Greed God chapter 212

April 9th 2016 Brightedge City, Undercity, 9:00 PM EDT

We  didn't get attacked on the way to the castle. Sindara summoned her  demiliches to light our way, and the undead simply turned away from  them. I saw some weird monsters. Not just zombies and vampires, but a  few haunted scarecrows and ghostly beasts. Without exception they were  turned back. These were random wandering beasts, and none of them were  above E rank. They were just bottom feeders, and Sindara was at the peak  of E, a unique existence that reigned over the dead, at least up to her  own level.

When we reached the castle (which I would  assume would be where Lilith would be if she was down here,  since...cathedral) we were stopped by a pair of spectral guards. I  expected them to ask for some kind of ID or password, but their spectral  glare just bored into us for a minute before nodding and letting us  pass.

Stepping over the threshold was an immense change.  Outside it was a creepy blue dyed landscape of dark grass full of  monsters, but it was also totally silent. Once we entered the castle the  world itself changed. White and gold marble made up the floors, with a  decidedly french decor of white paneling with gold trim along the walls.  Torches cast golden flickering light across the castle, and a red  carpet led across the entryway into a massive ballroom.

The  ballroom was full of the living dead. Powerful vampires spun across the  floor as spectral couples danced across unseen winds above their heads.  The walls were lined with mirrors, showing empty clothes at the floor  level, and for a second I thought I was screwed, but a glance into a  polished metal suit of armor nearby showed me my other self was on the  case. My reflection was his bread and butter, and with a finger to his  lips he shot me a wink and faded from the metal.

Huh, that  was...kind of useless in any situation except this exact one, but it  made sense. He'd been doing creepy shit with my reflection for a while  now. It was nice to fucking benefit from it for a change.  Sindara  wasn't dressed for...this. But I was able to fix that easily. I pulled  her to the side into an alcove and pulled out a chunk of obsidian,  merging it with her clothes and reshaping the outfit into a luxurious  black ball gown.

Sindy giggled at that, spinning around  delightedly. "What do you think master?" She was practically floating  with joy. Seriously, the girl was SO low maintenance.

I  just grinned at her. "You look ravishing. But don't forget we're here on  business. Who or what are we looking for? Have any of the ghosts from  up there seen the pool where Lilith was interred? Or are we here for  something else?" This was the only building of the right size down here,  so I could understand if she was just checking it out, but the purpose  she'd shown on the walk told me we might have an actual reason for  coming.

Her face became somber. "The ghosts up there are  barely ghosts. You could consider them more like pests to the beings  down here than entities. Until my spirit convocation they couldn't  communicate, but they were EVERYWHERE down here. Rats in the walls. They  knew quite a few secrets that I picked up, and while there isn't a pool  like you described, they knew who all the major players were and now so  do I."

This whole thing made my head hurt. This place  hadn't even existed a week ago, and though it was made up of parts of  Gotham and Metropolis, it still made no sense that there were fucking  people with histories here. Still, my power didn't exactly work in ways  that made sense, and I suspected I'd need a MUCH more thorough grounding  in magic and the mechanics of reality to effectively understand how it  DID work. "Ok, so who do we need to talk to about all this?"

In  some ways this was actually more convenient. If Lilith's pool was down  here, then the 'locals' would know where. Or maybe it had been destroyed  when the merge happened and now it was a pile of gold coins or a  crystal skull or something, but somehow I doubted I was that lucky.  Anything as high ranked as that pool had to be was most likely just  moved during the merge, but it probably became a focal point of whatever  region it showed up in.

"Well, the Baron of this castle,  Dumond, is part of the courts of damned. He owes fealty to the no-life  king. He's a powerful specter probably about as strong as that Mary  woman. His seneschal's name is Delevar, and he works as kind of a  combination spy master and advisor. He's our best bet for finding out  about the pool if it's here. We can also talk to lady Celeste Benoit, a  noblewoman who has ears everywhere."

I wondered if the  no-life king existed? I mean, he probably did, but did that mean the  Baron had just been inserted into his chain of command? I made the firm  decision to stop fucking thinking about any of this before my brain  combusted. Slipping out another shard of onyx I merged it with my  clothes, shifting them into a devilishly handsome suit, then offered  Sindara my arm. "Alright, lead on. Will it be a problem that no one will  recognize us?"

She shook her head. "No. Lots of the  vampires in there are local. Once the depths was discovered the undead  in the area flocked here. We'll just be faces in the crowd." I nodded  and let her pull me along into the ballroom.

My lack of  reflection in the mirror was kind of a trip to see at first, but I liked  it. The two of us started to dance to blend in, and I knew enough from  parties as a kid not to make a fool of myself, especially combined with  my perfect recall and bodily control.

