Ch: 139 Smell The Glove
Xyll flitted through the midnight woods, exploring the mangroves and feasting on the occasional late or early fruit. Cities were fun, villages were nice and the wet forests provided a ton of nighttime entertainment but...
Her new friends’ idea of evening fun involved flames and bright lights with percussive noises, all things she preferred to enjoy at a distance, a very great distance indeed.
She enjoyed the slow pace of the swamps, pulsing with the energies of life, from its beginnings through the final stages of decomposition… odd that there were so many unquiet dead around though.
From tree to tree, she danced in the shadows, looking down on the wretched things. Being non corporeal, they held no danger for her… as they slowly wandered towards her friend’s home. It took a moment for that to soak in, then she set off, streaking back, flapping her ectoplasm in haste.
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Axio was shaking him awake, or trying to, the little guy was standing on the bed giving it all he had, but he had almost no mass. Gary rolled away from Shai, surrendering his beloved ‘Big Spoon’ position.
“Gary, your bat friend is coming back and she seems upset, I hear her call in my mycelium. She says ‘the dead are walking’ which seems melodramati…” The tiny spirit in mushroom flesh paused for a moment.
“Oh, yes! They are walking. Prepare yourselves friends, something is coming to join our preserved dead man’s celebration.”
Gary heard her approach as well, Xyll’s piping voice, keening in the magical frequencies her people used for guidance and communication.
“Shai, something’s coming. Let’s get ready for action.”
A quiet, urgent bell began to sound throughout the house, resounding from the many instruments on the walls.
Down in the common room, things began shaping up quickly. “We’ve got something coming in, restless undead is all we know so far.” Gary grumbled.
Liam nodded grimly. “Any Idea what we are facing?”
“Xyll isn't an expert on humanoid undead monsters, she’s describing a small zombie army, maybe seventy five shamblers and a few spirits… fifteen, twenty minutes til we see the first of them.” He muttered, abstractedly.
“Can they get into the house?” Liam had his spear out, inspecting its edges with deep satisfaction.
“Not unless they’re sentient and determined. Dumb dumbs and shamblers should just mill around at the perimeter. If something is smart or directing them we may have a fight on our hands.” Gary looked pretty confident, that boosted Liam’s attitude as well, until he whispered softly. “Shai, Becky and my kids need to get out of here.”
Liam got things organized calmly, taking the lead without fanfare. “If things go badly, the horses and cavalry run for Port Clement. Kids withdraw to the boat, Becky, you and Shai are taking them out and heading for town.”
“Nope, not happening.” Becky said with finality, pointing to Seahorse, moored at the edge of his aura and currently surrounded by shifting, lurching shadows.
“They’re smart, or at least something is. Kids, withdraw to the baths if things get bad.” Khan grumbled, while cinching Annie’s saddle. Finn and Pri’ann mustered in with Khan’s force, riding Tater and Peony bringing their mounted troop up to six.
“Cavalry, on me, we clear the beach! Fist, back us up wiping the beach. The rest of you, follow Liam.” The armored lancers rode out onto the beach at a full gallop with a small band of heavy foot trooping after.
Herve, Linus, Kent and Bronwynn formed up together, presenting a businesslike aspect as the gate opened. They charged out into the wreckage on the shore in a tight squadron.
The result of a platoon of heavy cavalry charging through a disorganized mob of twenty soggy, half decayed, drowned corpses at full speed wasn’t pretty. A few shamblers had enough left of themselves to crawl forward, mindlessly approaching the house.
The cavalry troop wheeled in good order, sixty yards down the beach, looking for another force to oppose, while the Fist put down the tattered remains of the first wave, including those few rotting corpses that had stumbled onto the little boat.
#
“All right, let’s give the dead a warm welcome. Tawny, Ivy, hold the house and watch the kids with Nara. Gary, Becky, you two are on support. Hold the gate for us and keep things secure.” Liam said calmly, as the thunder of hooves on sand and the clash of weapons rose outside.
The Bathers trooped out and wheeled inland, looking for trouble from the mangrove woods. It didn’t take long to find it.
“Wraiths, fall back in order…” Liam’s command cut off when he heard Gary’s bizarre musical baton spin up behind him; it sounded like two of the crazy things.
“Trade places with us, Becky and I have these guys.” He called from the gate, over the strange, harmonic chiming of two of the damn weapons. “Ready, Becks?”
