The area let up as they waited for the challenger, when eventually a large man wearing only a fur loincloth came out holding a serrated ax. He was large, muscular, and had greenish skin. His piggish nose and two large tusk like teeth coming out of his mouth. He had dark red nearly brown hair in a Mohawk and tufts of fur on his chest, shins, firearms, and back. Racknar whistled. “That's an Orc if I ever did see one. Let's hurry to the lower parts to see if we can get in there to challenge him with his swords on the line “

  A person next to Racknar overheard that and simply said: “Wait till after the fight, he always does an open challenge after winning.” Racknar looked over to the person and sat back down. “That works for me.” The fight was started and the Orc didn't hesitate to run in and attack only for it to be easily dodged by the champion who attacked back. The cuts were shallow, but he did damage. The orc made several swings attempting to hit the champion but it seems the man was simply too agile to be hit. He responded in kind with more shallow cuts to the orc’s thick skin.

  The fight continued on in this way for a while until the orc started to stagger and have difficulty moving. It didn't take long after that before the orc collapsed and the champion was declared the winner and the orc transported out. Then, just as indicated, he stretched his arms out sword in hand and offered an open invitation. “If anyone in the audience thinks they can take me, I'll take any challenger.” Racknar considered what to do. If he went down there there was a chance he'd request a zero item duel. If that was the case, their best chance would be to send down Ariagoria.

  However, Racknar didn't get the chance to think over his options as Ariagoria stood up. “I challenge you to a duel. No weapons, no armor. Just you, me, and our fists. If I win, I want the swords.” The champion waved for her to come down as he put away his swords. “A demonblood nun? Now I've seen everything. Okay, I'll bet my swords. If I lose, the swords are yours. But if I win, I want something equally precious to you in return. These swords are my life, I even refused to hand them over to the church since they're technically heretical artifacts.”

  Ariagoria puts her hand on her chest. “If those swords are like your life then I bet my chastity.” There's a gasp in the crowd. The rogue laughed. “Very well, if you wish.” Ariagoria takes a combat stance, one she hasn't taken since her old life. She then beckoned her opponent with a finger wave. The rogue moved forward and came at Ariagoria with a strong right hook that she was easily able to duck under. She then grabbed his arm and used his own momentum to fling him to the floor before trying to kick him. The man was able to free himself and roll out of the way of the second attack.

  He gets back to his feet before going in for a one two punch combo only for Ariagoria to dodge and weave following up with a punch to her opponent’s gut and quickly after his face. He staggers back out of reach and Ariagoria doesn't pursue. He bibs back and forth considering his next move while Ariagoria just stands there. “I mean be a healer and a nun but I'm combat trained. Don't take me lightly.” The man chuckled. “Okay then, I won't.” He went in for three punches, this time weaving back out before Ariagoria could strike back. She didn't try closing in or chasing after him.

  Ariagoria waited for her opponent to attack again, and eventually he did. This time Ariagoria moved to the side and stepped in, grabbing the arm before kneeing the man in the gut hard. She then maneuvers herself into putting him in an arm bar before kicking the back of his leg to put him on his knee. The man lets out a shout of pain as his arm.is wrenched in a direction it's not exactly intended to go and his leg is stepped on. Ariagoria lets out a low, almost demonic voice. “Submit or suffer!” The man tried to get out of the hold only for Ariagoria to press harder and repeat herself. “Submit. Or. Suffer.”

  The man let out a scream of pain as Ariagoria pressed her hold harder. It was clear he wasn't used to the sort of techniques she used. He grumbled, growled, and roared as she continued her torment. “Fine! I… I submit.” Ariagoria dropped him to the ground hard, practically throwing him to the dirt. She then brushed herself off and walked to the swords, picking them up. She casually walked back to her seat before giving the swords to Marionette. “Here you go, you'll make the best use of these out of all of us. If they have a special ability, Racknar would know.”

  Ivory blinked a few times. “That was… something. I'd expect that kind of behavior from the Berserker, but not the Cleric. Then again… Wrath is literally her last name.” Ariagoria glared at Ivory a bit. “Can we move on now? One more step in the main quest, now we can move quickly into the next.” Racknar let out a soft growl. “Well we don't even know where to look for any of the other pieces. I mean there might be a temple to Arachne in this world's equivalent to Greece. Midterranus. It's the only lead we have besides questioning the champion. However, I doubt he'll want to talk to us after that display.”

