The night passed quickly, the new couple laid in bed in each other's embrace, idly passing the time.
“We need to tell Tristan about our relationship.” (Akil)
She looked at him indignantly and pouted.
“Must we though, I’m sure he will use it as yet another reason to tease me.” (Selena)
Akil patted the top of her head in an attempt to calm her down.
“That may be so but he deserves to know, it would be dishonest to hide it from him.” (Akil)
She bit the inside of her cheek and gave him a pretend hit on the chest.
“Fine, but you’re the one who's going to tell him.” (Selena)
“Mhmm” (Akil)
They spent another hour relaxing together before finally getting up and preparing for the day.
They arrived at the training hall early, Selena started stretching as Akil waited for Tristan to show up. It didn’t take long before Tristan walked into the training hall. He looked over to Selena and Immediately started teasing her.
“Wow, I’m impressed Sis, you didn’t sleep in for once.” (Tristan)
“Hmph.” (Selena)
She turned her head towards Akil and looked at him expectantly. Tristan looked at him as well with a confused look on his face.
“Tristan, there is something we need to tell you…” (Akil)
Tristan tilted his head quizzically.
“You’re sister and I are seeing each other romantically.” (Akil)
Tristan whispered under his breath.
“About time.” (Tristan)
He put his arms up in the air and exclaimed.
“That’s great! I’m happy for you two.” (Tristan)
Akil noticed Selena sighing in relief, she might not have said it out loud but she was worried about her brother's approval. After Tristan congratulated both of them and an exchange of pleasantries they went through their training normally. They spent one more night in Jamiea before finally returning to Rendilion the following morning. They arrived right as most shops were beginning to open. They still had a few hours before the midday meeting with the cult contact in the Angry Shepard. They went to the hunters guild to sell some of the monster parts they had collected during their escapades the previous Rendilion evening. Akil also sold some more of the low level magic items he had created. He had started to build up a bit of the currency of this country. He had to be careful not to sell too many magic items, he didn’t want to destroy the magic item economy.
This managed to bring them near enough to midday for the meeting. They worked their way over to the slums and asked around a bit to find the tavern. It took longer than they thought due to a general hostility towards them based on their appearance. Akil used that as a sign and instructed his group to cover themselves with their cloaks. They arrived at the shabby tavern and walked through the door, this earned them stares from the regular patrons. They noticed their target sitting at a table at the far end of the tavern sitting by himself. The trio ignored the stares and the silence in front he other patrons and walked over to the man sitting down, he looked up to them as they came over.
“Can I help you?” (Cultist)
Akil finished the spell he had already prepped.
[Suggestion]
“You should come with us, we have something important to discuss.” (Akil)
“Your right, its rea-” (Cultist)
The words he was about to say caught in his throat, Akil detected a brief fluctuation of magic before the head of the cultist began to distend and distort, growing two times its normal size before loudly popping with a SPLAT. Brain matter and bits of skull exploded out and covered the immediate area. The other patrons of the bar stood up in panic and unsheathed weapons. Selena’s face turned green with sickness as she held back vomit and Tristan looked on in shock. Akil wasted no time casting another spell.
[Suggestion: Mass]
“Relax and go back to what you were doing, we are just a theater troupe practicing our act.” (Akil)
Akil stored the body in his bag and cast Chore Magic to clean up the mess as he enchanted the bar patrons. The patrons sheathed their weapons then sat back down without argument. Akil shook the siblings out of their stupor and gestured to the door. The trio left as quickly as they arrived having seemingly gained nothing but a new body. They walked for a bit before disappearing into an alleyway and transferred back to Akil’s workshop in Jamiea.
“Well that didn’t go as planned..” (Tristan)
“Indeed. I need to spend some time with the body to do some research, you are free to stay and watch or you may go train, the choice is yours.” (Akil)
Akil pulled the body out of his magic bag and placed it on an examination table, Selena looked at it in disgust but sat down in a chair in the corner of the room. Tristan on the other hand left the room entirely.
Throughout the next few hours Akil did all kinds of magical and mundane tests on the body while furiously writing notes. He tried casting a multitude of spells as well, including but not limited to Speak with Dead, Resurrection, and True Resurrection, but none of them seemed to work. Eventually Akil put down his quill and ink and broadcasted his findings to the siblings telepathically.
