In a castle that Dix would have accused of copyright infringement, and also being absolutely useless as a defensive structure, a group of people met in a small dining room, empty of food for the moment, although drinks aplenty. For the moment their discussion was dominated by a huge ursine man in gleaming white armor, banded in pale blue. A giant empty sheath on his back gave evidence that he used a great sword for a weapon, although it was lacking at the moment. From the hand gestures and raised voice it was apparent that his personality matched his weapon, all brute force with just enough finesse to avoid cutting off his hand. A brute masquerading as an elegant nobleman.

To one side of him sat a much smaller man, clothed in grays and blacks. Even in a room obviously populated with friends, he still wore his hood. None of the light from the various lamps and light stones seemed able to penetrate the shadows that kept his face hidden, although his mug made it through just fine. There were no traces of a weapon anywhere on his person, but it could be surmised that he was more heavily armed than any of them.

Opposite him, to the brute’s other side, was a red headed female elf clad in what could only be described as scandalous elegance. Despite her race, she still managed to display a staggering amount of cleavage. With a wine glass cradled in one hand for her to inspect, her other hand twirled to the side as multicolored sparks, smoke, and flames radiated off of it creating a scintillating display to anyone not used to the sorceress’s habit. Whenever she was bored, which was frequently, she turned to magic to entertain herself. She would often create similar displays of dazzling beauty, only to destroy them in a spectacular display of magical force, elemental variety, and undisputed power when she inevitably tired of them. The only thing more terrifying than her boredom, was her anger. At the moment she was merely bored, but the topic of conversation was almost guaranteed to set her off at some point.

The final members of the group around the table sat opposite the large armored man. The couple, for they were obviously so, as evidenced by the woman draped across the man’s lap, were far more regal than their companions. It wasn’t just the crowns, and royal robes that did it either. Even amongst friends the man sat upright in a way that made him seem to loom over all others, an instinctive expression of his place in the world. Even with his regal bearing, it was the eyes that spoke the loudest, radiating pride and dominance. The woman periodically moved about in his lap, the very picture of indolence and grace. Much like a cat, she only paid attention to the man when she wanted attention herself, and otherwise ignored everyone as being beneath her.

As the large armored man took a breath to continue his tirade, the king raised a hand, stopping his outburst before it truly began. When he spoke his voice was a smooth, pleasing, baritone, but you could hear the steel in it. “Enough. The last thing we need right now is a war with our neighbors, no matter how irritating they are. We have other problems. The Empire of Salvation is almost finished with their war. Is there any news on their movements?”

As the large man sat back in his chair with a grunt, the smaller man spoke up. The voice coming from the dark of the hood was without inflection, emotion, or even gender. Perfectly neutral in all ways. “From their troop movements, they appear to be preparing to stand down for some time. Other than a few regiments held back to pacify and process the last of the elven bastions, the rest are all headed back to their originating sectors. However, while the army appears to be standing down, the most powerful agents of the Emperor of Man have vanished. All but one of the Inferno have disappeared.”

The king and the elven sorceress both looked distressed, but the armored man merely scoffed, “Who cares if those pansies disappear, it’s not like they are any kind of threat to us.”

The elven woman glared back at him, “Shut up, idiot. Even the weakest of the Inferno would provide us with an uncertain fight. And I mean all five of us, not just you.”

Once more the inflectionless voice spoke up, “Sybil is correct. The members of Inferno did more to conquer the continent of Vacatine than all of the Empire’s armies combined. I do not mean to worry you, but if they are missing, that means they are likely to already be here on Verasal. Most likely not yet to attack, but to set their schemes in motion. Schemes we currently know nothing about.”

No one spoke for a while, lost in thought. Nought wasn’t the type to bring up unsubstantiated threats, so that meant that he was more than a little worried about these events. Even Lilith, Queen of Emprise, showed a small amount of concern for something other than herself, if only for a few seconds. The huge warrior, Nayll, grumbled under his breath, no doubt something about smashing their schemes with his sword.

Eventually King Saber spoke, “We need more information. Best guess for now?”

“Nothing on their actual plans, but the steps to get it rolling I can guess. At this point they are likely making contact with their spies and agents to make sure that everything is where it needs to be in their plan. Adjustments to make sure it fits into current conditions. Expect them to start in six months.” Naught’s voice was still empty of emotion, even in the face of the unknown threat approaching them.

