Chapter 8-1
"Ok. So we all made level two now. We all know how to do new stuff, why don't we USE it?" Collin was saying, strutting ahead of Hal with those annoying red-tinted glasses on.
Even though he was annoying, he was right.
Yeah" Hal said, clenching a fist. "We should go after that punk Derek again. He needs some sense pounded into him."
Rich, who was walking next to Hal on the sidewalk, cocked one eyebrow.
"You saw what happened last time. We only made it out of there because of Michael. We clearly aren't ready yet."
"Speak for yourself" Hal said, pushing Rich off him. He was walking too close, after all.
Rich stopped, causing the group of them to walk past him. Hal, Rich, Collin and Adrian were on the way back to their apartment after classes. It had been a long day, and that sissy wanted to start something now?
Fine with him.
Hal stopped as well and turned to face Rich, fingering the amulet in his pocket. Adrian turned around and held up his hand.
"Whoa, chill. It's not like Dan would let us go after them again anyway. You've asked him enough times already, haven't you Hal? We have to prove ourselves first, obviously."
Hal snorted. That punk wasn't worth it anyway. He turned his back on Rich deliberately and kept walking.
"And how do we do that?" He asked in a low growl. "We all make level 2, we accomplish a tag that TWO level 5 guys couldn't do, luck or no, and that's still not enough?"
"We could do a tag ourselves…" Rich offered, hurrying to catch up with the group.
Hal pointedly didn't say anything in response, pretending Rich wasn't there.
"Tag?" Adrian asked pointedly. "What is that? Like a mission? You mean like the one you took when you came to find me?"
"We didn't take that tag, we only helped out. But yes. They are missions that Blue House needs done. They usually have rewards like money or items. But mostly we could do them to prove our capability." Rich finished.
"Yeah right. I like that actually." Hal said, forgetting he was mad at Rich, "We'll make those guys see that we're a lot stronger than that last time."
Hal bumped into Collin, who had suddenly stopped walking.
"Hey! Watch it." He said. Collin didn't respond. He was looking off to the left.
"What is it, Collin?" Rich asked.
"Uh, I think someone pissed off the mob" Collin said, pointing.
Hal resisted the urge to point out what a dumb thing that was to say aloud, and looked over to where Collin was indicating.
There were a group of four people standing on a bridge. Hal knew there was a river below that bridge, a fairly deep one. But he couldn't see it from here. The four men held down a fifth figure. Hal couldn't make out what the victim looked like, except that he looked like he was probably a guy, and his hands were tied behind his back. There were also cement blocks around each of his feet. The mob still used the cement shoe treatment?
They were shouting something Hal couldn't hear. Probably gloating. The figure they tied up wasn't moving at all. Was he even conscious? No, he had to be. They wouldn't bother to go through all that trouble if he wasn't conscious. So why was he not struggling?
Before any of them could even think about making a move towards the bridge, the group of men heaved the hapless stranger over the side.
There was no splash.
Hal and his friends looked at each other.
Then they took off for the other side of the street so they could look over the fence at the river below. He heard Rich shout some warning about being seen but he didn't care.
There was a wood fence that blocked people off from the river. But Hal managed to peer over it. There was a boat there. It looked like a cargo boat of some kind. The man had landed on one of the big barrels, breaking it open. There was a blue liquid leaking out of it. Hal read the side of the barrel. It said 'Solvent'.
The cement on the victim's shoes was already dissolving. Only his feet had landed in the stuff, so he didn't need to burn his skin.
Hal noticed that another barrel had been knocked over from the victim's fall. The man hadn't landed on that one, only knocked it over. There was something silver glittering from the spilled barrel.
Scissors.
The man kicked what remained of the cement free, and then stooped to pick up the scissors. He cut his bonds free with them. Then he waved good-naturedly at the men who had just tried to drown him in the river. Hal could make out enough to know they were staring at him slack-jawed.
