Chapter 102: Dialogue Options (1/2)
On one side, a flock of twenty Valkyries armed to the teeth.
On the other side, two Epic level adventurers and a ferocious dodo.
Yeah, not a fair fight. The poor ladies had no idea how outmatched they were.
Victor examined the flock, and realized that many of them had already been killed on the island. Yet somehow they formed a battle line right before him. “You can revive your own,” the Vizier guessed. “That’s how you knew I captured her soul.”
“We Valkyries can collect worthy warriors who wish to fight forever in Lord Wotan’s halls. That is our [Einherjar] ability.” The new leader of the flock, a black-haired maiden wielding a spear of light, landed on the beach right in front of the Vizier. She pointed her weapon at his head. “But you trapped Sigrun, and we cannot bring her back. Release her at once.”
“I don’t understand everything, but you won’t get far making threats.” Kia raised her sword, surrounding it with light.
“This does not concern you, human,” the Valkyrie replied, very much oblivious to the [Paladin]'s true identity. “We have no quarrel with you.”
Kia wasn’t impressed, and neither was Victor. Since Gorynych and Vainqueur were in the vicinity, their group had the advantage. Even Dodolion looked placidly at the flock, calm and serene.
Still, the Vizier would rather avoid a fight if he could. “I think we all need to calm down here.”
“Release our sister and we will be on our way,” the Valkyrie leader insisted, “We will take her back by force if needed.”
“Wait,” Victor caught on. “Would you be willing to negotiate peacefully for her release?”
The war maidens exchanged glances, while their leader frowned at him. “Why would you give her back without a fight?” The concept of a peaceful discussion sounded almost foreign to her. Apparently she only made her demand as a courtesy.
“I dunno, because threats and violence aren’t the answer to everything?”
Charisma check successful!
“What do you want then, dragon thrall?”
“I know your master yet lives,” Victor said. He had learned from Akhenapep that every buried evil would escape at one point, no matter how tight the seal. “I want him to stop coming after us. Talk him out of it.”
“Impossible,” the woman shook her head. “Lord Wotan made an oath to the fairy queen, that he would bring her the dragon’s head.”
“His word once given he never breaks,” Sigrun’s shade added with pride, seen only by Victor. “Not like you shifty mortals.”
An honorable kind of fairy? Good, the Vizier would work with that. “What was the exact wording?”
“Bring me Vainqueur Knightsbane’s head, and I shall grant you the soul you crave.”
As he thought, he had found a glaring loophole in it. “Then, here are my terms then,” Victor said. “I will release the soul on three conditions. First, you will answer all our questions as best as you can. Second, after we are done, you will depart this island peacefully. And third, if and when Wotan comes after us again, I want you to convince him to parley instead of attacking on sight. If he picks a fight with Vainqueur afterward, that will be his funeral, but I want him to sit down and negotiate with us for ten minutes.”
Charisma check...
Successful!
The Valkyrie leader pondered his offer, before answering. “I cannot promise my lord will listen, but otherwise… you have our word. We will answer your questions, leave this place without harming anyone, and we shall carry your message to Lord Wotan. If you release our sister.”
Finally, a villain with common sense.
“Are you sure about it, Vic?” Kia whispered to him, low enough for the fairy thralls not to hear them. The [Paladin] hadn’t relaxed at all, her blade firmly pointed at the flock. “We can take them. If you release that soul and let them go, that means problems later.”
“Maybe, but we won’t get many opportunities to learn about the fomors’ operations,” the Vizier replied. “I say it’s worth the risk.”
“Stop whispering among yourselves and ask your questions,” the Valkyrie leader ordered. “I have no desire to stay on this island any longer than needed.”
Right, right. “What’s your name?” Victor asked the leader.
“Brynhildr.”
“Brynhildr, who is the fairy queen who sent your master after us?” He already suspected the answer, but he wanted confirmation, and to see if the ladies lied to him.
“We know her as Mell Odieuse,” Brynhildr replied truthfully. Apparently, while loyal to their master, the Valkyries couldn’t care less about the other fomors. “She looks like you humans yet is anything but. She is a cruel beast of great power, and many fairy lords crowned her as queen.”
“Fomors elect a common leader only during wartime,” Kia pointed out. “They are too proud to stand a higher authority otherwise. What do you mean by many?”
“Many fairy lords of Prydain and Mistral bent the knee, save our own Lord, Baba Yaga, and loners like the Jack O’Lantern. She sent emissaries north, west, east, and south across the world, to the unseelie, the yokai, and the rakshasas, offering power in exchange for loyalty.”
“And for what purpose?” Victor asked grimly.
The entire Valkyrie flock looked at him, as if he were an idiot to even ask. “To exterminate the mortals.”
He walked right into that one.
“Lord Wotan said no though,” Brynhildr admitted.
Victor frowned. “He refused?”
“There is no honor in killing creatures who cannot kill you in turn,” she replied with great pride. “A true warrior’s worth is determined by the mettle of his foes.”
“Lord Wotan coexists with the people of your Winter Kingdoms,” another battle maiden added. “So long as they leave him alone and do not interfere in his dragon hunts, neither does he bother them.”
“You won't convince me that a fomor can care about humans,” Kia spat.
“Lord Wotan cares not,” Brynhildr admitted. “But he does not take pleasure in killing your kind either. He only seeks the blood of dragons and other worthy foes. While his kindred attacked civilians to gain levels, he hunted zmeys and dragons to prepare for yours.”
Well, Victor guessed that like on Earth, not all psychopaths were genocidal serial killers. “In the volcano, I heard him speak about Balaur’s crusade. He said it had been a threat to his own race.”
“It was,” Brynhildr nodded, Kia stiffening at this. “Lord Wotan thought this war pointless, and time proved him right. Fomors were few and are now fewer. Unlike you mortals, they cannot replenish their numbers easily. Since he would not bend the knee nor serve in her armies, the fairy queen asked him to hunt your dragon lord for her gift.”
“So, if I follow,” Kia said. “This Odieuse can somehow give fomors souls, and thus access to the System, in exchange for their service. How does she do that?”
“Mag Mell, Odieuse’s father, used the blood and bones of dragons to create a new crest: the Soulcrest. One that empowered our Lord with a soul of his own.”