Chapter 40: Chapter 39

How long, was a week? This subjective question was something Estaria was asking herself, after finishing up a C-rank dungeon she had run more to practice Witch Dance than anything. It had all gone so quickly; going back to the Cult and getting the teasing from her Sisters about the name. Flirting back that if she was a bunny, that meant she would have to get with everyone in the Cult. Laughter, companionship, camaraderie. 

 

Nothing she thought she would find in Druchii lands, but here she was, with people she cared about and with those that cared about her. There was even possibly a bit more, given the look on Filnon’s face when Estaria had her flirty play with the other Witches.Still, Filnon never brought it up and Estaria wasn’t going to push, so they just pretended it didn’t happen. She would come talk to Estaria about it eventually, even if it was snapping and going mad about it. Then Estaria could deal with the tangible thing, rather than just a thing that might not be there. 

 

What was there, however, was dungeon running. C-ranks for the cash when Filnon was busy, and B-ranks when they were together. The economy of the city slowly recovered with a new influx of slaves, and so they could spend gold in the shop rather than converting it. Between that and her arena fights, Filnon got her second of the three traits, and Estaria got another two levels towards her own. Still bothered by the stat cap, but she’d deal with that later. 

 

The boxes in front of her were another delight. Hallmarking the end of her training and the end of her issues with people wearing heavy armour.

 

Witch-Dance: The style of all Witch Elves, this form is a mobile prayer to Khaine as much as a combat style. Every step, and every cut and every twist sings to Khaine, and blades find their target with unnerving ease. While in this style, gain 20% armour piercing and increase nearby Witches stats by +10 when you make a kill.

100 Precision: Armour-chinker: You can find the most minute flaw in any armour and deliver the blow for maximum damage. Gain 25% armour piercing

 

Much needed, given that her weapons base armour penetration was 0%, which was why the plate had such good capabilities holding her off. But now, she’d smash nearly half the armour off anything that tried to stop her. That, along with her now considerable strength, really topped everything off. She’d probably run B-ranks solo from now, and see if Filnon was down for an A-rank.

 

With sufficient cash to splash, she would look to her items. Upgrading her Uniform to Purple, it gained a lot more armour and the “Performer” buff that negated damage from glances and clips that she nearly dodged. It was helpful to reduce damage in a way more than just more armour. 

 

Her fists got the “Meteoric Plating” upgrade for more damage at the cost of greater weight. The weight didn’t bother her these days, and raw damage was good now she had this much armour penetration to put it to good use. 

 

With some cash left over, she’d go to the shop, Agility was near the cap and she wanted to see what she could get out of it. But after buying one of the lesser potions and one of the standard potions, they were both sold out and she could boost herself no more. Scowling at the damn thing and hating the idea of dropping 5 tokens for one point, she did it anyway, downing all three of them and getting a new pop-up.

 

100 Agility Queen’s Step: A stepping method earning its name from the fact that one is not marred by nature, and appears wherever she wishes, like an immaculate Queen.  You may walk atop snow, mud, water and thin ice without falling through

 

Immediately after finishing the potion and getting a pop-up, her feet changed. The heels felt as broad and supportive as snow-shoes now, and while her Agility allowed her to keep her balance perfectly before, now she didn’t even need to put in any effort to keep her balance. Hell, now she could run on the top of snow, she might even go looking for a Field Dungeon. Tundra was no longer a place of worry, where knee deep snow could slow her down, exhaust her, and make her prey for monsters. Cold was still an issue though, she’d need more clothes than these to go out there.

 

Feeling more confident than she had in forever, Estaria exited the house, walking with a seductive and attention-grabbing gait. As much as the Agility had helped her keep her balance, she kept her walking simple and to the point because she was still a bit not used to heels. But now? She had some fun with it. Heads turned, work stopped, even some overseers stopped beating their slaves for some percieved infraction as she walked over to the Witch Cult. It was abuzz with activity, as one might expect, though there was an air to it that made her smile slowly slide off.

 

“Did I totally misread the situation? Is this a sombre festival?” Estaria asked one of the Witches, feeling awkward now in her flamboyant uniform. 

“Ohh, nothing like that, Bunny. Fukuri went to the Manor to talk to the Master, but she’s been there a while now. We are pretty nervous something has happened” The Witch replied, though Estaria’s was just confused. Why was a young Witch up there?

 

“Surely if you want to organise things with the Master, you’d send someone more…experienced?” Es asked, not sure what was really going on. The Witch was confused for a moment before clocking onto the issue.

“Ohh, right. You don’t know. Fukuri was pretty embarrassed about it and didn’t want it spreading around. The Master’s son was meant to marry her since her family is a distant relative of the Blood Queen Hellebron. But she didn’t like him and didn’t want to be a wife, so came to Hag Aria for a solution. Aria said that if she could showcase worth to the Witch Cult by the time the marriage arrived - which was set to be on Death Night - then Aria would ensure there was no marriage. She managed to pass Aria’s requirements yesterday, so she took Fukuri up to explain everything”

 

Estaria would nod at the explanation, and look up to the Manor. It was quite ostentatious, set on an artificial hill with spikes and spires and all manner of stuff that wasn’t found anywhere else in the small city. Still, pride and arrogance aside, he wouldn’t be so foolish as to try anything against a Hag, would he?

 

“How long have they been up there?” Estaria asked, looking at the mansion.

“Just over an hour. I can imagine the Master is getting argumentative about this whole thing, but..we are getting agitated. Some of us want to send someone up to go check on the proceedings, since we can’t begin without Aria to start the festival” 

 

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Well, that absolutely was cause for concern. Estaria bit her lip, worried about the social hierarchy of this city, but also about Fukuri and Aria.

