Chapter 33: Chapter 28- Savage Priests

Blue-Robes are the (unneeded) servants of the Creators. As their name suggests, they wear robes of blue, signifying mana in its purest form as an homage to the Creators’ power, and are some of the most maligned people in the entire Vast Dust.  Privately, anyway. 

They waste large amounts of wealth and material building gaudy temples despite the fact that the system has been documented to state that the Creators do not want our prayers. In the end, the only reason why they are still around is due to their political power. They have been able to build up enough power from things like their paladin orders, control over necromancy licenses, and generous financial donations to various city-states.

Obviously, the seat of their power is in Gribnik; you know what they say about birds of a feather.

-Excerpt from ‘Peoples of the Vast,’ By Grivas Fulkan

 

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“So… We’re screwed aren’t we?” Mori asked the still dazed Fara.

Fara blinked the light out of her eyes and caught sight of the Blue-Robes, “Maybe. You did kind of shoot a guy, after all. Did you kill him?”

Mori shook her head, “Nope. If they aren’t completely incompetent, then they’ll be able to save him. Besides, that bullet lost a fair bit of power going through his armor. He’ll probably be fine.”

“Then that’s good,” Fara said, “In that case, they’ll have to let us off. Usually, they’re a bunch of lazy hedonists, so we should be fine,” she confidently said. 

After a few more moments, the first Blue Robe came up to them, panting after seemingly running a great distance, and began yelling, “What in the Creators are you doing here!?” he roared, “You are not welcome here! Leave at once!”

Mori and Fara were stunned at the Blue-Robe’s brazenness, “Are… Are you serious right now?” Fara asked, incredulous, “The very doors of this place opened up for us and walls of mana blocked your so-called guards from blocking us and yet you still say we’re ‘unwelcome here?’ Are you sure you have the right story here?”

The priest simmered in anger at her words as more and more of his kin came behind them, “We know that, you snarky bitch, and that’s the only reason you’re walking out of here alive and not in handcuffs. You had better be thankful that the gods are merciful enough to show you some favor or we would make an example of you.”

Mori, in spite of her earlier happiness at being relieved of her headache, grew more and more annoyed, “Some favor?” she asked with an icy tone, her voice slowly distorting to match her mood, “We had business here and your guards tried to kill us for it. If anything, you should be thankful we don’t want to tear through this tasteless place.”

The simmering anger in the priest that had been visibly bubbling on his face boiled over with a look of incredulous rage, “You! You think you can waltz in here like you own the place and even have the gall to act as if the owners of this sacred shrine are at fault!? You-”

“I did no such thing. I say that you are at fault,” Mori interrupted, “You are not the owners of this Shrine. The gods are.”

“And you think we are not the voices of the Gods!? Have you no shame!?”

Mori sighed, pulling Fara with her, “This is pointless. We’re leaving,” she said. Fara had no objections and walked with the lich’s brisk pace. Before they could leave the garden, however, a wall of guards stood in their path, “... Are you really going to do this?”

The priests and priestesses began showing cruel grins as they stopped. The leading Blue-Robe had the cruelest grin of them all, “Hehe… That’s it, you’ve crossed the line. You are going to regret ever stepping foot in this Holy Temple. Kill them!” he roared. All at once, the Blue-Robes rushed them while the guards began thrusting their spears at them. In an instant, a wall of stone surrounded them, kicked up from the ground by Mori’s mana. 

Before the two could get their bearings, one of the Blue-Robes smashed a fist through the wall. Her face was a mask of savage glee as she tore chunks of stone from the wall. Mori pulled her revolver out and let loose a shot into the woman’s skull. The savage woman crumpled backwards under Mori’s bullet and a system message appeared in her vision.

[You and your allies have defeated Melda Thysa, a level 18 Desertborn Human. Experience has been awarded.]

[You have reached level 15]

Nodding to herself, she raised her gauntlet and repaired the wall from the woman’s attack, sighing, “Yeah, they hate us. So! What should we do?” Mori asked.

Fara stared at the lich and sighed, “If you didn’t egg them on, we wouldn’t be having this problem right now. We-” A gunshot rang out, passing over their barricade and echoing off of their earthen walls, “That’s probably not a good sign…” More shots rang out, soon silencing after a few moments. 