“What about a target, any ideas there?” This time it was Sybil asking.

“Nothing clear. They will need to make landfall somewhere, which means they need to come from the West. Specifics will need to be ascertained, but we can guess that their initial target will be somewhere near the coast.”

Before the others could chime in, the king took control once more. “Sybil, get your mages scrying along the coast, and design a grid search of the most likely sailing lines they could use to get here. Anything out of the ordinary gets sent to Nought to check out. Nought, if you need muscle or provocation Nayll will back you up. Nayll, until then we need some of our distractions put down. Anything that disrupts trade gets put down immediately, we’re going to need the money. Adventurers get one week to get the jobs done, and then you send the army. They aren’t adventurers, but the work will get them some experience and levels.”

After the other three saluted and left, Saber turned to Lilith, who was suddenly sharply attentive and aware. “Anything from your network on Inferno?”

Sho shook her head, a concerned look on her face. “They most likely aren’t here, or either Nought or I would have found some sign of them. Not that that makes me feel any better about this.” Saber wrapped his arms around her, cradling her to his chest. They both put up a strong front for their friends, but privately they were very worried about the Empire of Salvation. Not long ago the Empire had only been a portion of Vacatine, with mostly peaceful relations with their neighbors. Now, a few short decades later, they controlled the entire continent. Any ruler of a country that hungry for territory wouldn’t let an ocean stop them. They might not be coming tomorrow, but they were coming.

Quietly, Lilith asked, “How long on plan B for you now?”

A big sigh came from the chest she was pressed against before an answer followed. She enjoyed the rumble of his voice as it vibrated through his body. “Two years and a bit. You?”

“At the rate things are going? Even longer. The only good news is that war and tough times increase the number of patrons, so as things get worse for everyone else, I get closer to finishing. Any idea on the others?” Saber shook his head. “I wonder if they will leave before us.” The rulers of a nation cuddled in a small dining room, lost in their concerns, unable to fully comfort each other as the realities of their situation weighed them down.

--------------------------

In a startlingly similar setting another such meeting was taking place. The building was quite different, but the group was still in a small dining room. None of the furnishings were anywhere near as elegant, but where they lost out in finery they won in comfort. Even the oversized lodge that the room was placed in was the same way, comfort over fashion. The lodge was the headquarters of the Adventurer’s Guild, and the people meeting within were the various Guildmasters. They were obviously of different paths in life, as each was as different as they could possibly be. Beastkin, demons, dwarves, elves, folk, orcs, and a myriad of other races were represented. Classes were just as disparate. In fact there were only two things about the group that they had in common, a shield shaped brooch with a crossed sword, staff, and arrow embossed on it, and a mug of ale with the same emblem.

Much like the ruling members of Emprise, the guild masters were discussing the recent changes in Vacatine. One dwarf stood on his chair to speak, ignoring the indignity. He’d been an adventurer for most of his life, losing a lot of the more dwarven points of pride in that time. He retained the most important ones though. As he spoke he waved around a battleaxe larger than himself in one hand, and a mug of ale the size of his head in the other, with his blazing red beard tucked into his belt to keep it under control. “The dwarves of Vacatine got most of the populations out, about eighty percent of the civilians. Only sixty percent of the warriors though. As for the outlying surviving beastkin, they did better. Only a few stragglers were left behind, mostly the old crotchety bastards who refused to leave. Adventurers were gathered as well, but most refused until the end. We have no real tallies on them, as we didn’t know exactly how many were actually on Vacatine at the time the war started.” He paused to down his mug and grab another before continuing on.

“It will take time to get them across the ocean, most likely eight to ten months. They collapsed the entrances behind them, so the holds are sealed up tight. Which, considering the power the Empire has been throwing around, ought to hold them for only a couple of months, if they even try. With this, other than the enslaved, the non-humans have left Vacatine to the Empire, as has the Adventurer’s Guild.”

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone contemplated the losses. Once more, the greatest threat to civilization was proven to be people, not monsters. The Adventurer’s Guild had been formed for the express purpose of protecting people from the monsters, hunting down the terrors that lived in the dark. The clerical services were top notch, containing records that went back much farther than most people could imagine. A great many secrets were hidden amongst those records, but none more pertinent than a running tally of losses. Since the inception of the Adventurer’s Guild the percentage of civilians killed by monsters each year had fallen to fifteen from a staggering eighty seven. The sad part was that eighty percent of civilian deaths over the last two hundred years were attributed to a single cause, war.

