A few hops using Planar Shift let her reach Àluga with ease, and beneath a beautiful blue sky, she teleported to a location found long ago and her work began. The air rippled as lightning rained across the beach. The smell of ozone and burnt flesh filled the air as bolts continued to strike. Bloated maggot-shaped Larvae tried to undulate towards the safety of the ocean, only to be blasted apart. Their pieces scattered far among their fellows and remnants of bones that layered the sludge-coated shore. Before the first storm finished, Amdirlain had already sent another on its way. As her initial spells ripped the proto-Demons apart, she repeatedly teleported along, setting a storm in place at every stop. While she’d followed Usd’ghi’s instructions before, she’d left the most populated beaches alone. Now things were going to get truly messy as transformed Petitioners and Damned Souls alike burst apart.
The ongoing slaughter didn’t make a difference to the already foul fragrance in the air. A breeze from the swamp’s interior carried the rancid odour of stagnant water, decay, faeces, and the sounds of things feeding. The explosions and lure of death would likely soon draw attention to the beach. As a final Teleport placed her in familiar foothills, the combat summary appeared, an acknowledgement of the butchery she’d left behind.
[Combat Summary:
Larvae x2927
Total experience gained: 702,480
Fallen: + 351,240
Scion: +351,240
Mana Critical (1->11)
Mana Finesse [S](7->8)
]
The sheer amount of experience made her pause, but she nodded when she realised it was quantity at two hundred and forty experience each. After the effort, she’d taken to avoid those classes surging ahead of her new classes to gain so much experience from proto-Demons made her bark with edged laughter as she regarded her surroundings.
Though where she stood was familiar, the area around was different from the last time she’d seen it. A distance away along the foothills was a wall of thick black smoke. The fallback location outside the town of Giza she’d scouted with Ebusuku was only a stone’s throw away. Giza’s surrounding trees, with their foul fruit now lay shattered and broken, while inside the perimeter bleached bones and half destroyed buildings were a bleak grave marker.
Many of the bones showed the structure of the horned, headless shoulders of Kralcí. Though something had divested them of their golden armour, the bodies had been left to rot. The marks on the bones showed where swamp carrion feeders or other Demons had gnawed them clean of flesh. Amdirlain had been about to teleport again when Telepathy revealed a group of Demons inside the ruins.
Clairsentience let her tap a Demon’s eyesight without having to burrow into its mind, and she spilt her focus to take in the distant scene. A group of Fraz-gòn were dragging rubble out of a set of stairs that reached below ground level. Their clawed hands allowed the gargoyle-faced Demons a secure grip on the stone chunks. A shattered balcony visible through a broken wall gave her an obvious hint of their location across the square from where the Succubus had stood.
[Clairsentience [J](35->36)]
After considering her options, Amdirlain stayed in the Succubus form she’d used visiting Ternòx. With the simple mercenary leathers she wore, they should consider her a neutral faction. As she flew towards the square, her wings beat at a leisurely tempo, and the noise beckoned three Fraz-gòn from the building as she neared.
Analysis
[Name: Ìbägani
Species: Fraz-gòn
Class: Fighter / Scout
Level: 1 / 33 / 32
Health: 1232
Defence: 72
Melee Attack Power: 111
Combat Skills: Bite [Ad](34), Claws [Ad] (35)
Details: A native of Àluga, this scavenger crew chief and his crew have been working through old ruins in Àluga. ]
“Go away mercenary, we were here first,” growled Ìbägani. With the scars across his muzzle and throat, Amdirlain wasn’t sure he’d be able to do anything else.
“I’m not interested in whatever bones you’re picking over, Ìbägani,” Amdirlain dismissed and smiled as the Demon took a step back, his gaze wide in surprise. “I’m seeking information.”
“I don’t know you, but if you’ve coin, I might have information,” Ìbägani said, the growl easing to a confused rumble.
The moment the irregular red Fury coin appeared between her fingers, his gaze locked onto it
“I’ve coin,” stated Amdirlain. “When did you last hear of any Sisterhood sightings?”
“The whores haven’t been back here since the Wizards gave up trying to save the marshstone mine. Last one I heard of was across the mountains near Narjâlin city, fifty or sixty cycles ago; news was they’d retreated. You think any are still about?”
“Where’s the nearest intact iron refinery these cycles?” Amdirlain asked as she rolled the coin across her fingers.
