Speaker 1: Hey, folks. C. D. Corrigan here, life happened this week
Speaker 1: for Maddie and I. We had an extremely hectic and
Speaker 1: busy week on the home front. Nothing crazy, nothing bad,
Speaker 1: but it did cut down my editing time, especially coming
Speaker 1: off of episode four, which was an enormous amount of
Speaker 1: artwork and took me probably four times longer than anything
Speaker 1: else I've done for the show so far, and just
Speaker 1: we ran out of time. Is the upshot here, So
Speaker 1: Episode five is not where I want to release it yet,
Speaker 1: so we're going to take a hia this week and
Speaker 1: that will be out next Monday on our usual time. However,
Speaker 1: I don't want to leave you guys hanging, so I've
Speaker 1: got a little something extra. This episode will feature the
Speaker 1: first two chapters of my audio book, Tattered Pawns, which
Speaker 1: was my debut novel. It came out a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago. It is available on Amazon Audible blah blah
Speaker 1: blah and narrated professionally by the amazing mister Nick Mercer,
Speaker 1: who did an absolutely fantastic job bringing that story and
Speaker 1: those characters who are very dear to me to life.
Speaker 1: And I really hope you guys stick around and check
Speaker 1: it out and Uh yeah, he's available for other stuff too,
Speaker 1: if you want to look him up. He's great fun
Speaker 1: fact tattered pawns and the universe and the cosmology and
Speaker 1: the magic that I came up with in writing that novel,
Speaker 1: which is only the first of a series more coming
Speaker 1: more on that soon. But everything I came up with
Speaker 1: in that is what formed the basis for the relict
Speaker 1: system that we play here on the show. So if
Speaker 1: you read the books and their upcoming if you read
Speaker 1: the book and it's upcoming sequels, you will find some
Speaker 1: pretty interesting crossovers in common DNA and possibly even some
Speaker 1: hints about things and characters and you know, gods and
Speaker 1: whatnot that might appear here in the next archive, So
Speaker 1: keep an eye out for that. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for your patience. Thank you so much for your continued support.
Speaker 1: We have been blown away by the fact that people
Speaker 1: are tuning in to listen to us play this crazy
Speaker 1: game because we are absolutely loving and creating these episodes
Speaker 1: for you. So stick around for the audio book here.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy that. In your commuter, your activities,
Speaker 1: or wherever it is you listen to your podcasts, and
Speaker 1: I will see you all next week. For episode five,
Speaker 1: Take Care.
Speaker 2: Tattered Pond's End Mage Book one, written by C. D. Corrigan,
Speaker 2: narrated by Nick Mercer. Chapter one, The Magus is mad.
Speaker 2: Cackle echoed down the dank stone hall, a mirthless sound
Speaker 2: that promised pain and delivered terror and gave me the willies.
Speaker 2: That's for damn sure. I rolled my eyes as I
Speaker 2: felt my way past another snarling gargoyle statue in the
Speaker 2: near dark warlocks and the Gothic motif every time, no
Speaker 2: explaining it. A clanger of clashing steel came from up ahead,
Speaker 2: my client, no doubt making his move, or at least
Speaker 2: ordering a subordinate to make it for him. I quickened
Speaker 2: my pace, trying to step softly across the cobbled, rough
Speaker 2: hewn floor. Just because everyone else was causing a racket
Speaker 2: didn't mean I was going to start. I'm a professional.
Speaker 2: Something squelched underfoot and I almost lost my balance. I stopped,
Speaker 2: hiked up a trouser leg, and plucked a tiny fire
Speaker 2: steel from my boot. I struck it against the wall.
Speaker 2: The brief flash of sparks dancing across the floor as
Speaker 2: a myriad of chaotic reflections. I crouched down the earthen
Speaker 2: musk of decrepit old fortress, mingling with something sickly and
Speaker 2: metallic in my nostrils, and struck the steel again. My
Speaker 2: suspicions were confirmed in a tailtale flash of scarlet blood.