  Ariagoria grumbled. “We can try.” The group makes their way to what was basically a medieval locker room. In it the rogue champion had just finished cleaning up. The party and rogue all froze when they met one another seeing as despite their voice the champion was clearly female. Not only that, but she was a drow elf. She quickly put a cloth over her chest. Davy shook himself off. “Well well well, looks like Samus was a girl all along.” Racknar chips the air at Davy. “You give me crap for making references, and then you say that? Anyway… sorry for the intrusion miss. We just had a few questions.”

  She sighs. “If you are looking for the guy that had these before me, I'm sorry to report I have no idea what happened to him. I'm a cleric from the temple of Arachne and came to reclaim her artifact. However, the moment I explained who I was, he handed me his weapon and robes. He said if I held his position as champion for a month, they were all mine. I think the Church of Longinus got sick of his refusal, he said something about them being after his life. When a Paladin came looking for him and realized I was a dark elf he moved on. He didn't care about the swords for some reason.”

  Racknar cleared his throat. “Actually, we were hoping to find out where he got the swords. We are trying to collect all the artifacts of Arachne in order to restore her. It was… my mother's dying wish.” The drow tilted her head. “Really? Seems like a strange thing to ask if you're not a dark elf follower of the true spider queen. Were you raised by a dark elf?” Racknar shook his head. He then looked around before pulling off the ring of illusion. “My mother was a black iron spider.” The drow’s eyes widened. “You… you… you're… What are you? Besides the most beautiful thing I've seen.”

  Davy groans. “What is with you and dark elves man. This is the second dark elf we've met that got all googly eyed for you.” Racknar grumbles. “Many dokkalfar have a deep connection to the spider mother. If you remember my explanation she was the one that freed them from subjugation by the Ljosalfar in the ancient ancient past. We're talking at least a decamillennium.” Davy grumbled. “I don't think that's a real word, so why the hell do I know what you mean by that?” The drow looked Racknar up and down. “So is this the first artifact you've gathered?”

  Racknar showed her the badge. “Second. Still a long way to go. We were thinking of finding the main temple in Midterranus to see if one was still there, but we don't know where that is. Since we don't know where he got the swords and can't check there.” The drow sighs. “Well there's no second artifact where he got this one, I checked. As for the temple, it was raided some time ago. We had five of the ten artifacts collected but now only have one remaining. The tapestry of hubris and humility. I doubt the temple will let you simply take it though.”

  Racknar hummed and rubbed his chin. “Well at least we know it's there. We can go after it in our own time since I doubt it's going anywhere. I'd like to gain more experience and better items before we get too far down the line. I have a sinking suspicion things are only going to get more difficult and am going to have to start taking actions in advance.” Davy looked at Racknar. “What do you mean by that?” Racknar sighs. “I mean that the Empire and the Church are both going to be antagonistic so it might be easier to simply set up a base of operations outside of that and start building up to knocking them down. As long as the Empire and Church hold power they'll continue to spread bigotry and human supremacy garbage. I have no problem with religion, but I do when it's used as an excuse to harm and subjugate others.”

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  Marionette looked at Racknar. “So we're what… planning a rebellion?” Racknar shook his head. “More of a war of independence, but I guess. We can move everything we need to Bramble and once it's separate from the Empire we form an alliance with other nations in order to dismantle the empire by cutting off the head. Leaving the different nations under it as independent entities. Then it's on to the pipe and other high ranking religious figures. I don't care if the Church of Longinus exists, I would rather they do so for the betterment of all and not just humans.” The drow thinks for a moment. “So you just want to make this world a better place and see restoring Arachne as a step in that?”

  Racknar did a so-so gesture. “It's kinda what I'm doing, everyone in the party has their own personal goals and since we're all non–human reborns it's safer to act in a group.” The drow blinks a few times before looking over the group. “All six of you?” Racknar gestured to Ivory. “Except her, she's not a reborn.” The drow woman stood up. “Well if you are on a mission to restore the goddess Arachne, I would like to come with you.” Marionette practically blurted out “We already have a rogue in the party and a full roster.”

