Chapter 123 (Patreon)

Chapter 123

“It’s not that big of a deal!” Allie protested in hushed tones, embarrassed that she was getting chewed out by her older brother in front of all the people she led even despite having went into the adjacent cellar to have some privacy.  “Keep your voice down!”

Both of them ignored the mindless skeletons bringing in crates or sacks of stored food; ones they’d bought in mass quantities from the Elysium Altar as piles of supplies started to fill the cellar up.

“The fuck do you MEAN it’s not that big a deal!?” Riven hissed, fingers tightening as he tried to control his anger.  “Allie, god damn it why is it that I have to… You know what?  We’ll talk about this later.  I’m tired of fighting with you.”

“Oh, no, no, no… You don’t get to do that.”  Allie said, barring his way and pushing Riven back with one hand.  “You’ve literally enslaved an entire elf village so you can feed, so you don’t get to play the moral high ground here!”

“That’s completely different from what you’re doing.”

“Is it?  How?  Because you took your enemies to feed on and I took mine to have sex with - it’s different?  Oh and they HAPPILY follow me now by the way, unlike the prisoners YOU keep.”  She jabbed a finger into his chest, not backing down.  “Or would you rather I have killed them?”

“That’s exactly what I think.”

“So killing them is ethically correct while giving them a happy life of pleasure isn’t?”

“You essentially warped their minds, Allie.  It’s sick.”

“WE’RE FUCKING VAMPIRES RIVEN!  We literally have it built INTO OUR DNA to create thralls so that we don’t have to go and do what you just did today!”  Allie waved at the adjacent room beyond the basement hallway.  “Those elves over there?  They’re terrified of us.  They hate their lives, and no doubt curse us by the hour for what we did to them.  Even if it WAS them that started this mess and it WAS THEM that betrayed you.  They deserve every second of what they get, and I genuinely think that you’re being too nice to those pointy eared, murderous bastards.  Yet, when you compare what their lives are like to the lives of the two men I ‘mind-warped’ - let me ask you this: who do you think is happier?  You saw the look on Alexander’s face, he adores me!”

Riven’s lips twisted in disgust.  “Alexander?”

“Alexander is the bald, muscular one that you just saw.  If you see a bearded, skinny pretty-boy, that’s Kraig.”

Riven violently facepalmed and began rubbing his forehead vigorously.  Taking in a deep breath to calm himself down.  “If I didn’t love you and you weren’t my sister, I swear to god I’d throw you through a wall.  Whatever, fine, keep your sex slaves but just know I think it’s disgusting, gross, and morally repugnant.”
“YOU have an enslaved SUCCUBUS, RIVEN!”

“I DON’T SLEEP WITH MY SUCCUBUS, ALLIE!  And she’s not a slave!”

“Does she do whatever you tell her to do?”

Riven aggressively rolled his eyes and scoffed, throwing his hands out to either side and pacing back and forth while his shorter younger sister glared up at him with her hands on her hips.  “Alright I can see this is going nowhere.  How about, before we say something to one another that we’ll regret, we just take a step back and cool down.  We’ll talk about this later, ok?”

“Only if you promise to be nicer about it next time.” Allie demanded, folding her arms in front of her.

Riven felt a vein pop out on his forehead, and he ground his teeth with a rigid jaw.  He took in another deep breath, and let it out slow.  “Fine.  I’ll be… nicer, when talking to you about this next time.”

Allie hesitantly nodded, then stepped forward to put her arms around his waist.  Drawing in Riven close, she buried her head in his chest and groaned.  “I hate fighting with you.  Please don’t be mad at me.”

Riven’s rigid body relaxed slightly upon hearing her words, but he was still internally fuming.  Embracing her back despite his anger, he shook his head and muttered to himself under his breath.  “Yeah.  Me too.”

“Want to go change Dr. Brass into a vampire?”

There was a pause.

“Yeah.  Let’s go do that, but this conversation will be continued later.”

Allie humphed.  “Yeah, I know.”