Speaker 2: Well that's not great, I muttered, trying to push the
Speaker 2: implications to the back of my mind. After months of insults,
Speaker 2: jabs and bickering. I didn't harbor much fondness for the
Speaker 2: wannabe hero, Count Grendisian or his merry band of brown
Speaker 2: nosing sycophants. But I wouldn't wish the Maggus's preferred flavor
Speaker 2: of art dismemberment on anybody. I hurried on slinking up
Speaker 2: to a large, overwrought double door at the end of
Speaker 2: the corridor. A flickering firelight from the inner sanctum beyond,
Speaker 2: practically a beacon in the gloom. The tell tale cacophony
Speaker 2: of combats sounded from within, rattling metal, panic shouts, and
Speaker 2: the crackling discharges of magical hapoc. Something had blasted one
Speaker 2: of the door's hinges into shrapnel, and it hung drunkenly.
Speaker 2: Ajar I peeked through the opening. Yield scum bellowed Count Grendisian,
Speaker 2: brandishing his sword towards somebody out of my view. We
Speaker 2: have you outnumbered. You won't win this fight. I furrowed
Speaker 2: my brow, taking in the room. Several bodies and a
Speaker 2: few stains that might have been bodies littered the ground
Speaker 2: around him. His remaining bodyguards formed a nervous ring swords
Speaker 2: and spears held in shaking, white knuckled hands. That numerical
Speaker 2: advantage still technically existed, but it wasn't trending in his favor. Still,
Speaker 2: nothing boosts confidence like incompetence. Your reign of terror is over, fiend,
Speaker 2: the ca continued. It took all I had not to
Speaker 2: audibly sigh. Sure, the clean cut, square jawed Count Melodrama
Speaker 2: struck a properly heroic figure, gleaming in his gold and
Speaker 2: silver armor. But what was he doing trying to get
Speaker 2: in a catchphrase plighted fury, save me from amateurs. He
Speaker 2: was the only real made in the group. All that
Speaker 2: posturing was going to do was leave him open for
Speaker 2: a lightning crack shook the stone and a flash of
Speaker 2: baleful red light filled the room. Yep, damn it. There
Speaker 2: It was the whole contingent of remaining troops gone incinerated
Speaker 2: by the smell of it. It. That's why you don't
Speaker 2: take a time out for theatrics. The bards can always
Speaker 2: add a stirring speech to your story after you live
Speaker 2: through it. Grendisian was unscathed, if considerably less enthusiastic than
Speaker 2: he had been a moment before, now curled up into
Speaker 2: a quivering heap on the floor. Major no I suspected
Speaker 2: that his very expensive, very enchanted armor had done more
Speaker 2: to save his miserable hide than any quick spell work
Speaker 2: on his part. Stupid little man, spoke the Magus, still
Speaker 2: out of my sight, such, hubris, you think you have
Speaker 2: stormed my lair, fool flea.
Speaker 3: I could have crushed you from existence at any moment
Speaker 3: this night. I wanted you to stand at the center
Speaker 3: of my power. I wanted to see you die. I
Speaker 3: wanted to watch as you realized you had enraged a god.
Speaker 3: That would be my cue.
Speaker 2: Then I tried to burst through the door, but rebounded
Speaker 2: off it with a grunt. The lock on the intact
Speaker 2: half still attended to its duties with a vigor. Really,
Speaker 2: I asked no one in particular, giving it a shove
Speaker 2: that just caused it to rattle. I shifted to the
Speaker 2: damage side and tucked my shoulder against it, heaving with
Speaker 2: all my might. I'm a stocky fellow, sturdy, I like
Speaker 2: to think, But the damaged slab of hardwood and cast
Speaker 2: iron put up a fight for every inch, dragging along
Speaker 2: the floor with a horrific squeal as I forced it open.
