Chapter 164– State of Affairs
Jack stepped off the waypoint and into the Cathedral graveyard. The waypoint was located in a Mausoleum, two bulky hulking death knights in ebon steel armor flanking the entrance.
Jack and Devin exchanged half-hearted small talk as they ventured deeper into the cathedral’s grounds, their voices fading away into an oppressive silence that lingered all around them. The pathways were well lit, with flickering sconces and stone pillars with hung lanterns, but the light did little to make the place look any less creepy. The illuminations cast jagged, wicked shadows all across the cathedral. Shadows pooled in corners, and stretched out as if to suck you up into them.
The Cathedral itself was a monolith of cold gray stone, smooth and polished to mirror finish. The walls reflected the light, giving it an almost ethereal, ghostly presence. As they made their way inside, they were met with Tower stained glass windows of crimson color, each depicting some sort of massacre with terrible monsters gobbling up priests and the like. Some featured a lich, terrorizing a village, or fending off armies. Mortimaxx had exceptionally shitty taste when it came to things like this.
Devin spent most of the conversation completely ignoring his surroundings and bragging about his soldiers and their improvements, and Jack ignored him, paying more attention to the art that lined the stone hallways.
They weaved their way through the cathedral, paying no mind to the statue-esque death knights that lined the hallways, soon reaching the meeting room. It was a large spacious room that sat just outside the main cathedral halls. There was a long rectangular table that dominated the center of the room.. It was a deep mahogany, polished to perfection. Several maps were spread out across the table, bookshelves lined a wall, some of those books spilling out onto the table as well, different pages earmarked. Jack made his way to the refreshment station, a requirement of his if he was to attend the meetings.
Cristopher and Hannah were already sitting at the table. Cristopher took the seat next to the head of the table, and Hannah sat next to him, her feet propped up in his lap. She gave Jack a lazy half wave as the two of them continued their conversation. Elera was also there, sitting in the spot opposite Cristopher that flanked the table's head.
That’s my spot, Jack complained inwardly as she gave him a taunting smile.
Jack kicked the leg out from under her chair as he passed by, sending her toppling backwards. She caught herself with ease, a strong gust of wind pushing her back up before she even made it halfway to the ground.
“Someone’s feisty today. Whatever was that for?” She teased.
Jack ignored her taunting, pouring himself a large glass of something purple, then he glanced back at her, mulling over the question he wanted to ask.
“Tell me,” he started, “you wouldn’t happen to know who burned down my third favorite bar, would you?” He stared at Elara, his eyes all accusations.
She let out a small gasp, covering her mouth in feign shock. “Goodness me, what a tragedy. I can assure you it wasn’t me.”
Jack rolled his eyes, taking a seat next to her, careful to avoid the head of the table. That was Mortimaxx's seat. He had tried taking it once. He then spent the next several hours digging himself out of an ice prison. He didn’t feel as bad about it because Cristopher had also tried it once as well.
As he took his seat, Elera tried to prop up her feet in his lap just as Hannah had with Cristopher. Jack grabbed her chair and yanked upwards, sending both her and the chair flying upwards into the air. She recovered somewhat easily, letting out a small, annoyed huff as she regained her composure.
Gaiju entered the room next. The orc berserker that had been around since the beginning and was sort of the legacy member of the group. She still looked old and decrepit for an orc, but her fighting would have you second guessing her age. Loose cloth and heavy leather made up her garments, alongside a large cleaver strapped to her back and several shrunken heads dangling from her belt.
“Ho, centipede,” she said with a wave at Jack. “We saw your lightshow. Impressive as ever. You should come one down to sector five sometime. My tribe is building an idol of you that they plan to start worshiping.” She cackled.
“Really,” Jack mused. “What’s the idol made of?”
“Bones,” she said, her tone both ominous and amused.
Jack grimaced slightly at that, but he supposed it made sense. She was in charge of sector five, which was all skeletons. With her, Gaijuu brought a pretty valuable alliance. She was a chieftainess of a small tribe that was rapidly rising in station on her floor, large in part due to her current influence here on the second floor.
The orcs themselves were a mixed bag in terms of allies. They were all very angry, and very aggressive, all the time. They also had to deal with them repeatedly enslaving everything that moved. But what they lacked in politics and general social etiquette they made up for in being incredibly devastating warriors. Sector five was arguably the safest sector in the city thanks to Gaiju and her berserkers.
Next to enter the room was another orc. Sort of… It was large, green, and muscular, and all too pretty to be an orc. The giveaway that it wasn’t really an orc was the comically large ears attached to its head. This particular orc wore nothing but a loincloth, and was linking arms with a rather… busty orcess.
“Members only,” Cristopher said, glancing at the two.
“Goodbye my love,” the large orc said, leaning in for the sloppiest, most disgusting kiss Jack had the displeasure of witnessing. The orc watched her leave, and then turned to address the group.
Steam started to leak from his skin, and then it melted off of him, pooling in a bubbling acidic puddle at the floor. Nutt stood in the middle of the puddle, a cocksure, overly satisfied grin on his face.
