Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 16 Psychedelic Mushrooms,

“So what have you learned?” Isaac asked as the trio sat down to watch and wait.

“I take it you just came from my house?” Lenny asked.

Isaac nodded. “Yeah.”

“Nothing my brother didn’t already know.” Lenny explained. “Other than the weirdness I mentioned.”

“Have you been inside?” Isaac questioned.

Lenny shook his head. “No. I’d need some form of invisibility or something.” He replied.

“How good do you think their magical traps and defenses are?” Isaac wondered.

“Good but probably worse than Mr. Nobody’s.” Lenny postulated.

Isaac hummed in thought and then looked at Lenna. “Just tag me first.” Lenna replied to his unspoken question. Isaac flashed her a grin and took her offered hand. Shadows clung to her hand and Isaac rose to his feet.

“I’m going for a walk.” Isaac commented.

“A quiet one I hope.” Lenna replied with a stern look on her face.

Isaac flashed her another grin. “They are only enthusiastic when I’m with you.” He said and blew her a kiss before he vanished.

Lenny blinked a few times and then looked between Lenna and where Isaac had just been. “Uhm, lady boss?” He said.

“Yes?” Lenna replied.

“Is this one a those times I should pretend I didn’t see anythin’?” Lenny questioned.

Lenna nodded. “Yes.” She replied simply. “Now, be ready just in case his walk gets enthusiastic without me.”

—

Isaac strode across the street with total confidence. His Shadowcloak hid him from everything save for the most powerful specialized spells or those with a very specific set of senses. He was confident that this gang didn’t have a literal ghost or a rune master on par with Jala on their payroll. Isaac walked up to the man-door on the side of the building and stepped through it. The door was locked, Isaac could tell based on the bolt that was clearly visible between the door and doorway, but that mattered little to Isaac. His casual step took him five feet forwards to the otherside of the door courtesy of a quick teleport. Once inside he was met by a small entryway and a pair of private-sector guards playing cards. Their swords were in easy reach and their spider-chitin armor looked mildly enchanted and well polished. The black former exoskeleton glistened in the oil lamp and glowstone light. The pair looked trained and were still somewhat alert even though they were halfway through their game of cards.

Isaac casually strode past the pair and walked through the open doorway behind them. Once through he was clearly able to see the operation the gang had been running. To call them a gang had been a bit below the mark. They were a proper crime organization. A dozen people were locked in cages along the one wall. Inside the cages there were cots bolted to the ground and a wool blanket for each person. None of the captives looked malnourished save for one person who looked utterly broken. Isaac could tell that the reason for the man’s malnourishment was his own refusal to eat. Everything seemed to be running well and cleanly. The captives weren’t even stuck living in their own filth like one would expect. It seemed that whoever ran the organization took great care to not lower the value of the merchandise.

“That’s odd.” Isaac said quietly to himself. “When he said that they were free to do anything to their captives this is not what I expected to find.” Isaac continued to walk around and he soon stumbled across a series of small crates with odd looking mushrooms in them. “Cheap drugs and transport/housing of slaves… where is all the real money coming from?” He continued to look around and that is when he found it. Most of the way in the back of the building there was a small walled off section with a door leading inside. Isaac quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching his general direction before he teleported to the otherside of the door. Once inside he almost tripped from the uneven footing. He stood at the top of a stairwell that had a switchback only a dozen steps in.

Isaac carefully moved down the stairwell. He was almost at the switchback when he heard two people walking up the stairs in his direction. “… all’s I’m sayin’ is we gotta finda way outta the ci’y ‘’fore Ducan blows ‘is lid. Damn scary that ‘un.” Isaac heard one of them say to the other. The pair of gang members were hilariously unevenly proportioned. The one that had spoken was a tall and lithe human who looked to be in his forties and was missing a few teeth. The man reeked of unbrushed teeth and unwashed armpits. His compatriot was a stout dwarf who was so fat he hardly fit beside the tall human. The dwarf looked like someone tried to make a man shaped dumpling and then wrapped it in an old ill fitted suit and dunked its head in a barrel of grease.

“Well, figure it out. That is your job after all.” The dwarf said to the human. Isaac had to take a flying leap over the head of the dwarf so the pair wouldn’t walk directly into him but neither of the pair seemed to notice.

“W’at you mean it’s me job?” The human questioned. “Ain’t you always goin’ on ‘bout ‘ow yer the thinkin’ man?” The pair then stopped just inside the door to the main warehouse.

“Listen, Bert, if we do not use our heads and collectively find a way out of the city, Duncan is going to be the least of our problems. Cells three, seven, and nine through fourteen have all been sold already and the clients are not people to be messed with.” The dwarf explained. “Now, help me find a way past Arbencroft’s lackeys.” He finished and then opened the door. The pair continued out and soon closed the door behind them.