Speaker 2: Finally I was able to squeeze through, stumbling into the
Speaker 2: room with a flurry of curses and an absolute lack
Speaker 2: of grace. So much for an entrance. The magus towered
Speaker 2: above us, standing on a dais at one end of
Speaker 2: the room, his head cocked as if perplexed at my display.
Speaker 2: He certainly looked the part foreboding in ornate sinister armor,
Speaker 2: all skulls and pointy bits. He wore a long, billowing
Speaker 2: robe the color of midnight and a nice touch, I thought.
Speaker 2: An actual haze of darkness surrounded his head and shoulders,
Speaker 2: flecked through with floating cinders. It was like his shoulder
Speaker 2: blades were the sight of a tiny forest fire, very
Speaker 2: black wizard's cheek. It was hard to tell through the
Speaker 2: big demonic skull helm he wore, but I thought he
Speaker 2: looked incredulous. I waved, strolling to stand between him and
Speaker 2: the count. Who dares just a second, I told him,
Speaker 2: turning to eyeball, Grendisian, you okay. Before the Count could reply,
Speaker 2: the Magus's patience ran out. He screamed, drawing up his
Speaker 2: will and hurling a spell laced with shadows and hell
Speaker 2: fire straight towards me.
Speaker 3: I had nowhere to go.
Speaker 2: I snapped my face, pushing my aura out with a
Speaker 2: mild mental effort. The Magus's spell hit an invisible wall
Speaker 2: a few yards away from his outstretched hands. Claws talons
Speaker 2: must have been talents in that get up. The fire
Speaker 2: and shadow fizzled and twitched out of existence, fading back
Speaker 2: into the ether. There was another pregnant pause, interrupted only
Speaker 2: by Grendisian's whimpering. The magus tried again, this time summoning
Speaker 2: sickly acid green tendrils of energy from the walls and
Speaker 2: floor to lash out at me, their edges gleaming like razors.
Speaker 2: He was rewarded with similar results. I said, I'll be
Speaker 2: with you in a minute, I barked at him, snapping
Speaker 2: my fingers again and dumping willpower into my aura. It
Speaker 2: rippled across the room and slammed into the magus, His big,
Speaker 2: creepy death haze vanished, and he staggered, crumpling to the ground,
Speaker 2: suddenly deprived of the magical energies he relied on. He
Speaker 2: wasn't strong enough to stay upright in that ensemble there,
Speaker 2: I grumbled, stepping over to where the Count was curled
Speaker 2: up as tight as his armor would allow. Hey, Chief,
Speaker 2: you're all right. His tears streaked now blotchy face snapped
Speaker 2: up to meet my gaze. Where were you? He hissed
Speaker 2: through clenched teeth, rage visibly bubbling up behind the terror.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry about your men. I could have died, he screeched,
Speaker 2: his voice bubbling on all the phlim in his throat
Speaker 2: as he continued to sob freely. I frowned. I told
Speaker 2: you to wait for me while I checked the annex.
Speaker 2: We had him cornered. I gestured at the carnage around him. Clearly,
Speaker 2: are you insinuating that this.
Speaker 3: Is my fault?
Speaker 2: He heaved, clawing at my trousers and tunic as he
Speaker 2: started to hyperventilate.
Speaker 3: You fucking freak, how dare you? How dare you? I'll
Speaker 3: have your fucking gut.
Speaker 2: I slapped him. Hard across the cheek. He began to
Speaker 2: seethe and hiss something else. So I followed it up
Speaker 2: with a backhand to the temple, really put some shoulder
Speaker 2: into it. He fell back to the battlescuarred floor, stunned
Speaker 2: to silence. Are we going for three? I asked, handcocked back,
Speaker 2: ready to strike again. The count deflated, shivering with adrenaline
Speaker 2: in terror. I told you to wait, you pompous idiot,
Speaker 2: and you didn't. Now your men are dead, and you
Speaker 2: found out you're not invincible. Find a way to live
Speaker 2: with it, or don't fuck it. I threw my hands
Speaker 2: up as I turned to walk towards the magus. I
Speaker 2: get paid either way. The magus was splayed out on
Speaker 2: the dais, half leaning against the base of an obsidian
Speaker 2: monstrosity of a throne. I wondered if it had come
Speaker 2: with the place, or if he'd magic did up one
Speaker 2: day out of concern that ancient, ruined fortress buried in
Speaker 2: a mountain didn't scream homicidal warlock with delusions of grandeur
Speaker 2: loud enough magores in their self image complexes. Honestly, who
Speaker 2: is he showing off for the rats? Oh? His victims? More?
