Book 2: Chapter 12

Book 2: Chapter 12

Where are these items coming from?

As Ryn pushed his wheelchair down the street, back toward the inn, Garretts mind was entirely occupied by the window that popped up when he had first noticed the simple brown leather notebook. What had drawn his attention to it was the ghostly figure that hovered over it, with a quill that dripped crimson ink. When he looked over, the ghost was dipping his quill into the head of the exorcist who held the book, extracting something to fill the ink pot that floated by his side, giving the whole scene a gruesome feeling. Yet, no sooner had he seen the figure than the ghost had let out a silent shout and hurried to bow, knocking over the ink pot in the process.

You have observed the Informants Ledger, a dream artifact of uncommon value. You have gained 3 EXP.

EXP: 90/160

Dismissing the window, Garrett realized that someone was talking to him and looked over, catching Ryn mid-sentence.

because, if I were them, I wouldnt have gone anywhere near it.

Thats true, Obe replied with a shrug, but sometimes we dont have a choice. That is how it was when the gang originally got started. We were forced into the sewers to survive, not because we wanted to go. But good came of it. In the middle of that danger, we discovered the passages that led to the inn. After that, it was just a matter of acquiring the inn from the old owner. Thats how Ghouls Tooth was born.

But werent you scared of going down into the crypts? What if you ran across undead?

Glancing at Ryn, Obe suppressed the shudder her question caused.

Believe me, Ill take undead over a lot of the other things that have popped up over the years. Did you ever hear the stories about the Skeletal Hand cult? A bunch of madmen who believed there is some sort of deity buried in the royal crypts. They tried to sacrifice an entire district to bring him back to life. They were terrifying, because they recruited people forcefully, carving evil symbols into their hands to force them to serve their skeleton god.

Skeletal Hand? Garrett asked, twisting around his chair to stare at Obe. When was this?

Oh, nearly twenty years ago. They messed up the city pretty badly, and it was after that the exorcists became their own group. If theyre back, things are not going to be pretty.

Back? Asher piped up. Theyve never left. Ask anyone who lives in the graveyard district. Theyre still lurking around the crypts, and every year or two one of their nests will be uncovered and the exorcists and city guard will descend like a hive, killing anyone who is close by. They call them undead purges, but its really a move against the remnants of the Skeletal Hand. Theyre like a plague, but no matter how much you try and wipe them out, they just pop back up.

Listening quietly as the other awakened started to talk about what they knew of the citys cults, Garretts mind spun. He was familiar with the Skeletal Hand of Lesrak from the notification windows that he had gotten, but hearing that the mysterious Great Rulers influence extended to the real world was a wake up call. Given that he could spin his influence in the dream into real world impact, it made complete sense that the other Great Rulers could do the same thing, and he felt foolish that he hadnt considered it. It also meant that he needed to shore up his influence as fast as possible.

The silver lining, of course, was that he knew what to look for. Undead were hard to hide, and from the bit that he remembered from his classes in the palace, necromancy was even harder to hide. Rather than operating as the spells that he remembered from earth, necromantic magic was more of a pact with an evil spirit, causing it to act on the necromancers behalf. After they had arrived back at the inn, Garrett called Asher to his office and asked him a bit more regarding the Skeletal Hand cult, pretending that he was just worried about the warning that Chief Exorcist Fellix had issued.

There isnt much known about them, Asher said, shrugging. But I can tell you what to look out for. All the cults operate in roughly the same way. In order to gain the power of a pact, you have to make a sacrifice. That sacrifice allows you to open the gate to the underworld, where the spirits roam. The more powerful the spirit, the greater the sacrifice needed.

Taking notes, Garrett paused and looked up.

Something like that happened here before. The old gang leader seemed bewitched, and he killed three people. One was the cook, and the others were the maids. He must have been sacrificing them to a spirit to gain power. It ended up driving him mad and mutating his body.

That sounds about right. You have to be insane to think that messing with an evil spirit is a good idea. Besides, the result is never what you want, but a perversion of it. That is the ironclad law of necromancy. You sacrifice to the spirit, and you lose your mind and your soul.

What do you need, Ryn?

That butcher is back. Gavon? He brought a bunch of people and they are waiting in the great room.

How punctual. Please inform him that I am expecting him and escort him to my office. Ill see him here. Oh, and Asher, on your way out, would you inform Francis that we would like some wine?

