Chapter 234 (Patreon)

Chapter 234

Genua came into consciousness with an absolutely enthralling sense of power coursing through her soul.  The abrupt sensation caused her to gasp, and she felt the divinity channels rushing through her body explode with crimson radiance.

Her vision went red as her eyes blazed with light, her skin flared with profane crimson sigils that buried themselves into her to remain as red tattoos across her otherwise tanned skin, and the shudder escaping her lips was one of ecstasy.  Because she had already chosen which of the three classes she wanted, and immediately upon becoming a thrall she had been taken from Panu to be placed in the realm of gods.

[You have successfully transitioned into an Ascended Vampiric Thrall.  You have chosen Priestess of the Blood God as your next class, the lowest level of his clergy but an esteemed position nonetheless.  Impulsions to guide and serve your vampiric master faithfully have been amplified.  Vampires, Children of the Blood God, will not be able to harm you outside of regular feedings without receiving a Blasphemer’s Curse.  Your Blood God’s Markings have been absorbed as a thrall upgrade.  Access to the Blood God’s Clergy Interface has been established and is accessible through your status page.  The abilities Sanguine Smite, Blood Oath, Transfusion Zone, Body Fusion, and Sanguine Possession have been granted for your faith.]

She wanted to stay in that state of power perfusing her very being forever, she didn’t want to leave it, but the red light dulled its brightness within her eyes and allowed her to see only a minute later.

She was kneeling, naked, red eyes shining bright to match the new tapestry of brilliant crimson tattoos covering her skin over much of her body.  In front of her was the entrance to a grand, ominous temple of alien design, and overhead a sky of stars surrounding a bright red moon cast their light upon her.

Five other women with calm smiles, red eyes and bright white hair stood just ahead of where she knelt, in front of a set of double doors that remained shut behind them.  All of them wore the same kind of outfit, replicas of one another - but all were grand in design.

Everything made from the base silk outfit was black, while all the additional embroideries and metal ornaments were red and gold.  A black hood covered each of their heads, with thin sheets of red metal headdresses, gilded in gold, that flared out, up, and above the hoods along the middle of their heads.  Pieces of the metal were carved out of the headdresses to form symbols and words in an ancient language she could not understand, but she could sense the meaning behind them:

Power, dominance, and supremacy.

The dresses were very form fitting but revealed little otherwise past where the hood cut off at a V-shape along their necks, clinging to each of the women like an extra layer of skin all the way down to their legs where the black silks spread out a bit before hitting the floor.  The way the outfits were made, it caused the women to look almost like flowers by the way their silks spread out around their feet.  Each of the five women also wore long red gloves that revealed their fingers just past the kuckles, but otherwise covered everything up to their mid-biceps - further distinguishing the gloves from the rest of the black silk of their form-fitting gowns by way of a gold trimming at the glove’s proximal base.  Two red crescent moons were also embroidered on the front of each of their chests, while a full moon was stitched into the very center between them.  Words of that same ancient language she didn’t understand were written in gold lettering along each side of the black silk covering their rib cages, and then again along the outer side of each thigh, but these had less impact on her innate understanding than the words carved into the red metal headdresses each woman wore.

Without a word, and after the five of them had stared at her for more than what was comfortable, the middle of the five women walked forward from the shadow of the looming temple.  Her footsteps were silent, and in her hands she carried a folded bundle of what was yet another uniform just like the one she was wearing - with the red metal headdress laid on top.  And as she got closer to stand over Genua’s kneeling figure, Genua could see that this woman with white hair had the same markings she now did - the same one she’d felt bury themselves into her skin as permanent tattoos symbolizing who she was and her status.

“Sister.” The woman’s voice came out as a fresh breeze on the cold night air.  “Stand.”

Genua did as asked, shakily getting to her feet and meeting the woman’s gaze eye to eye.  Something about this person commanded her attention, and she dared not look away even in the presence of such a magnificent structure beyond them.

The unknown woman nodded in approval, and held out the folded garments.  “These are for you.”

Blinking, Genua hesitantly reached out and took the items from the unknown women without argument.  “Thank you… Is this the realm of-”

“You already know it is.”  The woman replied, smile widening in amusement.  “This is his realm, yes.  I, along with the four others standing before you, are also clergy.  We are greeters, welcoming our sisters into the fold.  These are your clergy robes, keep them in good condition - for they are sacred treasures not to be lost.  Should you do well in your duties, you will be given far more.”

