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*Chapter 61 - Thrall Minions
🕑 Added 2021-08-23 21:55:25 +0000 UTCChapter 61 - Thrall Minions
Trey grinned, handing the coins over to Ashe. “By the way, I’m trying to master mental commands so I don’t have to verbally tell my minions what to do. It’s still baffling me, truth be told. Any pointers? I’ve noticed you do it a lot.”
The old man waved a hand dismissively, peering at him through all four eyes with a happy glint peeking out of the summoner’s soul. “I’ll be sure to teach you that and more on our journey into the deadlands. I believe this may be the beginning of a strong friendship young man, and I look forward to our endeavors together.”
Traversing the narrowing tunnel, they came out the opposite side and into a slightly larger cavern that was bustling with activity. Trey had been wondering where all of the cultists had sombered off to after their blood orgy when he hadn’t seen most of them at the banquet, and now his curiosity about it had been satiated.
Slightly raised stone platforms carved decades or even centuries ago were set at intervals and varying in size across the middle of the cavern with different summoners or warlocks selling and buying at each of them.
Small and medium sized gargoyles were on sale, though none of them reached the size of Dreadlord Vorshok who’d first eaten Trey numerous times upon his arrival in Oblivion. There were a couple minotaur, some hellhounds, different breeds of imp, harpies, culn, daema, succubi, incubi, a huge but lean spiked monstrosity that looked like it was rather fast by its muscle makeup called a razorclaw, an ethereal creature Trey couldn’t keep his eyes focused on called a void scavenger, a gigantic heavily armored scorpion many times his size that could spray acid - which was called a scoprilex, and even a warrior of the fallen angel class who had two black feathered wings and looked utterly outraged to be here.
Then there were also a good variety of enslaved-class minions too - all of which were elves, humans, and even a couple dwarves. Each of these enslaved class minions had a red pentagram magically imbued and carved into their foreheads. Some of them were stripped naked, while others came with accessories such as heavy armor, mage robes, rogue outfits, and weapons.
Trey nodded at a nearby human knight with a sigil carved into his neck. “What’s the difference between the enslaved-class minions other infernal minions, like demons or the fallen? They’re all mortal races I know, but how do you get them?”
“Wow. You really are new to this.” Gorthomal scratched his chin thoughtfully. “You’ve never acquired one yourself?”
Trey shook his head. “No.”
The old man chuckled and put his hands on his hips. “Well, as you’ve been able to figure out already… enslaved minions can only be taken from mortal races and are turned into thralls. Such as this human. What you likely don’t know is that their actual souls must be enslaved to you through dark magic, hence they are not just regular slaves by our standards… and are then classified by the All Spirit as enslaved class minions once the magic works to bind them.”
Gorthomal struck the knight’s armor with his knuckles once, gaining the man’s attention along with a piercing glare from the summoner selling him.
“Don’t touch if you don’t plan to buy!” sneered the seller, a gaunt scrawny man with a long black ponytail slung over one shoulder.
Gorthomal held up his hands signaling he didn’t want any conflict and turned around, but gave Trey a wink with one of his four eyes as they both chuckled.
Atharost’s voice loudly trailed out after them as he turned to follow his master’s footsteps. “Pompous runt.”
Ashe’s jaw dropped and she gave an apologetic look back towards the now outwardly angry summoner behind them. Then she smacked the ifrit across the arm and hurried him along. “Atharost, you can’t say stuff like that here! We talked about this! We can’t make enemies of the people here if we want to get Trey the help he needs!”
The ifrit grimaced in annoyance. “I have held my tongue this entire time. Believe me when I say it is a hard thing to ask of me.”
Rivia nodded in agreement. “Usually it is the other way around… demons usually own the mortals as slaves or food. Back in Oblivion I saw your people only as cattle, but here the roles are reversed. The demons are the slaves to summoners and warlocks. It strikes me as very strange.”
“Not entirely true,” interjected one of the daema casters following Gorthomal and using his staff as a walking stick. The red skinned demon shook his head adamantly. “The summoners here also worship various demons as well. The summoners and warlocks control the weaker breeds of demon such as you or I, but the archdemons and demon lords are prayed to and offered loyalties. Just as I serve my master Gorthomal, he too serves the Demon Lord Nakatha... who in turn serves no one.”
Rivia squared her shoulders, her perfect features contorted in confusion. “Lord Nakatha doesn’t serve the infernal crowns?”
The daema gave her a look as if to tell her she was stupid. “Lord Nakatha worships the infernal crowns. He offers them souls and sacrifice. They are our gods, so that should be obvious, but Lord Nakatha does not directly speak with them and therefore serves only his own interests in the hells he resides in. There is a difference between servitude and worship, priestess.”
