Day 6
Hotel Acheron
8:10 A.M.
The lobby of Hotel Acheron contained even more Revenants than normal. Every seat was filled, and much of the floor space was taken up by standing soldiers or weapons leaned against walls or various pieces of furniture. When Tantalus stepped out of the elevator, many of the Revenants turned and others stood from their seats. All told, there must have been more than fifty Revenants in the lobby.
Eska and the other members of Squad One were sitting in one corner of the lobby, and Tantalus immediately began walking toward them. Several people he didn’t recognize asked for handshakes on the way over. Some of them had glowing yellow eyes as they wanted to record their first meeting with the Captain of the West Gate.
Once he reached the corner of the room with the people he knew, he turned to Eska and said, “Thanks for washing my cloak.”
Tantalus noticed the barely suppressed response from Squad Two. Either news had begun to travel, or they were making connections of their own.
Eska blushed slightly and said, “Of course, it was no trouble at all.”
Tantalus turned to Redgrave and said, “Have the squad leaders disseminated the orders for Tango Company?”
Redgrave looked from Eska to Tantalus for a moment, his eyes narrowing in thought. He clearly put two and two together before he responded. “Yes, sir. We’ll be heading to the staging area once Alpha Company and Mike Company have finished their initial deployment.”
“Good,” Tantalus said, “I need to head to the Ducal Palace before the Operation begins. I’ll meet you at the staging area. If I get into a car crash on the way to the Palace, you’ll lead the operation in my stead.”
“Real funny, Jackass,” Redgrave said, laughing despite his harsh words. “You’re not allowed to die until we actually run into the enemy.”
“Well, if I don’t have your leave to die, then I’ll surely live,” Tantalus laughed. “I’ll see guys in an hour,” he said to the two squads in front of him.
Tantalus turned in place without another word and exited the lobby of Hotel Acheron. He didn’t leave quite fast enough to not notice Pixie saying, “Are you really…”
As Tantalus walked to his pickup truck, he felt like whistling. It was strange, he hadn’t felt that happy in a long time. He had told the truth to Squads T1 and T2, and they had accepted him, at least so far. Tantalus had convinced himself that people would find him pitiful or disgusting when he told them the truth. Well, he hadn’t told them the whole truth. Either way, the fact that they didn’t want to disassociate with him immediately after he showed them a glimpse of Vincent Blackwell was much more than he could hope for.
The situation with Eska had certainly improved his mood. She was interested in him, that at least was something Tantalus could be confident in. Despite all of his rough edges, she seemed willing to accept him. Tantalus felt like a kid again, and the ominous meeting with the red-haired man did little to mitigate this happiness.
Tantalus had just placed his Garand in the passenger seat when he heard something. He stopped his whistling for a moment to listen. There was a quiet whimpering coming from under the bed of his truck. Tantalus stuck his head under the truck, and he saw a small dog curled up in a ball. It was a German shepherd puppy. At a glance, it was clearly big enough to be a few months old but not quite big enough to be fully grown. Tantalus knew vanishingly little about dogs, but the puppy seemed old enough to survive without its mother’s help.
“Hey, little guy,” Tantalus said, and the puppy turned its sad little eyes toward him. Tantalus reached into his satchel and produced a piece of jerky. “Here, it tastes awful, but I’m pretty sure you can eat it.”
The puppy slowly left the area under Tantalus’s truck before taking a careful bite of the jerky. After the initial bite, the puppy ate the rest of the jerky and then leaned against Tantalus’s leg. Tantalus pet the puppy while checking its neck. There, he saw a collar with a dog tag. The name on the dog tag was faded and written in Iron Script. It was probably unreadable even to someone who was fluent in Iron Script.
Tantalus looked down at the little puppy, and it looked back up at him with big round eyes. He looked down at the dog, and he couldn’t help but smile widely at it.
Then, Tantalus’s expression turned to one of deep terror and horrible dread. He turned his head toward the source of a familiar feeling. He was being watched again.
