143. EXPLODING COCKTAILS: GWAED.

I knew Ruku wouldn’t be happy about me releasing Joy. It is a bit hard to tell how unhappy he was or whether he would do anything about it. Sugnwr watched him go over the wall, and his takedown of the guards was very professional. Sugnwr stayed to watch the discovery of the bodies and the organisation of the pursuit. Esgyn would find him soon enough.

Several dogs and a couple of wolves were brought to pick up the scent. I am sure some of the Guards had Scent abilities as well. I didn’t see the assassin. I thought she might have come. I guess there were enough people around now to link this person to the one that was in the Guest House.

Ruku was careful not to leave a trail back here, but it was time for me to move, just in case. I don’t want to underestimate these imperials. I will have to leave most of my equipment, but that is OK. I have finished the bulk of my alchemy. I packed up one set and left the rest. The Apartment was leased for a month, so no one should come in. I placed some volatile vials in strategic places. Not a trap as such, but if they are disturbed, they should cause a fire to cover some of the evidence. The best-case scenario is that the landlord opens it in a month, and I am long gone.

The next hideout was not nearly so nice. It was a burned-out building in the poor Fisherman’s District. Merch had found it for me. There was a sizeable and intact basement. There was no light, but with my Echolocation and Nightsight, that was no problem. There was a nest of rats at one end, so I set up at the other end and kept tabs on them with my Infrared Vision. I would need to keep tabs on Merch as well. This wouldn’t be a great time for her to go and get pregnant.

I have two tasks today. The first is to brew another batch of Sticky Fire. I really need a better name for it. Tacky Heat? Hot ‘n Wet? Clinging Flame? Gluey Bonfire? Burning Adhesive? Slimy Burn? Viscid Pyre? Let's just stick with Liquid Inferno. I can’t really be cleaver today I have pulled too many long days.

My other task is to spread Joy into the Navy base. This should be easy enough. Off-duty soldiers frequent the taverns and brothels near the base, and the big organisations who supply the base go in and out a lot, so we just need to infect their warehouse areas. I set a brew of Liquid fire going and then went tavern hopping. All I really needed to do was infect a bartender and/or the wait staff at each place and let them do their jobs. This actually seemed much more effective than infecting the prostitutes. As for the warehouse areas, I used the same tactic and infected the bakeries and street food vendors. By the time I got back to the basement, I was a bit tipsy and stuffed full of food.

The Joy will need a few days to become infectious and spread. They will be infectious tomorrow, and then the Joy will start spreading. The first symptoms will start in about three days, so at least a week to start in the Navy base.

I am going to need something to appease Ruku. Getting those Skill books from the Lore Society might help. I will go to his interviews tomorrow and see if I can hire someone to help. We will try to hit it the night after my attempt on the bitch assassin. As best I can figure, she is actually staying in the Inquisition HQ. We are good to go as long as she is in the building. Even if I am not successful, the hit on the Inquisitor building should cause enough disruptions to make the Lore heist a walk in the park. In the meantime, I have very little to do but wait and brew Liquid Fire.

Esgyn has not located Ruku yet. There is another bond in the air, a hawk, so he must be hiding from an aerial view. Esgyn has seen a large number of soldiers scouring the landscape. More than I expected. I hope Ruku is up to this. I sent Pybyr back to the cave with the gear, as it would be too easy for him to get caught and killed. That is also the place Ruku will come to collect his gear if the soldiers don’t find it. Bloody Gryphon, I left my Monster Core there. Pybyr can escape with it if needed. If he eats it, things won’t go well. I don’t think a fire affinity will mix well with his blood affinity. However, the fire affinity was from a fox, which is also a canine. Maybe he wouldn’t go monster mad. Not worth the risk.

Bloody arrogant thieves. I hired him anyway. We will have to action this Lore Society Heist in the next couple of days because this idiot is going to become very Joy full.

At the moment, I am looking at the Inquisitors HQ. I am 90% certain the assassin is in there. I Scryed her to check, and I think so. The building is stone, with a slate-tiled roof. There are two entrances, and all the windows on the first two levels are small slits. It is a fortress. The third and top level has balconies and big windows. I am guessing it is for important people. I don’t know how many levels below ground it goes. It will definitely have a Dungeon. I also don’t know how many below-ground exits there are. There will definitely be one to the Patroller’s HQ next door and at least one hidden one.

