"I like this one," she said, suddenly. "It shows how trapped the painter is in his own mind. The lack of emotions at the same time he feels so conflicted at what he is feeling. The anguish he shows is almost of someone imprisoned. It is a powerful scene."
It was so surreal listening to her speak so many words at the same time that I took a few precious seconds of my time to look at the abstract painting. There were a lot of colors mixed together in a somewhat circular pattern. "Looks like a two year old was playing with mama's brushes."
"I thank you for your kind words, observer," Marbareus said. "I myself couldn't have described my feelings when I painted this any better."
Eternal shifted uncomfortably where he was standing and I smiled.
"Ha! That's funny because you don't have feelings."
He ignored me. "Sit down, all of you. I'll reveal my plans." We did. "As you know, there's an ongoing war between vampires and deathlords. It's a small and petty war and it's bound to end soon with some reparations and some territory conquered, like all wars since Dakar became a joint country.
"The firebound, waterbound, and airbound deathlords have an alliance, and they are the only ones fighting about seven of the seventeen vampire clans. The deathlords are losing and information about peace talks has already reached me. That is not for the best interests of the Resistance.
"Taking down Dakar from the outside is impossible. Geography and the combined power of deathlords, vampires and its hundreds of thousands of slaves make Dakar too powerful. The best way to defeat any big nation is from the inside. And like I just told you, much of Dakar's power is thanks to slavery.
"Freedom propaganda for the slaves has been spread for a few decades now. Even here, where the pains of war haven't been as as strong because of the neutrality of my clan, and where the Prince is known for being a strong supporter of magic studies to make slaves better behaved, I have already heard of voiced dissatisfaction from some of the slaves.
"Our main objective is an all-out war between vampires, deathlords, and slaves, so the multiple Resistance members in key positions can step up and make the war end in a convenient way. We'll use the already existing war and make it even bigger. This is where Thorn and Eternal come in."
"Why this war? Why not any other?" I asked.
He looked annoyed at me for the interruption. "Because it is one sided. A war between balanced powers tends to end, but a war where one side thinks it's possible to gain so much, and the other side fights for hatred of being betrayed... That is a war that goes all the way to the end and changes worlds.
"The deathlords in the alliance have already lost all their outer territories. Granted, the Outer Circle territories are not well guarded, but it is still an unprecedented blow, and there is already talk of a power hungry minority in the vampires pushing for the army to breach the Inner Circle."
"What about the slaves?" My voice came out with much more venom than I intended. "Are you against slavery?" I asked.
He smiled. "Eternal?"
"The First Lord is known for his mercy. Tardas and I are examples; there aren't any better treated slaves in all Dakar. But maybe you would listen more carefully to me if you knew I'm a Traveler."
For some reason, the world 'Traveler' in the chat log was highlighted.
"What? A Traveler slave?" Wait, I didn't try to say 'Traveler', I tried to say 'player.' "I mean, a Traveler. Traveler. What the hell?"
Marbareus held a hand up. "I know you Travelers are forbidden by the Destiny Spirits to call yourselves anything different, and to reveal anything about your origin world. They told our leaders about an incident and the new rules were applied after that."
"Well, I didn't know about that. It sucks."
Marbareus raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you informed by your Destiny Spirit?"
I remembered the damn thing. Zenhit was its name. I had met it when I was creating my character, just before appearing in my prison cell.
It had looked down at me from the beginning, saying things like I wouldn't survive and that my character was too ugly. Then, it had told me how essential Destiny Spirits were and whatnot. That's when I made a bet with it and tossed it out of my virtual life.
Forcing myself to forget about its existence had been a Zen thing; finding peace of mind and stuff. "No. Let's say we don't mix well."
"Jack Thorn not mixing well with someone? What a great surprise." His tone was tired.
"What? And here I thought we were going along so well."
"Not in your wildest dreams."
"Anyway, why would you travel in..." I meant 'play'. "...as a slave? Why not receive another body?" I meant 'create another character.' This was really upsetting. I didn't care about the possible extra immersion to the players, I hated any and every kind of censorship.
"I was going to. Until the First Lord saw me and bought me. Now I train under his guidance and I'm treated better than some of the vampire lords in the clan which enslaved me."
"I see. So Mister Big Heart there loves all his playthings." I said sarcastically.
"Yes!" Eternal replied with a fervor in his voice that was kind of scary; I was almost buying it. "You can even ask the... The sex slaves. They love him." He blushed as he said that.
And that is when I became sure that Marbareus was lying to Eternal. Poor idiot. "Can I, really?" I said conversationally. "Well, let's do that, then. Why don't you call a sex slave to talk to me, Marbareus, my old pal?"
He squinted his eyes. "It is a shame, but I can't. The Destiny Spirits forbid Travelers to interact intimately with other people without free will from both parties."
"Don't worry, we are only going to chat."
"It matters not, I shall not risk-"
"How did Eternal talk to them, then?"
"I didn't," Eternal said. "But I heard it from people I trust."