This sparked a debate between the older daema and the young culn woman that became rather heated in a short amount of time. Gorthomal and Trey listened idly until the two masters grew bored of the conversation and headed around the cave to view the wares with their squabbling minions in tow.
The basics for each minion were written on parchments displayed at the forefront of each stage so that passing buyers could get a good look at what they were purchasing before inquiring as to the full status page of each individual. Slowly taking his time to read each one before examining them, Trey began to see a general trend in how they were all priced and categorized by the cultists.
Minotaur, Berserker Class, Level 25, Unruly when not fed.
- Price: 32,000
Incubus, Weapons Master Class, Level 51, Very good with seducing or pleasing women.
- Price: 60,000
Incubus, Classless, Level 11
- Price: 11,000
Razorclaw, Rampager Class, Level 292, Efficient killing machine.
- Price: 1,230,000
Hellhound, Classless, Level 9, Would make a good pet with its demeanor.
- Price: 15,000
Hellhound, Tracker Class, Level 40
- Price: 38,000
The next minion on sale caused Trey to stop. His eyes widened and he pushed through the crowd for a closer look. He hadn’t noticed the huge creature until just now because it’d been laying down to rest, but now that it reared its huge head up and over the crowd Trey was amazed at the size and sleekness of the thing.
Tomb Cobra, Alpha Predator Class, Level 609, It prefers people to animals as food.
- Price: 55,000,000
The snake-like creature was absolutely huge. Two large flares on either side of its head signaled it was somehow related to a cobra, but the two dragon wings out to either side along with two clawed demon arms beneath those wings at its shoulder sockets made it appear somewhat odd. The yellow snake-eyes lazily glazed over the crowd before closing again, and Trey couldn’t be sure just how long it was due to how it was curled up - but the mouth could have swallowed that minotaur he’d seen earlier in one chomp.
Trey whistled. “That’s a bit out of my price range…”
Gorthomal agreed. “Mine too. Perhaps we should look for cheaper options? Usually the enslaved class minions are a lot less, and the crowds on that side of the cave aren’t as packed.”
Trey absentmindedly agreed, and then stopped along another minion display where two winged succubi stood entrancing many of the spectators with their stunning looks… though it was more than just how physically attractive their bodies were. Something else about them drew him towards them the closer he got… though he certainly appreciated the amazing bodies these women had.
“Take your eyes off them boy, they’re built for seduction. And whatever you do, do NOT speak to them! They are far out of your price range.”
Gorthomal smacked Trey upside the head, causing Trey to regain his focus. The younger man then did his best to avoid the large breasts and round firm asses the demon women had on display. One of them blew him a kiss and twirled her tail about before stroking her horns.
“How do you know they’re out of my price range?” Trey frowned, pouting even after fantasizing about what it would feel like to bed them.
Gorthomal huffed. “Because the average succubus goes for about 300,000. They’re not just good to have around in your bed, but they also have some innate persuasion powers and are great spellcasters. Unless they’re having a special sale just for you, you can forget about it.”
They came around through the crowds until they hit a less densely populated corner. Here a number of imps, culn, daema and other lower tier demons were intermixed with enslaved-class minions that included souls unfortunate enough to have been taken and magically bound as slaves from the mortal races.
Oblivion Imp, Thief Class, Level 11, Has additional sneak skills.
- Price: 5,000
Oblivion Imp, Classless, Level 5
- Price: 2,300
Void Imp, Classless, Level 18, Obnoxious so there’s a discount.
- Price: 4,800
Culn, Warrior, Level 11
- Price: 3,900
High Elf Thrall, Mage Class, Level 167, Arcane and Elemental Earth magic user.
- Price: 1,000,000
High Elf Thrall, Cook Class, Level 1, Has a very high cooking skill set.
- Price: 14,000
Dark Elf Thrall, Rogue Class, Level 29
- Price: 57,000
Dark Elf Thrall, Rogue Class, Level 45
- Price: 47,000
Human Thrall, Warrior Class, Level 10
- Price: 3,000
Dwarf Thrall, Warrior Class, Level 33, Can take a hit.
- Price: 15,000
Daema, Lightning Wraith Class, Level 88, Very fast lightning melee combination.
- Price: 298,000
“Can you explain more about these… thralls?” Trey clasped his hands together expectantly.
“We just talked about this.” Gorthomal gave Trey a look like he should already know such a stupid question, but answered it anyways. “A thrall is another name for enslaved class minions, those of the mortal race who have had their souls chained down to a master and who’ve been imbued with minor amounts of infernal power. They can remain stagnant in their mortal bodies, but sometimes if they live long enough they can start to show demonic traits”
Trey was intrigued. “Interesting. Do they keep the demonic traits they acquire even if they’re let go?”
