The Shatterplate War Chapter 34 (Patreon)

“Great One.” A woman crawled into the presence of the man and bowed her head to the ground at his feet.

He turned and looked down at where she was cowering, with a frown of disgust on his face. The many and varied beings that came to serve him were all strange in their own ways, twisted by the corruption that brought them to him in the first place, but the ones that worshiped him like some form of deity were the ones he liked the least.

“What is it?”

“Word has finally come back from the servant you sent out.”

The man grinned. He’d only sent out one of his servants recently, and he’d been waiting for a report for much longer than he’d expected it to take. “Tell me.” He commanded, eager to receive any news about the hunt for the person who had alerted the damned System of his meddling with its Blood Mage Classes.

“The ship under your control that was set to bring the first report from your servant had some kind of issue that prevented it from leaving port for some time. The ship that was tasked with bringing the second report ended up bringing both. The first message from your servant says that they landed safely and soon heard rumors of a new Class Line Progenitor that formed a settlement somewhere to the northwest of the continent. The Class is supposedly called Blood Manipulator.”

The man grinned, his teeth flashing in the lights that illuminated the balcony he lounged on. That was excellent news. A Class Line Progenitor for a Blood Manipulator Class? That sounded exactly like the kind of person that could or would find his changes within the System.

“And the other message?”

“Your servant reports that they have successfully reached the closest city to where the Class Line Progenitor reportedly has founded a village. At the time of their message, they were beginning to prepare for their journey to the Class Line Progenitor’s settlement. They also say that based on the information they’ve gathered, the settlement is now a town, and the Class Line Progenitor is likely a Lord now.”

“Did my servant find out their name?”

“Kay, Great One. The Class Line Progenitor is called Kay.”

“Interesting. Kay.” The man swirled the name around his mouth, tasting it. After a few moments spent in contemplation, he remembered the woman was still there. “Begone. Any other messages from my servant are to be brought to me immediately.”

“Your will, Great One.” The woman crawled backward out of sight, not raising her eyes from the floor as she did.

The man sneered at her as she retreated. He didn’t like the worshipful ones, but he wasn’t going to dispose of a useful tool just because he didn’t like how it behaved. He did idly wonder if that specific woman would be the one to bring the next message from his servant. His servants and tools did like to kill each other off, after all.

The man turned his gaze back to the view off his balcony and lounged against his chaise once more.

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Kay stared down at the small group from the Shatterplate Order and mentally cursed them out. After a few seconds, he managed to make himself calm down. It wasn’t their fault, but dammit, he didn’t want to deal with any more bullshit! He wanted a nice few years of ruling and developing Avalon before another crisis of some kind!

“You believe a vampyr is here in Avalon?”

“It’s possible.” The speaker for the group, a Hunter Ravenhome, answered. “We traced the from somewhere in the Concord all the way to Tumbling Rapids. Their trail then went north from Tumbling Rapids, and we believe they might have come to Avalon. It’s possible that they headed into the wilderness instead, but I thought it would be more efficient to check your town first.” She paused to take a deep breath, “We would like your permission to search through your town and attempt to find the vampyr if possible.”

“How would you do that?” Kay asked, “You yourself said you aren’t sure if the vampyr is actually here, so how would you find traces of it to follow?”

“Through the use of our Inquisitors.” She gestured behind her at two members of their group whose armor was slightly different from the rest. Instead of rounded helmets, they had square-topped helmets that looked a bit like a bucket over their head and no visor to bring down to shield their faces.

Kay frowned deeply. “Inquisitors?” That brought to mind a few things, mainly the Spanish Inquisition. He wouldn’t have any torturers going through his people and forcing confessions out of them.

Hunter Ravenhome grimaced and shook her head. “I am aware that their title might have some negative connotations to some, but the titles we go by are merely the names of our primary Classes.”

One of the Inquisitors stepped forward. “We know that some Outworlders see our Class as unseemly, but I assure you, we don’t partake in any form of torture. The Inquisitor Class specializes in tracking down a specific type of Sapient being set by the Class holder. Those of us among the Shatterplate Order focus on vampyr, of course.”

Kay leaned forward toward them. “And how do you actually do that?”

