The Power of Ten, Book Three : The Human Race

Mushrooms?

I had a 22 Int, which for all real purposes was top of the line human genius. I didn’t forget anything I learned... but the knowledge I had was, in large part, shadows of what Aelryinth had known. He had all the Knowledge Ranks, because he was a Fifteen.

I was still a GD One. I had one Rank in Religious Lore, which was a Lore skill with a lot of focus on undead, as perversions of the life and death cycle of religions. It didn’t concern itself with undead society, like The Lore of Death did, but, as Clerics were among the first to take a stand against undead (or make use of them, if Evil), they were naturally required to know a great deal about them and the dangers they presented.

Proper way to initiate a new Priestess of Flora: strength and vulnerabilities of the undead, ranging from ablominals and allips, to zombies and zuvembies. What was not to love about a Lore like that?

Eh, I should have gotten a closer look at the undead, but they had been burning away rather quickly. “Did any of them have growths that looked like a mushroom eye on them?” I asked.

The Mick frowned in thought. “Yes, the biggest of them. I cut off its head first.”

“Shingen-gaki,” I hissed out. “What the fuck are they doing here? There isn’t a major Oriental community here, and they generally only pop up in the Far East...”

“Eastern undead?” He glanced at me warily. “The Oriental undead clans don’t get along with those in the West. There’s a lot of bad blood related to Western imperialism in the Far East. It wasn’t just the normal humans who were total arseholes out there.”

“And that is a surprise how?” I replied. He just smirked knowingly. “More to the point, were there any visits from the Orient recently? Trade delegations, magical exchanges?”

“There’s little trust in the Daoists who are holding power out there now, especially since they completely reject the power and rights of the gods,” he mused. “I’m not familiar with Pittsburgh’s social scene. Let me make a call.” The Mick flipped out his own cell phone as we glided smoothly down the road in his nonesuch car. A minute later he had drolly made contact with someone, and by the charm and the way his accent lilted, I assumed it was a woman.

He buttered her up smoothly yet honestly, and given the nature of the business at hand and the value of the information, she eventually yielded to him that a trade delegation from China had passed through the city about two weeks ago.

-Ask her if the same delegation went to Philadelphia afterwards,- I Messaged to him while he was talking.

He did so, and nodded, giving me a strange look. I sat back with a frown.

Twice was not a coincidence...

I didn’t call people on my phone, as the numbers swam in front of me. I was lucky I could answer it correctly. Annoying...

However, I was also a Caster, so sending out Messages was a thing. I /sent to Master Fred, -That delegation from China was here before they went to Philly, and might have left another surprise behind. I wonder where they went before and after?

-We’ve chased the target out of the residential area. He’s in the sewers, but there was a group of gaki under the former cemetery here. The Mick lost him when they tried to eat his bat-form.-

I could easily picture Master Fred stopping, taking out his Vaccine, and passing on the message to Gregorigori.

“I don’t know the sewers here, it’s not my territory,” The Mick said calmly. “He could come out anywhere once he’s down there.”

“And you realized he’d take at least one side tunnel to lose you, which is why you didn’t bother to go back down there,” I reasoned, and he glanced at me again. I probably wasn’t supposed to be so savvy. “You’re forgetting we already have his disease trail, and can follow it in the other direction.”

He regained his smile, and the red in his eyes. “Why, so we can, my lady, so we can!” he purred, and adjusted our course to start crossing those paths, while I prepared to cast another Detect Disease and follow the trail of the virulent plague the bastard gave off.

------

Criss-crossing the trail as it cut across streets, or following it along them, we rapidly converged toward the address of his house. On the other hand, it wasn’t vectoring directly towards it, more behind it.

Completing a circle of the wooded area where the old house was located, we crossed several trails heading into the city, but none leading away from it to the south. The Mick parked to the southeast of the woods and off the road, in a convenient parking lot for a consignment store selling art there. Alas, we wouldn’t be giving it any business, despite the flashy car proclaiming The Mick had a lot of money.

-We are south and west of you along Cochran Mills, in the parking lot of the art store,- I /sent to Master Fred, as The Mick turned off Bone Marrow’s engine, and things went quiet, save for the passing cars.

He seemed to be expecting me to say something. I was amused, and instead entered Waking Meditation, filling the Valences now that I had time so I wouldn’t need to do so later. He saw the swirl of incoming magic, and held off as I sat there quietly, keeping to myself.

------

Fred came ghosting up next to us on Sleipner about a half hour after I Messaged him, basically almost invisible until he stopped right next to us. The Mick looked over without surprise, I popped my eyes open, and we were all together again.

“A right tough bastard you found for us, Boxer,” The Mick said. “She said you powered up one of those holy water vials. Pass me another to shove in the ugly bastard’s face.”

I recalled the gaunt, skin-sagging face of the vylstrigoi, like a fat man’s corpse whose fat had been drained from it, leaving only the hunger and wasting behind, bones and joints swollen and deformed, but with supernatural strength.

Fred reached back, opened a saddlebag, and pulled out another glass sphere. He held it in his hands and concentrated, filling the sparkling, silver-touched waters within it with golden motes.

