“It all started about a week ago, just after Jim sent the request with the last caravan to Chicago.”

It’s about five minutes later, and with the exception of Erin and a few of the locals who are scouting, keeping an eye out for the Fishmen, we all went inside the house.

“My name’s Paul,” the middle aged man who introduced himself to us earlier says, “I was one of the Village Council Members, and the one who pushed for us to get Adventurers down here the hardest. Our little Guild House had only three, and none of them knew what was going on. They supported me.”

“But then about a day after the caravan left, things started happening. We were using the houses between the Big Bass Lake and Holiday Lake as our community center, because it was more easily defended, but we didn’t account for an enemy coming out of the water. Those Fishmen, they started swarming out of Holiday Lake, attacking people.”

I nod. It’s a goblin tactic, find a way to surprise your opponent, raid them for slaves and food. Though for goblins, and probably the Fishmen, those are the same things.

“Anyway, I managed to get some of the townsfolk together and we managed to get the Ferry. We lost a few more getting the Ferry across the lake to the southern shore, the shortest route, but then…”

“Then the monster got the boat as a few of the men tried to take it back to get more people.” Says one of the women in the room. “Big sucker, looked like some kind of giant fish. He just came up and ate a section of the boat. The only good news we had was that the fishmen apparently weren’t with the big fish, as they started panicking and left once the thing showed up.”

“So,” John says, “The only good news out of all this is that the two sides aren’t working together. The bad news is that this community is fucked.”

Everyone around the room looks down, emotional because what he’s said is true, though they don’t like it.

“John,” I say, “We might have a solution, but it’s going to be, well, risky.”

*****

At this point, I think John wants to stab me. At the very least, he isn’t happy about this.

We’re at Holiday Lake, the lake that the Fishmen came out of. We’re fairly sure that this side has a village of some kind in it, as that’s the only reason we can think of for the Fishmen to come out of it. This is supported by the fact that during the couple of hours we’ve been here, we’ve already seen three different groups of Fishmen come out of the lake, and one go into it.

“You’re sure about this?” John asks me again.

“Positive. The scarabs can be underwater, as long as they start underwater. It’s magic, it doesn’t care about air or anything like that.”

Our current plan is using one of my Blood Scarab spells on a Fishman while underwater. The Blood scarabs will proceed to decimate the Fishmen village, and then the remaining town folk and us will kill the other groups of Fishmen that attempt to head back to their village, or to come out of the lake.

The added bonus being if the scarabs can catch the bigger fish monster as well, then they might eat it too. The risk with this plan is twofold though. First we’ve got to hit a fishman with it, while they are still deep underwater, and two, the person who “throws” it needs to get out quickly. That’s because with the water as a conduit, I don’t know if the scarabs will stick to only monsters, or if they’ll just go after everyone or thing in the water.

If it does eat everything, this entire body of water, which thankfully is completely closed off from any rivers, will be clear within thirty minutes of anything with blood. If it doesn’t, or if it only focuses on monsters or something like that, we might have bigger issues, and I might have to pull out a second one.

John wades into the lake. He’s got a piece of magic equipment his sister bought for him a year ago, an Air Mask. It acts like a thirty minute scuba tank, but it is based on magic, and only covers his head. He took a pair of my bone harpoons with him. Neither have any spells on them, but they will at least give him a partial advantage once he’s down there.

We wait ten minutes, before we see John again. And when he comes out of the water, he’s still about twenty feet out from the shore. But several things happen at once. First, we see the wake of something big, heading for John from his left. Then we see the strange red glow coming out of the water behind him. As soon as he gets the mask off his face and starts swimming for shore he’s also shouting.

“Start firing. I’ve got about twenty of the little bastards chasing me, and they are NOT happy!!!”

So we start firing. The townsfolk are spread out, and I use a specially crafted femur to launch a shower of sparks up into the air. As everyone sees the sparks, they’ll start killing fishmen.

As John gets onto the shore, the fish tries to get him. And it’s BIG. I hear Alyssa mutter, “Giant Large mouthed Bass. High Class E monster.”

Jessie starts singing, and we can hear the music start playing as she sings, “Living Easy, Living Free, Season ticket on a one way ride. Asking nothing, leave me be…” she continues, and all of us actually recognize it. It sets the mode for us, and we can feel the magic strengthen us.

Oro and Argentum take this moment to contribute, howling as she breaks into the chorus, before ripping back into the Fishmen who are trying to get out of the water.

And that’s when the blood scarabs catch up. And it is way more effective than I thought it would be. All of us quickly back up out of the water, as we watch several fish men just disappear in an explosion of red beetles, and gore. Jessie is still singing, as she turned around from the lake to deal with the first of the groups returning to the lake.

But then I think a bit more, and shoot up the sparks to signal a retreat.

“What’s going on?” Alyssa asks me.

“Those scarabs are going to be able to survive as long as there is blood in the water. So let all the fish men groups get back into the water, and our problem is taken care of, we don’t have to actually do anything.”

She nods, and spreads the word around, as we retreat. The Fish men are more concerned about what’s going on in the lake anyway, and none of them question why the lake has turned blood red.

Even the massive fish, though it took a while, was killed by that spell. I watch as it comes up, belly first, and still twitching, but clearly dead.

This is why I don’t like using this spell.

Several of the civilians are sitting off to one side as we watch the lake get cleansed in a unique red tide. The scarabs leave nothing, except the bones.

Erin looks at me and says, “You shouldn’t tell people that you have a spell that can do this. This would scare the shit out of most, and have others say you’re a weapon of mass destruction.

