“Whoever has it has got to give it up, first. It hasn’t been up for auction for a very long time. Supposedly we used to all have it, but not anymore.”
Proficiency Check
Ancient History: 92
Result: Failure
New Skill Values:
Ancient History = 16/100
My first thought was that Bingo’d be the most likely source of the Knack, but I’d just seen his stats and he was clean.
Mother always knew what I was thinking. “Illgott told me you’ve found a Silvertongue. Watch the creature close, and cross your fingers that he’s the best of a bad lot. Without his help, all we’ve got on our side is you and Patch and Illgott. That’s not enough.”
I cracked my knuckles nervously. “I have no idea what I’m doing. You know that, right?”
“How could you? There’s no real way to prepare for this. We kept you safe, moved some pieces around and crossed our fingers. I bet on Patch, same as I bet on you.”
“I hope you kept the receipt…”
Mother laughed. “Do you know why I named you ‘Raze’?”
“Because it means ‘demolish’.”
“That’s the story you told yourself, and I eventually gave up arguing with you about it. I had the older definition in mind; to erase. I wanted you to know that you didn’t have to live up to the sins or expectations of a history you’d never seen and a past you didn’t take part in. I envisioned a blank slate for you, but now I see that you’re going to have to wipe the slate clean yourself.”
The thunder of bootfalls echoed down the side alley, and a moment later a Hero ran past the window. He looked terrified, and after a second I saw a few Ghoulies and a pack of Kobold hot on his trail. I strained my neck to watch the chase, but they disappeared out of sight before I could see the end of it.
I was about to hop off the stool and dash out the side door to help when Mother’s voice pulled me up short. “Stay put and stow that wild grin. That Hero’s got the right idea. He’s outnumbered, and so he ran. We’ll do the same.”
I felt like I knew where she was going with this. “Hang on, now. The mountain’s not going to any safer than here in
THE BRAWL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING
begins in
2 days - 3 hours - 35 minutes - 58 seconds
a couple of days.”
“That frying pan’s looking mighty nice from the middle of this fire. I’ve already given the order for everyone to abandon Hallow.”
“An exodus?” I breathed. “That sounds like a lot of work…”
“Not for you. I’ll take care of the logistics, and Illgott will move the machinery from his arcade as soon as there’s a safe route. The big doors won’t be open yet, but I’m sure Patch will work out a way to let us in.”
I swallowed hard. “I didn’t mean to make things worse.
Mother Mayeye pursed her lips. “Don’t talk like that. If it weren’t for your impulsiveness, we’d probably have waited and waited until it was too late to kick this off. The world broke a long time before you came into it.”
A crazy, almost hysterical laugh escaped me. “That’d normally make me feel better.”
“But not this time, huh?” She smiled at me. “Good. That means you care about the world that’s left. Now,” she said, plucking a bowl from the shelf and ladling it full of soup. “I made your favorite. Let’s try and fill your belly before your Hero’s journey, shall we?”
“Yes, please.”
She cocked an eyebrow at me. “You remember the manners I taught you? I’m impressed.”
“I dragged them out just for you.”
“Warms my heart.” She thunked the wooden spoon into the bowl and handed it over, watching with delight as I ate.
Mother’s Macbethian Mishmash
Description: The recipe may have been ‘borrowed’ from the Bard himself, but generations of Mothers have made it their own. Is there a hidden ingredient, or two? Of course!
Use: Medicinal, Nostalgic, Therapeutic
Hit Points Restored
The stew was glorious, exactly as I remembered. “Will you do something for me?”
“I’ll try.”
“Defend the ones that don’t have the heart or the size or the skill or the gumption to do it for themselves. You’ve got enough fight in you for all of us, always have and always will. Don’t you dare forget that.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled, bone tired and all too aware that the clock was ticking. As much as I wanted to, I didn’t have time to indulge in any further hospitality.
