Patriarch Nalin Fellu and his entourage of house elders made a show of ignoring the items on display in the outer halls of Helmund’s auction house. There were far more items marked for the silent auction than usual, all thanks to the looming abyssal hunt. Normally, a handful of elders whose task it was to locate the few diamonds hidden throughout the dross would have already broken off, placing the house’s bids according to their needs while pressuring others away from their intended purchases.
The problem was, these past few weeks had been anything but normal. House Fellu had been the unquestioned jewel of the Eastern province for centuries. Now, the standing of his house was on a knife’s edge, all thanks to the incompetence of a single adopted house. An adopted house that he now regretted bringing into their fold.
Nalin was large for a human, easily drawing the attention of most everyone within the auction house. He knew full well how his sculpted body and intense aura drew the attention of others, which he used to great effect every chance he could. He kept his bald head held imperiously high, letting the enchantment sewn into the hem of his outer robe that made it billow in just the right way expose his tattooed chest and arms.
He was halfway to the stairs leading to his house’s private suite when Avery, Helmund’s chief steward, appeared beside him as if by magic.
“Welcome, Patriarch Fellu, to our humble establishment. Your presence here is always most welcome,” Avery said in a genteel voice, though Nilan very much doubted the sincerity of those words. After all, he had been the one to direct the destruction of Helmund’s adopted house.
“I am pleased to inform you that your personal suite has been upgraded with the most up to date Elvish privacy wards,” Avery continued as he guided the group down a private hallway on carpeting so soft Nalin could have sworn he was walking on a cloud. “Should you desire a private showing of any item prior to the auction all you need do is ask.”
Nalin didn’t deign to provide a response. He had his own servants for that.
“House Fellu wishes to express their admiration of your master's ongoing diligence in catering to our needs,” a short, balding man in gray robes smoothly interjected from behind. “Our illustrious Patriarch, Nalin, first of his name, master of the Stone’s Embrace, requires a private showing of the Gen’Sheld and any other items master Helmund wishes to show him.”
Nalin had long since stopped trying to remember the names of his servants. They would inevitably fail to meet his exacting standards and were usually gone within a short time anyway. Though, he had to admit, he liked the attitude of this new aide.
Naturally, he didn’t let his thoughts show, instead keeping a neutral gaze as they continued walking in the direction of his viewing suite.
“But of course,” Avery said, bowing to Nalin instead of his servant as was appropriate. “We have anticipated your request and are ready to escort you to the stables once you have rested and taken refreshment.”
The steward then passed a jade tablet carved with intricate runes inlaid with gold to Nalin’s man, who promptly ran forward to unlock the door and hold it open, all without Nalin breaking his stride.
He entered his house’s suite, a set of extravagant rooms that overlooked the auction hall below. Exotic food and drinks were artfully arrayed throughout. Nalin passed the plush seats arranged in a half circle to sit on the throne-like chair next to the enchanted window overlooking the hall.
“Please let us know if there is anything else you require,” Avery said, bowing himself out.
Without needing to ask, another servant in the Fellu colors of black and gold stepped forward, using a wand to verify that the privacy wards were in fact sufficient.
“Honored Patriarch,” the man said with a bow once he had finished. “The privacy standards within Helmund’s house of business are impeccable, as always. I dare say, they even exceed our own protections.”
Nalin kept himself from snorting in derision. The man who had checked the enchantments was likely being used by another elder in one of their never ending games of political infighting. Still, if it were true and not some off the cuff comment, it would look bad on his house if a merchant would have better security than the most powerful house this side of the Free Cities.
“Elder Feresh?” Nalin asked in a near whisper, shooting a discomforting look at the elder in charge of house security.
“I… I will take care of this oversight immediately, my Patriarch,” elder Feresh stammered, sweat already forming on his brow as he bowed low.
“See that it does,” he said, making a mental note to arrange for Elder Feresh’s sons to lead the charge against the abyssal monsters. They would either help their father regain some of his lost honor or not.
Turning his mind back to the task at hand, Nalin prepared himself for a very difficult meeting. Typically, he and the elders would finalize their buying strategies compared to their established budget. But things for the Fellu house were far from normal these days.
Instead, everyone but the elders were dismissed after additional privacy wards were put in place. Helmund’s wards may be impressive, but only a fool relied on other people’s security.
“Are the shadows here yet?” Nalin asked the moment the doors closed and the additional wards were in place.
“We come to serve,” two men whispered, each fading into existence as they dropped their stealth abilities. They wore simple, nondescript dark clothing and had the cowls of their cloaks pulled up over their heads. Nalin knew that clothing choice for stealth practitioners was just as important as the mana expenditure, but it still irked him that he didn’t fully understand the reasons why. He hated secrets being kept from him, even the small ones.
“Good,” Nalin said, not bothering to ask if his Shadows had been seen entering the room. “Report.”