“Nowhere near here. From here, follow the foothills’ spine; when you get away from the swamp, angle towards your right and head towards the highest peak. You’ll be able to see its smoke plumes before you reach it,” replied Ìbägani. The image of the billowing smokestacks from outside the city’s walls was clear in his mind for at least a moment. Along with it came a name that was a familiar one from the Sisterhood bidding before the disruption of Àluga had commenced.
When Amdirlain arched the coin in a high toss, his raised gaze missed death’s approach. Her double palm strike drove through his lowest ribs and shattered upwards. The impact crushed his heart and, already dead, his mass pulverised the second crew member against stone. Before they splashed across the ground, the blade of her foot decapitated the third. As a skip took her between their falling bodies and through a gap in the wall. The closest Fraz-gòn within raised a clawed hand as Psi energy snared him an instant before she shattered his spine. When Destruction Mana washed out through Ki Infusion, his remains cascaded into ash. The thud of other broken bodies soon mingled with the echoes of dropped rubble.
[Combat Summary:
Fraz-gòn x 11
Total Experience Gained: 31,372
Fallen: +6,274
Scion: +6,274
Sora Master: +6,274
Psion: +6,274
Warrior Monk: +6,274
]
After looting the crew of their coinage, she stepped over the drying blood and toed her fallen coin and made it vanish into Inventory. Glad she hadn’t needed to delve deep into a Demon’s mind again, she teleported away and reappeared in a room of faded nightmares. Scavengers had left only bones and scraps of wings from the bodies that Lêdhins had heaped on its floor. The remnants caused her to pause for a moment, but she orientated herself by the hole Ebusuku had blasted through her and found where Lêdhins had pinned her. With the memory of that moment holding a crystal clarity in her mind, her gaze traced over long dried bloodstains. His name whispered from her lips as she released a detection spell. Among other stains, droplets glowed to her sight and when she touched the wall, those bloodstains vanished from the rock. When she left the room, power exploded behind her and even the building’s stone fell to dust.
Under the blue sky, a scrying spell focused on the dried blood and a heat mirage shone before her in the air. The image showed a bird’s-eye view of a battlefield on a dark plane centred on a BrÍn with deep red skin, obliterating opponents and leaving slaughter in his wake. Weapon and form wreathed in red electrical energy, some lesser Demons exploded before he even closed on them. While those strong enough to withstand the aura, dropped to his weapon’s blades or were crushed beneath its weighted haft.
BrÍn followed his lead with fanatical devotion, ignoring injuries as they cut into an opposing army of assorted Demons. His was a united regiment of BrÍn, each wearing a symbol depicting a war mattock shedding streams of blood. Mana continued to flow as the spell worked across planes, but she’d seen more than enough and released the spell before he felt its presence.
“Fuck!”
The screamed word echoed in the ruins with heated venom and rage. Where Ebusuku had used Lightning to wipe out their opposition, Destruction now wiped the town’s remains from the foothills.
[Combat Summary:
Abyssal Chicken x624
Abyssal Ghouls x7
Blight Rats: x8,452
Viper Tree x12
Wisp Swarms: x15
Total experience gained: 192,585
Fallen: +96,292
Scion: +96,292
]
[Achievement: Paint the town red!
Condition: Wreck a town and kill at least five thousand creatures living in it during a single rampage.
Reward: Rubble?]
I don’t know when he started following us, but at least now I can find him when I’m ready.
Whether it was the blood - or he’s no longer hidden - it was easy enough to scry him across planes.
----------------------------------------
The Fraz-gòn’s mind had provided her with a glimpse of the location but few details besides its name. The name she’d recognised from the Sisterhood preparation, the number of teams willingly bidding on it had stuck with her. Deep in the interior, from Giza it was at least the distance from Newcastle to Melbourne. She stood on the edge of a shantytown on its outskirts, between its walls and the river’s edge.
Instead of a thick mist she’d taken it to be from Ìbägani’s memory, she stood in a polluted haze outside Avaris. The industry of the city was filling the air with both smells and sounds, its acidic bitterness coating her mouth and nostrils; though it couldn’t damage her flesh, faint marks started showing on her leathers. Analysis and her Lore picked out an array of Least Demons among the narrow laneways of the shantytown. Her first scan found a host of Succubi, Dretch, and Insectoids in many shapes and sizes. Forearm sized ladybugs with shells oozing poison, and bladed wings, human-sized dung beetles, and bile-yellow praying mantises with rainbow eyes that stood three metres tall were among the most numerous.
