The horses whinnied as they stopped, looking nervously down the road where figures started to loom.
A guard jumped out of the first stagecoach as the ones on top tried to calm the horses ready to pull away as soon as possible.
“Detective Grugg,” she nodded, tilting her helmet. “Your items, as requested. I suggest we leave as a matter of urgency.”
He shook his head as more guards filtered out to take the prisoners. Jack looked rather resigned to his fate, whereas Lauren gave a lingering forlorn look toward Bart as she was moved off to the back stagecoach.
“More clues left to find,” Grugg explained. “Keep criminals safe for questioning, will call again when Grugg has more.”
The guard looked past him at the gloom filling with shambling figures. “As you wish, Detective. May the Crown watch over you.”
While the wagons loaded up and turned around to head back to Galeden, the remaining trio glared at what approached. By now, somewhat obvious - even if unexpected.
“Stinky humans,” Grugg surmised, bringing Thud forward, ready to greet them.
“Zombies,” Bart clarified.
Gregor bared his sharp teeth and lash his tail behind him. “That which dies should stay dead. It is our duty to ensure this insult against nature is righted.”
“That from a book?” the wizard mumbled.
The cyclops exhaled through his nose. He didn’t really know a lot about the dead. Not the kind that kept walking long after they were supposed to stop, anyway. For those with Giant ancestry, returning to the Great Mountain after life was something precious, and there were only brief tales of necromancers long passed - as they were squished by their fellows in no time at all.
He knew that they’d want to try to eat him, which seemed extra rude with how empty his stomach was… although, with how slow they were advancing, he might have an opportunity to snack from his bag.
There were just… so many of them.
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“Maybe one too many,” Captain Wanu said to himself, as the latest animal statue added to the shelf threatened to bring it down off the wall.
He could stop any time… how many animals could the world really have? Of course, then there were the different artists who created the statues, variants using different materials - or even other poses. It was perhaps a fool's errand at the outset.
There was a brief knock at his office door, and he stepped away from the shelf to stand by his desk. Tidied up his gray mustache and tried to get back into the mindset of Helpart’s chief law enforcement.
“Come in,” he commanded.
The wooden door opened to reveal a female guard with short, dark hair. “Just had word in, Captain. Detective Grugg and his group have unearthed Nightshade just outside of Galeden.”
“Knew it was only a matter of time.” The half-orc nodded and dismissed the guard. As the door closed once more, he allowed himself a smile.
At first, it had surprised and worried him that they hadn’t had any leads until this point. Not that he would ever question the efficiency of the cyclops to get the job done - he’d been keeping tabs on the group and was certainly impressed at what they had achieved.
For the Nightshade to be so hard to find, it was tempting to hope that something worse had happened to them than just hiding away.
Still, all good things come to those who wait. With a soft smile, he pulled open a draw and drew a folder of paperwork out to place upon his desk. Time to get to work.
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Grugg took a few steps backward and tried to shake the rotten mush from the end of his club. The zombies were perhaps one of the easiest enemies he had the displeasure of going against. Slow and easy to pulp - the other two hardly needed to assist as he swung Thud back and forth in wide arcs.
He had pulped a good… thirty or more of them so far. It was hard to keep track, and he wasn’t the best at counting, even on a good day. Today was not a very good day so far. Barely had anything to eat, and now had to deal with the stinky undead.
Bart had turned back into Kurt, and a crossbow had been taken from Grugg’s adventuring kit. Always paid to have something like that spare and apparently the ex-thief had a better handle on dexterous weapons. Every so often, a zombie would drop with a bolt in their head. On his other side, Gregor’s whip would crack forth and break through the softer skulls of the corpses.
There were still more stumbling out of the fog toward them.
Grugg growled. “Know what direction need to go.”
“The question remains,” Bart said, reloading his crossbow, “whether these undead were supposed to be coming this way, or we triggered their movements early by defeating the plant.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Despite being potentially the world’s greatest detective, Grugg wasn’t too sure. The only stories he had about zombies had them attacking small villages at night. Were these being saved up to attack Galeden? Maybe some of these were the original residents of the one the plant monster had taken over. He narrowed his eye, but couldn’t really make out much about them. Too dirty and mushy to determine much other than they were previously human.
“One way to find out, ser Hat. Work out way to the source.” Gregor’s eyes blazed crimson as he took another zombie out, his whip near separating their head from their neck.
Grugg nodded, but he wasn’t so sure. Defeating them had been simple enough so far, but if they keep on coming, then they might run the risk of being overrun. It wasn’t like there was anywhere to run to where they could have better odds, either. Nothing but trees and mud around.
If anything… it was very annoying.
He grit his large teeth together, blue energy radiating from his eye. His heartbeat began to thrum in his chest. This day had not been going his way so far, and now he would get his vengeance.
Inside the city, there wasn’t much room to use his berserker rage. He didn’t even like using it, but it was something he had learned to accept. Not a noble warrior like most of his clan, he was a barbarian at heart. His grip tightened on Thud as he lashed out toward the unending horde.
