Everything seems to require that I grow in strength. But thats fine. I wasnt planning on stopping any ti soon.
Looking out the window as the carriage bumped along, Garrett saw the small exorcists office next to the much larger Adventurers guild, with Chief Fellix and Henri standing at its door. The carriage stopped and Marta and Grant helped Garrett down, getting him settled in his wheelchair before everyone hurried into the building to debrief the mission. For the most part, Garrett kept quiet, listening as the others spoke about what they had done and observed, and he wasnt surprised when they began to talk about his performance as well. It had been clear to him that this was as much a trial run to see if he was competent as it had been an actual mission, since each of his team mbers were qualified to command a team on their own.
I do feel like I need to apologize, Chief Fellix said, chewing on his mustache. We didnt realize how dangerous the mysterious artifact was, otherwise we would have dealt with it more seriously. Artifacts on the disaster scale should be captured and sealed. In fact, Im not sure how this one slipped through our radar, considering the potential impact.
How do you categorize them?
Getting up, Chief Fellix got a small booklet and brought it back for Garrett.
This is the handbook. Not a lot in it, but it has so of the better known spirits, and information on the current mysterious artifact categorization. Currently, there are fifty known disaster ranked artifacts, so this will be the fifty first, and one of four that are not sealed. If you flip to the back, youll see that mysterious artifacts have three levels. A mysterious artifact is any item touched by the dream that can impact a single or more people. Neutral artifacts have no known negative effects or costs. Threatening artifacts have a negative effect or cost, and impact a single individual at a ti. Disaster artifacts have that negative effect or cost, and can impact multiple people at a ti. The Ghosts Mirror is categorized as such.
Nodding, Henri gestured to himself, Marta, and Grant.
When the Ghosts Mirror showed the ability to freeze all of us at once and pull us in one after another, it demonstrated that it was a disaster level artifact, and not just a threatening artifact.
Exactly, the Chief said, and so long as no one breaks it, the impact wont be that big, all things considered, but as soon as soone does, we are going to have so major issues. That puts finding out who took it at the very top of our list. Which brings to an important question.
Pausing, he looked at Garrett, his gaze calm.
Do you recognize this?
Slowly, he slid a piece of paper across the table with a rendering of Ryns mask. Taking the paper, Garrett looked at it closely before shaking his head.
That looks a lot like the flower that the Klein family uses as our symbol, though we dont use a vine, and we only use one. You said that this was on a black mask?
I didnt say anything, Chief Fellix said, his eyes narrowing.
Oh, well soone ntioned it.
That was , Grant chid in, earning himself a glare from the Chief.
Right, when you were telling about it earlier. Yeah, Im sorry, I dont think I can help with this one. Ill keep my ear to the ground. It's a pretty distinctive mirror, so I imagine that it will pop up.
Unless soone took it out of the city, Grant said. In which case, it's soone elses problem.
Sure, but rember, that soone stole it and got it into the hands of the counts daughter, so there is soone out there with an interest in actually using it. They probably have no idea how dangerous it really is. We still dont know what the cost is, so there is no way to pacify it.
Raising his hand hesitantly, Garrett looked troubled as everyones attention turned his way.
Yes?
I I dont know if I should ntion this, as it's unconfird, but
Just spit it out, Henri said. Never know when sothing will help us put the puzzle together.
True. Well, both the countess and her daughter had been transford into Pale Fiends.
What?!
Are you serious?!
Quiet, Chief Fellix said, silencing Marta and Henri as he looked at Garret. That is a serious thing youre saying.
I know. And the chances of us proving it are about zero. But more importantly, I overheard so of the young noblen talking about the counts family, and it sounds like a wild history. The countess was already his third wife, and hated his daughter. He didnt seem to care about her either, and it seed that there was so foul play at work. Again, I hate to share an unsubstantiated rumor, but what if soone was using the mirror to eliminate rivals?
Drawing a sharp breath, the chief nodded.
That could very well be the case. That would clearly explain what has happened, and would also explain why soone was there to collect the mirror right after the countess vanished. Unsubstantiated rumors or not, I think that is an angle worth investigating. What are everyones thoughts for next steps? Marta? What about you?
I can put a team together to try to uncover what was happening at the counts ho.
Excellent. And Henri?
Ill comb antique stores to see if we can find the Ghosts Mirror.
I think I can help too, Garrett said. Why dont I put out the word that Im looking for mysterious artifacts as a collector? That will lend so credibility to this new persona I am adopting, but might also turn up leads for people who might have so connection with the underground artifact market.
Good idea, Chief Fellix said, giving Garrett an approving nod before turning to look at Grant. Grant?
For a mont Grant was quiet and then he tapped the table.
Chief, do you rember that undead attack?
Which one? There have been a dozen in the last month.
The one with the widow and her daughter. The one Garrett and his n were involved in.
Mm, yeah. What of it?
The daughter described a woman appearing in her hand mirror. But not the ghost. I think that there might be a necromancer involved in this whole thing. I an, and I know this is crazy, but hear out. What if what if there was a necromancer who was taking jobs to eliminate people by sucking them up into the mirror, and then turning them into Pale Fiends, which they could then control to be part of their undead army? They could be using that smaller hand mirror to control the bigger mirror.
Youre right, that is a crazy theory, Chief Fellix said, shaking his head. But the fact that you can use a smaller mirror to enter and leave the Ghosts Mirror lends it just enough credibility that we should probably check it out.
Great! Grant said, grinning. Ill put a team together and start hunting for that necromancer again.
Honestly, if this turns out to be the work of a necromancer assassin who is using ghosts with long hair to kill people, I think itll be ti for to retire, Chief Fellix said, rubbing his temple with his fingers. Im entirely too old for this.
