--- Galanys ---
"*What do you mean, House Ulein is behind it? What did you find out, exactly?*" Atrog asked.
Before Dov could answer, there came a knock at the door.
"*Everyone keep calm. Don't draw your weapons. If she was found out, they wouldn't be announcing themselves.*" Atrog transmitted as he moved to open the door.
Adam was standing in front of the carriage.
"May I come in? I overheard the most fascinating things just now." He said.
It was a rhetorical question. Denying a Historian of Secrets entry would be incredibly suspicious.
"What did you overhear? Any juicy rumors you want to share with us?" Galanys asked innocently.
The man was supposed to be politically neutral, but if he showed up here and announced himself like this, then maybe he was willing to bend those rules a little.
"Oh? No, you misunderstand. I noticed Dov, and overheard what you all were talking about." He responded.
You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed.
"You overheard a private psychic conversation?" Balron asked. "Was that before or after we entered the warded carriage."
"Yes." Adam replied smugly.
"It's weird, right? It's almost like I actually had to become pretty good at what I do in order to gain Denissa Mardok's attention. All that people see when they look at me is a sarcastic asshole who thinks he is better than them. They never notice that I am actually a sarcastic asshole who in fact really is better than them. That suits me just fine, to be honest. It makes my job much easier if people underestimate me. That said, listening in certainly isn't easy. Dov, could you please add me to your link?"
"*Alright, here you go.*"
"*Wait. Something doesn't add up here.*" Galanys said. "*Adam, why are you friendly towards Dov? She is a princess. I thought you were rude to all nobles?*"
"*Oh, I was very rude to her at first. It didn't work. She just kept taking my snide remarks as genuine criticism and asked for tips on how to improve. It was a pleasant change of pace from the usual reactions I get. Please don't spread the word around that this is how a noble can get me to lay off. I can tell pretty well when people try to deceive me, but I'm not looking forward to a gaggle of sycophants who pretend to care about my criticism.*"
Yeah, that sounded like something Dov would do. Her obsession with self-improvement was really something else.
She wasn't sure what to make of Adam. At first she thought he was just an asshole, but then she realized that he was acting that way on purpose to elicit reactions from his audience. Which to be fair, was kind of an asshole thing to do. But it was also strategic as well! Galanys could totally get behind that. When she noticed this, she started paying more attention to what he said, and she slowly started to realize that she was watching a master manipulator at work.
If this was what the Historians of Secrets were paid to do, then she had missed her calling. It sounded much more fun than being a wizard.
Although it looked like Adam was not a typical example, and should not be used as a point of comparison. The Historians of Secrets were rare. They were the equivalent of an archmage, not the equivalent of a typical wizard. Presumably the normal students of Denissa Mardok's bard college were somewhat less impressive and enviable.
Still, as far as she could tell, Adam was basically a kindred spirit to her. And he was hot, too. And Dov was a male orc right now, which was a form she rarely took, despite Galanys' pleas. It was such a pity that the carriage was so small and they weren't going to get any privacy in the coming days.
She was interrupted in her thoughts when Atrog pinged everyone.
"*Could we please get back to the topic at hand? Namely, high treason by one of the major noble houses? Dov, please tell us what happened.*" He said.
"*Lord Nadror visited me and my siblings. His own bodyguard assassinated him, and then attacked us. My sister Morgan killed the bodyguard, but now it looks like we started it and murdered Lord Nadror. I believe the bodyguard was under a mind control spell of some kind. He looked maniacal when he attacked.*"
Mind control spells were very rare. More importantly, governments all over Hyd had put significant effort into developing countermeasures against them. Galanys carried some of those herself, just like almost every adventurer did. Balron carried quite a bit more than one. That someone managed to mind control a bodyguard meant that they either sabotaged his countermeasures, or that they had an extremely powerful mage working for them.
She felt a flash of sadness and anger from Rania. "*Oh no! I'm so mad at Tonos for killing Lord Nadror! He was a named character, and really fit the 'father to his men' trope. Now what are all the other aspiring adventurers going to do, with a Senior Quest Giver dead? The quality of quests is going to go down, and people will have to settle for killing rats in basements when they could be uncovering conspiracies instead.*"
Galanys decided to ignore that. Normally she would try to empathize with Rania and figure out what in the world she meant, but Dov's report was too important to get distracted right now.