“Whatever killed this man was something that was intrinsically linked to his soul and not only did it destroy his body but it completely destroyed his soul as well. The trigger seems to have been when he was affected by enchantment magic.” (Akil)
“Then why didn’t this same thing happen to the other cult member that we captured?” (Selena)
“It might take some amount of resources that makes it not worth wasting the time to do it to grunts that don’t actually know anything major. Either way we have to be careful, the power to destroy a soul is usually reserved for gods which makes them more dangerous than I had originally assumed.” (Akil)
Akil decided to let them finish training her on Jamiea for the rest of the Jamiean day before moving on to talk with the lord of Graycott. Akil spent the rest of the night with Selena before gathering the siblings to transfer back to Rendilion. This time he brought them to the noble district, close to the lord's castle. After a short walk the trio reached the castle gate where the guards promptly halted them. They took out their Adventurers identifications and told them about the quest they were on. The guards were expecting adventures so they let them into the castle foyer while they announced their arrival to the lord.
There were quite a few other petitioners sitting in the foyer waiting to be seen by the lord. The trio was about to sit down to wait but it seemed that they were expedited compared to the masses as the guards came out almost instantly and ushered them into the throne room.
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They were greeted with a sweaty, overweight balding man dressed in luxurious clothes sitting on a large throne that barely contained his girth. There was a strong knight in full platemail standing guard directly behind the lord. Akil sensed that he was around the strength of level 10-11 or the equivalent of a Mithral ranked adventurer and around the same level as the siblings were now.
“Introducing the hunter party, the Order of Arcane Mysteries.” (Herald)
“My guard captain tells me that you are the ones that took the Mission to find out why there is an increasing amount of monsters gathering around my city.” (Lord Oberyn)
“That would be us, your lordship.” (Akil)
“Well out with it then.” (Lord Oberyn)
“First, I want to talk to you about some business that you have been doing with an adventuring party called The Lost.” (Akil)
The Lord's eyes went wide for a brief moment before his expression returned to normal.
“Oh and who are they? I don’t usually have business with hunters so I’m unfamiliar with their names.” (Lord Oberyn)
“Their leader's name is Deacon, and unfortunately he and his party have passed but they revealed some very interesting details about your business with them before they did.” (Akil)
The Lord looked around to the guards and ministers around him.
”Leave us.” (Lord Oberyn)
The rest of the people that were in the room bowed and left besides the bodyguard directly behind the lord.
Lord Oberyn snapped his fingers and his bodyguard pulled out a wine bottle and glass, he put the wine glass in the lord's hands and filled it up with a deep purple wine. He swished it around a bit in the glass before putting it up to his face, taking a big sniff before putting some in his mouth and swilling it around. Finally after almost 30 seconds of this pompous display did he finally swallow it down his gullet.
He tried to give Akil an intimidating stare but it just came off as comical, especially after his little display.
“So, what is it you are trying to imply, and what makes you so sure that I won’t just have my bodyguard silence you for good.” (Lord Oberyn)
Akil crossed his arms over his chest and stood tall.
“I wanted to give you a chance to explain your treasonous action of selling your own subjects as slaves to another country. As for your second question, I wouldn't recommend moving forward with that line of thought, I can guarantee you that it won’t end well for your side.” (Akil)
The lord let out a loud guffaw.
“Looks like someone actually has some balls on them. Alright, I’ll bite. What is it that you want? Wealth? Some kind of patronage? Or maybe some woman of your own. You know I saved some of the best stock for myself, I wouldn't waste the best on those religious freaks.” (Lord Oberyn)
Akil could feel both Selena and Tristan fuming behind him and he felt a low smoldering anger of his own building in his belly.
“Well I was willing to give you a chance but it seems like you are not worthy of it. At least meeting with you lets me know that I don’t have to let your death weigh on my conscience.” (Akil)
[Finger of Death]
Akil raised his hand and pointed towards the lord, a thick black ray shot from the tip of his finger and slammed into the middle of the Lord's chest. His eyes went wide as he died without even having a chance to utter a sound. The knight behind him unsheathed his sword and dropped into a stance. Akil cast a spell to ascertain whether or not the knight deserved death as well.
[Detect Thoughts]
“So what has the Lord given you in exchange for loyalty? Are you really ready to die for a man as disgusting as him?” (Akil)
The knight hesitated, his mind was racing with thoughts but Akil picked out the ones he needed to see, the knight had been enjoying debaucherous vices provided by the lord including the aforementioned slaves. Akil had seen enough.
[Finger of Death]
The black ray struck the knight in the chest causing him to crumple onto the ground, the look in his eyes aggrieved that he didn’t even get a chance to defend himself as he wasn’t aware that he’d already been judged and sentenced to death for his crimes. Akil cast his next spell once for each body.
