Interlude 9 – Evils in the Dark

Amelia, the Adventurer’s Guild leader, was reviewing one more time the latest reports of a particular group, while her secretary by day, girlfriend by night, rested half naked on a nearby couch…

At sunset she had tried to help her relax, only for Amelia to turn the tables on her and… well, in the end she did became more relaxed…

The room that served as her office was full of objects, ranging from enormous bones on the walls (Mostly hunted by her), to small weapons (Mostly hers), and tons of parchments held on different pieces of furniture, waiting to be organized…

Eventually…

‘Surprisingly, Rol’s isn't the troubling one…’ generally she could ignore his report, or compare it with the others, but now… ‘Well… the others are bad too… the Fae of a priest, turned into a white, intelligent snake, that makes swords out of dirt…?’

Just that day, Elder Grim had requested the live capture of a white snake, with an affinity for swords, that had been seen near the place where lord Justice was murdered… and hours before this group returned, one of the groups of Adventurers that remained in the city, on backup duty, was dispatched to do that…

‘Are they same one…?’ she dreaded this being the case

A Fae happens, when someone’s will to live makes their Spirit linger, but unlike a Undead fueled by Grudge. These Spirits don’t try to reclaim their old bodies, instead they reshape themselves, creating a new body in the process (Using a method that the gods refuse to mention. They also don’t explain everything about them either)

Like using similar spells, with a different elemental fuel. That was the explanation that a researcher friend of her, gave her decades ago…

‘But the distance between the two places, is too big…’ a Spirit Linked to a place, can’t go that far away, from the place they died… ‘Wait… they reported a prank before…’ silently she moved to a repurposed wardrobe in the cluttered room, and started to look for that report, only wearing an open robe

That wardrobe was the only one in the whole room, to be slightly organized. It was filled with reports that she found funny, or at the very least odd

‘Here it is…’ she opened it and she skimmed the surface of it, noting where the prank happened ‘Hmm…?’ and the fact that Veronica saw some snake tracks… ‘If the new Guardian Tree is where she died… then it’s too far… to be the one that did this prank… and to be the one that Grim wants…’

Her mental map was very accurate, even after decades of working behind a desk. And if the current burial site was the birthplace of a Fae, then she could move in an area three times bigger, than any other Fae in the world before…

‘What are the chances of there being more than two Spirits, or multiple white…’ she frowned and looked into her reports again ‘Snake inside the city…?’ and found the copy of one that Maxwell gave to her

Not long ago, she also had read something made by his assistant, with the opinions of an expert about the newest beast in the forest, and that there was a possible Magic Snake, that might have originated in the city… she pulled it out too and moved back to the desk. This time to focus on a particular part of John’s report…

‘A enchanted crossguard, with a snake engraved on it…? Enchanted…? Or Blessed…?’ she hummed, frowning at the documents-

CRACK!!!

Before seeing on the corner of her vision, a shadow that was darker than the rest, and throwing a knife at it

The loud noise woke up her girlfriend, making her surround herself with ice projectiles aiming at every direction around her, as she looked around

“Get two bags” Amelia told her, twirling another knife between her fingers, as she moved to the one stuck on the wall “We are going to the temples”

She pulled the knife out, it had only sunk to the hilt, instead of piercing the stone wall. The tip of it also was slightly blunt, so she knew she had hit something other than stone…

“Can I get dressed first-?” she started to ask as she emptied the contents of one of the bags near her on the floor, and got closer to the desk, grabbing another one in the way

“No time, dear~” the guild leader just closed her robe a bit, before helping with the parchments

It wouldn’t be the first time, the city had seen either of them, almost naked…

Soon, both of them got to the first floor of the guild, and Amelia started to bark orders

“You three!” she pointed at Veronica, Tania and Rol, they were talking to a party member organizer “And you four!” she pointed to another group looking at a map “Follow us! We are going to the temples!” she swung the bag she was carrying on her shoulder

Her girlfriend was carrying the important one, still surrounded by floating ice, looking like she was trying to look more presentable on the few garments she had

“Tom!” another member of the guild staff got a different order “Tell the guards to do their job, now!”