“A quick update on the abyssal sighting my lord Patriarch,” the taller of the two said, his face hidden within the depths of his hood. “We have confirmed that some wargs, a vulture, and several devourers have been infected with abyssal magic.”
There was a collective intake of breath as the elders looked worriedly at each other.
“Are you telling me that there a nest of abyssal devourers?” Nalin said darkly. That could be bad. Very bad.
“No my lord Patriarch, there is no nest that we know of,” the man said. “Only half a dozen devourer soldiers have been sighted thus far. They are likely looking for a queen to turn, but that is unlikely to happen unless they make their way further into the grasslands. They were last spotted harassing the villages between here and Aldorna.”
Again, the elders began whispering amongst each other.
“Are they linked to our efforts with the Ratkin?” Elder Shenlin, a hawkish looking man, asked.
“It is uncertain at this time, but likely,” the shadow replied in his near whisper.
“Which means that if anyone links that devourer core to us, we will be finished,” another elder spat.
“They won’t find any evidence of that, I can assure you,” elder Feresh said, though the tone in his voice didn’t exactly engender any confidence.
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“They weren’t even supposed to find the core, let alone deal with the threat!” Elder Shenlin growled, pointing an accusatory finger at Feresh. “Admit it, your man screwed up!”
“He did exactly what he was told to do!” Feresh shot back, though he looked very much like a trapped rat.
‘You mean you told him to utterly fail?” another elder sneered. “That core was one of a kind! There has never been another one on the market, and you know it!”
“Silence,” Nalin growled, “For once, your incessant bickering doesn’t amuse me, or have you forgotten that our house is facing real problems beyond the abyssal threat?”
He looked at each elder in turn. There were 5 of them, each powerful in their own right. Most were distant relatives that led their own houses with iron fists, though there was one non-human elder amongst them. The Gnoll Shaman, Ethak Shadow-Caller, an adopted house that had served faithfully for longer than Nalin had been alive. Until recently that is.
Each elder was greedy, ambitious, and wouldn’t hesitate to slit their fellow elder’s throats if it meant more power. Nalin had found that the eternal strife of competition within his own house had honed their fighting spirit to a fine point over the decades. After all, whatever didn’t kill them made them stronger.
But the failures these past few weeks had bled them. Small at first, but the cuts kept coming one right after the other, and now sharks were circling.
“Feresh, your man that bungled the devourer debacle…” Nalin began, but was interrupted by another man stepping out of the shadows.
“My name is Yelenzi, my Lord Patriarch,” the man said, his voice calm and collected. Nalin hadn’t even sensed the man, which meant he was one of his better shadows. Not that his skill would protect him from feeling his wrath.
“You’re either brave or stupid attending this meeting without my express permission,” Nalin growled, allowing some of his mana to spill out of his clenched fists. “At the very least you are reckless.”
“As Elder Feresh has expressed to me many times over, my Lord Patriarch,” Yelenzi said, his posture and tone remaining nonchalant. “Upon my failure with devourers, elder Feresh asked me to spy on master Helmund. Because of that, I have information that couldn’t wait, my lord Patriarch. Information that will help our house.”
Nalin debated if should kill the shadow right then and there. If he had been approached in this manner at his home, the man Yelenzi would already be a corpse. But they were outside of their home, which would make covering up the murder a chore.
After taking what he considered an appropriate amount of time, Nalin waved for the man to continue.
“Thank you, my lord Patriarch,” Yelenze said with a short bow. “I believe I have uncovered a plot between an unknown party, house Lensher, Helmund, and by extension his half-brother, Holo Aldorn, to undermine house Fellu.”
The elders immediately began muttering amongst themselves.
“Explain,” Nalin said, leaning forward with interest.
“Yes, lord Patriarch. Before I begin, let me start by explaining that there are several unlinked factors that, when taken at face value, don’t appear to be related. However, after seeing the evidence come together, I have no doubt that a challenge against our house is imminent.”
Nalin impatiently motioned for him to continue.
“To begin, I have successfully integrated myself into Helmund’s employ and have befriended house Aldorn’s men who helped escort the Horse Lord. While there is a great deal I need to report, the most pressing is that master Hemlund has brokered a trade for two of house Lensher’s slots for the labyrinth.”
Nalin’s eyes narrowed. Giving up slots to enter the labyrinth wasn’t unheard of, per se, but it was highly unusual. Especially for Lensher who hadn’t had the opportunity to enter the labyrinth in years.
“We can corroborate that information,” the other shadow said, eyeing Yelenzi. “We just found out this morning, but we didn’t know who brokered the trade.”
“Do we know who they sold their slots to and for how much?” Nalin asked.
“No, lord Patriarch,” the shadow said. “That is still unknown.”
“I have my guesses, but I’m not certain myself,” Yelenzi said.
“Hmmm… Not the level of detail I was hoping for. What else do you have for me?” Nalin asked.