“Ready, ya crazy mook… Let’s go.” She had an eager smile on her sweet, vicious face, under the light of their sparking, flaming bottle of near endless fireworks.
Things had settled down a little after midnight, but he still shot flaming ropes of plasma and glittering, detonating sparks high into the sky.
The main body fell back to the gate, while the pair, one small and one tall, advanced to the strains of a swinging swaying song from inside the house. Bongos, uke and pianoforte rose from the yard, accompanied by Amy’s high, shimmering voice.
Are those fingers, in my hair?
That sly, come hither stare…
Strips my conscience bare,
It's witchcraft!
I've got no defense for it!
That heat is too intense for it!
What good would common sense for it do?
'Cause it's witchcraft
Wicked witchcraft
And although I know it's strictly taboo…
“Shai, start that bonfire on the beach, get us some light! Tallum, Dannyl, back her up while we cover these two loons.” Liam shouted over the noise of music and battle.
The cavalry and their small detachment of foot were apparently working on something on the other side of the house, it was noisy and wet sounding.
The ginger trio moved briskly to the pile of tree trimming waste, prepared for burning that afternoon. She barked the same incantation as Gary, with a significantly more dramatic result.
Her gout of flame crisped and scorched everything in its path, igniting a roaring blaze in the wet mangrove detritus. Within a few moments, a flickering, golden light washed over their side of the battle. They withdrew briskly, rejoining the knot of warriors formed up at the gate.
The small cluster of barely seen wraiths and specters came into view under the firelight, casting long ominous shadows behind them, all ravening jaws and clutching claws.
The pair of warriors advanced to the center, their strange dual headed batons chiming and singing in chorus and harmony, shifting their song as they spun and twirled in challenge.
“Just like in practice, ready love?” He asked happily, as his own shadow lengthened and expanded beyond what the fireworks and flickering bonfire should have allowed.
Her only reply was to skip forward and plunge one end of her chiming mace of spinning rings into a shadow torso and twirl its nebulous guts up into a thick, sticky knot among her spinning bronze rings.
With a quick pivot and heave, she plunged the formless thing into her brother’s waiting, hungry shadow.
“Like that?” She asked, while jamming the other end into a reaching claw, without even pausing to admire her handiwork.
“Kinda just like that… give them a swirly to make sure they stay inside.” He sang, while pushing another into his deep, crawling shadow, scrubbing vigorously to clear his weapon. “Keep ‘em coming darling, I’m getting something out of these guys!” He shouted gleefully.
Together they cleared a good fifteen lurking, formless shades, leaving Gary flushed and excited.
When the meaty, squishy, half rotten shamblers emerged, staining the dunes with their vile passage, Gary and Becky fell back, letting the others get in the mix.
The kids kept the music going, as Gary spun his gifts tighter among his brothers and sisters, synching them into a single unit. Talum held the front with his sweeping bill hook, while Dannyl and Shai took the flanks, chain whip and murdershovel working terrible carnage among the fumbling, groping dead.
Liam’s spear was everywhere, poking, bashing, parrying and slashing anything that threatened his troop, having quickly discovered his weapon’s limitations in their last undead battle.
His spear, ‘Huntsman’s Bounty’, wrought terrible wounds and did wicked things to anything the young warrior considered edible… against undead it was more than a normal spear, but less than he was accustomed to.
The others had less troubles, the shovel and billhook were both highly inimical to the dead, by enchantment and by their wielder’s own talents, both smiths being deeply connected to the spirits of Earth and Fire. Arms, legs and heads tumbled to the thirsty sand, wherever those two stood.
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Dannyl simply swayed and danced in his little corner of the action, whistling with pure joy.
Now he understood why Gary included goggles and a spidersilk veil in his armor; pieces and chunks of zombie were flying everywhere. Where his whip lashed, the restless dead found their peace, in pieces.
“We need to wheel and advance, I’m getting buried here!” The small, ginger dynamo shouted, kicking a skull out from underfoot before it could trip him.
Liam slipped over to back him up, only to find the young man was nearly buried in shattered, dripping remnants of the formerly undead, having swept his side of their formation clean completely.
The small knot of warriors took their show on the road, swinging to the right to smash a cluster of zombies intent on battering at the walls with their noisome fists.
The berries and thorns did a fine job with beings that feel pain, but for insensate walking corpses, a little more direct action was called for. Shai and Dannyl moved as a pair, sweeping them from the wall, before rejoining the main troop.