[Undead Slave]
This was a spell of his own creation, it bound someone's soul back to their body and turned them into undead under his control. He loathed to use such an evil spell but he these two were merely reaping what they had sown.
The two of them gasped as they regained consciousness.
“What did you do to us, why do I feel so strange?!” (Lord Oberyn)
“I just made you a bit more obedient and less vile. Here take these.” (Akil)
Akil handed them each two magic items, one that would allow him to communicate with them and the other to hide their new status as undead. He relayed some basic orders to collect detailed explanations of the tax systems and laws that were currently in effect in the Graycott area. Akil would go over this information later and make changes as needed. For now he had put a stop to the missing person issue moving forward, he had taken copies of all the missing people fliers earlier when he was in the guild. He planned on giving them to the Grand Council, especially Moonfist as they were most likely in the Holy Empire.
He had hit a bit of a dead end with the monster problem but now it was a waiting game. They most likely would back off as a safety measure on losing two fairly high ranking members of their flock but he still had to be vigilant. If the greater plan had a high reliance on this operation then they would instead redouble their efforts most likely in a more overt manner. For now he ordered the lord to close the investigation as complete. He signaled to the siblings that it was time to leave then left the lord to his orders. They exited the throne room to sideways glances from all the guards and ministers that had been waiting patiently outside.
“Lord Oberyn says you all may return.” (Akil)
Some sighs of relief could be heard as they shuffled back into the room. Akils party made their way outside, Akil sensed some tension that had built up in the siblings getting released. It seemed dealing with nobility was still a new experience for them. He chuckled inwardly at that thought, it had been a long time since he held any fear or respect for most nobility, they generally acted like petulant children with about as much self control all wrapped in an over inflated sense of self worth. This as a general rule only got worse the higher rank they were, he’d met some good ones but they were exceptions to the rule. He had to admit that the times like this one where he got to put them in their place were very cathartic.
Akil led them back to the guild and collected the rewards for the mission they had just finished. While he was there he collected a bunch of monster subjugation missions that were based on monsters from the shadowthicket, most of them were platinum rank and had been there for a long time untaken. Marisha raised an eyebrow at the missions but for once she didn’t say anything about it. She slowly started to respect the strength of their party. Akil brought the party back to the Shadowthicket and explained their purpose.
“Your mission is to finish all of these monster subjugations missions. On top of that throughout this part of the shadowthicket I want you to place these monitoring devices about every 100 meter radius.” (Akil)
As he was talking he took out a fairly large bag full of small magic tools.
“And you will do this all before morning.” (Akil)
He looked up at the setting sun then back to the two siblings. Tristan grimaced before loudly voicing his complaints.
“All of them? That's like 50 monsters total, which are like an average of level 8…” (Tristan)
Selena didn’t say anything but she let out a loud Tsk at her brothers loud grumbling. Akil put on a small half smile and shot back.
“Well then you better get started then huh.” (Akil)
Tristan rolled his eyes in frustration but he was grabbed by the arm by his sister and dragged towards the shadowthicket.
“Oh and before I forget, I won’t be near you to help so be extra careful.” (Akil)
At that, Tristan immediately got serious. Selena was brimming with confidence, she was going to prove that what happened last time wouldn’t happen again. They ran off into the forest, Akil waited until he was sure they were out of sight before putting up his cloak and activating its invisibility. He caught up to the duo quickly, he wasn’t ready to let them go completely by themselves yet but they were never going to learn being coddled so he thought this was the best middleground.
They fought very well throughout the night, they made sure they were extra cautious. Akil watched them with pride in his eyes, he forgot how much he loved the feeling of cultivating promising talent. They managed to defeat all of the monsters on the subjugation list but they cut it extremely close. The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon as they finished off the last monster on their list. They quickly spread the last of the monitoring devices and rushed back to the entrance of the shadowthicket. The sun was fully above the horizon by the time they reached the treeline. They were panting as they broke through, they were greeted with Akil languidly sitting on a rock playing an oud. He played a song reminiscent of his homeland as the two caught their breath. They eventually returned to normal but they continued to be enthralled by his song, they didn’t understand the words but they felt the strong emotions behind it. It wasn’t their first time hearing their teacher play music but it was a rare treat.
He finished without any fanfare and put down the instrument.
“So?” (Akil)
The two shook themselves out of their trance and took out a bag of monster parts, their faces plastered with smiles.
“Read it and weep.” (Tristan)
Selena elbowed her brother but didn’t lose her proud expression. He patted both of them on the arm.
“Amazing job you two, I’m proud to have you as apprentices.” (Akil)
They walked back to the guild in high spirits, regaling Akil with stories of their fights.