“Well, that was informative.” Isaac commented to himself and then continued down the rest of the way into the basement. The area smelled like moist dirt and sewage. Once Isaac was through the doorway at the bottom he understood why. Rows upon rows of planters were set up under illusory sunlight. There was even an Ocean in a Bottle set up so it would steadily pour water into an open pipe. The pipe split off into twenty other ones that each led to the end of their respective rows of planters. Each of the side pipes had small holes poked in them at regular intervals to spread the water across the entire underground farm. Inside each of the planters was a collection of discarded rubbish from potato peels to human feces. A few of the planters had mushrooms sprouting up out their tops.

“They aren’t just shipping the drugs, they are growing them in the basement.” Isaac said as the organization’s large amount of money started to make sense. Isaac took a deep breath and turned to leave. “Well, I think that answers all of my questions that the warehouse can answer.” Isaac commented and started walking back up the stairs to leave. “Now, who is Duncan?” He wondered aloud to himself.

—

“That was fun.” Isaac commented as he appeared behind Lenna and Lenny who were still peeking out of the broken window.

“What did you find out, boss?” Lenny asked without missing a beat.

“A bit.” Isaac began and then filled the pair in on everything he had seen and overheard.

“Duncan is the name of the big boss that runs all of the warehouses.” Lenny explained. “He’s a little taller than me, rogue-wizard hybrid as far as I know. He’s not great at either but how do you fight somebody who keeps messin’ with your head while trying to stab you?”

“James said that I can’t just remove him.” Isaac commented. “Usually I would argue but the captives seem well cared for. As much as I believe that everyone deserves their freedom I don’t think breaking them out right now is the best option we have at our disposal.”

“Oh? What’re you thinkin’, boss?” Lenny questioned.

“I’ll have to talk to Izen.” Isaac began and Lenny’s eyes got a little wider. “If we can orchestrate an opportunity for them to ship out the slaves then catch them at the dwarven fortress we can get the most out of this.”

“How so?” Lenny asked.

“By killing their reputation without killing the man responsible for holding the slums together.” Lenna explained to the rogue-warrior.

“Exactly.” Isaac replied. “If we can pull something like that off then Duncan’s clients will be breathing down his neck and want their money back. The hit should make him a bit more careful and with a little luck he’ll drop the high risk business of dealing with slaves and stick to selling and shipping psychedelic mushrooms, like a normal person.”

“A normal person?” Lenna asked evenly.

“Yes.” Isaac replied simply. “I’d never do it but I can understand why some people would want to throw their useless lives away into an out of this world dream.”

“So, what do you want me to do, boss?” Lenny asked, cutting into the duo’s odd argument.

“Just keep an eye on them and see if anything else weird stands out. I want to know where the boss is and why those captives you saw earlier were so cooperative.” Isaac ordered. “Just make sure to stay out of sight. Maybe if you do this job well enough we can come up with a good moniker for you.”

“Like what?” Lenny asked.

Isaac shrugged. “Ghost? James said that some of the guys down there think they are being haunted by a ghost but we know it’s just you.” Isaac explained. “Ghost might stick.”

“What about Phantom?” Lenny asked.

Isaac chuckled and shook his head. “We can figure it out once this is over and we have a way to conceal your identity. For now, just keep watching and keeping a low profile. I’ll go talk to Izen and Tim about the plan.” He explained. “Lenna, why don’t you swing by Stan’s to see if your armor is ready?”

Lenna looked down at her hand that was still covered in shadows. “I’ll grab some more throwing spikes if he has them as well.” She said. “I’ll see if the Tanner’s have a leather vest or something for you too since I’ll be close by.”

Isaac sighed. “Fine. But don’t spend too much on something that isn’t going to survive the afternoon.”

“It had better last longer than that. You need to stop taking hits directly.” She chastised him.

“I rarely take direct hits.” Isaac countered. “It’s just when I do it gets messy.” He added quickly and quietly.

“Well, stop getting hit.” She told him and Isaac scoffed.

“How am I supposed to do that?” He asked with exaggerated wonder. Lenna almost smacked him.

“You are the Lord of Darkness, you figure it out.” She retorted. “Now let’s get going before Lenny loses all respect for you.”

Isaac slowly turned to look at Lenny who was very pointedly not looking in his direction. “Lenny?” Isaac spoke.

“Huh? Yes, boss?” Lenny asked as if he hadn’t been listening.

“You never heard anything.” Isaac said casually.

“Right, boss, ears stopped workin’ for a bit there. Back to normal now though, don’t know what happened.” Lenny said with a nod.

Isaac sighed. “Keep up the good work, kid, and stay out of trouble.” He told his young friend.

Lenny gave Isaac a quick salute. “Will do boss.”