“This is a complete waste of time,” Alyss said.
CJ and her were in an alleyway in Righty, their only other companions being a bag of rotting onion peels a little further down and some empty wooden crates stacked by a door. They each had copper flasks, and CJ was holding his up by his mouth as if he was going to take a drink.
It was just water. But it was part of their disguises. CJ was wearing a long brown cloak, the hood up and over his head despite it just being a little past noon. He wanted his face covered, since underneath he was wearing a rather conspicuous full head bandage wrap. He was worried that someone might spot him and report him back to a superior somewhere. He didn’t know how likely that was, but the possibility would be catastrophic.
Alyss was dressed a bit like a tradeswoman. Her shaved down horns were covered by a leather hat, and she had a leather apron on, proper singed here and there. On top of that she had a thick coat.
The hope was that they looked like two acquaintances having their daily chat down the alleyway, and wouldn’t be noticed by anyone leaving the door right across from that alleyway.
“You say that,” CJ said, taking a sip of water and then holding the flask up about chin level again. “But what happens if we go in there and confront this guy, and it is an ambush?”
Alyss narrowed her eyes at him. “This is the 2nd day watching Shaw, it isn’t an ambush. We should have Mae over here. She could tell you if he was acting strange, she knows the man.”
CJ shook his head. He already had Larl walking the street to look for anyone doing surveillance. CJ was checking any and all bonds that he noticed to see if any of them came up as enemies, or with strange allegiances. So far it was all clean.
“This is just too easy,” CJ said. He looked down the alley toward the door.
It was a large set of double doors that fed to a restaurant, the Peppered Hound. The place was quaint inside, staff seemed friendly, hard working. They had a bond that worked in the back, the cooking staff were famously well coordinated. But when CJ looked into the bond it was just two men and a woman that were rather dedicated to their craft.
Shaw went there in the evenings and stayed for hours. Well, in their terms he stayed for the later half of the 2nd cross, until it got dark. It lined up with someone just going there for dinner every night, but it was suspicious to CJ.
“Why are you so worried about this guy?” Alyss asked. “Shouldn’t we be focused on Brook?”
He looked over to her. Alyss didn’t seem angry, just a mix of frustrated and curious. There was a right answer to this that would probably satisfy her, but he didn’t know if he had it.
“Our enemy is someone from my world,” CJ said, then took a sip to collect his thoughts. “I prodded them a bit, tried to piss them off. I think attacking us like this, through an ally of my allies, is a smart move. I guess I’m giving Greywind the benefit of at least being as smart as me, or smarter.”
Alyss sighed and sipped her flask before making a disturbed face at the water. “I don’t know if smart is the word for it. Cruel, evil, that’s what I think of’em. Paying off some priest to lie to us doesn’t seem evil enough. I would expect ash walkers, corruption of the soul.”
Her thoughts went elsewhere for a moment, and CJ just watched her. She felt his eyes on her, and then furrowed her brow and looked at him.
“I get what you mean. I just want to be sure though. Ophy and Welma are checking the prison, Benton is gathering intel, we have more than enough eyes on Brook.”
Larl came walking from the opposite end of the alleyway. They didn’t turn toward him until he got close, but they knew it was him.
“I went in to check wait times again,” Larl said, “no luck seeing him though. I am sure that he uses a table in the back.”
CJ nodded and tapped his foot. “I wish I could ask Mae’s advice on this.”
Alyss sighed, “see! She should be here.”
“You know what I mean,” CJ said, waving a hand at Alyss. “I have an idea what I want to do, but I don’t want to wait.”
“Why don’t you just communicate with her through the bond?” Larl asked.
CJ turned to Larl with a dumb stare. He was going to speak, but then saw Alyss giving him the same dumb stare. He modified his question. “Is that something I can do?”
Larl shrugged. “Maybe? It was worth a try, and I hoped you would just do it. It wouldn’t be the first time you manifested a miraculous ability.”
CJ smirked. “I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“Trying seems like a good starting point.” Larl folded his hands in front of himself.
They all paused, and CJ felt like he was the center of the conversation for all the wrong reasons. But now he at least had to try. He closed his eyes, and first saw if he could bring up some kind of menu that allowed communication. Maybe he could just send her a text message. No luck though. Then he tried to just speak.
