< Previous Chapter Next Chapter >
“So naturally, you brought it here,” Tellwyrn said in exasperation.
“She,” Toby said firmly. “Come on, Professor. That’s a person you’re talking about.”
“Hello,” Scorn offered, apparently noticing that attention was focused on her.
“What,” Tellwyrn demanded, “do you think I’m going to do with a Rhaazke? I’m not even going to bother being taken aback that you kids managed to get one. Somehow it’s always you lot!”
“Point of order!” Fross chimed. “We didn’t get her! A stupid man was trying to summon a succubus and fell afoul of an unpredictable chaos effect. So, really, it wasn’t even his fault, though it’s very tempting to blame him because he was really dumb and also a great big creep. But still. These things just happen.”
Professor Yornhaldt burst out laughing, earning a glare from Tellwyrn. Her office was rather crowded with the entire sophomore class present, plus Tellwyrn behind her desk, and Yornhaldt and Rafe in chairs against one of her bookcases. Scorn stood in the corner nearest the door, hunching somewhat awkwardly to keep her horns from brushing the ceiling.
“Maybe what you do with any of us?” Ruda suggested. “I mean, let’s face it, the student body here is probably the biggest collection of weirdos on this continent, if not the planet.”
“This is not a hostel,” Tellwyrn said acidly. “We don’t take in strays just because they have no place better to be!”
“Where would you suggest sending her, then?” Trissiny asked quietly. “What else could we have done?”
“BEHOLD!” Scorn shouted.
Tellwyrn buried her face in her hands, displacing her glasses. Rafe howled with laughter.
“If I may?” Shaeine said with customary serenity. “Scorn is a daughter of nobility in her own realm; her principal problem seems to be unfamiliarity with the mortal plane. The speed with which she is picking up Tanglish suggests a capable intellect, and she certainly meets the qualification you set out for us in our very first class last year. She is too dangerous to be allowed to wander around untrained. All in all, she would appear to be the very model of an Unseen University student.”
“I know it’s unusual to enroll a student at this point in the academic year, Arachne,” Yornhaldt added, “but really. These are unusual circumstances, and what is this if not an unusual place?”
“She’s completely clueless about every detail of life on this plane,” Tellwyrn grated. “Can you lot even begin to imagine the havoc that could ensue from her mingling with the student body? Or worse, the general populace. What would she do if sent out on one of your field assignments? And the curriculum here is not designed to hand-hold people who have no concept what anything in the world is. The closest parallels to this case in the University’s entire history are Juniper and Fross, and they at least speak the language!”
“Well, we have to put her somewhere,” said Gabriel. “I mean, it’s not like you can just kill her.”
“Oh, really,” Tellwyrn said flatly.
“Yeah, really,” he replied, meeting her eyes unflinchingly. “Just. I said you can’t just kill her. You can no doubt do that or anything else you want, but not until you’ve plowed through every one of us first.”
“Whoah, guys,” Juniper said soothingly. “Of course she’s irate, we just dropped a Rhaazke demon in her lap. Professor Tellwyrn’s only that mean to people who’ve done something to deserve it. C’mon, let’s everybody calm down, okay?”
“Excellent advice,” Shaeine agreed.
“All right,” said Tellwyrn, drumming her fingers on the desk and staring at Scorn, who peered quizzically back. “All right. This is what we’ll do. I am not enrolling this walking disaster in your or any class at this juncture. Don’t start, Caine, I am not done talking! She can stay with the girls in Clarke Tower; it has a basement space that should be big enough to be fairly comfortable for her. If she’s going to be on the campus, she’s not to leave it; I refuse to have to explain this to the Sheriff. You lot, since you had the bright idea to bring her here, will be responsible for bringing her up to speed on life in the world. Teach her Tanglish, local customs, the political realities of the Empire, the cults… You know, all the stuff none of you bother to think about because you’ve known it for years.”
“I bother to think about it,” said Fross.
“Me, too,” Juniper added.
“Good, that’ll make you perfect tutors, then. We’ll revisit this issue next semester, and if I judge her prepared, she may join the class of 1183 at that time. If not… She can take that semester and the summer for further familiarity, though frankly I will consider it a big black mark if she hasn’t the wits to get her claws under her in the next few months. If she is still not ready or willing to be University material at the start of next fall’s semester, that’s it. No more chances. Then I’ll have to figure out what to do with her, which I frankly do not suspect anybody will like.”
“That’s fair,” Trissiny said quickly. “She’s smart. I’m sure she’ll be good to go by this spring.”
“Not kill?” Scorn inquired.
“Sadly, no,” Ruda said while Tellwyrn leaned far back in her chair, letting her head loll against it to stare at the ceiling.
“Well, anyway,” Rafe said brightly, “you’ll get my detailed report later, Arachne, but the kids did a damn fine job. Not at all their fault that the Church butted in at the last moment—they were right on the cusp of getting to the bottom of Veilgrad’s problem, and I have to say their investigation was deftly handled. A much better showing than the Golden Sea expedition!”
“Aw, we can’t take too much credit,” Ruda said sweetly. “Professor Rafe helped a lot by fucking around in Malivette’s house with her concubines instead of sticking his clumsy fingers into our business. Like in the Golden Sea expedition.”
“HAH! Straightforward, on-target sass, Punaji! Ten points—”
“Admestus, shut your yap,” Tellwyrn snapped. “I am in no mood. For the time being, pending a full report, you kids can consider your grade for this assignment in good shape. All right, all of you get lost. Go settle in, get some rest; you’ve got assignments waiting in your rooms. Classes are tomorrow as usual. Have fun explaining this to Janis,” she added, flapping a hand disparagingly at Scorn.
“Pointing is for no,” the demon said severely. “Rude. Social skills!”
“Malivette is scary even when she’s not here,” Fross whispered.
“Hell, Janis loves having people to mother,” Ruda said, grinning. “I bet Scorn’s never had muffins. C’mon, big girl.”
“I’m a little nervous how she’ll react to the tower,” Teal said as they began filing out the door. “Any sane person is unnerved by that tower at first glance.”
“Welp, I’ll just get on with my paperwork, then, shall I?” Rafe said, rising and following them.
“How industrious of you, Admestus,” Tellwyrn said flatly. “What did you do this time?”
He grinned insanely. “Wait, learn, and be amazed.”
“Get the hell out.”
“Aye aye, fearless leader!”
Fross hesitated in the top of the door after everyone else departed. “It’s good to see you back, Professor Yornhaldt!”
“Thank you, Fross,” he said, smiling. “I’m quite glad to see all of you again, as well!”
The pixie shut the door with a careful push of elemental air, leaving them alone.
Tellwyrn set her glasses on the desk, massaging the brim of her nose. “Those kids are going to be the graduating class that brings me the most pride and satisfaction if they don’t burn the whole goddamn place down, first.”
“That’s not entirely fair, Arachne,” Yornhaldt protested. “They are pretty obviously not the ones who opened the hellgate. And they were, after all, instrumental in closing it.”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” he said with a sigh. “But this is business as usual, Arachne, just more of it. Some of those kids have fearfully direct connections to significant powers, but in the end, we’ve been training up heroes and villains for half a century now, and sending them out to face their destiny.”
“There are no such things as heroes or villains,” she grunted. “Or destiny.”
Yornhaldt smiled, folding his thick hands over his midsection. “I disagree, as you well know.”