The river’s fluid was a thick sludge of industrial effluent that clawed at the riverbank’s blighted soil, raising smoke. Within the liquid, ghostly hulks drifted along the riverbed manned by spectral crews, their path unbothered by any obstruction as they towed their cargos of Souls. Trailing from the stern, a host of hangman’s nooses fluttered like streamers as collected Souls smashed against each other, their motions and the current churning them about. Their collective erratic motions were like a child carelessly towing a cluster of balloons around in the wind.
As she watched, new Souls appeared in the river’s murk, and Amdirlain saw how the hulks’ crew claimed their prizes. A hangman’s noose anchored them into the soil, head down, with hands bound behind them. Their struggles to free themselves only sent them further into the murk. As the nearest hulk adjusted its course slightly, crew along the railing snagged them with boat hooks before another cut the rope near the riverbed. Their prize claimed, they waited till the current took them past, walked down the ship’s length, and tied them in place with the rest. An endless parade of suffering as the strangling Souls experienced the water’s pollutants chewing at their being.
When nothing nearby mustered itself to threaten, she regarded a causeway close by that served as the marker for an entry route. The basalt stonework looked wider than an eight-lane expressway, though none of the transports were close to normal cars or trucks. Incoming vessels the size of bulk freighters floated forty or more metres above ground level. Their presence completely shadowing the far greater quantity of smaller ground traffic, be they Demons lumbering on foot, wagons, or behemoths.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Near the causeway’s city-end, scores of Dretch hitched to a truck-sized wagon served like ill-manner sled dogs. They had none of the coordination of a real team, squabbles frequently disrupted their lumbering gait. The various teamsters that walked alongside applied their whips to leave welts of blazing energy across thick hide when they looked come to a complete halt. A wide variety of insectoid type Demons made up the clear majority among those crewing the various transports she could see.
As she joined the foot traffic, she set more concealments in place. Though no longer in the same ignorant state she’d been in when first entering an Abyssal city, there were still risks. A quick focus on her Profile set her classes to present only a Fighter and a Scout at a modest thirty-two levels in each. Given Ìbägani’s level, it seemed befitting a simple mercenary while not setting her as a complete pushover if they demanded an imprint.
The causeway path led through the shantytown to red walls that loomed some three hundred metres overhead. The walls crawled with wards and as she moved to the stairs that rose to the causeway’s edge; she took the time to check them over carefully. While layered protections sat within the wards, none of the detections cared about individuals. Rather, the wards seemed focused on siege scale protections and an assortment of goods coming into the city.
----------------------------------------
The clicking tones of the mantis Demon were understandable Abyssal as the line passed before it. The bored repetition of its questioning was even more understandable, as even before it came into sight, she’d heard it ask a few dozen times. As she stepped up to the edge of the barricade, it became clear why the Demons ahead of her had answered politely.
“Purpose of visit?”
As they emitted the clicked words, she caught sight of rows of gleaming ballistae arrayed in arcs inside the gate all aimed at it. Each blazed with Mana as their crews kept them aimed, ready to hurl their bolts towards those entering. Loaded bolts radiated Destruction Mana, Artificer runes within them holding a Wizard’s spell with the potential to unleash the same forces that she’d used to level a town. The sight of the wards in part now made sense, as once the bolt was outside, the wards would keep the backlash from destroying the guards. Anyone outside would be tough out of luck, but the city and the guards would be fine.
“Trade, purchase of iron and steel,” Amdirlain stated flatly, even as her gaze took in four stacks of ballistae platforms that stood eight deep on either side of the gate.
“Entry fee is five poison.”
Similar conversations were ongoing across the massive gateway as other land-bound and flying guards questioned travellers and received their stated fees. When she paid, they waved her past without further question, and True Sight watched the wards’ activity as it searched her for materials but ignored her. Between one step and the next, the haze that had been thick outside the city became soup.
[Health: -10
Resistance: Poison (10->11)]
Oh, it’s going to at least help something - maybe I’ll stay awhile longer than I had planned.
The rash of blisters across her exposed skin had already healed before the message came again, and Amdirlain was further inside the city’s streets. True Sight found none of the spatial pathways that had existed in Ùeqräkas, so she scouted about rather than question Demons. She stayed on foot only for as long as it took to get out of the ballistae’s arc of fire and took to the air. Wings beating to keep up appearances, the blisters came and went with fortunately decreasing frequency as she made her way further into the city.