“Mae, can you hear me? Can you hear me? Grab your sword and come to the Peppered Hound if you can hear me.” He whispered the words, but tried to say them towards Madaleene at the same time.
He opened an eye and looked at Alyss and Larl, “Any luck?”
Larl shook his head no, Alyss sipped from her flask. Her eyes were still on the door across from the alley.
“Doesn’t seem to work,” CJ said.
“Concentrate, try to draw from the soul.” Larl said. “It is a bit like squeezing a muscle right, or maybe releasing one. A muscle you can’t otherwise feel.”
He wasn’t wrong. He didn’t feel his soulstone engage at all, so maybe he was doing it wrong.
CJ closed his eyes again and took a deep breath. He tried to push through again. “Mae, can you hear me?” He tried to focus his chest, as if squeezing with a muscle behind his ribcage. He whispered it again, but then felt a sharp pain in his core. He was going to break something with all this awkward flexing. He stopped and opened his eyes again.
Alyss was looking at him, but when he looked back at her she looked away.
Larl sighed. “Oh well, I can just go collect her.”
“Could you?” CJ said as he rubbed his thumb against his sternum. “Tell her to kit up.”
Alyss held a hand up. “If that’s the call, I’m going. I need a real weapon.”
She had a knife in her boot, but nothing else battle worthy.
CJ nodded. “Be fast, I want to go in there and talk with him before he usually leaves.”
She nodded and jogged off.
“You’re sure about this?” Larl asked as Alyss got out of earshot.
CJ thought for a bit longer. He wasn’t sure, but they didn’t have a lot of time. They could be one more group researching and scouting to get Brook out. But instead they were doing this. But there was another problem.
“I wish I could really be sure. Once we go in there, it is possible we can’t get back out without making this whole city angry. We screw up bad enough, and we won’t be able to get Brook at all.”
Larl walked up closer so CJ could hear him at a whisper. “Do you think there is a chance of the others finding out about Brook?”
CJ shook his head no. “Eventually I’ll just tell them. But for now it is easier this way.”
They stayed there in the alleyway for some time, waiting for the two ladies. The sun went down, and CJ knew they were really pushing the clock. He checked the map and the flame in the orb representing the Beat was a low wisp of flame, in danger of going out.
“Did you really think I could send Mae a message?” CJ asked.
Larl was squatting beside him. He looked up in surprise at the question, then stood with a grunt.
“I know it’s been a bit since I said it, but I think you represent the path I want to be on, CJ.” He gave CJ a pat on the shoulder. “In my eyes, there isn’t much you can’t do. I know you don’t like when people hang their hopes on you, but it is only fair I let you know that you are one of the few hopes I have left.”
The priest’s smile was weak, and CJ realized that he still wasn’t completely recovered from what happened to him in Scaleback. It wasn’t the physical wounds, it was Byr’s death. None of them really were. They needed a win, they needed to see part of Akahi restored. It was for the sake of their morale.
They both turned before Mae and Alyss turned into the alleyway.
“She was already back at the inn when I arrived,” Alyss said.
Mae shrugged, “Something told me I might be needed.”
Alyss and Larl looked at CJ, but he shook his head no at the mere wordless suggestion.
“I’ve decided,” CJ said. “We’re heading in to speak to Shaw. Keep an eye out for trouble. At this point I think it should be perfectly safe, but while Shaw may not be a problem there is still the possibility that someone else is watching him. We can’t let him serve as bait.”
They all nodded.
“We find him, Mae speaks to him. We ask him if he is safe and if there is anyone threatening him. If it is all clear, we take him back to his place. If he is in trouble, we have to try to get the source of danger from him and then we can go and take care of them unless it is suicide.”
Everyone checked their weapons and gear, then they headed over to the Peppered Hound.
Compared to a modern restaurant, the Peppered Hound seemed to only be fit for large parties or those with a ton of money to burn. As they walked in they could see long carved tables in the main room, with decorated white tablecloths. There were five of the long tables, each probably capable of holding 20 people. But at the moment that CJ and his team walked in, only two tables were in use and they barely had 6 people each.
