140.
"Fruitless conjecture Mr. Dunkley." Duffy had taken them back to his office for a celebratory drink and their payment. Gilbert did not like how tidy this had been considering how it started.
"It wasn't just one lost fey creature Mr. Duffy."
"It was, and you killed it, and now you'll be paid and be on your way." Before Gilbert could say anything else they were in front of the building. It caught both Clarissa and Gilbert by surprise.
"Rude of him."
"And stupid, he's in trouble and he's throwing us out? Well that won't stop me." Gilbert put his gear away in the back of the van, Clarissa followed suit and hurried to her seat Gilbert seemed in a hurry.
"Where are we headed."
"The other side in this conflict."
****
"She will not see you." It was a strip mall in Des Moines Iowa, the sign out front promised palm reading Clarissa felt her skin crawl just being inside. The receptionist was an overweight man who smelled of alcohol.
"I thought it was just the summer court that hated me right now."
"It's all of the fey Dunkley, and you know that." Gilbert took a set in one of the three chairs in the lobby. Clarissa did as well. "She won't see you even if you wait."
"We'll see about that, go ahead and do whatever you're going to do troll." The man at the front desk snorted and went back to whatever he was doing prior to them entering.
"Kind of rude to call him a troll for just telling us how things are Gilbert."
"He's literally a troll, he's just got an illusion to not look like it, its the smell that gives them away."
"I just thought he drank his breakfast."
"Well that too."
"I can hear the both of you you racist judgmental assholes." Everyone stayed quiet for a moment, than a phone rang at the front desk and the Troll answered. Gilbert couldn't make out the full conversation but by the Troll's anger at its resolution he knew he got what he wanted.
"She'll see you, but you watch it pal if you so much as breathe improperly in her direction."
"Right I'll make sure to be on my best behavior." Clarissa had no idea what to expect as they went down the narrow hallway into the room beyond, but she didn't expect a blooming fountain garden, with a rather large fairy sitting in a fountain staring back at them.
"Morgan."
"Dunkley." The door shut behind him and not for the first time Gilbert wondered if he should have just let things go.
Friday, September 27, 2019
Friday, September 20, 2019
Cut Off
139.
It was fruitless to go back, they had tried to retrace their steps and had found there were no steps to retrace. Gilbert blamed himself not thinking about their safety and remaining gear before charging ahead. He'd gotten too interested in the mystery and not enough in the making sure things were ok and now they were lost in some kind of spirit purgatory with a teleporting bull creature.
"So what is that thing?"
"Not a clue, but I imagine we can kill it or it would have stuck around, its as afraid of us as we could be of it."
"Yeah except I can't teleport and I'm not the size of a small car."
"You never know about your hidden strengths Clarissa maybe you can teleport."
"Really?"
"No you can't teleport, that's just nonesense to make you feel better." Clarissa lightly hit Gilbert on the shoulder and he smiled. They still had some of the salt and had at least set up a new safe zone for what good it could do against the creature Gilbert wasn't sure.
"So what's the plan?"
"Iron, it's good against fairies, and this creature looks like something of the fey, and attacking souls definitely is a fey kind of thing to do."
"So iron?"
"Yeah they hate it, something about being connected to the earth, I dunno creatures of the Fey are assholes and Iron kills them if applied properly its all you need to know."
"Is this why Doris hates regular silverware?"
"No that's just Doris thinking she's better than regular people." Clarissa laughed, it broke up the tension of being potentially stuck in the world of lost souls. They did still have the question of how to get the bull fey to attack them, but Gilbert figured if they just stepped beyond the salt it might do that on its own. Gilbert made the first step outside of the protection of the salt, he didn't figure his first step outside would cause the creature to charge them, but fey creatures were weird like that and it just might have. Gilbert was able to step out without issue and Clarissa joined him, they didn't want to travel too far from safety because they didn't have anything anchoring them to it and the building had already changed on them once.
The bull fay charged almost immediately. Gilbert heard the hoof beat first before he turned and fired. Three shots landed home and the creature came screeching to a halt. Clarissa took up an arrow and fired two shots into the head to be sure. The bull fay was at least as Gilbert surmised killable.