They waited, ready to fight back, when a familiar voice called over the wall, “Hey, you two. It’s me. Get that wall down, alright?” Zubov asked.

Mori and Fara shared a look, nodding to each other, and Mori lowered their earthen rampart, revealing the scene beyond. All around them, Blue-Robes laid dead, killed by gunfire. After soaking up the scene for a long moment, they turned to their acquaintance and the squad of guards. Zubov stood over the dead body of the priest that had accosted them, the man’s blue-robed body filled with holes, and sighed, “Alright, what the hell, you two?” he asked.

Fara raised a quizzical brow, quickly growing into an annoyed look, as Mori nervously laughed, “What did you do?” the woman sharply demanded.

“I… uh… kind of told him that we were just going on a little errand to get our bounty… I… yeah, I don’t have an excuse… Are you going to arrest us now?” she asked the orc.

Zubov heaved a heavy sigh, “As much as I would like to, if only to teach you that lying is bad, you were not at fault. In fact, these dumbasses broke the law-to-be they were trying, thankfully without luck, to get passed. They were trying to make it a punishable offense to ‘defy the Creators,’ and, well look what they did here,” he sighed, “Anyway, our boys are going to clean this up and I’m going to make sure you actually go to the Green Blood Hall this time.”

His words rung with finality, forcing Mori and Fara to follow. They wound their way out of the temple, passing by the richly decorated halls, and exited onto the street. The plaza where the temple resided was the main plaza of the governmental district, with four separate roads branching from the center statue of a large skiff. 

In spite of the relative calmness of just a while ago, the plaza had become a hive of activity. People crowded around the temple steps in the corner of the plaza, from random people trying to catch a glimpse to guards cordoning off the scene. Fara tapped Zubov on the shoulder as they passed by the guards, “Hey, wouldn’t you doing… that cause some friction with the Blue-Robes? You did kind of kill them all…” 

Zubov shrugged, “Well, when I was following you two, something weird was happening in the temple —something you’re going to have to explain to me, by the way— and guards got called in to investigate. I went along because you two were in there; one thing led to another and the psychos attacked us. We responded in kind. You know the rest. As for friction with those bastards… dunno. We acted in self defense, something we can prove, so it’ll probably be fine,” he said with a satisfied smirk.

As they passed the crowd of people, Mori leaned over to Fara, “Hey,” she whispered, “Do you think that this’ll make a few problems for us when we go off to that Hive?”

Fara rolled her eyes, “No,” she whispered back, “All it’ll take is a cake and a hug to have the whole murder thing be swept under the rug,” she said sarcastically.

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“I see… Do you think we’ll be able to talk with the head honchos around here?” 

Fara rolled her eyes even harder, “Yeah, of course!” she whispered, “They’ll obviously-”

“I get it, alright? Bad idea, cool. So, what do we do? We have a mission and we’re hardly going to be able to do it alone, so what’s the plan?” Mori asked back. 

“Why am I the one who comes up with the plans!?” Fara asked.

“‘Cause you’re smart.”

“I- Wait, you’re no dumber than me!” 

“Smart in different ways, Fara,” Mori chided, “You should work on understanding them.”

“You-”

“Ahem… I can hear you back there…” Zubov said awkwardly.

The two looked at him and gave smiles. “How much did you hear?” Mori asked.

He shrugged again, “Eh, ever since you were talking about the ‘head honchos,’ as you put it. I’m wondering though, what do you need my brother and the council for?”

Fara’s eyes widened, “Wait, you’re brothers with a Grand Chief!?” she shouted.

He laughed at her surprise, “Yeah, he’s my younger brother. Well, half brother, anyway. He’s like, what, a decade younger than me? Eh, either way he listens to me when I ask him something, so I could get you a meeting with him… if you tell me why you need a meeting with the Grand Chiefs, that is,” he offered.

Mori looked up to the blue sky pondering while Fara narrowed her eyes, “We can talk about it later,” Fara said, “It’s hardly something we can tell you right now.”

Zubov stared into Fara’s eyes for a moment, sparing a glance at Mori’s flame-eyes, and reluctantly nodded, “Fine. If even you two are keeping it a secret, then it must be serious.”

