4.26 In Which the Dark Lord Terrorizes the Help

4.26 In Which the Dark Lord Terrorizes the Help

The hall Rhydion picked was on the ground flooror I guess the second floor, with the actual ground being below us. Good, that put the party two stories separate from the Yomiko shrine I didnt want them to see.

The downside was that it wasa hall. Clean and silent, with polished akorshil floorboards and decoratively carved akorthist lining the walls, with occasional doors. Everything was eerily spotless, but there was nothing to seeliterally nothing until I summoned an Orb of Light, as this was an interior hall with no windows and unsurprisingly the vampire had not obligingly left torches burning in every corridor of her mostly empty mansion.

This wasnt going to get us anywhere in a hurry.

Quickly growing bored with this, I stepped to the right once we appeared to be about halfway down the corridor and pulled open a nearby door, causing the rest of the party to stop and turn to me.

Beyond was a small library, lit by floor-to-ceiling windows and with its other walls lined by fully stocked bookshelves, with a comfy-looking reading chair next to the inert fireplace and a low table alongside that. It was also extremely clean, and generally looked like it belonged in any modern Fflyr manor house.

Aster craned her neck over my shoulder. Hang on, is that a full set of the Encyclopedia Novara?

Is your plan to search every room in this place one at a time, then? Dhinell asked acerbically.

Turning to her, I shrugged. Its that or aimlessly wander the halls. Dont you think anything interesting is more likely to be in the rooms? Or do you just litter all your important projects and documents around the hallways of your house?

Sure, but heres the obvious downside to that plan, said Harker. If I was gonna booby-trap a house, especially one I lived in, where I would put the traps specifically is on the doors. Thats how you snare people trying to rummage around in your stuff. One person in a place this size doesnt need to use most of the rooms for anything; all shes gotta do is remember which doors not to open and let dumbasses like us blunder into the rest if they make it this far.

You think the house is booby-trapped? I asked.

He jerked one shoulder in a half-shrug, peering suspiciously around at the empty and silent hallway rather than looking at me. Itd be the logical way for her to defend herself. Shes an alchemist; thats a specialty that lends itself to making nasty traps. She doesnt seem to have reliable guards; those zombies are only a threat in big enough packs and too uncontrollable to be let in the house.

I was wondering why someone as deadly as this witch has been hyped up to be would avoid us instead of offering a fight, Dhinell admitted.

Harker nodded. No point in fighting dangerous enemies if you can just dump acid or something on em. Less overall damage to her home that way, too.

Aster and Dhinell immediately scooted back away from the door. I followed at a more sedate pace, because such unseemly haste did not befit my dignity.

Well, it seems the solution is obvious, I said, grinning at Harker. You should open the doors! Youre the advance scout, after all. The one we should trust most to spot a trap and not trigger it, right? And if something goes wrong, I can just heal you.

Thats an idea, he replied blandly. Alternatively: fuck you.

I will open the doors, Rhydion interjected in his come-on-kids-stop-fighting voice, with which we had all become quite familiar by now. You are both correct; anything of interest or value is certain to be secured in some kind of chamber rather than sitting conveniently about the halls, but Harkers insight that the doors are a significant point of danger is an extremely good one. Thus, that duty should fall to the person protected by the strongest artifact armor. I was insistent upon bringing a healer, Lord Seiji, because in dealing with undead any injury or even contact can result in terrible side effects if not immediately treated by magic. However, the damage that can be inflicted by an alchemical trap is on another level entirely. It is no insult to your powers to say that you may very well be unable to remedy such harm.

All right, I agreed. So whats our strategy, then? You wanna go hall by hall, start with the ones on the left?

Dhinells insight was also of value, the paladin replied. Such a search would take days. Rather, I have in mind to narrow our focus by looking for the rear stairs.

Ah. Harker nodded, his expression clearing as if hed just figured out something I hadnt. It was something of a relief to see that Dhinell and Aster looked as confused as I felt.

This manor was clearly built by our precursor culture, Rhydion explained, but it has enough features in common with similar Fflyr structures that I believe some of the same underlying logic will apply. We saw from the outside that the lowest floor is inside the thickest foundational walls, without windows and possibly no direct exterior access. That space is most likely used for all purposes which the nobles who built this house preferred not to see, just as now. Kitchens, stable access, storage, repair and production facilities, and so on. In the manors current state, chambers originally meant for those purposes would be best suited for performing complex alchemynot to mention as defensible points to which the vampire might retreat. That, then, is where I most expect to find something worth investigating, if not our hostess herself.