“We’ve got company at the back wall…” Gary called, sensing the scuttling forms approach from the eastern marshes. Their cavalry and the Fist were down the beach attacking a mass of nasty cadavers that seemed to be trying for a simple formation.
“Shai, take Gary and Becky round back, we’ve got the gate.” Liam called, the trio broke away quickly, as the rest fell back to the gate.
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Annie disliked fighting in general, but if she had to, until the town was attacked by carrot and apple monsters… undead would do. Her massive hooves kicked and reared, crushing bones without even pausing in her stride.
She shoulder rushed a big, chubby, drowned man under Peoney’s hooves for a very demure trampling.
“We can wash that off after, darling, get to kicking please.” She whinnied to her herd, bolstering those who felt ookie about the job. “They are already dead, my dears, we are just stomping them flat.”
Her Khan was doing a fine job, spear in one hand and sword in the other. He reaped a fine harvest from the saddle, spraying foul things all over her tack. She would have to get the dead boy to learn the saddlemaker’s arts before long.
The Fist followed shortly after, bustling up to put paid to the shattered formation’s remnants, still staggering about. Axes and mauls did brutal and dirty work on the unthinking husks, smashing them into the sand in piles of reeking meat and bone.
Finn and Bronwyyn led their platoon of four, crushing the uncoordinated things into the reeking sand. Her simple iron maul smashed and bashed away, while Finn’s two handaxes sheared off anything that got grabby as she passed.
Herve’s preferred spear was great for poking holes in things, but that was less effective here, so he wielded a backup shortsword and mace with deadly efficiency. Linus was a dab hand with his long sabre, slashing tendons and muscles, when he couldn’t lop off any heads.
The cavalry troop wheeled and smashed through another cluster of reeking dead men and women, as they emerged from the marshy woods.
“Where are all these corpses coming from?” Linus demanded, as he slashed the dome from a zombie’s skull, right above the eyeline.
Herve had a moist, decaying torso wrapped around his shortsword, while the arms of the thing tried to bring him in for an embrace and a kiss.
“Kinda busy!” He shouted, just in time for his second’s flashing blade to snip the creature’s spinal column, sending it down, with his sword. Committed to the mace, at least for the moment, Herve got back to bashing. “Thanks, brother!”
#
The young trio dashed around the corner… and straight into seven less squishy, more aggressive corpses, who were trying to climb the wall with limited success. The acid berries and thorns were rough on fingers, even if they don’t feel pain anymore.
Gary’s Contract sword appeared, in all its naughty glory, shining wickedly in the firelight and shadows. “Becks, back us up, we got the front.”
“Ooh, I do like this intensity boy… mind my commands an stay close, we fight together lover.” Shai crooned along with the music, gripping her murdershovel eagerly.
Becky stayed near the wall, mace spinning and singing its wild song, as her kin took the fight to the nasties.
Shai came in low and fast, clipping one off at the knee, before they hardly realized that the living were upon them. As the newly one legged man fell, Gary’s sword took his head just below the skull, sending it bouncing down the dune. His return swing took a reaching hand that had designs on Shai.
While her shovel bashed, clove and hammered the corpses, his sword flickered, snipping off parts and setting them up for her horrible weapon. Within four minutes their wall was clear, save for the reeking mess scattered about.
#
Sunrise brought clarity to the scene, at least a hundred rotting corpses, almost entirely human, were scattered in pieces around the home and across Seahorse’s decks.
An unknown and uncounted remnant had withdrawn as morning approached, pulling back into the deep marsh. Of whatever guiding force was providing the dead’s limited insights and planning, there was no sign.
Exhausted warriors and children retired to the bath, with Nara keeping watch. She pulled Shai aside as the tired smith stomped for the bath.
“Please, lodgemistress, forgive my absence in this battle… My task is to watch and guard these three and Gary Adventurer. I do not sully my claws with the dead, save at great need.” She murred unhappily. “You and yours do quite well with them, I must say.”
“An ye watch over my beloved ones, I will count it fair fought, Nara my sweet, now ye aid us by guarding, as we bathe, tis good, honest work.” She sighed as she slipped into the baths.
#
“Do you kids all have gifts from Healer, Fire or Light? I’ve never seen greenies shear through the undead like that.” Linus muttered happily in the private bath.
“And how is this place even nicer than the big bath? You kids are killing me here.”
