“I have a contract to get to,” Jason said. “Either all of you get over here and fight, or take this idiot and go.”
The doubter dropped his club to the ground, the others doing the same. Jason shook his head.
“How did you idiots collect fifteen essences between you?” Jason asked. He’d heard Rufus and others say the local adventurer standard was low, but he hadn’t really seen it. Most of the iron-rank adventurers he’d seen were Gellers.
“You’d best get this idiot a potion,” Jason said, prodding Dink with his foot. “Oh, and where can I find a tavern called the Townhouse?”
The Townhouse, as it turned out, was the largest building in Cavendish. Once the city residence of the Cavendish family, that time was long past. It had been an inn and tavern for almost two hundred years. Entering through the large doors, Jason arrived in what was a surprisingly well-appointed bar room.
Quality wood was a rare resource in Greenstone, but in the Townhouse it was everywhere. From the polished floor to the wall booths, from the tables and chairs to the long bar. The windows were pristine glass and elaborate chandeliers hung from the high ceiling, the magic crystals bathing the room in warm light. The only place heavily featuring the stone that normally dominated Greenstone construction was the split staircase at the back of the room. Made from dark and expensive green marble, it offered passage to the higher reaches of the building in style.
The patrons were few in the early morning, just a few people quietly enjoying meals alone or in pairs. They were better dressed than the average Old City resident, as was the man behind the bar. He was a member of the runic race, stocky and hairless, with blue-black skin. On his skin were the glowing runes for which his race was named, holes in his outfit designed to show them off. Jason had interacted with his people very little, as they weren’t common to Greenstone.
He was packing away clean glasses in preparation for the evening. He glanced up at Jason, when he walked over.
“Hello, sir,” the barman greeted. “Am I to take it from your attire that you are the adventurer?”
“Jason Asano, at your service. Are you the owner?”
“The owner isn't in right now. She will be grateful for your prompt arrival,” the barman said. “If I may ask, is it Mr Asano, Master Asano or Lord Asano?”
“Stick to Jason and we’ll do just fine.”
“Very good, sir. My name is Farrokh. Allow me to lead you to the other gentleman, who is already in the cellar.”
Farrokh led Jason behind the bar and through a door that led downwards. They arrived at a sprawling cellar. Jason reminisced about the Vane Estate and the cellar where he had once woken up inside a cage. It hadn’t been his best moment, but it was where he first met Rufus, Gary and Farrah. That cellar had been empty, cages aside, while this one contained rows of massive barrels on huge racks. It looked like the storeroom of a whisky distillery.
There was a man already in the cellar, kneeling down near a brick wall. He was peering into a hole, large enough that he could have put his head through it and apparently chewed straight through the masonry. There was a glowing magical barrier inside an arch of runes carved into the wall around the hole.
The man looked up at Jason. He looked around fifty, wearing loose coveralls and a workman’s cap. He had a tool belt, in which Jason could see implements both magical and non-magical in nature. From the outfit, Jason took him as the kind of highly skilled tradesman with training in the magical aspects of his job. His aura revealed no essences; his expertise was wholly in external magic.
Jason's magical knowledge, coming from a skill book, was more extensive than the narrow, specialised training of a such a workman. That said, Jason had no illusions he would be the equal of this tradesman in his specialised field. Jason's magically imbued knowledge might be more comprehensive, but he knew it would pale in comparison to the workman's years of experience. The man introduced himself as Frank.
“I've chased ‘em all back into this hole here, Mr Farrack,” Frank said.
“It’s Farrokh.”
“Sorry about that, Mr Farrack. So once I got ‘em all out, I sealed the hole off. It'll keep ‘em out long enough for Mr Asarno here to do his job. You much of a rat catcher, Mr Asarno?”
“I guess we’ll find out,” Jason said.
The Adventure Society was not normally called in for lesser monsters, which posed a limited threat. Only in large numbers were they a problem that required Adventure Society intervention. In this case, a whole colony of stone-chewer rats had appeared in the tunnels underneath Old City.
“I was told you would provide access to the tunnels?” Jason asked Frank as Farrokh led them upstairs.
“Yeah, but I'll have to leave you down there,” Frank said. “This place isn't the only one with holes in the basement. You're not afraid of the dark are you, Mr Asarno?”
“I’m sure I’ll muddle through.”
Frank led them out of the building and down a side street, to a set of stone stairs in an alleyway that led down below street level to a metal door. Frank unlocked the door, revealing more stairs. Jason followed Frank down into what looked like a sewer tunnel. The ceiling was arched, dark water running down the middle, with walkways on either side. There was a chemical smell, heavy in the wet air. It wasn’t exactly like chlorine, but similar.
“You alright for light?” Frank asked. “I can lend you a glow stone, if that’d help.”
“Wouldn’t the rats run from the light?” Jason asked.
“Oh, you see a lot of critters like this in my kind of work,” Frank said. “My experience has been more of a run-towards situation. They’ll take a nibble out of you if they can, believe me. Your trouble will be the ones hidden away. There’s pipes and crevices aplenty down here. Lots of places to nest that people won’t fit in to.”
“I’m going to let my familiar do the hard work.”
“That’s like a magic pet, yeah?” Frank asked. “Not sure I’d want my dog running around down here. I mean, they clean this water, but there’s clean and there’s clean, you know?”
“My familiar is an apocalypse monster that can scour a world of life,” Jason said absently as he looked around the tunnel. “It isn’t going to be put off by a bit of poo.”
“Sounds fancy,” Frank said. “I don’t much know about apology monsters or whatever, but I suppose the big nobs wouldn’t have sent you if you weren’t up to it. You know, we had an infestation like this not long after I started on the job. Weren’t cleaned out properly, and you know how monsters get after a bit. Streaming out of the street drains, they were, terrorising regular folk. That was some kind of bug instead of rats, but I imagine it’d be much the same. You just be sure and get them all, yeah?”
“I’ll do that, Frank.”
“Right, well, I’ll leave you to it and get on to sealing up these basements. After that, I’ll come back and hang about until you’re ready to go. How long do you reckon you’ll be?”
“That depends on the rats.”
“Fair enough,” Frank said. “Just try not to get lost; these tunnels all look the same. If you ain’t back here come dark, I’ll assume you got lost and come find you.”
Frank closed the door, leaving Jason in the dark, but his vision power was more than up to the task. Taking out a knife, he sliced open his palm, letting leeches pile out of the wound.
Colin wasn't likely to go causing any apocalypses quite yet, but the neophyte life-devourer did have the power to sense out living things, wherever they might be hiding. The sanguine horror wasn't fast, but it was multitudinous, and as Jason followed the main mass, small groups of leeches broke off to head down tunnels and gaps. Jason's quest might not end quickly, but he would root them all out in the end.