Windows displayed themselves unbidden, each of them telling Genua what it was she now grasped - items that were likely worth far more than her life by most people’s standards.

[Blood God Clergy Hood (Legendary Blood Artifact, Light armor): +330 Defense.  +19% additional potency to any Blood Miracle.  Must be one of the Blood God’s Clergy or have a Blood Sub-Pillar Affinity of over 80% to use.

• Soothsayer: Passively speeds up your miracle chants by 25%.  +10% Divinity Regeneration.
• Set Piece: 4 of 4.  This Item is part of the Clergy Robes of the Blood God Set.  You have acquired all 4 items of the Clergy Robes of the Blood God Set for additional bonuses (this is a set bonus and not individualized for each piece): +450 Faith, +160% Divinity Regeneration, +2000 additional defense against any blood-oriented skills.  Any sacrifices to the Blood God while donning this clergy set add a x2 modifier to gained Clergy Points, while doing so publicly in front of large crowds under the Blood God’s name add a x10 modifier to gained clergy Points.]

[Blood God Clergy Gloves (Legendary Blood Artifact, Light armor):  +380 Defense.  +19% additional potency to any Blood Miracle.  Must be one of the Blood God’s Clergy or have a Blood Sub-Pillar Affinity of over 80% to use.

• Hands of the Profane:  Allows you to draw miracle diagrams with nearby blood using thought and hand motions.
• Set Piece: 4 of 4.  This Item is part of the Clergy Robes of the Blood God Set.  You have acquired all 4 items of the Clergy Robes of the Blood God Set for additional bonuses (this is a set bonus and not individualized for each piece): +450 Faith, +160% Divinity Regeneration, +2000 additional defense against any blood-oriented skills.  Any sacrifices to the Blood God while donning this clergy set add a x2 modifier to gained Clergy Points, while doing so publicly in front of large crowds under the Blood God’s name add a x10 modifier to gained clergy Points.]

[Blood God Clergy Robe (Legendary Blood Artifact, Light armor):  +490 Defense.  +19% additional potency to any Blood Miracle.  Must be one of the Blood God’s Clergy or have a Blood Sub-Pillar Affinity of over 80% to use.

• Vampiric Regeneration:  This item imparts passive vampiric health regeneration EQUIVALENT to your vampiric master’s own regeneration for as long as the thrall-master bond remains intact.
• Set Piece: 4 of 4.  This Item is part of the Clergy Robes of the Blood God Set.  You have acquired all 4 items of the Clergy Robes of the Blood God Set for additional bonuses (this is a set bonus and not individualized for each piece): +450 Faith, +160% Divinity Regeneration, +2000 additional defense against any blood-oriented skills.  Any sacrifices to the Blood God while donning this clergy set add a x2 modifier to gained Clergy Points, while doing so publicly in front of large crowds under the Blood God’s name add a x10 modifier to gained clergy Points.]

[Blood God Clergy Metal Headdress (Legendary Blood Artifact, Light armor):  +600 Defense.  +19% additional potency to any Blood Miracle.  Must be one of the Blood God’s Clergy or have a Blood Sub-Pillar Affinity of over 80% to use.

• Profane Intervention:  This item allows you to call down a single second of absolute immortality around you and your vampiric master, negating all damage directed at the two of you for that 1 second.  This item ability can only be used once per day, and only if you recharge this ability with a sacrifice in the Blood God’s name after use.
• Set Piece: 4 of 4.  This Item is part of the Clergy Robes of the Blood God Set.  You have acquired all 4 items of the Clergy Robes of the Blood God Set for additional bonuses (this is a set bonus and not individualized for each piece): +450 Faith, +160% Divinity Regeneration, +2000 additional defense against any blood-oriented skills.  Any sacrifices to the Blood God while donning this clergy set add a x2 modifier to gained Clergy Points, while doing so publicly in front of large crowds under the Blood God’s name add a x10 modifier to gained clergy Points.]

Genua took in a sharp breath as a pulse of power echoed out from the clothes she now held in her hands, and blinked rapidly.  “Will I get to meet him?”

“The blood god?”  The woman laughed softly, shaking her head.  “Oh no, he is too far above one such as us.  Lowly priestesses in our position can one day get there if we find the right master to serve, or if you join the church and rise in the inner ranks like me after your master’s death… should such an unfortunate fate befall them.  But those are the only two ways to go about it.  Which brings me to the next topic…”

The other priestess pulled out a sealed black letter, and handed it to Genua.  “Take this and open it as soon as you go back to Panu.  It will destroy the letter, but its intended recipient will be granted the intended message in the form of inspiration.  One of his children is in great peril, and doing this will likely save them from an otherwise violent end.”