***

Riven’s fangs sank into the trapezius of the old man underneath him laying on the floor, and Dr. Brass shuddered.  He was bound with Athela’s webbing after both Allie and Riven had shared similar experiences with one another - clarifying that it would likely be a very violent or ravenous change when Dr. Brass actually turned.

Though Allie had made two thralls so far, she’d never made another vampire before.  Not only that, but the way she’d made those two thralls was outside the norm.  She’d acquired an item from a quest that allowed her to speed up the process, whereas creating thralls actually took a lot more time than that normally.

So without much of a guide on how to do it and not wanting to talk to The Blood Moon Requiem unless he had to - just to make them squirm a bit more, Riven tried it on his own.  At first nothing happened but a stiffening of Dr. Brass’s muscles and a pained wince, and Riven felt the man’s blood flowing down his tongue into his throat.  But as with many things in Elysium’s system, once he focused on the act that he wanted to perform while having the necessary ‘credentials’ - a notification appeared.

[Do you wish to turn this target into a vampire?  Doing so will inject a piece of your vampiric essence into the target.  You may currently create new vampires at a 30 day cooldown period without risk to yourself, how much they inherit from your gift is partially dependent on them and partially randomized.]

Riven thought ‘yes.’

[Proceeding with vampiric change.  Target has been injected with vampiric essence.]

In an instant, pulsing red veins started lacing their way out from where Riven was biting Dr. Brass.  The old man stiffened and let out a scream, writhing on the floor as the rapidly spreading blood, or essence, or whatever it was tore through his body and sent him into spasms.  His hands, feet, face, and even his eyes pulsed with throbbing red veins in a display that was very much different from the way Riven’s own change had been, but nevertheless Riven proceeded as planned.

Meanwhile, the others of Riven’s group and the elf slaves imprisoned here watched in silence.

The old man grunted, twitched, and his bloodshot eyes rolled back into his head as fangs sprouted from his face.  His musculature changed - toning and expanding slightly from the wiry old frame to a more steadfast and tougher body.  His wrinkled skin ripped in dozens of places to adjust to the new bulk, only to sew itself shut seconds later, and came back as a younger, smoother, much paler version of the skin he’d once had.  His face narrowed and then filled out again, bones snapping and rearranging to become more attractive and symmetrical - and his white, graying hair turned a stark silver while filling in all the patches that’d previously been thinning.

And finally, minutes later as his eyes rolled back into his head, a deep and dull red color had replaced the brown eyes Dr. Brass had once had.  However they weren’t the brilliant crimson glow Riven or Allie had.

[As creator, you are now granted insight into the stats you have granted this newly born vampire:

Greater Vampire (Blood / Shadow / Death) - Changed by a rare pureblooded vampire, a chosen descendent of the Blood God, you have acquired better than average affinities and bonuses when compared to your vampiric peers across the multiverse.  However, though your heritage empowers you with many bonuses, it also comes at a steep price.  Please review the following changes.

Negatives:

• You suffer 400% additional damage from any Silver based weapons.
• You suffer 300% additional damage from any Light and Sun Pillar abilities.
• You may not be healed or have active buffs applied to you by any Light or Sun Pillar abilities.
• Your Mana and Stamina slowly drain while your skin is exposed to direct sunlight.  If exposed to sunlight when they start to run low, your Health will also deteriorate.
• You are required to feed on the blood of mortals on a regular basis.  You will lose your sanity and go into a rage if underfed.
• Your heritage bestows a baseline -150 Charisma.  -1 Charisma per level.

Positives:

• 51% affinity to the Blood Pillar, 36% Affinity to the Shadow Pillar, and 45% Affinity to the Death Pillar.  These pillars now take less resource consumption to use abilities with, control is increased, and potency is increased.
• Your heritage also bestows upon you a baseline +30 Strength, +50 Sturdiness, +50 Intelligence, +80 Perception, and +40 Agility.
• Perception has been upgraded to: Vampiric Perception, and has extra emphasis per stat point applied for heartbeats, dark vision, and smell.
• Your race change to Greater Vampire upgrades the amount of stat points per level to +1 Strength, +1 Sturdiness, + 1 Intelligence, +1 Agility, +1 Perception, and +4 Free Stat Points per level.
• You gain passive regeneration while in dark places.
• You are immune to most diseases.
• You will not die of old age.
• You may currently create new vampires at a 90 day cooldown period without risk to yourself, how much they inherit from your gift is partially dependent on them and partially randomized.]

