Chapter 12 - Sniffing out the undead.

Aside of the information we got from Gwyn ap Nudd we also got a promise of help to raid the vampire nest once we found it. It was past noon when we left the sidhe lord dwelling, in other words, we had little more then 6 hours until dark. And unless we could find the junkies nest before that, they would strike again. They can’t resist their hunger.

“We should inform the higher ups.” Detective West said as we walked the streets of the magical district. Indeed, if we failed to find the nest before nightfall, we will have to meet the vampires at the streets.

“Your right detective.” I answer her. “But the guard can’t handle this, and your usual channels for backup won’t be fast enough and with magic being short due to the storm they won’t want to deploy the big guns.”

“What about you captain, you are friends with the Sidhe, can’t you request help?” I can’t help but snort at Hendrickson question. Friend with the sidhe? Detective, I got a bridge to sell you, it even comes troll free.

“Pyralis, what you think of the situation so far? Any ideas who we could ask for help?” I ask the only Sidhe in presence. “Are you asking for my help solving the case Wizard? That is outside our agreement.” “Come on Lis, this fall inside your duty to the forces.” I answer her. “Ah Wizard, but it doesn't. You are the appointed representative to the guard, I’m here as a personal favor to you, bought and paid, to how do you said, guard your back? To offer such insight on how to solve this problem is not part of the deal. This kind of information cannot be given for free.”

I turn to Hendrickson “See detective? She is the actually the sidhe I trust the most, and she still try to fleece me for favors anytime she smells blood on the water, there is no friends with the sidhe.”

“So what do we do captain?” Good question, if it wasn’t for this damn storm, there would be enough free resources to deploy a battalion of sidhe guard and knights to protect the district against the junkies, but as it is, no court noble would risk their military for the citizens of net town, without powerful magic backing them up. They are more likely to weather one more night of deaths and deploy bigger resources to safely search for the nest the next day.

An idea hits me as we walk towards the intersection of the two main roads of the district, where our transport is located. “Here is what we are going to do detectives”.

After the detectives left the district Pyralis and I started digging for the nest location. The enclave territory not covered by the town or the courts was big enough that we couldn’t hope to search it before nightfall, not to mention that there are lot of places in it where space is bent, making it even bigger. Even limiting the search to the spots closer to the wall would be hard. And trying to track the vampires by their magical signature is not an option on the magical district, too much ambient magic to get a good reading, maybe a master diviner could, but no way I had enough time to get one here.

But if I could find the trace outside the walls we could follow it to their lairs. With that thought in mind Pyralis and wasted almost two hours covering the entire district wall length from outside. With zero results.

“Ok Lis, I don’t want you to answer me if you feel it’s not you duty, you bloodsoaking leach, but at least be a good soundboard and let me talk through this problem out loud.” I tell Lis as we cross the gates back in to the town.

“The junkies must be coming from outside the inner walls, if not Gwyn or one of the power that be on the district would have found their nest.” As expected silence is my only answer.

“But we just scourged the land outside the wall we found no trace of undead magic or any breach on the wall.” The other reason I wanted to search the wall was because if we found how they are entering we could hold it as a choke point if we fail to find the nest.

“That means they are entering another way. While a elder vampire could have known enough magic to trick the wall enchantments and slip in, there is no way a bunch of junkies could have done so.” The most scary thing about vampire is that if a mage was turned in to one, there is a small chance they would keep their magic affinity, and a practitioner with limited time to perfect their craft is always a scary thing. “So either they are getting help from someone, or they are using an already open passage.”

Again I’m met with silence, but this time light sparked in my brain while it made the right connections. Time to go drinking.

The detectives met us at the Watering Hole. Me and Lis were sitting in a private booth. So how it went?” I ask them as soon as they sit. Detective West scowls at me as she notices the glass of whisky I’ve been nurturing. “We have less than 3 hours until sundown and you are drinking wizard?” “Don’t be a pain detective, it’s just some liquid courage.” And as I mentioned before, my slightly improved constitution can handle a few shots. “Again, how it went?” “She wasn’t happy with it, but Commander Nakamura agrees with you. She will deploy as many squads as she can.” Sweet revenge, didn’t the commander said that with the storm all force operations not using the gates were suspended? That mean that should be a lot of idle squads. Plus the commander, like me, is plagued with a good conscience. So I decided to ask her for help. And it serves her right for appointing me to this mess in the first place.

With my inner child happy about setting the score with the commander, time to do what we come here for. I mention to one of the serving girls, not Cherry, according to the owner, she hasn’t been to work since her sister death. I give her a paper and ask her to give it to another table. Soon after she departed I see a humanoid figure coming our way. On the short side, he looks human in general, but his face is thinner and angular. His shoulder length black hair have feathers intertwined in it. He is wearing a black cape also decorated with feathers.