“Yes, yes, let’s not get in that argument again.” She put her spectacles back on and gave him a more serious look. “You were in the middle of telling me of your adventures when Admestus barged in with the goslings.”
“Actually, I had just finished telling you of my adventures. Although I had a rather interesting time procuring a new suit with most of my money having walked off during—ah, but I gather you don’t care to hear about that.”
“Naturally I’ll reimburse you for any expenses,” she said. “But the research, Alaric. It’s really a dead end?”
Yornhaldt frowned in thought, gazing at the far wall but seeing nothing. “I cannot accept that it’s a dead end, but I may be forced to accept that continuing down this particular path is beyond me. It’s an alignment, Arachne, I’m sure of it. But an alignment of what is the question. I am certain there are astronomical factors, but this is unique in that the stars and bodies coming into position are beyond our current society’s capacity to detect. That much I can say with certainty; a few of the surviving sources were of a scientific mindset and blessedly plainspoken. There must have been means for such long-distance viewing during the time of the Elder Gods, but right now, we simply cannot see the distant galaxies which must be taken into account.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” she said, frowning heavily. “On the cosmic scale you’re talking about, eight thousand of this planet’s years is nothing. An eyeblink—it’s one tenth of one percent of a fart. There wouldn’t be significant deviation from their positions relative to us eight millennia prior. And that’s not even addressing the question of how such distant objects even could influence matters on this world. You know as well as I the upper limits of magical influence. It’s not constrained by the lightspeed constant, but it’s far from infinite.”
“Just so,” he agreed, nodding. “Which brings me to the other issue: I am convinced that what is being aligned is planar as well as physical. Perhaps more so. There are factors relating to the positions of the infernal, divine and elemental planes relative to this one. Unfortunately,” he added with a scowl, “most of this information seems to have been recorded by bards. Or at least, individuals who thought a poetic turn of phrase was a useful addition to the historical record. Considering that this work requires finding the few sources that have even survived, translating them out of dead languages… We’re in the realm of lore, now, Arachne. I have a hankering to continue the project, but I also need to acknowledge that I’m not the best person for it. If you can help me work out a means of measuring and scrying on things in other galaxies, that I’ll do with a will. This… We need a historian. Preferably a somewhat spoony one.”
“I should think a less spoony mindset would be more useful in untangling those records,” she said dryly.
Yornhaldt grimaced. “I consider myself as unspoony as they come, and I mostly found the work frustrating.”
Tellwyrn sighed and drummed her fingers on the desk again. “Well. Based on the speed with which actual events are unfolding, we have at least a year. Likely more; apocalypses like this don’t just drop from the trees like pinecones. If the alignment does lead to another apotheosis, as everything seems to suggest, the gods will be taking action, as will those closest to them, before it actually hits. For now,” she went on with a smile, “I’m damned glad to see you home safe, Alaric.”
“I have to confess I am as well,” he replied, grinning.
“Unfortunately, I can’t put you back at a lectern just yet. I promised Kaisa the year; I don’t even know whether she wants the full year, but the issue is it was promised to her. The last thing I need on top of everything else is an offended kitsune tearing up my campus.”
“Arachne, I’m sure I have no idea what you are going on about,” Yornhaldt replied, folding his hands behind his head and leaning back against the books. “Teach classes? You forget, I am on sabbatical.”
“It is a great relief to see you all back unharmed,” Archpope Justinian said with a beneficent smile. “Your mission brought you into conflict with some very dangerous individuals.”
“Yep,” the Jackal replied lazily. “Since apparently that was the entire and only point of the whole exercise, it sure did happen.”
“None of us are shy about conflict, your Holiness,” Shook said tightly. “Being jerked around, lied to and sent into big, pointless surprises is another thing. You want someone killed? We’ll do it. I don’t appreciate being told to dig in the desert for weeks for damn well nothing. As bait.”
Kheshiri gently slipped her arm through his and he broke off. A tense silence hung over the room for a long moment.
Their assigned quarters in the sub-level of the Dawnchapel temple in Tiraas were actually quite luxurious. Private rooms branched off from a broad, circular chamber with a sunken floor in the center. This had originally been some kind of training complex, probably for the martial arts for which the temple’s original Omnist owners were famous. Now, the area was tastefully but expensively furnished, the chamber serving as a lounge, dining room, and meeting area.
The five members of the team were arrayed in an uneven arc, their focus on the Archpope, who stood with Colonel Ravoud at his shoulder. The Colonel looked tense and ready to go for his wand, but if Justinian was at all perturbed by the destructive capacity arranged against him, he showed no hint of it.
“I understand this assignment has been the source of several surprises for you,” he said calmly. “For me, as well. I found your choice of strategy extremely intriguing, Khadizroth. Did I not know better, I might conclude your decision to attack Imperial interests was designed to draw their interest to your own activities. You must forgive me; dealing with as many politics as I do, I tend to see ulterior motives where they may not exist.”
“I believe we have been over this,” Khadizroth replied in a bored tone. “It was necessary to deal with McGraw, Jenkins, and the rest—indeed, it turns out that was the sole reason we were out there. At the time, depriving them of their secure base of operations seemed the best strategy.”
“And yet, neither you nor they suffered any permanent casualties,” Justinian said. “How fortuitous. Surely the gods must have been watching over you.”
“Would it be disrespectful to snort derisively?” Kheshiri stage-whispered to Shook, who grinned. She was in human guise, as always on temple grounds. The original consecration on the place had been lifted to allow her to function here.
“I think you could stand to consider who you’re dealing with, here, your Archness,” said the Jackal, folding his arms. “Really, now. We’ve all got a sense of honor, or at least professionalism. None of us mind doing the work. But is this really a group of people it’s wise to jerk around?”
“None of you are prisoners,” Justinian said serenely. “If at any time you wish to discontinue our association, you may do so without fear of reprisal from me. Indeed, I’m forced to confess I might find some relief in it; our relationship does place a strain upon my conscience at times. Due to my position, I am beholden to the Sisters of Avei, the Thieves’ Guild, and other organizations which are eager to know about the movements of most of you. It would assuage my qualms to be able to be more forthright with them.”
Shook tightened his fists until they fairly vibrated; Khadizroth blinked his eyes languidly. The others only stared at Justinian, who gazed beatifically back. Ravoud’s eyes darted across the group, clearly trying to anticipate from which direction the attack would come.
“For the time being, however,” said the Archpope after a strained pause, “I encourage you all to rest after your travels. Unless you decide otherwise, I shall have more work for you very soon. Welcome home, my friends.”
With a final nod and smile, he turned and swept out of the chamber, Ravoud on his heels. The Colonel glanced back at them once before shutting the doors to their suite.
Shook began cursing monotonously.
“Well said!” the Jackal said brightly.
Khadizroth stepped backward away from the group and turned his head, studying the outlines of the room. “Vannae, assist me?”
The elf nodded, raising his hands to the side as the dragon did the same. A whisper of wind rose, swirling around the perimeter of the chamber, and the light changed to pale, golden green. The shadows of tree branches swayed against the walls.
“I attempted to insulate any loose fae energy,” Khadizroth said, lowering his arms. “Kheshiri, are you aversely affected?”
The succubus pressed herself close to Shook’s side; he tightened his arm around her. “Not really. Doesn’t feel good, but I’m not harmed.”
“Splendid.” The dragon smiled. “This will ensure our privacy, since we were not able to catch up before returning here. How did your…adventure go?”