  Ivory shifts. “Actually… I was hoping to just set up a store and support you with potions from there. I can make and use combat potions to do spell-like effects similar to fireball but I'm not exactly a combatant. Or I could travel with you to provide potions and equipment on the go but stay out of the actual fighting. I just really dislike the idea of fighting.” Racknar nods. “Understandable, background support is fine. When we go to the temple it would be best to take someone that knows the area. So I'm willing to accept help in going after the artifacts, I don't expect any assistance from you outside that.”

  The drow hangs her head down a bit. “Oh, I see. Well I'll still help any way I can when it comes to the restoration of Arachne. So just let me know when you need me.” Racknar nods. “Will do.” The party had gained all the relevant information they could here and it was time to move on. Krys'tal broke the silence after a while. “So if we are eventually setting up our HQ and our families in Bramble to set it up as an independent nation that's part of an alliance to take out the Empire and Church… how in the hell are we going to even get started on that?”

  Racknar grumbled. “I suppose I should go over the plan for that even if it'll be a while before we start moving pieces. First, establish Elizabeth as the crown princess of Bramble. This should be relatively easy considering she is the only person other than me that knows the activation word to fuse the fragments of Excalibur. Long story. Then we need Lisa Da Vinci to move here. I'll use my knowledge from my last life to help her invent multiple flying machines and relatively advanced weaponry. With Lisa and Mari's dad working together in a few years we can have an army that's unrivaled in this world. Then Bramble declares independence. Once that is won, we ally with Skald and Midterranus creating a geographic pincer maneuver with the Empire facing threats on two fronts working in tandem.”

  Ariagoria hummed. “That's quite the solid strategy so far. However… you yourself said that'll take years of set up. So I'm guessing we'll be gathering the Arachne artifacts, money, and better equipment until we can afford to move everyone we need plus move Krys'tal’s cluster over to Bramble.” Racknar nods “Basically. What we need is to find something like a dragon horde. Unfortunately, despite killing two dragons, we've yet to do so properly in their lair so if they had a horde we wouldn't have known.” Krys'tal looks around. “Maybe we should check the local guildhall then.”

  The party made their way to the guildhall and started looking at the quest board. Everyone looked over the postings looking either for a high paying job in their range or anything about dragons. Ivory then points one out. “This one says something about a golden dragon.” Racknar looked at the posting. “Well in the books the gold dragons were good guys, mostly. The common alignment for the metallic dragons was lawful neutral. Unlike chromatic who were usually chaotic neutral. However, both dragons we fought were biome dragons not simply colored. So I don't know if the golden dragon is a gold dragon or simply a dragon with gold scales and different stats.”

  Davy groans. “All that knowledge and it's dragons that trip you up. I get they deviate from what you expected but still. We should at least check it out. If the dragon can talk then it should be easy to figure out its morality.” Racknar gives a notice of agreement as he takes up the notice. “There's a map showing the area the sightings were in. Let's go.” The group packed up the cart and hit the road once more. After a bit Marionette spoke up. “I kinda feel like we're just floating from one thing to the next sometimes. Like we're going with the flow and simply reacting. I know the rebellion stuff is proactive but still, it could be seen as reactionary to the actions of those currently in charge.”

  Racknar sighs. “I get that, honestly it does often feel like I'm just rolling through life aimlessly. Even when I have a clear goal. Like entire chapters of my life are just… filler.” There's a pause before Marionette speaks again. “Can we… talk about my visit to the circle of Tempest now?” Racknar waves a hand in Marionette’s direction. “Look Mari… I'm going to be fully honest. I've never been all that in touch with my feelings. Most of the time I don't know how I feel because I don't feel that strongly about most things. It's why I'm so logical most of the time. It's hard to act on emotion when you have trouble feeling them.”