Genua’s brows furrowed.  “Riven is fine though, isn’t he?  We just beat back the invaders…”

Her voice trailed off.

And the other priestess shook her head.  “I said nothing about your master Riven.  Regardless, you cannot stay here long without significant soul decay due to your F-grade body.  Remember that you are required to pray and worship the Blood God every night, and you will begin your study of his scripture during this time after prayers.”

A small black book with the sigils of two red crescent moons surrounding a full moon was pulled from her pocket next and sat on top of the clothes.  “This will detail what is expected of you, and is the base scripture of the first writ.  Once a week I will come to visit you to make sure you have been doing so.  This is important, for reasons we will discuss later, but for now just focus on keeping your lord safe.  He is an important part of the supreme one’s plans, if he lives - but Riven is still only an infant gnat in the great scheme of things.  He has potential, but only potential.  Potential is not a promise, and he is still inconsequential as he is now.  Should he die, your potential will likely die out with his.  As will the life of your daughter.  Do you understand?”

Genua’s frown deepened, worry clouding her mind as her spine went rigid under the threat of her daughter’s safety.  Yet without a doubt, she knew this woman wasn’t bluffing - and it only deepened Genua’s abnormally firm resolve to help Riven thrive.  “How am I supposed to keep Riven safe?  He’s far more powerful than I am, shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

The unknown priestess raised one eyebrow, then tisked.  “We’re going to have to change that attitude of yours as well.  One of many things to work on, I see.  Even if you are pathetically weak, that does not mean your duties venture outside the norm of what it means to be a priestess.  Now go, leave us, and we will speak more on your duties in a week’s time when your soul has had the opportunity to recover from your travels here.”

With a flick of her wrist, the priestess dismissed Genua’s presence from the blood god’s realm - casting her back into the world of Panu as the heavens closed around her in a blur of stars and space.

***

Allie stared up at the mutilated corpse of Aksilias Bloodmare, where it’d been impaled on a spike jutting from his compound’s walls.  One of many spikes where many other vampires were also impaled and left to rot, their corpses withered and shredded with silent screams being left behind as a memory of their last thoughts.  They didn’t even have any clothes on, so there was nothing to check, and the deep wounds left in their bodies spoke of torture that was far more exaggerated than many of the other bodies they’d passed in the city.

Which begged the question… Why?

“We’re on the right track.”

Not sparing the corpses another look, she continued through the gate that’d been ripped off its hinges and flung aside into a courtyard of flowers.  Oddly enough much of the garden was still intact, though there were bodies of thralls, slaves and servants  in abundance here - treated with far less hatred and malice than the vampires had been.

The large manor behind the bloodied garden was in rough shape but overall intact, with an ugly dark-green paint covering the pillars leading into the house where the doors had been flung off their hinges too.  There’d been obvious fighting here, which was far different from the rest of the city that Allie had visited - but it also made her question just what other parts of Bernzee had put up a fight if this particular coven had been able to do so.

Broken sculptures, paintings with blade and claw marks torn through them, felled tapestries and body parts were in abundance.  A maid had been impaled with some kind of odd-looking spear, the back of her head nailed to a stone wall while her body dangled two feet off the floor - and a vampiric child lay halfway out of a closet where he’d obviously tried to hide.

Dark hallways to the left, right and center exited the receiving room, and Allie turned to the other necromancers behind her with a quick set of hand motions.

Immediately the skeletons and zombies following them panned out to the right and left without a word, dispersing to search the large building without a single complaint.  If one of them died, the necromancer controlling it would immediately know and they’d notify her.  In the meantime, she and the best of their minions filed through the central hallway that had the most obvious signs of conflict ramping up.  She came upon more bodies, blasts of magic, and began combing through bedrooms and office spaces.

More carnage, ripped bedsheets, a dead slave who’d been killed while still shackled to a wall.  Books torn apart, spilled ink on otherwise blank parchment, an opened safe with the money and jewels still left inside.  So far nothing on the bodies of the men and women found contained anything significant that pointed them to what’d happened here, or had any real connection to the world quest concerning the fallen vampiric elder god.