Using dancing as a  cover we were able to conveniently approach a few of the other couples,  letting Sindy search for one of our targets. We finally spotted one,  Lady Celeste, and approached her when the current song ended. Lady  Celeste was...interesting. Dressed in a ball gown with a hoop skirt, her  silvery hair was restrained in a bun, though the trailing strands to  the side floated up in defiance of gravity. Her skin was so pale it was  nearly translucent, and her eyes were an eerie blue.

Aside  from the ghostly features, she was pretty sexy. Cute button nose, full  lips with a beauty mark on her upper lip, and huge milky tits that were  practically popping out of her dress (though I highly suspected a lot of  that effect was the dress itself, it was still a nice bit of scenery)  and a thin waist. As we approached, she seemed to notice us, and her  eyes betrayed no reaction at all to our presence.

Which  was reasonable, since she didn't know us. It wasn't like we would be  famous down here. I put on my most charming smile and swept into a deep  European style bow, while Sindara curtsied politely. "Lady Celeste I  presume." I said. "I can only guess, not having had the pleasure of  making your acquaintance before, but I was told Lady Celeste was the  most breathtaking woman in the room, so I can't imagine who else she  might be." That was a lie of course, I appraised her as soon as Sindara  pointed her out.

[Appraisal function activated.  Treasure detected. Celeste Benoit- D ranked Ghostly Courtier. A noble  lady of not inconsequential power, Celeste finds herself in a perpetual  state of ennui, attending functions without end and searching for some  kind of meaning in her dreary life.]

A French  noble with depression, who would have thought? Still, aside from the  obvious there was an opening there. I knew boredom, and while I  suspected getting her stocking stuffed (hedonism being my preferred  method of relieving boredom) would be a nice way to put some pep in her  step, chances of her hiking up the poofy skirt in the middle of the  ballroom weren't exactly high.

There was more than one way  to skin a cat though (a weird expression I seriously hoped wasn't based  on extensive research) and a mystery should help liven her up (pun  intended) just as well. For the moment she mostly looked bored. Charming  as I could be this was an old dance for her. "Thank you for your kind  words." She said in a flat tone, her accent faint but noticable.  She  held out a hand for me to kiss, which I was happy to do since it let me  dig into her desires.

Aside from a surprising preference  for anal, I could sense exactly what I expected. A desperate hunger for  excitement and adventure. As I stood up, I looked around furtively,  letting my smile drop. "Lady Celeste. Aside from wishing to bear witness  to your beauty I had another matter I hoped to speak to you about. Is  there some place we could talk privately? There may be some danger if  people were to overhear."

Her eyes flashed as she perked  up with nearly unnoticeable interest. "Privacy..." She looked the two of  us over, paying actual attention now and trying to figure out more  about us. "I suppose I could make time." Her pouty lips quirked up into a  smile. "Follow me me cherie. I am most intrigued by what you have to  say."

She turned with a sweep of her gown and glided off  toward one side of the room. When she reached the mirrored wall she  reached out through the glass and with a click, a door opened in the  wall, letting us out into a dimly lit chamber off the main hall. As we  entered, she turned to watch us intently. "Now. Why don't you tell me of  this...danger. We should be safe from prying ears."

Damn  this woman was bored. Her excitement for any sort of entertainment was  almost sexual. I wasn't going to bitch about motivation though. I put on  a fearful expression, though my mask hid half of it. "My name is Karl  Rezman, your ladyship. I am just a humble member of the city's local  vampire population." My disguise would show me as being around F rank,  since that was where the mask was at. "I've been adjusting to the  changes in our world, the same as everyone else."

I  gestured to Sindy. "Recently I met my mistress, and serving her has  allowed me to break away from the conventions of my kind. Because of  this, I began to examine the local vampires in a way I had not before,  and when looking into one of the recent arrivals, I made a horrible  discovery. There is a radical faction of vampires in the city belonging  to a dangerous cult. They seek to awaken an ancient vampiric sovereign  sleeping beneath the earth, enshrined in a powerful pool of dark magic  that can even raise the dead. I can't be sure where this being is, but I  fear for all of our existences should she awaken."

I had  to be kind of careful here. Not knowing how the residents of this castle  perceived their arrival or their interaction with the newly merged city  made it dicey to confirm anything. I had to be vague and let her fill  in the details. Pretending to serve Sindy was a necessity as well, since  she was, to all appearances, stronger than me and heirarchy among the  undead was pretty strict.

Lady Celeste, sadly, didn't look  enlightened, just intrigued. "A vampiric sovereign? How terrifying. I  can understand your concerns." I really didn't think she could,  especially since she looked more like she was going to have to wring out  her panties over a sink than someone who was actively worried about  anything. "I have heard no word of such a creature, but I have made many  friends in the city since arriving. Perhaps I could help you in your  search?" Which meant she hadn't heard anything about the pool. That was  fine though, at least we had another potential source for leads. I  guessed the search continued.