After Asher and Ryn both left, Garrett got out a small stack of paper from the desk and began to check over it, carefully going over all the wording. A few minutes later, Gavon entered the room, two hard looking men behind him, their hands resting on the cleavers on their hips. Striding right up to the desk, Gavon threw down a paper in front of Garrett and leaned over the desk, his large face looking like it had been set in stone.

What is this?

Picking up the paper, which turned out to be the note that Garrett had written and sent that morning, he looked up at Gavon calmly.

It's a note that I wrote to you earlier today.

Of course it is. If it wasnt, I wouldnt be breathing down your neck, Gavon snapped. Im asking you why you are threatening us.

Threatening you? I must confess, I fail to see how this could be misconstrued as a threat, Garrett replied, his forehead furrowing as he read the note. A taste of our strength. That seems to be a straightforward proclamation. You said that if we could deal with Thomas Howler, and his goons, that you would consider joining us. We provided our answer in the form of action.

You are claiming that you are the ones that killed the awakened members of the Howler gang? Gavon asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously. What black magic is this?

Im not claiming anything of the sort, Garrett said, realization dawning on his face. We, uh, claim responsibility for the other thing. I assume you heard what happened to all of the Howler gangs, um, property? We are claiming that. I can see, however, that if you thought we were claiming the deaths of Mr. Howler and co., you might see my message as a threat. But I was talking about our liberation of his ill-gotten gains. In fact, we went over this morning to talk to him about what he would have to do to get his things back, only to find him dead and the whole place swarming with exorcists.

Would you like some wine? Oh, here is Francis now. Please, take a seat and have a drink. Do you know what happened? Im afraid we were only able to get a few rumors, though I did talk to Chief Exorcist Fellix, who mentioned that it was a possible necromancer? Im sure that the Grave Walker gang doesnt dabble in such terrible things, but it does strike me that it would be wise to beware any movement from around the crypts. One of our men was mentioning to me that the Skeletal Hand cult was never really eliminated, which is curious since the city guard have claimed they were defeated twenty years ago. But it makes sense that, if they do still exist, they would be north of here in the crypts.

Ive heard they hide among the graves and that there are entire tunnel systems under the crypts that they roam, which is a sort of terrifying prospect. But so is getting attacked by a monster. Well, not for you three. Im sure that you see lots of blood in your line of work. Its amazing to me how a completely bloodless thing like a spirit or a zombie can be so scary, but thats just how it is. Ive heard that the Grave Walker gang can actually control zombies, which is also a scary thing, but it's probably just a rumor, since the exorcists would be all over that.

Gavon, who had been trying to squeeze in a word the whole time Garrett babbled, found himself sitting down across from Garrett with a glass of wine in his hand when the deluge of words eventually subsided. Staring at Garrett, shell shocked, it took him a moment to realize that Garrett was looking at him expectantly.

Did did you ask me a question? Gavon asked, looking at his men in confusion.

Ah, yes. Delver Butchery is a hot commodity, and your stock is only going to rise when the gates reopen. From the looks of it, the only two contenders are the Grave Walker gang, and the late Howler gang. When they both were around you could play them against each other, but now youre down to a single threat. The biggest threat. I asked if you had thought about a strategy to ward off the Grave Walkers.

Garretts faint smile caused a vein to throb in Gavons temple and he could feel a serious headache coming on. The young man in front of him looked frail and harmless, but Garretts earlier deflection had not slipped by unnoticed. In fact, it had only reinforced the implicit threat of the note. Not only was Gavon even more convinced that Garrett and the Klein Family had been behind Thomas Howlers death, but they had done it in a way that dropped the blame far from their door, pointing the arrow in the direction of their greatest competition, the Grave Walker gang. Worse, Garretts analysis of the situation was entirely accurate.

The Grave Walkers and Howlers had been balancing each other out, but now that balance was gone, and unless Gavon found another group to join the competition, the scale would completely tip toward the Grave Walkers, practically guaranteeing that the processing plant would fall to them. Both Gavon and Garrett knew that, and also knew that the Delver Butchery had just gone from being in the frying pan to roasting in the fire because no gang in their right mind would challenge the Grave Walkers. No gang apart from one.

Ill take your silence as a no, Garrett said, a gleam in his eyes. Have you considered my earlier offer at all? We would be more than happy to have you join the Family.