Dov seemed to share the same thought, as she ignored Rania's outburst and continued speaking.
"*They put me in an interrogation chamber, but I managed to escape. My interrogator did not know that my telepathy also has offensive applications. I don't advertise it much for obvious reasons, and also because I much prefer helping people coordinate over melting their brains.*"
She felt some feelings of nervousness emanate from Rania's bodyguards and could not help but be amused. Her girlfriend's telepathic abilities were objectively terrifying, and it was amusing for her to see other people's reactions. Galanys herself had spent enough time with Dov, and gotten to know her well enough, that she trusted her implicitly. Being able to share their emotions and mind states had allowed them to connect much faster and on a much deeper level than normal.
Technically, Galanys knew, it was possible that Dov was lying and secretly had the ability to feign her own emotions through the link and that she was manipulating her. Not that she actually believed this, of course. Coming up with horrifying scenarios like this was just how Galanys' mind worked. She prided herself on her creativity and her willingness to explore all possibilities. If an idea was macabre enough that other people shied away from it, then that only made the thought more interesting to Galanys. After all, if other people haven't spent much time thinking about a topic before, then there are probably low hanging fruits left to pick.
But while she liked coming up with ideas like these, she did not actually believe them. That was really more Balron's thing. It was why she synergized so well with the old dwarf. The man was extremely risk averse and took the time to account for each of the strange ideas she came up with. Even if Galanys only mentioned an idea as an idle thought and never thought about it again, there was a good chance that he would take it seriously and make a plan to handle it.
In contrast to Balron, her own risk aversion was practically nonexistent, and so far her implicit trust in her girlfriend had been very well rewarded.
"*While my interrogator asked me questions, I asked him some leading questions back to get him thinking in the right direction. I figured out that he committed several crimes during his work. Nothing major, but enough that it would definitely get him fired and blacklisted if it became known. Once I had that, I started talking to him telepathically.*"
She could feel pride and a little bit of smugness emanating from Dov as she continued to explain how she managed to subvert her interrogator.
"*As far as the other interrogators know, we just talked normally and I gave the usual responses. But in parallel to that I threatened to reveal him to his bosses. Then I offered him the carrot to go along with the stick: Help me escape, and I would set him up with enough money to retire. He knew that if he betrayed me, he would be screwed because I would tell his superiors, but if he worked with me there was a chance that I would reward him.*"
"*Luckily my mother Damiah has developed a reputation for upholding promises like this. It's not as strong as the reputation of the Coros, but it was strong enough to convince him that trusting me was the better option. He helped me escape, and I upheld my end of the bargain.*"
"*But why?*" Rania asked. "*He was a Bad Guy, wasn't he? You shouldn't pay him money! I was totally expecting you to kill the Bad Guy and loot the key from him instead.*"
"*If I had not upheld my end of the bargain, he could have told other people that I lied to him, and I would rather take the hit to my finances than to my reputation. Besides, it's not like he was outright evil, Rania. Lots of people bend the law in minor ways when they think they can get away with it. If my parents executed everyone who does something like that, there wouldn't be many people left in the Cursed Lands. Most of our citizens are not exactly the most socially well adjusted people after all, what with the millennia of constant strife and curses our country is named after.*"
Dov had argued for Galanys to plead guilty in court and pay the fine, and yet here she was paying large amounts of money to a criminal. It seemed quite absurd to her on the surface. She was tempted to make a joke about it. But then she thought better of it. If she said it out loud, Dov might actually decide to give her money. That would be the least romantic thing possible and a fast way to devalue their relationship by making it materialistic.
After all, Dov's behavior did not stem from malice or indifference, but from a large difference in upbringing. She had a pretty accurate mental model of her girlfriend by now. Dov valued principles more highly than personal feelings and considered money less important than more abstract concepts like reputation, time and safety. She took her obligations as the future ruler of a nation very seriously, and that gave her a very different way of looking at the world.