Mother sighed. “And now, sadly, the sudden and inevitable betrayal. Illgott will keep you safe, but I can’t risk having you and your crew on the streets during the worst of the coming repercussions. So, I’m going to knock you out and stash you away for a little.”
“You can’t!”
“I already have, dearie. It’s for the best. Now set that bowl down before you drop it on your way to the floor. I’m too old to be picking up after you.”
I tried to do as she asked, but I couldn’t move. It didn’t matter, since she leaned forward and caught it as it slipped from my fingers.
Mother caught me, too. “One last thing,” she said. “The most important of all. Whatever you do, don’t you dare lose hope. I did, but I’m off to fix that just as soon as you unwillingly hit the sack.”
Chapter 22
Someone was banging on the door. At first I couldn’t get up to answer it, but then when I finally did I stumbled right through it like a ghost.
In the street there was a pile of bodies. Some of them had been beaten worse than others, but all the corpses were stiff and pale. Kobold. Trog. Ghoulie. Gnoll. They’d been heaped together in the same way they’d lived, without the dignity or respect you’d give to animals successfully caught on a hunt.
Patch lay on top of the grisly jumble. Death hadn’t robbed her of her smile, and even broken and bloody she was beautiful. Whoever had knocked on the door was standing beside me on the stoop, the same question filling the air between us over and over and over.
“Do these belong to you?” asked Warwick, his face horribly burnt, his hair smoking.
“Do these belong to you?” asked Illgott sadly.
“Do these belong to you?” asked Adrius, and the smugness in his expression made me want to punch him in the nuts.
“Do these belong to you?” demanded Commandant Sanguine, her riding crop smacking her taut thigh to emphasize the query.
“Do these belong to you?” asked Bingo, for once without accent.
“Do these belong to you?” This time it was Mother Mayeye, and for the first time in the dream I was able to respond.
“Yes.”
“Then stop the people who would do this to them.”
Chapter 23
I clawed my way out of sleep with a strangled yell, only to find Illgott’s meaty hand already pressed to my mouth to muffle the sound. “Welcome back,” he said. “You sleep with your eyes open, by the way.”
“Mother used to say the same thing, back when she wasn’t drugging me into a coma.” I was angry at being tricked, but I bit down on the rest of my sharp words instead the ogre’s palm. Illgott had rarely been openly hostile, and lately he’d been making it sound like my time as an indentured questgiver had been an elaborate way of keeping me safe.
When I tried to sit up, he removed his hand and let me. “Traitor,” I spat. “Did you know she was going to do that?”
“I had my suspicions.”
“Thanks for the heads up, then. And why didn’t I get your stats when you touched me?”
“You have your Knacks and I have mine, Gearblin.”
Fine. Be that way… “Is the Vigilance Committee throwing their weight around?”
He nodded. “Absolutely. I’ve had to smuggle you between a few different safe houses. There’s a lull as they regroup and try and work out what to do.”
I looked around. The room wasn’t familiar, but everything was ogre siz
ed. “Your place?”
“Until they take it from me.”
“Maybe things will go back to normal before that happens.”
He rubbed at his eyes, which were much more bloodshot than usual. “Didn’t Mother make that clear? There’s a new normal on the way, and it doesn’t include the likes of us. You lit a fuse and the bomb’s already gone off.”
More of the same. At least I could argue with Illgott. “Can a bunch of idiots taking things to the extreme really be laid at my feet?”
“If you drop a rock in a pond, who is to blame for the ripples?”
I laughed. “You sound like Mother.”
He didn’t find it funny. “While you were drooling on my pillow, the VC rounded up everyone they could find. Zazzer and some of his boys tried to stall them with diversionary fires. It worked, but he got grabbed, along with Scald, Grime, Cull and forty or so others.”
“What did they do with them?”
“Same as always; crammed them into the Vigilance Committee dungeons. Their tunnel must be almost done, and when it is Sanguine will use the Dreg’s souls to drum up the old Smash magic.”
