As his familiar made her way out of the building Albie had seen new shrapnel guns in the hands of the orange coats. Whoever the man in glasses was he had gotten a workshop running somewhere in the city. He was clearly a skilled and talented man who could not be left alone any longer. Him and his team were good at what they did, and it would be a useful thing to have those skills. If he caught a few he might be able to practice his trapping working brains in jars. Having their knowledge on hand would be useful. The rats had stolen two of those guns last night. In the hands of a dead man or even a rat's claws. The orange coats liked to fire in lines if possible. They were as good a target as his mass of dead men.
He would make tracking them down a priority tonight. They likely had guards, but it was probably possible to pick one off. The lurkers and the ash wraith could do that. Scab was going to sort the bodies in the old temple to find the most complete bodies to be maid into wights. It would be a week before the moon was powerful enough to make new wights but once created they could raise the howl city. His new spiders were crawling to the gates. They would secure the gate houses and set their webs just outside the gates. Any deserter that tried to flee from tomorrow on will have missed their chance.
The only moonlight he would be able to channel was the light stored in his moon stones. The new moon was going to be a detriment to him for the next four days. He would have to limit his experiments and switch to watching and planning.
His objectives for the next four days would be to find out where the captains slept. The Sergeant of Arms lived in in the old bank with most of his men. The Knight commander, the Calvary bastard, the engineer, and Lord Brand all had to sleep some place. He would have them found. He also needed to stalk up on materials. The thing he needed most was life force he could use to stave off the liquid unlife and the pull to join Cat on the other side. He had a small cash waiting for use downstairs, but it would not likely last. He might also want some new rats. Sculpting Life had declared the excessive breading from only one line of animals could lead to defects.
Even if bags bread with a different male each time the family would be to small. Birth defects would likely form in just a few generations. It would take a lot of his energy to build an army of rats. He had not expected bags to learn to talk. Her children were young but clever for their age. They understood him when he talked. They might yet learn to speak. They might be able to learn muskets. If they could learn that they might be able to learn other thing. They might even prove the equal of humanity. It was an interesting line of research less damaging to the cycle in his mind than the dead.
Perhaps he should try experimenting with other creatures. If he modified a smarter creature like a pig or a raven what might they be able to do. He had already brought Scab into this world. Could it really hurt to sire more intelligent creatures? The more thinking creatures that entered his service the less he needed to control directly.
They would be added to his list. the spiders might be able to catch some birds. Perhaps a few pigs were loose in the city. He had heard dogs barking in the streets if the city's pigs weren't all slaughtered for meat, he might be able to find a few.
I will also need to distract Brand. If he's going to burn down the city to find me its best he start on the other side.
"Scab," thought the mage trying to reach his first born through their link.
"Yes father?" responded the mind from beyond.
"Raise some weaker dead and have them roam the far parts of the city," ordered the mage. "Raise enough to keep Brand and the orange coats trouble. We don't need an assault force just a distraction."
"Keep the orange coats looking for us in city blocks we don't need," confirmed the dead man.
"Yes," responded the mage. "The new moon puts us at a disadvantage for the next few nights. We won't be able to build anything that could truly hurt brand. We will spend the next four nights collecting materials. I might have a use for living pigs if you can find them."
"As you say father," affirmed the dead man.
The link between the two went silent. Albie walked to under the hospital focusing light. The night was dark with no moon, but the mage could see the spiders and bees crawling over the hospital. The spiders where laying eggs in webs while the bees filled rooms with hives. The place was becoming wilder every day. Instead of the corpses that lined the halls before it was now spiderweb and honeycomb.
The mage felt the unlife squirm in his stomach and lungs. He coughed a lump of the writhing black mucus onto the floor. It crawled for a moment before exhausting itself and going inert. The spiders and bees avoided the spot by a foot.