"Now how the hell do we get out of here?" Just then the elevator seemingly materialized out of nowhere appeared behind them.
"All done?" He had a smirk on that told Gilbert he knew more than he was letting on, and that this job was just getting started.
It was fruitless to go back, they had tried to retrace their steps and had found there were no steps to retrace. Gilbert blamed himself not thinking about their safety and remaining gear before charging ahead. He'd gotten too interested in the mystery and not enough in the making sure things were ok and now they were lost in some kind of spirit purgatory with a teleporting bull creature.
"So what is that thing?"
"Not a clue, but I imagine we can kill it or it would have stuck around, its as afraid of us as we could be of it."
"Yeah except I can't teleport and I'm not the size of a small car."
"You never know about your hidden strengths Clarissa maybe you can teleport."
"Really?"
"No you can't teleport, that's just nonesense to make you feel better." Clarissa lightly hit Gilbert on the shoulder and he smiled. They still had some of the salt and had at least set up a new safe zone for what good it could do against the creature Gilbert wasn't sure.
"So what's the plan?"
"Iron, it's good against fairies, and this creature looks like something of the fey, and attacking souls definitely is a fey kind of thing to do."
"So iron?"
"Yeah they hate it, something about being connected to the earth, I dunno creatures of the Fey are assholes and Iron kills them if applied properly its all you need to know."
"Is this why Doris hates regular silverware?"
"No that's just Doris thinking she's better than regular people." Clarissa laughed, it broke up the tension of being potentially stuck in the world of lost souls. They did still have the question of how to get the bull fey to attack them, but Gilbert figured if they just stepped beyond the salt it might do that on its own. Gilbert made the first step outside of the protection of the salt, he didn't figure his first step outside would cause the creature to charge them, but fey creatures were weird like that and it just might have. Gilbert was able to step out without issue and Clarissa joined him, they didn't want to travel too far from safety because they didn't have anything anchoring them to it and the building had already changed on them once.
The bull fay charged almost immediately. Gilbert heard the hoof beat first before he turned and fired. Three shots landed home and the creature came screeching to a halt. Clarissa took up an arrow and fired two shots into the head to be sure. The bull fay was at least as Gilbert surmised killable.
"Now how the hell do we get out of here?" Just then the elevator seemingly materialized out of nowhere appeared behind them.
"All done?" He had a smirk on that told Gilbert he knew more than he was letting on, and that this job was just getting started.
Friday, September 13, 2019
The Safe and the Unsafe
138.
"First we must establish a zone of safety." Gilbert was pouring salt in one direction while directing Clarissa to the do the same in the other direction.
"I guess if something attacks us it will be assaulted." Clarissa laughed at her joke but Gilbert did not.
"Next we'll have to pick out directions to scout from, this isn't a real building or a place, so the location will probably change, think Hansel and Gretel."
"You have some bread crumbs to leave behind Gilbert?"
"Nope we'll use climbers rope, its a bit safer than hoping mice don't eat your bread crumbs." Gilbert anchored the rope in his protection area, and then handed Clarissa a harness to and line to attach to.
"Do you have any idea what can kill spirits?"
"Well these aren't exactly spirits, these are souls, it sounds like a distinction without a difference but think of these as more raw energy with faces, and less angry people. So its less something killing them and more something siphoning that energy. I can think of a couple things and neither of them are something I hope is here, stay close." Clarissa felt a little silly attached to a climbing rope moving through a broken hallway, but having known how quickly things can go from ok to not ok, she would deal with the silliness. They weren't really talking as they went, both seemingly convinced whatever was hunting the souls could hear them even though there was no proof of that. The further they got from their "safe" zone the worse the damage looked, walls were ripped out, signs of struggle were apparent, but no "bodies" or any kind of remains of a victim.
"Maybe its just really big spirit rats?" Clarissa speaking kind of startled Gilbert.
"Spirit rats?"
"Yeah I mean rats have spirits right?"
