As the moon rose into the night sky, illuminating the city streets below, the Wolfe Family estate was illuminated by a very different light.
Sounds of revelry could be heard as torch fires and large braziers burned bright, providing warmth and light to the party goers, and giving them a full frontal view of one of the party’s centerpieces: a goddamned sixth tiered dragon corpse.
"By the gods, that is a Diabolic Dragon corpse! Wait...why are they just displaying it out here for the rest of us to stare at it? Shouldn’t they be processing it or something?"
"Dude, it’s called a show of force. Nothing says bragging rights like showing off a dragon’s corpse."
"Do you think that Harold actually managed to break through to the Aether Lord state? Think he’ll try to make a power play?"
"Don’t know, but my family’s been on good terms with the other factions anyways. Even if shit goes sideways, I think we’ll be fine."
The pretext for the party was fairly straightforward, a welcome back party for an esteemed and long gone family member, but the party goers were a tad...anxious.
"Did you hear? The Hartford family just agreed to be subordinates for the Wolfe family."
"Seriously? That’s the third one I’ve heard tonight. Damn, I guess people are taking the rumors seriously."
Whether it was by habit or instinct, humans have a tendency to seek protection provided by their more well-to-do and more powerful constituents. Loyalty for protection tends to be a decent trade off.
The Diggers Union, the Zhen Clan, the Corrada Family and the Wolfe Family, all had a dozen or so subordinate families that provided them support both martially and financially, but there were still even more families that took up a neutral position in this grand game of power politics. This was one of the reasons why none of these four factions ever got a leg up on one another.
As a general rule of thumb, at least when it came to Aether warriors, that it took about three members of a particular stage to suppress one member above them. In essence, three Acolytes could handle a Master, three Masters could handle a Grandmaster, etc.
However, this rule of three doesn’t apply to two levels of separation.
Three dozen or so neutral Aether Masters could easily overwhelm one of the Four factions through sheer numbers if they ever got uppity, that would no longer be the case if one of those factions had an Aether Lord in their retinue.
It would take three Grandmasters to suppress such a force, and unfortunately, while Stone Claw had four Grandmasters, two of them had vested interest in making sure this Aether Lord was in charge, by any means necessary...
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"Well, I’m pretty sure I’m a fish out of water," Zhen Liu grumbled in a cup of wine as he looked on to the crowd. Zhen Liu wasn’t exactly a stranger to partying with upper society, he would participate when his family hosted the event. However, partying with external factions was new to him. He wasn’t invited to those affairs for...prior reasons.
In response to this gripe, Zhen Hai proceeded to grab and rub his shoulder in a friendly yet forceful manner.
"Oh lighten up cuz, it may be a trap, but we might as well make the most of it before it’s sprung. Besides, parties here are like those back home. Just a bit more smiling involved."
In regards to the attendance from the Zhen Clan, it was a given that the patriarch and the elders, i.e., his sons would all show up. A few brought their wives, some brought their children, while the rest brought both. That being said, a majority of the family was still at the clan compound, it would be unfeasible to have everyone show up, especially the younger children.
All of that movement for one night of revelry was rather wasteful.
Nonetheless, the ones that did attend were the Zhen Clan’s best and brightest/wanted to show up. Of all the younger generation members to show up however, Zhen Hai and Zhen Liu were the most exceptional due to both being Aether Masters. Zhen Yue was currently at home trying to break through to Aether Master as well, due to now being the perfect time for her to practice her formula.
"Hey, I just noticed something. What happened to all your puppet jewelery? You can’t fight without them, right?"
"Oh yeah, uh...," Zhen Liu paused as he thought up a quick lie, to whisper to Zhen Hai "I hid them in a potted plant nearby. Just in case, you know?"
After those words left his mouth, Zhen Liu noticed in the corner of his eye that one of the attendants to the party nonchalantly made their way over to the decorative potted plants and leaned over to look at down into it for a moment before moving to the other ones.
Trying to locate objects with the power of aether tended to be rather showy and loud unless trained, so using such a skill in a place as crowded as this was a recipe for disaster and suspicion.
’Well, that makes it obvious that we’re being fucking listened to. Good luck jackass, hope you find the buried treasure,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself as he watched the eavesdropper continue to poke through the potted plants.
Zhen Liu’s lie about his "puppets" were twofold: Zhen Liu had brought along the kaijin, only Hurricroak and Frosttusk though, and he had made sure they had a bird’s eye view of the crowd.
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A little after Zhen Liu and company learned about the whole "disguise" installation thing, they discovered that the kaijin could also change their "mini-modes" as Pathos called it. In essence, they could now turn into small figures, like "normal" puppets, and cards...for some reason. Weirdly enough, the kaijin in figure mode could move around in a somewhat limited fashion, in the same manner Razor Maiden could move while in her doll state.
While Zhen Liu and his kaijin didn’t have any formal stealth training, they could at least abuse the fact people tend to ignore little things skittering about in the dark...
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On the upper eaves and banisters of the Wolfe estate, a pair of small toys that vaguely looked like a frog and an elephant were sneaking along the edges of some ceiling decor.
As they snuck around in the dark, the two began to share idle chit-chat.
[Alright. I get that we have to be incognito, but did we have to go as toys? We got human disguises now, why must my unrestrained sexiness be condensed to such a small and unrefined form?,] Hurricroak griped as she hopped behind Frosttusk.
[You...know...why...]
[Uh, mi scusi. Hold that thought?,] Hurricroak said as suddenly stopped hopping, prompting Frosttusk to stop as well. Before he could ask why, Hurricroak kicked his little plastic behind into a nearby suspended brazier. A couple seconds passed before, Frosttusk came hopping out of the fire.
[Very much so. Huh...I guess being smaller means better heating. Anyways, you know why Hurricroak. Jarl said we have to maintain a low profile. Sneak attacks being more effective or something like that. Now come on, we need a better attack angle.] With his piece said, Frosttusk proceeded to walk further ahead.
[Fair enough...man, your personality just 180s after a little heat, huh?]
[Nope, it just gets faster.]