She glanced up at Shook, who nodded to her, before answering. “Everything went smoothly—I’m good at what I do. You were right, K. Svenheim was a trap.”
“You’re certain?” Khadizroth narrowed his eyes.
“Not enough that I’d stake my life on it,” she admitted. “But the Church is an active presence in the city, and I observed some very close interactions between its agents and curators at the Royal Museum.”
“I knew that fucking dwarf was gonna backstab us,” Shook growled.
“Not necessarily,” Khadizroth mused. “Svarveld may have been a double agent, or he may have been as betrayed as we. The point ended up being moot, anyway. We will simply have to remember this, and not underestimate Justinian again.”
“Why would he bother with that, though?” the Jackal asked. “He knew the skull wasn’t even in circulation. We were never going to acquire it, much less send it to Svenheim instead of Tiraas.”
Khadizroth shook his head. “Unknowable. I suspect there are currents to this that flow deeper than we imagine. Did you have time to tend to the other task I asked of you, Kheshiri?”
“Easy,” she replied, her tail waving behind her. “I swung by Tiraas on my way back; only took a few hours.”
“What’s this?” the Jackal demanded. “I thought we were sending the demon to Svenheim to snoop. How did you even get across the continent and back?”
“Oh, that reminds me,” Kheshiri said sweetly, producing a twisted shadow-jumping talisman from behind her back and tossing it to her. “You shouldn’t leave your things lying around.”
The assassin rolled his eyes, catching it deftly. “That’s right, let’s have a ‘who’s sneakier’ pissing contest. I’m sure there’s no way that’ll backfire.”
“Quite,” Khadizroth said sharply. “Kindly show your teammates a little more respect, Kheshiri. This group is primed to dissolve into infighting anyway; we cannot afford such games.”
“Of course,” she said sincerely. “My apologies. But in any case, your message was received and acknowledged. No response as yet.”
“Give it time,” he murmured.
“Message?” Vannae inquired.
“Indeed.” The dragon smiled thinly. “Justinian is not the only one with dangerous connections.”
“Busy?” Rizlith sang, sliding into the room.
Zanzayed looked up, beaming. “Riz! Never too busy for my favorite distraction. He’s got me doing paperwork. Help!”
“Aw, poor baby,” the succubus cooed, sashaying forward. “I bet I can take your mind off it.”
“I should never have introduced you,” Razzavinax muttered, straightening up from where he had been bent over the desk, studying documents. “Zanza, Riz…don’t encourage each other.”
“Well, joshing aside, there’s been a development I think you’ll urgently want to hear,” Rizlith said, folding her wings neatly and seating herself on one corner of the desk.
“A development?” Razzavinax said sharply. “Do we need to revisit that tedious conversation about you leaving the embassy?”
“Oh, relax, I’ve been safely cooped up in here the whole time,” she said sullenly. “No, the development came to me. And by the way, if you’re just now hearing of this, your wards need some fine-tuning. I had a visit from one of my sisters.”
“Sisters?” Zanzayed inquired. “Like…an actual sister, or is that just demon-speak for another of your kind?”
“You do know we’re not an actual species, right?” Rizlith turned to Razzavinax. “You’ve explained it to him, haven’t you?”
“Never mind that,” the Red said curtly. “Children of Vanislaas are not sociable with each other as a rule, Zanzayed; developments like this are always alarming.”
“Oh, quite so,” the succubus said with fiendish glee. “But Kheshiri brought me the most fascinating gossip!”
“Kheshiri,” Razzavinax muttered. “That’s a name I’m afraid I know. How bad is it?”
“That depends.” Rizlith grinned broadly, swaying slightly back and forth; her tail lashed as if she could barely contain herself. “Weren’t you guys looking for Khadizroth the Green a while back?”
Even strolling down the sidewalk in civilian attire, Nora did not allow herself to lose focus. She had been trained too long and too deeply to be unaware of her surroundings. When four people near her suddenly slumped sideways as if drunk, it wasn’t that fact alone so much as her reaction to it that told her something was badly wrong. She paused in her own walk, noting distantly that this was peculiar, and well below the level of her consciousness, training kicked in. It was much more than peculiar; her mind was not operating as it should.
Nora blinked her eyes, focusing on that tiny movement and the interruptions it caused in her vision. Mental influence—fairly mild, and clearly concentrated on an area of effect, not just targeting her. That meant the solution was to keep moving…
Then she was grabbed, her arms bound roughly behind her, and tossed into the back of a carriage that had pulled up next to the curb.
She hadn’t even seen anyone approach. Hadn’t noticed the delivery carriage pull up. How humiliating. It began moving, however, and the effect subsided with distance, enabling her to focus again on her surroundings.
It was a delivery truck, or had been originally; basically a large box with a loading door on the back built atop an enchanted carriage chassis. The runes tracing the walls indicated silencing charms, as did the lack of street noise once the doors were shut. One bench was built against the front wall of the compartment, with a single dim fairy lamp hanging in on corner, swaying slightly with the motions of the carriage.
The space was crowded. Four men stood around Nora, one with a hand knotted in her hair to keep her upright—she only belatedly realized that she had landed on her knees on the floor. On the bench opposite sat a thin man with glasses, who had a briefcase open on his lap, positioned to hid its contents from her. Against the wall on the other end of the bench perched a woman Nora recognized from a recent mission briefing.
“Good morning, Marshal Avelea,” Grip said pleasantly. “Thanks for joining us, I realize this was short notice.”
“I hope you don’t mind that I didn’t get dressed up,” Nora said flatly.
The thief grinned. “Saucy, aren’t we? Just like a hero out of a bard’s story. I thought you Imperial professionals were supposed to clam up when captured.”
“Would that make you happier?”
“I’m not here to be happy,” Grip said, her smile fading. “I get a certain satisfaction from my work, sure, but it’s not as if breaking people’s joints makes me happy, per se.”
“I don’t think you’ve considered the implications of this,” said Nora. “I’m an agent of Imperial Intelligence. If you intend—”
“Now, see, that attitude is why you are in this situation, missy. People seem to forget that we are a faith, not a cartel. This isn’t about intimidation—because no, the Imps don’t really experience that, do they? But when you start boasting about how your organization is too powerful to stand for this, well…” Grip leaned forward, staring icily down at her captive. “Then you make beating your ass an absolute moral necessity, rather than just a satisfying diversion.
“Besides, it’s all part of the cost of doing business. Your training means you won’t be excessively traumatized by anything that happens here, and your superiors will accept this as the inevitable consequence of their blundering and not push it further. You may not know, but I guarantee Lord Vex does, that the Empire is not a bigger fish than Eserion. At least one sitting Empress found herself unemployed as a result of pushing back too hard when we expressed an opinion. So this right here is a compromise! We’ll discuss the matter of you attempting to kill a member of our cult, Vex will be especially respectful for a while, and we can all avoid addressing the much more serious matter that you, apparently, are not afraid of the Thieves’ Guild.”
Grip very slowly raised on eyebrow. “Because believe you me, Marshal, I can fix that. But then there really would be trouble. So, let’s just attend to business and go our separate ways, shall we?”
“Fine, whatever,” Nora said disdainfully. “Could you stop talking and be about it already? Some of us have plans for this evening.”
Grip sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t say such things,” she complained. “Now this is going to suck up my whole afternoon. Toybox, start with that nervous system stimulating thingy of yours. When I’m satisfied the bravado is genuinely regretted, the lads can move on to the more traditional means.”