“Enchanted weapons and tools.” Khan announced calmly. “Yeah, enchantments, just like in the stories of magic weapons, but for real.” He continued when they all chuckled in amusement.
Long, pretty, dark haired Pri’ann, giggled and smirked. “Really, we will ride winged horses over a bridge of moonbeams and the fairies will repair our gear while we sleep in exchange for milk and cookies?” She asked, with another giggle.
Bronwynn looked less doubtful. “That hammer you let me use… it was something different, more than just iron.” She said softly, shyly.
“Almost, it’s not finished yet. It’s called ‘Death’s Knell’, when I’m done, it should shatter armor and magical constructs like a battering ram.” Gary muttered around his pipe. “Yes Tallum, you will get to try it.” He told his big friend. “Most of our weapons and instruments are at least a little enchanted.”
Gary floated back against Shai holding her hand as he drifted. “To me that’s… well not the strangest thing, but it’s up there. You guys have been fighting the forces of magical chaos and destruction all this time, but no enchanted weapons or gear?” He puffed his pipe back to life, lost in contemplation.
“Even without my nonsense, you have all the sigils, runes and artifice needed to make some pretty hefty stuff… I know Theo of Craft sees what I’m doing, nobody else seems to notice… beyond the trinkets like stink rings and bug repellents.”
“Enchanted weapons are the province of folk tales and legends, boy.” Finn grumbled. “We use the weapons and tools of our people.”
“Don’t get me wrong, a good hunk of steel is a fine thing… unless you are facing shades or the immaterial. There’s no substitute for magic and a little friendly shadow necromancy, right Becks?” Gary cooed in giddy bliss. “I still feel them, trying to possess me. It tickles.”
“Gross, bro. Too much information.” She mumbled tiredly, with Amy and Rio floating hand in hand beside her. Wilford was down deep, swimming among their feet, as usual.
#
Hosing off the boat took a good long time and a bit of scrubbing. Liam and Dannyl handled that sticky job with few complaints, once they had stink rings on. Shai and Gary unsummoned the house, working hard to take the reeking, ‘biomass’ scattered around, away with it.
They resummoned their home down on the beach, with a long pier for Seahorse, now cleansed and bobbing on sun dappled waters.
By second bell, the remains of the battle were a bad smell in the nearby swamps and Wicklowe’s bottle and stopper, now empty but for a coating of soot and a bit of ash at the bottom.
The house stood on a low dune, right by the waterside. Now with taller walls and overhanging mullions to foil climbers and even more toxic thorns and acidic berries.
“We’re gonna rest here till the afternoon, then head into Port Clement. Do you guys need any supplies before we go to bed?” Ivy asked with a slightly predatory grin.
#
Her prices on wild caught groundworm jerky and sausages were too cheap, so they stocked up as much as they could manage. “We are gonna be so sick of this stuff…” Bronwynn muttered around a chunk of smoked sausage.
The cute blonde mage and merchant passed out a small waxed leather case to each of them, with a small bronze cartouche on the lid and a half dozen violet squares of wax inside.
“Gifts from Ginger Dreadnought, Tawny will show you what they do before we go.” She said with a wink and a nudge. “The quality of your lives just improved, you just don’t know it yet.”
#
Aboard Seahorse, Liam was rolled up in a cloak and leaning on Tawny’s lap.
“We’ll drop a note to duke Jules, let him know we subbed out his contract to our new friends, then in the morning, up the Coast Road to Port fallon and then home.” Liam mumbled, still red eyed and tired. “Support and command roles are exhausting.”
“Yeah, watching your friend’s fight is almost as tiring as fighting.” Gary muttered from his seat on Shai’s toes, leaning back on her knees. All three little ones were sprawled around him on the deck, buried in blankets and cushions, while Becky slept on Shai’s lap, under her cloak.
They had been sailing for barely a half hour when a troop of horse came stampeding down the road. They heeled to a stop, facing the herd of mostly riderless mounts, clearly demanding explanations.
Seahorse struggled to get close enough to hear without grounding in the shallows, finally Shai found an inlet, bringing the boat to a halt in sight of the two parties.
#
“Yes, there was a battle, it has been resolved. The Fist, mercenary band of War, is still on scene, investigating the issue. You should liaise with them for further details…” Khan avoided lies, as a general rule, a little obfuscation never hurt anyone. Aged veteran Adventurer Lubu, however, was less gullible than most.
