Trent Boehm
patreon
Chapter 125
🕑 Added 2023-07-18 05:33:02 +0000 UTCChapter 125
What stepped out of the portal was very far from the handsome figure of Fay’s brother. Riven could make out distinguishing features that told him it was the same man, the same incubus, but he looked haggard and beaten to an extreme.
Tupper’s right leg was necrotic and bent at an awkward angle, and the rest of his body looked starved. His face was half burned, skin flayed off the side of his skull as he limped forward, and one of his wings was torn off completely. Tears streamed silently down his face, and one eye was glazed over with a sickly green ichor running out of it. He staggered and fell to the ground only two steps out, letting out a whimper of pain through cracked lips and getting an audible gasp from his sister who rushed over to him - trembling slightly while she whispered comforting words into his ears.
Riven just gawked, not knowing what to say, do, or even think. Were demons able to be tortured in the nether realms? Or had Tupper not been inside the nether realms?
On the other side of the portal from where Tupper had come from was another blue skinned incubus, snarling and obviously screaming at Tupper with an enraged flush to his skin before the portal winked out. The only signs that the portal had ever opened were both the mutilated, grotesque version of an incubus on the floor - and the wisps of purple miasma that were leftover remnants from the dimensional passageway that’d just shut down.
“Riven… Could you help me lift him up?” Fay asked without looking back from her kneeling position on the floor, voice quivering. “I need to carry him to my room.”
***
“Might makes right. It’s the way things are in demonic culture, and when you’re a weak, tree-hugging, animal-cuddling hippie wuss like that guy it only makes sense that you’d be persecuted. At least that’s how Fay portrayed him, even if she did so lovingly.” Athela shrugged indifferently and bit at an apple, having her long pitch-black legs up on the table while enjoying the warmth of the morning sunshine on her skin through a window in the dining hall. “Don’t tell Fay I said that though. I’m sure she’s already heard it all about her brother in the past and probably doesn’t want to hear it again. Poor sod looked like he’d been stomped like how I used to stomp babies.”
Riven grunted his acknowledgement. Not a lot he could do about it, and what he could do he’d already done by giving Tupper a way out of whatever hellish home life he’d had before. “Figured as much.”
Allie dumped some more scrambled eggs on his plate, kissed him on the forehead and happily went back to making pancakes with Mara and the two thralls she’d outfitted in aprons while telling them what to mix and how to cook the bacon.
Bacon.
He had fucking bacon. All that money he’d spent at the altar was more than worth it now.
Riven lifted the pancake-bacon-egg-pancake sandwitch to his mouth, drooling, and only managed to sneer briefly at that muscular dream-boy fucker across the dining room that Allie was using before snarfing down another bite. Chewing and letting the taste sink into his taste buds, his shoulders slumped and he relaxed into a blissful state again. He knew full well that Allie was doing this on purpose as a bribe to go easy on her, but it’d been so god damn long since he’d had a good meal.
“I’m surprised this food all tastes the same as it did back then…” Dr. Brass commented from beside him, and Athela gave the newly formed vampire an eye roll while he continued to check his new body out in a small mirror he’d taken from his room. “And damn do I look good. Goodbye bald spots!”
Riven snorted and kept eating, but eventually finished half his sandwich and put the meal down when Allie came by to discuss the events of last night.
“Ah, now that breakfast is ready for everyone - let’s talk.” She straightened her hoodie out and ruffled her jeans, both of which were typical of what she used to wear before the integration happened.
He cleared his throat with a fist to his mouth, jerking in surprise when Athela’s foot poked him in the stomach from under the table. He smacked her leg aside and shared a grin with the demoness, then addressed the situation by putting the letter he’d received from that roc-riding-knight on the table. Then he began reciting the words aloud. “Ahem. Alright here goes:
To Allie and Riven Thane, of the Thane Necropolis: Your reputation precedes you.
My name is Theodore Munchamp, Court Wizard to the king of the Kingdom of Dawn and practicing scholar of the sun arts. It has come to the kingdom’s attention that you have claimed most of the city known as Brightsville to our northwest, and are mere weeks away from having it completely under your control by estimates from our agents there. We know you’ve raised an army numbering thousands of undead, as well as a lesser number of orcs and goblins. We know you’ve opened up an Elysium Altar, the first we have yet to see anywhere. We know you’ve enslaved a group of high elves that tried to assassinate your leadership, and we have video footage evidence of the tremendous power you two each individually wield.