The Patroller HQ is a two-story wooden structure. Solid, but wood. A bunch of naughty street kids ran past it earlier today, flinging mud at it. The idiots had to do a second pass before I was happy, and they got paid. Those patrollers aren’t very fast on their feet.

Now there is just the stone Inquisitor building to deal with. Fortunately, the Inquisitor building is not very active at night. The Patrollers are active all the time. Painting the two doors of the inquisitor HQ was not hard. The street gang are hidden in the surrounding streets with a bottled formula I call an Exploding Cocktail. They are waiting for my signal. Then they are to light them, throw them at the building, and run. Even if only half of them hit the building, it should be fine. The key ones are those targeting the front and rear entrances of the Inquisitor's Building. They are a must. I have two of the older kids at each of the entrances. I probably could have talked them into firebombing the Patroller’s HQ for bragging rights alone. Nobody wanted to go against the Inquisitors.

Time for my part of the show. I dashed across the street and lept for a second-story window sill. The pack on my back weighed me down, but I caught the sill and scuttled up the stone to the roof. It was rough stone, so was no problem getting a grip. I only had to use my claws once. I moved with stealth around the building, pouring Liquid Inferno onto each of the balconies of the upper floor. I went to the highest part of the roof and lit my Spiritual Candle for everyone to see. I saw some street kids start moving. That was good enough. I used the Candle to start lighting my Exploding Cocktails for the balconies. I did one on each side of the building, grabbed my crowbar, and dug into the tiles on the roof. Once I had holes big enough, I threw Liquid Fire around and followed it with Exploding Cocktails. Time to depart.

I threw the final Exploding Cocktails on the remaining balcony and through one window, then I lept for the roof of the building across the alley to the HQ. The HQ was three stories, and this building was only two, so I figured I would be fine. I was fine, except the roof wasn’t strong enough to hold me, and I crashed through to the top floor. Ow! That hurt. The building was a business and appeared to be empty, so I limped to a window away from the now-burning HQ, broke it and climbed to the ground. My leg didn’t seem to be seriously hurt, just bruised. My Blood Rejuvenation will fix it soon.

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Time to do a quick Scry for the assassin. Yes! I caught the flicker of flames as she hurried through a corridor. This is really just to chase her out to where she is vulnerable and without her usual guard. Plus, it is to generate havoc in the city, and it should hinder the pandemic response. I moved to where I could see the buildings. Both were well ablaze. A bell was ringing frantically. I assume it was a fire alarm. They will have Water Affinity users at the Navy Base, but by the time they get here, there will hopefully not be much left to save. If the Navy even bothers to send their precious affinity users.

I have Sugnwr circuiting the area a block out, looking for random groups of people spilling out onto the street. In other words, where the secret exits were. I kept moving and picked up the second backpack that I had stashed. This one had greater variations of potions, and I stocked my coat pockets. Time to hunt. I kept my scrying for the assassin brief so I could do it more often, but there is still a finite number of times I can do it. She is moving through a dark corridor with a number of other people. I am not sure where, but my Olfaction is strongly smelling smoke.

I watch the rear door of the HQ, and they suddenly explode outward as some people try to escape the building. I throw a bottle of liquid fire at them and another in through the doors. Both catch on fire straight away. The same thing might be happening out the front of the building, but I can’t be everywhere.

Sugnwr has seen some people coming out a door a block over. I send Merch to see if the assassin is with them, although the strong smell of smoke will hinder her. I continue to wait in the shadows. Some of the Patrollers that were out on the streets have arrived and are trying to organise buckets of water. And to get people out of the burning building. They are concentrating on the Patroller HQ, which is fine. I bet the Inquisitors aren’t popular even with the patrollers.

Should I Scry again, or should I wait longer? Merch hasn’t found her yet, although there are still people coming out of the building. I decided to wait a bit longer. Those outside the building are getting organised, but I don’t think they will save much of it. Those were Potent alchemical mixtures.

I suddenly had a sense of alarm from Sugnwr. Something had just ripped through her wing. She was ducking below the roofs, looking for a place to hide. Whatever it was, it was small and went straight through the wing. Then I sensed the rot in the wound. The assassin is over that way. Sugnwr might be OK dealing with this alone. She has Blood Rejuvenation and Blood Manipulation, but she doesn’t have Blood Cleanse or Blood Clot. She has found a small gap in an eave and has landed as I head in her direction. I encouraged her to use Blood Manipulation to stop the blood flow to the wound, slowing the rot. Obviously, pump the wing full of Blood Rejuvenation. I would like to give her an injection of Blood Cleanse, but the assassin is out there and alert. Possibly hunting me. I don’t know if she recognised Sugnwr as belonging to me or just thought it strange that a bat was flying so close to the fire. Probably the latter.

