78th Day of Ash, 122th Year of the Age of Steel
Masagh found Parthena near the watery stairs that lead up to the secret entrance to the Mausoleum. She was dictating some orders to a pair of Maligners and looked as though she was preparing to submerge. Beyond her he saw the massive form of an undead something break the surface of the water before drifting into the murky depths. He had rarely found reason to enter the Mausoleum himself, as a Knight and not verses in any of the correct forms of disguise.
“Head Maligner Parthena, can I have a word?” He said when he sensed the end of the conversation. His sister glanced his way and nodded.
She waved off the Maligners and set down her waxed leather case, probably a change of clothes. Turning back to him, she raised her eyebrows by way of indicating she was listening.
“Just wondering if you remember anything about how you got all this to work?” Masagh said, indicating her illusory form with two shriveled fingers. She had been the only one to get her Cardinal Runes to work since the shadow curse, however briefly.
Parthena blinked slowly, a sign of impatience. She had not supported the operation he proposed, though she had only openly critiqued it once. “I told you and Sabrione that I have no idea. I was walking under the stars in the grounds around the Mausoleum and it worked. It hasn’t since, even when I attempted again at the same exact position and time of night.” Parthena said quickly. “I don’t think this aggressive venture is a good idea, but I value my family. I would arm you with whatever knowledge I had if I knew more.” He did not miss the implication of the last. Parthena took after her mother when it came to backhanded compliments.
He grunted. “Well, thanks anyway.” He turned to return to where Sabrione was prepping for their venture. “If we hear anything I’ll let you know. Stay safe up there.”
“You too, no matter how much it bores you…”
He smiled as he walked away.
Sabrione was leaning against the Well way sharpening her claymore with a necrotic whetstone when he found her. None of the other Knights were present. They were not in possession of Moonstones, and they had not proposed the idea. This was his responsibility, and Sabrione was telling him so by not bringing anyone else.
“Brother.” She muttered, not looking up from her work. “Come from ruining someone else’s day, or am I special?”
Perhaps that barb was deserved, but she wanted answers too. Sabrione may tote the family line, but she was a woman of action. They could excuse his behavior as juvenile and impulsive, but Masagh knew the weakness of his family. They were content with there status quo. This place had not changed in hundreds of years. Above, the living thrived and shifted, growing and inventing. They would outdistance the Creth eventually, and his family would find a dagger in their back while they cowered in the dark.
Sabrione finished with her blade and stood. They climbed up the secret well exit to the compound and into Triforge Square. The night was dark above them, shadowy tendrils of what Masagh assumed must be cloud ran across the sky. The alleys and square were empty, not to say that was out of the ordinary. It still sent a trickle of uneasy through him. The city felt quieter than normal. Maybe it was just his own nervousness, but it felt as though all but the two of them were hidden away. Perhaps there was some merit to his family’s objections he thought ruefully.
The claymore hissed as it was brought out of his scabbard. “Which way first?”
There was a glint as Sabrione brought out her blade silently. Her form was little more than a patch of darkness darker than the wall behind her. The blade shone briefly when she moved. The Weaponmaster crept to the end of the alley, ominous as a viper. “Come on.”
He followed, mimicking her stealth.
“We go to City Hall, best chance at information.” Sabrione sounded far from certain. These were uncertain times however, and Masagh had no better idea. They made their way out into the moonlight of the street. They might just learn something useful if none of those Shadowbeasts found them.
No one else seemed to be out and about, a rarity for Gel’Grandal, the capitol of the Imperium. Houses were boarded up occasionally and lights burned inside most though. They kept to the shadowy periphery as much as they could, stepping carefully. Empty streets and fearful citizens meant an easier city to navigate, but it also meant an alert police force. That didn’t exactly couple nicely with the lack of Cardinal magic.
Vulnerable and exposed far beyond the safety of the Compound, Masagh gathered his resolve about him like a cloak. Had they not taught him that duty was an undeniable obligation he could never shirk? If they wanted him to hide inside the Compound they should not have filled his head with stories of what was no more as a youngling. They should have limited his world to those damp, cold crypt walls. He supposed that being an ancient leader of a noble house gave you just as much foresight as any other occupation when it came to child rearing. That is to say, none.
They were forced into the deep recesses of a closed down market stall when a band of twelve police turned a corner. They were armed with a dawn stone shining brightly and four torches. The rest carried spears. The formation was tight and defensive. Sabrione and Masagh slipped behind the chipping stone and plaster of the market stall and crouched low.