Ordinary people did not lend each other large sums of money, because it would be seen as taking advantage of each other. In contrast, Galanys was pretty sure that Dov would give her money if she asked for it, and would see no problem with this at all. While Dov obviously did see the danger of sycophants who were only after money, emotions could not be faked through the telepathic link, and so it should be obvious to Dov that Galanys wasn't like that.
Dov viewed money as a less important resource than time, since she had plenty of it. She would see no issue with giving money to Galanys, or any of her other friends who asked so long as she sensed that they weren't taking advantage of her generosity. After all, she had funded the entire shopping spree that resulted in Boomwagon the First with her own money.
But Galanys' own pride would not permit her to ask for money, even if there were some luxury goods still out of her reach that she had always wanted since she was a child. She preferred to earn them through her own wits.
And so she decided to keep quiet for once and not to make a joke. A pity, really. It was a very funny joke and the world was worse off for never hearing it.
She made a mental note to discuss the topic with Dov at a later date, however. Addressing differences like these directly instead of leaving them unsaid was important for a healthy relationship, and both of them enjoyed having weird topics of conversation like these. Galanys because she liked learning about how people thought, and Dov because she liked learning, period.
Galanys noticed Mr. Smith nodding at Dov in approval. Dov had said that she would rather lose money than reputation. The Coros were practically built on that very principle.
But then his face grew more skeptical. "*My company could easily verify all of your claims. Why did you not just remain in custody and wait?*"
"*The Coros were never consulted. The Interim Council has always been reluctant to concede power to you, since they know that you would be able to fool their own truthtellers. You can verify that I'm telling the truth. In fact, I have no issue with it if you would like to do that later. I understand that taking my words at face value is kind of a large thing to ask of someone who does not know me.*"
"*But before that, we need to discuss what else I discovered. I am quite certain by now that House Ulein is behind everything. Since they are in charge of foreign policy, and head the Interim Council, I suspect that this is a full-blown coup attempt. I found that out this afternoon, while hiding among the mercenaries. I also overheard several people talking about a trap to be sprung on us during the expedition.*"
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"*They were making sure that the mercenaries all understood that they were ultimately getting paid by House Ulein specifically, so that they knew what side to take in the end. If I understood them correctly, then the plan is to let us take point once we reach the facility, and then stab us in the back.*"
"*Dov, was this like the last time you overheard people talking, where you only overheard the important bits?*" Rania asked.
"*Yes. It was exactly like that. I noticed it, too. I overheard several people talking about secrets, and not one of the conversations I eavesdropped on was boring or irrelevant for us."
Atrog sighed. "*This is definitely divine intervention by Tonos. So the good news is, we have a god on our side. The bad news is, he is kind of an asshole.*"
"*Can we get a refund and get the support of a different god?*" Rania asked rhetorically. "*Tonos likes tragic sacrifices much more than simple victories, and that's really bad. He even got Lord Nadror killed for no reason except to increase the suspense! Tonos is practically a Bad Guy himself. You hear that Tonos? You are a Bad Guy! We all think so! By your own logic, you should totally make sure you get your comeuppance in the end!*"
"*...I can't tell if that was sacrilege or genius. Trying to turn a god against itself is certainly ambitious.*" Atrog responded.
That was when Galanys noticed something odd about the whole situation. "*I do not understand why House Ulein would go to all that trouble for us in the first place. It would be quite easy for the councilor to just make up a crime to charge us with, and execute us legally. And if they do want us to die out here and not through politics, it would be easier for them to sabotage the environmental protection spell. They are the ones casting it, after all.*"
"*No, that makes sense to me. They already betrayed us by locking away Dov and did all that weird stuff with the Cassandra Project. Their quota for subterfuge is definitely filled by now. I'm actually a little glad that this happened. Ever since Dov was arrested and I thought the guards had betrayed us, I realized that there hasn't been a sudden and unexpected betrayal, yet. Now that we finally got betrayed properly, we no longer need to watch out for that, because there is usually only one major betrayal.*" Rania said.