"I see. Well, it's settled, then. I guess all Dakar- No, all the Underworld, owes Marbareus big thanks for how well he treats his toys, even though no one can talk to them to confirm it."
"I don't like your tone, deathlord." He said with murder in his voice.
"Good, I don't like your lies either."
"You don't understand, Jack," said Eternal in a pleading tone. "He treats me really well. And Tardas too. Believe me, please."
After a few more seconds of staring at Marbareus, I sighed. I couldn't do anything about it now, so I'd have to bide my time. "Whatever. So, Mister Big Heart, pray tell, how are we going to help you free all the slaves?"
"Through deception." Something you know a lot about, it seems. "We need the neutral parties on both sides to join the war. We are going to attack their people under the guise of the opposing side: Eternal will show himself when we attack the deathlords and leave a single witness, and you, Thorn, will show yourself when we do the same to the vampires."
"Great plan, except I'm an unbound, dude, and I've known some people who could tell it just by looking at me. A First Lord included."
He squinted his eyes at me again. "Who- How would you-" He closed his eyes. "It matters not, the witness are going to be slaves or common guards."
"Okay. But that's your big plan? Really? I have seen kids fights with better tactics."
His eyes were glowing slightly. "You will obey, deathlord."
"Well, I guess you are the boss of the Resistance in here, I have no choice but to go with it, do I?"
"No, you don't." He said that gloomily as if searching for hidden meaning in my words.
Looks like we got a paranoid over here.
"When are the operations starting?" Daggers asked.
"In three days. Until then, you are free to do as you wish, as long as you are back here in time." He took a ring and put it on the table, close to me. "This is an illusion ring that will make you look like a vampire. It will not deceive any vampire lords or above if they take a good look at you, but it will be enough to trick any merchants in the city. Or outside it, should you decide to travel. No one besides the people in th
e palace must know we are sheltering a deathlord, or our plans might backfire."
Quest Series: Deception
[Obey the Resistance]
Help the Resistance spread the war to more vampires and deathlords by executing false flag operations for Marbareus Sophus.
Conditions:
» Cannot be denied
» Disobeying will lead to unfavorable consequences
Quest: A Meeting
[Obey the Resistance – Deception]
F- rank
Meet Marbareus in his room at the Palace.
Time remaining:3 days, 4 hours, 48 minutes, 24 seconds
Conditions:
» Cannot be denied
» Disobeying will lead to unfavorable consequences
Quest: Be a Vampire
[Obey the Resistance – Deception]
F- rank
Wear the Ring of Vampire Image from now on, unless ordered otherwise or until completing the Deception quest series.
Not only that, but you must protect the secret of being an unbound deathlord at all costs, except from those who have already seen you.
Conditions:
» Cannot be denied
» Disobeying will lead to unfavorable consequences
A quest series and two quests, but none of them interesting. I took the ring, a simple silver one with yellow symbols all over it, and put it on. I felt no different from my normal self.
Rare Ring of Vampire Image
Makes the wearer look like a vampire
"Whoa," Eternal said. I guessed the ring was working.
"Anything else?" I asked.
"Yes." He stood up, his eyes shining. "If you ever attack my household again, I will make you wish you were dead."
"So cliché," I said as I stood up. "The last people who said something along the lines of 'wishing I was dead' to me are not doing well." I left the room without a care.
A change of clothes was due. I got to my room and was pleased to see my stuff already there, all as good as new. I took a quick shower to wash my blood off and put it on.
"Thorn," Daggers said as I entered the corridor. She was coming from the next door, where Marbareus was.
"Yeah?"
"Where are you going?"
"No idea. Just sightseeing, I guess."
"I will go with you," she said matter-of-factly. It annoyed me.
"Well, ok, you can come, thanks for asking."
"I am an observer, I do not need to ask for permission."
"You sound like a complete jackass. You'd have made Marbareus proud."
"Jack!" I was about to resume walking when Eternal also called me.
"Hey there."
"Are you going to see the city? I can show you all the nice places."
"Great! Let's go."
He took the lead and we went to it.
* * *
Sorina was a small but busy city. Unlike Ter'nodril, where all people seemed to only care about going to the temple – and players about going to the tavern –, here there was actual commerce.
The Commerce District was a big square in the city layout, a quarter of all the city, full of stores, and the only place where stands were allowed in the streets. There wasn't the yelling one would expect in such a setting, but lots of talk and bargaining.
Slaves were sold there, too. There were stores for that and also platforms where the slaves were exposed in underwear. Ghouls were the main... Merchandise, but there were also plenty of vampires and some other species: goblins, pale dwarves, deathlords, ogres, gnolls, elves, humans, beastmen, zombies, fishmen (in some kind of aquarium), a tentacle species, one covered in fur, mermen, giants, and orcs and even some that appeared to be mixed races.
"This place makes me sick," I said.
"You get used to it. And it's just a Valia after all," Eternal said. He meant 'game.'
"Yeah, sure. Nothing wrong in getting used to seeing people as property at all." He blushed a little and I left it at that. "What about the drow? I don't see any."
