Chapter 26: Chapter 6 – Sidestory – Drow Politics

--- --- Week 1 - Day 6 - Sunday, 8th Day of the Seventh Month --- ---

"The 3561st Full Meeting of the Towers of Xrie'sten is now commencing. The one calling the meeting is Matriarch Vizeria of House Meraste of the 3rd Tower. Presiding the meeting will be me, Matriarch Che'stera of House Tirallas of the 1st Tower." A senior Matriarch that already showed her mature age stated.

"Present are: Matriarch Che'stera of House Tirallas of the 1st Tower; Matriarch Czisza Ac Meires of the 2nd Tower; Matriarch Vizeria of House Meraste of the 3rd Tower; Matriarch U'astia of House Pritan of the 4th Tower; Matriarch Resseria of House Wtir of the 5th Tower; Matriarch Scitira of House Otramart of the 6th Tower; Matriarch Li'rzy of House Ka'on of the 7th Tower; Matriarch Mu'erxy of House Bi'unzart of the 8th Tower; Matriarch Xririri of House Wierzyczof the 9th Tower."

Various Matriarch nodded when called, and the very young Matriarch of the 2nd Tower got more than one curious look. Most of the time she sent someone else, despite her insane combat prowess, she was young, and clearly not fond of politics.

"The topic of this meeting is 'The White One' as foretold by Lyx'yxy to an acolyte of the 3rd tower. Matriarch Vizeria gave us the exact wording as follows: 'Treat 'The White One' with utmost courtesy, as you would an esteemed guest. Don't make her an enemy or treat her as an inferior! Warn the Matriarchs!'" The matriarch gave a moment for everyone to remember the words. "I now open the meeting for discussion."

"She should be punished!" Called out the matriarch of the 6th tower. "She killed one of my clerics and my guards!"

"The 2nd tower did some inquiries. She acted in defence. Prior to your cleric abusing her power to cover for her pet thief, 'The White One' only acted defensively and used nonlethal techniques. Making the one with the most kills your cleric. Naturally she felt obliged to retaliate. And did so with overwhelming force." Czisza casually rejected. "There were some interesting threats in her speech that would have made me retaliate too."

Just as the matriarch of the 6th tower readied herself for another rant, the matriarch of the 5th tower chimed in. "That fits our research as well, we suspect that the cause of death was Otiluke's Freezing Sphere maximized, enlarged, and with added lighting." She pulled out a parchment. "Lending credit to the 3rd tower's claim of her being epic. As that is a Spell Level of 11 at least."

That caused some nervous shifting. Spell level 11 meant at the very least level 24. It was rare to see someone so young have so much power, even the not really Matriarch of the 2nd tower was too powerful for her age. In her case it had been due to adventuring a lot and then having to defend herself from her family. Leaving her the last one of that bloodline, and making her the matriarch by default.

"However!" The matriarch of the 5th tower continued. "She has been identified as a Shrine Maiden of Tamano no Mae, yet the Freezing Sphere is clearly an arcane spell. We had the 9th house do a divination for us. According to the results she is epic in the divine and arcane realms."

"She is also a mistress of melee and archery." Matriarch U'astia of the 4th house added. "According to our more meagre divinations, she is hard to piss off, and can do much, much worse than killing." The matriarch slumped forward. "I want to fight her, all out melee until one of us is out and bleeding on the ground. She did offer to fight champions after all."

More than one matriarch fought the urge to facepalm. That was totally typical of that tower, it was the one of fighters and berserkers after all. Not one of the towers with many members, it still held a lot of power since they hit hard.

"I claim my right to fight her as well! I will have a champion prepared." The matriarch of the 6th tower called out. Scitira was unfortunately known for being vindictive, and for having a temper.

"One of our wizards wants revenge, he was trying to court the eradicated cleric from the 6th tower." The matriarch of the 5th tower expanded with a resigned tone; they were going to be down one combat wizard after this.

"According to our divinations 'The White One' is safe unless you are threatening towards her, or those she has an interest in." The presiding matriarch of the first tower claimed.

Matriarch Mu'erxy of the 8th tower spoke up. "We will supply a champion as well; we are against this outsider who is blatantly flaunting her power. It is highly improbable that one as that caught the attention of our Goddess."

That caused surprise. Didn't that tower do their own divinations? For a tower of Goddess fanatics, they were fast to doubt a prophecy.

"As 'The White One' mentioned, she has an interest in trade. We reached out to the tailor she approached. She has interest in spider silk, various qualities and transparencies. She is also trying to recruit the little one. We figure she wants more seamstresses and other crafters." Matriarch Li'rzy of the 7th tower listed.

"She has admired my couch, and wants one." Vizeria of the 3rd tower bragged. That she had the last couch the old crafter had made was a sore point for many.