Gorthomal gave him an odd look and shook his head. “The thralls are created by fracturing their souls. You cannot release a thrall without it dying, they depend on the master’s contract to live… though they can be transferred between masters.”
Considering how much money he had, all of them were expensive. He knew though that taking on more minions would be essential to his future success as a summoner and would help him progress that much faster…
There were many more, well over thirty of them on this platform alone. He found that the highest priced minion was the high elf - an old, disgruntled, bearded man who’d been caught in a more powerful warlock’s trap before his soul was enslaved and he was sold off to another summoner to then sell here. At least that’s what the group of three summoners selling these thralls told him when Trey asked.
He had 4/10 slots used between Rivia, Talsh’Noc’Un, Atharost and Napoleon. He also had another 5 stat points to use that he could apply to willpower, but he knew that wouldn’t buy him another slot anymore. Gorthomal had called it the ‘Ten Cap’, referring to the point that many summoners stopped putting points into willpower altogether to focus more on intelligence or wisdom so they could increase their magic’s effectiveness. Because after 10 slots, they became much more expensive to buy up. Trey briefly referred back to the time that the All Spirit had first recognized him as an Infernal Summoner and had given him the rundown on how it all worked:
=====================================
“As with all classes concerning minions, the ‘Willpower’ stat is very important and will directly determine how many minion slots are available. You have 1 free minion slot to start off with that requires no Willpower, but for every 5 willpower you obtain 1 slot as an Infernal Summoner. Each minionizing class works differently in how much each minion takes up, how many total minions they can have, when their minions can or cannot permanently die, and how they maintain their minions. PLEASE NOTE: Every 10 minions your willpower requirement per slot will double, this rule is broad spectrum across all minionizing classes.”
=====================================
He loudly sighed. From now on - each control limit slot would cost him 10 willpower instead of 5, meaning two level’s worth of stat points. He could only imagine how expensive it would be when it took 20 willpower per slot after obtaining a total of 20 slots. Then when he got to 30 slots, it would take him 40 willpower points per slot… which would be 8 levels worth per slot. That’d be utterly ridiculous in his opinion, though he wasn’t even close to that yet so he pushed it aside to think about later.
Trey got the attention of the closest seller, a short plump man with a wand on his side and a pudgy face. “Ahem. The three of you are a group right? Do I barter with any of you or is there one of you three that I need to deal with?”
“Any of us will do.” the summoner replied briskly. “Which ones are you interested in?”
Trey handed him the tags of the five he’d selected. The people and creatures on sale waited on standby to watch or stare at the floor, all of them either in sour or utterly distraught demeanors. All of them were also in rags, without any equipment at all - and the mortal races had pentagrams carved into their foreheads just like all the other thralls here.
Culn, Warrior, Level 11
- Price: 3,900
High Elf Thrall, Cook Class, Level 1, Has a very high cooking skill set.
- Price: 14,000
Dark Elf Thrall, Rogue Class, Level 29
- Price: 57,000
Dark Elf Thrall, Rogue Class, Level 45
- Price: 47,000
Dwarf Thrall, Warrior Class, Level 33, Can take a hit.
- Price: 15,000
The first was a culn, with a slim build at eight feet tall and rather young. Trey wasn’t sure just how young, but definitely in his early manhood. Like many but not all of the males of his race, he was bald. He had two small black horns similar to Rivia, and his eyes hadn’t left the culn priestess since seeing her.
The high elf was a very pretty middle-aged brunette woman with a couple wrinkles starting to form on her face showing that she used to smile a lot, though she wore only a downtrodden defeated expression now. She was well endowed and her hands looked soft, like what you’d usually expect for someone that worked a white collar job indoors.
The two dark elves looked very similar, so similar that Trey guessed they were brother and sister. The man stood at Trey’s height while the woman was slightly shorter, though still tall for a girl. Each of them had dark skin and white hair typical of the drow, with the man’s hair pulled into a small ponytail and the woman’s hanging loose just past her shoulders.
The last in this immediate lineup was the dwarf. The stocky muscular man was somewhere between four and five feet tall, but his arms were twice the size of Trey’s own. He had a long brown beard and a gruff appearance to him,
The plump summoner raised an eyebrow. “How many slots do you got open?”
“Six.”
“Then given your level you’ll likely have some of them require 2 control slots since they don’t like ya. You may not be able to control them all, but we can at least try and see if I’m wrong.”
The plump man called out a series of names and each of the five Trey’d selected stepped forward while his friends patiently watched from behind.
One of the other three selling at this spot chuckled as the wares all came forward to stand in a line. “You newbie summoners always go for the enslaved class minions.”