I was moving as fast and as stealthily as possible to the area where Sugnwr was flying over, hoping to pick up the assassin’s trail. I didn’t want to stop and Scry; hopefully, I would have enough time to give Sugnwr a quick infusion. I called Merch to help as she has a good nose. At least it appears the assassin hasn’t got her bow.

Do you think she is running, or do you think she is hunting? She is an assassin. I think she is hunting. This is what I wanted. I pause and stash my pack, just keeping the essentials. I slip a knife in one hand and a potion in the other. I am hunting. I move quietly through the backyards and alleys toward Sugnwr. I haven’t sensed anything yet. I come to the row where Sugnwr is hiding. I move very carefully. I will give her a quick infusion and then try to Scry the assassin. I need all my skills for this one.

I pause under the eave where Sugnwr is. I reach up to her, then duck and dive away. Echolocation had three darts coming for me from across the alley. The darts thud into the wall of the building where I was. She probably can sense the Rot she has created in Sugnwr and set a trap. I use the roll to move in her direction as I need to close the gap. I am a close-contact fighter. My claws and fangs extend. I am covered in black Rat Fur and Tough Hide.

I pick up the scent of Rot and smoke as I cross the alley. I see her move as she tries to create distance. Two more darts come at me. I have less time to react now, and one embeds itself in my chest. If my boob rots off, she will pay. She will pay anyway. I knock the dart out and cycle my Blood Skills.

She tried to jump onto a roof, and I threw my knife. Yes! The knife pierces her leg. That will slow her down. I throw the potion in my other hand, and it splashes against her armour. I hear her hiss as she removes the knife. That’s right bitch. I didn’t poison the knife. I coated it with acid. My poison would do very little against her Resistances. I pull another knife and another potion out.

I leap onto the roof as well, and she turns to face me. She won’t be able to run with that leg. Three darts come at me in quick succession. I duck one, but the other two hit. However, I am now in striking range, and my new acid knife draws blood. My potion is thrown at her head but splashed off her arm as she fends it off. This potion was acid, and I think it is burning through her sleeve. I claw swipe her face to make her duck, which she does, but she got a knife up and cut my arm. It is not bad, and I use Blood Clot to stop any bleeding and slow the Rot. I go for another potion, but she recognises the danger now and grabs my arm. It is not that arm you should be concerned about bitch. My other knife arm stabs the knife into her side and then triggers Spiritual Flame. This ignited the first potion of Liquid Fire that splashed against her armour.

She threw herself off the roof to try to roll the fire out on the ground, but I pounced after her. My claws pierced her and the fire. This was my kill, and a bit of fire was not going to stop me. I grab another Liquid Fire and smash it on her face. The fire spreads quickly. I stab my knife into her eye, piercing through to her brain. I leave the knife there as the fire spreads to my hand.

I quickly throw off my coat as it has Liquid Fire on it and is starting to burn. I find another Liquid Fire potion and spread it on anything on the body that is not burning. There is no coming back from this bitch.

The trouble is I am on fire and rotting. I grab another knife and cut the skin off my arm and hand to remove the Liquid Fire from it. I stopped the bleeding with Bood Manipulation as this is too much for Blood Clot. I need to get back to where I stashed the pack, as the healing potions I had in my coat are burning. It is only two blocks, but I am in pain and trying to hold the rot at bay.

Merch runs up to me, and I send her to the pack. She might be able to get one of the potions. I keep staggering onward. My energy levels are getting very low. I am halfway to the pack when merch comes back with a potion in her mouth. It is a healing one as well. I pour it on my arm and the dart holes. It has a fishy smell. It must be one of the ones from the ship. I reach the pack and find another healing potion. This one I scull. I call Sugnwr to me, and he flaps over. I look at his wing as I grab another potion. I switch the potion for a knife, cut the rot out of his wing, and then feed him a healing potion. He only has half a wing left, so he won’t be flying anywhere for a couple of weeks or more.

After about ten minutes of rest, I gather everything up, and we move out carefully. Hopefully, everybody is concentrated on the fire, but I am still careful and take the time to confuse my scent trail. Resting up in a burned-out basement is not as pleasant as my apartment. However, it is safer as there will be a city-wide manhunt tomorrow.