Chapter 8: The City of Flowers

Not unlike any other major port metropolis, Ganon was a bustling capital city with an especially high human population. However, one could easily observe the immense level of wealth in Ganon: Almost every building was made of white marble and highly revolutionary stainless steel with a surprisingly homogeneity of architecture styles - Humans had always been quick to adapt, for average their life expectancy was much lower than that of other races. 

Travelers could enjoy the footpath entirely made of casted stone bricks - a nod to dwarven city building, trees and many natural highlights were incorporated into the densely packed city, bringing a great relaxing and cooling effect to the busy streets of Ganon - an observation made of elven towns. There were plenty of inns and taverns built into the basement of a residential building, very similar to the burrow building style of halflings and gnomes. 

But the unique charm of Ganon had to be its most priced good: flowers. Ganon was the home to a dozen thousands types of flowers, thanks to the constant experiment on cross-breeding them. The druids of Ganon had made several types of flowers that could withstand immense heat from the sun without withering, some could live for months on end with minimal water, some could glow in the dark and some with highly specific medicinal benefits. That was why most buildings in Ganon had balconies full of flowers, flowering vines climbed the marble walls and light posts, even the cracks in the streets would have wild flowers growing out of them.

Some said that the land Ganon was built on used to be Sune's - the god of love and beauty - favorite place in Lumea, and thanks to her mere presence, produce was plenty and crops were abundant.

No matter if it was true or not, it cannot be denied that Ganon had always been a massive exporter of flowers - from the rare and cherished Ashcress decorating the halls of castles and keeps to the highly sought after condiments and medicinal herbs such as Woodcap, Eldertuber, Watermilk Lily and Starkettle.

"Welcome to the city of flowers!" Immith Murnyethera proudly announced to her company as they approached the impressive, highly ornate stone wall of Ganon. But her mood was quickly spoiled due to the adventurers' dull and unenthusiastic expression. At least Lissa the halfling and Roselie the cleric were taken aback with the grandiosity of the metropolis. "Wh-What? You kids really are not excited for the capital city of Gawon huh?"

Harrison sighed and crossed his arms together. "I hate to break it to you but… well… I came from Ganon. Elluin and I had traveled across Gawon years ago, and the 'City of Flowers' hasn't changed one bit."

"Is that so? Well, anyways let us find the Dawn Bridgade's keep. It's where we are meeting our allies against the vampires."

"Hey Lissa." Whispered Roselie as the two hung back behind the rest of the party "I still don't understand, how did you regain your real body? I… I remember you said that you have passed away and became a wisp. How was it possible?"

Roselie Tressel was an archdeacon of the church of Lathander, so it was second nature for her to be interested in life and death, revival and resurrection. It had been highly distressing for her to find out someone had passed away, rejoined the Astral sea and reborn with their memory intact. Even more so when that person regained their original body.

"Oh that!" Lissa giggled, her braided hazelnut hair bounced on her shoulder "Master Immith traveled to Mere, my hometown, with me and visited my grave. She then created a vessel, a homunculus of sorts, from my image in the mind of the villagers in Mere and allowed me to kinda possess it. She said that there was a very real chance of the spell to fail, but fortune had favored us. She also noted that… if the villager did not remember me for who I was or if I had been a terrible influence, the spell would have made something terrible. So… I'm happy that everyone remembers me."

"Hey lady Immith, what's your relationship with Charlie? How come he knew someone as powerful as you?" Harrison idly asked as he made way through the many travelers of Ganon.

"Mmm… I hired him not long ago, to find an artifact for me." Immith slightly hesitated before answering "Many things happened since then, he kind of saved my life, and we found out we had similar goals to pursue, so we teamed up."

"Charlie?! Saved your life?" Elluin couldn't help but voice her surprise "I do not mean to sell Charlie short by any means, he is a brilliant ranger, but what happened to you, a grand magus, that Charlie could hope to overcome?"

Immith smiled "That's actually the reason we are going to the Dawn Brigade today." 

Question after question, the party paced through the city and quickly located a decently sized keep belonging to the vampire hunter clan, with much ease thanks to Harrison's guidance. The keep was entirely built of the same white marble the city was famous for, no doubt would run the owner at least a million gold pieces. Above the giant reinforced wooden door was a decorative shield with the sigil of the Dawn Brigade - A red sun with two guarding waraxes. Citizen of Ganon would describe the keep to be as impressive as the Palace of Serenity - the city's governing conclave of druids' palace. 