“This is on me,” Darling said, scowling.
“You’re awful eager to take credit for someone who wasn’t there,” Billie remarked, puffing lazily at one of McGraw’s cigarillos.
Darling shook his head. “Weaver, want to explain why she’s mistaken?”
“Always a pleasure,” said the bard, who sat crookedly in the armchair with one arm thrown over the back. “First rule of being in charge: everything is your fault. Being the man with the plan, he takes responsibility for any fucking up that occurs. More specifically, he sent us out without doing some very basic research that could’ve spared us all this.”
“Knew I could count on you,” Darling said dryly.
“Acknowledging that I am not generally eager to let you off the hook, Mr. Darling,” said Joe with a frown, “realistically, how could you have known the skull wasn’t in the Badlands?”
“Known? No.” Darling sighed, slouching back in his own chair. “But Weaver’s right. I found a trail and followed it without doing any further research. Hell, I knew about the werewolf issue in Veilgrad—we even discussed it, briefly. All I had to do was check with my contacts in the Imperial government for signs of possible chaos effects. Too late to say what difference it would have made—we might have decided to go for the Badlands anyway, as the Veilgrad case wasn’t a confirmed chaos incident until mere days ago—but it would’ve been something. Instead I got tunnel vision, bit Justinian’s bait and risked all your lives for damn well nothing. Somehow, ‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t really cut the mustard this time.”
“You know better than this, Antonio,” Mary said calmly. “Learn the lesson and apply it next time. Recrimination is not a constructive use of our time.”
“Right you are,” he said dourly. “Regardless, I feel I owe you all something for this. The oracles settled down when the skull was secured, so the projects I’m pursuing on you behalf are again proceeding. It’s hard to tell, but I’ve a hunch that I’m close to an answer for you, at least, Mary.” He grimaced. “Unless the trend of the responses I’ve been getting reverses, I’m starting to fear it’s an answer you won’t like.”
“I do not go through life expecting to like everything,” she said calmly.
“Wise,” he agreed. “Anyway, it’s Weaver’s question that I think will be the toughest. I get the impression they’re actively fighting me on that. It may be my imagination, and the general difficulty of working with oracular sources, but still…”
“Wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest,” Weaver muttered.
“If nothin’ else,” said McGraw, “this wasn’t wasted time. We’ve learned some interesting things about our opponents.”
“And about ourselves,” Weaver added caustically. “Such as that Billie’s too theatrical to just kill an assassin when she has him helpless, rather than painting him with a stealth-penetrating effect.”
“Aye, now ye mention it that would’ve been more efficient,” Billie mused. “Hm. I’m well equipped for big bangs, but it occurs t’me I’ve got little that’d straight-up off a single target at close range. Funny, innit? I’ll have to augment me arsenal. I love doin’ that!”
“You said that green fire came out of a bottle?” said Joe. “That’d be a remarkable achievement if it was just a spell. How in tarnation did you manage to do it alchemically?”
“Oh, aye, that’s a point,” Billie said seriously. “Don’t let me forget, I owe Admestus Rafe either a really expensive bottle o’ wine or a blowjob.”
Weaver groaned loudly and clapped a hand over his eyes.
“Can’t help ya,” Joe said, his cheeks darkening. “I’m gonna be hard at work forgetting that starting immediately.”
“How do you plan to proceed?” Mary asked Darling. “It would appear that waiting for Justinian to take the initiative is a losing strategy.”
“You’re right about that,” the Bishop agreed. “And I do believe that some of what you’ve brought back is immediately relevant. For example, that he is harboring a fugitive from the Thieves’ Guild.”
“Is it wise to act on that point?” McGraw inquired. “Shook bein’ on his team is part o’ that game of intelligence chicken you’n Justinian are playin’, right? The one you’re not s’posed to acknowledge knowin’ about.”
“Some day I’m gonna hold you and Jenkins at wandpoint until you both prove you can pronounce the letter G,” Weaver grumbled.
“Oh, I’m sure Justinian will know exactly how the Guild learned of this,” Darling said with a grim smile. “If he didn’t want to play that game, he shouldn’t have made the first move. I’m not waiting for him to make the next one.”
“I’m sorry this business didn’t work out the way you hoped, your Holiness,” Ravoud said as the two men arrived in the small, glass-walled enclosure atop the ziggurat behind the Dawnchapel.
“On the contrary,” Justinian said, gazing out over the city, “this has been an extremely successful field test. We now have an idea of the effectiveness of Khadizroth’s group against Darling’s, which was the purpose of the exercise.”
“They seem pretty evenly matched…”
“Power for power, yes, but we knew that to begin with. And power is not so simply measured.” Justinian tilted his head backward, studying the cloudy sky. “Considering the violence all those people are capable of, their total lack of casualties indicates a mutual disinclination to inflict them. That is the most important thing we have learned. Using adventurers to winnow each other down will only work if they do not comprehend where their true best interests lie. These, clearly, do. Another strategy will be necessary.”
“I suppose this proves we can’t expect loyalty out of that group,” Ravoud said, scowling. “Hardly a surprise.”
“Indeed,” Justinian agreed with a smile. “Khadizroth deems himself above me, Vannae is loyal only to him, and the rest of them are simply monsters of one kind or another. Loyalty was never on the table. What is interesting to me is how quickly and openly Khadizroth set about undermining me. He is more than patient and far-sighted enough to play a longer, more careful game. Holding back from killing their opponents, attracting the Empire’s attention, that ploy to have the skull sent to Svenheim… To take such risks, he must perceive an urgency that I do not. That must be investigated more closely. It will also be important to learn whether the other party is operating on the same principles, or has developed an actual loyalty to Antonio. They are a more level-headed group, generally, and he is quite persuasive.”
“Forgive me for questioning you, your Holiness,” said Ravoud, carefully schooling his features, “but it is beyond my understanding why you tolerate that man. You know he’s plotting against you, and there’s not much that’s more dangerous than an Eserite with an ax to grind.”
“Antonio Darling is one of my most treasured servants,” the Archpope said softly, still gazing into the distance. “I will not have him harmed, nor deprive myself of his skills. Matters are tense now, because I cannot yet reveal everything to everyone. He has no cause to trust, and thus I have to arrange these diversions to keep him from investigating things he is not yet ready to know. When the full truth can be revealed, he of all people will find my cause the best way to advance his own principles and goals.”
“As you say, your Holiness,” Ravoud murmured. “Did… Do you intend to make some use of the skull?”
“Objects like that are not to be used,” Justinian said severely, turning to face him. “I fear I have abused my authority by making it a part of my plans at all. Frankly, my predecessor was unwise to have the Church take custody of that thing; it is far better off in the hands of the Salyrites. The goddess of magic can keep it safe better than anyone.” He sighed heavily. “My attempts to compensate for the risk seem to have backfired. We are still gathering intelligence from Veilgrad, but indications are the charms and blessings I designed to protect the people from the skull’s effects enabled those cultists to remain lucid enough to do significant harm, rather than blindly lashing out as chaos cultists always have. In addition to the damage to Veilgrad and its people, that has drawn the attention of the Empire.”
“That, though, could be useful by itself,” Rouvad said slowly. “If those same blessings can be used for agents of the Church… If there is ever another major chaos incident, they could protect our people, keep them functional.”
“Perhaps,” Justinian mused. “Regardless, I will have to meditate at length on a proper penance for myself; I have unquestionably caused harm to innocents with this. I badly misjudged the risks involved. Still… From all these events I feel I have learned something of great value.”
