© Adept Energizer:13
Adept Mage:11 + 10 [Items]
Diviner:2
Gold Digger:2
Scavenger:2
Scout:2
Antimage:1
Athlete:1
Crafter:1
Healer:1
Meditator:1
Mind Seer:1
Negotiator:1
Nitpicker:1
Shadow:1
Strategist:1
Tactician:1
Warrior:1
22. Truth?
'Come here, give your aunt a hug! '
- Aunt
My rage didn't recede as I went to Sorina. But once I got to its cave chamber, part of my emotion turned into curiosity.
A lot of smoke was coming from the direction of the camp. The damn crystals everywhere didn't allow me to see anything in detail, though.
Instead of going directly there, I crouched and decided on a more cautious route. Where there's smoke, there's fire.
I unsheathed my sword. My six morbs – four fire, one darkness, one death – were floating above my head.
Ten minutes of a slow walking later, I found the first sentry above a rather tall crystal, looking around.
He was wearing full plate armor. A loaded crossbow was in his hands, and five almost transparent white morbs were visible. I knew from experience that it was not light magic; maybe air. His blue cloak with green borders marked him as a Sorina's guard.
What or who was he looking for? Me?
Happy I had thought of trying to be stealthy, I hid from his view and tried to go around him.
And I found another sentry.
Minutes turned into tens of minutes, which turned into hours. I eventually got to the mark on the ground that designated Sorina's territory. I stepped over it.
Warning!
Entering hostile territory!
What the hell?!
I immediately stepped back; I didn't know enough about Valia to know if they had any way of detecting my intrusion.
Had Marbareus finally decided to kill me? But what about the smoke in the camp's direction?
Wait, does it mean... Did the earthbound find out about him? If so, why are there Sorina's guards in the area? What is going on?
There was no easy way to get through the guards. Maybe I could-
You have received a party invitation from Tardas.
Accept or refuse?
Tardas? Shit. I accepted the invitation.
<Drop the morbs. Fast.> He said.
<That's not happening.>
My morbs suddenly blinked out of existence.
Status effect received: Short Silence (level 1)
For 5 seconds, you:
» Cannot use magic
"We have no time for this. I'm sorry, but if you don't come for good, I'll-"
<What?!> I mind yelled incredulous.
<'What' what?> He asked confused.
<What did you say? You are what?>
He took a few seconds to understand. <I'm sorry, Thorn. I'll explain everything, but come with me first. No morbs, I'm sure they have an expert diviner with them.>
I'd never have gone quietly if he hadn't said he was sorry. More than hostile territories, smoke in the air, and badass looking guards, that made me realize something was terribly wrong.
<Okay, I'll come.> He released me, and I turned around. Black blood covered his body whole, his longbow and purse were missing, and his dark green scale armor was half destroyed. <What happened to you?>
<I'll explain, but not here. Come. Remember, no magic.> He started walking crouched. Everything was so out of character that I followed.
<How did you find me anyway?>
<I put a tracking crystal in your jerkin when it was being fixed.>
<What?! You can do that?>
<I don't understand the question. You Travelers are surprised by the most common things. Speed up, but try not to make any noise.>
We walked for an hour until we reached a clearing. Two bodies covered by dark cloaks were there, and I recognized Marbareus' big axe close to one of them.
<What happened? The earthbound?>
Tardas sat on a small crystal and shook his head slightly. <No.>
I checked the corpses under the cloaks. Marbareus' body was there alright. So was Daggers'.
<You killed them?>
He let out a quiet laugh. <I did. So did you.>
I laughed awkwardly with him. Everything was so weird.
<You shouldn't get drunk, man. Aren't you on the clock still?> He didn't answer. <Care to explain anything at all?>
<The First Lord- No, not First Lord anymore, I suppose. Marbareus told me you saw through the bullshit in the Resistance's meeting. He has had an almost respect-hate relationship with you ever since.>
I laughed more. <Then he needs a shrink even more than I do. That's some deep emotional hiding right there. And you suck at explaining things, don't you?>
As if to prove my point, he completely changed the subject.
<Do you have food?>
<What?>
<Stop making me repeat myself; did you became deaf? Food. Do you have any?>
<No.>
<Figures. Deathlords are the only assholes in the whole world who don't need to eat to survive. I think this makes the vampires more envious than anything else. When you gave Marbareus the King Gabat's head, he was delighted enough to accept the verbal quest and allow the Destiny Spirits to gift you attribute points. Do you have any idea how gross the blood of the Underworld's species is?>
<Huh... No?>
<Sure you don't. You claim not to know shit, don't you? That's what Marbareus liked the most about you. You are like an ignorant fish pulled from the pound, but finding ways to survive instead of dying.>
<You do realize you sound like a madman, don't you? Are you under some status effect or something?>
<Did you truly kill Renno?> He asked suddenly.
My eyes widened. <What?!>
<The High Lady. Did you kill her?>
I thought about the answer. If I was being played, this was something so above my level that I'd better not even try to comprehend it, or my head might blow. I sighed.
