“Would ya believe me if I told ya ‘bout da Experience Fairy? Ya wrote yer wishes and yer upgrade intentions on a piece a paper an’ slid it under your pillow and during da nigh-”
“No.”
“Den nevermind…”
“Just what I wanted to hear.”
Bingo didn’t look too concerned about my consternation. “Dat’s da deal with bein’ CEO, Raze. All da bad news dat reaches ya is a big deal, since everthin’ else shoulda been sorted out ‘fore it got to ya.”
“If you say so.”
“I do. Now get dat glum look off yer face and let’s go shed some blood.”
“Ours, or theirs?”
He tapped a button on the side of his mask, which must have kicked in a translator module. “Porque no los dos?”
Chapter 32
Even with the Raid Timer, it was easy to lose track of the passage of day and night underground. By the time we made it out of the side tunnel again, the stars were still twinkling. The elevation gave me an ocean view, and the sky over the water to the east was a little less black and forgiving.
The Rift was angry, spinning faster than it had during the other Reenactments I’d seen. The bright, bruised-purple vortex was raining down much larger volumes of debris, showering ‘Neath and the meme farms with a treasure trove of otherworldly flotsam and jetsam.
If we made it through the coming day, the cornucopia of clutter would last us years.
“Dat’s gotta mean da *shhtuck*in’ Smash really is comin’,” Bingo whispered as we crept down the hill. He’d turned his mask’s volume down so that the sound didn’t carry far. “An’ dat can’t be good.”
“Oh, it’s coming all right. One thing at a time, though.” We picked our way toward ‘Neath and the archaic magic above it. Before long I could see the fresh wagon ruts and churned up soil where the evacuation of Hallow had cut toward the Mountain. “I know we didn’t have much choice in the matter, but the evacuation was sloppy. We’re lucky the Heroes weren’t waiting to ambush us at the mouth of the tunnel.”
“What’s da plan?”
“Your plan includes being quiet while I think of one.” I scanned the night ahead of us. “Getting into ‘Neath without being seen won’t be easy, not with the Mages around. Then there’s the problem of slipping out with Mother and her orphans, obviously.”
Bingo ran his hands down the sides of his head, wiping sweat from the close-cropped parts of his skull. “Forget da kids, den. Let’s scamper as soon as we grab Mother.”
“She’ll kill us both if that thought crosses your drink-addled mind again, let alone slips out through the mask.”
He shrugged. “True dat, but war’s comin’ anyway. Sad fact is dat soon enough dere’ll be plenty more orphans ta weep over.”
He was probably right, but I knew that Patch and Mother wouldn’t see it that way. Shit, even I didn’t. “I’ll work out a way to save all of them, just give me a minute.”
“If ya say so…”
“I do. Oh, and if we do have to scrap, can you do it with a little more finesse than last time? Watching you attack Warwick in the dungeon reminded me of Illgott taking on a half price buffet.”
“We’re ‘bout ta find out,” he murmured, wheezing and suddenly crouching low in the undergrowth. I darted off to the other side of the path we were on, relying on his instincts instead of waiting for my own roll to reveal the danger he’d sensed.
The shadows were deep enough to lose ourselves in, and I held my breath and waited. Just before I was finally ready to second guess him, I
Decipher (Auditory) Roll
Cunning Roll: 11
Result: Success
heard a twig snap from further down on the trail. I hit the deck, and Bingo lowered himself all the way down to the ground as quickly as he could, his knees popping almost as loudly as the wood.
“Littles, hang on to each other’s hands. That’s right. Follow the stink. Don’t make faces, now. Hold your breath if the scary Silvertongue’s stench is getting to you. At least he’s making it easier to find our way back.”
I leapt up, forgetting the need for covertness. “Mother!” At least I didn’t frighten the daisy chain of waifs she was shepherding up the path. If they started screaming, we’d be found for sure.
If Mother Mayeye was surprised to see me, she didn’t let on. “Raze. There you are. Hurry and lead your brothers and sisters back to the mountain, please.”
Bingo’s eyebrows went up as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. “Brudders and sistahs?
I reached out and obediently took the first girl’s hand. “Not literally. She’s ‘Mother’, so we’re all ‘siblings’. Just go with it.”
“Oh. Had me worried, for a sec.”
“Silvertongue,” Mother called, crooking her finger and beckoning Bingo over. “Come here. We need to speak, you and I.”
I’d been on the receiving end of that tone before, and even though it wasn’t currently aimed at me I flinched. I still wanted to see what those two were doing though, so I walked backwards as I led the line of kids in the direction of safety.
At first it looked like Mother leaned forward and kissed Bingo on the cheek, but then I realized that she was whispering something in his ear.
What could she possibly be she saying that can’t wait?
Decipher (Auditory) Roll
Cunning Roll: 13
Result: Success
I was trying to snoop on them, but instead of their muted conversation I heard a boot scuff followed by the hearty clearing of a throat.
Before I could hiss a warning to the others, I heard a voice say, “I don’t care if you can’t see anything. The wolf thinks he smells something, and I’m putting my faith in his nose.”