He turned again to gaze out through the glass wall over the rooftops of Tiraas. “In Veilgrad, a class from the University at Last Rock were hard at work interfering with my plans. And I note that one of the first actions undertaken by Darling’s group was to visit Last Rock itself. Everywhere I turn, Arachne Tellwyrn’s fingers dabble in my affairs. Just as they nearly upended Lor’naris last year, and Sarasio months before.”
“That’s…sort of a fact of life, isn’t it, your Holiness?” Rouvad said carefully. “There’s just not much that can be done about Tellwyrn. That’s the whole point of her.”
“No power is absolute, Nassir,” Justinian said softly. “Be they archmages, gods, or empires. They only have the appearance of absolute power because the people agree that they do. Such individuals live in fear of the masses discovering that they do not need to tolerate their overlords. Every tyrant can be brought down.
“I was always going to have to deal with Tellywrn sooner or later. We cannot rid the world of its last destructive adventurers when she is spewing out another score of them every year—to say nothing of her specifically elitist methods of recruitment. She targets those already most powerful and dangerous and equips them to be even worse. No… Arachne Tellwyrn must be dealt with.”
He nodded slowly to himself, staring into the distant sky. “If she insists on making herself a more urgent priority… So be it.”
The Gods are Bastards 
They called me mad! They said it couldn’t be done! “Webb,” they told me, “you can’t write a Hammer horror, a spaghetti Western and a gaslamp adventure all in one book! It’s crazy! It’s never been done!” Well, stand back and watch me work.
More seriously, I’m sorry this is up so damn late; it’s Microsoft’s fault. My full explanation is in the comments of the previous chapter.
So, Google hides their search terms from people checking them, but WordPress tells me the terms used by people who get here from other search engines, and some are interesting to me. I get repeated searches for “the gods are bastards wiki,” “the gods are bastards epub” and “the gods are bastards fanfiction.”
A moment to discuss those, if I may.
There is no wiki to my knowledge, though I think that’s a fine idea. If anybody wants to set one up, be my guest; I’m afraid that’ll have to be fan-run, as I’m up to my limit as it is. But the story and setting are certainly long and complex enough at this point to make one useful.
The reason there is not a downloading epub version on the site is that I intend to sell ebooks of TGaB collections, each with an additional short story or two to make it a more attractive buy. Sorry to be so mercenary about it, but without going into a long spiel about my circumstances, I need to up my writing income before the end of the year at the latest. I’m considering several means; at issue is my current lack of additional time and creative energy, and the important distinction between “selling” and “selling out.” I have no ethical problem with making money from my work, but I’m adamantly opposed to anything that would damage its integrity.
As for fanfiction, if there is any, I’ve not found it. And I’ve looked. I think that would be awesome.
Be sure to check back tomorrow for a special Saturday update! Details to come!
LikeLike
A special update tommorow? Best unintended birthday present ever!
Seriously. This books been amazing and the overall story just keeps getting better and better. The world you’ve built, and your skill in sharing that world with us are nothing short of amazing. I think we an author you’re easily up there with some of the big published writers.
Thank you so much for writing this story and sharing it with us for free. I kinda look forward to Mondays now.
On another note, have you been reading Brandon Sanderson’s new Mistborn series? It’s the closest to tGaB as anything I’ve read.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know that it’s more difficult than ebooks, but I totes have space on bookshelf reserved for a physical copy of TGaB.
LikeLike
Did I miss something? There’s a goddess of magic? Arcane magic?
Is she the source of arcane magic, or just the steward?
I’m slightly confused.
LikeLike
the running theory is since every one of the 4 major paths have a creator
infernal scylith
shaman naiya
divine pantheon/general other gods (not sure about that exactly)
arcane unknown
arcane must has a creator too but according to the info when given about cration about silver and black dragons they dont know exactly who that would be
correct me if i am wrong
LikeLike
Infernal is Scylith, Naiya is Fae, Divine is the energy left over from when the elder gods were killed, we don’t know where arcane comes from.
Or so I thought, because in this chapter Justinian referred to Salyrite as the godess of magic.
LikeLike
Salyrite has been mentioned before, the students holy magic teacher is a Salyrite.
I figured Salyrite is the goddess of magic in the same way Avei is the goddess of war, there was war before Avei and same didn’t create it she is however linked to it somehow and her followers train in it etc. Same with Salyrite she didn’t create magic but is linked to it and encourages her followers to train in it and master it.
LikeLike
Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. A sort of patron goddess of magic.
That makes me wonder if you can have more than one god for a certain aspect. Becuase, if there was a creator God of Magic, and if they still exist. Then there would be TWO gods of magic.
LikeLike
The current running conjecture is that the Drow’s old Spider-goddess that disappeared is responsible for Arcane. There are others (myself included) who suspect that that same spider-goddess did something to create/inhabit our dear Professor Tellwyrn.
LikeLike
I don’t think you can get two gods of the exact same aspect, but they can be very similar. Scylith has light and Omnu has the sun, for example. Or Naiya has nature and Napthene has the oceans, which are part of nature.
And I’ve been assuming that Salyrite was the patron goddess of magic. I’m not sure if she’s even specifically arcane, she might include fae, diabolic, and divine in her sphere of influence, but Naiya is just preferable for fae, Scylith or Ellial is preferable for diabolic, and any god does for divine, so maybe Salyrite just further specializes in arcane most of the time.
LikeLike
I think she’s more a goddess of using magic.
LikeLike
I have to admit, I would love to see Arachne throw down with Justinian. We have yet to see her get serious, pulling out all the stops and obliterate someone without caring about the consequences. It would be epic.
Now imagine her calling in all the favours she’s owed, all the students she taught, all the gods she befriended.
Justinian better hope he’ll be a god by the time this happens just to stand a chance to survive.
LikeLike
I’m genuinely looking forward to Justinian ascending and then Arachne summarily killing him and then adding some pithy line about adding another one to her list of killed gods.
On another note, I crack up every time I image Scorn yelling out “Behold!”
LikeLike
Yeah. I think that Justinian forgets what makes a spider so dangerous–an invisible web, and infinite cunning tempered with patience. By now Arachne’s University has forged connections at the highest levels of Tiraasian society. Most of the world’s most powerful individuals are devoted to her. And I am very certain that she is *much* cleverer than anyone gives her credit for.
Principia hides behind a dozen separate faces. Arachne hides behind one false one. Different tactics, but the same outcome–no one nowadays remembers that there was a time when Arachne was smarter than Darling, Principia, and Justinian combined. She just doesn’t flout it because she doesn’t want the world to fear her quite that much.
LikeLike
That’s what I am thinking, too.
Back in her introduction 3000 years ago, she said she was good at scheming. Who knows what she’s got going on behind the scenes all these years?
LikeLike
the main problem is see is whether it is an act no one managed to see through in severel millenia or if its real
simpls no way to tell
LikeLike
I’m skeptical Arachne is that clever, she’s on screen made mistakes when she was trying hard to avoid them, like when she reached a dead end with her investigation of the combusted girls until the Empire, luckily for her, lent her their information on it. She trusted Juniper to deal with Aspen, and that didn’t work out well at all.
