Chapter 19
A three-person team from the governing body came to write up a report on what Aurelius and his companion have uncovered thus far. Wrapping up one of the missing person cases allowed them to collect the reward that was posted, but the greater investigation was still underway.
Aurelius having to fill out paperwork winds up taking quite a bit of time, though luckily they are able to turn the zombie over to the three investigators and allow them to work with the family to decide the fate of the zombified woman.
Aurelius and the Barrghest find that the lights in the city have dimmed quite a bit by the time they wrap up, and evening has come.
"What now?" The Barrghest says aloud.
"We go and investigate the missing noble. From what I can see, whatever is hunting people has made their way through the city in a clockwise fashion. Starting with the black market district, then the slums .. twice, the market district, and the noble district. They are either going to strike at the nobles once again or the black market. So we head there and see what we can find." Aurelius explains. "I hadn't noticed that the telepathic link has worn off. What did you think of that little bit of magic?"
"It is quite the useful magic, not something that I am innately blessed with, unfortunately." The Barrghest replies as the pair begin their trek towards one of their destinations. Their travel takes them towards the noble district. It becomes quickly apparent that there are guards roaming around much more frequently, and even some of the manor have their own personal mercenaries providing protection.
"Seeing as how it is becoming night, what do you think about patroling from the sky?" The Barrghest asks Aurelius as the pair pass by an older mansion that seems to be vacant at the moment.
"Not a bad idea. I can use a pair of my goggles and we both seem to have the ability to remain aloft. Let us take flight once night fully descends on the city." Aurelius comments, keeping in mind that his use of magic was extremely limited if he wanted to prevent the curse from spreading and eating him alive.
Soon enough, night falls and the pair vanishes from sight.
The Barrghest cloaks them in his sphere of invisibility and levitates upwards. Aurelius maintains a slow enough speed as to not break out of the sphere provided by the barrghest. They ascend a few hundred feet before coming to a stop and beginning to move through the center of the noble district circular in reference to the citadel bunkered down in the central sphere.
From this height, the barrghest can see clearly into the central citadel. The walls stand a good two hundred meters in the air, crafted from the finest and sharpest stone. The stone itself shimmers with magic, though it is too far to determine what kind of magic enchants the owner might have implemented.
Structurally speaking, the walls seem to be laid out in a star-shaped pattern, allowing the points to jut out just enough to provide a strategic benefit in any dared assault to the citadel. At the center of the citadel, a large tower sticks up high into the air, which could easily be used to house siege weapons, or possibly magic of some kind. The Barrghest could only guess at this point and is quite impressed with the construction and amount of magic surrounding the citadel.
"So long as we stay at least two hundred feet away from the citadel and any structure, we should be undetectable from this height. This will play to our benefit, as my goggles have twice the normal range that most mages can manage on their own." Aurelius explains.
The pair hover over the city, floating from the noble, through the black market, and into the slums before something catches Aurelius' eye. A cloud of fog suddenly appears down in the streets, spreading out a few dozen feet and then stopping, as if they had been magically created.
"Bingo. We will need to move fast. I'll move in to disperse the mist and you drop down on whatever has been hunting." Aurelius explains as he dashes towards the cloud of fog. The Barrghest unleashes his innate magic to enlarge his form and enhance his strength before beginning to shimmer in and out of this plane of existence with another ability. He then teleports a good hundred feet over top of where the cloud of fog rests.
It takes Aurelius only moments to arrive and touch down into the cloud of fog. Almost immediately he calls aloud, activating the magic held within his slippers. "Gale!" and upon speaking the magic unleashes a gust of wind rolls off him and pushes all of the fog a good twenty meters away.
Standing at the center of the cloud is a large semi-transparent humanoid creature that seems to be wrapped in soggy burial clothes. Long claws extend from each hand, and the lower portion of the creature fades away into misty wisps. Next to the creature is a young man whose eyes are glazed over in a daze. He is crumpled over on the ground and immobile.
With its fog dispersed, the creature turns around to see what has interrupted its feeding, laying its eyes on Aurelius and bearing the brunt of his gale spell well enough.
Aurelius scoffs at his luck, the creature standing nearly twice his size and unaffected by the wind, at the very least they have now identified the appearance of the creature they are dealing with. It would only take him a quick reference to his times to determine the exact creature that this is, but in the meantime they would have to hold it off if not vanquish it here and now.
Before the creature can make a move against Aurelius, The Barrghest drops from the sky and crashes down on top of it with the force of a rocket. The barrghests claws tear into the creature wounding it, but only so much. Its form gaseous and insubstantial shifts away, dispersing the majority of the damage. Even so, the creature screeches out in fury of being wounded.
The gaseous creature forms claws as its form wraps around the barrghest and attempts to tear into his skin. The innate flickering causes the strike to miss its mark, and the Barrghest follows up by vaulting a good twenty feet up into the air before unleashing a cone of freezing cold on his adversary.
The misty creature takes off in pursuit, flowing through the air as a cloud of gaseous mist. The mist crashes around the barrghest, claws form and tear into his skin causing damage. The wound causes the barrghest to become overcome with grief and sadness. His inner strength allows him to shrug off the majority of the effect but he can now tell that his mental faculties have been damaged by this creature.
While the barrghest is fighting in the air, Aurelius notices that something is digging itself out of the ground beneath the spot where the man has been reduced to a catatonic state. A creature emerges from the ground only to find itself restrained by Aurelius' gloves, and entrapped in a completely spherical hand of force.
Inside the sphere rolls a humanoid creature with blackish-grey scales covering its semi-reptilian body. Its form is oozing mucus, and it snaps at the invisible cage of force with a mouth full of sharp fangs.
"That should hold you for awhile, now lets make sure that our dear friend barrghest is not having that rough a time." Aurelius says, says quietly to himself as the gale disperses and readies again in case the gaseous creature decided to unleash another fog.
The barrghest drops to the ground and out of the creatures reach, then unleashes a line of electricity through the space it is currently floating. The elemental damage from the breath weapons seem to be taking a toll as the creature roars out in pain and drops after the barrghest, aiming to put an end to the massive four legged cretin that interrupted its feeding.
The ice paired with the electricity causes just the right amount of delay in the creatures reaction time. By the time it reaches the ground to lash out at the barrghest, he manages to teleport a short distance away. He appears on top of a nearby building and out of the gaseous creatures sight.
The gaseous ones attention turns to Aurelius, as he is now the closer foe, and it begins charging at him.
"Bad move." Aurelius shakes his head and raises his other hand, and glove, causing a large hand of force to propel the creature back a good twenty feet in the direction of the barrghest. Before it has a chance to circumnavigate the force in front of it, a cone of frost and electricity comes forth from the barrghest and strikes the creature dead center, ending its life.