Everybody hit the deck, even the young ones. I was proud of them. They didn’t wiggle or complain, and the shadows swallowed them as they tucked themselves against tree roots and below the overhang of ferns.
I remembered how well Mother had drilled that stuff into us. If it weren’t for the animal helping them, the Heroes might walk right by them without ever noticing their hidden forms.
My little group of refugees and I were 30 yards away from Bingo and Mother. The interlopers were down below them on the trail, out of sight.
Everybody play it cool, and we might just get out of this without being discovered.
It was wishful thinking, and I was a little troubled that the optimism had even crossed my mind. Sure enough, another Hero said, “I was up here a few days ago, and these tracks weren’t. The old bitch is taking them higher up the mountain to be with the rest of them.
I saw Bingo’s muscles bunch, and tried to get his attention as I put a finger to my lips. He wasn’t looking at me, but at least the littles were. I signaled to them to remain motionless.
Before we started something, I’d rather know who was on our tail. Avoiding them was my first priority, but if that wasn’t an option, we needed to take them down swift and silent. If Bingo went all wrecking ball on them, he may well bring a whole contingent down on our heads.
It wouldn’t matter if we got rid of these guys, if doing so meant that we led the rest right to our doorstep.
A couple of seconds later two humanoids and a mangy wolf stepped out of the forest and on to the wide game trail. Bingo and Mother were stuck halfway between them and I, though at least the good guys were staring at the tracks at their feet.
I’d seen the canine before, and I dragged the Goggles of Google down over my eyes and used Identify on his master.
Name: Gratlin
Archetype: Hunter
Class: Far Strider
Origin: North Woods – Forest for the Trees
Level: 1
Intellect: 8
Strength: 12
Dexterity: 16
Constitution: 13
Charisma: 9
Wisdom: 11
Hit Points: 13
It was the hunter from a few days ago, the one that’d accidentally de
leted the quest the Platform had given him and then gotten lost.
I inspected his wolf next.
Name: Fleabite
Archetype: Animal Companion
Level: 1
Hit Points: 8
How was Gratlin still Level 1?
It didn’t matter, obviously. I was grateful that at least one of the figures following us was a lowbie moron. If it were just me up here and I didn’t need to worry about the orphans and Mother I’d have been tempted to reveal myself, if only to show him how far I’d come since the last time we’d met.
The guy beside him was obscured for a second, but when Gratlin knelt to inspect the wagon ruts I got my first good look at him with the goggles on.
Name: Aregor Xeo
Archetype: Mage
Class: Occultist
Origin: Devrin – Tower of Arcane Delights
Intellect: 16
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 10
Charisma: 12
Wisdom: 13
Level: 4
Hit Points: 34
Shitsticks. A Level 4 Mage was a lot more of a challenge than I’d been hoping to stumble upon out in the open. His presence solidified our options; if I could pick my battles I wouldn’t be picking this one.
If I had to, at least I could start things off with a bang. I drew the gun and took aim.
Weapon Equipped: Firefew Gat
Damage: 1d10 + 2 (Kinetic)
Skill Modifier: + 2
Skill Level with Current Weapon Type: Brazen
Damage Potential: 1d10 + 4
I was too far away to trust my shot. Besides, pulling the trigger would end any chance we had of slinking back to safety without the Heroes in ‘Neath knowing there was something happening up here, but that was better than dying.
I was still next to the girl that’d been leading the line of littles. Given the situation she’d remained remarkably composed, though now that I had the Firefew equipped her eyes had gone as big as one of Mother’s Franklin Mint collectable plates.
As far as she knew there wasn’t a Dreg in the world that should’ve been able to use it, and I felt a little thrill of victory as I showed her that we could be more than we were.
“What’s your name?” I whispered. I was watching the wolf, but his ears didn’t flinch.
“Esper.”
“Listen up, Esper. Have you heard of Konami Rock?” It was a long shot, but when her face lit up I knew that she’d just made my life a lot easier.
“We aren’t allowed up there, but that never stopped me.” There it was again, plain as day. I recognized the same spark of rebellion in her that I’d begun to see in a lot of my companions, and I was beginning to suspect that Mother specialized in fostering it.
Literally.
I smiled at her. “Me neither. I need you to lead the littles up this hill. You can follow the tracks for now, but they’ll split up and go a bunch of different directions soon. Keep the mountain on your left and sharpen your eyes. If you’re doing it right, you’ll find a ramp. Go down it and cross your fingers that Source works out that you need to get in.”
Thankfully Patch had already bought access to a lot of side tunnels, so the Heroes who followed us would have to slow down to work out which one the kids had used.
She showed me how smart she was by noiselessly turning to usher the rest of the littles in the right direction. Esper was doing a better job of it than I had, which meant that I didn’t feel guilty for abandoning them.
Once they were hidden by the trees, I crawled on my belly over toward where Mother and Bingo were hiding.