“We’ll ask the Fist, they are a steady band… but your kids will owe us an explanation when they get back. Something is odd with your ducklings, Khan, deeply odd.”
“Your ducklings seem an interesting lot as well…” He looked over the ragtag band of a dozen teenagers. Well worn and serviceable weapons, battered hand me down armor and gear, but fine mounts and a hungry look in their eyes said they were serious players now.
“Play it safe Lubu, this is a weird one. The Fist has as good an idea of what is in motion as we do. We will come back in a few weeks, if we are needed.”
“Port Clement has stood this long without your ducklings, Khan, we will manage a little longer.” Lubu shouted, as they parted ways and Seahorse took to the waters again
#
They made fast to the pier in the Knubbel’s pasture, feeling that welcoming aura wrap them up tight, as their home fell into place quickly and easily.
Gary wound up down in the workshop, scrubbing out Wicklowe’s empty jar and stopper before an early dinner, when Shai and Tawny found him.
“What in the light of the gods, do you plan to do with that awful thing?” Tawny demanded of his waggling backside, since he was crawling inside with a rag, wiping the soot away.
“I dunno, but this isn’t normal glass, not anymore. Having a human soul trapped in it for… years? Centuries? It changed the structure, this thing is… a versatile storage solution. All the evil and nasty was in that seal… which is now a shiny ingot of very magical bronze. Waste not want not.”
Hearing his voice echo from inside the bottle was amusing at first, but now it was business time. “Out of the jar Gary… we are all concerned about the number of spirits you ate last night. Let me have a look at you.”
“I don’t ‘eat’ them, they kinda hang out in my shadow until they’re ready to go. Those guys are still percolating a little, I’ll have a nice lay out in the sun and that should fix it.” He chirped happily, as he crawled out of the gleaming crystal cylinder.
The two women were highly unreasonable and insisted on examining his every nook and cranny for signs of… Evil moles? Ghost freckles? Shai sneaked a quirky little boop on his donut when Tawny wasn’t looking, making him squeak.
“Everything seems normal… that worries me as well… what ever are you blushing like that for? Men, so strange…” Tawny muttered, while Shai giggled and shushed him with her index finger to her silent lips.
Her smile faded a second or two later, when she remembered where that finger had just been.
#
Gary, Shai and the kids were all laying out on the lawn beside the public pool when Julius arrived with Phillip. Liam and Khan handled the debrief, declaring their pet madman ‘unfit for duty’ at the moment.
“He does tend to make important things less clear, while clarifying things best left murky…” Phillip whispered to the disgruntled lord.
“Yes, but I rather fancied a dance, as well… Are masters Waller or Calloway about?” He asked, peering into the shadowy corners of the common room.
“More importantly, duke Rummel, there is an undead army forming somewhere in those swamps, this was simply a stray piece of that probable horde. Somehow, this bottled man became separated from some larger whole. We must return home, but this matter is far from finished.” Khan’s no nonsense and straight delivery cut through Julius’ excitement.
“Truly… that is distressing. Phillip, muster my guard for extended action. Afoot and by boat I’m afraid, the perils of my watery domain I suppose. Send warnings and up the patrols in my marsh villages, we’ll not be caught napping.”
Duke Rummel took his leave, with a longing glance at the baths.
#
“Julius left, I guess he’s busy…” Gary mumbled into the lawn.
“He should be busy, we just fought a small army of undead less than ten miles from here. Soft, squishy and stupid dead, but still, gross.” Becky chided him. “Where did all those bodies come from?”
“That be a question best put tae the Fist. When we return, as I think we must. Tis vexing tae leave this work unfinished.” Shai rolled over to sun her front, prompting a general rollover and mutual basting session.
“I’ll be back in a minute, these spirits are ready to go. He burbled happily. “They feel fizzy, it really tickles.”
Gary strolled his very pale, still mostly hairless backside off into a corner among the bamboo and jasmine, near the water outlet. After a few quiet moments, a flock of dark swallows darted from the towering grasses and sweet smelling vines.
“Mmm, that feels nice. Like scratching that itch at last, but it’s someone else’s itch and I just get the pleasure.” He mumbled as he rejoined the sunbathers.
“That’s super weird, but as long as you’re doing it to yourself… you’re doing it to yourself right?” Becky whispered, with a wink of her sparkling eye. “Now shut up, everything is cultivation, ya boob.”
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