Rise of the Archmage Alister

"I… see. Well, AM-2, I do believe it's time to have a nice chat with your sister."

The assailant scoffed, "With what mouth?"

"By writing," Takrok said as he came to his feet.

"Ah yes, but with what ears?" The disembodied head asked.

"I don't believe you need to know that," Relia said as she cast a simple spell to those holding AM-1. "We're done here," she stated, and the door opened.

"Hey, fuck you! I'm not done here!" He shouted, but the two left the room regardless.

As they left the small room, Takrok just shook his head. "Useless, that one. It's no wonder they didn't tell him anything. Hopefully his sibling will be more informed."

Relia shrugged, sighing, "He didn't even have functional operations information… so she must know something more than he did. Otherwise it couldn't have gone as well as it did."

This got an audible crack from the floor as Takrok scowled and slammed his tail against it impulsively. "As well as it went indeed… this is clearly some kind of distraction. I am going to go consult my intelligence network. You do your job," he said with a wave as he split off down a hallway.

The elf woman stared after and sighed. He was so careless. But it was best this way anyway. Less chance of him snapping and breaking something… or rather, someone.

Heading to another interrogation room, this one with a similar set up to the first. The main difference is that the enchantments were on a chair with places to lock down chains around the arms, wrists, ankles, knees, and neck… though the final binding would see no use this time.

The woman sat, humming to herself as she waited for the next subject to be brought in. After a few minutes, a pile of limbs in a box were brought in and placed in the chair, then a bracelet was placed upon one of the wrists. "Activate the bracelet and say “test” to me," Relia commanded, crossing one leg over the other.

It took a moment, but before long the word “Test” echoed in the room. The voice was soft and quiet. “Where… am I?”

Relia was about to answer when the door opened, "I was requested?"

Two figures armored in platemail walked in, the only "skin" on one of them visible being a bright jade, semi-transparent head, with a thick mane of purple "hair", and a deeply tanned elven man with black eyes and bright blonde hair.

It was Maple and Sir Vulmine, the slime woman and knight from the funeral. Relia stared for a moment, before sighing. "I… don't recall doing so, no, but you are of course welcome Lady- er… Archduchess Maple, Lord Vulmine," she said as she stood to give her a bow.

The slime woman waved it off. "Please, Lady is fine. Less of a mouthful," she said with a sweet smile. "The request might have been a bit of improvising on Kendrick's part then. I can relate some on the subject, after all."

Vulmine rolled his eyes, "That would be very… on par, for him."

This got a confused look from Relia, before remembering reports from back when Sir Vulmine first arrived out of the blue, after his reported death. “If I remember the details correctly, you may well be an excellent candidate for this interrogation… I trust you were given the details?”

“Indeed we were,” the man said as he stepped forward. “Hello, may I ask your name?”

A moment of silence passed before he sighed. “Right… I suppose she can’t hear me, can she?” he clicked his tongue for a moment, before turning to Relia. “Could we reassemble her?”

The interrogator stared at him for a time. “You want to… what? It was quite the endeavor to take them down the first time…”

“I mean no offense, of course, but I doubt I’ll have the same trouble,” Maple said as she began to walk over to the body. “May we?”

“I… would need to ask,” Relia said begrudgingly, before sending a . They very quickly got a response back expressing confusion and a short based conversation occurred. After a few exchanges, permission was given.

Maple gave a grateful bow, smiling. “Thank you very much! It feels wrong talking to someone on such uneven footing. Besides, I suspect we’ll get much better results if we approach things… a bit differently than Takrok suggested you had.”

Relia frowned but shrugged, displeased that her interrogation had been taken over, but trusting at the least that the pair could take the body back apart if their plan failed.

Placing the dismembered bits back where they should be, it took no time at all really for the body to reattach to itself. Last of all came the very vocal head, who immediately took to insulting the two knights.

Maple tsk’d, shaking her head. “Now that’s unnecessary. Please don’t make me put you to sleep, I simply want to chat.”

But the prospective chat was cut short as the head was placed on their shoulders. The instant that he had access to the rest of the body, the terrorist went on the offensive. Diving over the table, he targeted Relia… only for the crystal spear he formed his arm into to ping off of the armor of Archduchess Maple. A soft glow could be seen from the runes that subtly adorned the plate, and his arm blew into fragments as the force was reflected back upon him.

“You had to go and make this unpleasant…” Sir Vulmine said, crossing his arms and tapping his steel-clad bicep.

“Oh fuck your…” he began but immediately slumped as the slime reached out and touched the stump where his arm was with a ring that she pulled from a storage space.

But it did not stay slumped. Before long, it let out a softer gasp and rose to its feet, the expression on the face completely different than before. “How… what did you…?” the same voice said, but the tone was nothing like previously.

Sir Vulmine stepped forward, hand on his waist where a dagger sat. “Don’t worry about your brother. That ring contains a spell, and Maple targeted his mind specifically with it.”

The woman referenced nodded, giving the now placated body a smile. “He is correct. Your brother should come to… in a few hours. But for now, you’re the only one knocking around up there. May I know your name?”

“My name… is AM-1,” the crystalline terrorist said, beginning to shake as she realized that she was free at last… at least for now.

“Is that the name your family gave you?” Sir Vulmine asked softly.

“N-no. My designation is AM-1, but… my name is Riven of Hollow Lake. What… do you want with me? Are you going to hurt me?” Her voice began to shake near the end.

The blonde knight shook his head. “We have no intention of hurting you. We just want to know about the people you work for… though we will need to do a mental probe, at some point. Just to make sure there aren’t any sealed memories or things of the like. I’ve seen it before with those sent to cause chaos, minds being partially erased between every briefing. I’m told it helps deal with things like guilt, knowing that you won’t remember what you’ve done…”

The woman shook her head immediately, trying to back away. “N-no! No tampering with my head! I can’t, the last time, they, I… we…” she stammered, breathing picking up as rows of sharp shards appeared along her crystal arm. Clearly beginning to panic.

Sir Vulmine just put his hands up in a pacifying gesture, stepping back, “Hey, it’s alright. We’re not going to do anything. We know a bit about your condition, and at least know about the end result of what they did to you. Believe it or not, I can relate.”

This got a glare from the crystal figure, who had begun to shake with both fear and anger, “No, you don’t! No one does, not even my idiot brother!”

Maple gave her a soft smile, “You might be surprised. Here, take a walk with us to the garden. We have a story to tell you.”