That in turn opens the door for us to begin diplomacy, as equals.
Our kingdom was once a bastion of civilization in the world of Zazir, and in many aspects it still is for what remains of it. Though we are but a mere fraction of the kingdom we once were due to our country being split apart, the capital city and three other large towns belonging to Dawn arrived together on Panu; and we are in dire need of assistance.
We were hoping for your help.
To your southeast and into the plains you’ll find our civilization besieged on all sides. One of our towns has already fallen and the citizens that we could evacuate safely have left for the capital, though the situation still remains uncertain. The majority of our armies, save the single legion stationed in the capital upon integration, were lost when the system arrived. We do not have the forces necessary to guard the Capital City of Mandon, the town of Bradshire, and the town of Belmington all at the same time. We are stretched too thin, and many of the other civilizations we find ourselves bordering are either too fragmented, too caught up with internal struggles for power, or too involved with their own external problems to help us.
Truthfully we could consolidate our forces into one area and evacuate the towns, but this would lead to a massive refugee crisis. That in turn would lead to food shortages, and simply abandoning the settlements would put our civilization back decades when rebuilding if we ever took the towns back.
We will be up front about our intentions, and in turn we hope to make a deal that can be struck in both of our favors - empowering both the Kingdom of Dawn and the Thane Necropolis simultaneously. There are five things that we wish to negotiate with you.
The first is access to your Elysium Altar.
The second is local trade routes between our factions.
The third is protection for our northernmost town, Bradshire, that borders your territory.
The fourth point of negotiation is support for the war we are involved in.
And lastly, the fifth topic to discuss is that we wish you to cease terraforming land when you reach our borders. Though it is a slow spread, the unholy taint your altar is creating has already been noted and will likely reach our lands within months or years to come. This would be very bad for our crops and agriculture, and would lead us into starvation if we did not act.
I am sure you’re asking yourself why you’d allow us access to system stores, trade, and protection. I’m also sure you want to know why I think you’d join our cause, or why you’d stop terraforming areas of land to better suit you. The answer is simple: We have common enemies, and we can help each other grow. We could provide you with information on the surrounding areas, information on two world quests, pay you for your services, and once the war is over - ensure that you have one faithful ally to protect your southern border.
As you’ve already experienced in your own isolated exchange with the high elves of these lands, they are arrogant and selfish in their desires to thrive. We too have had our own share of conflict with their peoples, and are currently engaging in guerilla warfare with a host of warriors many thousands strong that matches our own in strength. They burn our crops to try and starve us, butcher our people and caravans, and have even gone as far as to ally with a nearby dungeon to attack us on two fronts.
We also know that if our kingdom falls, your people will be targeted next. What will the elves do when they find out that their most hated enemies, both the undead and the greenskins, have banded together and enslaved a group of their own kin?
Thus my king and I have proposed a meeting. I am willing to meet you at any time and any place of your choosing to show myself in good faith, and can promise you both riches and new bodies to use in building up your forces with if you choose to help us. If you decide to accept my invitation to discuss terms, infuse mana into the sigil of the roc at the bottom of this letter with mana - and a communication link will open so we can discuss these things at an in-person meeting place.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely, Theodore Manchamp
Riven closed the letter and pushed the folded parchment over to Allie so she could read it again. “I’ll be keeping the greenskins out of this one. As I’m responsible for them, I’ll be first to say that they are far too worn down to help. I butchered most of their remaining fighters at Greenstalk, before that they’d already been set upon by numerous enemies. So they only have elites, the old, the young, and some goblins. I told Gurth’Rok they needed to focus on rebuilding. What you choose to do with the undead you’re leading is up to you.”
Allie’s red eyes flickered over the parchment and she stuffed a pancake into her mouth, ripping it apart with ravenous hunger while her stomach growled. Taking a goblet of elf blood and sipping it to take the pancake down, she let out a hiccup and closed the parchment again. “They want altar access, trade routes, protection for their northernmost town, an alliance against a dungeon and the elves attacking them that apparently number in the many thousands, and they thought they could just expect us to help? Us? Vampires and undead helping humans?”