Fara glared at the orc, “What do you mean by that? ‘Even you two?’”

Zubov grinned, “You two are probably the least serious people I have seen come in from the Dust. How long have you two been traveling together?” he asked.

Fara looked away while Mori chuckled a bit, “About… hmm… a week? It wasn’t that long ago…” Zubov stared into Mori’s flame-eyes with amusement written across his face, “Alright, yeah, we haven’t been traveling together for that long, but before that I was-”

Fara slapped a hand on Mori’s face, shaking her head and making Zubov laugh, “Okay, enough fun, we’re here.” The two looked in front of them and noticed the massive hall made of polished wood and marble, in contrast with the sandstone buildings all around them. The hall was massive, being as high as a five story building and as wide as a castle from where Mori could see. Three modern-looking spires made of a shiny, glassy, white rock climbed into the sky, surrounding a massive dome in the center. On each spire, a green flag with a red blade emblazoned on it flew, whipping in the high wind. 

The front of the building, all the way to its highest floor, was adorned with windows, showing hordes of office workers going about their business and work. After a moment to let the two admire the building, Zubov confidently walked in through the front door. The inside was unexpectedly modern to Mori, with polished marble tiles on the floor and polished columns rising to hold the ceiling multiple floors above their heads. At the center of the room, a line of desks manned by clerks sat, each servicing a line of citizens, hunters, or others. Only one desk was conspicuously open, labeled ‘Special Citizens,’ and manned by a young orcish woman with brown hair and a friendly smile.

Zubov confidently walked up to the open desk and bowed his head slightly at the young woman, “It’s a pleasure to see you, Shika,” he said, letting his charming smile shine.

The woman rolled her eyes while grinning, “Hey, Zubov. Long time no see,” she replied, “So… who’s the lady and… the skeleton… behind you?”

He shrugged, “My new responsibility, apparently. Not even two days in the city and they already destroyed a local gang and got every Blue-Robe in the temple killed,” he chuckled.

The young woman’s eyes went wide with horror, “By the Creators… they… they killed so many. Oh dear! How could you ever deal with such bloodthirsty monsters!?” she cried out in terror.

Zubov, however, had an amused smile as the two showed their discomfort at her words, “Alright, Shika, you can stop playing around with them,” he chuckled.

Her horrified expression melted to a big grin, “Ah, come on! Just a little longer!”

“Sorry, Shika, can’t do,” he said, shaking his head, “I’m here on business. Two things: one, can you pull up the Sand Scale bounty? These two are the ones who actually did the deed. And two, can you get me a meeting with my brother?” he asked.

The young orc smiled, nodding while pulling out a palm-sized crystal, “There is a visitor for Chief Rilig,” she said into the crystal, “I’ll send them up now.” She turned back to the three, “Alright, while you go meet with your brother, I’ll pull up the bounty while you do that.”

“Thanks, Shika,” Zubov said with a smile, “Alright, let’s go.” He walked past the desk and through a door behind it. The interior of the Green Blood Hall was lit by glowing strips of metal that hung from the ceiling, lighting up the polished wooden floors nicely. Zubov walked with conviction, walking up multiple staircases and through countless hallways until he reached a double door. He swung it open and walked in, followed by Mori and Fara. 

The room beyond the door was something Mori could only describe as a modern waiting room, with chairs lining the walls and a table in the corner. The only other person in the room was another young orc woman, scribbling on a piece of paper in front of her. Her sharp, bespectacled eyes shot towards him and Mori noticed how she was trying to hold back a sigh, “Zubov… What do you want now? Chief Rilig has too much work to do to deal with another annoyance,” she said sharply.

Zubov rolled his eyes, “Nice to see you too, Chiva. You should act more like your sister —you may be more appreciated if you do.”

The orc woman clicked her tongue, “I don’t want to hear that from you, Zubov. Someone has to get things done around here… Whatever. Anyway, my sister called up already; you’re free to go on in,” she forced out, annoyance written on her face. With a growl of annoyance, she returned to her paperwork. 

Zubov shook his head lightly, turning to the two visitors, “Alright, I’ll just trust that whatever you have to say is important. Let’s go, then,” he said as he pushed open the doors behind Chiva’s desk.

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