----------------------------------------
Inside the city was a literal hive of uncontrolled industry, the insectoid Demons on foot or in the air rushed among and within the buildings. A honeycomb of smokestacks continually billowed acidic haze, and workers’ noise echoed out into the air. The ground traffic had split out through the city blocks only to be replaced by new wagons carrying stacks of weapons and crates of goods. In contrast, the massive cargo freighters continued deeper inside at a steady pace.
A sudden deluge sent wind against freshly bared skin as Amdirlain glistened in acid rain, leathers melted from her body. Spitting curses, she gained a bustier and leather pants, similar to what other Succubi wore, but she kept her connection this time. She’d learnt her lesson from Ebusuku’s observations — though maintained by Protean — the clothing linked by a few tiny filaments could move naturally. The driving rain made no headway in clearing the perpetual haze as she flew onwards.
When at last she spotted what she was looking for, she had almost flown past it. Only the gleam of light shining off metal ingots from a suddenly opened door halted her flight in time. As another flyer tried to avoid barrelling into her, Amdirlain teleported to the ground. Wings still flared outwards, Amdirlain caused the Demon in the doorway to step backwards and reach for a bardiche near the door. As she took in the red slime that coated the almost skeletal figure, her gaze noted the barbed tail that swayed behind it that mirrored its agitated state.
Analysis
[Name: Caltexin
Species: Lesser Babau
Class: Fighter
Level: 4 / 14
Health: 345
Defence: 34
Melee Attack Power: 39
Combat Skills: Claws [J] (1), Bardiche [J] (6)
Details: Spawned from the conversion of a Soul in the toxic waters surrounding Avaris, Caltexin has worked in the foundries since that time. While they have promoted him several times, he is still essentially a barely trained labourer. A strong red acidic slime coats Babau and any normal weapon striking them may dissolve rather than inflict injury.
]
“Leave it there or I’ll feed it to you,” Amdirlain growled. As its clawed hand continued to move, she hit it with Stimulation and crushed it to the ground in teeth cracking pain. The scream let loose caused other Demons inside to glance up only for a moment. Red slime splashed from its skin as it continued to thrash about but stayed inactive against the black stone floor. A swarm of human-sized Demonic roaches worked to stack stone cargo pallets with freshly cooled ingots, while further in the cavernous structure, more poured molten metal into moulds.
“You!” Amdirlain snarled, pointing at another Babau who glanced between his fellow and her, before he took a step back, looking to avoid involvement.
“Who do I talk to in order to make a purchase?” asked Amdirlain. The anger left her voice as she gestured towards the wagon by the door whose cargo had caught her attention.
The Babau stopped moving at the plain nature of her question and answered cautiously.
“Main building. The wagon was leaving shortly.”
“Where’s the driver?” asked Amdirlain,
“On the floor,” the Babau stated and gestured towards Caltexin.
With a huff, Amdirlain set him loose from Stimulation’s grip, wondering what they would have said if she’d already killed him.
“Get up, and get moving, or you’ll die and someone else can drive. Understood?” asked Amdirlain, motioning a thumb over her shoulder at the wagon.
“Yes!” Caltexin screamed as he pushed himself to his feet. In his following scramble for the wagon’s seat, he left his weapon behind. As soon as he perched on the stone seat, he picked up a whip and set the Undead lizards into motion. As it got started, Amdirlain appeared atop the pallets and considered just stealing the lot. Only the need to gain sources of information kept her from taking that approach.
The drive amid the chaos of the industrial region made it easier to look inside the workhouses that all appeared to be running at full capacity.
“This place always so busy?” Amdirlain asked, and Caltexin flinched before he responded.
“Reconstruction supplies and weaponry orders, everyone’s busier,” Caltexin admitted, his silence broken as Stimulation made pain itch up his spine.
“Next time I ask a question, you’d best answer quickly,” Amdirlain said calmly, her factual tone caused Caltexin to shiver.
“Where are the Alchemists found in the city?”
“Mostly near the city’s core,” Caltexin replied, almost spitting the words out in haste as he shot a fearful glance over his shoulder. Amdirlain just smiled sweetly at his wide-eyed look and with a shudder, he returned his attention to the road.
When the wagon stopped at last, Amdirlain stepped forward and wrapped a hand lightly around his throat. As he raised claws towards her arm she hissed in a warning and he went still. When the notification finally showed itself, she wondered if it had even been worth the wait.
[Health: -1
Resistance: Acid [I] (6->7)]
“Your acid doesn’t even tickle little Babau. Disappointing,” Amdirlain purred, and a teleport put her on the front steps of the dealer’s shop.
