They crest the hill past the plains and sighted a small city. They can see several Warrogs milling about both young and old. It seems to them that this city is a settlement for Warrogs. The group became excited immediately.
"I can feel it. We are very close." Lamplard said in excitement.
The others are also happy but they are happy for other reasons. They are happy that they have finally found a Warrog settlement where they can stay for a long time. It is good that they are finally reaching the Emperor here but they don't intend to leave this settlement no matter the outcome. This place will be their last stop no matter what.
Lamplard led his group into the city. Then they scattered to search for traces of the Emperor. They spent the entire day looking but they couldn't find any traces. The Warrogs of the city don't know about any Emperor. They have never heard any news or felt any indication of there being an Emperor amongst them.
So Lamplard was disappointed. It didn't help that he lost the sensation of the Emperor as soon as he entered the City. The same thing has happened every time he gets close to the Emperor. Unfortunately, there is nothing he can do about it. He decided to sleep over for the night and try to convince the others to continue the search the following day.
The dim day darkened into total darkness at night. Nighttime is the time for abominations and depravity. The forces of darkness came out to play in the night. A particular contingent of Vampires dug themselves out from the ground like the unnatural undead that they are. Then they moved wordlessly as one.
They have been doing what they are currently doing for years now. It is a routine at this point so there's no need to talk or waste time. They followed the trail left by Lamplard and his group of Warrogs. The light of the red moon and their excellent eyesight made the night as clear as day to them.
They are about 100 of them in number and they are being led by a Count. That's a powerhouse at the level of a king of law. The rest of the vampires are at least transcendent. That means none of them are fledglings.
This kind of force which has a minimum of 100 Barons, is orders of magnitude stronger than Lamplard and his rag-tag group of tired Warrogs. So it didn't take them an hour to cover up the distance that the Warrogs traveled in the whole day.
They came upon the settlement of Warrogs. It is less active now that it is nighttime. There are fewer Warrogs moving about. Most of them are sleeping. A few light sources can be seen here and there.
The leader said to the group, "You know the drill. Fan out and search the city. Report if you find anything suspicious. I want you back here in 10 minutes."
They indeed know the drill. So they scattered immediately and searched for their prey. The divine sense of each one of them is capable of covering most of the settlement since they are at least transcendents so one of them can search the city on their own. But they didn't do that. The settlement was separated into segments for each one of them to search and each segment was searched meticulously.
The Vampires used their sense for life to spot every living thing and they used their sense for vitality to search for any Warrog that might be special, unique, or extraordinary in any way. Powerful or special beings will have a lot of vitality due to the power that they are hiding within them.
It didn't take them 10 minutes to search the entire city even though they were slowed down by being careful. They moved like thieves, silent and unnoticed through the city. Each house was examined and searched without the inhabitants being any wiser for the breach of privacy. Then they returned to report their findings to their leader.
The leader of a squad of 10, a viscount said to their leader, "Count Desmond, we can't find anyone that might look an Emperor."
More Viscounts came forward with their reports. It was all the same thing. None of them found the Emperor. Others might think the Emperor is a fairy tale but they believe that it exists. So they have been searching for it. The failure to find it did not come as a surprise to the only count here. This failure has occurred several times in the past so they are somewhat numb to it.
Count Desmond asked the Viscounts, "Hmm. I must ask you this. Are you sure the entire city was searched carefully without any omission or mistake?"
He knows that he has been sent on a wild goose chase. He isn't the only team searching for the Emperor. The odds that he will find the Emperor are low even though the group that he is tailing is promising. Still, he has to ask to make sure that the entire city was searched so that he can report to his superior after doing his due diligence.
The Viscounts answered in the affirmative. They searched everywhere including the sewers. Basements and secret compartments didn't elude them. There is nothing stronger than a normal mana entity in the city. And that's the pack leader who they can snap in two like a twig. She is not Sauron by any means.
Count Desmond went on to report their findings as he has always done every night for the past 5 decades. He reported to his superior, a Marquis. The Marquis reported to a Duke and the Duke reported to the Primogenitor of their lineage.
He received a reply from his superior immediately which is quite odd. He became agitated because of the oddity but the message he received made him feel relief. He can even admit to being a little happy.