He jumped to his feet, frightening the puppy. “Are you there, GM!?” Tantalus screamed at the sky. “I see what you’re doing! You’re building me up so that you can tear me down later! But I’ll tell you right now, it won’t work! You will never break me! Do you hear me!? GM!? I’ll be the one to kill you! Mark my words!"
The sky did not respond. Tantalus stood there for a few seconds to catch his breath. He was completely alone except for the dog and the echoes of his own screamed words. Tantalus looked down, and the puppy remained where it was. It looked up at Tantalus with a look of concern. “Sorry about that, little guy,” he pet the dog. “Come on, let’s go.”
Tantalus took the little dog back to the lobby of Hotel Acheron. Many of the soldiers rushed forward to pet the adorable puppy, and the puppy furiously wagged its tail in enjoyment as it was showered in adoration. Plenty of his soldiers immediately volunteered to look after the dog, and Tantalus told them to choose amongst themselves who would be in charge of it. They were already talking about names for the dog by the time Tantalus had left.
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The second time, Tantalus was able to get in his car and leave Hotel Acheron with minimal difficulty. By the Sixth Day, Tantalus was able to navigate between the West Gate, Hotel Acheron, and the Ducal Palace with ease. After a few minutes of driving in silence, Tantalus pulled into the parking lot across the road of the Palace.
A moment after he stopped his truck, Tantalus slapped his forehead with his palm. “No, no, you are having a good day. Don’t focus on the negatives.”
Tantalus stepped out of his truck, and he started the short walk to the looming ivory Palace that had been home to House Mandelbrot for more than a thousand years.
The Ducal Palace
8:30 A.M.
Within a few minutes, Captain Tantalus, Chief Strategic Officer of the Osirian Revenant Division (CSO-ORD), was allowed into the situation room of the Ducal Palace. He walked past a group of NPC soldiers in brigandine wielding halberds and longswords. The soldiers looked upon Tantalus’s weapons with distaste, and the feeling was mutual.
Once he had reached the situation room, Tantalus saw that a surprisingly small number of people were present. It was just Duke Edwin Mandelbrot, Marshal Regis Evrett, General Dogwood, and Colonel Feldrast. The small number of people present meant that Tantalus would have to act as the representative of all Revenants in the City.
“Captain Tantalus,” General Dogwood said as the Revenant in grey and blue entered the situation room. “Are your men prepared to carry out their duty?”
“They’re as ready as they can be,” Tantalus reported.
Tantalus took a moment to look around the situation room. It seemed incredibly empty with only five inhabitants. The other four individuals in the room were all crowded around the large central table, but they didn’t even take up one-fourth of the space available at the table.
The Duke was dressed in ceremonial clothes, and a black wand with esoteric engravings laid on the table immediately in front of him. A white stole hung from Duke Edwin’s shoulders, and his long black coat almost brushed the ground. The Duke was clearly dressed in the kind of clothing a spellcaster would wear.
The other three NPCs in the room wore the green military uniform which was standard for the “regular” army of Osiris. To denote their high ranks, they all wore ceremonial swords hanging from their belts. The two generals were looking down at a map of Central Rubigo while the Marshal spoke to the Duke.
“We have taken your advice, Captain,” the Marshal said. “For the initial stage of Operation Reunion, single targets will be assaulted by company-sized units of Revenants. I hope you know what you’re talking about.”
They took his advice when it came to methods of persecuting the war as long as his advice was of an offensive nature. “Warfare with firearms is fundamentally different from war with spears and swords. Any more than a hundred men, and we’ll just get in each other's way.”
“Alpha Company and Tango Company will be solely responsible for the first stage of the Operation. Are you sure that you’ll be able to take the railway and airport with just two-hundred men?” Regis Evrett asked.
“If GatorKing, FullDan, and I are there, then we’ll have no difficulty taking the train station,” Tantalus responded.
“So, you’re confident in the Heroes ability to complete the mission?” Marshal Evrett asked.
“Excuse me, heroes?” Tantalus asked, legitimately confused.