And Justinian isn’t a fool, he’s not going to declare war on her without doing any further research on her capabilities. So far, we’ve mostly just heard epic tales of how awesome Tellwyrn is, she hasn’t done too much crazy impressive stuff actually on screen with context. She beat up a young dragon; you think Justinian couldn’t arrange for a young dragon to be beat up? She made Ellial’s daughter back off from an attempted attack; you think Justinian couldn’t do that? She stopped a dryad about to go on a rampage; you think Justinian couldn’t do that?
Arachne may be able to call in favour’s from gods, but Justinian is the archpope; he’ll be able to match her blow for blow in that department I bet.
Arachne’s a force to be reckoned with, but she’s not that much tougher than Justinian.
LikeLike
In a direct confrontation Arachne could vaporize him in under a second and nothing less than the intervention of a god could save him.
She’s known to do just that with anyone who really pissed her off, up to sitting emperors.
I don’t believe for a second that she’d have a problem teleporting right into Justinian’s chambers and reducing him to an ash stain on the carpet if she felt such an action would be justified.
What would people do in reaction? Worst case, she’d have to close her university… but if the other option was risking the end of the world, then she’d do it. Most people are happy she found an occupation and is no longer wandering the world sticking her nose into everybody’s business, so I’m pretty sure people would rather leave her be than oust her from her home.
If you believe that her struggle with Zanzayed was the extent of her powers, then you either severely underestimate how powerful dragons in this setting are* or you think Arachne a. showed all her cards in that fight and b. didn’t grow any stronger in the past 2500 years. You know, with all the artifacts she was collecting and knowledge she obtained.
Arachne can threaten gods and be taken seriously. She’s not just an archmage, she’s possibly connected to the missing elder god. She’s not all powerful and she has some weaknesses of course but I don’t think there is anyone on the planet who would want to get on her bad side.
So at times she was tricked or made the wrong decision… so what? It’s not like Justinian was all that perfect with his scheming so far. Or do you think he planned to have his 4 bishops break down his door and force him to reveal his motives?
Arachne is regarded as a force of nature. Justinian is just a man. His strength doesn’t lie in combat, it’s in intrigue. He’ll have to avoid a direct confrontation at all costs because he has no chance to survive one… unless he really manages to ascend to godhood. Then I’d give him a 50/50 chance. 😛
*Dragons are embodiments of the type of magic they chose and on top of that know a lot of tricks from all disciplines. They are easily a match to a modern army, taking one down is usually the feat of legends, accomplished by groups of adventurers on at least a paladin level. Not to mention that they are huge flying lizards with fire breath who are highly resistant to damage. They also think faster, react faster and cast faster than normal mages.
It has been noted within the story that if several dragons banded together and attacked the empire, then nothing but a divine intervention would be able to stop them.
Arachne went toe-to-toe with one of these forces and reached a draw after hours of intense combat. Zanza was at least 500 years old by then, probably a lot more since he said he’s older than Arachne. And that was ~2500 years ago.
LikeLike
If it didn’t happen on screen, I’m skeptical of it. There is likely context that we are missing. I’ve been rereading the story recently, and very often it mentions how Arachne vaporizes people on a whim for merely annoying her. If I remember correctly, she hasn’t killed a single person on screen, and definitely no one in a very important position of power.
Vaporizing the Archpope is the type of thing that’d get her smited instantly by the pantheon. She has leeway with them, and probably some magical defences that would mark it difficult for a god to dispose of her easily, but killing a sitting archpope is the type of thing that would make the gods hold nothing back. Plus I’m betting he has other various defenses that are less obvious. In some of the early chapters, it’s said that the only two places in Tiraas she’s attempted and failed to scry into were the main church temple, and the royal palace, and the royal palace only succeeded because they changed up their enchantment every few weeks so she couldn’t keep track of it. If she can’t scry into the building, she probably can’t teleport into it.
Even if the gods don’t act against her, that type of act will make her enemy #1 in the eyes of pretty much everyone except the Black Wreath, and some of her previous students. Every cult would mobilize against her to some degree, various past and current students would turn against her, and the empire would send strike teams after her. The empire only ignores her because she more or less ignores the empire. If she shakes up the political landscape that much, they’re going to feel that losing a few hundred extremely valuable soldiers is worth ensuring no more super important leaders are killed. Not to mention I’d bet there’d be multiple golden dragons wanting a piece of her.
Now, she could do something more subtle against the Archpope, say turn the gods against him, but then its Justinian’s game to some degree. She could still win, she has a lot of resources and raw power to draw upon, but it would not be slam dunk victory, and she’d have to turn her attention away from things like her students to focus on Justinian.
Now, defeating a five hundred year old dragon is no mean feat, I just mean to say defeating an archpope is a bigger one, based off the logic that if Justinian wanted to, he could almost certainly call in the resources to beat a five hundred year old dragon, even f he didn’t have Khadizroth working for him.
Tellwyrn could probably kill Justinian if she set her mind to it, but she couldn’t do it and survive the aftermath without sacrificing years, either in preparation or in very carefully evading the authorities.
LikeLike
I think you’re vastly overestimating the resources, the influence and the power of what is essentially just the figurehead of a bureaucratic organisation.
Justinian absolutely lacks the personal power to repeat Arachne’s feats. I think he’d already be in over his head having to deal with a single dryad, not to mention a dragon unless he had an artifact that would help him… or if he could invoke one or several gods directly. Seriously, on the power scale he’s about as scary as Shaeine… if even that much.
What kind of forces could he marshal? The decorative soldiers who only recently received proper training? His adventurers? The holy summoners? None of that is a threat to Arachne on her mountain.
If Arachne killed him, then I doubt any dragons would want revenge/justice, not even the golden ones (of which there are how many? One? Two?). I doubt most cults would even care, they’d nominate a new archpope and that’s it. Sure, some people would complain and ask for legal action… but hey, she’s a Zero Twenty and if she can explain the matter to the empire, then absolutely nothing will happen to her. You shouldn’t forget that the empire and the church aren’t friends either. They wouldn’t go as far as thanking Arachne, but they’d be grateful if she got rid of Justinian for them.
Some of her students might oppose her but I think that’s unlikely. If she takes drastic action, then she has a good reason for it and they know that.
This isn’t the pope of the catholic church, beloved by the people everywhere. This isn’t some archmage equivalent high priest. This is just a man heading an organisation.
Right now, Justinian has political power and not much else. All his resources we’ve seen in the story so far are less than impressive and while I am sure he’s hiding something, I don’t think it’s an army.
LikeLike
Well, that’s essentially where we’re in disagreement, and I don’t think we can get much farther. I do think he’s like the pope of our world, during say the tenth century when the pope was very powerful. He does not have much personal power himself I agree, I do not think he is at all capable of dealing with Arachne or even a grunt soldier in a one on one fight, but he has influence and the respect of the people. I’m not in the mood to go around citing specific pages referencing his or Arachne’s power, and I doubt you are either, so it just comes down to your headcanon being Arachne has tons of freedom and the pope has few people really interested in avenging him, and my headcanon that Arachne is largely restricted in a big actions and that many people like the Archpope and would want to avenge him.
Nice debating with you though.
LikeLike
Likewise. 😀
Yes, I think we’ll see how things work out in the story. I’ve been wrong before. 🙂
LikeLike
It appears to me that, despite similar terminology, the bishops and archpope of the Universal Church are not much like the bishops and pope of the Catholic Church. They’re more like ambassadors to the U.N. and its secretary general, or delegates and presider of something like the National Council of Churches. The heads of the individual cults like Commander Rouvad or Boss Tricks probably command a lot more personal loyalty (on average; probably some are not very popular) than Justinian.