Trey gave him an acknowledging nod and pointed across the room at the minotaur he’d seen earlier. “Well I can’t very well afford many of the others anyways, though if I have a leftover space in my control slots I may try to go buy that minotaur too. Also, I noticed these are a lot more expensive than regular slaves. What gives?”
The hooded cultist scoffed. “They’re fighters of course, and their actual souls are enslaved. If you want a basic slave without complete dominance over their actions, go to the slave market and buy one there.”
Trey frowned. “What about the high elf? She’s priced higher than the culn only at level 1, and in a fight I’m sure the culn would be able to kill her outright. Think you three could drop the price?”
The plump man interjected as the brunette elf’s face paled at the thought of fighting to the death. “You’re not buying her to fight are you? If you are, you must be daft. We all know what you’re really buying her for, and it’s also the reason why the other drow she-elf who’s at a lower level and less skilled is priced higher than her brother. Women are always priced a little higher.”
Ah. So they were brother and sister, Trey’d been right. He let off a smirk at the last comment though. “I actually want to buy the high elf for her cook class, but that entails me taking a look at her status page to see just how high of a cooking level she’s at. Gorthomal, do you think they’re priced fairly?”
Gorthomal shrugged as the last of the product came to a stop in line facing them. “More or less. The fighters here are better quality than any of the slaves at the market, though I don’t know why you’d bother buying the cook. She’d be useless in battle. She wouldn’t even be good as a distraction, better to buy something or someone else that can be at least semi-useful.”
Trey considered his words for a moment and was about to reply as he noticed the sigh of the plump cultist who was shaking his head. Trey’s brows furrowed. “What’s the matter?”
The plump man, being caught in the act, frowned. “Ah. Nothing to worry about for you lad, it’s just that we owe a good amount of money to this organization. It’s actually why we went out to collect enslaved class minions or low tier demons, though they tend to sell for less and are in less demand - they’re easier to acquire and we got a lot of them… as you can see.”
He spread out his hands to the wares they had. There were still a good amount of them left. “If we don’t sell enough of them today, the priestess is going to take what we have left as compensation and use them as sacrifices… as well as revoke some of the privileges we’ve obtained over the years. We made some stupid financial decisions and are paying for it now. So we’re hoping you’ll buy.”
The features of every single minion who could understand became grim at the news.
“This is not your problem.” Gorthomal suggested with indifferent demeanor. “The woman is worthless to you. Choose something else.”
Trey caught the desperate begging gaze of the high elf as she locked eyes with him. Her lips began to quiver and her fingers clenched white while her chest began to raise and fall at a rapid pace. He knew she’d likely not be bought by anyone else if he weren’t to take her, and she was very aware of this as well.
Trey ignored Gorthomal, walked up to her and adjusted the rags she wore. “May I see your status page?”
The plump summoner spoke up with a nod. “We can do that for you.”
The other summoners selling the merchandise then quickly pulled up not just hers, but all of the status pages for the ones in question.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simplified Status Page
Name: High Elf Woman
Race: High Elf Thrall
Class: Cook
Level: 1
HP: 90/90
MP: 100/100
SP: 90/90
DP: 1/1
Learned Ascended Cooking Options
- Amplify Smell
- Amplify Flavor
- Ward Off Poison
- Ward Off Disease
- Increased Sustenance
- Increased Health Regen
- Increased Mana Regen
- Amplify Toxin
Skills: Cooking^^^^ (lvl. 44)
Traits: Jaira’s Minion
Magical Attributes: None
Opinion of Jaira: Terrified
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simplified Status Page
Name: Culn Warrior
Race: Culn, Lesser Demon
Class: Warrior
Level: 11
HP: 148/148
MP: 100/100
SP: 110/110
DP: 1/1
Skills: Polearms^ (lvl. 15), Heavy Armor^ (lvl. 12), Lunge (Sacred Art)(lvl. 8),
Sneak (lvl. 8), Blunt Weapons (lvl. 8), Blades (lvl. 5),
Hand to Hand Combat (lvl. 5), Shields (lvl. 5)
Traits: Wanderer, Jaira’s Minion
Magical Attributes: None
Opinion of Jaira: Hated
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simplified Status Page
Name: Dark Elf Woman
Race: Dark Elf Thrall
Class: Rogue
Level: 29
HP: 120/120
MP: 100/100
SP: 194/194
DP: 1/1
Skills: Sneak^^^ (lvl. 31), Rogue’s Trickery: Stealth Field^^ (Sacred Art)(lvl. 27),