Besides the tables there were rooms at the back and side, clearly partitioned areas made of thin wood, like large confessional booths. They had to be where individuals went, or smaller parties. It seemed like a rather all or nothing way to run a diner, but the Peppered Hound was well known and still in business, so it had to be working.
A hostess walked up to them when they entered, a young Hillwoman with sanded down horns like Alyss, except her hair was a voluminous brown.
“Greetings,” She said with a smile, “we like to leave weapons here at the door, if you would like to check them I can find you a table.”
CJ scanned the main room, no sign of Brother Shaw. He spotted a member of the cooking staff near an empty eating table, a young woman that had a bond going from her hand over to the kitchen.
“No thanks,” CJ said with a raised hand. “We’re looking for a customer you have in here, he is a friend of ours. He is a priest looking fellow, shaggy brown hair, usually tied back, mustache and beard, older even than this man.” He pointed to Larl at the end, and Larl grinned sheepishly and nodded.
If the girl was thrown off by him refusing to give up his weapons, she didn’t show it. Instead she thought about his description, putting a finger to her lower lip.
“Oh,” she said, “Mr. Shaw, or was it Brother?”
CJ nodded, “Yes, if you could grab him for us, we are supposed to meet him.”
She stammered, “Uhm, well… I…” It looked like she wanted to walk away, but she may have been told to do otherwise. Something kept her there, unable to let them out of her sight.
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“Did he give you instructions maybe?” Larl said as he stepped up. “We can go meet with him if you’d like. We promise we don’t mean him trouble. We want what is quickest and quietest.”
CJ looked over to Larl. The ladies were both nodding in agreement at his timely intervention, so CJ turned back to her and also nodded.
“Oh, thank goodness,” the hostess said. “Please, come on in. I’ll show you to his booth.”
They walked in, following her into the main eating area and past the one table with anyone eating at it. It was a group of men who all looked like tradesmen. One was still wearing a heavy apron, and another had on goggles for precision work.
As they passed by the table, the men were having a lively conversation about the food. The serving here was done as large communal plates that everyone served themselves off of, like a dim sum joint. But the men at the table were not enjoying their food.
One stood and spat out a chunk of blackened meat. “That’s it, I demand to speak to someone!” He didn’t look at the hostess at first, then caught sight of her.
The hostess stopped, “I’ll be right back and bring someone to talk to you.”
“See that you do, they’ll pay for this insult to me and my men!”
She motioned for peace, but kept moving to keep CJ and the others heading toward a room to the side. “I apologize about that, right over here.”
They got to the door, and she knocked. “Sir, you have visitors.”
A voice came from within. It was gruff, but not louder than it needed to be. “I want no guests.”
Mae stepped forward. “Not even an old friend.”
As she spoke, there was a long pause. Then the sound of movement within the small side room. The door opened to reveal Brother Shaw, his eyes already watering. He looked right at Mae and motioned for her to come in.
“You made it! I was so worried I…” Shaw looked at the hostess, and nodded at her. “Thank you madame, please bring us a small starter and water.”
The hostess smiled, bowed lightly, and then walked away.
“Come inside, all of you. We have much to talk about.”
Inside the little room was pretty much a booth. It was a long bench that went around a small table that would barely fit all 5 of them comfortably. They squeezed in, Shaw first, then Mae, Alyssa, Larl, and finally CJ. CJ closed the door, which cut off the light and left them in a dim space with light coming in through slats in the door. There was a place where they could have a lantern, but Shaw hadn’t bothered.
“I’m so glad you’re you,” Mae said as they sat down. “I have to admit, we had our concerns.”
He touched his chest, “Who else would I be? Has anyone else been claiming to be a Priest of the One Flame?” He grinned, knowing that was rather unlikely.
CJ caught Alyss and Larl stealing a glance at each other.
“It isn’t that,” CJ said, “it was my fault, Brother Shaw. We have been dealing with a pretty dedicated jerk coming after us, and we weren’t sure someone wasn’t pretending to be you to draw us out of hiding.”
Shaw leaned in at the cramped table, “I thought the same. Then I let those worries fade and I realized you might not make it at all. The lands are a dangerous place right now.”
“Agreed, brother,” Larl said. “It isn’t a great time to be a man of our priesthood.”