"You know never thought of it like that, but maybe?" Just then there was a snort like that of a large bull. Gilbert took out his pistol, Clarissa readied an arrow. They crept up on the noise and found nothing, not a trace of a creature or even a foot print.
"That's just fucking weird right?"
"Could be the spirit world has a lot of residual shi... GET DOWN!" The creature appeared behind Clarissa ready for a full on charge. Gilbert only saw it for an instant before she ducked underneath its gore, but it certainly didn't look like anything he'd seen before. After dodging it the creature disappeared in a puff of black residue, aside from the lingering smell Gilbert and Clarissa could find no sign of it.
"Well that was scary."
"Quite, but at least we saw the beast." Clarissa nodded and then she looked down in a panic, while she had successfully dodged the bull creature, it had severed their climbing rope, they were now untethered and the way they had come definitely looked like it had changed.
"Gilbert we have a problem."
"First we must establish a zone of safety." Gilbert was pouring salt in one direction while directing Clarissa to the do the same in the other direction.
"I guess if something attacks us it will be assaulted." Clarissa laughed at her joke but Gilbert did not.
"Next we'll have to pick out directions to scout from, this isn't a real building or a place, so the location will probably change, think Hansel and Gretel."
"You have some bread crumbs to leave behind Gilbert?"
"Nope we'll use climbers rope, its a bit safer than hoping mice don't eat your bread crumbs." Gilbert anchored the rope in his protection area, and then handed Clarissa a harness to and line to attach to.
"Do you have any idea what can kill spirits?"
"Well these aren't exactly spirits, these are souls, it sounds like a distinction without a difference but think of these as more raw energy with faces, and less angry people. So its less something killing them and more something siphoning that energy. I can think of a couple things and neither of them are something I hope is here, stay close." Clarissa felt a little silly attached to a climbing rope moving through a broken hallway, but having known how quickly things can go from ok to not ok, she would deal with the silliness. They weren't really talking as they went, both seemingly convinced whatever was hunting the souls could hear them even though there was no proof of that. The further they got from their "safe" zone the worse the damage looked, walls were ripped out, signs of struggle were apparent, but no "bodies" or any kind of remains of a victim.
"Maybe its just really big spirit rats?" Clarissa speaking kind of startled Gilbert.
"Spirit rats?"
"Yeah I mean rats have spirits right?"
"You know never thought of it like that, but maybe?" Just then there was a snort like that of a large bull. Gilbert took out his pistol, Clarissa readied an arrow. They crept up on the noise and found nothing, not a trace of a creature or even a foot print.
"That's just fucking weird right?"
"Could be the spirit world has a lot of residual shi... GET DOWN!" The creature appeared behind Clarissa ready for a full on charge. Gilbert only saw it for an instant before she ducked underneath its gore, but it certainly didn't look like anything he'd seen before. After dodging it the creature disappeared in a puff of black residue, aside from the lingering smell Gilbert and Clarissa could find no sign of it.
"Well that was scary."
"Quite, but at least we saw the beast." Clarissa nodded and then she looked down in a panic, while she had successfully dodged the bull creature, it had severed their climbing rope, they were now untethered and the way they had come definitely looked like it had changed.
"Gilbert we have a problem."
Friday, September 6, 2019
Hello Mr. Duffy
137.
"Come in out of the cold, no need to be standing there in the doorway." The concierge was that level of upper class servant polite rudeness. Gilbert was put off on him immediately.
"What is this place?" Clarissa said it with a level of awe that had Gilbert be suspicious the building was affecting her.
"What is a pedestrian question, where or why is a more important one, but we'll get to that, first you must meet Mr. Duffy in his office and he must discuss our situation with you, come along." The concierge showed them to an elevator, and inside was an old timey looking elevator operator complete with a silly hat.
"To Mr. Duffy's office." The concierge informed the operator and he nodded, but did not speak himself. Gilbert was beyond questioning the weirdness, so when the elevator closed one second and opened to an office with no hallway in between he just accepted it.
"Mr. Dunkley do come in." Mr. Duffy looked like a shady used car salesman, from the tacky suit to the slicked back hair and unnaturally tanned skin. His every word was a sales pitch you didn't want.