I heard Mother’s characteristic low whistle come out of my mouth. “All that in a few hours?”
“A bit longer than that. Her stew’s powerful stuff. Mayeye used to give it to me and mine before your time, when we were sick. It’d knock us on our asses until the fever broke. Had the added bonus of letting her watch her soaps without being interrupted, but I’m sure that was purely coincidental.”
I checked the raid timer.
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10 hours - 33 minutes - 07 seconds
“There’s still time,” Illgott told me. “But doubting Mother behind her back’s a waste of it.”
“Where is she now so that I can doubt her to her face?”
He threw up his hands. “The last day’s been pretty wild. A few of her charges went missing in the commotion, and Mother went to find them as soon as I took you.”
“Why didn’t you go with her?”
He cocked an eyebrow at me. “She needed to get to them fast and quiet, and we both know I’m neither. Wherever she is, I’ve no doubt that she’ll fare better than the people who try and hurt her kids. Besides, she told me to stay with you.”
“So you’re my bodyguard, now?”
“Let’s not go nuts…” He dropped an envelope in my lap. “She wanted me to give this to you. It had better be self-explanatory, because she didn’t tell me what was in it. All I know is you’re supposed to open it in the mountain.”
The envelope held something thin and heavy, but as much as I wanted to open it right now I knew the ogre would tattle on me if I disobeyed her. Things were already out of control, and here I was waking up in the middle of it. “So, what’s the plan, since I refuse to believe she didn’t leave us with a long list of things that needed to get done.”
“Of course she did. Me and my brothers need to wrestle something heavy out of one of the ruins, so I won’t be with you until later. Fortunately, I found someone who can help you out.”
“Yeah?”
He got up and opened the bedroom door to reveal-
“Patch!” I shouted, remembering too late that the VC may still be stalking the streets and slapping my hands over my mouth.
Now that the door her ear had been pressed against wasn’t there anymore, she tumbled into the room. “Hiya, Raze!”
Despite everything, Illgott was pretty pleased with himself. “I caught her sneaking into town when I took the video game consoles to the mountain on my first trip.”
I leapt off the bed and stuffed the envelope into my back pocket, running to her. “Are you okay?”
“Yep.”
“I thought I told you to stay behind!”
“You did. When Source saw all the smoke, he let me out to make sure you idiots were still alive. Illgott brought me to Mother Mayeye, and she told me about the refugees. I used some of the credits you guys earned yesterday to open a few more side tunnels. Great work on the fundraising, by the way.”
“Thanks. How’s the mountain coming along?”
“We were rolling in moolah, so I spent it all. Anyway, there are already whole caravans of Dregs moving in, and Mother made it sound like we’re going to have a lot more people sleeping over in the mountain!”
“Of course she did…” I was glad to see Patch, and raking her over the coals about our new residents wouldn’t help matters. Instead of making her feel bad, I hugged her tight and whispered, “I had a dream. It wasn’t a good one, but I had it anyway.”
“I’m so glad!” she said, clapping excitedly. “They’re awesome, huh? Well, nightmares probably aren’t, but I’m sure the next one will be better.”
We stood there like that for long enough to make Illgott uncomfortable. When he cleared his throat and shifted his weight from one foot to the other Patch blushed, stepping back and lightly punching me on the shoulder. “Illgott already told me that we’re doing a prison break. That sounds fun, right?”
“We are, huh?” I suppose that made sense. We couldn’t just leave the Dregs down there, especially if Sanguine really was going to use their souls to cook up another Smash. “Okay. We have to get Bingo from the arcade, first.”
Patch wrinkled her nose. “He’s already downstairs draining Illgott’s not-so-hidden liquor cabinet dry.”
The ogre growled in the back of his throat, then caught himself. “No he isn’t. It’s locked.”
“If you say so…”
“I knew I shouldn’t have left him alone,” Illgott said under his breath as he rushed past her, trundling down the stairs.