Speaker 2: Likely before he got bored with them. My expression darkened
Speaker 2: as I closed the gap. The Magus wriggled and struggled
Speaker 2: to get away, panting audibly under the weight of that
Speaker 2: ridiculous armor. I could feel him looking me over again
Speaker 2: and again, trying to make sense of what was happening.
Speaker 3: Ah.
Speaker 2: There it was the moment of realization.
Speaker 3: You you can't be where did they find I'll kill you.
Speaker 3: I'll kill you, I think.
Speaker 2: He tried to bellow, but I'd taken the juice out
Speaker 2: of whatever spell had been amplifying him. It came out
Speaker 2: as a whimper, his voice cracking halfway through. I drew
Speaker 2: my sword. It wasn't as big or flashy as anything
Speaker 2: the Count's crew had been carrying, but it hadn't let
Speaker 2: me down yet. And hey, I was still alive, which
Speaker 2: I figured was an indication I was doing something right.
Speaker 2: Time to die, Little God. Chapter two. I'm telling you,
Speaker 2: I said, turning the smooth, egg shaped azer gemstone in
Speaker 2: my fingers. Faint etchings of intricate glyphs caught the low
Speaker 2: light of the fireplace. There's something weird going on. This
Speaker 2: is the second woman slow rolling thunder shook the rough
Speaker 2: hewn walls of the enn's common room. The pelting of
Speaker 2: the rain ebbed and flowed with the wind, sometimes drowned
Speaker 2: out by the shuffle and clink of the Count's fresh
Speaker 2: crop of bodyguards taking their meal and then drowning them
Speaker 2: out in turn. The inn was empty save for us,
Speaker 2: though I had no idea if that meant the Count's
Speaker 2: goons had simply kicked everyone else out into the storm
Speaker 2: when we'd arrived. We were frustrated, even the newcomers, and
Speaker 2: they'd only rendezvous with Grendisian and I the day before.
Speaker 2: We'd reached the edge of the city after midnight, but
Speaker 2: the weather had won out, finally intensifying to the point
Speaker 2: that the scant few miles between us and home had
Speaker 2: become insurmountable. In the dark, we'd settled for beers, brooding
Speaker 2: and bed, but I had an issue to raise. Grendisian scoffed,
Speaker 2: rolling his eyes at me across the table. I fantasized
Speaker 2: about smacking him again, but held off. Doing so in
Speaker 2: public would compel him to have me dragged off in irons,
Speaker 2: and the new guards hadn't scared themselves useless with speculation
Speaker 2: over my mysterious and dreadful endmge powers. Yet none of
Speaker 2: said powers would have prevented a platoon of burly gentlemen
Speaker 2: from pummeling me into a pulp. But I'd let the
Speaker 2: last group think whatever they wanted. No reason to change course.
Speaker 2: Now the magus is dead. The Count said, your contract
Speaker 2: is over. Don't try to persuade me to keep you
Speaker 2: on retainer, as if all the gold in the North
Speaker 2: could have convinced me to continue that relationship a minute
Speaker 2: longer than necessary. Look at it, I told him, holding
Speaker 2: up the gym. It was a nert in my hands.
Speaker 2: But the Count must have had enough tutoring to recognize
Speaker 2: it as some kind of magical focus. These are sophisticated glyphs, complicated.
