes me 'eart skip a beat now an' then."
"Indeed... To bring the beauty of Larentia to every corner and eye of the world..." Lucilius let off as he reached the alter, circular with an opening at the south for one to step into as he looked to the image of the goddess at the north. "There is no greater purpose in life..." He let off. "None..."
[-]
Northern Barony of Bria
Road to Jasmine Fields
Una Vertias Carriage
"You are sure of this?"
"Aye, Cardinal Stellaclamor; we confirmed James Noxdecus searched the old workshop... and while I cannot confirm there's reason to assume he found something." He frowned at the aide, projected via a voxlux held by a summoned dove before him as he cupped his chin thinking for a moment.
"Surely then, given what we know, with Vult exposed as a foe yet out of reach he targets another possible issue that would oppose him. Bloody Dragonborne..." He mused. It made sense, then, to challenge the Church. Perhaps he thought Unussol left some message or clue somewhere? Maybe. Was there something to be found? He wouldn't know. That being said; he was becoming a possible issue... one that couldn't be openly dealt with yet... so...
"Use a third party and begin seeking... entrepreneurs that might be willing to deal with this sort of problem..."
"N-not that I disagree..." The aide began, biting his lip. "But Noxdecus has bested Qatil Aleaql... the once flawless assassin... Most of the sort we'd be seeking might be reluctant to take the challenge with that knowledge public..."
"Tsk... Regardless there is always someone willing to conquer the unconquerable..." Amram replied with a sigh. "I'm sure you'll find someone. Just make sure it won't blow back to the Church. And make sure they can accomplish it..."
"I will do my upmost to find someone suitable, Cardinal." He said.
"Do so. Swiftly." Amram said as he hung up and dismissed his summons, grabbing his voxlux from the air before setting it away.
"I'm assuming you're thinking he found something?" Across from him sat Alexandria Fyrehart as she took her time to use a specialized oil mix to polish and clean her revolver along with a silk cloth, even if it was mythril. "Or at least treating it like something was left to be found?" She asked as they rode in the same vehicle. She'd wished they had a Cloud Rider to move swifter but House Noxdecus was picky about who they let have access to one.
"We sort of have to." She wasn't high enough in the Church to talk about the prophecy of a dragonborne ending the line of the Archbishops. "There is a reason to be wary of dragonborne... and that one in particular..." He said as he crossed his arms. "More over with our aims he's a major obstacle... doubly so as connected to Celestine as he is..." He said with a sigh. "For now we need to see to business in Jasmine Field..."
"Indeed... Let's see what can be done, I suppose..."
[ - Author's Note - ]
And here we are... And yes, the Church has... quite the experiment going on and even in the Church it seems like there's... mixed opinions about it. Riri went full Solid Snake on a deathless, ghost run, Roxellia is trying to adjust to her failing situation and using what she does have to her advantage, the Eagle Riders are starting to make an impact and... we see Celestine be disturbed once more.
As stated, next stop is Jasmine Field... and while James works Tiffany needs to tackle her own challenges that lay before her...
As always let me know what you liked, didn't like, want to see and so on! Commenting really does help.
So then, until next time!
~Eostian Scribe