"*I'm sure I will regret asking this, but what is a 'quota for subterfuge'?*" Atrog asked.
"*Every adventure needs to have a good balance of different things. Some fighting, some exploration, some romance, and so on. It must all be in the right proportion to each other, or else the story is bad. It varies a bit by genre, but we are getting way more mystery and political subterfuge than I was expecting, and too little action. Even our one big battle in the courthouse was an ambush where they tricked us into giving up our weapons. It's high time that we have a proper combat for once. Just us against the Bad Guys, with no politics or anything. Besides, we spent so much time building Boomwagon the First, it would just be weird if we didn't get to use it in a fight.*"
Galanys did not know what to say to that. Shamanism aside, that did sound like the kind of thing Lilian would say, and that woman knew what she was doing. And Rania had by now been right often enough that they should give her the benefit of the doubt as well.
But one thing was worth pointing out regardless: "*Rania, I have mentioned this before, but doesn't the plot also have to make sense in-universe, too? It might not be surprising to you that House Ulein chose to make us fight instead of killing us indirectly, but it would still be useful to us if we know why. For example, it could be another setup. I find it a little suspicious that Dov managed to bribe the guard. No offense.*"
Dov looked surprised when she pointed this out, but then quickly became thoughtful.
"*None taken. That possibility did not occur to me before. The guard would have to be an exceptionally good actor, given that I was reading his surface thoughts at the time. I can't rule it out, but I don't think it's likely.*"
"*Do you think that it's possible this was arranged to lure you to the facility? Maybe they want to study Davlash biology and this is an excuse to get you captured in a way that your parents can't blame on them.*"
"*That does sound like a decent explanation, but it doesn’t strike me as terribly likely. I feel like there should be easier ways to achieve those goals than to arrange all this. They had no way of knowing that I would take the opportunity to break out, after all. That's a lot of planning based on something that might not have worked. But then again I only found out who the enemy even is earlier today and we are still missing a lot of details, and don't know what contingency plans they might have had. I feel like we are grasping at straws here.*"
"*I do have another suspicion for why they might want us to be there.*" Atrog said. "*However, it's a sensitive topic and I don't know if I should say this out loud just yet. I would like to ask Mr. Smith about it later.*"
Mr. Smith looked surprised to be addressed, but nodded.
"*I'm glad to hear that! I always thought it was a bad idea to share all your plans with the team right away. How is the Unspoken Plan Guarantee supposed to work if you always do that? This is much better. You can share the details with us later, but only after it has saved us all!*" Rania said.
Galanys found Rania's reaction ironic. After all the strange and frankly unprecedented skill she had displayed as a shaman, there was a good chance that she was the target of all this. If she managed to get the Coros this interested in her, then something about her must be seriously off, even if none of them knew the details. Atrog was probably going to ask Mr. Smith if he could share any mission-relevant details about Rania without betraying his oaths. He could also just say that out loud, but Rania had a habit of shutting down the conversation whenever people suggested that she was anything other than a Perfectly Normal Elf, even if she admitted to having a Secret Origin Story.
She looked around the room and found that the others were throwing glances at the elf. It looked like Rania herself was the only one who didn't get it.
Galanys decided to ignore for the moment why the enemy might want them to fall into this trap instead of just killing them. Other parts of this whole mess did not add up, either. Why would House Ulein betray the country in the first place?
Oh.
But that would mean that...
Oh no.
She addressed the others.
"*I think I just figured something out, and if I'm correct then this is very worrying. Let's leave aside for the moment why House Ulein would want us at the facility and think about their motivations instead. Let me walk you through my thoughts. Please stop me if you notice any mistakes, because I'm really hoping that I'm wrong.*"
"*This whole thing seems to be intended to start a war between Oruk and the Shan Kingdom. What would House Ulein stand to gain from that? They run foreign diplomacy. A war is the last thing they want, and if they did want a war, they should have more subtle ways to achieve that goal. Dov suggested that it might be a coup attempt, but that doesn't fit. Councilor Vol Ulein is basically the main reason that nobody has tried to succeed the late king. She is an elf who was alive during the Great War, and she has long reached the point in their lifetime where the ability to be creative and break from established patterns decays.*"
While some species could easily grow hundreds of years old, their ability to learn and adapt atrophied with age. An elf who did not become an archmage within their first century of life was very unlikely to achieve that level of skill even if they grew to be a thousand years old. The result of this was that the longer-lived races tended to be quite traditionalist. Their older members accumulated much wisdom, but also acquired a rigidity of thought that made them unable to adapt to modern trends.