“We’ll go” Filnon exclaimed, having been watching and listening from the corner. “We’ll go check it out. If it’s just being dragged out, we’ll kick some ass and get our girls back here before sundown. If not…we’ll handle that” Filnon would put in. The way she put it, it was clear she wasn’t asking for permission, just telling the Witches that it was something that was happening.

 

Still, at least lip-service to the idea of the official way of doing things was given, and they got the next highest ranking Witch to send them to go investigate and lend any aid needed. With that given, Filnon marched up to the Manor, at a pace even Estaria had to hurry to keep up with. What they saw, was an extremely suspicious sight. Five Bleakswords stood guard at the front, each one decked out in war-plate from head to toe. The craftsmanship marked them as the elites of the City’s standing army, and that was not something you just had guarding your front door.

 

Not to be perturbed, Filnon would approach and nod to the man at the front.

“We seek Hag Aria. The Death Night Festival is delayed without her presence, and we must begin before sundown” Filnon exclaimed, her voice hard and commanding, full of confidence. Though the Bleaksword didn’t move, and just intoned in a mocking voice.

“The Lord has ordered the doors closed to all comers. None may enter” 

 

Filnon frowned at that, a scowl that marked her growing temper.

“Death Night is the most important festival of the year. The Master would mock The Witches and our Lord Khaine?” Filnon demanded, taking a step towards him, that had all five of the guards reach for their swords.

“The Lord has ordered the doors closed to all comers. None may enter” the exact same words, in the exact same tone. Filnon stared for a moment and then let out a ‘tsk’ and turned. There was still a small chance that this was just suspicious and the Master was dealing with them in a closed door meeting. Bursting through them would just ruin the reputation of the Witches.

 

So she would turn, and with Estaria in tow, scout out the other entrances. Five men at the back, two at each of the slave entrances, and two guarding the exit from the underground escape tunnel. This, was beyond suspicious. 

 

“Filnon” Estaria commented, as they were coming back from the tunnel exit. “Something is going on here, and it’s not just an overdue argument. You need to go prepare the Witches, because Aria isn’t the kind of woman to give up and walk away without Fukuri” Estaria warned, with a serious face and a stern expression.

 

“And you are going in, I take it?” Filnon asked. Estaria was a well known slave by this point, powerful and a little mischievous. If she invaded the Master’s Manor for her own personal reasons, the societal blow would be lessened. At worse, Filnon would get in trouble for not controlling her slave. 

“Mmm. If nothing else, I can’t just sit and watch as Fukuri is put in peril like this. So I’ll find a subtle way in and scope out the situation, then act from there. Best way of doing it is to get Fukuri out in secret. Aria is a Hag, she can absolutely handle herself, but Fukuri is still young, and barely a Witch. But if they press me, I will paint the walls” Estaria replied, turning to the Manor.

 

Es could see Filnon jittering with a desire to do something she probably felt she shouldn’t, but eventually just accepted the plan, nodded, and took off towards the Witch Cult. For her part, Estaria would double back to a point she had noticed earlier. A decorative opening that would take some acrobatic contortionism to slip into, especially given that it was five metres off the ground. No wonder nobody was watching it. Estaria took a few steps back and then ran and jumped, scrambling up the wall and managing to grab hold of the opening, dragging herself up and twisting her body to fit through it. 

 

On the other side, she could more clearly hear the gathering of a lot of people, and wondered why it was so dark. Maybe something to do with the religion? She knew they worshiped The Dark Muses, but didn’t think that it was literal…. Holding the opening, she would press her feet against the wall and then push off in a backflip, soaring through the blackened air and landing softly on the rafters opposite. From here, she looked down on the gathering below her.

 

A good forty Druchii were here, all focused on the front of the room, which was the only part to have any light. There, a very well dressed man - clearly a Priest of some kind - was reading texts from a book and waving his arms, making wild proclamations to the crowd. She couldn’t see Aria anywhere, but there were an inordinate amount of guards for such a wedding reception. And just to make it far, far worse, next to the groom, was Fukuri.

 

Estaria could only tell who it was from her nameplate, her heavy - albeit beautiful - wedding dress covered her from head to toe, and seemed to somehow hide her arms somewhere, since manoeuvring around, Es couldn’t see them at all. Nor could she see the woman face, an equally heavy veil so thick she was probably blind inside it. That was enough for her to spring into action, since Aria would never have let Fukuri get married after promising to protect her from it. Crossing the rafters, she would drop suddenly, landing on The Master’s son and bashing his head against the ground for good measure.

 

If she needed any confirmation that something was not right, Fukuri didn’t react at all, not even a twitch. The rest of the crowd did though, a collective gasp as she arrived, and then stood up and pulled Fukuri’s veil off, revealing exactly why she hadn’t reacted.

 

Thick wax plugs filled her ears, deafening her to the surroundings, which a heavy blindfold stole her sight, and a heavy, twisted length of rope was wrapped around her mouth to prevent her from saying anything. From the way her cheeks bulged, they probably stuffed her mouth as well to further silence her. The sudden outrage from the crowd and the Priest as they saw Fukuri’s state made it clear that this was not normal, or expected.

 

“Guards, seize that woman!” came a shrill order, from what looked to be The Master’s Wife. Well, she could play that game just as well.

“Look after her” Estaria ordered the Priest, the burning fury in her eyes startling the man to a point he didn’t even question a slave giving an order, just did as he was told and grabbed Fukuri to hide behind the stand together. Fucking bastards made sure she was completely helpless, with the clink of manacles following Fukuri’s every move. 

 

The Guards hesitated for a second on getting close, as they properly recognized who they were about to face. But then, they moved in anyway, blades at the ready, to fulfil their order. 

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