Shaw nodded solemnly, “But we will make it. Who else survived with you? I heard you got away from terrible business in Burune.”
“Yes,” Mae said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “That is where they took away Sir Byr. He fought so valiantly and yet… I’m sure if he had the help of you and your brothers we would have had a better chance. I’m sorry that he could not make it here to see you.”
Shaw touched her hand. “There there your highness, he would have wanted to die fighting for you. That was his duty, and what he loved most of all.”
Tears came to Mae’s eyes. CJ felt guilty again for dragging them into his new scheme when there was so much pain still within them. Alyss looked down and away, and Larl seemed to look through Brother Shaw.
“But now we have found each other,” Shaw said. “The others will want to join us as well, and we can find a way to start anew!” Shaw smiled, his mouth curling beneath his frazzled mustache. The man seemed kind, and Mae needed the reassurance.
There was a knock at the door, and CJ could smell soup. It had a stronger aroma than most food he smelled in this world, so CJ opened the door with excitement.
A large man in a sleeveless vest was standing there. Based on the food matter on his chest and the knife in his other hand, it was the head chef. There were also bond lines coming from him that lead to three other staff members. A really dedicated cooking staff.
The chef looked down at the seated CJ and groaned, tray of soup in one hand and knife in the other.
CJ held a hand out for the tray, “Uh, thanks? I’ll take-“
The tray was slammed into his face. A snap series of pains went through him, the impact, the crunch of bowls against his body, the scalding heat of soups. He screamed, and then felt a hand grab him even as he recoiled. CJ was thrown into the main room,
He slid on the floor and rolled over as he came to a stop. The chef’s bond lines flickered colors before settling on red.
“CJ?!” Larl shouted in confusion.
CJ could just barely make out Larl leaning out of the booth, a hand out toward CJ. Mae let out a scream of alarm. Alyss was pushing Larl from behind.
The other lines, he needed to know what he was dealing with. His eye focused down on this building, laying out a map of the large room and the kitchens. Two of the chef’s bond were there in the room with him, one was in the kitchen. Yeah, the bond was red, but they attacked him so of course they changed red. Otherwise, he checked them, they weren’t allied with anyone.
“What the hell buddy?” CJ shouted as he got to one knee. “I don’t know how reviews work here, but you ain’t getting five stars like this.”
The chef looked at CJ. The man was large and well built in the way you might expect from someone that spent all day lifting barrels of foodstuffs. His arms weren’t super muscular, but they were thick around like a rhino’s legs. The chef’s eyes twitched to the side, then he looked away from CJ, and turned his knife on Larl who was squeezing out of the booth.
The others in the room. CJ turned and saw that the female cook he saw earlier was approaching him with a knife out. She had a devilish smile on her face as she tossed the knife between two hands.
“CJ!” Alyss rasped, “we have to fight this time, a real fight.”
He knew what she was saying. For a moment he wanted to argue, he was as worried as ever. But this was another bond of four, and he had no idea why they were being attacked. This wasn’t a time to test themselves.
“Damnit, you’re right.” He said as he stood up and faced the cruel-smile cook Okay, everybody prepare to fight!”
The lines of white energy flowed out of him and struck the three of them at the booth. He heard them gasp, and he felt the sudden rush of the connection. He wanted to scream, he wanted to run up a wall, he wanted to do anything! So he drew his sword.
“Protect the bystanders,” CJ said as he watched the woman approaching. It was more for Shaw’s benefit than Mae and Alyss. They knew what he wanted, he knew what they wanted. Mae was worried that harm would come to the priest, Alyss wanted to cut down the chef for daring to attack them.
“Your life is forfeit,” the woman said. “Sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry at all, she looked like she was going to enjoy every bit of pain she could inflict on him. CJ remembered what her sheet looked like.
|Merys 33% to next Milestone 2 of 10 Milestones
|Burdens Attunement Soulstone Tier 1 Human - Fieldman
|Allegiance: Trader’s Guild
|
|Strength 4 | Control 6
|Stamina 5 | Resilience 6
|Command Avg | Health Avg | Mov. Spd Avg
|
|>Facets
|>Artifacts & Relics
|>Bond - 3
A woman of the burdens, and just tier 1. That felt off. Their only allegiance was to the Trader’s Guild, why would they attack him? Something wasn’t right here.
