Greed God chapter 86 (Patreon)

January 28th 2016 Shadowcrest 5:00 PM

I  was jarred out of reading by the sound of a frustrated shriek and a  book hitting the wall of Zee's library. The sorceress and I were poring  over books with a map Strega had given me of the ritual sites in town,  twying to figure out what the hell "Doctor Gotham", was planning to  actually DO. So far, we'd been comparing ritual circles and spell  diagrams to the map trying to figure out what symbols would fit, and  much like Strega had mentioned, out problem wasn't that none of the  matched up, but rather the exact opposite.

The first move  I'd made after talking to Strega was to approach the resident mistress  of the mystic arts. The idea that some uber powerful primordial super  mage rewriting the laws od reality in Gotham didn't seem like a good  thing for anyone, and even if I moved back to Metropolis I somehow  doubted it would make much difference given the proximity of the two  cities.

Zee was about ready to pull her hair out. "This is  BULLSHIT!" The busty sorceress was stalking back and forth, fuming as  she burned off excess energy, occasionally stopping to glare down at the  map. "This connect the dots nonsense is ZERO help figuring out what the  ritual is going to do. Tell me what she said again? Word for word?" She  stared at me imploringly, as if begging me to tell her something  different than I had the last five times she'd asked me to recount my  conversation with the redheaded blood witch.

I stared at  her in annoyance. "No. I will not. I've already repeated the entire  conversation verbatim half a dozen times. There isn't any more  information to be had there. She doesn't know anything useful, she was a  patsy, and no matter how much you force me to repeat it that isn't  going to change. Maybe there's some clue in the leylines? some kind of  magic they're naturally suited for? Or something you think would work  best in Gotham?"

She slumped into her chair, rubbing her  temples. "It doesn't work like that. Any spell would be 'suited' to an  unlimited power source and being basically engraved into reality itself.  Not that this would even be viable in most cities. The number of points  of overlap most spells would require would be unthinkable ion a normal  town. Gotham happens to be a hotbed of supernatural activity, and there  are literally hundreds of active leylines running through the city, big  or small."

She tapped the map with a fingernail. "I've  never even heard of a ritual this complex. Honestly I don't have the  skillset needed to try to map the possible connection points to find the  pattern we need, and anyone who would have that skillset doesn't have  the mystical understanding to match the potential designs to any magical  effects or rituals. It's just...too many possibilities. The only thing I  CAN say is that with this many connection points it has to be something  complex, and that doesn't bode well for anyone in the city."

I  groaned, letting my head thump down on the table. I laid there in  annoyance for a few minutes before sitting up. "What about the sorcerer  himself. Maybe there's some clue in his history. I told you everything  she said about him. Any ideas as to who he might be? She made him sound  semi local, if VERY old. Any old stories about powerful warlocks buried  in the area?" I was pretty sure Pentacle's ritual to help them take down  the Shadowpact had taken place in the city. Partly because of the way  Strega talked about it and partly because the guy was calling himself  Doctor Gotham.

She shook her head with a laugh, gesturing  bitterly to one corned of the massive library. "Those six bookshelves  are local folklore and stories about ancient evils in the area. This  whole region is a dark magic hotspot, and like calls to like. There have  been more evil sorcerers entombed within the city limits of Gotham than  in the rest of North America put together. This city is basically an  evil magical disneyland. Asking me to identify an ancient warlock buried  nearby is like asking someone in Seattle to track down a specific  starbucks without a street name or any identifying features."

I  was actively annoyed with this entire thing. "So we have no clues? At  all? What about the Shadowpact? Can you get us in touch with them? Maybe  they'll know more about him, given that Pentacle summoned him to deal  with them in the first place. Also can we please go somewhere else to do  this? My reflection in that creepy magic mirror over there keeps  grinning at me in the most disturbing way when it thinks I'm not  looking." I shot the thing a reproachful look, but it didn't react.

Zee  stopped fidgeting to shoot me an unsettled gaze. "That isn't a magic  mirror. Are you sure you saw it do something?" She glanced at the mirror  nervously. "Mirrors are gateways and portals to all sorts of unsettling  things. Mine are all protected, but you can never be too careful. How  long has it been doing it?" We both stared right at the mirror, and I  even took the time to appraise it.

[Appraisal  function activated. Treasure detected. French antique mirror-I rank. An  antique mirror from medieval france. A brass frame with the original  glass, this mirror is not magical in and of itself but has been restored  with clever spellwork.]