I nod my head, “Even I didn’t think it would be this effective.”

*****

We take a day to recuperate after the battle. If we could even call it that. We only fought for maybe twenty minutes while the spell caught up to the fish men who had chased John.

The survivors of the Lakes all took a vote, and have decided to head for Gary Indiana. They’ll make it by noonish walking there, and at least the Prince has an outpost there, so he can help them figure out where to relocate. None of them want to stay here, and they at least have renamed the lake.

Blood Lake. Kind of fits now that I think about it, but I know for me it will always be a reminder of exactly what magic can do if you just let it go.

We manage to restock on our supplies out of what the villagers had, paying them for what they give us. Mostly food, and some of the remaining fresh water that they had.

One thing we do notice however, is that there are clearly some people who don’t want us to do as we plan.

As its Johns turn to cook, the rest of us were in other parts of the camp getting our stuff together to leave when the first idiot shows up.

It’s the same jerk off that was leering at us earlier, or I guess that would be leering at the girls. You’d think that, even though we’ve been dealing with this situation for seven years, people would still realize that some women are simply better than they are.

The guy approaches Jessie first, as she’s taking care gathering some more supplies. She doesn’t immediately notice the guy because she’s also trying to focus on gathering death energy. Yeah, I gave people homework, but I already noticed this guy as he was walking over. I’m just there to make sure she doesn’t kill him in my opinion.

“Sweetheart,” the idiot says, “Why don’t you give this adventuring crap up and come with us? We’ll be going to the city, and I’m sure the Prince will need strong men like myself.”

Now, what I didn’t expect is Jessie laughing at him.

As she calms down a bit, “Let’s get some things straight, you piece of donkey shit. I am not your sweetheart, and if you call me that again, you might not be leaving here with you manhood. You will address me as Miss Jessie, or Ma’am. And if you think I’m going back to Chicago, when I’m out on a mission already, you’d better get your head checked at one of the Temples in Chicago before you seriously get yourself hurt.”

The guy huffs a bit, and then says, “Yeah right bitch, you just…” That’s as far as he gets because suddenly Erin is behind him with her short katana like sword at his throat.

“I suggest you keep on moving, putain d'idiot. We’ve had enough of you today.”

I’m struggling to keep from laughing at this point, because I’m pretty sure Erin just called him a fucking idiot, and the guy looks to have pissed himself.

“Erin, don’t kill him please. That would give us problems we don’t need yet. If you do have to, at least throw his body in the lake. I don’t think anybody would be surprised if this asshole accidentally walked in, and I imagine the Blood Scarabs might still be around.” I know they aren’t but still, it’s the thought that counts.

He takes off running, I’m sure to complain to someone else in the community before they leave, and I shrug. Jessie looks at me, slightly askance.

“I was here to make sure you didn’t kill him. That would have been bad, not just for the community relations thing, but with all of you gathering death energy, it’s better if you all start with older deaths. Fresh Death can sometimes be addicting. Apparently that’s how we got several serial killers in the past.”

Jessie and Erin suddenly look more thoughtful, and Erin nods her head at me, “Thanks, wouldn’t want to catch something from that enculé.”

“What’s that?”

“Enculé? It’s French for fucker.”

*****

We weren’t bothered for the rest of the night, though the next morning, Paul and a young man, still a boy really, came forward.

As they do, I get a “call” from Anubis. More of a shout really.

“TAKE HIM WITH YOU!”

I wince, holding a hand to my head. The entire group notices, especially as I mutter, “Tone it down will you? About took my head off.”

Naturally I don’t get a response.

Paul steps up, “Listen, first I want to apologize.” Apparently he either isn’t going to ask about my sudden headache, or he didn’t notice. Either way I’m not going to complain.

“Richard,” he continues, “can live up to his nickname sometimes, and we are grateful that you didn’t kill him or anything. He’s a dick, but he’s at least a good shot with that bow of his.”

John chuckles, “With a name like Richard, he should really be careful of his image. Don’t want everyone calling him Dick now do we?”

That gets a laugh out of all of us, except the kid, who’s just looking slightly rebellious.

“The other thing I’d like to ask is about Eddy here.” He pats the boy on the back.

“It’s Edward,” the boy mumbles.

“Edward,” Paul stresses this time, “Has some kind of magic that no one has seen before. At least not here. And I recall you mentioning that your group is heading towards Indianapolis.” He waves his hands about for a moment.

“I don’t particularly care what you’re doing down that way, especially since you all came along and basically saved our asses. But I do ask that you take him with you. He’s got family down that way, and hopefully someone down there that can take care of him. We’d bring him with us, but well… he’s been to much trouble to too many people here. No one wants to take him. I would, but the missus would kill me.”

I nod. “We’ll take him.” I look at the young man in question. He’s at that awkward age. The age where he’s just hit puberty, he’s still growing, and he is clearly trying to figure out what he’s doing with his life.

Paul steps a little closer, as Jessie and Alyssa pull Edward off to the side, figuring out what he’s bringing with him.

“The boy’s mom was one of those who died or was captured by the Fish Men. Boy says she was killed, but those Fishmen eat the bodies, so we don’t know exactly what happened. Either way, his grandparents near Indianapolis are the only people I know of that might be able to take care of him.”

I nod, “We’ll at the very least see him there. Might teach him some things along the way as well. We’ve still got another mission in Wheatfield before we head to Indianapolis as well, so you never know what will happen.”

He nods again, offering his hand, “Thank you sir,” he says to me as we shake.

“Nothing for it,” I reply, “We’re adventurers.”