"Vampire hunters huh?" Elluin casted her eyes to the sigil "Can we trust them? I have had several run-ins with specialized hunters, and most of them hunt on ambiguous moral ground. I've met a devout undead hunter back over in Serepike, who slayed an entire frontier village for he thought those who lived there were ghouls in disguise."

"Yeah I remember that!" Roselie chimed in "The guilds quickly took him out though. But the lost lives could not be whole again, even with the church's resurrection ritual, for the hunter dissected and burnt all the corpses. It was horrible."

A voice, stout and hoarse, took the party by surprise as they loitered before the keep's gate.

"You're right, young elf! Us hunters are a bunch of rag tags with different goals and motivation."

A man with an imposingly large frame, even larger than Harrison, looked at the party through the portcullis. He was cladded in heavy steel armor, yet his arrival did not even perk the smart ear of the elf archer. His face was unshaved and his hair seemed like it hadn't seen water in weeks. If Roselie could describe him, she would compare him to a wounded dire wolf - dirty, threadbare but very dangerous. Elluin slightly quivered as she met his gazing eyes - somehow they gave her the feeling that the man behind bars could take on the three of them quite single handedly.

"Murnyethera! To whom I owe for your visit? Oh, come in come in! Don't stand outside! The civilians don't like strangers loitering around."

"Good to see you still in one piece, Roderick. Well, it's your prey leading me to find your help. So technically, you owe them one."

"Hahaha… Alright! The next three bloodsuckers I catch will be put down as humanely as possible."

The party entered the keep, as the interior amazed them all. Beautiful carpets covered every corner of the floor, torches and chandeliers lit every hallway perfectly, decorative sets of armor propped beside every giant wooden door leading to rooms and other hallways the party did not have the chance to explore. The keep was definitely as luxurious as a castle of a politically important baron, yet the place did not remind Lissa of the castle of Mere - the baron of her origin village. 

The party settled down in the dining hall, a tall-ceiling room with a long table in the middle and a brick fireplace as the centerpiece placed in the far wall, casting a dull orange light around. Maids brought out teacups for the party and dishes of freshly baked goods, it almost seemed like they were being welcomed by a member of royalty.

"Vampire hunting is a well paid job." Roderick smirked as he noticed the bewildered look on the adventurers' face. "But it is very dangerous. As you can see, most of my men are currently out and about, gathering information and tracking them leeches." 

"Alright, so, Immith. Let us get to business."

"Certainly. I have finally acquired the tome."

"Are you certain? Is it… "the tome"?" Roderick lowered his voice

"Yes."

"Well I'll be damned. High priest Satinav really made this artifact then. Have you read through it?"

"Currently, it's not with me." Immith gestured to the party sitting slightly off to their side "These younglings are currently carrying it. Safely, of course. For I had made a deal with their friend to help him out on a personal matter."

"Huh… alright. You do you, ol' wizard. So, what do you need me for?"

"Have you heard of the many mysterious dungeons appearing throughout the land recently?"

"How could I not? Every damn fool from the fishermen to the wenches selling apples in the market were talking about them. Even my own men were interested in those… places." 

"That saves us time. Many of the followers of Heathcliffe the Great, the elder vampire that you have been hunting for years, have uncovered some ancient ritual, to forcefully ascend one of them into an elder. They required souls of living beings, and the dungeons are the way they gather souls."

"Isn't that… too bizarre?" Roderick raised his brows in disbelief

"I dare say it is. But the researchers at the academy were sure of it. Look here." Immith produced the red orb she acquired from the golem of the dungeon that almost wiped the adventurers. "There are two souls trapped in this orb. I retrieved this from a dungeon's place of power. There's nothing we can do for them now, unfortunately, besides finding a safe way to release them into the astral sea. But this is the proof of the vile necromancy the vampires are using. Those fools. This will no doubt anger the gods once again."

"I-I… Honestly, I'm not concerned about the gods." Roderick said, staring into the red orb slathered in the flickering fire light "What I'm worried about is them trying to ascend. We could not even fathom taking down Healthcliffe without disposing of at least a hundred hunters. Another elder would spell doom for this continent."

"That too, Roderick. That too."

"We have to act fast. I assume you bringing these younglings to me means they're ready to take on part of the weight?"

"They asked me to train them, even though I am a wizard and not a fighter, nor an archer, nor a divine conduit. So I'm here to ask you to give them a target, for them to hunt. I know what they are capable of, and they're made of good materials, I dare say."

"Is that so? The grand magus of the Ivory tower has deemed so, I dare not contradict her then. Very well, I owe you one for disabling the damn elder, so I'll see through it."

Roderick then raised his voice addressing the adventurers.

"Alright you younglings. Have any questions before I send you to your death?"