The other two took a couple of steps back and relaxed their weapons slightly. Grugg would be in control, but it was a good idea to not present yourself as potential collateral.
“Been a while,” Bart said, loading a bolt into the crossbow.
Rotted organs and pulped flesh splattered amongst the trees, dotting the landscape as the cyclops increased the speed and ferocity of his swings - now making headway further into the horde.
“Good thing we have some food for ser Grugg when he runs out of steam.” Gregor furrowed his brow and tried to make sure none of the zombies were able to flank the large figure.
“Perhaps a clue that one of the Nightshade bosses here is a necromancer.”
“Perhaps,” the ratman agreed, reluctantly.
“A terrible form of magic, although I won’t bore you with that rant.” He let the bolt off to skewer a walking corpse through the side of the head.
“That’ll be a first,” Gregor murmured. “I notice that killing these does not grant you any shift, ser Wizard?”
Bart shook his head. “They already died once, plus I’m not sure I’d want to turn into something undead.” Although all of his shifts were criminals, they were at least living beings. Before he killed them, anyway.
“I’d say we need a nice reward for thwarting a zombie invasion.” The ratman scratched at the underside of his chin. “Assuming this was heading for Galeden at some point, Lady Investigator should be pleased with us for a change.”
“We didn’t even maim the suspects this time.” The wizard stretched out the neck of Kurt and sighed. “Think I should let her know about this development?”
Gregor shrugged. “Be my guest, ser Hat.”
Bart sighed again and put his hand up to his eyes, trying to ignore the sounds of the undead being shredded and crushed by the constant onslaught of the detective. A golden glow appeared in his grip as he whispered something under his breath.
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Peony narrowed her eyes and deflated, placing her fork down on the plate. “Can’t even have a nice meal uninterrupted.”
Claudia tilted her head, but didn’t say anything due to having a mouth full of food. She hurried to try to get it down so that she could unleash the questions suddenly popping into her head.
“Calm down,” the Investigator said as she smiled. “Nothing bad. Just more business, even though I said no more business talk.” She rolled out her shoulders and tried to sit more comfortably in the chair. “That was Barthelemy. They’ve handed over the suspects to the guards.”
“That’s great,” Claudia managed, still trying not to choke on the last of her mouthful. “They’re on their way back then?”
“If only.” Peony looked around the restaurant to ensure they had a little privacy. “Not content with solving one mystery, they’ve apparently gotten themselves knee deep in another.”
The clothesmaker groaned. “What now?”
“A massive horde of the undead.” Peony stared at her blankly, waiting to see what the reaction would be.
Claudia returned the blank look, perhaps anticipating that it was part of a joke. When no further details were given, she slowly started to grimace. “But… how? Just roving about in the woods? Part of the village?”
“Details were vague.” She shrugged. “Grugg is currently making a paste of them while they head toward the source. If there’s anyone I am not worried about when it comes to the undead, it’s the Detective.”
Not only was his skin tough to bite through, his overpowering strength would make mincemeat of them, even if surrounded. Claudia nodded, accepting the statement. It didn’t mean the other two were any safer, but assuming they gave Grugg a wide berth, then they’d at least be reasonably sensible, if not constantly bickering.
She put her chin in her palm and leaned on the table. “This is bigger than we anticipated then.”
Peony nodded slowly. “I was starting to suspect the Nightshade bosses had gone much further afield, learning a lesson from their comrades in Helpart.”
“Not too far, though, right? What they seek is currently around Galeden?” Claudia wrinkled up her nose in thought.
Another nod was returned. “We’ll see what the boys are able to dig up, if you can excuse the pun, before we make any determination. If anything, we are at the start of something potentially very big.”
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“I’m not sure. I think something small would be more advantageous.”
Gregor raised an eyebrow. “Like a gnome?”
Bart paused and tilted his head. “Perhaps. An animal might be even better, but I don’t think I have the power yet. Like, a bird?”
“Or a rat?”
The wizard raised his eyebrows at Gregor, who was glaring at him with intensity. “No…”
“Shame,” the ratman huffed. “Have a sibling you could kill if you’d like.”
Grugg swung his club overhead, smashing the unfortunate undead into mulch, before kicking out at another and shattering their legs.
“You can’t kill them yourself?” Bart shook his head. “I mean, are they deserving of death or are you just… being weird?”
“You’re one to talk, ser Shifter. I don’t have anything to gain from it, and you’d be more tolerable as him than he is currently. It’s a…” Gregor looked away from the wizard, “political thing.”
Bart didn’t respond, slightly taken back by how frank and open the ratman was being. There was something about being in the presence of the enraged cyclops that tended to sober the rest of them up and act slightly more effective.
Stepping over the piles of mashed undead had taken most of their attention, anyway. No time for bickering when they had to make sure they didn’t slip on the wet organs and gross filth that now covered the road. Not to mention avoiding any potentially not-quite-dead corpses that might try to bite at their feet.
“Look ahead, ser Hat,” Gregor said, pointing with a clawed finger.
Ahead of the horde of undead, and the dervish of the furious cyclops, were more darkened shapes. But these were much larger, and stationary.
Buildings.