[Acting [M](2->3)]
Long rows of stone pallets filled the building’s interior, stacked with various metals. While none of the metals were precious, they promised a lot of potential in Jaixar’s hands. Standing ahead of her was an Alu-Demon clad in clothes made from a scaled leather, and Amdirlain looked over the material.
[Swamp Basilisk Corset
Defence: 20
Details: Made from the softer underbelly hide, the leather is flexible and keeps its resistance to acid and petrification damage. While the garment itself doesn’t provide substantial defence, its tailor used thicker sections to protect vital organs. ]
I might need to go hunting.
When the Alu-Demon moved away from the counter, she left coins behind, and took some tokens with her but no goods.
“Next.”
The Demon behind the counter looked up from jotting notes on a red parchment sheet. As the beetle-like Demon looked her over, its eyestalks twitched nervously. Its shell was a mottle of dark red and vivid pink, though the twelve arms she could see ending in claws at least were Demonic enough. Its clicked words were flat, and Amdirlain was unsure how it even spoke, given its maw’s formation.
“What do you need?”
“Ingots, lots of ingots,” Amdirlain replied, tapping the counter in time to her words.
“The waiting lists are cycles longer than those queued for your tail, Succubus.”
Its tone remained flat and unbothered by the vibration of the countertop.
“Your racks are full of stock,” Amdirlain said, motioning to the pallets behind him, the smile she showed him presenting too many teeth.
[Name: Énarù
Species: Meñde
Class: Fighter / Merchant
Level: 7 / 32 /47
Health: 1,630
Defence: 70
Melee Attack Power: 101
Combat Skills: Claws [Ad] (29)
Details: The Meñde gestate from eggs laid in manifested Souls bonded in the swamps of Àluga. The Soul experiences the feeling of the maggot-like grubs wriggling through them. Eventually, when the grubs exit the Soul, they spend the first twelve days avoiding being eaten and laying hundreds of eggs into every Soul in reach. After their metamorphosis into their beetle state, the Meñde is genderless and cannot lay eggs.
]
“No, I don’t,” refuted Énarù. “I’ve plenty of goods waiting for the next cargo barge to take them away, but nothing to sell you if you want them right now. Reconstruction of the fleets takes priority over everything, that’s orders from the top.”
“The Sisterhood inflicted that much damage?” enquired Amdirlain, as she considered the hundreds of loaded pallets she could easily see.
“Dragons did more to the fleets, but the Sisterhood destroyed enough skilled workers to mean rebuilding will take time,” grumbled Énarù
Oh! It worked? Wait! System, you bitch, did they get roused because of the plates I made?!
[Perception [M](42)]
I swear, if you’re some weird entity sending me messages, we’re going to have words one day.
“Why would the fleet need copper?”
“You don’t want steel?” asked Énarù, after a long pause. “But everyone’s asking for iron and steel.”
“I wanted that as well, but I’ve work that calls for copper and bronze,” replied Amdirlain, as she resisted the urge to eye-roll.
“Three per hundred bars for the copper, five for the bronze,” stated Énarù, a quill poised near the parchment.
“Do you know who deals in Alchemical Silver?” asked Amdirlain and made the coins appear in a cupped palm.
“I don’t know,” Énarù retorted, giving a multi-armed shrug. “An Alchemist?”
“Good guess,” Amdirlain stated, the serrated edge in her voice making its eyestalks jump wildly. When she set the eight obsidian Nights on the counter, one eye glanced down at them.
“Did you want a thousand of each or something different?” Énarù asked, his clicked words somehow friendlier than before.
“A thousand of each,” Amdirlain replied, her manner off hand as she managed not to blink.
It seems he was after the red Furies instead.
----------------------------------------
Though it wouldn’t sell her everything she wanted, Énarù had at least given her directions to the city centre where fancy stores could be found. After hours of searching along streets lined with wards, she found several shop fronts bearing Alchemist signs. After striking out at the first four, she wasn’t optimistic when she entered the fifth and — so far — smallest store.
The Gilöglp on top of the counter reminded her unpleasantly of Tras’laqì for only a moment, as this knowledge demon appeared carved of nearly white stone instead of obsidian. Though it still looked like a cross between a ferret and an armadillo.
“Yes?”
[Name: Nali’ìlla
Species: Least Gilöglp
Class: Sage / Alchemist
Level: 5 / 24 / 19
Health: 384
Defence: 50
Magic: 63
Mana: 1,090
Melee Attack Power: 32
Combat Skills: Bite [J](1) - Various Innate Powers.