The changes were very similar to Riven’s own, but had some major differences.  The negative charisma gained was less, and the pillar affinities - though high - were nowhere near Riven’s own.  The Strength, Sturdiness, Intelligence, Perception, and Agility immediately gained were also a good amount less, and the gains per level were significantly less too.  Other than that, instead of ‘extreme’ regeneration in the dark - Dr. Brass as a greater vampire got ‘passive regeneration’, which was probably just a lesser version of what Riven had.  There was also a difference in how fast Dr. Brass could create vampires, which was every 90 days without endangering himself - while Riven could do so every 30 days.

Dr. Brass blinked rapidly under his glasses as Riven evaluated his screen, then screamed in a primal rage with fangs extended while trying to bite at Riven’s hand nearby.  Thankfully Athela’s webbing was enough to keep him down and subdued amidst his struggles, and Riven took one of the cups they’d brought down from the kitchen before putting the blood to the old man’s lips.

Or, perhaps not ‘old’ anymore.  At least not by the looks of it.  Dr. Brass now looked like he was in his early 30’s or late 20’s, and the stark change was a little unnerving.

The newly created vampire quickly chugged the cup, ravenously draining it before gasping like a dehydrated man in a desert who’d just found water.  Cup after cup, taken from the elves, was poured down Dr. Brass’s throat - and after some time, the man began to calm down.  Shuddering and rapidly blinking again, Dr. Brass eventually fell into a deep sleep - passing out right there on the floor without saying another word.

“Well that went well!” Fay said, clapping her sky-blue hands together excitedly and extending her bat-like wings while Riven gave Azmoth the order to carry Dr. Brass upstairs to a bed.  “Now that he’s not starved of blood, mind if we go get my brother from the nether realms?  I'm so excited to see him!”

Athela, who was perched along the roof in her spider form, let herself down along a single red thread and landed atop the succubus’ head.  “ONWARDS!  To the core!!!”

Riven couldn’t help but smile at the two as they skipped up the stairs and out of sight, then gave Vin, Nin and Mara a polite smile before ruffling Allie’s hair.  “Are you coming to breakfast tomorrow like we planned?”
His little sister beamed.  “Wouldn’t miss it!  I’m making pancakes, I even got the ingredients from a local grocery store!”

“Oh-ho!?  Exciting.  Well, love you sis.  See you soon.”

Riven waved Gurth’Rok to follow and the large orc chieftain gave Allie a polite bow before using his wooden, carved cobra-staff as a walking stick to follow his new liege up the steps onto the first floor.

Nin and Vin shared a glance with one another, the two skeletal brothers not saying a word but staying put with their hands in the pockets of their black robes, while Mara gave Allie a suspicious side-eye.  “You and Riven ok?”

Allie huffed, briefly glaring at the blonde elf woman Genua at the back of her cell, then put her hands on her hips and gave her undead friends all a reassuring grin.  “Yeah.  We used to fight like this all the time, so we’ll move on from this soon enough.  But anyways let’s go!  We need to set up your rooms, and I still need to meet the boys upstairs for a little relaxation time before bed.  Kraig gives really good massages.”

***

The guild hall’s core could be moved at will, and was essentially a large blue crystal ball that floated wherever it was placed by the owner and controlled the guild hall’s functions - but it couldn’t leave the manor itself.  For a basic guild hall like this one that didn’t have any functions beyond the few presented here, it wasn’t a hard concept to grasp.