"She is also interested in females, in case of her being on a warpath offering her beautiful twin maidens should work sufficiently to distract her enough to have a chance to calm her down." Matriarch Czisza of the 2nd tower said.

The looks she got made her expand.

"Our best diviner and scryer is a pervert. She explained later that it would distract her, and she was curious if 'The White One' was a fellow pervert."

Nobody wanted to ask the question. That would mean admitting to wanting to know if their topic was a pervert.

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The matriarch of the 7th tower continued. "Drow maidens did not pop up in our questioning. However, wine, meat, art, magical items, services, and sweets did come to our attention."

"Any idea what kind of magical items?" The matriarch of the 5th tower asked curious.

"No, why don't you prepare a list of services and enchantments and I will introduce you once that topic comes up."

With a derisive wave of her hand the matriarch of the 8th tower complained. "If she is at such a high level, she should be able to make her items on her own." She could not believe that their Goddess would hold an outsider to high esteem, it had to be a mistake.

"I disagree, since she is epic in all matters, martial, arcane, and divine, I figure her to be at least level 50 if not level 60." The matriarch of the 2nd tower spoke up. "I can only imagine how painful gaining experience is at such a level. Considering how rarely we level and we are all around level 30, the times we move out are rare, but even then, we barely gain experience."

Everyone pondered levelling past 60.

"One moment, let me calculate how much xp level 60 is." The matriarch of the 5th tower called out. She scribbled on a parchment under the watchful eyes of all present. Then she swallowed. "As a kitsune is like us a blessed race, that means she counts as ECL 62. That adds up to 1,891,000 xp with another 62000 for level up."

"I can understand not wanting to spend her own xp in that case. Getting xp means fighting armies or monsters like that black dragon we had a few decades ago." U'astia remembered. "As old as it was, it took all the matriarchs to defeat it safely, and even then, we lost three, trying to find their remains had been hard."

Many remembered, most of them had been part of that battle. And two of those who had died in that battle had been resurrected.

"We never found it's treasures. Why not let 'The White One' search for it at a generous reward? Hint at a chance to riches, half goes to us, and she has to invest at least half of her part in our city." The matriarch of the 7th tower thought about the possibilities. A dragon like that probably had a huge hoard, that meant a lot of treasure; and that meant a chance for big business.

There were several approving nods from matriarchs with contacts in trade.

"As this is an important issue, motion carries with more than six votes." The matriarch of the 1st tower proclaimed. "I call to vote, one week from now we shall have 'The White One' tested in the colosseum. Everyone who wants is allowed one challenger, restrictions to magic, melee, ranged are allowed. But have to be told beforehand." She gave everyone a stern look. "Should she win against all challengers, she shall be treated as an esteemed guest to our city and as a favoured to our goddess Lyx'yxy. As such matters require at least two thirds of the votes, vote now."

The matriarchs voted. Towers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 voted for it. 6 and 8 were against it. They were against the 'The White One' out of principle.

"Matriarch Vizeria of the 3rd tower. It is your task to tell 'The White One' our decision. All matriarchs are to inform their people and subordinate houses of this decree."

"Now to other matters, as shown recently the safety of the bazaar and market are at an all-time low, the 7th house brought examples like the one that triggered the situation with 'The White One'. I want to ask the 2nd tower for inquiries into this matter."

The meeting continued with more normal matters.

Notes:
A small sidestep into the drow side of fluffiness induced chaos. I am working the stereotypes hard there. I was never really good at that evil mastermind thing. Each drow will have their own agenda, as will each tower, and naturally Zaria the cause of this will be mixed up in all sorts of plots (that are only mental outlines currently) despite her dislike for politics.

Anyone wanting more Info on the towers, Dramatis Personae is the place to look. It will come in story as well, next Zaria chapter. Next up is a Marielle Chapter, she has almost caught up time/chapter wise.

I also remind everyone that there are several polls still open and valid!
Like Fel'ctas Party. Right now it is down to two other members, and Celies is close to being replaced with a catgirl ranger.
https://www.scribblehub.com/read/69709-lets-explore-and-enjoy/chapter/77449/

Poll: Same scene, different POV. I like it since it is a totally different scene for the other person, if they were from the same party it would be something different. But from a totally different perspective it is very much a totally new scene I think, one that helps showing the differences between characters and how they perceive things differently.
Zaria more worried about cooking, and Fel'ctas in a panic because there is some who could accidently kill her with a wrong more in her house.
Why this as a poll? Someone complained about the crossover scenes, but I like them.
1: Yes, it shows the differences, and it is interesting.
2: No, it is wasted space where something else could be happening.
3: Whatever, make sure to post the next chapter soon.

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