Oh. Yeah, that actually did make sense, and it was something I probably wouldnt have spotted, not being a member of this culture. The Fflyr mansion with which I was most familiar was Caer Yviredh, which was an old repurposed Lancoral fort built along totally different lines. Which was to say, straight lines.

Assuming the pattern holds, Rhydion said, turning back around to resume course down the hall, there will be servants stairs accessing the lowest floor in a discreet location in or near the back of the house, possibly hidden. Come, let us investigate.

Well, it was nice not to be wandering around at random, anyway.

Boss, theres a big spider around the corner, Biribo whispered just below my ear as we progressed, causing me to nearly miss a step. He was warning me about that?

Bigger than Junko, my familiar added, apparently realizing his mistake.

Oh. Yeah, that was another goddamn matter. Id envisioned a tarantula or something. I did not reach for my sword, not wanting to give away that I had a secret source of information, but I formed the comforting mental weight of Shock in the front of my mind, ready to fire.

As it turned out, I didnt have to sit on my advance knowledge for long; the spider came around the corner ahead of us before we reached it.

Everybody froze. Including the spider. In fact, it reared backward, raising its two front legs in a gesture of surprise that honestly verged on adorable. It helped that it was a fuzzy spider, not one of those bony ones that looked like a skeletal hand crawling around. Well, actually, it did have a lankier build than most of the fuzzier spiders Id seen, but there it was: clearly fuzzy. Might have looked almost cuddly, were it not for the eight glowing eyes of livid, poison green.

The same green as the slimes that powered the zombies, which cast the same glow in their eyes.

Rhydion and Aster drew swords; Harker raised his bow. In response, the spider lowered its bulk to the floor, partially covering its head with its two extended forelegs. Not the reaction Id expected.

Hang on, I began.

Kill it! Dhinell screeched, lest anybody have a sensible conversation about this. Harkers general disinclination to follow orders from her seemed to terminate at Giant Fucking Spider; he took aim and drew.

Wait! Rhydion, who had not taken the shield off his back, threw out his free arm in front of us; Harker lowered his bow, releasing some of the tension. Lord Seiji?

Yeah, I got it, I said, stepping forward and raising one hand. Tame Beast.

The spider peeked between its legs at me. Well, rather, it shifted its legs apart in a pointless gesture; the legs were too thin and its eyes too numerous to really block its vision of us.

I frowned and tried again. Tame Beast!

Two were operating a big apparatus which I recognized as a loom, weaving together threads that cameughdirectly from their own butts. Another was behind a big tub of soapy water beside a heap of soiled linens, clearly doing laundry with a washboard. A slightly smaller spider was using a big device like a paper cutter to trim fabric, while three more were engaged in what it took me a moment to realize was dyeing; their fuzz was splattered multiple bright colors.

All of them instantly halted what they were doing when the doors opened. Several sets of eight green, glowing eyes turned to fix on us.

For an interminable moment, everything was silent and still.

Then Aster, moving very slowly, gently pushed Rhydion out of the way. Very much to my surprise, he let her. She reached across him to grab the door handle hed just released, and equally slowly pulled it shut.

After a second, the various sounds of fabric production resumed.

Gonna be seeing that in my dreams for a while, Harker noted.

Iyes. For what I think was the first time since Id met him, Rhydion seemed at a loss for words. Well. Intriguing as that was, it is not what we were seeking. Come, let us continue.

Why spiders, though? I muttered as we moved on. The others glanced sympathetically at me, but nobody had an answer.

The next door we tried was quieter, and a hall distant from our previous attempt. Rhydion paused with his hand on the latch, turning to look at the group.

Do you see any sign of a trap, Harker?

The archer shrugged. No, but Im way more experienced at trapping in the wilderness than an environment like this. Besides, all shed have to do is hide the mechanism on the other side of the door.

Cant hurt to ask, Aster murmured.

Rhydion nodded. Indeed. Stand back, then.

We all did so, and he pushed the door carefully open.

Nothing happened.

Encouraged, Rhydion stepped through and paused, causing the rest of us to bottleneck in the doorway as we tried to follow him. At least I got stuck with a decent enough view of the room, if I craned my neck.

This was another large, rectangular space similar to the cloth facility wed just seen; I guessed this mustve been meant as a warehouse area when the mansion was first built. Now it was an alchemy lab.