Riven held up both hands unknowingly, then swatted Athela’s leg away before yanking her under the table when she tried to poke him a third time. Grinning at the screech he got from the arshakai demon, he put a boot on her stomach and kept her pinned while she growled up at him. “Who knows. I’m pretty sure they’re just desperate though from the sounds of it. When you get desperate, you do a lot of things you normally wouldn’t do. So what do you think? Are you going to use that sigil on the paper or are you going to shred it? Wouldn’t hurt to have some allies in the area, but I’m not sure we can trust them either.”
Allie hummed in agreement. “Yes. And we’ve already had poor experiences with the elves of greenstalk, if their entire culture is like that… perhaps it’d be wise to aid them after all. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and until proven otherwise I will assume the elves of these lands will treat us the same way they treated you earlier. Then again the humans of Brightsville were little different… Hmm. Mara.”
“Yes mistress?” Mara asked, coming to stand beside Allie and putting some syrup they’d stolen from a local grocery store on the table before bowing low in her black robe. “What can I assist you with?”
“Send some of your raven familiars into the southlands and figure out what you can about the ongoing political events there. Confirm whatever you can about this letter, and make it fast.”
“Yes mistress.”
From up above where they’d been perched on a window, two ravens flickering with shadow mana took flight and tore into the darkening sky above. A clap of thunder rolled across the city, echoing from the mountains to the north and west, and the sunlight began to fade while black clouds hovered on the horizon.
“Storm’s coming.” Riven noted casually, getting up from the table and pushing his chair in. He head-nodded to Dr. Brass. “Hey old man, get some training on curse magic from Fay when you can since she’s already here taking care of her brother. You need to acquire your unholy pillar so you can get some actual abilities, instead of just staring at yourself in the mirror all day.”
Allie snickered and Dr. Brass dropped the mirror in his hands to scowl at the younger man.
Riven smirked, helped Athela up to her feet and then thanked his sister for the meal. “I’m off to the underdark. Are you still raiding the prison today?”
Allie’s tapping fingers came to a stop on the table, and a sinister smile played across her lips while she waggled her eyebrows. “Oh yes. Vin and Nin have already begun preparations for the assault. Those inmates won’t know what hit them before they’re all dragged out as corpses to add to our empire.”
“Just be sure to spare the ones they’ve enslaved.”
“How hypocritical.”
“Damn it Allie, we’ve had this conversation-”
“I know! I’m just kidding.” Allie waved off Riven’s glare. “It’s just fun to poke you there because I know it bothers you. What are siblings for, right? Seriously though, you're always WAAAAYYYYY too on edge. Chill a bit, live a little, and stop being so rigid. Anyways have fun, be safe, and for fuck’s sake you better run if there’s anything actually dangerous down there. We have that deal in place, remember? If there’s a real threat we throw our minions at whatever it is - high tail it - and meet up to face it together later. Ok?”
“Yup I know. Same goes to you.” Riven waved at his sister, then to Mara, and was followed out by Athela into the eastern wing hallway of the manor while bypassing a few armored skeleton soldiers stationed in the hallway. “Time to go meet that big rat again.”
“He probably wouldn’t be appreciating it if he knew you called him a ‘rat’. He’s a rat-man, not a rat.” Athela stated simply, skipping to catch up to him and leaning against his shoulder with narrowed eyes looking upwards. “So… You gonna tell me what happened with Fay last night or not?”
“I already told you. She’s staying here while we’re gone to take care of her brother.”
“That doesn’t explain much.”
“He came out of the portal all fucked up, she was upset, that’s literally all I know. If you want to know more then ask her yourself.”
Athela sighed. “Fine! I’ll ask her later. But as her master, you can always just force her to tell you.”
Riven shot Athela a glare.
“Might makes right, remember!?” Athela said with a wide, brilliant smile. “Make her do what you want! Plus she owes you! Big time if you ask me. I can’t believe you actually let that useless twat into the guild hall and paid so much money to do it! That’s insane to me! Truly, you’re not a normal warlock Riven. Or a normal vampire. And wait, aren’t we going to go talk to that princess Kathrine first? The Blood Moon Requiem should know about your malignancy points after all, and they’re no doubt dying to talk with you after what happened.”
Riven shook his head, drawing his hood down over his eyes to protect himself from the sunlight and stuffing his hands into his pockets to avoid more of the rays. Then he headed towards the chapel where Azmoth was doing god knows what in the old building he’d claimed as a room to pick his other demon up for the trip to the destroyed hospital. “No. We don’t have time, we’ll talk to Kathrine later. The meeting with Snagger is only a couple hours away.”