“It dissipates at Renewal,” I informed The Mick, who just nodded and stashed it in his coat pocket. “Find anything interesting, Master Fred?”

NECROMANCER, HAD A COUPLE OF ANIMATED IN THE BASEMENT, WHERE HE WAS STUDYING THEM FOR CORPSECRAFTING WORK. NOTHING SERIOUS. HE ALSO HAD THE REMNANTS OF A SIGNIFICANT LIBRARY, BUT IT HAD BEEN MOVED, ALONG WITH OTHER ITEMS OF VALUE. THE ART AND FURNISHINGS WERE ON THE MACABRE SIDE, BUT NOTHING STOOD OUT IN THE BASEMENT. ANYTHING REALLY IMPORTANT MUST BE IN THE TOMB.

“So, the bugger buried himself somewhere in those woods, and we’ve got to go find him.” The Mick was naturally unfazed by the parade of burning letters that marched by atop Fred’s shoulder.

“How useful that he lays trails of disease that can lead us right to it.”

“That IS fairly considerate of the pustulant cur,” The Mick acknowledged grandly. “Do we set around for hours like fools, or get into position early, in hopes of making a short day of this?”

“He’s using the sewers, so he’ll be slow, and he’ll smell. He’s not going to come out until nightfall, and we won’t know the vector. For some reason, he had the gaki running frontage for him. What are the odds there aren’t some by his tomb?”

“I would say low,” The Mick replied drolly, and Fred nodded agreement.

“Happily, tomorrow is the seventh day, so the bastard has no choice but to return. As long as you’re both anticipating trouble, I don’t have any problem going in there early, but we’re going to be sitting around in the woods for a long time.”

“I’m patient, and prefer to be prepared,” The Mick replied easily.

“Master Fred, find a place for Bone Marrow here to park. We should be able to use your Eyes of Heaven to lead us close to the tomb, and just follow the plague trail from there.”

Sleipner nickered, and The Mick turned the ignition so Bone Marrow could follow the unicorn cycle to a different place...

----------

He put up the hardtop, and, ignoring the mud and dirt that would inevitably get on his pristine white shoes, moved soundlessly after Master Fred. I was perched on Sleipner, which was cycling after the two of them, as my job was fire support and staying alive, not eliminating the thing.

I had reiterated that I had to help Master Fred strike the killing blow, and The Mick had confirmed understanding. Bodyjumpers were a pain to deal with, even among the vampires, who were generally notoriously hard to knock off.

We headed straight for the wooded hills in the center of this area, with Master Fred pausing to scan the area about every fifty yards. If he didn’t get a hit, we’d just cross the area towards the house, scanning for disease.

With the gaki here, we weren’t looking just for them. Gaki were usually commanded by answang, the powerful Oriental ghouls, who were often commanded in turn by a jiangshi, a Leaping Vampire, of the Oriental vampire clans.

Annoyingly, gaki could take the form of flies buzzing around. Happily, this didn’t escape the Eyes of Heaven, or the ability to sense undead.

Master Fred soon got a hit on the far side of the hill.

------

The natural wildlife had definitely left the area, and we’d found the diseased corpses of squirrels, birds, chipmunks, and other creatures as we moved through the trees, each of which I lit off with vivus from a Dart. The Mick looked at the unwhite flames sharply, but said nothing.

Interesting...

When Master Fred held up his hand, we all stopped. I flicked up two Darts as he waved us off to the side. Everyone quietly receded behind one of the old trees still standing in this area.

I wasn’t going to waste another Valence on a Detect I, so I just waited as he remained poised ahead of me, eyes mostly closed, his offhand splayed and slowly counting down to range.

I still didn’t see what he was shooting at until he stepped around the trunk and fired a soundless, bright shot of Wrath, without using any ammo. Two points of darkness in midair flashed and burned, and made bright targets for the Darts I tossed in as follow-up.

Two fiery bursts of light exploded, and were gone abruptly as their concealing magic was consumed with them.

“Fire Gaki. The spirits of cowards or deserters,” I murmured so they could hear. “Outer sentries? It means they are organized here...”

“As long as Boxer can sense them first, we’re fine,” the Mick grinned. “Or I can do some scouting ahead-?”

“Can you sense the undead aura of the Fire Gaki in bug form if you get close?” I asked him.

“Aye, I got a good feel for them.”

“Master Fred?” I asked.

UNDEAD DOMINANCE LINKS MEAN THEY HAVE ALREADY SENSED THE DEATH OF THE GAKI. I slapped my head, and The Mick scowled, then nodded. WIPING THE SCOUTS MEANS WE DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THEM GANGING UP ON US SHORTLY. IF YOU CAN FIND THEM BEFORE THEY FIND US, MUNCH AWAY, LORD MICK!

The Mick gave Fred a weird look, but then hopped into the air, his white-suited figure blurring apart into dozens of ivory bats which took off among the trees, faint screeches of echolocation preceding him.

Master Fred pointed forwards. HE’LL KILL THEM ALL, the letters of fire declared confidently. LET’S GO. Without hurry, he started forwards again, clearly not worried about what might be awaiting us.

I glanced at the Haze above, noted three open Slots available, my emergency spells, and endless amounts of Darts. Sleipner followed in eerie silence for a motorcycle.