The profusion of glass bottles and equipment all over the tables which lined the walls of half the room and formed an island in their middle was dizzying, most of it entirely unfamiliar to me, though I recognized a few pieces similar to Youdas setup. The other half of the room was even more interesting, though, being given over to storage. A lot of it along the back wall was just inscrutable barrels and drums, but there were also whole racks of sample jars in which floated the most amazing variety of horrors. She had lots of miscellaneous body parts from all kinds of different species, as well as entire preserved corpses of various animals and a whole wall of bottled slimes, both normal and in various stages of whatever process made them viable zombie puppeteers.

There were three large operating tables in the middle of the floor dividing the alchemy and storage areas, one with a partially-disassembled human cadaver on it apparently in the middle of an autopsy. The flesh was greenish and lookedpreserved, somehow. It had clearly been somewhat desiccated, but was not visibly rotting and smelled more like chemicals than decomposition. Spread across the other two were the components of a giant spider, obviously in the process of being constructed.

Now that I could see it in that stage Holy shit, she had built those things? Obviously her green puppet slimes were part of the process, but they were also being put together from various parts, ranging from animal organs to pieces of crawn and khora shell being assembled in various configurations. That was a relief, both because it meant there werent colossal spiders just living on Dount, and because

This woman was obviously a genius. Or, well, maybe she was an average intellect who had just been practicing her craft for much longer than people normally live. Whatever the reason, Khariss Gwylhaithe was by a wide margin the most skilled alchemist Id yet seen on this world. Mentally, I moved the possibility of getting her onto my team to a higher priority. If I could. Persuading her might provea challenge.

Well, Dhinell stated in a tone of grim determination that frankly didnt suit her, if nothing else, finding this represents an achievement. Whether or not the witch continues to elude us, we can demolish this infernal hive of evil and do the people of Dount a service.

She raised her hands in a gesture preparatory to casting a spell, and I raised a foot preparatory to kicking the back of her knee.

Stop! Rhydion said sharply, holding up his own hand in a warding gesture at Dhinell, then only belatedly moderated his tone. Please.

I cannot believe this, the priestess hissed, and it was a real testament to her frustration that she was speaking to Rhydion of all people this way. You are that determined to have some kind of civil discussion with thisthis vile abomination? So much that you would leave this abhorrent perfidy intact?!

I love how literate your culture is, I commented. You know more synonyms for bad than anyone Ive ever heard of.

For a second I really thought she was going to take a swing at me, but unfortunately Harker chimed in before the real entertainment could unfold.

You wanna smash an enormous room full of alchemy that you dont understand? Sure, Sister, knock yourself out. Just kindly wait until Im out of the house, and ideally half a limn away.

Yes, exactly, Rhydion said more soothingly. It is not that I disagree with you, Sister Dhinell. But the destruction of volatile alchemy is a thing which must be undertaken carefully, by specialists. Applying brute force to the contents of this room would likely result in nothing but innovative new ways for each of us to die. Remember that ours is, first and foremost, an exploratory mission; a satisfactory conclusion to this entire affair was never our objective. Anything we are unable to fully settle still gives us priceless information. Already we have learned more about the kind of resources that must be brought to bear when forming a full expedition to pacify this site.

Dhinell subsided, looking embarrassed, while Harker wandered over to examine some of the sample jars. While I was mentally adding doesnt handle stress well and not too bright to my ever-expanding list of Dhinells shortcomings, Biribo suddenly whispered to me.

The witch is nearby, boss. End of the hallway on the other side of this room, right at the edge of my senses. If you go out the opposite door, though, its a straight shot to her. And, uh, shes got an axe now.

Oh, that couldnt be good. Rationally, I knew adding a melee weapon to the kit of an immortal alchemist with vampire powers probably didnt buff her appreciably, but there was also the matter that I had no idea what the real extent of her powers was, and shed apparently felt it worthwhile to pick up that axe in the first place.

Hey, Lord Seiji, can you figure out anything useful about these? Harker called. Youre the slime expert.

I ambled over to him, playing it cool because that was my only viable move in this situation. Slime expert? I can summon them and tame them with magic, thats it. Only thing I know how to do with slimes is sell them to an alchemist. Which, uh, I am not. So no, I have no idea what

The crashing was distant, being through a still-closed door and down a long hall, exactly where Biribo had warned me Khariss was. It was crashing, though. Even at that range, its hard to miss the sound of someone taking an axe to a wall.

Come! Rhydion ordered, striding toward the door opposite the one wed come in. Be alert, and stay close. I believe this is it.

He pulled it open and stepped through, and the rest of us followed. Charging off to corner an angry vampire. With an axe.

Yeah, this was certain to end well.