Dov had mentioned to her once that they did not know whether or not the Davlash would suffer from the same problem. Xilly, their creator, had attempted to counteract the effects of mental senility in them, but it was impossible to predict whether or not that would actually work. It would certainly be a first if it did. The liches of Ossor would give almost anything for even a hint on how to stop mental degradation, even if the senility that afflicted mortal species was not quite the same as the age-induced insanity that plagued the sentient undead.
"*The councilor is very unlikely to want to succeed the king. It doesn't match her established behavior. And if she wanted to, then she would have much easier ways to do it, since House Ulein effectively controls foreign policy and is very influential within Oruk as well. Triggering a war seems counterproductive. It is also possible that House Ulein was tricked into this by the Cassandra Project, but Vol Ulein is not known for being stupid, so I don’t think that’s likely.*"
Balron and Atrog looked uncertain at that, but she felt agreement and approval from Mr. Smith through the telepathic bond. As an important trader within the Coros, the man must have a very good understanding of the local power dynamics, so his agreement lent credence to her words.
Meanwhile, Adam kept taking notes with a perfect poker face. Out of all of them, he was clearly the most well-versed in politics, but the Historians of Secrets were supposed to maintain political neutrality, and giving them hints here would likely violate that.
She continued her explanation. "*In cases like these, it's often helpful to ask who would benefit the most from what is happening, and to go backwards from there. Oruk and the Shan Kingdom are two of the most powerful and technologically developed countries on Hyd and they are not neighbors, so it seems unlikely to me that this would be a coincidence. Only Ossor has better magic, and only in the field of necromancy. Azad is stronger, but it's a disorganized mess full of civil wars, and has underdeveloped technologies.*"
House Mardok and the Living City need not be considered because they were above everyone else.
"*Reactivating the Cassandra Project must be extremely expensive. It also requires high secrecy and therefore trust among the conspirators. So we are looking for someone very powerful and professional and patient who would benefit from a war between Oruk and the Shan Kingdom, two of the most technologically advanced nations. Someone who is able to subvert House Ulein, a noble house known for its longstanding support of the crown and very good international standing.*"
"*I would suspect the Circle of Stagnation, but those have been wiped out very thoroughly and it sounds like a conspiracy theory to me that they would still be active.*"
She looked to Balron, who nodded. If even he thought that the possibility of their survival was not worth considering, then they must be well and truly wiped out.
"*Traders could possibly benefit financially from disrupting markets, but they do not have the necessary skills. Other countries could benefit from weakening us. But Oruk's neighbors know that invading us is impossible due to the geographic boundaries, even if we are weakened. They would also lose a lot of trade while we are at war. I can't think of anyone who would benefit from attacking us. Dov, what about the Cursed Lands?*"
"*We have no shortage of enemies. My parents did conquer the place by force, after all. I'm really regretting the memory loss right now. I have studied all of our enemies quite extensively, but that isn't much use when I can't remember any details. But I do know two things: One, causing a war with Oruk does not fit the modus operandi of the typical people who operate in the Cursed Lands. And two, the countries immediately bordering ours don't have any infiltrators in Oruk. I'm quite sure of that, because our own spies are better than theirs.*" She smiled viciously.
More points in favor of the theory Galanys was building up to.
"*In that case, here is my very worrying theory: The enemy might not be a country, or a noble house, but an Old Power. Using a convoluted plot to weaken countries and set them back hundreds of years fits them very well.*"
Most of the Old Powers were in complicated ceasefires with each other and only acted indirectly. At the same time, their age gave them a different mindset than ordinary mortals. Triggering a war just so that a country would be weaker a hundred years later, when they wanted to make their move, was entirely in character for them.