Small Blades^^ (lvl. 27), Bows^ (lvl. 17), Assassination^ (lvl. 16),
Backstab^ (Sacred Art)(lvl. 15),
Rogue’s Trickery: Accelerator^ (Sacred Art)(lvl. 13), Lock Picking^ (lvl. 13),
Pickpocketing^ (lvl. 12), Trap Handling (lvl. 9), Hand to Hand Combat (lvl. 9),
Throwables (lvl. 8)
Traits: Cunning, Intelligent, Pompous, Acrobat, Rogue’s Handiwork, Vack’s Minion
Magical Attributes: None
Opinion of Vack: Disgusted and Scared
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simplified Status Page
Name: Dark Elf Man
Race: Dark Elf Thrall
Class: Rogue
Level: 45
HP: 168/168
MP: 100/100
SP: 226/226
DP: 1/1
Skills: Small Blades^^^ (lvl. 38), Assassination^^^ (lvl. 30), Sneak^^^ (lvl. 30),
Rogue’s Trickery: Stealth Field^^ (Sacred Art)(lvl. 27), Bows^^ (lvl. 26),
Backstab^^ (Sacred Art)(lvl. 21), Trap Handling^ (lvl. 15), Pickpocketing^ (lvl. 14),
Rogue’s Trickery: Accelerator^ (Sacred Art)(lvl. 11), Lock Picking^ (lvl. 10),
Hand to Hand Combat^ (lvl. 10), Throwables (lvl. 5),
Rogue’s Trickery: Sprint (Sacred Art)(lvl. 4), Sleight of Hand (Sacred Art)(Lvl. 3)
Traits: Ruthless, Pompous, Acrobat, Rogue’s Handiwork, Vack’s Minion
Magical Attributes: None
Opinion of Vack: Loathed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simplified Status Page
Name: Dwarf Man
Race: Dwarf Thrall
Class: Warrior
Level: 33
HP: 354/354
MP: 80/80
SP: 166/166
DP: 1/1
Skills: Axes^^^ (lvl. 35), Shields^^^ (lvl. 30), Heavy Armor^^^ (lvl. 28),
Shield Bash^^ (Sacred Art)(lvl. 24),
Warrior’s Challenge: Battle Stance^^ (Sacred Art)(lvl. 21),
Goring Slash^^ (Sacred Art)(lvl. 20), Blunt Weapons^ (lvl. 11),
Battle Shout^ (Sacred Art)(lvl. 10), Hand to Hand Combat (lvl. 8)
Traits: Sturdy, Tushel’s Minion
Magical Attributes: None
Opinion of Tushel: Disliked
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trey blinked a couple times to clear his thoughts. He’d been correct in his assumption that the cooking skill could be utilized like the smithing or alchemy skills. It was suddenly clear to him that he could also enslave people with these non-combat class types and use them as extensions of himself. Why shouldn’t he? They were going to die anyways if he or others didn’t buy them.
But what were these summoners thinking? Had they not seen her skill list yet? Did they not think about how valuable these skills could become? How valuable they were even right now? He tried not to let his excitement show at the idea of using this woman. To use her for creating food that would give him and his group long term buffs before entering battle or setting traps with her poisoned but attractively strong smelling food as bait. She wasn’t even that proficient in the art, but if he could get her there… he would be very interested in seeing how that kind of non-combat class could operate.
He cleared his throat and circled her once, summoning a claw to strip her of the rags she wore with a couple quick tears of cloth to evaluate her further. They were tossed to the floor as she stood wide eyed and nervous, her gaze had shifted to the floor and she was trembling. Her entire body looked soft, as if unaccustomed to hard labor but not in a bad way and she was still rather skinny - even despite her curvy breasts and rear end.
Trey came to the front of where she stood and frowned at her obvious anxiety. “That bad huh? If you don’t want me to buy you I can always look somewhere else.”
The middle-aged elf shot her eyes back up to meet his again and then over to where the three summoners selling her stood. She anxiously pushed her brunette hair behind her pointed ears, gripped her hands together and quickly shook her head back and forth. “I don’t want to die here as a sacrifice, please buy me. I can be useful to you, I promise!”
“And what’s your name, elf?”
For some reason Trey could not fathom she looked confused at the nature of the question, though she was able to stammer out: “Astala.”
The nervous wavering of her voice was accompanied with triumphant smiles from the sellers as Trey nodded in acceptance. Borthomal let out a long exasperated sigh of disapproval, and the high elf let off mixed emotions of nervousness and relief at the thought of a narrowly achieved salvation.
“I’ll take her.”
Trey moved on to the others. None of them came with any equipment, and it had no doubt been sold to try and pay off whatever amount of money these men owed the cult. Whichever ones he’d bought, he’d have to equip them himself. That’d probably cost him a good amount too, though likely not nearly as much as the actual minions themselves.
Trey stopped in front of the culn warrior, looked up at the taller demon with his arms crossed. He smirked once he saw the culn take another glance Rivia’s way. “You like what you see?”
