Giselle - Charged With Finding Abducted Martial Artists

Charged with finding abducted martial artists, Giselle made Marquis Yue's mansion her first stop. She doubted Lady Wu participated in the abductions personally, but that didn't matter. Dragon Turtle Society's generals always had information about operations in their territories. Despite the fact the Crown Princess killed her, Lady Wu was still strong enough to be a member of Dragon Turtle Society's highest circle.

Giselle was not someone who insisted there were no coincidences.

That said, Marquis Yue's decision to build his mansion on top of the vampire's crypt could not have been a coincidence. Lady Wu's purchase of the ruin was no coincidence, either. Neither the Marquis nor Lady Wu found the vault. But both knew something was buried somewhere. There were structures on the site before Marquis Yue acquired it. Of course First Qianqiu Emperor knew where the crypt he constructed was located. Over the millennia following, how many people built on top of the crypt by accident – and how many suspected something was underneath?

Dragon Turtle Society started off robbing tombs in Gargogryeo. Looting artifacts made the organization mighty – and mighty rich. From there, it evolved into supplying gear to danger zones. Gear was useless without people, so mercenary services emerged as an organizational side hustle. Because there weren't enough mercenaries to go around, finding more became a priority.

Most mercenaries Dragon Turtle Society found were criminals. As criminals, they were as likely to die to rivals as on a field of battle – so why not? Criminal overlords refused to part with their fodder cheaply, however. But the more gold a dragon had, the less willing it was to part with any. Killing criminal overlords, taking their turf, and shipping out gangsters as "mercenaries" allowed the dragon to keep its gold and make more.

Lady Wu might have supported the mercenary business, but it was not her focus. The young men renting space in her Riverside Mansion could barely hold up their own bodies – forget about swords. Bon Bao's presence was suspicious, but he was out of Giselle's reach. Not only had he become linked to the Fourth Prince, the Crown Princess had given him protection.

In fact, she had given everyone from the mansion protection. Which was also suspicious. But Giselle was not inclined to ask too many questions. The Crown Princess did not play politics. She just killed people who defied her.

Giselle admired the Crown Princess.

The starving students had explained their presence in the mansion with simple economics. Little Gargogryeo was both affordable and centrally located. Bon Bao had explained his presence as a combination of economics and camaraderie between Gargogryeon hulks. The Fourth Prince's muscle boy was an affable bumpkin. His explanation made sense. By mentioning the abduction of Jian Peak Abbey disciples, he even provided the glue that allowed the Grand Preceptor to tie threads together.

Bon Bao was not available for questioning, but that didn't stop Giselle from investigating the room he and Ri Ran rented. There was plenty of embarrassing stuff – but nothing interesting. Giselle also searched Lady Wu's suites. There, she found hidden compartments the Mithril Guard had missed. That was fair. Hidden compartments were Giselle's thing – not theirs.

Lady Wu's hidden compartments contained arcane texts and talismans.

Their quality reinforced her status as one of Dragon Turtle Society's top commanders. Giselle was not Moonlight Chamber's occult expert – but she was good enough. Lady Wu's materials revolved around summoning spirits, forcing them to talk, and getting rid of problematic poltergeists.

Giselle instructed some agents to pack everything up and get it to Starlight Chamber. Other agents she instructed to look for compartments elsewhere in the mansion. She herself navigated down to the crypt. It was clear that neither Lady Wu nor Marquis Yue had found all the hidden chambers which ultimately led to the vampire hoard.

The mechanisms used to hide and trap chambers along the way were exceptional. Between the time of Marquis Yue and the Qianqiu Dynasty, there were older instances of Lechun Dynasty engineering. One of those earlier explorers had found the Qianqiu passageways, but failed to exploit it. According to the starving students, Iba Algi told them that she had gotten rid of powerful enchantments. Perhaps those enchantments prevented the earlier explorers from delving too deeply into the Qianqiu passages.

Giselle reached the crypt. 

The Ministry of Antiquities had already sent a team. It was not a large team. The Ministry was understaffed. The archaeologists were concentrating their efforts on reassembling the tiles disturbed by Lady Wu during her battles. At least half the mosaic had been torn up.