Thankfully, all her precautions were unnecessary and the trip to the temples was peaceful

…

Dan on the other hand…

Earlier, once he had finished with his report, he got out the guild to avoid talking with the others, only to met with a cute girl, with an interesting proposition, that she told him once both of them moved to an empty street

The guild had told him about the girl looking for him, so he wasn't worried about following an attractive woman

She introduced herself as lady Arrow’s personal maid, and since her lady had heard about the odd Deed he got, her lady couldn't help but think about the details of how it worked…

The Deed once it was Analyzed, stated that he couldn't make a child with a woman if both didn’t wanted it. Lady Arrow wondered what would happen if the woman was under the effects of a contraceptive brew at the time, and wanted to contact him to test that

Dan explained the maid, that he wasn't interested in children, but that he found her attractive and would like to know her better

The maid (That never told him, her name) thanked him, but asked him to think about it after she explained to him the details of the test:

For the test, it would be done at night as to not interrupt her normal duties, because the willing woman would be herself, she had already taken the brew the day before, and it would remain active for the next three weeks

He would be recompensed after the test for his participation, wherever they had a child or not. He could choose between money, an enchanted item, or he could meet directly with lady Arrow to discuss another type of payment

If he didn’t wanted to know the results of the test, then neither he, nor the temples would be told

She would be the one taking care of the child (If any were to happen), he wouldn’t need to be part of their lives if he didn’t wanted. The child also wouldn’t be capable of inheriting anything that he acquires, if he manages to become a noble, by any means

Dan was surprised by the offer, but before he could said anything, the girl told him that he had the whole week to make his choice, before saying goodbye

To his surprise, he found himself thinking about the test until sunset…

He knew that some people were going to try and get the same Deed too, that much was obvious. So he didn’t really needed to test anything, someone else was bound to try it… or lady Arrow could make the same offer to someone else after they get the Deed…

The rewards were tempting too, and even if there were some nasty rumors about the lady, he would be dealing with a maid, not Arrow…

Once he noticed that it was night, and the rest of his group was bound to return to the inn soon. It was his anger at how they had reacted with the snake, the one that made him choose

So he moved along the emptying streets, only stopping when he reached the noble sector to ask for directions. The guards that he asked looked at him with pity, but didn’t tried to change his mind and told him where was the place…

The guards that he meet once he reached the house, had a haunted expression on their faces, and just nodded once he told them who he was, before being directed to a specific room…

But Dan already was thinking with his pants, and didn’t noticed a thing

The dark room he entered, while still fancy by his standards, was barren in comparison to the rest of the house he had seen. Thick curtains blocked most of the light coming from the outside lights, only letting him see the silhouette of the maid, by the foot of a big, sturdy bed, when the door closed

“Welcome~” there was a seductive undertone on her voice that he hadn't heard before “Please take a seat on the bed~” at the moment he found himself liking it…

“Well…” he started walking closer to her instead “I prefer to be in charge of-!”

He couldn't finish because her ring shone, and chains that were part of the bed, grabbed him and immobilized every limb of his body, at the same time he was gagged. Lady Arrow tried to maintain her face neutral as she removed her disguise, and she used more magic to destroy Dan’s clothes

“Oh, my~” thankfully for Dan, she liked what she saw, and decided to be… gentler… “Don't worry about your clothes, new ones will be provided tomorrow. By the way… is it true that you boast a great stamina~?”

She sat on top of him with practiced ease, as he tried to move under her, the chains not letting him move at all, nor they touched the woman as she prepared

“Now, remember” she leaned forwards meeting his eyes, giving him the most psychotic smile he had ever seen “You are here to get me pregnant~ I’ll notice if you forget that fact, all right~?” she moved her glowing focus in front of his eyes “Blink once for yes, two for no”

His eyes followed the glow, still trying to move

“Your name is Dan?” after some seconds of defiance he blinked “Are you aware that you will be rewarded handsomely?” he blinked once “You came here, to have sex, remember?” one blink again “Can you last all night~?” he answered yes… his eyes losing focus as the rest of his body reacted to her touch “You will get me pregnant~”

He blinked once… his mind only seeing the glow, even after she moved the focus away…

And she smiled again…

…

Elsewhere, a Doll was using its hands to move quickly along a side street, because all the ribs and most vertebrae of its torso were destroyed, only the armor that the Doll had, held it together as its puppeteer moved it to a mostly empty warehouse

Once it got closer, two other Dolls got out of the walls and moved to it, dragging it to the middle of the building

“What happened…?” one of them asked

“There was a Blossom in my normal route and the guild leader noticed me, as I took a different path…”

“Did you learn where did they found it…?” once they stopped, the two working Dolls tried to pry the cuirass from the bones, but the puppeteer just waved them away

“Unnecessary to know the place, it has a Guardian Tree…”

The faces projected on top of the other two skulls were neutral, but the gestures of the other Dolls showed the anger of their puppeteers

“This Doll is useless, this kind of damage to the spine, can only be repaired in the Spawner…”

The others nodded and moved to a corner for wood and flint. Getting a new Doll, Up to the city, was preferable, to the extremely high risk of having them being tracked to the Spawner… Amelia was a clever woman after all…

“Why this city has so many freakishly strong individuals…?” the other two heard the puppeteer complaining before cutting control of the broken Doll. That remained still, even as fire turned it to ashes

Leaving behind the useless cuirass, to be found by the guards that were following it, since the order of the guild reached them…