Speaker 2: Remember the Sisters last year out west, they had one
Speaker 2: just like it. I didn't think much of it at
Speaker 2: the time. I failed to see why you're thinking so
Speaker 2: much of it now, because I said, trying not to
Speaker 2: sound exasperated, I think it's strange, Count, how many incidents
Speaker 2: I've seen in the North lately. Mage is this powerful?
Speaker 2: Or rare maje is this powerful? Who are also homicidal?
Speaker 2: Lunatics are even rarer. But ever since the Burned One.
Speaker 2: I've been chasing down a half dozen a year. You're
Speaker 2: not honestly suggesting a connection between the Magus and the
Speaker 2: Burned One. That's preposterous. There's no comparison. I was impressed
Speaker 2: to that count. Blow Hard was even capable of that
Speaker 2: level of perspective. His little corner of the free Lance
Speaker 2: had been untouched during the Burned One crisis, but the Magus,
Speaker 2: while in order of magnitude less deadly, had hit the
Speaker 2: region Hard and Grendisian had almost died rushing in to
Speaker 2: play the hero. I'd expected the self centered twit to
Speaker 2: consider that more important by far. The only reason this
Speaker 2: wasn't a disaster is that we stopped the Magus early.
Speaker 3: He was young.
Speaker 2: At the rate he was escalating, he could have been
Speaker 2: just as bad in a year or two. The same
Speaker 2: with the Sisters, the same with star Killer back in
Speaker 2: West Manner and the Darkest before her. I've barely been
Speaker 2: able to keep the contained. Any one of them could
Speaker 2: have spiraled out of control. I wasn't looking for a
Speaker 2: common thread before, but I turned the stone around one
Speaker 2: last time, then tucked it away in my travel cloak.
Speaker 2: I'm worried about what I may have missed. And what
Speaker 2: does that little bubble do exactly? Grindisian mumbled into his mug,
Speaker 2: barely looking up. It looks like any other wizards trinket
Speaker 2: to me. I'm not sure, I admitted, not bothering to
Speaker 2: correct him. Technically, the magus had a warlock, not a wizard,
Speaker 2: but I didn't think the count would appreciate the distinction.
Speaker 2: Hardly mattered. I was wondering if someone in the Arcaneum
Speaker 2: here could take a look. I'm to pull my scholars
Speaker 2: from their duties to pursue some freak's pet theory. He
Speaker 2: rolled his eyes again. I imagine they rather study you in mage,
Speaker 2: maybe cut you open, see how you work your little tricks.
Speaker 2: I mentally rehearsed the motions it would take for me
Speaker 2: to get my boot knife and bury it in his
Speaker 2: throat two seconds tops, but then the guards would be
Speaker 2: on me. The count snickered, not looking up from his tankard,
Speaker 2: oblivious to my calculations. I want you gone, you apperition,
Speaker 2: you'll not take one step further in my city tonight.
Speaker 2: You're to be well clear by mourning, or perhaps you
Speaker 2: really will be visiting the Arcaneum, I sighed, I should
Speaker 2: have known his crisis was ended, and he didn't appreciate
Speaker 2: the suggestion that there might be another looming. And he
Speaker 2: probably didn't want me telling anyone about his performance in
Speaker 2: the Magus Layer. Come to think of it, look sir,
Speaker 2: I implored, making a last dish effort. I am the
Speaker 2: ranking expert on these sorts of problems, and I'm telling
Speaker 2: you this isn't finished. There have been too many incidents
Speaker 2: to explain by pure chance, and there shouldn't be any
Speaker 2: commonalities between them, scattered across what three years and half
Speaker 2: the continent.
Speaker 3: But there's this.