"What is going on here Mr. Duffy."
"Do call me Quin, its short for Quinlin, and sit please." The chairs were big leather recliners, sitting in them Gilbert and Clarissa felt small.
"Mr. Duffy please."
"Fine, we're not ghosts, we're not demons, this place isn't in your head, it's a," His eyes went up in his head for a moment as if he was trying to find the right words, "A hostel of sorts for the dead who don't want to admit they are dead, originally the native americans had this land as sacred so as to not disturb the spirits on their journey, of course the white man had to throw a damn building on top of it, but we managed just fine."
"So you're a ghost."
"No I specifically said I'm not a ghost, I'm a caretaker of sorts, and I need your companies help, you deal with monsters correct?" Gilbert didn't like the way he phrased monsters.
"What kind of monster can harm ghosts?"
"That is the question I'd like for you to answer, bell hop!" Duffy signaled the elevator operator and shooed both Gilbert and Clarissa inside with himself. He nodded at the operator and the elevator arrived somewhere else, though when the doors opened it was on a black corridor that looked like a murder or a war had been fought there. Lighting fixtures, and even whole walls were damaged and barely hanging on.
"What's going on here?"
"That Mr. Dunkley is what you are hired to find out." Gilbert didn't even notice he and Clarissa had been moved off the elevator until the door closed behind him and left him in Clarissa in the busted hallway.
"Well at least we're prepared right?" Gilbert looked at Clarissa sternly for a moment and smiled.
"Yeah at least we're prepared." As if in response something screamed in the darkness and the mood of happiness was instantly gone.
"Come in out of the cold, no need to be standing there in the doorway." The concierge was that level of upper class servant polite rudeness. Gilbert was put off on him immediately.
"What is this place?" Clarissa said it with a level of awe that had Gilbert be suspicious the building was affecting her.
"What is a pedestrian question, where or why is a more important one, but we'll get to that, first you must meet Mr. Duffy in his office and he must discuss our situation with you, come along." The concierge showed them to an elevator, and inside was an old timey looking elevator operator complete with a silly hat.
"To Mr. Duffy's office." The concierge informed the operator and he nodded, but did not speak himself. Gilbert was beyond questioning the weirdness, so when the elevator closed one second and opened to an office with no hallway in between he just accepted it.
"Mr. Dunkley do come in." Mr. Duffy looked like a shady used car salesman, from the tacky suit to the slicked back hair and unnaturally tanned skin. His every word was a sales pitch you didn't want.
"What is going on here Mr. Duffy."
"Do call me Quin, its short for Quinlin, and sit please." The chairs were big leather recliners, sitting in them Gilbert and Clarissa felt small.
"Mr. Duffy please."
"Fine, we're not ghosts, we're not demons, this place isn't in your head, it's a," His eyes went up in his head for a moment as if he was trying to find the right words, "A hostel of sorts for the dead who don't want to admit they are dead, originally the native americans had this land as sacred so as to not disturb the spirits on their journey, of course the white man had to throw a damn building on top of it, but we managed just fine."
"So you're a ghost."
"No I specifically said I'm not a ghost, I'm a caretaker of sorts, and I need your companies help, you deal with monsters correct?" Gilbert didn't like the way he phrased monsters.
"What kind of monster can harm ghosts?"
"That is the question I'd like for you to answer, bell hop!" Duffy signaled the elevator operator and shooed both Gilbert and Clarissa inside with himself. He nodded at the operator and the elevator arrived somewhere else, though when the doors opened it was on a black corridor that looked like a murder or a war had been fought there. Lighting fixtures, and even whole walls were damaged and barely hanging on.
"What's going on here?"
"That Mr. Dunkley is what you are hired to find out." Gilbert didn't even notice he and Clarissa had been moved off the elevator until the door closed behind him and left him in Clarissa in the busted hallway.
"Well at least we're prepared right?" Gilbert looked at Clarissa sternly for a moment and smiled.
"Yeah at least we're prepared." As if in response something screamed in the darkness and the mood of happiness was instantly gone.
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