LikeLike
I agree, but the Archpope has a lot of influence all the same. The Universal Church has spent millenia building up hordes of artifacts; I’d be shocked if they didn’t have anything else similar to the collection of oracles. Then they also have a lot contacts in high up places, and each head of individual cults owe limited fealty to him, because otherwise it’d be very difficult for them to get anything done. In addition, the Archpope cannot be personally harmed, although presumably this can be sidestepped a lot of preparation like Wreath magic, or else the Pantheon would step in and smite his attackers.
LikeLike
@jeray Massive necro, but she has killed people on-screen. Remember those three Scyllithene drow who got out of the Crawl? “Not even ash was left”, if I remember correctly. Also teleporting a demon’s wet mass a couple of feet above his skeleton. Not a person, but an impressive display of power, as well as a very funny callback to a threat she made very early in the story. If you’ve been rereading, that should ring a bell.
LikeLike
I think you might need to be a bit more explicit with you Epub protocol. Something like:
“The author does not give you permission to make your own private e-pubs, but acknowledges there isn’t much he can do to stop you. Distributing an Epub will result in an irate author, and possibly him asking wordpress to ban your IP.”
I don’t know if wordpress would do that, but the threat would keep a lot of people in line. I do know it is possible.
—–
It’s a bit hard to write coherant fanfiction at the moment. Your writing has focused on character development and plot, and left out a lot of the background and worldbuilding. We don’t even know all the members of the pantheon and their spheres in influence, for fricks sake. So yeah, anyone would who tried to write fanfiction would likely have to try to fill in the gaps, making it a non-trivial exercise.
That said, I’d read such fanfiction unless the writing sucked. Maybe of a class from twenty or thirty years ago and -their- antics?
LikeLike
Or a series of shorts about the antics Chase gets up to
LikeLike
What I want is the “Malivette Goes to Hell” episode, along with the letter that the prince of Succubi sent to Arachne.
LikeLike
I would want those stories straight from the author, not as fan fiction.
Personally I don’t know where to start with writing anything within the Bastardverse and I most likely won’t until the story is official at an end and I knew what was going on. Because right now? I really don’t.
LikeLike
Typos:
tossing it to her
tossing it to him [the Jackal]
aversely affected
adversely affected
positioned to hid
positioned to hide
raised on eyebrow
raised an eyebrow
on you behalf
on your behalf
Tellywrn
Tellwyrn
Reactions:
Vote Scorn for class of 1183!
Ye gods at the implications…
“Those kids are going to be the graduating class that brings me the most pride and satisfaction if they don’t burn the whole goddamn place down, first.”
Awww, how sweet. Arachne has a fond place in her heart for the most
disruptiveeffective people. Especially, it appears, people who actually stand up for what they believe in without being stupid about it. And really, Gabriel, did your balls drop? Divine power and your recent successes going to your head?“elemental planes”
This is a new term.
“Did I not know better, I might conclude your decision to attack Imperial interests was designed to draw their interest to your own activities. You must forgive me; dealing with as many politics as I do, I tend to see ulterior motives where they may not exist.”
Translation: I know you are working against my interests by dragging the Empire into this.
“Due to my position, I am beholden to the Sisters of Avei, the Thieves’ Guild, and other organizations which are eager to know about the movements of most of you. It would assuage my qualms to be able to be more forthright with them.”
Translation: Leave me and I set your enemies on you with a vengeance.
It appears that Khadizroth has decided to contact the Conclave of Winds. Since one of the first things the Conclave decided on internally is that having a dragon beholden to mortal authorities was unacceptable, I have to assume Khadizroth is trying to get some leverage against Justinian.
“Don’t let me forget, I owe Admestus Rafe either a really expensive bottle o’ wine or a blowjob.”
Bwah hah hah! As for Joe’s reaction, he worked out of a whorehouse – surely those aren’t unknown terms for him? Perhaps that’s why he is just blushing instead of being unable to speak of it.
I am really, really, REALLY not buying what Justinian is selling to Ravoud for motivations – the rest of his speech, especially the more factual parts might be OK. But Ravoud is in general, a good guy, so despite Justinian’s hold on him, it binds the two closer if Ravoud perceives that Justinian is also a good guy. So the whole “meditate at length on a proper penance” thing I discount as self-serving bullsh** designed for Ravoud to hear.
9-36, Mary on Darling: “He is Eserite to his core; his aim is to bring down those who would set themselves above others.”
9-38, Justinian on Darling: “When the full truth can be revealed, he of all people will find my cause the best way to advance his own principles and goals.”
Assuming Justinian is right, that sounds like Elilial’s line: that anyone knowing the truth about the gods would want to bring them down. Because really, who else has set themselves above people to that degree? And just how is Justinian, who is a person who sets themselves above others, going to get Darling to ally with him? This sounds like bullsh**, but the question is whether Justinian believes his own bull or whether he is saying it for Ravoud’s benefit.
Justinian vs. Arachne: subtlety and organizational power versus overwhelming force and magical knowledge. This idea actually made me shudder – the fallout will be monumental.
So, “Dragonsbane” is going to have a very bad day, at least until she learns to show a little humility to people who take offense to her form of arrogance.
As expected, Darling admires the trap and then plans to do something about it. Should be interesting.
LikeLike
Unless Justinian has some really, really good aces up his sleeve, he just made a few too many enemies recently to think about tackling Arachne.
I also don’t get his motivation behind the eradication of adventurers. If he let them be, they’d go away on their own. It’s his interference that provides them with jobs. Arachne’s university might produce heroes and villains but even those wouldn’t be adventurers if there was no place for them in the world. They’d become rulers, company owners, ambassadors, civil rights lawyers or inventors… they’d break new ground in other areas if dungeon delving and hunting down monsters was no longer feasible.
If I had to make adventurers cease to exist, then I’d hire all of them as bodyguards. Cushy, well paid jobs. They’d do that until their deaths and in the meantime there would be no exciting new stories about them, making it less probable someone continues their legacy. Maybe, if I was a devious person, I’d arrange accidents or misunderstandings between them. Maybe I’d allow them to duel each other to resolve their issues, cutting down their numbers over the years. It’s not like there’s many of them left anyway.
I just really can’t see the benefit of eradicating them. This isn’t a story where the hero shows up in the last moment to stop the villain in a dramatic duel on top of a roof in a rain storm. If he was clever and quiet about it, he could put all his plans into action before anyone realized. Even Mary has no clue what his plans are and she has been snooping around everywhere.
Going after the worst troublemakers seems odd. It can only backfire and for what? Possibly less interference during a crucial moment? This just feels wrong.
I don’t see how he could go about taking Arachne down. He can’t sour public opinion against her because a. most people don’t like her anyway and b. she’s not a public figure, she’s more a figure out of legends. Trying to make her look like a bad guy that someone needs to deal with would be like talking trash about Merlin. There’s no way his words could measure up to the legends.
Direct assault? With what force? His new army? If even the empire with their tactical strike teams are leery of going up against Arachne, then I don’t think his decorative toy soldiers would stand a chance.
His team of thugs? Even big K would think twice even if he was on Justinian’s side, which he is clearly not.
Take away her credentials to prevent her from teaching? That would be one of the worst ideas ever. I’m pretty sure most of the people in charge prefer Arachne sitting on her mountain over Arachne going back to her old ways.
Sending an assassin? Trying to surprise her with some anti-magic weapon/ritual? That has been tried and failed before, I guess.