Coming to the fifth room in her search halfway down the hall from where an overturned marble statue lay broken in the hallway, she noticed the door was locked.  Using her vampiric strength to try and break the door with physical force - she found it unyielding, and infused a significant amount of death mana to fry a hidden enchantment that fizzled out under her grip.

With a spark the handle flew off, and she easily pushed her way inside with Mara following closely behind her.

Inside was just another office, though it was quite clean and devoid of any of the signs of fighting outside.  A dim lantern remained flickering in one corner, almost out of oil by the looks of it, and bookshelves lined the walls in pristine condition with a large rectangular desk in the center of the room with a few hastily scribbled notes off to one side.

Allie gestured left.  “Search the bookshelves.”

Mara nodded and obeyed, looking for anything out of the ordinary that they may find to provide clues to what had happened.

Allie came around the desk, sitting in the fine leather chair and checking the drawers one by one.  Certainly there was a reason this room had been locked, right?

The scribbled notes on the desktop she went through first.  There were records of positions the house was hiring for, various types of trade done with other covens in the city of Bernzee, notes on various slave trading deals, and then finally at the very bottom of the stack - a poorly hidden note addressed to…

To her?

Had she been expected to find this?

Had it been placed underneath the other papers so that whatever had come rampaging through this manor wouldn’t find it, should they have entered this room?

======================================

Allie Thane, Queen of the Thane Necropolis, it is in our darkest hour that I find myself putting pen to paper in a hasty attempt to relay to you what is happening in our city as I sit in this closed room amidst the dying screams of my people.  I can only hope that you followed the map my servant supplied to you, and that you have come looking for answers here in our home.

The labyrinth has been opened.  It has been opened for some time now, but only recently did we press into the second layer after uncovering a sealed lock on what appears to be an ancient coven of vampires from another age.  We didn’t know what it meant, but the council of Bernzee insisted that we uncover the secrets in an attempt to save our world from devastation should Elysium’s words be true.

Destroying that sealed lock was a mistake, and the things we found there before tragedy struck were… concerning.  It appears that the Blood God we know and worship today as our forefather may not be as all encompassing for our kind as we once thought, if the records written on the walls of the labyrinth tell truths and not lies.  Could there really have been an opposing pantheon, and more than one Blood God in the ancient past?  I also fear that we have doomed our city for reading these taboo texts, or at the very least for unleashing the things that guarded them.  The bodies of what we once thought to be an ancient coven, frozen in a time stasis, weren’t vampires at all - but something else entirely.  They are false, faked mockeries of our elder kin, a taboo of what we were meant to be and a blight upon the land.

They are intelligent, monstrous things that hide in the skin of the slain.  However they only seem to inhabit the bodies of the Blood God’s children, we don’t know how or why - but when you find our corpses… burn them.  Be wary of their trickery, we don’t know how many there are - but should they remain here inside Bernzee and you find yourself reading this letter - you are in mortal peril.  You have likely already passed by many who you thought perished, when in reality they were merely watching and waiting for an opportunity to corner you like a rat.

If you do not have an army at your back to escort you into the depths, you need to run.  And you should start running now.  I have provided another map leading to the labyrinth in the second drawer on the right, there you will find the answers to the world quest you seek, and I hope you can use it to better effect than we did.  I hear their drums beating in the depths even as I write, echoing through the streets paved with the dead of our kin, and my heart trembles for what is to come of myself when they find me.

Leave this place.

======================================

A thudding boom of drums echoed through the streets and into the halls of the manor, causing Allie’s head to slowly lift to stare out the door as she gripped the paper in her hands.

Mara turned as well, unsure of what the noise was until it came again, and again, and again.

Boom…

Boom…

Boom…

Allie shifted to her right and pulled the second drawer out, revealing a thoroughly detailed map of the underdark passages leading out from the city of Bernzee and through a series of tunnels to what was labeled ‘Labyrinth of the Elder God’ on the map - symbolized by a fanged skull.

Boom…

Boom…

Boom…

She let out a sharp breath, picked the map up, and put it in her spatial bag before standing up.  Already the other necromancers, skeletons and zombies were rushing through the hallways towards the front entrance as the sound of faint chanting was heard in the depths.  “This was a trap.  Whatever killed all these people has been in the city this entire time, and they’ve just made their move.”

“What’s the plan?” Mara asked, following Allie out into the main room when an unearthly wail sang through the air as the corpse of the vampiric child lurched and blasted from its position in the closet.