She rushed him, but he had to think of the fight behind him. Alyss and Mae were squeezing out of the booth with weapons drawn. Larl moved out of the way, per usual he wasn’t really going to help on the offensive end. He was there to help keep them alive. The head chef was the pillar, they needed to focus on him-
He let himself think too long. He brought his guard up in time to make her wary about getting close. He dodged out of the way of one swing, and then saw another of the enemy lines closing in. He turned enough to see a young man coming at him with a pan. He made a wide swing, and CJ had to use his arm to block the blow from smacking him across the head.
“What is wrong with you people?!” CJ shouted.
Alyss and Mae were taking turns driving back the big man. It seemed the large chef was using his size to control his fight. He took wide swings with his knife, and knocked aside any blows coming his way. Like the two attacking him, the chef had an understanding of fighting that didn’t make sense considering the situation. CJ recalled his sheet, which he checked a when he spotted him the previous day.
|Dyson 89% to next Milestone 6 of 10 Milestones
|Burdens Attunement Soulstone Tier 1 Human - Fieldman
|Allegiance: Trader’s Guild
|
|Strength 5 | Control 4
|Stamina 6 | Resilience 4
|Command A.Avg | Health Avg | Mov. Spd Avg
|
|>Facets
|>Artifacts & Relics
|>Bond - 3
These weren’t the kind of people he expected to fight. They weren’t assassins, they weren’t after him or Mae. Were they hired as mercenaries? They were burdens attunement, but that was also the attunement of the trades. They seemed like normal workers.
CJ saw that the last cook, an average build woman with her sleeves rolled up, made it out of the kitchen. This fight was already not going well, and they had a handicap in their favor.
The small girl, Merys, charged him. When the guy, Bolf if CJ remembered right, came in with his pan. They were organized, they were used to working as a bond. When CJ went to block the pan again, the knife came in to stab at his vitals. Larl’s shield manifested between CJ and Merys, an ephemeral wall. The clang surprised her. It gave CJ a chance to think about the situation.
Alyss and Mae came at Dyson all at once, Alyss going low while Mae went high. The man didn’t wait for them to get to him. He stepped into the attacks, stunting Mae’s attack by meeting her blow for blow, then he kicked Alyss away, sending her sliding along the ground.
CJ could have helped them with the shield, but he was still using it. His timing was terrible, he couldn’t figure out what moves to make next. If they lost this, an even fight against another bond, it would show what he already suspected.
“Blazes CJ!” Alyss called from across the battlefield. CJ was backing up, but he peaked at her over his shoulder. “Get out of your own head, focus!”
That was right. He could feel their thoughts, he could feel their fear, apprehension, frustration, anger. They could feel him back. They knew when he was worried, when he was being a defeatist. They knew when he was on the wrong wavelength, and when he thought it was all falling apart.
In a way, he really could communicate with them, as Larl theorized, at least when the full bond was up. He didn’t need to stop and think, he just had to do.
Alyss got up, and shook off the pain at her side where Dyson kicked her. Mae and Alyss were fast enough, and Dyson would consider himself the primary target. They couldn’t play into that.
The two ladies charged in unison, while Larl made his slow move around the edge of the room. They came at the large man with sweeping blows. They were easily deflected and dodged, but the two kept moving.
CJ watched the other three, Bolf, Merys, and Teva, his sword held horizontally as he waited for his chance to strike. The three were like wolves, holding a threatening posture with weapons at the ready. They were distracted, they were waiting.
So CJ made the first move instead. He brought his sword back and charged toward Merys in the center. She was going to dodge back, the others would come in with their attacks from his two sides. They covered for each other well enough, they lost this fight because of bond composition.
The pan from Bolf met Larl’s shield with a resounding clang. Teva’s long knife was blocked by CJ’s sword. As CJ held Teva’s knife up in a clash of blades, Alyss and Mae slipped between them. Merys was still dodging back, still off balance. The two women swept over her, Mae struck her once, and then Alyss came down with a precise blow. There was a splash of red, and Merys fell to the restaurant floor.
