Chapter 18 - Information Warfare (Patreon)

"The Holy War. The Jihad. At the Order of the Prophet through the revelations of Astrals from the Divine Will of the Maker. The Heretic, The Unclean, The Fallen... those who defy the Greater Will of the Maker, those who Blaspheme against the Astrals shall all perish."

- Orange Fundamentalism Bible, Revelations of the Reckoning, 2:1 - 2:5

***

Val Royeaux, Royal Prison Dungeon

The Royal Prison Dungeon was located in the Prison District of the Val Royeaux and was one of the best-guarded complexes within the entire City. It was infamous for its impregnability, although several secret escape tunnels connect up to the ancient subterrane and the prison sewers beneath.

The Prison District is a circular-walled enclosure on the small island, as the entire island consists of the Prison District. When Kordillus and Ciri returned to the Val Royeaux, they brought the two Clerics from the Cult of Andraste to the Royal Prison for interrogation.

Both Amabilla Chappelle and Petellia Martiana were kept in separate chambers, as they would be interrogated by the Vanderim Drakon personally. Obviously, the old man wouldn't be interrogating in a traditional manner of speaking.

Because the two would be executed either way, the old man prepared a rather nasty Spell that would break their minds in the first place and force them to spill everything that they knew or even the things that they didn't know.

The Magic that he planned to execute was used in the Tevinter pretty commonly among the Mage Lord Lineages when they wanted to extract information from someone. The Spell was pretty powerful as it was capable of ignoring various Mind Projections, but the side effects were...

Pretty serious.

Most, if not all, people who were targets of the Spell would be left as mindbroken human drones incapable of even thinking. Usually, they were as good as dead because the Spell effectively killed the target.

"I will be starting the Spellcasting."

Vanderim Drakon stood in the middle of the cell that was holding Cleric Amabilla Chappelle as he tapped with his staff and created a Magic Circle beneath them and put his right hand on her forehead.

The woman was only staring at him with hatred as she couldn't speak because she was gagged to prevent her from screaming and shouting insults. The entire process was rather fast, as the woman's eyes went white and she foamed from her mouth, until her body started thrashing in the chains and dropped down on the ground.

It didn't take even five minutes, until Vanderim Drakon was finished with the Spell and extracted everything from the woman's mind related to the Cult of Andraste. It took the elderly man another ten minutes to sort through all of those memories in his head.

Fortunately, he was a Gold-Tier Mage and was rather proficient in similar Magic.

The real value of this Imperium Spell for the Tevinterean Mage Lords was to extract Magic Lore and knowledge from the minds of other Mages so they could obtain it for themselves.

"This is the most interesting revelation... excellent..."

Vanderim Drakon stroked his beard in delight, because the information that he had learned from the Cleric's mind was beyond valuable to the Orlais Kingdom. 

"I can see that you are in an excellent mood, grandfather... so what did you learn?"

Kordillus, seeing that his grandfather was especially pleased with himself right now, asked, as he knew that it must be something pretty much significant and something very good for the old man to be in such a good mood.

Contrary to his usually grumpy demeanor.

"From the memories of that woman, I now know the location... the main headquarters of the Cult of Andraste, where their highest leadership is being located and where they are keeping most of their strength."

Hearing that made Kordillus's eyes shine with anticipation, because this was indeed... beyond precious if not for the information. Since the death of Andraste, the Cult or Disciple or whatever they called themselves, was...

Very secretly and nobody really knew where their main base was. 

Everyone concluded that they must have something and there must be a place where they had their base for everything. Yet, nobody could tell where the location was, aside from the general conclusion that it must have been somewhere in the southern Thedas.

If it was in the north, near the borders of the Tevinter Imperium, then it was sure that the Tevintereans would have found it long ago with their screening Magic and their Supreme-Tier Mages would have acted.

"Where? This could finally be the game-changer for us in this conflict."

Vanderim Drakon just nodded as he knew that if they managed to wipe them out, then the Orlais and more specifically, the Holy Fundamentalism Order would have a monopoly on the religion in the entire Thedas.

"Frostback Mountains, a small secluded village named Haven. It is not marked on most maps and is widely unheard of. Privacy is very important to the villagers of Haven, and they do not welcome strangers kindly, and due to its inhospitable terrain and secluded location, there are not many that would even reach it."

The Frostback Mountains are a towering range of mountains that run from the banks of the Waking Sea to uncharted territories in the south. The mountains are considered highly inhospitable, and the native Avvar tribes who live there are practically cut off from the rest of the world. In addition, the Frostback Mountains also house most of the continent's dwarves beneath its northern foothills.

The entrance to the dwarven city of Orzammar lies in Gherlen's Pass, with its permanent shanty-town filled with traders and petitioners, making it of strategic importance.

The Frostback Mountains are also home to a large population of dangerous creatures, especially the Red Lions, Crag Wolves, Mountain Bears, and deep inside the mountains, there is also a sizeable popiulation of the Draconids.

