"What happened to him?" Morris asked gravely. He was trying hard not to be sick, but the scent of charred meat was filling the air.
"That's what we were hoping you could tell us. Far as we know, he got stabbed in the gut during a fight. Nasty injury, but nothing that should have been fatal. Few minutes later, however, the wound burst into flame. The fire continued to spread until he died, and for a while afterwards." Adrian answered succinctly.
Morris's old curiosity surfaced. He had an idea about the origin of the man's curious death, but wasn't sure as of yet. "Did anyone try to douse or smother the flames?"
"They did, but no amount of water or dirt was able to halt the spread."
"Who stabbed him?"
Adrian glance around the room. "That's the thing, we aren't too sure of their identity."
"What do you mean?"
"Few months ago, some of the minor gangs started having trouble with a strangers intruding on their territories. At first they seemed to be probing their defenses, but soon they were tearing through the Wyrport underworld like a rat through cheese."
Adrian walked over to the table and replaced the sheet, evidently sick of looking at the devastated corpse. "In about a week, they owned half the city, and had the major gangs on the run, The Grey included. There was an alliance of sorts, more out of necessity than anything else, which led to major battle down near the docks. The gangs of Wyrport against the intruders."
Morris waited patiently for his old mentor to finish.
Adrian looked down at his hands, seeming to age significantly. "We lost. Badly."
"Why?"
The old man looked up for a second, then back down at his hands. "Honestly? We were outmatched. No one wanted to believe it, but the intruders were stronger than us in almost every way possible."
"So, better organized? Better equipped? Better trained?"
"Oh, that was a part of it too, but the true fact of the matter was those intruders.....well they weren't human, or even really humanoid. At least not anymore." He shuddered slightly.
"Sure, they looked like people. They stood on two legs, wore clothes, carried weapons, but that was about it. Their foot soldiers fought like demons, with no care for their own lives. They didn't seem to feel pain or remorse. It usually took more than five of us to take down one of them, and even then it was a close thing."
Lorik broke in. "We're lucky there weren't too many of them at the time. Like Adrian says, we lost, but we hurt them in the process. Whatever their aim was, they stopped expanding after the fight, and the Dark Guilds were left to lick their wounds and try to rebuild."
Julia sniffed dismissively, before settling down on a nearby crate. "Don't call them something like Dark Guilds, they don't deserve the title."
"Did you try to go to the authorities?" Morris couldn't help but ask.
A derisive sneer emanated from Julia. "Do you think we didn't try? When the fighting reached the point of involving civilians, we tried to go to the guards for help, but they didn't want any part of it. I don't know if they were being paid off or just cowards, but we've gotten no help from any official corner since the intruders started attacking."
"I see…" Morris found it hard to believe that people like his father had no idea that something like this was going on. He had a sudden, almost nonsensical thought, that what was happening here was tied to his brothers' deaths, somehow. There was no reason for him to suspect a connection, but for some reason the idea was hard to shake.
Lorik continued. "We've had something like peace for the last couple months, but that seems to be coming to an end. They're up to something, but we haven't been able to figure out what."
Adrian took over the conversation again. "Whatever happened last night has them buzzing with activity. We've been watching them, and it's been nothing but silence for weeks, but all of a sudden they're moving goods and people all over the place. They've also gotten more violent in the defense of their territory."
"You mean…." Morris gestured meaningfully towards the corpse on the table.
Adrian nodded, "He was part of a crew of three that were tasked with watching a particular warehouse near the docks. They were jumped right after shift change. He was the only one to survive…..at least at first."
Morris nodded already lost in thought. The eidetic techniques he had learned at Bardic College were effective, but required a fair amount of concentration to make use of.
"This man was poisoned."
The other three people in the room looked at him incredulously.
"So, our guy burned alive from the inside because of poison?" Julia asked sarcastically.
"Exactly. I suspect that the blade used to inflict the initial injury was specially designed to deliver a rare kind of poison."
"Oh?" Adrian asked, intrigued. He had seen Morris acting like this before, and it had always led to new insights. That analytical mind of his had often saved members of the Grey from the law or rival gangs.
"Have you ever heard of the Inferno Wasp?" Morris asked without expecting a real answer. "They are a nasty species of semi-elemental insects that are known for their deadly poison delivered by sting. Victims are literal roasted from the inside out as the venom ignites the body's tissues while spreading through the bloodstream. The resulting flames are suspected to be supernatural, and cannot be halted by ordinary water."
"That sounds like the culprit." Adrian said with a weary smile.