[Guild Hall: Stone Manor (Unnamed)

• Assigned Guild: Unassigned.  Owned by Riven Thane.
• Homeward Teleportation: Very long channel time.  Only hired attendants or guild members can utilize this teleportation function.  Currently there is no guild assigned to this guild hall, and there are no attendants, so the teleportation function is limited to Riven Thane.
• 15 attendant spots available, 600 Elysium Coins per month per active attendant are taxed by the system administrator.  You may either mentally link this guild hall to the nearest friendly Elysium Altar that you have access to in order to hire attendants from the general store, or may hire attendants from associated factions at that altar.
• 3 mile exploration radius for attendants before forced retrieval back to guild hall
• Core Sturdiness: Moderate
• Defensive wards: None
• Change Guild Hall Location: 1 year of channeling needed.]

Riven was currently holding the guild hall’s core while sitting on his feather bed, just having dismissed Gurth’Rok back to the greenskin camp just south of here to oversee building after talking to him about how progress was coming along.  Progress was apparently going very smoothly with only a few scuffles between the elves and orcs, but a few goblins had to be put down after attacking the slaves against orders.  Apparently the goblins hated the high elves even more than the orcs did, but most of their efforts were being put towards building a new town inbetween the edge of Brightsville where Riven’s manor sat on the city’s edge - and the fields leading to the altar further south.

Meanwhile Riven was very much enjoying his new room after sleeping in the dirt and grime so often; which was one of five rooms on the third floor’s western wing that were larger than all the others and took up the entire wing due to their combined size.  There were two on the northern end, two on the southern end, and one on the far western end.  As one of the ‘master’ bedrooms, his was positioned adjacent to the spiral staircase facing south towards their courtyard (the front side of the guild hall) in the middle of the manor while Allie’s was two doors down; being the one at the very end of the hallway.  Each master bedroom had a balcony that you could walk out onto, glass windows, a lot more furniture than the other rooms including the comfy quilted feather bed he now sat on - king sized, a personal bathroom unlike the public ones for the rest of the hall, and a writing desk with two shelves inside a closet.  The walls on the interior were made of white plaster with wooden frame trimmings, and the magically infused lamps lighting up his room could be turned on and off with a button.

“This is super nice!” Athela said, happily bouncing up and down on the bed in her dog-sized spider body.  She raised one of her arachnid limbs.  “I’ll be staying here too.”

Riven raised an eyebrow, taking his eyes off the hall’s display notification and the blue, bowling-ball sized orb in his hands and silently stared Athela’s way.

The large spider stopped bouncing and shot him a death glare.  “What!?  Don’t you dare send me across the hall or to my own room!  I’m sleeping here!”

“No you aint.”

“Yes I is!”

“Nope.”

“Yus!”  Athela clambered over Riven’s legs and stared him in the eye, mandibles clicking twice, then she jabbed him in the stomach with a foot.  “It’s not up for debate!”

“You snore, Athela.  I can’t have my beauty sleep disturbed by-”

“I DO NOT SNORE!”

Riven grinned.  “Ok, maybe not.  But wouldn’t you want your own room?  Fay and her brother are taking the master bedroom directly across the hall.”

He gestured to the beautiful succubus who was standing anxiously at the bedside, hands clasped in front of her while her black tail swished back and forth in impatience.  “And Azmoth is going to stay in that old chapel outside because it gives him more space for such a large body.  You could even have the room next to mine if you want it.”

“Who’s the last master bedroom going to?” Athela asked curiously, motioning to the door.

Riven shrugged.  “Probably Mara if I had to guess.”

“The ghoul lady?”

“Yeah.”

“Ahem!”  Fay cleared her throat rather loudly, stopping the conversation in its tracks before Athela derailed it too far.  “Master, may I suggest we proceed?  My brother is awaiting the contact message now.”

Riven huffed, then put his right hand on the blue orb again with a nod.  “Alright.  One moment.”

Fay immediately beamed with a brilliant, white smile.  “Thank you Riven!  I won’t forget this!  He’s been having a hard time in the nether realms and he nearly got killed in his last trip into the hells… He’s not in a good place.  Mother and Father have disowned him, so I owe you for this one.”

Riven gave his minion a warm smile.  “Not a problem.  Just a second.”