The Power of Ten

Chapter 14-393: Quests and Agreements

Hank Blakhamar stepped up on a Disk, rising slowly up ten feet off the ground to look around. Id given him a very, very accurate rendition of the landscape through my Commune with Nature, and he was looking at it mentally while surveying the area visually, along with a lot of other older dwarves, orcs, and their descendants.

The Deadzone for the nearest Shroud was literally a quarter-mile away. This section of the coal mines was old and worked-out... and the tunnels connected with others far older down below, going down far, far deeper than the mine overseers had intended. Theyd wisely blocked such tunnels up, but something clawed and untiring had worked them open from below, and there were hungry dead things wandering the old mines down there, looking and craving dead flesh to fill bellies that would never be satisfied...

Everyone there was getting the feel of the loose undead down below. The undead were still bound to the Shroud, but were kept outside its Zone as scouts of some kind instead of being pulled back within. It was only possible if they stayed below ground. Touch the sunlight, and theyd go right back into the Shroud like any other Shroudbound undead.

Nature didnt extend into the Shroudzone, its awareness cut off by black interference and negative energy as smoothly as a knife... and unlike most Shroudzones, that interference extended down deep, into a cavern and cave system miles below, which itself led off into other places in the Felldeep.

Hank Blakhamar grunted, a sound reflected and imitated by one means or another by all the men and women here. He looked down at me, and nodded shortly. Theres work to do here. We got this, Lady Traveler.

And I knew that they did, nodding back as I ported away, while logistics in the background continued to do their thing. Theyd be inviting in Russians from all over who wanted to fight soon enough...

Commands were going out, and like a well-oiled machine, the army of orcs and dwarves and humans and their Children began to set up their base camp to start on the work of extinguishing a Shroudzone above and below.

---------

<Master Gilcruks, a pleasure it is to speak with you again>, I said in flawless Necrus over Sleipners Vaccine link.

<Lady Traveler>, the Ghoul Sage returned politely, with an edge that showed he knew very, very well the differences in our stations. <Your voice is as lovely as ever. How may I be of assistance to the Chosen of Sylune?>

It wasnt a title I spread, and it probably wasnt true, given I was an Ur-Priest, but trying to say no to it was literally impossible with Moonlit Hair, so, eh. It didnt ring like a Title, thankfully, so it was obviously dubbed by mortals.

<Master Gilcruks, I find myself in need of the breadth of your knowledge. There has been some information unearthed in some of the older archives, and confirmed through our contacts with the Void Brothers. I simply wish an informed opinion to validate this, as it turns out none of the experts I know who are still living can do so.>

<My knowledge is at the Ladys disposal,> he acknowledged drily.

<What is your fair price, and do not dicker over this. I am aware of the value of knowledge.>

There was silent for a long minute or two, as the Leng ghoul thought about this unexpected acknowledgement. I could just extort the information I wanted from him, but I had chosen to keep the relationship pragmatic and professional. Either method was perfectly valid, but this one soothed his undead ego.

I warned him.

<A Ring to interfere with magical attempts to control the undead should not be against your moral standards, Lady Traveler?> he queried.

He knows I can make a Ring. I half-smiled despite myself. <It is a grey area, but as the people who control the undead tend to be of a specific mindset, I find myself amused instead of annoyed.> I let that hang for a moment. <Are the Illuminati pressuring you?>

<They have been facing unprecedented pressure on several fronts, and have something of a pessimistic view of the future,> the ghoul acknowledged.

<They want to move to Leng,. I translated, and take command of the ghoul kingdoms.>

<Sage Gilcruks, you know that Heavenbound Hall has no interest in the Ghoul Kingdoms of Leng, merely their interference in the world of the living. If the Illuminati make the translation to Leng, not only might they establish a powerful Kingdom of their own there, they might be able to break their own inability to gain further power that afflicts them in the mortal realm. After all, the Ghoul Sages know many things, and some will be willing to part with that knowledge, for one reason or another.>

<What are you proposing, Lady Traveler?> he asked after a careful moment.

<Hmm. To do so would require the appropriate pawns and minions...>

<If you would like to set out the terms of an agreement, with the underlying spirit being NOT to betray one another or cost the other side undue lives or power, I think I can arrange for some pawns who would be rather ecstatic about that task.>

<Hmm.> I could hear his clawed finger tapping, but I knew he was chaffing at the bit to get this process started.

<Im listening, Honored Sage.>

<The mortal realm has a great attraction to my people, and there is great resentment that we will doubtless be forced underground or back to the labyrinths once you have brought down the Shroud. We have made great efforts to accommodate mortal desires during this period, and I daresay that we have proven that we can control our own and do our tasks with discretion.>