"The problem is that it's pretty hard to get a hold of Inferno Wasp venom, and even harder to handle, since it will ignite after coming in contact with the air. Even when harvested properly, the venom will lose its potency quickly. The shelf-life is generally held to be 2-3 months depending on environmental conditions. This can increase to 6 months if vacuum sealed. Since the creatures can only be found in two specific locations, we can further narrow down their identity."
Morris was now pacing back and forth slowly, a look of intense concentration on his face, muttering almost to himself.
By this point Julia and Lorik were watching the spectacle with slightly open mouths. Adrian was grinning. It was good to see Morris back in action.
"The Inferno Wasp can be considered an invasive species to this realm, but can only survive briefly outside of intensely hot environments. Barring the use of high level Space Magic, this leaves one possibility on this plane. The Lava Fields across the sea to the southwest. However, this would create rather extensive logistical issues in terms of both storage and transport. Unless this organization is making use of this particular poison for ideological reasons, it's prudent to believe that they have a more convenient source."
"And what would that be?" Adrian prompted a little further information.
"Inferno Wasps are native to Vilkoloz, fifth sphere of Unadari, and one of the outer realms controlled by the Demon Lords. A powerful enough summoner could, in theory, provide an organization with a virtually limitless supply of the poison, but that would likely be a waste of resources. Its much more likely that your phantom organization has access to a semi-permanent connection to one of the outer realms."
"So what does all that mean for us?" Adrian asked apprehensively.
Morris looked up, exhaustion creeping into his expression. "It means that your enemy is a demon cult, they have the means to flood this city with demons and outer planar monsters, and they're very close to achieving what they want."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because they have already stopped trying to hide what they are. Only someone confident in their victory would leave so obvious of a clue about their identity."
[Obvious to you maybe.] Adrian couldn't help but think.
At that moment there was a commotion at the door. A young man dressed in the grey clothes of the gang burst into the room. "Adrian! They're moving. The intruders are attacking."
"Julia, get a message to the rest of the Dark Guilds, we'll need everyone to resist what's coming! Lorik, open the armory and start equipping the men." Adrian immediately started issuing orders.
"Now Justin, where are they attacking? How many?"
"That's just it." The young man said. "It's not just us, they are attacking the entire city! And it's not just the intruders. They've brought monsters into the city. They're…they're killing everyone."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
When it became obvious that Morris would be out until late, Mike decided to head back to the Guild to scan potential requests. He expected that any path he chose to become stronger and more educated about the world at large would require money, and lots of it. While requests of his current level didn't pay very well, at the very least he could start building towards the next rank.
He briefly debated trying to flee the country. After all he didn't know how the vampire organization had found him, but he suspected that several hundred kilometers and a few oceans help prevent further encounters. However, he suspected that any group that had access to a mid-Tier 4 fighter likely had international influence.
Lacking a better option, he needed to either find a powerful patron, who could shield him from the machinations of the vampires, or become strong enough to protect himself. Moving to another country would only delay both options for him.
Besides he wanted to talk with Morris before making any big decisions. His friend always seemed to have some good advice to offer when Mike was making a decision.
While he walked towards the Guild, he absently tried to practice his Air Magic, creating small gusts of wind around the street. He still remembered the feeling of flying during the activation of that Hidden Skill, and he longed to recreate it under his own power, but his Tier 1 capabilities allowed for nowhere near the level of fine control necessary to achieve flight. The best he could manage was to fling himself in a direction with a sudden gust, and hope he didn't land on anything too pointy.
He was so focused on his practice that he almost didn't notice a strange reaction from his Detect Hostile Intent skill.
It didn't quite seem like the kind of reaction he would receive from a true enemy, and indeed felt kind of mingled with a sort of feeling he'd usually gotten from his friends and close acquaintances when the skill triggered.
He stopped and started scanning for this 'frenemy' of his, and met the gaze of a familiar dog beastman.
Brenden marched up to him with another of his feral grins, pointed a finger at Mike's face, and proclaimed. "Michael Rasmussen. I challenge you to a duel!"
Mike could only look at the other man in confusion. "Why?"
This seemed to take the wind out of the beastman's sails. He clearly hadn't planned on his motivations being questioned. "Well…I…uh. It's…uh…to see who's stronger of course."
"Pass." Mike started walking around Brenden.
"Wait! Wait, you can't just say no!" He exclaimed after jumping in front of Mike again.
"Why not?"
"Because…..because that's not the way it's supposed to work."
Mike felt like this was going to be a headache any way he went about it.
"Fine. Let's just get this over with.