The Duke was the one to respond. “It is clear to us that there are certain Revenants who stand far above the others. ‘Hero’ is the term used to describe an individual whose greatness is clear for all who know him.”
“So, the S-ranks are Heroes, you say?” Tantalus mused. “Doesn’t that mean Ashcroft is a Hero? Aren’t Heroes supposed to be… heroic?”
“Why, yes,” the Duke seemed slightly amused by this conversation, “though we might disagree what ‘heroic’ means. ‘Heroism,’ as far as the people of Ferrum are concerned, is synonymous with ‘greatness.’ I’m aware that the Revenants largely believe that Heroes must be morally righteous, but I don’t feel the same way.”
“Fine, I’ll cede the point,” Tantalus said. He wasn’t a fan of having Hero slapped onto his ever-growing list of titles. “I am quite confident in the martial ability of these ‘Heroes.’ This is why I recommended having Alpha, Mike, and Tango companies act as the spearhead for Operation Reunion.”
“We are perfectly fine with the three companies acting as a spearhead,” General Dogwood said, “but you must remember that spears can be attacked from multiple directions.”
“Yes, sir,” Tantalus responded. “Is there anything else you wish to speak with me about?” He directed his second sentence toward the whole room.
“Yes,” the Duke said. “I called you here today primarily to tell you about the Edict of Ostracization. At noon today, I will cast the Edict, and all Revenants within the walls of Osiris will be marked.”
“Sir,” Tantalus tried to keep his distaste for the situation out of his tone, “your primary goal of increasing the number of Revenants for Operation Reunion has already been served. It would be unnecessary to actually carry out the threat once the strike force has already left.”
“Perhaps,” Duke Edwin said, “that would work for other nobles, but the nobles of House Mandelbrot always carry through with their promises.”
“Fine, if you can’t be convinced,” Tantalus began, “then will you at least consider excluding the Revenants under eighteen from the Edict? My office sent you a list of the 791 children among the Revenants yesterday. Is it possible to exclude them?”
The Duke was taken aback slightly by this news. “I was unaware that there were children among the Revenants.”
“Yes, sir,” Tantalus said loud enough to be heard. “Good thing GM gave us a window to change our avatars on the second day,” he whispered the second part to himself at such a volume that no one else could possibly hear him.
“I will exclude the list of Revenants you sent me. It would be a minor alteration to the ritual,” the Duke said.
“Thank you,” Tantalus said. “Is there anything else?”
“No,” Duke Edwin Mandelbrot responded.
“Then I will return to my men,” Tantalus turned and took a step before pausing. “Is the information you just gave me confidential, or may I inform the other Revenants of what you just told me regarding the Edict of Ostracization?”
“Everything I just told you regarding the Edict is public information. You may tell the Revenants if you wish,” said the Duke.
“Yes, sir,” Tantalus said before leaving the situation room.
Tantalus mulled over the information he had just been given as he walked. He was immediately certain that the Duke was using him as a conduit to tell the Revenants of the specifics of the Edict of Ostracization. At noon, all Revenants within the walls will be permanently branded with the “Mark of the Outlaw.” Well, except those on the list Tantalus had given the Duke.
The Duke was a rational man. Why would he still carry out the threat when it was absolutely unnecessary? He must have had some secondary goal. Two pieces clicked together in Tantalus’s mind. Only those “within the walls” would be affected. The Duke never said it was illegal to leave Osiris. The Duke’s goal was to make the Revenants leave the safety of the walls. It was a defensive measure. If the Deluvians were to mount a counterattack, then they would run into a barrier of heavily armed Revenants before they would reach the walls.
A powerful anger gripped Tantalus. He was about to exit out the front doors when he paused. He clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white. This collection of ones and zeroes decided to endanger thousands of actual lives in order to protect its own worthless life. There was no doubt in Tantalus’s mind that he would have walked back in the situation room and killed the Duke himself if the Safe Zone wasn’t still holding him back.
Trying to hide his anger from the nearby guards, Tantalus wrote a forum post on the BloodNet. He did just as the Duke wanted and informed the other Revenants of the Edict of Ostracization.