<What does it have to do with anything?>
<Everything. You threw the power balance in the Underworld into disarray. How did you do it? Maybe you are not a fish, but a god disguised as a Traveler. We never saw your Destiny Spirit, after all.>
<A god? For real? Me?>
<You killed one of the most powerful deathlords in the Underworld and didn't show fear even when Marbareus had your throat in his hands. He boasted about it. About your unbreakable will. Said it made him remember his younger days, before he became a coward.>
<Tardas, help me here, man. What the hell are you talking about?>
He closed his eyes, put his elbows on his knees and supported his forehead with his hands. A lengthy period followed. <The Resistance is a ruse.> He finally said. <It attracts idealists and desperate people. It kills the former and uses the latter. Manhart is a monster.>
<Manhart? Did you just say Marbareus name incorrectly?>
<Just... Shut up for once. You are a little shit, but this was Marbareus last order before he died: to tell you the truth. Even before I try to resurrect him. Do you have any idea how much I hate you for it? You don't have to believe nor like it, but respect this moment. Please.>
I got totally confused. I think that was the first time an NPC said 'please' to me and meant it too. I shut up.
<Marbareus was a naïve idealist when he discovered the Resistance. He had plans to free all the slaves, to save the Underworl
d from itself. The only thing that saved him was his pure-blood training. They are taught since birth, you see. Their mothers teach them to wage war, and their fathers teach them politics. If they can't lie or kill well enough when they are thirty, they are murdered by their own parents.>
I gulped. Except for the getting killed part, that was uncomfortably similar to my own upbringing.
<When he found them, Marbareus quickly saw through the Resistance's lies, but it was too late to back off. He pretended to be desperate. I think Manhart always knew the truth, but Marbareus was good enough to fool the other leaders and too useful to be killed.
<He was told about the Resistance's origin. The drow planned the whole thing with the darkbound. They want to enslave all the Underworld under the banner of the Devourer.
<And the Sophus clan are a pivotal part of their plan. The Sophus are magical researchers. They found out how to nullify the sun crystals effects. And they found out how to create slave collars that force the wearers to obey every order from whoever holds the key.>
The game manuals had no mention of that. If it also worked on players, I could predict some impressive lawsuits soon. <How?>
<Mind magic. Even the gods forbid it, but it seems the Prince's curiosity went too far. Strangely, no god killed him for it. Now, the Devourer wants the collars.>
<You mean the priests, right? They control the Devourer.>
He looked at me in disbelief. <Mortals controlling a god? These are the most ridiculous words that have ever left your mouth, and you have set a rather high bar for that.>
Manhart had told me about the Devourer and the priests. Maybe Tardas knew about that talk and was trying to discredit the lich. The ghoul could become completely invisible when he wanted, after all, and I had no way of knowing if he had been following me since Ter'nodril.
<Yeah, sure, screw you too, and all that.> I wasn't in the mood for cheap talk. <What do you mean by mortals? Gods are mortals too.>
<I don't know where you get these beliefs, but you are wrong. Gods can theoretically be killed, but only by other gods.>
<Oh. Okay. Go on.>
<The Devourer consumes everything it touches. The drow have been sacrificing themselves to appease his hunger for millennia, but their god told them he wanted more, much more. The darkbound proposed the perfect solution: slaves.>
<I thought the drow didn't meddle in slavery.>
<The Ways indeed forbid them from enslaving others. But it doesn't mean they can't accept slave offerings from other people. It also doesn't forbid them to indirectly help other people to enslave the world.>
It was hard, but I forced myself to ask a question. <Why don't they just buy slave sacrifices from Dakar, then?>
<They do. What do you think the secret path you took from Ter'nodril to Sorina is used for? But they act as if the whole of Valia owe them or something. They are crazy fanatics, all of them. And they are master manipulators. By using Manhart, they have distanced themselves enough from the deed to be within the Ways limits.>
<What the hell are the Ways, by the way? Their laws?>
<Sort of. The Ways are a limitation set on the drow since they came to be. All the species and races of Valia are magically bound to destroy the drow if the drow ever allow a breach in the Ways to go unanswered.>
<Woah. Isn't it a bit, I don't know, extreme?>
<Yes. And no one even remembers why it is so. But it doesn't matter for this conversation. The Resistance was destroying Dakar from the inside like a disease. Until the Unifiers appeared.>
<The what?>
<The Unifiers. They are the response from the firebound to the Resistance. They believe in a united, strong Dakar; in maintaining the status quo. They somehow found a way for the Father himself to back them and were near gaining support from High Lady Renno as well. If they'd succeeded, they could have taken Dakar to even greater heights.>
<Wasn't she a firebound deathlord too?>
He took a moment to answer. <She was... Unique. In her earlier days, she spread fear and pain through all Dakar, including among the firebound. They both revered and feared her. Then she retired and refused to help in any way.>
<She almost did it. Waged a war against the Resistance, I mean. She told me she would do that just before I killed her.>
<Don't ever let the Unifiers find out about this. Marbareus became a double agent; he didn't care for Dakar, but it was the lesser evil. He even met the Father personally; you have no idea how few have this privilege.
