Scorpions

Funerals were generally saddening, but they could also be worse. For example, Bardeelus saw his own brother's soul flying towards the other world. As a necromancer he could see it, and this still took a great toll on his mental health.

He wanted to take a few hours to grieve deeply, alone too, but their plans put some pressure on him. They had to rush to begin with, and now, a trip to Bardeelus' family home seemed likely, which added to the pressure.

Driola noticed that they could get side-tracked, so she felt the pressure of the task too. This whole new quest about 'pure necromancy', featured her as a guide, so she had a say at things. Through a split decision, she wanted to be supportive.

"If you have family stuff to figure out, it's okay. I'm sure the tower won't be gone in a day or two, it's been there for thousands of years, hehe." She said.

Although he was in a really bad state, he calmly asked. "You're okay with us wasting time? That doesn't seem right. I know you're heading to that tower for your own purposes too, I'm not stupid. You want power."

"I do, but I'm not in a rush like you are, nor hungry for power." She said, "I was powerful through most of my life, and it was boring. Besides, all this freedom is way better."

With that said, the whole team recalibrated their plans. The first idea was to rescue Bardeelus' sister, and then deliver her along Fenik back home. His siblings weren't meant to fight or act as protectors across the shifting borders, so it was best to get them out of harm's way.

After that, they could focus on the quest about pure necromancy. Bardeelus felt comfortable with his team, and through their help, success was inevitable even if a bit delayed. The barricades he had now were purely emotional, and he had to figure them out for progress' sake.

…

The 'scorpion earth strikers' were unique, so to say, but they also had a strong system. Even within this country where anarchy was common, their system was strong enough to keep the 'scorpion-kind' well fed, and superior in many ways, even though they weren't royals in most cases.

They had a lot of merchandise, knew how to sell it, and therefore were superior. They were called 'earth strikers' for a reason, as they could develop their wealth through their powers alone.

Bardeelus' sister was locked in some mine for a reason, these earth strikers most commonly owned mines. They ripped out a lot of minerals from mother earth, and could sell them all without getting bothered by thieves, marauders or plunderers.

They could afford plenty of guards to begin with, and the average 'scorpion person' was far more dangerous than the common, royal guard for example. The scorpions are dangerous, intelligent, and hard-working!

He was nervous about the same matter. Dealing with them could be difficult.

Bardeelus formulated a few plans, but he still believed that a non-offensive deal was the best choice. Although he enslaved four, fairly powerful people from the camp, they may not be able to do enough damage.

"Hell, the geezers gave all of our food away to these fuckers. Guess it's not easy to fight them with four slaves, gotta play it cool." He figured.

Afterwards, he also plotted. "But… if they're difficult to convince, a blown up heart or two, could help send the message. Even geniuses are easy to distract, I could kill them off one by one and they wouldn't notice shit."

The scorpion camp was about two-hundred meters away, and he felt sure that he had the plan figured out. Every step mattered after this point, so he had to be careful.

"Scorpions are following us, scouts spotted us in the sky. There are about four of them right now, so try not to look dangerous." He said.

"I think he's talking to you," Erdeta said, and referred to Audera.

Audera was blonde, which automatically made her seem less dangerous, she seemed pretty normal. However, her face expressed every sour emotion she had, as if her emotions were amplified as well.

"I can look nice," She argued.

"You look like you spit at babies," Erdeta added, she was quite honest and giggled a bit as well. "We have a demon worshiper with us, but she looks harmless compared to you."

"Ex-demon worshiper," Driola corrected almost immediately, "And I'm not harmless!"

"Break it off, kids." Bardeelus interrupted what could've been a petty debate. "We gotta look serious, and we didn't bring 'guards' with us for nothing. We're very 'serious' about a deal."

They walked into the enemy camp a moment later, except, they weren't quite treated as enemies. These scorpions loved business, so it wasn't smart on their part, to chase away a stranger who had 'bodyguards' and potentially business.

Most of the people in the camp minded their business and did their job, while only a couple of 'scorpions' approached the guests.

"How may I help you, sir?" A man asked, and spoke directly to Bardeelus.

"We're here to make a little deal," He said, and felt happy that even a stranger acknowledged him as the leader of this group.

The four enslaved guards surrounded him at all times, so it wasn't difficult to figure out who the boss was. Bardeelus wanted to take things to another level, however.

To appear more powerful, he said. "Your scouts proved themselves as excellent escorts. They've been following us for a while, so we just knew this was the right place."

The man who welcomed them was surprised. It wasn't easy to surprise these people, and now, the scorpions guessed that an illusionist was in the midst of Bardeelus' team. Illusionists could read minds, even if those minds were far away.

These scorpion people considered themselves superior, but they still respected illusionists, so a warmer welcome was due. "I see you're no fool, sir. What can we offer you? How much do you plan to spend?"

This was better than he had expected, so he decided to be even more direct.

He explained, "You mistook my sister as a commoner, and bought her from a camp nearby. I'm trying to get her back home without bloodshed, and certainly, it's a pleasure to deal with you… smart scorpions who almost always avoid bloodshed. I'm happy that you took her before any marauders could."

Afterwards, through a simple thought out command, the enslaved guards started speaking up too. He made them.

Kutal the Sturdy, said. "I failed the lady greatly. It was my duty to protect her, and my men weren't there when the trade went down. That camp suffered the consequences for selling the lady, but let us suffer too, we'll work in your mines for free, forever."

"My humble apologies for this mistake," The scorpion gave in, he bought the lie.

Kutal and his composure were very convincing. One could never guess that he was a resurrected man, his brain was well in place so he could act human. He was just completely enslaved and acted accordingly.

The few scales on the scorpion man's face crunched in embarrassment, so he insisted. "Please join me, we'll sort this out in less than an hour. All shall bear punishment."