“Wait for it,” Patch said, holding up one finger expectantly.
“Silvertongue! Get your damn nose out of there! Raze, bring your girl down here and relieve me of this lout! The night’s as dark as my sins, and most of the lampposts between here and Sanguine’s headquarters have already been hacked down.”
I waited for Patch to remind him that she wasn’t my girl, but she didn’t.
It turns out that was enough for me to swell my chest up, take Patch by the hand and say to her, “We started something big.”
“I know. And we ain’t done yet, not by half.”
Her optimism was exactly what I needed. She was a misguided port in a turbulent storm, but that was enough for me. “Did you know Bingo was a capital ‘H’ Hero?”
“Nope. I was hoping he was, though. It’d be a bummer if we were stuck with a dud crewmember.”
I shrugged. “I was going to take him to Konami Rock and make him one anyway, but Sanguine’s got it.”
“Mother Mayeye told me. Bastards. One thing at a time, though. Shall we visit the dungeon, then?”
“Kinky.”
“Down, boy. But maybe later, if we make it through this.”
I grinned wickedly. “I’m going to hold you to that. For now, let’s do a little looting and then a lot of pillaging.”
Chapter 24
I hadn’t doubted Illgott, but I was surprised by both the sheer number of VC patrolling the streets of Hallow and their disorganization. They couldn’t find their asses with both hands and a flashlight, but Patch, Bingo and I were still careful as we moved into the ‘better’ parts of town. The Heroes had always had the most control here, and I assumed that the bulk of the shock troops were on the outskirts, possibly trying to stop the Dregs from fleeing to ‘Neath or the mountain.
The night’s darkness was a huge boon, and I was glad to see that the ogre had been right about there being violence directed at the streetlights. The shadows held us safe as we found our way through the streets to the smoldering wreckage of the temple.
Patch was bouncing back and forth from one foot to the other. We’d passed the dungeon a block ago and she was getting antsy. “What are we doing here?”
Bingo grunted and pointed at the temple’s new graffiti. “Now dat’s marketing.”
“
This won’t take long,” I promised them. “We don’t have much in the way of weapons and there should be a bunch of gear in here.” After the destruction of my Meager Chopper, I’d been feeling naked. I had the Vermin Sermon quest reward, but I wasn’t about to put my faith in it.
“Is the Priest still here?” Patch asked.
“Good question.” I trotted around to the front of the temple. I wasn’t expecting to see him, and I didn’t. The temple was out of commission, hopefully for good.
“All clear,” I said.
Bingo pointed at the empty cart the Heroes I’d tricked had rolled in front of the door. “Not clear.” The stone walls had kept the fire from burning it, and he grabbed the yoke and started to muscle it out of the way. “Dis place used ta be sacred. Don’t let RNGesus know what ya did to his house.”
“All I did was get rid of the squatters,” I said, indignant.
Patch sniffed the air. “What smells like BBQ?”
“The squatters.”
Bingo thought that was hilarious, but she didn’t. She scowled at us both and hopped up on a stump near where Adrius usually stood. It gave her a good view of the road coming up from Hallow and the path leading in from the forest. “I’ll keep a lookout while you guys go and grab whatever it is we’re here for.”
That was fine with me. I had no idea what the aftermath of my massacre would look like, and somebody needed to watch our backs. Bingo had already moved the cart, and between the two of us we managed to yank the front doors open so that I could lead the way inside.
The torches on the wall were burnt down stubs, and the smoke that hung over Hallow was blocking out the moon. “Watch your step,” I grumbled. “I’d been hoping not to have to do this in the dark, but apparently Mother had other ideas.”
Bingo slid a couple of vials out of the bandoleer on his chest. Before I could call him out on his drinking habits, he put his thumbs over the corks and gave the ampoules a vigorous shake. “‘Ere,” he said, handing me one. “Made one for Patch, too.”
Know Your Roll Page 21
