Loriel and Dalroc were thankfully unharmed and the healers were able to wake them. The last thing they remembered was their meeting with the duke. That they were taken out so easily had them concerned. Poison was a common enough tool that they had protections, yet they failed. The Inquisition must have created something new.

Sergeant Rudolph was nowhere to be found. He must have escaped while we raided the lab. With the duke’s death, the city’s leadership fell to his son, who was nine years old. Thankfully he simply surrendered, allowing the dwarves to search the city.

We also had the corpses of the grey soldiers to look at. It was clear they were alchemically changed but I had no idea how. I started to regret not bringing Josef to the frontlines. The dwarves had their own alchemists though, maybe they could find something.

More interesting was the corpse of the mage we had encountered. Lucy had crushed him to a degree but the remains clearly looked withered.

“Do you think he was some kind of undead?” I asked Lucy. She was with me, as were Iris and Lily.

Lucy shrugged. “He certainly was not as squishy as a human. But that could have been magic. He smelled a bit rotten.”

“He could have been a warlock of a powerful undead.” Lily suggested.

“A warlock? Those are not easy to create. The process requires a part of your soul that needs time to regenerate. Would they really risk a warlock at the front like this?” I wondered.

“If we are dealing with an old timeless being it could have created numerous warlocks.” Lily pointed out.

She had a point. It would take the soul about a year to regenerate. But if you were a thousand year old creature…

Of course, I did not expect anyone to create one warlock per year. And the warlocks themselves might die. Still, if we were dealing with something old, hundreds of warlocks were a possibility. So they might not be such a limited resource. Then again, a normal warlock would not have access to higher tier spells immediately. Lucy was a special case. The mage we had fought had been around for a while to acquire his power.

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“Do you think a lich is leading the Inquisition? We have only recently encountered undead.” Iris pointed out. “There were no concerning reports about them during my time in the army.”

“What about necromancers? What is the Empire’s policy?” I asked.

“The Inquisition dislikes them. Necromancy is not entirely illegal but adventurers need a permit. And you can’t run around a city with a bunch of undead. If they step out of line, the Inquisition deals with them quickly.” Iris responded.

“Deals with them? They could be recruiting them.” I theorised.

“But why haven’t they used undead before? Why the demons?” Iris asked.

“The demons certainly caught everyone’s attention. Maybe they used them as a cover, or misdirection?” Lucy suggested.

“Let’s not forget that they were experimenting on them. Can you create an undead demon?” I wondered.

“Magical creatures are a lot harder to animate. There has never been a notable undead demon.” Lily explained.

“No demon lord liches?” I asked.

“Just like archfey, their powers don’t mix. I am not an expert, mind you. But to my knowledge a demon trying to become a lich would lose a lot of their inherent magic.” Lily said.

“Hm.” I pondered that. “Your race is tied to your soul. Changing into an undead would require some soul manipulation.” Sadly, my arcane knowledge did not cover the creation of a lich. But if lich was a template for your soul, it might override your previous racial powers.

“So we might have someone who is trying to create undead who retain their racial powers?” Lucy asked.

“What if we are dealing with multiple creatures, working together? What if a demon is working with a lich? Maybe they are trying to create a lich demon lord?” Iris suggested.

“Hm. A terrifying thought. Would a lich be willing to help someone else become more powerful though? What would their motivation be? Unless they think they could manipulate their own soul to add some powers as well.” I mused.

“It doesn’t have to be a lich involved. A demon lord could study necromancy, or hire necromancers. It’s not common. Most demon lords focus on demonic armies but it’s not impossible.” Lily suggested.

“I think we will find more answers in Unitera. The battle there should be big enough that the Inquisition needs to deploy their strongest assets.” I said.

Iris looked sad. “Demons, undead… How rotten was the Inquisition? How did all of this happen? Was the Emperor so blind? What about the generals?”

“I suspect a lot of them just crave power. They don’t particularly care where it comes from. And the few idealists are easily manipulated. Especially if you can give them a target, like non-humans. Create an enemy they can focus on and sell some of the horrors as necessary for the greater good. That paladin seemed like a true believer. It will be interesting to hear his version once Lilith is done with him.” I said.

“Hopefully he will know something. All we have is speculation based on limited evidence.” Lily added.