“So wizard, a little bird just told me you have need of me.” He says as he pull a sit on our table. He laugh at his own joke, the sounds of it distorted with chirping sounds.

Cirrus Birdwink is a Hyther. A shapeshifter who takes the form of birds. They are annoying fae who liked to pester human with their singing, lonely ones would try to get travelers to get lost on forest and in groups they would work to scary people from places with their sounds.

“I do Cirrus.” I answer him. “Tell me, who is the go to person on the district if someone is looking to buy goods from the outside without going through the city customs?” Another thing that Hythers are good at is collecting information, as birds they see and hear much more than people think and can usually eavesdrop on a lot of conversations.

“I’m offended Wizard, no hospitality or even barter. Just straight to the point?” He tells me with but his voice carries playful tone. I don’t answer him beside keep staring at him. “Fine, I might know who you are looking for, but information like this is not free Wizard.” I take two gold coins I had separated earlier today and place them on the table. Cirrus eyes twinkle at the sight of the gold. Another trait of hythers is that like many birds they love shiny things. But unlike birds, they focus more on things that actually have value, like gold or silver.

“If you are looking for “imports” Whundal is your man, or dwarf actually.” He says and quickly tries to palm the coins. I quickly cover them with my hands. “I gave you the name wizard”. He complains to me. “Well Cirrus, I never said the coins were payment for the name, I just placed them on the table”. I answer with angelic smile on my face. Cirrus eyes widen when he understand he has been had and he starts cursing in a tongue I don’t know, full of chirps. “But I’m not an asshole, after all information was given.’ I say and pass him one coin. “Now, who is Whundal and where can I find him? For the second coin.” I tell him.

He sulks for a few seconds but then answers me. “Whundal is a duergar, he smuggles things from outside the inner walls for a better price and in more quantity then you can get in the city customs. He lives in a building a block from the wall. But me and mine haven’t seen him for some days now.” Bingo! I think to myself.

“Thank you Cirrus.” I tell the hyther as I throw him the other coin. “Time to pay Whundal a visit.” I tell everyone as I get up.

Whundal house was a one store block of stone with no windows and a single reinforced door. We are standing at the door that remain unanswered after we knocked for a few minutes. I study the building with my sight, the sight is like a detect magic spell, it helps you see spells auras and enchantments. If you are strong enough or with good talent on divination it gives you more information and even can help you see through charms and ilusion.

Like all buildings on the district there are a few wards on the house, but it seems they are all alarm ones instead of for protection. With time running I get tired of waiting. “Detectives, we are going in.” I tell them as I start sending my magic to inspect the door lock mechanism. “We don’t have a warrant Wizard.” West says and put an her hands in my shoulder. “Look detective, we don’t have time for a warrant, and we have enough information to believe that whatever way the druegar uses to bring his goods inside is how the junkies are getting inside.” I tell her. “Look, if we are wrong, we tell them we had probable cause or that we heard someone screaming inside just like on the old movies ok?” She scowls at me but releases my shoulder.

I start scanning the door again, and to my surprise I find that it’s actually not locked, just heavy as fuck. “It’s open anyway. I’ll go first, then you two and Liz brings the rear.” They nod to me and I force the door open.

The inside was a big open room, with shelves and a counter. From the information we had Whandul kept a small store of ores and tools as a front for his smuggling business. Many of the shelves were turned and the goods scattered on the ground. I can smell dried blood on the air. With a signal from me both detectives draw short swords they acquired when they went seek the commander help.

There is four ways of killing a vampire, sunlight is one, then you either damage it until it runs out of life force and can’t regenerate anymore, you cut it’s head off, or destroy it’s heart, that is where the spirit resides on the body. And now, you don’t need to do it with a wooden stake, this legends probably started because back in the middle age a wooden stake was the best weapon the peasants and serfs could hope to have.

I mention for Pyralis and Hendrickson to check one of the doors and move to check the other with West. The inside of the room is dark since no outside light from the open door reaches it, so I prepare a shield spell, cast a light inside go in. The room looks like a residential area, a small kitchen with a table and a bed and another door to a small bathroom. There is nothing here. I check it with my sight to be sure, but there isn’t anything hidden as well.

We move back to the main room in time to see Hendrickson signaling for us from the door to the other room. Pyralis is inside holding a small flame on her hand for illumination. The room is a storeroom with a lot of boxes around, and inside there is an open trapdoor. Dried blood scattered around it.

I cast my own light in the room and move beside Lis at the trapdoor. Looking down I see a small ladder that leads into a dark tunnel. I check it with my sigh and sure enough I can see traces of necrotic magic in to it.

With the passage the vampires are using found, it was time to make a decision, do we fall back and have the reinforcements guard the passage, or do we go in and try to kill them in the small time we had before sundown?