The culn’s face contorted in confusion.
“Oh, excuse me. I forgot you probably don’t speak the human tongue.” Trey shook his head and switched dialects. [Ancient Demon] “Do you like what you see?”
The culn warrior’s eyes widened in surprise and his hands dropped to his sides. [Ancient Demon] “You speak my native tongue? How?”
“Nevermind that. Let me cut to the chase.” Trey waved his hand dismissively. He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb towards Rivia. “She’s mine. However, if I buy you and you do well, I’ll be sure to treat you to any brothel you want to visit on the regular.”
Rivia let off a small smile at Trey’s words that quickly vanished seconds later, but no one else took notice.
The culn warrior’s jaw tightened. “Human, why would you give me such an offer? I don’t understand. I am a slave here. I would have to do what you summoners ask of me regardless of my will to do otherwise. My soul is bound.”
Trey nodded in agreement, but put a hand on the culn’s shoulder. “I realize that, but I want to give you an incentive to do well anyways.”
Trey dropped his hands to his hips and stretched backwards with a slight yawn. “I want my minions to like me if it can be helped, but if it can’t be helped I’ll deal with it. I also won’t be buying you if you’d rather stay here to be bought by someone else or… ya know, killed as a sacrifice.”
The culn’s purple skin rippled as he winced, flexing his muscles involuntarily at the thought of it and bringing attention to the lean layers of musculature he had on his bones. “Is that what they intend to do?”
“It certainly is. If they don’t sell you, they’re going to kill you and send your soul to whatever monster they have in the pit a few caves over. So, that poses the question.” Trey curiously spread out his arms to either side. “Do you want me to buy you? Or would you rather stay?”
It was a mental cheat to numb his feelings of guilt regarding buying people for his own uses, though it worked pretty well. He felt a hell of a lot less guilty letting them choose. Unlike Rivia who he thought deserved her place, he didn’t know what any of these people had done to get to their current positions in life. So his curiosity was replaced with the feeling of being content after the culn soldier took a knee and bowed his head.
“I will serve you, and I appreciate the incentive as well as the opportunity to avoid an inopportune death.”
Trey chuckled at the culn’s response. “So what’s your name?”
The warrior was quick to reply. “I am nameless. My tribe was destroyed, and I refuse to wear the name my father gave me after such a failure to defend my home.”
Trey didn’t really care about the reasoning nor his backstory at the moment. He shrugged with a final comment to seal the conversation before continuing on. “Your name will be Charles then.”
Next up was the male dark elf who stood proud and undaunted with eyes staring straight ahead. It was the first time Trey’d seen a drow up close, though he’d seen others at a distance a couple times before this. Just like the high elves, they hard sharper features than humans did, were quite lean, and were very symmetrical with their facial features. In fact this elf didn’t have almost any body fat at all and the muscles of his abdomen in particular were rather impressive. It even put Trey to shame - and although he didn’t have a six pack, he had some pretty good definition going on.
The drow cut him off before Trey could even talk. “I will not subject myself to the rule of a human.”
Trey noted how he said the word ‘human’ with disgust, and grinned at how he’d even expected something like that given the stigma of superiority the drow had. He snorted and immediately moved on, not wanting to waste his time. “Then I’ll try to settle for your sister.”
The young drow woman had the same attitude of disgust and superiority that her brother did. Unlike the soft-looking high elf woman, this younger girl was built for speed with toned rippling muscles created from years of training, making her look like a track star on a women’s college team. Her breasts were rather small and her face was unmoving as Trey walked around to inspect her thoroughly. He stopped in front of her in short order. “So what about you? Do you want to stay and die as a sacrifice like your brother? Or would you rather come with me as a slave?”
The girl only sneered in contempt and defiance, but she didn’t even bother to make eye contact.
Trey sighed and began to move on after a lack of response, but the plump summoner was having none of it. The shorter hooded man angrily strode up to the drow man and took out a dagger.
Snarling, the plump summoner grabbed the drow rogue by his ponytail and yanked his head down to expose his neck at an awkward angle. “If you’re no good to us for selling, we’ll just kill you now and use you as food for our pets!”
The summoner whipped the dagger around with his free hand and plunged it into the dark elf’s neck. The drow’s eyes shot wide open in surprise and pain, and his sister began to scream.
“STOP IT! STOP IT PLEASE!” the drow woman begged as the summoner yanked the dagger out and plunged it into the man’s neck again. She began to sob and tried to intervene, but her body froze as the contract of her soul stopped her movements. Her continued cries turned from human tongue into elvish, and soon her frantic blubbering was completely lost on Trey as he had no idea what she was saying.