What followed darkened Nalin’s mood to the point that he was one outbreak away from throwing his chair through the magically reinforced glass wall. His troubles had started when one of his more secretive ventures with the Gnolls had gone belly up. Not only had they lost a sizable contingent of dwarven slaves and an entire Rake of Gnoll slavers, but he had lost the jewel of his fleet, the Dragonling. All for some chance to dig up an ancient ruin that no one had even heard of. Not to mention his thwarted efforts in obtaining the Horse Lord for himself. Throw on top of that steaming pile of failure the Gnolls failing to stop Lensher from securing access to the labyrinth, and it was surprising that he hadn’t gone on a rampage.
And that was before learning what Yelenzi had found out.
The shadow reported that not only had the Dragonling been seen at Aldorna, but that Holo and the now freed slave, Crixus, had been seen openly collaborating with each other. Nalin knew Crixus. Had sailed with him many times over the years. Not only was the navigator an incredibly competent sailor who had saved Nalin’s fleet many times over, but he had been hand selected for his ability to keep the Gnolls out of trouble on the open sea. Though, he didn’t doubt for a second the enslaved navigator turned freed captain would betray him at the first opportunity. That was just the nature of slaves.
What concerned Nalin the most however, was how were the slaves freed in the first place? There were only two ways a slave could be set free. Either by using a master key that was kept at the slaver’s guild where the contract had been established to free them or every last one of the sailors had been killed and underwent a rebirth, which was too absurd to even consider.
“So, you’re telling me that house Lensher is meeting with this unknown party today?” Nalin asked, his hand turning the armrest of his chair to splinters.
“Yes, lord Patriarch,” Yelenzi replied. “While I am uncertain as to whom it might be, the human I mentioned, Glade, and his party of elves and dwarves, have been on the periphery of every action. They were the ones who organized a response to thwart the bandits from procuring the Horse Lord. They were also the ones who stopped the Ratkin cold and were instrumental in defeating the devourers, which prevented me from grabbing the Horse Lord directly. They were also seen arriving in Aldorna with Crixus. I’m not certain what ties they have to house Lensher, but everything seems too coincidental from my perspective.”
“And you gathered all of this from the Aldorna guards and Helmund’s people?” Feresh asked, though it was obvious to Nalin that the elder had only voiced his question to remind everyone present that it was under his direction that Yelenzi accomplished such a feat.
“Yes, elder Feresh,” Yelenzi replied with a humble bow.
“We still don’t have proof that house Lensher is behind any of this,” Elder Shenlin scoffed. “All this is hearsay and supposition.”
“We don’t need proof,” elder Ethak hissed, speaking up for the first time. Nalin hadn’t missed the hope in the Gnoll’s eyes grow the longer Yelenzi’s report went on. As outlandish as it all sounded, Ethak could regain some of his lost honor by blaming their failures on a focused house attack from Lensher.
“You have given us much to think about,” Nilan said, fighting the urge to tear the doors from their frames and attack Lensher directly. He knew that would be disastrous should he give into his base desires, which annoyed him more than he cared to admit. He missed the days where he could just solve his problems with his fists. Now he had to rely more and more on subtler methods that were beyond tedious.
“There is one more item of interest, lord Patriarch,” Yelenzi said. “I just came from the stables. Master Helmund is preparing the Horse Lord for transport.”
“I would assume so,” elder Shenlin said. “He’s selling the horse today.”
“That is what I assumed as well,” Yelenzi said all too smoothly. “But, master Avery gave very explicit instructions to prepare horse feed for at least two weeks and to store said feed in master Helmund’s private coach. The same coach that he uses when it is just him and his wife traveling.”
“Elder Feresh,” Nalin said after a moment's thought. “Send your other shadows to see what they can corroborate. If Lensher is using house Aldorn to thwart my interests I want to know about it yesterday.”
“Yes, lord Patriarch,” Feresh said.
“Also, find out if this Glade person really is tied to Lensher. If he is, there has to be some sort of trail your men can follow. I don’t care how faint the connection, I want to know.”
It was extremely odd that this human seemed to be connected with most of his house’s recent failures. One was a coincidence. Twice a fluke, But this many times indicated a real pattern. The only setback the man didn’t seem to have any connection to was the arena loss.
“Of course, lord Patriarch.”
“With that being said, our strategy today hasn’t changed. We have had too many failures and need to provide a show of strength. No one, and I mean no one, must ever question the Fellu might! Our word is law in this region! We will prove that very point both in this auction as well as on the hallowed field of battle against the abyss!”
The elders cheered, Ethak going so far as to bear his teeth. There had been a great deal of hesitancy amongst them earlier about using the auction as a show of economic might, but the last hour had been revelatory. They had an enemy out there who was trying to bleed them with a thousand cuts. It was well past time to show them what happened when the Fellu’s fought back.