"...Now what?"

"First," I said, spotting a particular shop at the corner of the street, "how would you like an instrument?

We went to 'humor's Bung'- a musical instrument workshop, and ordered a very expensive and exclusive piece- a magical fiddle case of floating after asking Creed for his preference, then I had a very private and serious discussion at the back of the store regarding 'price'.

after exiting with a serious discount, Creed asked for our next plan of action.

"Well," I answered, "we have a few options- fight some monsters, continue our quest for information, abide the law like good citizens, be poor, fear an unseen enemy prowling in the shadows waiting for when you go to an outhouse without your fiddle on your person so they can bring a gang of their friends to circle around you menacingly while chanting some of the lamest sounding lines from the Complete Compendium Of Cringe and causing you to explode in the worst way possible because magic exists, OR- skip all that boring stuff and go kill some cultists."

"You're not going to listen to me anyways, are you?"

"I'm gonna need knew daggers."

.......

”That's not as big as I thought it'd be," I said in front of a giant mansion on a noble street.

"Looks big enough to me," Creed said. "So how do we get in there?"

"I can think of several ways, one of which including a chicken and a crossbow, but that one attracts too much attention, so we're going to sneak in from the back."

"How? It's probably enchanted against intrusion."

"Don't worry, I asked around and apparently the enchantments go down to recharge for half an hour in the early morning. We're just here to scout."

"Who knows that kind of information and why!?"

"A rogue organization, so I could find out"

We walked around the walls, me trying to find any place that I could climb, and Creed looking at me.

"What?" I turned around and asked.

"I'm wondering if you'd be considered good looking."

"What brought that on?"

"Random thoughts."

"Well," I said "Next to you, I probably don't need to be."

"What does that mean?"

I smiled.

.......

After a casual display of masterful acrobatics, I was on the wall with a rope cast down for Creed to climb.

Since the wall was only five meters tall, the rope of twenty easily reached the top and to the bottom of the other side, so while Creed climbed, I slid down, which is all well and good as Creed's a lot heavier then I remember, and there's no way if be able to lift him normally. When I reached the bottom and looked around, I was kind of in a conundrum- I had to hold the rope so Creed wouldn't fall, but also would like to eliminate the cultist in front of me.

Before me was a cloaked figure- more of a contour, in the early morning- with a book in hand which I couldn't make out the details of.

Thankfully, he didn't run off to alert someone, but brandished a pointy object which didn't take much effort to figure out was a bladed weapon.

Running twords me, he made a slash, which I jumped over using the rope I held in both hands. I kicked his chin, which unfortunately turned me around to face the wall, so I could now only get a side view of the cultist. A disadvantage he failed to properly make use of. Attacking from where I could see, he stabbed at me, which I avoided by leaning left. Then I felt the rope slackened slightly, and realized that Creed reached the top. With a tug, I wrapped the rope around the cultist's neck, his knife still imbedded in the wall, and switched places with him so Creed would still have a soft landing. He landed with a loud crack, breaking some bones. With a few coughs at the dust that he stirred, I stretched out a hand to him and he took it, rising from the cultist. I gave a last kick, then Creed looked at me and said "you scared the muck right out of me."

Looking at the book that was dropped, Creed said "I guess this reaffirms that the Shmâd cult really is here."

"Why, what it?" I asked.

He looked at me, his red eyes glowing in the dark, with a frown. Then his eyes quickly widened in realization as he said "muck! Humans don't have darkvision! This," he said, leaning down and picking up the book, and held it up so I could see, "is a summoning Grimoire, a portal manual for the demon world of the destruction alignment in the Hellworld planes."

"I'd that bad?"

"I don't know Nock," Creed said sarcastically, "do you think that facing an army of demons, that can each single handedly destroy a village, is a good thing"

"From your tone I deduce not so much."

"It's not a muck pool- it's a plop sea."