Details: Nali’ìlla is the junior Apprentice Alchemist to Master Saman. The Gilöglp are knowledge Demons that spawn on various Planes but vary in colouration depending on where they spawn. White Gilöglp are native to the salt flats of Àluga and Kapùcterv.]
Amdirlain barely paused inside the doorway and shot a glance at Nali’ìlla even as she asked, “Do you have any Alchemical Silver?”
“As I’ve told all the rest of you lot, it’s not for sale. Master Saman has said it’s available only in trade,” Nali’ìlla intoned, with a flat biting edge to their words, as it motioned her back out the door.
“Two questions: how much of it does Master Saman have? What do they want in trade?” enquired Amdirlain, halting with her hand on the door to push it back open.
“Master Saman has lots but only as an exchange for materials,” stated Nali’ìlla, its eye ridges lifting in surprise as its beady, black gaze regarded her steadily.
“I need more assurance than that,” Amdirlain stated, and showed it one ingot from Inventory. “I need at least thirty-five standard ingots.“
“Easy, I’ve seen the racks in the vault,”
“What sort of materials?”
As Amdirlain asked, she moved across to the counter, curious about what she’d need to do.
“She’s always in need of materials from many places in the Abyss,” Nali’ìlla retorted blandly. “How much experience have you had with Planar travel and gathering for an Alchemist?”
“I’ve had a bit of experience plane travelling, but not a lot in gathering materials,” Amdirlain replied, not wanting to break with the profile she’d set up.
“Well, a bit can vary depending on perspective; for some, stepping through a Portal and back is a bit of experience. Almost no experience gathering materials is your biggest issue. Master Saman is fussy with what she’ll actually trade for,” stated Nali’ìlla, its tail fidgeting about with every word.
“I’ve more experience than that, but I’ve only spent time on a handful. Do you have a list of the materials she’s after?” Amdirlain asked, then gave the Demon a thoughtful look. “If you mark the stuff easiest to gather and part with some tips, I’ll start with those.”
“The list I can do, of course,” declared Nali’ìlla, scampering along the countertop length. “Both types of advice will cost you.”
With those words, Nali’ìlla jumped down from the counter and disappeared, but quickly returned with a small bundle. It unwound a scroll and made a copy of the list with deft motions of its forepaw onto another piece of parchment. Neither it nor the wards noticed her psi connection reading the list through its eyes as Amdirlain made a mental note of the items. The list appearing on the inside of her clothing just in case she didn’t remember it correctly.
“You doing repairs after the quake still, or did your property get caught up in fighting?”
“I just need Alchemical Silver, that’s all that is of concern for our transaction,” Amdirlain replied, not letting its question distract her focus.
“Okay, it’s just this much in one hit is unusual. It’s enough to set permanent runes to anchor wards for a massive building,” Nali’ìlla muttered, and moved its quill away from its completed copy of the list.
“Is it really? How remarkable?!” exclaimed Amdirlain. The surly look she received just earned Nali’ìlla a smile before she continued. “How much for the information?”
“What’s the purpose of so much silver?” asked Nali’ìlla.
“I’ll just take the list as is thanks,” replied Amdirlain, as she reached for it Nali’ìlla put the parchment behind its back.
“Come on, work with me here will you,” begged Nali’ìlla. “Give a young knowledge Demon a break.”
“I can pay you in coin, or I take the list as is,” Amdirlain stated, reached for the parchment again.
“I prefer information,” argued Nali’ìlla, standing on its back legs to hide the parchment and scampered further back.
“You can buy information you want with the coin I pay you,” countered Amdirlain, the smile not fading.
“You’re a hard arse haggler,” grumbled Nali’ìlla. Its pouty look almost made it as cute as a meerkat. “I should have expected it from a mercenary. Work with me, will you?”
“I am working with you,” Amdirlain declared, bemused by Nali’ìlla's antics. “I’m still giving you a chance to earn coin.”
“No, you’re really not,” Nali’ìlla replied. “I’m looking for information. You want information, so let’s trade.”
“Here’s a free tip for you then. When you’re haggling for information, don’t write it out where someone can read it upside down,” Amdirlain retorted. As she moved to the door it was already cursing up a storm behind her.
Lying to the poor Demon, oh well, better for me than letting it know what actually happened.
I really want to finish this circle soon, I’d prefer to be killing Sisters.