Speaker 2: I tapped the pocket that held the gem. Maybe it
Speaker 2: drives the mad, maybe it amplifies their power. Maybe it's
Speaker 2: a popular paperweight among megalamaniacal assholes. I don't know, but
Speaker 2: gods and furies, I want to find out. Grendesian didn't
Speaker 2: even pretend to humor me. His air of indifference broke,
Speaker 2: replaced by a simmering, indignant fury. I've heard enough, he snapped,
Speaker 2: nodding to one of his men. Let's put an end
Speaker 2: to this business, and I'll be rid of you. Black
Speaker 2: in furies, spare me from the egos of the privileged. Fine,
Speaker 2: I'd get my answers elsewhere. The pouch clattered to the
Speaker 2: tabletop between us. I didn't even have to open it
Speaker 2: to know it wasn't my complete fee. I've been screwed
Speaker 2: enough times to notice how Lena looked. We agreed upon
Speaker 2: two fifty, I said, leaving the you pompous dolt as
Speaker 2: an unspoken subtext. He sneered, you will take what I
Speaker 2: offer and be thankful for the generosity. I blinked, surprised,
Speaker 2: Now he grows some balls. And what exactly was it
Speaker 2: about single handedly slaying the most dangerous mage this region
Speaker 2: has seen in the past century that you feel warrants
Speaker 2: a discount. You allowed a dozen of my finest men
Speaker 2: to die at the hands Talons, I corrected. He seems
Speaker 2: startled the very concept of being interrupted, You insolent eye
Speaker 2: oughts it. I pinched the bridge of my nose. My
Speaker 2: head was starting to hurt. Someday I wasn't going to
Speaker 2: have to deal with thrice Dam's nitwits like the Count anymore.
Speaker 2: But that got a lot farther away every time one
Speaker 2: of the bastards stiffed me for a job. Look, Chief,
Speaker 2: I said, cutting off whatever self aggrandizing tangent. The Count
Speaker 2: had been rambling his way through. I'm sure the punishment
Speaker 2: for interrupting renagging Charlatan's in this parts is quite dire,
Speaker 2: but well, fuck it, I'm tied. He looked ready to
Speaker 2: scure me. Probably would have if he'd had a better
Speaker 2: idea what I could and couldn't do, and I didn't
Speaker 2: want to push my luck. Time to play the wrath
Speaker 2: of the big bad end Mage card and get out
Speaker 2: of town while my head was still attached. You came
Speaker 2: to me with a problem. I solved it as stipulated.
Speaker 2: If that still wasn't to your liking, then go fuck
Speaker 2: a fury. You can handle the next one yourself. And
Speaker 2: as I was endeavoring to explain, there will be a
Speaker 2: next one too bad for you. Maybe you can hire
Speaker 2: a different inmage. I've never met another one, but hell's
Speaker 2: you're a powerful guy. Maybe you'll have better luck, but
Speaker 2: you will damn well settled your account with me before
Speaker 2: either of us can finally be rid of the other.
Speaker 2: He practically snarled, I have seen fit to deduct the
Speaker 2: bereavement pay for my fallen soldier's families from your exorbitant price,
Speaker 2: as you utterly failed to safeguard their lives. Foam sloshed
Speaker 2: out of his cup as he clenched down on it
Speaker 2: hand Trembling with rage. He held back, though, despite all
Speaker 2: his indignation ego. He remembered the magus's lair two one
Speaker 2: of us had killed a nightmare, the other one had cried.
Speaker 2: I fixed him with my best about to end another
Speaker 2: mage glare, and rose to my feet, leaning towards him
Speaker 2: until my aura would be causing extreme discomfort. Deserved or not,
Speaker 2: The Count had a significant gift for the arcane. He
Speaker 2: might have qualified as a royal battle mage or a
Speaker 2: sanctioned wizard had he been born in one of the
Speaker 2: kingdoms instead of this backwater scrap of the Freelands. Disrupting
Speaker 2: his connection to the ether would feel like his world
Speaker 2: turning inside out. Disconcerting and disturbing, even bordering on true pain.