Gratlin and Aregor had swapped their attention to the mountain. For one reason or another their eyes were scouring areas that were far, far too high. If they were overlooking our hidden entrances by that much, maybe we really could get out of here without getting caught…
The Mage was getting restless. “Are you sure they came this way?”
“Yes.”
“Prove it.”
The Hunter didn’t answer right away. He was still kneeling in the middle of the trail, and he let a pinch of soil drift from his fingertip. “They did, and recently at that.”
I expected their argument to go on, but Aregor surprised me by deferring to the results of his partner’s tracking roll. “In that case, watch my back for a second while I fire off a couple of banshee flares. They’ll turn the night to day and scream down the other patrols. I’m not chasing those crazy pyros without a lot more bodies on my side.”
Now that I was next to Mother and Bingo I could see how little concealment there was in the 20 yards between us and them. If we ran, we’d lead them right back to the kids, but I couldn’t think of a way to take the Heroes out quietly from here.
“Don’t lose hope, Raze,” Mother said, her voice low. “The Silvertongue and I will hold them off. He’s got a debt to pay, anyway.”
Bingo looked embarrassed. “My Martyrdom should prob’ly wait, since da Mech won’t start wit’out a full Crew.”
Mother didn’t look surprised. “Then keep your crewmates safe and make something more of yourself, this time around.” Before he could rasp a response, she turned back to me. “Raze, I’m proud of you.”
“You always say that.”
She licked her thumb and used it to wipe a smear of grease from my cheek. “Dear one, those other times were bullshit. You’ll understand, when you’ve kids of your own.” With that she
Contested Friskiness Roll
Raze: 17
Mother: 23
Result: Raze Failure
grabbed the Gat out of my hand. I was stunned, and she pushed me in the direction of Esper and the littles before standing up out of cover.
Fleabite’s yellow stare swung around as she aimed down the barrel at the Mage. The wolf growled deep in the back of his throat.
So did Bingo. We weren’t going to be eluding anybody, not anymore.
All failed stealth missions have that moment where you throw your hands up and think ‘so much for silence’. The next few seconds are usually a blur of death and destruction, and this was no different.
Fleabite rushed Mother, his speed forcing her to pull the trigger early and blow a crater in the Mage’s shoulder instead of his face. When the wolf leapt at her an instant later, Bingo popped up beside the animal and Wham! slammed the Supercharged Pickax into the beast’s chest cavity, crumpling it like a dead guy’s IOU.
It had been a good, clean shot, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a downside. The weapon was buried so deeply that Bingo was having trouble extracting it.
I should’ve been helping the littles escape, but instead I grabbed a rock and
Contested Friskiness Roll
Raze: 13
Gratlin: 8
Result: Raze Success
Hit Point Loss: 1
Hit Points Remaining: 12
banged it hard off the Hunter’s hip, desperate to distract him.
Mother squeezed off another round, her grim face lit by the muzzle blast. “Go!” she shouted, shooting again as she advanced on the enemy.
The gunfire was a rolling thunder, but when the Mage spread his fingers and pointed at the sky he showed us all what real noise sounded like.
Shrieking skulls trailing streamers of gossamer fire launched from his hand, their bony jaws emitting wails that made me clap my hands over my ears just to hold my brains in. The occult pyrotechnics peaked above us and then dove, hitting the ground in a circle around Mother that burst into a prison of crimson flame.
The mountainside glowed with the impact. The new light revealed more shapes combing the forest between here and ‘Neath. They broke cover now, giving up their previous duties and sprinting in our direction.
There were dozens of them, all closing fast.
“Run!” Bingo yelled at me, dialing his mask up to amplify his voice above the still-hollering banshees. “Don’t waste da chance she’s givin’.”
I did run, but not in the direction they wanted me to. Bingo tried to grab me and
Contested Friskiness Roll
Raze: 6
Bingo: 3
Result: Raze Success
missed. I caught a glimpse of him as he charged after me, stubby legs pumping hard.
Before I could get to her, the flames made an opening for the Hunter to step through. Furious at the death of his wolf, he grabbed Mother by the shoulders and shook her violently.
If he’d known how much she adored Freddie Mercury he wouldn’t have looked so surprised when Mother put my gun against his head and Bohemian Rhapsody-ed him straight between the eyes with enough force to throw him backward into the trees.
The Mage whipped his hands around and created a thin line of embers, guiding them with deft precision around Mother’s legs. I could smell her flesh char as the flame rope entangled her.
It made it difficult for her to shoot the Gat at him, and when she did the Mage simply backhanded the bullets away. “Pathetic,” he laughed. “The old ways are almost dead, and Sanguine has nothing to fear from you anymore. Tell her I’ll claim the reward soon.”
The hell you will. I put my head down and sprinted right at him. I was fast, and he was taking too much pleasure in monologuing at her to notice. Bingo had somehow managed circle in front of me, his arms wide in an attempt to foil my reckless charge.
I stunned the crap out of both of them as I
Contested Friskiness Roll
Raze: 21
Bingo: 8
Aregor: 2
Know Your Roll Page 30