The recent war the Empire had started had been different than those that came before. It wasn’t that race wars hadn’t existed before, although rarely of the same scale. The major difference was the treatment of adventurers. Normal practice amongst warring nations was an increase in the hiring of adventurers. When the soldiers all marched to the battlelines, someone needed to take up the slack and fight the monsters left behind.

The Empire of Salvation did something completely different. They forced all of the adventurers out of their lands, and the lands they conquered. First were warnings, then imprisonment. If the same adventurer was caught a third time they were executed. Never before had any nation denied the Guild in such a way.

The Guild had always been impartial, taking no side in any conflict. During war there were no discounts on services, no preferential treatment. Any Adventurers that wanted to fight in a war were required to quit the guild, and could not rejoin until one year had passed since the end of the war. Even then their reentrance was subject to investigation into their conduct during their time away. The Guild stance was always clear, they existed to fight monsters, not their fellow people, no matter the race. Joining the Adventurer’s Guild required you to give up any claims of nationality, race, species, or religion. They existed for the betterment of all, and to treat others as though they were unworthy of the help of the Guild was unconscionable. Even if the people in trouble couldn’t pay you for your help, the Guild would do so on their behalf.

A beastkin of avian descent coughed lightly, breaking the heavy silence. Although he was covered in bright plumage, he had gone to great lengths to make his clothes and armor even more eye-catchingly bright and colorful. From the display you would think he was some sort of crazy mage, weird priest, or a bard, but he was actually a pure assassin. One of the other guild masters always suggested that the reason the colorful bird was such a successful assassin of beasts was that his colorful attire appearing so suddenly would cause anything to fall into epileptic fits, making for easy marks. In addition, as a guild master, he was in charge of the Guild’s information network. It was less spies, although they had many, and more word of mouth from people the Guild had helped at some point in the past, or retired adventurers.

With everyone’s attention on him he preened briefly, causing everyone else to either glare or laugh at his audacity. Smiling at his peers, he got quickly to the point. “The Inferno used a transport orb to leave Vacatine, although we have no idea where they ended up.” The dropped jaws were to be expected. Transport orbs were rare, and getting rarer. They were consumable items that could teleport a small group of people to basically anywhere the person using it had been before. They were getting rarer because no one knew how to make them anymore. “Even if they came to Verasal, we have no way of tracking them until we happen across them. I recommend that we send out a notice to all B rank and above teams to keep an eye out, but no active searching. They get around enough that we can hopefully find something, and are experienced enough to not ask questions when we tell them not to. The network will also, obviously, be looking into this.”

“Excellent.” A lightly armored elf stood to speak. “Do we know anything about why they are here?”

The avian laughed, “We don’t even know if they are here. It’s just that none of the other continents have anything they might want. Or at least we think so. Who knows what’s out there. One thing is for sure though, if it’s conquest they are after, Verasal is the only one worth attacking.”

“Hmm. Well, then I second your recommendation to notify the B and above ranks.” The elf gave a sharp nod, then sat again.

A visibly old elf wearing a blindfold stood from the end of the table with the help of a staff. With a wave of his hand a brilliant formation of mana appeared along the table, three colored circles appearing in front of each guild master. Despite his visible age, shocking to see on an elf, his voice still had the whip crack of command as he spoke, “A recommendation has been made and seconded. Vote now.”

Older, stronger, and more respected than any of those who followed them, the guild masters were still adventurers, so they needed no colored circles to quietly hide their votes from others. Perhaps more importantly, this particular vote needed no dissension, it was a call for surveillance, not war. With raised fists and one voice, the leaders of the Adventurer’s Guild declared, “Aye!” The slamming of mugs onto green circles was a declaration of intent.

Many just wished it was more than just looking for some people. The banishment of the Guild from an entire continent so that genocide could be attempted was a painful insult to many, and they were looking to respond the only way they knew how, with violence. For now they would have to be content with looking, afterall, you can’t stab a target when you don’t know where it is. The true concern was what would happen when the Inferno were found. As a whole, adventurers were fiercely independent, even their leaders. Some felt there was a genuine fear that many would strike out at the Inferno and the Empire without first withdrawing from the Guild. If too many did so, the Guild could end up in a war they didn’t want, or torn apart by internal dispute. In the face of the unknown, dissension in the ranks was more than just a possibility.