Speaker 2: The Count squirmed, looking like he might be ill, but
Speaker 2: clinched his jaw in defiance. You listen to me, you
Speaker 2: grand standing son of a bitch, I growled, low enough
Speaker 2: that only he could hear.
Speaker 3: You know, God damned well who got your men killed.
Speaker 2: This was not my first pony ride, although obviously the
Speaker 2: same cannot be said for everyone at this table. I
Speaker 2: eased back in the ca out and looked as if
Speaker 2: I was lifting a weight off his chest inch by inch. Now,
Speaker 2: I continued, you're going to pay me what we agreed upon.
Speaker 2: I don't much care what happens after that. You can
Speaker 2: tell all the good folk in the land what a
Speaker 2: horrid monster the end Mage was, and how you bravely
Speaker 2: soldier Dawn to save the day. I do not care.
Speaker 2: I doubt I'll ever feel the urge to revisit this
Speaker 2: muck wallowing shithole. You're so intent on ruling at this
Speaker 2: point when you have another magus pop up and bite
Speaker 2: you in the ass, it's your fucking problem, because not
Speaker 2: only are you a petulant little brat of a man,
Speaker 2: you're a blubbering liability. But I will leave here with
Speaker 2: the payment promised me. I stood tall and crossed my arms,
Speaker 2: letting the flickering light of the fire draw out the
Speaker 2: shadows on my face fracturing along the ridges and valleys
Speaker 2: of my old scars. Is that perfectly clear, Count Grindisian,
Speaker 2: I almost had the bastard. He was frozen, staring up
Speaker 2: at me. Every whispered rumor and I've forgotten inmates, myth
Speaker 2: playing through his head, no doubt, punctuated by the memory
Speaker 2: of the Magus's undignified, dying screams and the thought of
Speaker 2: that great grim specter of doom rotting alone on the
Speaker 2: floor of a forgotten ruin two days ride from us.
Speaker 2: Then one of the guards sitting behind me sneezed. I
Speaker 2: flinched in surprise, not much, but enough. The illusion cracked,
Speaker 2: and a slow smirk slithered onto the Count's lips. No freak.
Speaker 2: I like my math, and I think I'd prefer it
Speaker 2: if you left tonight. After all. I managed to tuck
Speaker 2: into a roll as the Count's men hurled me out
Speaker 2: of the tavern, absorbing most of the impact. Unfortunately, there
Speaker 2: exists no method of landing that can spare one from
Speaker 2: the mud. I was covered, and the slop had gotten
Speaker 2: nice and cold by that time of the night. Lovely
Speaker 2: Lucky for me, the also freezing rain was coming down
Speaker 2: in buckets, and I felt assured that the mud would
Speaker 2: see to itself in moments. Just lovely, the Count's two
Speaker 2: lean coin purse bounced off my chest and splashed down
Speaker 2: beside me. I grunted mild surprise. I'd given myself fifty
Speaker 2: to fifty odds of walking away empty handed once things
Speaker 2: had gone sideways. I supposed Grindisian didn't want his men
Speaker 2: starting rumors of their own two survivors walked away from
Speaker 2: the magus. After all, it made a better story if
Speaker 2: I took my abbreviated payment for the families and slunk
Speaker 2: off into the night, rather than being stiffed and driven
Speaker 2: out under suspicious circumstances that would make it seem like
Speaker 2: the Count had something to hide, which of course he did.
Speaker 2: But whatever gift horses mouths and better places to be.
Speaker 2: I snatched the purse up, along with my traveling bag,
Speaker 2: which a thoughtful guardsman had been kind enough to untie
Speaker 2: before hurling it into the road after me. I grumbled
Speaker 2: as I cast about for my muddy possessions worth a shot.