"The drow are the only people in the Underworld who officially forbid slavery," Eternal explained. "They have their thralls and a few badly treated ogres, but that is all. If it becomes known that someone has a slave drow – and that would be a feat, since only Blackguards leave their country – then the drow declare an all-out war of complete annihilation. See the tentacle monster over there? They once enslaved a drow. Only the ones who were out of their country survived, and now all the few remaining ones are slaves. No one even remembers what they were called, they're simply the tentacle people now."
It explained why the Resistance was using the drow – they were a reckless power. Military strength is all good, but a country willing to use it to enforce their beliefs is a dangerous country, one you would not want to mess with, even if they harbor your enemies.
"Well, things will change soon. I doubt the Travelers..." Damn, I hate this censorship. "...Will stay in the drow country without leaving. We're due for a few wars, it seems."
"No, we are not considered real drow," said Daggers.
"Huh? But aren't you even learning how to become a Blackguard? I thought they were kind of an elite force or something."
She shook her head. "We are accepted to do anything a real drow can do, but the Faithful make it clear that we're not real Sons of God. Some call us the Distant Cousins: people we do things for, and usually treat well enough, but who are not really part of the family."
"No war over you being enslaved then, huh? A shame, I was about to buy you a collar just to set the world on fire."
"I would kill you before you put a slave collar on me." She said matter-of-factly.
"Ha. Big words for a tiny observer."
She didn't reply.
The Military District was a walled square as big as the Commerce one. We were forbidden entry and Eternal explained not even Marbareus had the power to allow us in; only the Prince could grant a slave or foreigner entry to the Military District. Which sucked, since only the military and the nobility could teach magic in the city, and I doubted I could trick a vampire noble into teaching a deathlord some magic.
Entertainment and residences filled the remaining half of the city. We ended our little tour in a high-class tavern after Eternal said the magic words:
"I'm paying."
We sat at a small wooden table with cushioned chairs and a personal waiter in classical looking leather clothes – if that's a thing – a few meters away. The whole place was full of dark wood and the lights were dim.
Some vampires were smoking cigars and it took me a while to understand why the smell of the smoke was not bothering me: I was not breathing. When I did breath, though, I discovered the smell was not bad, but something like mint.
"Wood is really expensive in the Underworld," Eternal explained the excess of wood in the tavern, "there are no trees which can survive here. No one is sure why, since it's possible to grow grass, flowers and other vegetables using the sun crystals. But then, no one knows what the sun crystals are either."
"I see," I said. "And I guess the surface world is really far away from here?" I took a sip from the wine I had ordered. Not bad.
"Yes. Wood is worth more than gold. It goes without saying that wood enchanted not to rot, like all this around us, can be used to buy land."
"Huh? You speak as if it's noteworthy."
"Oh, right. You are still thinking about the outside world. This is a medieval world, and the Underworld is even more... How can I say this? The power here is even more concentrated than in the Surface, from what I hear and read on outside world boards." I didn't understand that one and focused on the highlighted words. A tooltip revealed he meant 'online forums.' "Land belongs to those in power and is granted only temporarily for services provided."
"Like rent, only you use ass kissing as currency."
"Well, yes," he said uncomfortably.
"Can't you buy some land? Or rent it for money?"
"You could, but it is incre
dibly expensive. You see, the people in power don't really need money, they can get whatever they want by force. Unless you are bringing special resources from outside or have skill sets that are better used if you aren't a slave."
"Special resources would mean wood. What about the skill sets?"
"It could be a lot of things. Administrative skills, for instance. A slave will not care as well for a household as a free person who lives there by choice or for money. Or officers in the military. The First Lord told me that they tried it, but more often than not a slave officer would bide his time only to kill his whole company at the worst possible time for his owner."
"Smart guys. Speaking-"
"If wood is that expensive," Daggers said, interrupting me, "why does the fireplace in my guest room have logs?"
Annoyed at being interrupted, I quickly recovered the reins of the conversation. "For the same reason people buy stuff on Earth for more money than it is worth: to show off. The nice wooden chairs in the Resistance meeting make much more sense now, huh? Anyway," I turned to Eternal, "speaking about First Lord, what's the hierarchy here?"
"Let me see... What 'here' do you mean? This city? The vampires? Dakar?"
"Well, I guess all of the above. I'm completely ignorant."
He took a sip from his goblet of wine. "Dakar is ruled by a Judecracy. I'd never heard the world, either. They have a set of rules, like a constitution, the vampires and deathlords each have three Grand Judges. Whenever there is a problem between both species, they gather and discuss which is the correct solution according to the law. Surprisingly, they agree more often than not."
"Two even numbered groups agreeing? Weird. But what about the war that is going on?"
"From what I understand, wars are also legal to an extent. Although the Grand Judges enforce peace treaties, if there are any."
"Like a feudal society or something."
"I guess. The joint law is generally adhered to, especially in mixed cities. But when a city has only one of the species, it usually has its own set of rules. Theoretically, anyone could ask for the Grand Judges to intercede, but those who do tend to die before their cases can be adjudicated."
Unbound Deathlord: Challenge Page 26