It was getting to be afternoon by the ti that Garrett made it back to the Drears Inn, and he was incredibly happy to be back. The first thing he did was head for his office, where he got a rundown of everything that had happened recently, answering questions and signing off on the few issues that had cropped up. It was becoming increasingly clear to Garrett that he couldnt continue to run the Family without starting to delegate, which ant looking for people who could accept more responsibility. After all the imdiate problems were dealt with, he went to his room and started to review the organization.
There were three sides to the forces he had been building, along with an erging fourth side that he wasnt quite sure what to do with. First, there was the Klein Family, which included Ryn, Obe, the awakened who had not yet been invited to Drears Rest, and all of the mortal mbers of the Family. This portion of his forces was growing almost daily as more and more regular citizens saw the benefits of displaying the simple flower symbol and pinned it to their clothing or purchased one of the signs that Ryn had made. This was, in many ways, the easiest to handle, as almost everyone with any level of responsibility who was involved carried one or more dream flowers. And given that the dream flowers had begun to naturally propagate, the Klein Family would only continue to grow.
The challenge will be making sure that we dont lose the core principles of how we operate as we add new people. Of course, the dream flowers will help with that, but I think it's important to start codifying this. I should have Ryn create so new signs. We can add principles to the petals, giving each a aning. Green for kindness, blue for loyalty, purple for temperance, red for courage, and orange for initiative. Sothing like that.
Taking a piece of paper, Garrett began to list down nas of mbers of the Family that could serve in officer roles, including Ryn, Obe, Luff, Maximus, Gavon, Abbius, and Helger. There were many others as well, though all of them were mortal, and Garrett had soon sketched out a clear command structure that took the various strengths of the different individuals into account.
Being able to have access to their innermost thoughts sure is useful. But I really need more people like Ryn. Anyone whose flower has grown with ntal energy tends toward loyalty rather than initiative, and I need an equal mix of both.
After revising his docunt a few tis, Garrett turned his attention to the second face of the Klein Family, the shadow that lurked under the familys feet. This was easier to organize, as everyone in it was absolutely loyal to Garrett. Viper led the group, and Vale served as his first lieutenant, replacing Pax who had not been suited to the underground world. With them were the converted assassins from Black Raven, and the flower ghouls, who had been continuing to expand, quietly taking over the passages that Viper and Vale used. There werent many people trying to smuggle goods anymore, because all the entrances and exits to the city had been locked down, so the service that Ghouls Tooth used to provide had mostly dried up, but Garrett expected that to change once things in the city returned to normal.
I need to prepare for more volu. Once again, I have to choose between imdiate loyalty and the ability for my subordinate to think on their feet. But regardless, I need more people. It's too risky to use ghouls to move the goods in the more commonly traveled passages, and it will take too long to dig another tunnel system lower down. Though, I should probably start working on that just in case.
There wasnt much to decide about regarding the team in the crypts, except that Garrett knew he wanted to start cultivating Vipers group into a more formidable force. He was confident that if he took his ti, he would be able to grow a powerful group, but the key was going to be in cultivating the individuals who entered it. Dream flowers were not the only way to create loyalty.
The other thing that I should start experinting with is the nest stones. Supposedly, they can create any sort of monster, so revisiting this idea of mixing other creatures with the flowers seems like a top priority. It would increase our security in the swamp if I had so aquatic creatures under my control. Hah, Im turning into an evil villain, arent I? Lets focus on establishing the human arm of the gang before I go wild on experintation. Besides, thats going to take a lot of work.
There was nothing to write down for the shadow group, so Garrett moved on to the third, and in his mind, most important facet of the Klein Family, the awakened drears of Drears Rest. Unlike the other two groups, this was the group that was most closely tied to his success and failure. It would be these people, above all, who would allow him to stand against the aggression of the Great Rulers who sought to pull him down. They would pioneer a new age in the dream, establishing humans as a formidable force that could stand against the nightmares that stalked the fog.
Of all of the groups, this was the one that held the seed of Garretts grandest ambition, and also required the most care. Unlike the other areas, Garrett was incredibly careful about how much he influenced the people who entered the dream. The dream flowers were a requirent to enter, but he avoided, as much as possible, forcefully growing the flowers. Of the awakened drears, only Viper and Pax were bound to his will in any significant way and the others were participating of their own wills.
Garretts hope was to create a web of interconnected benefits that kept them, and in the future, hundreds of others, coming back to the dream night after night. And so far, it was working. He created the mask, and the dream items for the awakened drears, and they repaid him with experience points, gaining strength for their soul sparks in the process. Though he took the lions share of their reward, he didnt feel bad at all, as it was only through the dream flowers they carried that they could even access the opportunity in the first place.
The current group that was hunting in the dream was allowing him to learn a lot of different things, and slowly the final form of Drears Rest and its awakened drears was starting to take shape. There were still many mortals coming to Drears Rest, and more would soon arrive as the flowers started to seed, but Garrett was even more excited for when the first of the new awakened showed up. Until then, he would continue as he was, working to establish the current team firmly, creating precedents that new awakened drears could operate under smoothly.
Hopefully this subjugation of the at plant goes smoothly.
The final part of the Klein family, and the part he wasnt sure about yet, was his own public persona. He had joined the exorcists, in what he thought was a highly ironic situation, as he considered himself the greatest threat the dream world contained, and had made it his mission to spread the touch of the dream to everyone. But he was also beginning to expand his own personal network, making connections under his new persona as a rchant and petty noble. Though it would have been more efficient to retreat to the shadows and just build his influence a little at a ti, the idea of playing in both the light and the dark appealed to him.
Ill just have to see where it goes.
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