“I should have killed these dark-skinned bastards after robbing them, I knew they’d be of no use to us. Drow are always mouthy cunts!” The plump cultist whirled on her and flung her brother’s dying body to the ground, getting blood on Trey’s boot in the process and to his disgruntlement before Trey could withdraw his foot.
The drow girl tried to backpedal, but found she couldn’t as she began to scream and beg for forgiveness. Her screaming died down to a quiet anxious sob as Trey’s hand clamped down on the other summoner’s shoulder though, and the plump man straightened up at Trey’s request to stop.
Turning back to the drow girl, Trey leaned in and helped her to her feet. Pinching her face by the cheeks with one hand under her chin, Trey forced her to look at her dying brother on the ground who was beginning to go into shock as the blood loss took hold.
“I did not ask to kill your brother, nor do I want your owner to finish the job and kill you. You are not my property though, and if I walk away you both die now.” Trey forced her face back to meet his eyes, still pinching and gripping her cheeks. “I can still save him. Accept my offer and stop putting on a brave face. You only have about 30 seconds until he dies.”
The drow woman’s small breasts heaved up and down with tears running down her face as her eyes frantically flashed back to her sibling. “Do it! Please! We will serve you!”
There was no amusement in Trey’s features as he let off a snort and gave the mental command to Rivia. He had to try a couple times to get it to work though as he still hadn’t gotten the mental commands completely down yet, so he’d have to be sure to take Gorthomal up on his offer to teach him the tricks of the trade.
Rivia acknowledged him and placed her hands together, reciting the prayer that would produce her healing miracle. Within seconds, the two stab wounds began to seal shut and the blood-flow was redirected back into the drow’s body. Twenty seconds later, Rivia stopped the miracle with impressed looks from the culn warrior.
The drow man on the ground violently choked and coughed up blood as he got back to his elbows, and then coughed up some more. Trey stood with his hands clasped behind his back with a sour unrelenting gaze as the drow’s sister rushed over to him to make sure he was ok while animatedly sobbing.
“I’ll take them both,” Trey said dismissively with chuckles and victorious grins from the ones selling the two drow. The two dark elves were by far the most expensive of the lot, so their successful sale was a boon indeed.
The dwarf had been watching the entire interaction with mild interest, and when Trey stopped short of him to look down on the shorter stocker man he thoughtfully began to pull on his long brown beard. “Not much of a choice do I have now eh laddie?”
Trey cocked his head to one side. “What do you mean?”
The dwarf laughed a hardy deep laugh and put his hands out to either side. “Let us be real with one another laddie, if I say no I’ma die. Not only tha, but I cannot live without a contract as these bastards turned me into a thrall. So let us be done with it and ya can go ahead ‘n buy me. I must ask though, why such the large purchase? Why so many of us? You’re not gona turn around and just sacrifice my stumpy ass when we get outa here are ya?”
The question caught Trey off guard and caused him to laugh as well. Smiling, he shook his head. “Not at all my short friend. I very much hope that you all grow and thrive under my command. We’re headed into the mainland of Ornthas soon. I just need more minions.”
The dwarf grinned and extended his hand. “Ah. I see laddie. Well I guess I can look forward to an adventure before I die under some ghoul’s clutches then! HA!”
Trey eyed the dwarf in surprise for a while then held out his hand to shake. “I think I like you, little man. What’s your name?”
“Karus! And don’t be callin me a lil man! I could snap ya in half!” The stocky dwarf let out another hardy laugh and Trey got the impression that he was really going to get along with this guy.
“Well my name is Trey, and it’s nice to meet you.”
“A summoner with manners! Now that IS unheard of! Laddie, you gotta tell me your story when we’re outta here!”
Chuckling again and taking his hand back from the shake, Trey pursed his lips before turning around to the plump eager summoner at his left. “I’ll definitely be taking this one. Let’s see… 3900 for the culn, 14,000 for the high elf, 57,000 and 47,000 for the drow, and 15,000 for the dwarf… That’s 136,900. Ashe, could you count that out for me?”
The plump summoner’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction at such a large sale, but he quickly interjected while eagerly rubbing his sausage fingers together. “I think there may have been a mistake, the dwarf is 75,000. That isn’t a 1, it’s a 7.”
Trey’s mouth dropped and he took another look at the parchment. “No, that's a 1. Don’t fuck with me, there’s no way the dwarf is worth 75,000 and we both know it.”
“Hey!” The dwarf protested defensively, rubbing at the pentagram carved into his skin. “I’m worth tha if not more!”
The pudgy cultist shook his head eagerly. “75,000. You two seem to get along well enough, it should be worth it to you.”
Trey’s jaw dropped at the retort, and he angrily clenched his fist but tried not to lose his temper. This guy was a slimy bastard.