“Dude. That is going to end so badly,” Jack said to the little goblin.
“Maybe,” he protested, climbing into the seat next to Hannah “but the middle part is really fun.”
“Well, when Nutt gets murdered, at least we know where to start the investigation. How long does that potion even last?” Devin asked.
“One hour. Once a week,” he said, a note of pride in his voice.
“Remind me,” Cristopher said, rubbing at his temples, “How much money are we investing into your lab?”
“It was Jack’s idea!” Nutt squeaked, leveling an accusing finger.
“What? I just said there was no way she was going to date a pipsqueak like you. I didn’t tell you to devote all your resources into developing a fucked-up Cinderella Potion.”
Arguments broke out as the group debated the ethics of transmog potions and dating, which were quickly silenced by the last two arrivals. Karlisle the vampire sauntered in, taking a seat at one end of the table, a glass of red blood in hand, his lips tinged crimson. Behind him came a six foot tall frozen lich, a light blue robe draped over his shoulders and a frozen aura chilling the room as he floated through to his seat at the end of the table.
“Ya know, just because you have a bad ass skeleton form doesn’t mean you have to go around flaunting it. We all know you’re a gnome.” Jack said, staring at the lich.
Mortimaxx stared at him for a moment, his dead skeleton eyes glowing a cold blue. Then he waved his hand, transforming into his gnomish form. Slicked back hair and twirly mustache.
“Happy now?” Mortimaxx asked.
“I haven't been happy in years,” Jack shrugged. He glanced over at Cristopher who had gone from casual boyfriend mode to group advisor in a split second at.
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With that, each member of the Bad Assassins had assembled.
Devin made up the councilor for sector six, Gaiju for sector five dealing with the skeletons. Nutt was in charge of sector four, the abomination sector, Elera handled sector three, the ghost sector, Hannah was in sector two managing the necromancers, and Cristopher had been dragged up from the first floor to help them handle it all, earning himself a spot as the councilor for sector one.
With all six seats filled, that left Jack in charge of taking down Mortimaxx. He peered over his cup at Elera, who had a pouty look on her face. She had been a serious problem at first. It had become abundantly clear that she expected to take over the city once everything was said and done. She was strong enough to do it. Almost. The problem was Jack had gotten his mana back. Their fights had been epic, and at times very… passionate. But eventually, she gave up, letting Jack take the lead.
“Thank you all for coming on such short notice,” Cristopher started, standing up to address the group. “I’ll try to be quick, as I know you all have duties to attend to, but there are several things we need to discuss. Let me start by saying, it’s time for you all to advance to the next floor.”
The room was quiet for a tense moment. Jack looked over at Mortimaxx whose face was stone.
“Last time you told me that it was because you were running a scheme on the first floor to take over everything,” Jack said, squinting at Cristopher. “Why now?”
“Thanks to some scouting from Karlisle, I’ve managed to put together a pretty interesting picture of what’s going on inside the Tower. The upper floors are growing extremely restless with humanities presence on the second floor. So much so that I’m told they’ve started killing humans on sight, and are putting together a coalition to come wipe us out.”
Jack quickly remembered what Cumberlin had warned him of. Something was heading this way. Wonder if it was the coalition he was talking about.
Hannah spoke up this time. “What about Gideon? Didn’t he have his whole ‘protecting humans’ thing put in place?”
“I can answer that,” Karlisle said. “Gideon has gone missing once again. No one has seen him since his time here on the second floor, and his Order doesn’t appear much interested in protecting humanity in his absence.”
Both Jack and Hannah shared a grimace at that. They had been expecting to hear from Sam at some point, but he was still in the wind. Gideon had been chasing after Sam in hopes to get an item from him. Jack forced down a well-tempered rage that was rising inside of him. I’m going to skin that golden fuck alive, he swore to himself, Hannah’s eyes mirroring his own thoughts.
“So a coalition is forming to wipe out humanity… likely coming to the second floor… and you want to send us up?” Devin asked.
“Yes,” Cristopher nodded.
“Care to tell us why?”
“Mortimaxx, would you mind filling them in on what will transpire upon our… completion of this floor's secret quest and subsequent taking over the city?”
All heads turned to Mortimaxx, who was filing his nails, barely paying attention. He glanced up at the table. “Very well.”
Mortimaxx had been incredibly helpful to the group for the most part. He had been training Jack in the use of mana and helping him figure out his core. He was using his arbiters to help further secure the city. He even took to showing up to help defend sectors occasionally. They had formed a relationship with him. Of course, it was all predicated on the fact that they would be the ones to give him the eternal rest he so desired, but he spoke of that want less and less lately. Still, despite all of his help he hadn’t been very informative on what would happen once we killed him. Until now it seemed.
“As you might have expected, upon beating me in combat, you will be given control over the city.”
There were several knowing nods to that.
“But I’m not sure you quite appreciate the gravity of what that entails,” Mortimaxx continued. “For starters, control of the city also means control of outside the city. I’ve kept it a relaxing desert motif for quite a long time, but you’ll be able to make adjustments as you see fit for the right amount of City Coins.”