“The Class and its Skills show us visible markers left behind by the mana of the beings we track. Each kind of living being slightly changes the mana inside them in a distinctive way, and Inquisitors can visually see traces of mana residue left by our quarry. If a vampyr has used Skills or spells within a recent enough time period, there will be residue left behind, as well as if they’ve been in an area for a long enough period. Especially so if they use more powerful Skills or spells or spend a longer amount of time in one space.” The Inquisitor gestured behind him, indicating Avalon as a whole, “We haven’t seen any traces in the short time we’ve been in your town, but we believe we were only a week or so behind the vampyr we’re tracking, so there may not have been enough time for them to leave behind traces yet.”

“We would also like your permission to question your citizens,” Hunter Ravenhome added, “But we would not harm them in any way. Our Questioner,” She pointed at a woman in the group behind her, “Is able to tell if someone is deliberately trying to lie to her, and some of her other Skills help someone remember things they may have forgotten or see what they remember more clearly.”

A small voice piped up in Kay’s ear. “I know about those Classes,” Isla whispered, “They do exactly what they’re telling you, although they are leaving out that Inquisitors can get Skills related to torturing people.”

Isla had managed to recruit quite a few spies to start filling out the intelligence network she was making for Avalon, so she had more time to oversee the network in its entirety instead of running around Avalon herself. It also let her be secretly present during meetings like this that might be important, both to glean what information she could and be a secret source of advice that people couldn’t see.

Kay drummed the fingers of one hand against the arms of his throne as he thought about it. A vampyr in Avalon would be a problem. So why not let a group of experts deal with it? And for what sounded like it would be for free at that.

“You will be allowed to search for the vampyr you seek under certain conditions.” Kay swept a stern gaze across then, then leveled it on Hunter Ravenhome. “You will be accompanied by members of the Avalon town guard at all times while you are undertaking your duties as members of your Order. You will not be forced to have them watching you at all times, but if we find that you purposefully avoided your watchers while inside Avalon, there will be severe consequences. You will also not be allowed to force anyone to speak to you. Anyone who answers the questions you pose them must do so entirely out of their own free will.”

Hunter Ravenhome paused for a moment. “Would it be possible… Would you mind if we… paid people to talk to us?” She asked hesitantly.

Kay laughed. “No, I have no issues with you compensating anyone for their time.” He leaned forward with a serious expression, “I do have a problem with anyone attempting to bribe my guards or members of my government, understand?”

“Yes, Lord Kay.” She hesitated again, “… Where do you consider the line between bribery and paying someone for their time to be?”

“If you’re paying them to talk to you because they otherwise wouldn’t, it’s fine. If you’re paying them to get them to do something illegal or against some kind of rule or policy, it’s bribery.”

“Thank you, sir.” She started to back up. “That was all that we wanted to ask of you, so if possible, we’d like to begin our-”

One of the people behind her scowled and elbowed her. She whipped her head around to glare back at them. A whispered argument broke out, quiet enough that Kay couldn’t hear what they were saying.

“I can’t get close,” Isla whispered after a moment, “They have something that can detect invisible creatures.”

Kay waited until they finished their argument, and Hunter Ravenhome stepped back to the front of the group. “Are you done?” He asked with one eyebrow raised.

“Ah, yes, Lord Kay, we are finished. Thank you for your patience.”

Kay just waited silently.

Hunter Ravenhome blushed slightly before squaring her shoulders. “Certain members of our order are… worried about a ruler such as yourself… um, well, that is-”

The same man that had elbowed her and started the argument sneered and walked forwards. “You say you’ve got a Blood Manipulator Class! How do we know you’re not some kind of Blood Mage, and you’re in league with the vampyr!?”

Kay tilted his head to one side as he stared impassively down at the man.

April Ravenhome snarled at the man before turning to look up at Kay pleadingly. “Lord Kay, we mean no disrespect; however, there have been links between-”

“Nah, April! Don’t try and act like we need to kiss this guy’s ass!” The man shouted, “We’re the damn Shatterplate Order, and if we ask-”

In two quick movements, Ravenhome grabbed the man by the back of the head and slammed his head into her armored knee. The man stumbled a little, dazed from the blow, and couldn’t resist as April dragged his head down to the floor. She kept him pinned there as she bowed as best she could in that position. “My deepest apologies, Lord Kay. This man does not speak for the Order as a whole and will be punished for his actions today.”

Kay watched her for a moment as he thought it over. Finally, he nodded. “Your apology is accepted. Do see he is punished.”

“I swear it, Lord Kay.”

“Now then, back to the subject, he brought up.” Kay watched as she swallowed nervously. “Continue what you were going to say before he interrupted.”