Ashe had stopped counting the money and watched Trey’s expression change. Carefully coming up to his side she tugged at his arm and looked over to another group of minions across the room. “That minotaur you wanted is less than half that price and likely stronger. Why are you even considering the dwarf? There’s also an incubus and a hellhound that looked like good deals, their levels aren’t high but due to their species they’re likely still assets we could take.”
The plump summoner scowled at her words and was going to retort again but Trey cut him off.
“Yeah. We can’t afford that kind of buy right now if we’re going to outfit everyone with gear.” He took another look at Karus the dwarf and shook his head sadly. “Sorry man.”
The plump summoner quickly stammered out: “25,000!”
Trey raised an eyebrow. “20,000. For a total of 141,900.”
“Deal!”
The two men shook on it and the dwarf’s somber expression turned lively again once he realized he wasn’t on the chopping block for sacrificial taboos anymore. The drow man was picking himself up with the help of his sister and giving a hate filled glare to the plump cultist who’d stabbed him, but his attention was drawn by Trey’s finger jabbing into his ribs.
“What’s your name?”
The drow angrily snarled again. “I will not bow to-“
Trey’s backhand struck him across the face rather hard and stunned the drow, letting him see stars for a brief instant as Trey jabbed his finger into the drow’s ribcage again. “Let me repeat what I said: what – is – your – name? Do not make me say it again. I just saved your miserable life and your sister just agreed to a contract. I own your miserable asses now. So shut up and tell me or I’ll name you something else. Something like ‘Cock Gobbler the 3rd’ or ‘Boogers.’”
The dark elf’s snarl faded, though he still held a look of contempt and he grudgingly answered. “My name is Rofa.”
“And my name is Tarline,” the drow girl said quickly as she tried to head off any further stupidity her brother might say while tightly gripping Rofa’s hand in warning.
“Good, you learn fast.” Trey praised the young drow woman and ran his hand through her hair as she stiffened and her brother began to sneer in anger again. Trey stopped shortly after though and turned back around to where Ashe was handing the cultist his money. “Are we good to transfer the contracts yet?”
The plump man jingled the large bag of coins and smiled wickedly underneath his hood. “It’s a deal, and a pleasure doing business with you. We may be able to pay off the cult’s loans just yet. Just remember, you can’t have more than two minions out at a time when you leave this room. Be sure to store them in their respective nether realms before you leave for food or the last ceremony.”
At a gesture, the other two summoners in league with the plump one came forward and began transferring contracts over to Trey. Sparks of dark mana briefly hissed with notifications popping up in Trey’s HUD. He quickly accepted each contract as they came up one by one with the All Spirit’s voice ringing in his ears.
“You have been offered the minion contract for the High Elf Thrall Astala, which would take up 1 control slot. You currently have 6/10 control slots left. Do you accept?”
“Congratulations. You have accepted the minion contract for Astala and gained a new minion.”
“You have been offered the minion contract for the Culn Charles, which would take up 1 control slot. You currently have 5/10 control slots left. Do you accept?”
“Congratulations. You have accepted the minion contract for Charles and gained a new minion.”
“You have been offered the minion contract for the Dark Elf Thrall Tarline, which would take up 1 control slot. You currently have 4/10 control slots left. Do you accept?”
“Congratulations. You have accepted the minion contract for Tarline and gained a new minion.”
“You have been offered the minion contract for the Dark Elf Thrall Rofa, which would take up 2 control slots. You currently have 3/10 control slots left. Do you accept?”
“Congratulations. You have accepted the minion contract for Rofa and gained a new minion.”
“You have been offered the minion contract for the Dwarf Thrall Karus, which would take up 1 control slot. You currently have 1/10 control slots left. Do you accept?”
“Congratulations. You have accepted the minion contract for Karus and gained a new minion.”
The All Spirit’s notifications died down and exited his HUD just as fast as they had come, but Trey was a little disappointed that he’d had to use 2 slots for the dark elf Rofa. It was likely due to the level discrepancy as well as the fact that Rofa seemed to already despise him, but at least it wasn’t 3 slots. He’d been hoping that he’d be able to buy one more minion, such as an imp or one of those hellhounds, but was having no such luck. Trey would have to wait until he’d grown more levels and acquired more willpower stat points. Regardless, he was very happy with the day’s outcome and was optimistic about the future for his group. Acquiring these minions alone was enough of a reason to call this event a success.
Dismissing each of his new minions into their nether realms, Trey thanked the men he’d bought from. He did feel a slight sense of guilt after walking away though, because the faces of the many left behind longed to be taken with him. After all, it was very likely they were going to die. They’d all heard what that plump cultist had said. Unfortunately Trey didn’t have the money to buy them all, nor did he have any control slots left anyways, so he pushed their faces from his mind and continued on his way.