  Marionette tilts her head. “Actually… that wasn't what I wanted to talk about. At least not yet. I wanted to ask questions about the hierarchy. Because at some point the Succubus got worked up when she found out Charity and I were friends. Apparently her boss gave her a scolding after Charity’s Dad gave her boss one.” Racknar made a clock sound. “Ah, I see. Well each circle has a Lord that rules over it like a king. Deeper circles are considered stronger but with the Lord's it's up in the air. So technically Amon could be considered as ranking higher than Asmodaus even if that's not exactly the case since all ten lords are the same rank. They are far from equal.”

  Marionette was a bit confused. “Ten lords? There's only nine hells.” Racknar nods. “In the books one of the circles was destroyed in the first celestial war. It belonged to a demon known as Knobody the Nameless, Lord of Apathy. As far as I know they are still alive. That's nobody spelled with a silent K at the start by the way.” Marionette nodded with her hand on her chin before Racknar continued. “Although there are conflicts between lords they do try to stay civil and avoid conflicts. It's likely once Asmodaus learned you were connected to one of the few mortal children of Amon she freaked out because any harm to you could mean trouble for her since as the Lord of Tempest she'd be considered responsible for the actions of her subordinate.”

  Marinette nods again. “Mmm-hmm, I see. So The nine Hells has a solid structure with laws and rules that even the leaders follow and enforce.” Racknar nods again. “The standard alignment of the Nine Hells is Lawful Evil. Basically a culture of tyrants. They oppose the Celestials of Celestia who are mostly considered Lawful Good and the Devil ls of Abyss who are considered Chaotic Evil. The demon lords and other high ranking demons used to be celestials but parted ways after the first celestial war also known as the celestial civil war. Led by the now high king of the Nine Hells, Judecca the Betrayer, Lord of Treachery, this war separated the Celestials into two factions. One being changed by their new home to become the demons we know today.”

  Marionette groans. “Something about the fact you specify it's the “First Celestial War” makes me nervous. It's like going back to the Great War and accidentally calling it the First World War to someone in it. That's the vibe I'm getting.” Racknar chuckles. “There were three Celestial wars. The Celestial Civil War, The Nephilim War, and finally the one that's technically still ongoing The Endless or Bottomless War. A three way war between Celestia, the Nine Hells, and the endless or bottomless Abyss.” Ariagoria looked at Racknar. “Nephilim? You mean like… the thing in the Biblical texts where angels made kids with humans that for some reason turned out to be monsters?”

  Racknar did a so-so gesture. “Well in Creatures and Catacombs when a Celestial and a mortal have a kid you get a part Celestial similar to how a demonblood works. Angelblood you could call them. In this case Nephilim are the result of the fallen angels turned demons having kids with uncorrupted angels. The two energies not able to mix and hybrid in any proper way because they are opposing energies resulted in a new lifeform that was twisted beyond anything seen before. Nothing outside the realm of Chaos, Pandemonium, has ever been so twisted. Most of them were mindless or driven mad by their paradoxical nature and attacked the mortal realms. Celestia and the Hells had to team up to banish them to another realm. Purgatory. There are, however, ten Nephilim who were higher up then the rest. The equivalent to an archdemon or archangel. The Harbingers. These ten helped in the subjugation and subsequent banishment of their own kind.”

  Ariagoria hummed as she nodded with her hand on her chin. “Ten lords of Hell, ten high angels of Celestia, and now ten Harbingers. As if an existing and established pattern was being forced onto the new entity.” Racknar nods. “Where there is chaos there must also be order. The universe in Creatures and Catacombs worked on a rule of opposites and balances. There is a realm of chaos as I've mentioned but there is also a realm of absolute order. Like two magnetic poles. Same with good and evil. It forms an almost circle of realms that follow the alignment chart. Lawful vs chaotic, good vs evil. With realms representing every extreme and every combination and mixture. Mortalus is placed right in the center. A little bit of everything.”

  Marionette shifts in the cart. “Sounds like someone tried really hard to force some metaphor in a physical and tangible way. I mean… It's great for a work of fiction but things in the real world are never so polar, so black and white. Then again the model you described does leave room for nuance and complexity. As long as you aren't too strict on how alignment works and let it be more fluid.” Racknar nods. “We'll be closing in on the general area the dragon has been sighted in. Everyone ready up. Things could get hairy.”