Deadly light passed overhead as the police passed, though they did not pause. So the Imperium had found the way to kill these shadow beasts as well. Perhaps they had found out more. The pair waited, out of sight, as the patrol marched on. Only when they footsteps grew faint did Sabrione lift her head.
“Interesting, dawnstones.” Sabrione muttered, eying the distant patrol. “They seem to know at least as much as we do.”
“I wonder what cost that came at?” He too eyed the patrol. “Let’s go.”
And so they crept on. It was another hour before they came to one of the main thoroughfares that lead to the City Hall. The pair of black-clad ghouls passed broken barricades and the occasional overturned vehicle.
“Think this was a concentrated fight?” Masagh asked, looking around.
“No.” Sabrione said, glancing into the bed of another cart. “These were placed like this and a path left through the middle of the street. Obstacles, not the bones of a battle.” They passed another torn and tossed barricade. “Perhaps there was a fight here, but I don’t think the Imperium lost it.” She stared at the City Hall looming ahead in the distance. There were figures silhouetted against the torch-lit building, moving around in the courtyard.
Masagh couldn’t make them out, but he saw the distance glint of moonlight on armor. So the Imperium still had teeth at City Hall. “Come on.” Sabrione said, and the pair wove through the alleys and side streets to get closer. “We should at least be able to hear something from up there.” She indicated a balcony overgrown with vines and rosebush. It hung over the courtyard to the west side of City Hall. There was a knot work of thick vines trailing up the side of there building to the roof.
It was a short and surprisingly easy climb to the manse’s rooftop. Sabrione found a brass plated vehicle on the back side that allowed them to ascend onto a second floor balcony. After that it was only a few moments of brief embarrassment as Sabrione climbed deftly up onto the reinforced gutter above and hauled Masagh up. They got on their bellies and crossed the roof. While they were crawling Masagh wondered if the shadow beasts could climb, or perhaps they could simply appear onto the roofs of Gel’Grandal as easily as they could the streets or sewers. The was to stop the things appearing in people’s homes?
Finally the pair slunk down the much more accommodating vines and onto the balcony. They laid down and pulled the foliage apart slightly so they could see down into the courtyard. More barricades had been moved aside and placed in the corners. Police stood in groups of three or pairs with torches and dragon shards. Near the main entrance a group of about eight stood with two Imperium mages with the bored look of soldiers at a familiar duty.
It was an odd situation. Not because there were forces guarding the important government building. It was the way they were guarding it that seemed odd, Masagh realized. Police and Imperium mages seemed to be wandering aimlessly about the courtyard, standing for long periods of time in clumps. It went against the rigid Imperium tactic familiar to him.
A pair moved under the balcony and low voices rose from them.
“You off soon?” A gruff voice asked.
“Nah, here until dawn. Longer if the sergeant is pissy.” A smoother, younger voice said in an exasperated tone.
“Heh, wish they’d get more damn mage stones for us.” The sound of spitting. “You hear old Calderon got got by one of them lizard lookin’ ones? The scuttle type that bite your legs off.”
“Poor sod. I don’t think we’re getting much more stones anytime soon.” The younger voice said conspiratorially. “Then Dardouen folk are keeping all they’ve got, been ignoring the Emperor’s summons.” The two moved out from under where Masagh lay and into view. Not police, Imperium mages. “What’s he do? Instead of invading and knocking some sense into the greedy bastards he says ‘hey folks, why don’t you go down into the mines and brave them shadow horrors an bring me back some stones and I’ll pay you a few days wages’ He says.” The youth turned to the older, bearded mage. “Swear it, heard it from one of the Mayor’s folk.”
“Well that don’t bode well for us, now do it?”
“Not well at all.”
Then the older mage looked up at the sky and a mask of fear momentarily changed his expression. “Hey now, let’s get back in the moonlight. We’ve been in this shadow too long.”
The other jumped and looked around. “Damn, don’t want to get caught by them shadow things and realize you aint got no magics.” He said in agreement and the pair hurried off.
Masagh turned to stare at Sabrione. She stared back, grimacing.
Moonlight.
The erratic movements of the sentinels now made sense. Masagh felt a prickling down his spine now that he knew. Shadows were the domain of the shadow beasts now, and apparently magic worked in the moonlight. It made sense. Moonstones weakened them, and Dawnstones killed them. Parthena must have just been lucky in the timing of her illusion. Thanks to those two mages, this whole trip had just become worthwhile.
The look on Sabrione’s face told him she knew it too.
It was another hour and no new useful information before the pair saw their opportunity to flee back across the roof. Finally some good news to bring back to House Creth.
