Lieutenant Arkham: Elves and Bullets Read Online Free
Author: Alessio Lanterna
Tags: Fantasy, Hardboiled, Noir, Elves, technofantasy
subjects of the Legal Magic course.
In any case, this does not detract from my interest in those 550,000 crowns; it’s better to keep your free will, including the possibility of pulling out from the match, especially in view of the direction the investigation has been going in, right from the start. After all, the contract’s supernatural binding works both ways, it forces the instigator to come up with the payment once the job has been done.
I light a cigarette and wipe some ash off the digital clock set in the dashboard. I’ve booked a table at Fierno for nine, so I’ve got plenty of time for a quick trip to Sublevel One. Before I switch the ignition on, I snatch another look at the photos on my mobile, without coming to any mind-blowing conclusions.
Sublevel One is a lively commercial neighbourhood, practically mono-racial, a pleasant environment for dwarves and humanoids suffering from acute agoraphobia or acrophobia. Dwarves who are in touch with their roots prefer a house underground to the higher neighbourhoods, therefore Nectropis’s golden rule: higher means better, is not applied here. Barely interested in daylight, the dwarves have always been the most enthusiastic supporters of the city right from the very beginning, they capitalize on its heritage without dwelling on its biggest defect: night lasts over twenty-two hours.
Nectropis really does owe its blossoming to the Failed Apocalypse. According to the unanimous opinion of these self-appointed experts, the last colossal battle between the Sulphurous Throne and the planet’s sentient races was fought where the cyclopic city walls stand today. A great coalition launched a desperate attack here on the portentous demonic citadel, the brutal fighting lasted nearly a week. Once the war was over, only a few thousand dwarves survived and there were only a few dozen elves left in the whole world; but it was the vampires who paid the highest price, they were completely wiped out and disappeared from history. The vampires, who for centuries had governed most of today’s Western Federation, possessed the extraordinary gift of being able to establish a sort of mystical bond between themselves and the areas they reigned over, immersing them in dense darkness for most of the day. Curiously, the longer this bond persisted, the more fertile the soil became, the mines richer and the weather more temperate. Therefore, the people ruled over by the un-dead happily accepted this nomination by the eternal lords of darkness.
A few decades after the vampires were exterminated, the day-night cycle went back to normal everywhere, except in Nectropis. The most valid theory explaining this phenomenon claims that the vast amount of immortal bloodshed by the vampires on the battle field left a permanent mark on the landscape, which is apparently confirmed by the City’s surprising growth in the subsequent millennium.
I take ringroad 45, one of the level’s main roads which links the ramps to the centre. Traffic is dense but it’s moving, the dwarves are leaving work in an orderly fashion, some are heading home while others are off to the pub.
Funny folk, these bearded shorties, obsessive when it comes to work or traffic regulations, completely mental when playtime comes around. The same amount of traffic on the roads in human neighbourhoods would cause an endless traffic jam, hundreds of honking horns and numerous nervous breakdowns. Maybe even death. Instead, under less than an hour, the drunks will start the first bar fights of the evening. Dwarves are exempt from common law concerning bar fights, they are considered as being part of their multi-millennial culture. It’s no mere protest, confirmed by the fact that often important businessmen are involved in these fights as well as prominent political figures, just as if the brawl were a national sport. The police only intervene on the rare occasions weapons are involved, that really is a bad business. Anyway,
In any case, this does not detract from my interest in those 550,000 crowns; it’s better to keep your free will, including the possibility of pulling out from the match, especially in view of the direction the investigation has been going in, right from the start. After all, the contract’s supernatural binding works both ways, it forces the instigator to come up with the payment once the job has been done.
I light a cigarette and wipe some ash off the digital clock set in the dashboard. I’ve booked a table at Fierno for nine, so I’ve got plenty of time for a quick trip to Sublevel One. Before I switch the ignition on, I snatch another look at the photos on my mobile, without coming to any mind-blowing conclusions.
Sublevel One is a lively commercial neighbourhood, practically mono-racial, a pleasant environment for dwarves and humanoids suffering from acute agoraphobia or acrophobia. Dwarves who are in touch with their roots prefer a house underground to the higher neighbourhoods, therefore Nectropis’s golden rule: higher means better, is not applied here. Barely interested in daylight, the dwarves have always been the most enthusiastic supporters of the city right from the very beginning, they capitalize on its heritage without dwelling on its biggest defect: night lasts over twenty-two hours.
Nectropis really does owe its blossoming to the Failed Apocalypse. According to the unanimous opinion of these self-appointed experts, the last colossal battle between the Sulphurous Throne and the planet’s sentient races was fought where the cyclopic city walls stand today. A great coalition launched a desperate attack here on the portentous demonic citadel, the brutal fighting lasted nearly a week. Once the war was over, only a few thousand dwarves survived and there were only a few dozen elves left in the whole world; but it was the vampires who paid the highest price, they were completely wiped out and disappeared from history. The vampires, who for centuries had governed most of today’s Western Federation, possessed the extraordinary gift of being able to establish a sort of mystical bond between themselves and the areas they reigned over, immersing them in dense darkness for most of the day. Curiously, the longer this bond persisted, the more fertile the soil became, the mines richer and the weather more temperate. Therefore, the people ruled over by the un-dead happily accepted this nomination by the eternal lords of darkness.
A few decades after the vampires were exterminated, the day-night cycle went back to normal everywhere, except in Nectropis. The most valid theory explaining this phenomenon claims that the vast amount of immortal bloodshed by the vampires on the battle field left a permanent mark on the landscape, which is apparently confirmed by the City’s surprising growth in the subsequent millennium.
I take ringroad 45, one of the level’s main roads which links the ramps to the centre. Traffic is dense but it’s moving, the dwarves are leaving work in an orderly fashion, some are heading home while others are off to the pub.
Funny folk, these bearded shorties, obsessive when it comes to work or traffic regulations, completely mental when playtime comes around. The same amount of traffic on the roads in human neighbourhoods would cause an endless traffic jam, hundreds of honking horns and numerous nervous breakdowns. Maybe even death. Instead, under less than an hour, the drunks will start the first bar fights of the evening. Dwarves are exempt from common law concerning bar fights, they are considered as being part of their multi-millennial culture. It’s no mere protest, confirmed by the fact that often important businessmen are involved in these fights as well as prominent political figures, just as if the brawl were a national sport. The police only intervene on the rare occasions weapons are involved, that really is a bad business. Anyway,
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