The near-victim's face still wasn't quite visible, but he managed to catch that the man had a playing card in his mouth. And then his boat passed under another bridge and Hal lost sight of him.
"Wow." Collin commented. "That, uh- that was lucky."
Hal and his roommates went through Hal's window the next day to visit Dan at the Library, and hopefully get a tag. When they found Dan, they told him what they had seen.
Dan scratched his head.
"That's odd, I don't think the Euthanatos operate in this region. He must be an orphan or at least acting on his own." Dan said after Hal had told the story.
"Euthanatos?" Hal asked.
"Orphan?" Rich asked.
"Angel pimp?" Collin piped in innocently, pretending it was a viable question.
Everyone ignored him.
"Orphans are mages who taught themselves magic. They didn't learn through a tradition. The Euthanatos are another tradition. Sorta like Hermes. Way creepier though. We specialize in Forces, and they are the masters of Entropy. Theynever let you forget it either." He frowned.
"Ok. So what is this Entropy thing? Is it what he used to escape drowning?"
"Maybe he was just really lucky" Collin offered.
Hal decided against swatting him.
Not worth the trouble.
Dan laughed.
"Actually, that's the point. He WAS really lucky. Entropy has to do with the events and relationships that string together the world. Part of Entropy is about chances. While, technically a boat carrying strong dissolving liquid and scissors that passes at exactly the right moment is i possible /i it's just very unlikely. But with the sphere of Entropy you can change that."
Collin stuck out his tongue.
"Told you he was lucky" he said spitefully.
Hal cracked a knuckle and Collin gave him a suspicious glance.
"So do you have a tag for us?" Rich asked, sounding impatient.
"Sure" Dan replied. He walked over to a wall in the library where the tags were all stored. They were all sticking out of shelves that were marked 1-10. He traced a finger down and picked out one from the "level 2" shelf. He pulled out the tag, which was attached to a scroll. He handed it to Rich.
"Here you go, this one should be good to start with. We got a rumor that a lone mage was to blame for some crazy things that have been happening recently in a sensitive area. We just need you to find out who he is, what he's doing, and any other information you can. Don't try to do anything else."
Rich nodded as he read over the scroll.
"Ok then, everything else you need should be there. Take that scroll to Michael when you're ready and he'll cook up a portal for you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go do boring stuff." Dan frowned, and then sauntered off.
"So?" Hal said to Rich. "Does it tell us where to find this guy, and what he looks like?"
"It just has some coordinates of a casino that some Hermetic contact says he frequents. As for description…" Rich scanned the page. "No picture, just that he keeps a playing card with a skull on it in his shirt pocket."
"He's not trying to be too inconspicuous now is he?" Adrian remarked with a laugh.
And with that, they all went to Michael and got a portal in an alley near the casino.
They weren't carded when they walked in, which had been a concern of Rich's. The casino floor was large, and the space itself was cavernous, housing a balcony where people from the attached hotel could watch the idiots lose all their money.
It was only Saturday afternoon, so it wasn't crowded or anything, but finding anyone in this place would be difficult. The casino had a fairly loud background roar of people talking, chips clinking, and slot machine bells going off.
After an hour or two Collin and Adrian got bored, so tried their luck on the slot machines. Collin managed to win twenty dollars.
He was holding the wealth of coins up in front of Hal's face and laughing, when Hal happened to notice someone coming in through the sliding doors. He couldn't see much of the newcomer due to people being in the way, but he could see the boots. Normally a glossy black, they were stained with white and blue.
"Guys" Hal said, motioning to the door. He had a feeling about this one.
The man walked by a roulette table that was blocking their view and came into plain sight.
He was tall, sleek looking, with moussed black hair. He also had a tight black shirt on, with a skull-faced playing card in the pocket.
Something itched in the back of Hal's mind. That face looked familiar. And those boots…
That was it! They used to have cement and solvent on them! That's what the blue and white stains were. It was the guy from the river.
He took one look at the four of them staring at him, and then took off running.
Apparently he knew when his luck had run out.