That was...unsettling. I  stared at the thing hard. Had my mind been playing tricks on me? Was it  something to do with the house? This place WAS C rank after all. I  wouldn't put it past whatever consciousness the house had to fuck with  me, plus in general it was just really creepy here. Zee seemed to notice  how disturbed I was because she cleared her throat. "Anyway, yes I do  know the Shadowpact, or at least one of them. Nightshade is an old  friend of mine. We used to go clubbing together. I can get in touch with  her and ask her to come meet with us if you want."

I  shook off my discomfort. It wasn't like me to get shaken up by small  shit, but this fucking house had me on edge. Luckily it seemed content  to just fuck with me rather than actively trying to kill me. It was  another reason to be glad I hadn't tried to Brand Zee. I wasn't sure the  house would be able to tell, but I wasn't sure it wouldn't either.  "Alright, sounds good. Where exactly will we be having this meeting?"

She  grinned at me, clearly happy to be on a less unsettling subject. "Hold  your horses cowboy, I have to actually call and set it up first.  Nightshade is kind of international. The League is centralized to their  cities of origin and travel to get to where they're needed, but the  Shadowpact is just kind of wherever they're needed. Chances are we'll  have it in the Oblivion Bar, but I need to make sure they're actually  around first. I'll try to put a rush on it given the time crunch." Her  face became much more solemn. "Are you sure you still want to go to this  thing? This got a lot more dangerous, and powers or no this isn't going  to be the kind of place you're guaranteed to walk away from."

I  snorted. "Oh sure, because the rest of the city will be so much safer  once whatever super warlock we're dealing with rewrites the rules of  reality with some kind of permanent wide scale ritual. Yeah, I'm still  going. I have my own ways of getting out of there if necessary. Plus I  have plenty of friends I trust to have my back. Assuming I still get  your plus two on top of my own?"

I  could tell she didn't like the idea of me going, but she knew she had  no chance of talking me out of it. She sighed but nodded sadly. "Yeah, I  told you that was ok, and I won't go back on that. I really wish you  weren't being so stubborn about this though. At least I know you can  take care of yourself now, I feel a bit better than I did when we  originally made this arrangement."

I  on the other hand, did not. I was specifically unwilling to bring Dinah  or Whisper along. Whoever this asshole was he was strong enough that I  worried about being able to leave. I had the candle in case of  emergency, and I should be able to bring some people with me if needed  for both trips, but even with that ace in the hole I absolutely refused  to give some super wizard access to my unborn children. I didn't do  touchy feely shit, but those were MY kids, and it would be a cold day in  hell before I let some asshole get access to them or their mothers.

Which  limited exactly who I could take. Waylon for sure, though I wanted to  get him to F rank before the party. Bonebreaker would come in handy.  Cherry had skills I could use, and I was on the fence about the last  one. Roy would be useful, but I was pretty sure bringing him along would  drag the League into this. Same with Jade. Speaking of, I turned to  Zee. "I'm surprised you don't want to bring the League into the loop on  this whole thing. Isn't this exactly their kind of mess?"

She  shook her head. "They would just call me. Magic isn't exactly a common  field of study for heroes. The only other League magician who could  feasibly help would be Doctor Fate and...I don't get along with him. Not  to mention he isn't really the kind of person who worries about  collateral damage. There are going to be civilians at this party, and  Doctor Fate is the type to toss out the baby with bathwater." There was a  tightness in her voice as she mentioned the other magic user that made  me think there was more to that story, but I didn't actually care enough  to ask about it. If it was relevant to me she would tell me eventually,  though I couldn't see how it possibly could be.

She  swallowed hard, standing up. "Anyway, I'm going to make that call. You  can keep going through the books, I won't be long." She didn't so much  walk as sprint out of the room, and I made a mental note not to bring up  Doctor Fate with her unless I was trying to get a negative reaction. I  was guessing the subject would be a mood killer. I sighed and went back  to rifling through books, even though I knew it was pretty much  pointless. After a while I looked up at the mirror, staring hard at the  reflective surface.

I'd  never liked mirrors much. I had one in my bathroom because I needed it  for grooming, but something about the things always bothered me. Zach  had joked when I was younger that it was because I didn't like having to  look at what an asshole I was, but that wasn't it. It wasn't about me.  It was about the image. I always felt like there was something else  there, waiting in the background.

I  stared at my reflection hard, looking for evidence that it was anything  but an image of me, but there was nothing. It had to have been the  house. Fucking C ranked magic mansion trying to mess with my head. After  a few minutes I shook it off. I didn't have time for this right now. I  went back to reading, despite knowing it wouldn't do any good. You never  knew when having an encyclopedic knowledge of random magical texts  would come in handy, and I did believe in being prepared. Maybe I could  have Strega teach me some blood magic? Might as well put my supercharged  bodily fluids to use.