The small body tore through one of the ghoul necromancers to Allie’s right, three sets of vampiric fangs sprouting from the small monster’s mouth as its skin turned into a very pale blue.  Claws erupted from its hands, its eyes grew wide and pitch black, and within half a second the screaming necromancer was torn in half - causing the minions he was controlling to stagger and fall.

Allie’s wand whipped forward and blasted the devouring monster with strings of death mana that shredded it just as easily as it’d torn apart the ghoul necromancer, and Allie quickly stabilized the groaning undead man with more strings of death mana.  The eruption of battle sounded ahead and the drums began to pick up speed, with a resonating wave of roars from somewhere outside.  Bodies of vampires that’d been torn and dead, impaled or left half-eaten in their rooms, now gained new life as their bodies warped.  Once red eyes turned dark black and became large, numerous sets of fangs shot out from their mouths, and their pale white skin turned a very pale shade of blue.

[Ancient Vampiric Precursor, Blue Blood Heretic, Level 95]

[Ancient Vampiric Precursor, Blue Blood Heretic, Level ???]

[Ancient Vampiric Precursor, Blue Blood Heretic, Level 71]

[World Quest 4, Blood of the Fallen God: An unnamed vampiric elder god has fallen from grace after having sinned against the Elysium Administrator.  The elder god has been trapped within a hidden, guarded labyrinth in the deepest levels of the underdark, and you must stop him from awakening.  Advanced details HAVE BEEN PARTIALLY UNLOCKED:

• UPDATE 1:  You have found clues to the labyrinth’s location in the depths of the underdark, the resting place of the fallen vampiric elder god, but found yourself cornered by heretics in defiance of the one true mantle of Blood God.  Why did the native vampires here in Bernzee contact you for help?  What was the reason that they journeyed out from the deep parts of the world to do so?  Your answers will be found at the Labyrinth’s location, should you manage to survive.]

“There is no plan.”  Allie said bluntly, stitching the ghoul necromancer back into fighting condition with a wave of her hand.  “We have no choice but to fight.”

Fimrindle flickered into her peripheral vision with a bow, scythe held low.  “Master… I believe we may have a problem.  All routes of escape have been cut off, and tens of thousands of enemies have begun encroaching on our position along all four walls.  We are completely surrounded, and I do not believe it is a fight we can win.  We must find an alternative path.”

As if on cue, a vision panned out in Allie’s mind when an other-worldly entity reached out to touch her soul from some distant plane.   A red moon in the background of a dark silhouette, a toppling pillar created from pale blue stone, and then finally a series of images of a time once past here in this very manor she now stood in.  Children playing hide and go seek, opening a hidden compartment leading into a passage leading beneath the building, and then it was all gone in a flash.

She stumbled, blinking rapidly and holding the side of her head as the visions faded away.  “What the fuck was that?”

Boom…

Boom…

Boom…

*BOOM*

The wall cracked and tore as a muscular abomination of a pale, blue-shaded bald man barreled through - launching one of the skeletal knights in full armor crashing through two adjacent rooms into a piled heap at the far end.

Immediately Fimrindle was upon it along with numerous skeletal assassins that’d been laying in wait, and the enormous humanoid found itself quickly losing limb after limb that tried to regrow back at extreme rates similar if not equivalent to Allie’s own.  But when Fimrindle’s scythe sank deep into its brain and flared with deathly light, the monster crashed to the ground in a heap.  Meanwhile the sound of claw on blade and crazed screams of undead and vampiric precursors grew louder at the front gates outside where a battle was seen through the ruined walls and dust cloud.  Beyond the gates and down the hill into the greater city beyond, thousands of mulling bodies were roaring and sprinting towards her position with huge mutated creatures in the back beating drums to the sound of her impending doom.

Allie abruptly launched a series of flaming skulls that screamed forward - exploding along the nearby wall and destroying some of the precursor heretics swarming over the barriers.  Then she turned to leave the minions behind.  “Necromancers, follow me.  I don’t know how, perhaps it was my malignant prophecy or something else entiryle, but I just had a vision.  And if I'm right there may be a way out of here yet.”

With complete trust in their queen, the twelve necromancers of the Thane Necropolis filed into line behind her with only their very best undead servants coming with them - all of the others being sent at the waves of enemies trying to rush the gated compound in a swarm of fangs, claws, bald heads, black eyes, and pale blue bodies with a vicious need to feed.