Everything jittered. While the full bond was up, CJ’s eye couldn’t focus. He couldn’t read his field guide, but there was an intuitive knowledge of sometimes when the battle called for it. Probably the difference between reading matters in detail, and the revealing power of the eye’s Facet making him understand what he saw. But it didn’t completely understand what came next.
The red blood turned black, and Merys held her wound with a hand that turned ash gray. Her clothing spilled away to reveal black, as if it was a layer of sand that was clinging to the surface of her wardrobe.
CJ couldn’t read about it, but he immediately understood. The Merys he saw wasn’t the real one, this person was. They were hiding somehow. They were Merys, but they were also whoever this was. Grey ash fell off of them as they went to a knee, panting in pain. Their clothing was dark, except for a smoldering red amulet and their glowing crimson Bond ring. Their skin was a deathly pale, but they were still alive.
Without saying it, the four of them understood what they were looking at. It was a consensus they reached almost immediately. This was the Ashen Cult. Greywind didn’t just send someone to hurt them, they sent members of their own vile order.
Anger, it flared up from Mae and Alyss in particular. It was enough that for a moment CJ was almost blinded by it. It was colored by terror, curiosity, but they were overwhelmed by the anger. CJ had to tamp it down, keep control, or risk losing control of the bond completely. The anger could wait until they won.
Dyson was coming from behind him. CJ ducked the blow as Mae and Alyss kept up their assault. They charged the fallen Merys as she tried to recover. Merys gripped her wound tight, then let out a black spray of mist from her mouth. It flew in the face of Alyss, but Mae charged through.
As CJ jammed the butt of his sword into Dyson’s gut to distract the man, Mae’s rage finished the Ashen Cult member known as Merys.
The bond line was broken heading to Dyson, and the power of their bond immediately diminished. The disturbance had an effect on them. Their power flickering just long enough for the ash to fall from each one in turn.
Dyson was less wide stocky man, more muscular monstrosity. His mouth was jammed shut, some sort of spike through his jaw that entered below the chin and jutted out just above his upper lip. There were marks in his gray chest, like burning red scars visible above the line of his loose black shirt. Three marks, like pits dug out of his flesh where something was put in there to burn low and slow. In CJ’s eye he could see power gathered there even while his soulstone was burning bright with the bond.
Bolf was lankier than he appeared, with a sneer that had a jagged cut through it. Teva was covered head to toe, and was not actually a woman at all.
Dyson took his giant arms and swung down on CJ. While CJ was able to dodge out of the way, he felt a pang of pain in his chest. Pressure was building. While they were fighting at their limit longer than he originally could, there was only so much time before he ‘cracked’. They had to end this. The cult members tried to split them up, fight them one on one while leaving Larl out. But he wasn’t going to give in to a stall tactic, especially when Dyson’s team were clearly assassins meant to finish a group off quickly. They had no means to manipulate or mitigate damage.
All of their tactical advantage was lost when they didn’t kill CJ right away.
Mae and Alyss ducked their targets while CJ kept Dyson busy. Then all at once they descended on the man. Alyss sliced at one arm, and Mae got around him. CJ used the cover of Larl’s shield as it became available again, using it to get through Dyson’s defensive swing. He sank his sword deep into the man’s gut, and in the moment the anger the bond felt at the Ashen Cult for all the grief they caused let CJ do so without regret.
It was actually quite satisfying.
Dyson was not done, but as CJ pulled his sword free the ladies took their chances to get in another strike each. Then the bond broke, Dyson was gone.
CJ turned, defending a blow from Teva before the remaining two stopped in worry. They were badly outnumbered now, and their bond was down to two. Teva was the new leader, and CJ didn’t see either of those remaining as big leaders.
Teva growled, and Bolf backed away.
“Let your boss know, this happens to any of you that attack us,” CJ said.
He suspected what came next, but didn’t know how it would go down. The two assassins went stiff, then stopped moving. Then their bodies dissolved, turning to a pile of ash. Just like that they were gone. CJ could see what happened, something within them spiked with energy, and then left. They escaped, somehow.
CJ huffed, and then dropped the full bond. He looked around the room. The other patrons from earlier already fled, the hostess was hiding in the kitchen. Brother Shaw was watching from his booth, but started to clap as the dust settled. They won.
“Amazing!” Shaw said, “absolutely brilliant!”