So he has to be hiding something significant that we haven’t seen yet or he’s a megalomaniac. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
The only thing I can think of is that he somehow has control over the gods. Or a way to use their power for his own gains. I can’t imagine how that could be true though.
This feels like he’s setting up his own demise by alienating people before he has secured his source of power, if apotheosis was really his endgame plan.
Currently his power lies in his social status and his position within the church, but as Darling put it, the Universal Church is little more than an administrative body that makes sure all the cults get along.
I don’t think there are all that many cults that would be back the archpope if he made a powerplay. Maybe the Shaatists would, out of loyalty. Maybe the Izarites, because it seems Branwen is in his pocket. But even those feel far-fetched.
If something in a story doesn’t make sense, if you can’t get a clear picture with the information you have… then it’s probably because some of the information is false.
Now we just have to figure out what’s correct and what’s false. Well, we do know Justinian is a liar…
LikeLike
For getting rid of adventurers, it was covered in arc five that, by their nature, they don’t want cushy jobs and generally refuse to take long term jobs. That was the first thing he tried. Having them assasinate each other and fight each other was what he was just doing, and it didn’t work as not a single extra adventurer is dead. And the thing about heroes is that they can really mess things up unexpectedly. He wants them gone within the next few decades. With Tellwyrn’s university continuing to crank them out, it’s not going to happen. They’ll find some sort of destructive work, likely hired in ways that go against his interests.
LikeLike
I think his beef with the University isn’t that Arachne is creating adventurers, but people with both the knowledge and power to stand up and do something at a very inconvenient time – mainly when you want people to do nothing.
LikeLike
Damian Weaver was more than happy to hide in the library for years. McGraw isn’t getting any younger. Sure, you couldn’t get all of them but you could get some. If money doesn’t work, use different incentives. Like Darling.
What he tried just now wasn’t getting them killed. If he had wanted that, he should have given them a real objective instead of lying to them. If the skull had actually been there, they would have thrown down and suffered losses, if not defeat.
If he just wants to get rid of them because they might become an obstacle in the future, then making them his enemies now is not the way to do it. This is a self fulfilling prophecy.
He’d always have to deal with some of them… because Mary or Arachne would notice something was going on. But the small fry like McGraw, Joe, Shook etc? They wouldn’t notice anything until it was too late. Unless you jump and wave and shout and wave a huge neon sign over your head, like Justinian is doing right now.
I still think at least one fact we were told in the story is false because this really seems like a basic mistake from the Evil Overlord list and Justinian is said to be more intelligent than that.
LikeLike
I can see Justinian making a very very very bad error here “hmmm can’t go after Arachne directly, she’d destroy even my group of helpers…….I KNOW I’ll attack her through her students. If I threaten her students with my group I can manipulate her” cue K et al receiving a little bit of a lesson in why the students at Archane’s school are actually there, too damn dangerous to leave up to their own devices.
LikeLike
Dude, attack those students… And, how many of the gods you supposedly work for do you annoy in one cell swoop?
That’s too Damon dumb. <_<
LikeLike
Blasted autocorrect: *fell and *damned. 😛
LikeLike
Arachne has other students than just the the Class of 1182(think they were 1182) but in any case I’m getting the feeling that Justinian is playing a very long game with the specific aim of angering as many Gods as possible…so that Class is a pretty good target in any case, there are representatives of at least 5 Gods possibly more.
LikeLike
Two thoughts, Jeray. First is that if Justinian is actually up to apotheosis through deicide, then I sincerely doubt that the Pantheon will go after Arachne if she stops him. I mean, she has killed two gods and personally spanked the rear end of Avei’s Hand.
However, you also mentioned that she would have to sacrifice years of preparation. I sometimes wonder how much preparation she’s already done. This is actually the first mention of Justinian being behind Sarasio that I recall (I could be mistaken), but I think it is no accident that the current class exercises always end up messing with Justinian’s plots.
Where I think Justinian miscalculated is this: he gives Arachne credit for actively and intentionally interfering with his plots. But he doesn’t consider the implications: if he had a hand in the Lor’naris crisis and even Darling didn’t suspect anything, but Arachne did…he is in *way* more over his head than he expects. If she is that much aware of his movements…well, I believe it is no coincidence that Yornhaldt was doing research that necessitated assassination by Universal Church Summoner.
LikeLike
Exactly. ^^
LikeLike
I didn’t take that line to mean Sarasio was Justinian’s plot, I thought it just meant she changed situations in ways he didn’t suspect, and that there’s a strong possibility she could change situations he doesn’t want changed.
LikeLike
That’s a good point actually.
LikeLike
I’ve been rereading this, I think I may have already said this, and I just finished the Lor’naris district section, and it seems to mildly imply the archpope was behind it. Combined with his statement this chapter, I think odds are good he was at least somewhat involved in Lor’naris and Sarasio.
LikeLike
The only thing Justinian will gain by targeting her is her attention, which obviously isn’t beneficial to him. It’s very unlikely either of them will come out ahead this early in the story, since both of them have far to many unsolved mysteries surrounding them. Regardless, it’s going to be entertaining as hell to watch!
LikeLike
I hadn’t read in a while, gave up all my webnovels for lent, and had been somewhat busy for a few months beforehand, so I picked up again around 9-14 or so two days ago. Wow. Things got pretty crazy there, and I gleefully enjoyed every moment of it. I’ve missed this story quite a bit, and it also makes for a nice change from all the translated wuxia novels I read so very many of. Thanks a lot!
LikeLike
Hey Webb, I know this is a massive necropost but I think you made too many jokes at Ravoud’s expense: you wrote his name as ‘Rouvad’ once or twice, and seeing as Rouvad is someone else entirely I just couldn’t let that be.
LikeLike
Typo: Rouvad should be Ravoud right?
LikeLike
“believe you me, Marshal,”- the only typo I spotted here.
LikeLike
I know I’m a tad bit late on this, but since no one else did and I’m still in the process of catching up and therefore not in possession of the knowledge whether my speculation is true, I’m just gonna call it: Justinian is black wreath or at least surprisingly similar.
a) he is a schemer (obviously).
b) he goes apeshit about dethroning the gods and they do nothing about it – so either they trust their own defenses against any such action far further then I could ever throw them, or he has a method to hide things from the gods. Well, or a third option I’m just not seeing yet.
c) he is in possession of knowledge that would make Darling his best helper once he learns it, and seems unable to outright tell him – for schemes sake or for OTHER reasons. Just like the wreath is in possession of “the truth”… and Darling DID go to great lengths just to meet Elilial and ask of her that very truth. Which, just to add to the list, she didn’t outright tell him because he would need Wreath-level hide-from-god abilities to SURVIVE learning of it. (In turn, I suspect Justinian to have just those abilities, see point b)
DISCLAIMER: I have, as of this comment, read until THIS very chapter, so if any of those speculations are proven or disproven in any further chapter I’d like anyone attentive enough to even read this late blooming comment to refrain from telling me of it.
I.e – I’m just speculating, please don’t spoil :3
LikeLike
kay scrap that, at least parts of it. Sleep and a few chapters more tend to work wonders for perspective…
LikeLike
I noticed this in reread, but the last section you kept calling Ravoud Rouvad instead
LikeLike
Apparently Tellwyrn has already enrolled Scorn.
The geas should have stopped Shaeine from referring to Unseen University within her earshot otherwise.
LikeLike