“Yes, sir. The Order has found connections between vampyr and people with Blood Mage Classes before, usually with the Class holder serving the vampyr in some form, although that’s not the only form of connection we’ve found.” She stopped for a moment, watching Kay’s reaction. He stared down at her without speaking, so she continued, “Certain members of our Order are concerned that your case might be one such as those, and they voiced that we should come here and test you to see if you do serve a vampyr. The Order’s Commander shut that down immediately, but it seems that certain members decided to take things into their own hands.” She glared down at the man she’d knocked unconscious.

Kay thought for a moment, then snorted a short laugh. He’d expected for people to insist he was really just a Blood Mage Class playing at being a Class Line Progenitor; in fact, it had already happened a few times, although not to his face. He hadn’t expected to be accused of being a vampyr’s servant, though. “What would this test consist of?”

“Ah, merely answering a few questions from our Questioner, Lord Kay.”

Kay rubbed at his chin. “You may ask me three questions.”

Hunter Ravenhome blinked at him in shock. “Seriously?”

“Yes.”

She bowed again, “Thank you so much, sir. I apologize again for the disrespect, but thank you for allowing us to soothe the members of our Order.”

“Ask.”

The Questioner stepped forward. “Are you willingly or knowingly aiding a vampyr in any way?”

“You can answer that one,” Isla told him.

“No, I am not.”

“Are you aware of any vampyr within your territory?”

“That was a dumb question.” Isla complained, “You do now since they explained that there might be one!”

“I was not aware of there being a vampyr in my territory prior to you coming here and telling me there might be one,” Kay answered, using Isla’s complaint to tailor his answer.

“Are you the Blood Line Progenitor of the Blood Manipulator Class?”

Kay raised one eyebrow at her, and he saw Hunter Ravenhime blush with what seemed to be embarrassment.

“Now that’s just rude,” Isla complained again.

“Yes, I am.”

The Questioner bowed deeply and backed up behind Hunter Ravenhome again. “Thank you, Lord Kay.”

“If there is nothing else, you may go now,” Kay told them.

Hunter Ravenhome bowed and began to back up. “Thank you for your time.”

Kay watched them as they left, not turning around until after they’d passed through the doors.

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As soon as they were safely hidden away inside one of the rooms they’d rented from one of the few working inns in Avalon, April whirled around and glared at that fucking idiot Dennam. “What the fuck is wrong with you!?” She shrieked at him.

“Shhh!” One of their Inquisitors, who also had a Mage Class, turned and shushed her. “I don’t have the silencing charms up yet!”

“And he’s still unconscious.” The other Inquisitor noted, pointing at Dennam.

April spun around and started pacing. “That was almost a fucking disaster! We had permission to look around for our target, and Dennam almost ruins it by talking shit to the local lord, who’s also a fucking Class Line Progenitor. We could have all died! And even beyond our own safety, the Commander specifically ordered us not to anger the new Class Line Progenitor! Literally word-for-word ordered it because we might be able to use him in the future!” She rubbed at her face with both hands as she paced, “And now we’re going to have two less people on our search!”

“Two less?” Someone asked.

“Yes!” She pointed at Dennam as she walked by him, “He’s not leaving this damn room until we leave this town, and someone has to keep an eye on him, so he doesn’t do anything stupid!” She turned and glared at her hunting party. “I brought him with us because he’s good at traveling through the wilderness, and there’s still an even chance we’ll have to do this. I expanded to a larger than normal hunting party because of the length I expected this hunt to be.” She slowly moved her gaze from person to person, “So some of you have been with me on multiple hunts, and some of you have only been with me once or twice, or not at all before this. Don’t think for a second that if any of you pulls a stunt like he just did, I won’t beat your ass black and blue and send you home in shame to dig latrines for the rest of your time in the Order, understand me?”

Everyone nodded.

“Good.” She rubbed at her face again.

“Hey, April?”

“What?” She answered without looking up.

“What do you mean by ‘we might be able to use him in the future’?”

“He’s the Class Line Progenitor of a Class called Blood Manipulator. Do you not see how that could be useful fighting vampyr, who either are Blood Mages of some kind or have one running around serving them? Even if we don’t get him to personally help us, getting him to train some of our members or getting to recruit his students later would be a massive boon!” She looked up with a scowl, “So there will be exactly zero fucking around while we’re here, dammit! I want the rest of the time we’re in this town to make us look like the disciplined, successful Order of vampyr hunters that we are!” She started towards the door, “Now, I’m going to change out of this ceremonial armor and get real clothes on. Then we’re going to get back to the hunt.”