"*Here is the thing. There is one Old Power specifically who would perfectly explain why House Ulein of all people is working against us.*"
"*Cilia Ulein.*" Dov completed the thought for her.
"*Oh, fuck me. No.*" She added. Unfortunately, now was not the time for that, Galanys thought.
Cilia Ulein was the high priestess of Brytius, so Dov's reaction was quite understandable, even if her choice of words could have been better.
"*Cilia wants to master every possible skill.*" Dov explained. "*She picks a different skill to master in each of her lives, and it doesn't seem to follow a pattern, but she has already mastered most conventional skills a long time ago. There aren't many things left for her to learn. Applied Theology fits her perfectly. It is an extremely difficult field of research that holds untold potential. She might well be aiming to be the first to get Applied Theology to work.*"
"*My thoughts exactly.*" Galanys responded. "*Furthermore, as the founder of the Ulein Houses, Oruk's House Ulein would likely do whatever she asked of them. At the same time, this could also explain why they are acting alone. She is bound by agreements of non-interference with other Old Powers, and could not do any of this openly. You said that you encountered a powerful mage in Greenwatch. Could that have been Cilia's current form?*"
"*It could very well be. I hope you are wrong, but it could be.*" Dov responded, clutching her pendant of Brytius. "*Most incarnations of her share her knowledge, but not her full power. That fits with what we saw.*"
“*This is all wild conjecture. You can’t really believe that, can you?*” Pymion asked nervously.
"*On the one hand, yes. It doesn’t sound like the two of them have anything more than a hunch. But on the other hand, Tonos is a dick.*” Atrog responded.
"*The good news: Cilia Ulein is killable.*” Dov continued. ”*It's a matter of faith for her not to fight at full power. If she did, then the fight would not be an effective learning experience, after all. There are very few exceptions to this. She might fight with all her skill and all her magic if her soul is at risk of being destroyed. But so long as that isn't the case, she actually prefers dying, because she views even that as a learning experience. I know I'm pretty extreme in my beliefs, but trust me, Cilia Ulein is so much worse. She has been the high priestess for millennia for a reason.*"
“*So, we may be fighting one of the most powerful beings on the planet, but at least we might just get lucky and she is sandbagging so hard that we can kill her? Is that right?*" Pymion asked.
"Fuck!" Came a loud outcry from Lynn, as she smashed her wine flask against the table. "I told you guys we should have picked those optional 'acts of gods' and 'acts of ancients' clauses in our contracts." She accused her teammates. "But no, those would have been too expensive, you said. What are the odds that would ever come up, you said. Pretty fucking high is what they are!"
Rather than be perturbed, Rania beamed at her. "I know, right! This is so great! I thought we were only going to fight someone that strong once we are more established. But the more I think about it, the better this is!"
Then she noticed that they were talking out loud, and switched back to telepathy out of habit.
"*Cilia Ulein will make for a great recurring villain. She can come back from the dead when we defeat her without straining the suspension of disbelief, and she also scales and becomes more powerful over time. So she will always provide an appropriate level of challenge. And she even shares a god with Dov, which adds a lot of potential for cool interactions.*"
Judging by their expressions, the others were in a mix of shock and horror at the thought that Galanys' theory might be right. But Rania completely ignored that and just kept talking with a happy smile.
"*We can go and defeat Cilia Ulein now, and she will probably be all like "this isn't even my final form", and then we can defeat her again later. It will be great!*"
Then she suddenly deflated. "*Or at least it would be great. But unfortunately it is unlikely that Cilia Ulein is the villain.*"
"*Why is that?*" Asked Dov with a glimmer of hope.
"*Well, I mean Galanys' arguments are pretty solid and I can't see a single flaw in them. But the heroes never figure out the villain's identity by reasoning about it. That's just not how it works, because there would be no drama that way. There has to be a twist or something. That's why it can't be Cilia Ulein.*"
Then she suddenly perked up again. “*But maybe we are really lucky and Galanys is right, after all? I could check if you want? With the artifact that Lilian traded me on the day we rescued her.*”