<When you killed Renno, you disrupted the whole balance. She was a wildcard before, but without her, the Unifiers lost too much potential power. Everyone believed she would intervene if Dakar came under siege; she helped build the damn place, after all. The Resistance organized an attack immediately. And they even used something she did as an excuse: the incarceration of the Arktov's First Lord. It was perfect. All thanks to you.> There was no lost love in his tone.
<Wait. You said she helped build Dakar?>
<Yes. High Lady Renno and High Lord Sadder built it. Any more questions?>
<Can't Sadder help hold the Resistance at bay?>
<He disappeared. After building Dakar, he let the High Lady rule and went off, never to be seen again. Anything else?>
<No, go on.>
<When your exploits became known, the Resistance ordered Marbareus to get close to you and recruit. So did the Unifiers. He intended a slow approach. Then, you became furious at the slavery. We interrogated the slave woman, and she cried when she told us you named her. Marta, I believe it was. That's when he decided to protect you.>
<Sorry? Do you mean he decided to kill me?> I asked.
<He is hot-tempered, I'll give you that, but when he calms down he can differentiate right from wrong. His temper ended up working out for the farce, but even when he was calm, he purposefully pushed you away from him. He wanted to make you hate both the Resistance and Dakar. And if he had to be both the catalyst and the focus for your rage, so be it.>
If there is any truth at all in it, Marbareus did a damn good job at it.
<You see, he knew what he had been through by playing double agent, and he could see you would end in the same position. He used his quick-to-anger personality as an excuse to protect you. He also tried to slow the Resistance's agenda by creating stupid plans. Then you happened again.
<When you made Ambrassa's son save the observer, you gave her an idea: using the earthbound station against them. We never knew she was part of the Resistance until the day Manhart ordered us to put her plan into action.
<I seldom saw Marbareus as happy as when you told him that using and discarding you had been the Resistance's plan all along; his plan of making you hate the Resistance was working. And I never heard him laugh so much as when you messed with the Maze plan on the first day.>
I raised an eyebrow. That was a little too much to believe. <Are you a bard or something? That's some pretty bullshit you are singing me there. If he was that satisfied, he could have left us there forever.>
He gave another quiet laugh. It sounded tired. <I don't care if you believe it or not, I'm just obeying my order. He wouldn't have called us back if he wasn't forced to. The amount of promises you have to give a Destiny Spirit for it to change a quest condition is ridiculous. They do allow better or worse reward depending on the outcome of a quest, but rarely changing it. And they only cancel it on death. It's supposed to be some ancient sacred thing. In the last change to your quest, they told Marbareus that no further changes would be sold. And as much as he wanted to allow the plan to fail, Manhart doesn't take failures well.>
He allowed silence to hang in the air.
<We never expected a third party.>
<Gotta love a three-way.>
He ignored me. <I don't know who they are or why they killed Marbareus. All I know is that they somehow got to the First Lady. She asked for a private meeting with him, and when I realized something was wrong, it was too late. I barely managed to rescue him, and the observer s
acrificed herself to allow us to escape. I took her body with me out of respect.
<Kassandra poisoned him. A poison that paralyzes then kills. I think she knew all the antidotes I had on me; none of them had any effect. I couldn't get to the city, either, because her guards were everywhere. All I could do was add him to the party and speak to him while he died in my arms.>
A lot of willpower on my part made me stop a joke before it could leave my lips.
<He gave me his communication crystal. I contacted Manhart and the Father, and both made a Divine Vow that they didn't know about the attack on Marbareus nor about the third party. I wrongly called divine judgment upon them both and was punished for it. I lost all my possessions except for my clothes and was almost killed.>
Note to self: never call a god's judgment upon people unless I'm sure I'm right.
<Marbareus told me many Resistance members were killed. The Father said the same about the Unifiers. The First Lady killed everyone who opposed her and took control of the clan. Something similar happened in other clans, the Father didn't like it, and the vampires are now at war with themselves. I have no reports about the deathlords, but I believe they are having issues too.>
<No way.>
He smiled mockingly at me. <Yes, way. Eternal is nowhere to be seen. I don't know if he betrayed us or if he got killed and gave up on his body. We were too busy with our known enemies to see the sudden strike from an unknown third party. I wonder if the drow are responsible for it.>
<You just said Manhart didn't know about the attack.>
<Manhart is a monster, but still a pawn. The drow... There is a story the vampires tell their children to teach them about the drow. A vampire was dying of thirst and asked a drow for a little blood. The drow agreed, and drank from a bottle before piercing a finger with a needle and allowing a single drop of blood to escape it. The vampire was so desperate that he didn't think about of the strangeness of the bottle, he just drank the blood. The next day, a wanderer found two bodies. The drow had poisoned himself to kill the vampire with him.>
<There are so many holes in the story that I don't even know where to begin.>
<It is a children's story, deathlord. It doesn't have to make sense, only teach something. It teaches never to let instinct overcome reason, never to dismiss anything suspicious, never to accept anything from a drow. It teaches that drow will always give you less than they could and that they are willing to sacrifice themselves for things we can't understand.>