Illuminated by lanterns, the octagonal chamber looked intimidating. The stone used to dress its walls was a puzzle of marbles, malachites, and onyxes. The columns appeared carved from single blocks a hundred feet tall. Giselle knew they were instead composed of fused blocks. Ancient giants used such magic to mold mountains. The Qianqiu Dynasty replicated it on a smaller scale.

By the present age, however, that magic had been lost.

The chamber's three balconies offended Giselle's sensibilities. They were each at different heights. The difference between the second and third was larger than, but not a multiple of, the difference between the first and second. The higher balconies were in walls aligned with the square defined by the entrance. The lowest was on a diagonal next to the entrance – fifteen feet up from the floor. It drove Giselle's obsessive compulsions mad.

She stepped through another dimension to reach the lowest balcony.

Behind the balcony was a square room with rounded corners. It contained stone furnishings and piles of dust. Examining its walls, Giselle found a hidden door. It only required a light touch near one edge to rotate around its center. A network of stairs and corridors connected the balconies. After an exhaustive search, Giselle found several more hidden doors leading out of the network. 

She formed a theory about how Pin Fun escaped.

Upon reaching the chamber, Esmaralde called for surrender. Lady Wu attempted to incapacitate the Crown Princess. At that moment, Pin Fun manifested a shadow decoy and teleported to the middle balcony. Not the type to be inconvenienced by binding magic, the Crown Princess retaliated against Lady Wu before she could hold Pin Fun in place.

Jian Peak's top male escort found the balcony exit. Navigating the corridors, he discovered that the passages leading out had all collapsed. By the time he returned to the highest balcony, Lady Wu was dead. The Goddess of Glaives practiced an overwhelming style of combat. Her senses could pick up anyone, including someone as skilled as Giselle, targeting her with harmful intent.

As for people running away, Esmaralde wouldn't notice. Even if she did, her approach was to just kill anyone foolish enough to come back. With Lady Wu dead, Pin Fun could have slipped past the Mithril Guard and Crown Princess. Furthermore, because vampires were creatures of the Willow and Gloaming Realms, Giselle suspected the sword enhanced Pin Fun's abilities – including his ability to evade detection and disappear.

"I wouldn't mind a sword like that," she told a carved gargoyle.

Two agents entered the crypt and signaled that they had found something. Giselle became a shadow and teleported to them. One agent produced a small porcelain container. It contained a disabling narcotic. The other agent produced ledgers. Most entries in the ledger used Dragon Turtle Society's cipher, but Giselle understood the gist. Lady Wu was not involved in the acquisition or sale of mercenary "volunteers," but she was involved in the logistics of supporting such activities.

"There were more people in the mansion than we realized," said one agent.

He led back up to the Lechun cellars. Iba Algi had chosen the route which led to the crypt. There were more hidden doors than that, however. In a handful of places, the newly discovered cellars connected to structures on the surface which were outside of the mansion's grounds. Most new cellars contained only decay and ruin, however.

Some towards the river, however, hid contemporary illicit goods amidst the decay.

"Clever," said Giselle. "How much do you think got removed after the raid?"

"Not much," said one agent, "the people who weren't caught focused on keeping it that way."

"The Mithril Guard and Tianming Town constables swept the area," said the other agent. "The people up above risked being caught at both ends if they came down here to get stuff."

"These crates wouldn't have been carried up and down stairs," said Giselle.

The agents agreed, and led her down a corridor to the river. A false wall opened onto a small stone pier – surprising a pair of constables. The young men saluted. Once the Crown Princess attacked the mansion, anything in the open quickly came under surveillance and occupation.

"This pier would only support a small operation," said Giselle. "But the quality of materials could be high. It looks like the mansion was a clearinghouse for other operations. I get the feeling you're saving the best for last."

The agents led back inside and closed the door. The constables saluted again. Giselle and her agents returned to one of the cellars with contemporary goods hidden amid ruin. One agent produced a bronze token. Giselle recognized it immediately.

"Tianming Duke," she said. "You found it here?"

"This is one place where something had been removed," said an agent.

"In a hurry," said Giselle.