Speaker 2: I suppose I cursed strapping my bag on once I
Speaker 2: had stuffed it with everything I could find, the partial
Speaker 2: payment tucked away securely. A chill that had nothing to
Speaker 2: do with the cold swept over me, and I tensed,
Speaker 2: there's only anare arrow swathe of the immaterial spectrum that's
Speaker 2: able to make itself felt through my aura and I've
Speaker 2: learned the value of extreme caution coupled with rapid retreat
Speaker 2: whenever anything fitting that description crops up. Problem was, I
Speaker 2: wasn't sure where it had come from. I glanced fervently around,
Speaker 2: trying to figure out the source of the creepiness so
Speaker 2: I could high tail it the other way. See, usually
Speaker 2: the thing to do is to watch the crowd and
Speaker 2: see what they're fleeing from or what's snacking on them.
Speaker 2: But there, in the dead of night, in a miserably
Speaker 2: cold thunderstorm, I was the only one fool enough to
Speaker 2: have been tossed out of shelter. I glimpsed a dark
Speaker 2: writer ghosting down a cross street a block over. That
Speaker 2: was a good bed on principle dark writers should typically
Speaker 2: be avoided after dusk. I started away from said writer,
Speaker 2: feeling confident in my tactical thinking, only to spot a
Speaker 2: hunched form limping down the road from the opposite direction.
Speaker 2: Voluminous robes obscured all detail save a walking cane. The
Speaker 2: figure leaned on heavily could have just been a beggar,
Speaker 2: I realize, but thrice damned if I was going to
Speaker 2: stick around to find out. Obscured mysterious shambling, robed figures
Speaker 2: ranked right up there with dark riders on the list
Speaker 2: of things to avoid on dark and stormy nights. Whether
Speaker 2: or not potent magical creepiness is afoot, that's just basic enbaging.
Speaker 2: I decided to take my chances with the dark rider's direction.
Speaker 2: After all, they were probably long gone by then. Anyway,
Speaker 2: evil riders moved faster than evil shamblers. I turned to
Speaker 2: find a carriage barreling down on me. I doged to
Speaker 2: the side of the road, and I swear I felt
Speaker 2: the lead horse's hoof catch the hem of my pant
Speaker 2: leg I sprawled into the mud again, spewing curses in
Speaker 2: the name of every god, fury and possessed rock I
Speaker 2: could think of. Out of imminent danger, I got a
Speaker 2: look at the carriage. Coach didn't matter. Six snarling, maddenous
Speaker 2: stallions pulled it, whipped on by some twisted figure whose
Speaker 2: details I couldn't make out. The body work was black
Speaker 2: and glossy, with thin silver filigree accenting a few key edges.
Speaker 2: A lone, low burning lantern bobbed wildly on a single hook,
Speaker 2: casting insane patterns the downpour. It clattered to a stop
Speaker 2: in front of the tavern. I'd been ejected from the
Speaker 2: coachman halting the team with an eerie guttural howl. Its
Speaker 2: door swung open. Two robed and hooded figures stepped down.
Speaker 2: Robes and hoods seemed to be in fashioned tonight, though
Speaker 2: granted it was raining like the hells. I was beginning
Speaker 2: to shiver. The first figure, short enough for me to
Speaker 2: think of as a child, stomped implacably toward the tavern.
Speaker 2: The second figure, tall and lean, followed for a few steps,
Speaker 2: but paused midstride. Its hooded gaze swept the street, locking
Speaker 2: on to me with a predatory intensity. I must have
Speaker 2: looked like a mess wallowing in my second mud bath
Speaker 2: in two minutes, my typically unkempt mop of sandy hair
Speaker 2: plastered to my skull and my bag half propping me up.
Speaker 2: The tall figure's gaze pierced into me seemingly forever, and
Speaker 2: I didn't dare breathe. The same sensation washed over me again,
Speaker 2: like frozen spiders marching through my guts and up my spine.
Speaker 2: A barked word from the smaller one mercifully snapped in
Speaker 2: that gaze off of me, and they both proceeded inside,
Speaker 2: Dread rose like bile in the back of my throat.
Speaker 2: I scrambled to my feet, cinched up my pack, and
Speaker 2: ran