“So that desert suck fest is your fault? Fucking change it,” Jack demanded.
“No.” Mortimaxx said flatly, “but the city coins brings me to my second point. As you all well know, I have been in charge of this city since the very beginning. I have certain mandates I must uphold, improvements I must make, and monsters I must spawn in, but largely, the city coins I’ve accrued have been untouched, generating interest eveb,” he finished, emphasizing the last words.
“Meaning…” Jack said.
“Meaning that once you defeat me and become mayor, you will inherit enough wealth in city coins to turn this place into… whatever you could possibly imagine. If you thought the City building interface you got for each sector was extensive, wait until you see what the mayor can do.”
The room went silent yet again, everyone running through the possibilities of what that might mean.
“But that isn’t all,” Cristopher teased, prompting Mortimaxx to continue.
“In addition, you will gain access to my vaults. Vaults which have been untouched for over a millennia, getting stuffed with the items of every idiotic adventurer that comes wandering into the city.”
“And last… The arbiters. You will inherit an army that I have spent a very long time cultivating. Granted, they will be contained to the second floor, but it will certainly come in handy if you’re expecting a coalition to come and wipe you out.”
“Ideally, Jack,” Christopher said, “you’ll kindly let me handle all of the mayoral duties once we assume control.” The look in his eyes was bordering on sinister.
“Sure…” Jack cocked an eyebrow at him, looking over to Hannah who seemed just as unsure about all of this.
“So we kill Mort over here, which I’m assuming you're still fine with?” Jack turned to the lich, who gave him a casual shrug, “and then we get a metric shit ton of resources to turn this floor into Shangri-La, and then what? We go to war?”
“Sort of,” Cristopher mused. “Let me paint you all a picture. We are in a distinctly unique situation within the Tower. It is to my understanding that while other factions may be more prevalent on various floors, no one really controls any particular floor. In fact, as far as I know it’s only been achieved by one person, Gideon and his blockade on the fifteenth floor.”
“If we are playing from the Gideon handbook, I’m out.” Jack spat.
“Agreed,” Hannah chimed in, earning her a small look of dismay from Cristopher.
“We are in the position to control the flow of the Tower,” he finally said after gathering his thoughts.
“With the resources gained from completing this floor, we will have the ability to control who goes up. Does anyone remember what happens to a floor if you aren’t producing enough climbers?” he asked.
“The floor gets purged,” Devin said solemnly. “This is a dangerous game you’re playing.”
“I will be honest about my intentions and share with you a part of myself I would rather like kept secret,” Cristopher said, placing a large tome on the table. “I have been tasked with uniting the Tower under a common banner. I have every intention of having humanity assume control over this floor. I will put my boot to the necks of everyone in this Tower until they submit. We are about to inherit an army, the ability to turn this floor into a fortress, and enough resources to outfit a secondary army if we so pleased. We will control who goes up, and thus we will control the Tower itself.”
Everyone stared at Cristopher with wide eyes. Jack had never seen the man so… unhinged. He kinda liked it.
“I assume…” Elera said slowly, “That my people will not have to suffer the indignity of your boot on our necks?”
“Sounds sort of like you're declaring war on us as well,” Gaiju added.
Cristopher smiled at them both. “The Tower is designed to turn us against each other. After all, only one race is allowed to reach the top. I intend to change that. I don’t know how, but I do know I can’t do it without allies. I would be honored if you and your people would join me.” He said with a small bow, all traces of the unhinged warlord disappearing from his voice.
“And if we say no?” Elera asked. Jack nudged her, and she giggled in response. “Only kidding. I’ll have to discuss it with my people but provided you can assist us with our twilight elf problem I’m sure we would be happy to fight alongside you
Elera had problems of her own that she had spent hours telling Jack about. Killing the Twilight lord on this floor had sent her first floor into civil war. From the sounds of it, her side wasn’t winning. This seemed like it might give her the leverage she needed to settle matters though if they could just lock their opponents out of the second floor.
“I’m sure we can come to an agreement,” Cristopher said with a nod. “As for the Bad Assassins, upon your completion of this floor, I would like to hire you out for a job.”
“This should be good,” Jack muttered. “Hopefully you can afford us.”
“What’s the ask?” Hannah said, her tone all business.
“I would like you all to continue up the Tower and… well… do what you do best.”
“Which is?”
“Destabilize the entire floor. Cause as much chaos as possible. Show everyone in the Tower what they can expect when they come to mess with us.”
“Man, the C.I.A. would love you…” Hannah murmured. “Let me guess. We destabilize a floor, then you swoop in with your army to take it all over.”
“More or less,” Cristopher shrugged. “I imagine it will be slightly more complicated than that. After all, I don’t even know what awaits any of us on the upper floors.”
Jack did. The next floor was supposed to be a tournament floor or something, but beyond that he had no idea what would actually take place.
“We accept!” Nutt said excitedly, finally chiming in.
Hannah glanced at Jack, and he gave her a small nod. The job was in line with what they intended to do anyways. There was only one problem…
Jack turned to Mortimaxx, who had been sitting there unmoving the entire time. The Lich no longer wanted to die.