Perhaps even some High Dragons reside in that, as there were some Frost Dragons and an Ice Dragon that signed in that place many years ago.

"So that's their place... well... it's no wonder that nobody could find any traces. Most wouldn't be so foolish as to enter the Frostback Mountains on their own without a great deal of faith, courage, or lack of brain and self-preservation."

The term Danger Zone or Forbidden Area wasn't just for a joke, and the Frostback Mountains were one of the top of the list and ranked among the most dangerous ones in the whole of Thedas.

"Indeed... even the Supreme-Tiers wouldn't dare to enter the deeper regions of the Frostback Mountains lightly. It's a place where at least two or three High Ice Dragons dwell, and not something for the mortals to take lightly."

Vanderim Drakon knew that each place that was dangerous enough to be termed a Forbidden Area wasn't something to be threatened lightly. Adult High Dragons represented the pinnacle of the Magic and Might.

They were the Living Legends... something that was told only in the old tales, as it had been far too long since the Thedas gave birth to someone who reached the Legendary Level. 

After the interrogation of the first Cleric, Vanderim Drakon proceeded to the interrogation of the second one, where the procedure was repeated. From the mind of the second cleric, they obtained essentially the same information, but the confirmation obtained by the first was good, and at least there were no inconsistencies.

This would be pretty bad if the information that they obtained proved to be false.

For that purpose, there would be even a few Glaives that would depart to verify the information. The kind of approach was of absolute necessity, because knowledge and information were another kind of power.

***

"Now, let's start the meeting."

Several hours later, in the depths of the Immortal Bastion, which was still under construction, a meeting was taking place between the highest echelons of the Orlesian Kingdom about the information extracted from the two Clerics of the Cult of Andraste.

After the interrogation, the Royal Council was immediately convened, as they had learned valuable information that required prompt action. Nobody knew for how long the information would be accurate... at least part of it on which they needed to act.

The Current Royal Council consisted of Queen Castana Drakon, who was Queen of the Orlais Kingdom. A woman in her forties, but still full of youth, with her golden yellow hair and green eyes of unparalleled beauty, but despite her appearance, she was also a fierce warrior on her own.

Then there was Vanderim Drakon, as the Archon of the Kirin Tor, the organization of the Mages in the Orlais, which was tasked with managing all Mages, researching the Magic, and training Battlemages for the Royal Military.

Next to them, there was Kordillus's father, Septimus Drakon, the current High Chancellor of the State, representing the State Governmental Office, and dwarf by name Josef Bugman, who was the Chancellor of the Treasury.

His uncle Orsted Drakon was also present as the Head of the Crownsguard, the entire organization of Knights and Mages, which consisted of the most powerful and best that Orlais had to offer, tasked with protecting the Immortal Bastion and members of the Royal House.

The Holy Chantry didn't have Exalt, who would lead the organization, as, for the time being, Kordillus was holding the post. 

Kordillus also attended the meeting as he was the Crown Prince and was the youngest person in the room after his friend, Ravus Nox Fleuret of the House Fleuret.

Another of the Tevinterean Houses that migrated to the Orlais, because well...

He has heterochromatic eyes, with the right eye being blue and the left eye being purple and blonde hair. 

He wore a white frock with black lining, with a large collar that has a purple trim and armored boots. Black downward-pointing sword symbols were located on the hem and sleeves of his coat, as well as a large crest with a unicorn, which was the Family Crest of the House Fleuret.

In the recent conflict between the Magisters, their House Fleuret lost their Patriarch to an assassination, leaving only their mother, Sylvia Via Fleuret, alive, but even she was assassinated a few weeks later.

By some miracle, Ravus managed to bribe some people in the Tevinter to smuggle them out, which wasn't really that hard considering the internal corruption of the Imperium. They reached the Orlais Kingdom, where Ravus joined the Royal Military and, over the years, rose to prominence.

As a very talented Knight and someone of similar age to Kordillus, they became friends after a series of incidents and fights. Ravus was representative of what would once in the future become Templars, once the Anti-Magic Methods are researched.

"Now that we are in full, I will go straight to the matter as I have other things to attend to."

Vanderim Drakon opened the meeting as he didn't even want to be here in the first place, because he wanted to continue researching the Dimensional Magic of the Aen Elle and breaking through the minds of his prisoners.

Yet, Kordillus convinced his grandfather to attend, as he was the one who extracted the memories from the minds of the priestesses of the Cult of Andraste.

"First thing we managed to obtain the location of the headquarters of the Cult of Andraste, located in the depths of the Frostback Mountains in a small village named Haven. Most of the power base of the entire organization is located there. Second thing, we also discovered a lot of Chapels and secret branches of the Andrastianists in our own territory and several big ones in the Nahashin Marches, Fields of Ghislain, and two big Chapels in the Emprise Du Lion."

Vanderim Drakon stated as he passed the information to everyone included, as everyone listened in sheer shock, as the old man then nodded and left the meeting room straight away.

Kordillus knew that his grandpa was preparing to enter the Supreme-Tier, and he was actually very close ot reaching that step.