Eerie

I was being followed. I could tell. But still I wore the air of blissful ignorance, instead choosing to switch my route to a series of untrackable twists and turns that led me through the city in the longest, least practical manner I could think of. My pursuers seemed devoted, tracing me through every narrow alley and hidden passage. I stopped several times to ask for directions, hoping to add to the impression that I had no idea where I was going, but they continued to follow everywhere I went.

But eventually I had no choice but to reach my destination: a small, back alley pub declared Ginsinger Place by a flickering electric sign. Fortunately, the two people who had been trailing me the whole way there did not follow me into the building, and thus were not witness to the occupants of the dingy building, which was probably guilty of numerous health code violations, as well as not actually being a licensed establishment.

I cast a glance around the room, which was filled with people in black robes with hoods hanging languidly behind them. Following custom, I pushed my own hood back, feeling the slightly damp air on my face. The room had gone silent when I had entered, but upon my speaking the code word conversation resumed as per usual.

“Lord Eerie,” the bartender, a sturdily built middle aged man named Veerth, greeted. “Can I get you a drink?”

“No thank you,” I said, holding up a hand in the faceless gesture of polite refusal. “I must meet with Lord Curse. We have much to discuss.”

Veerth nodded his acknowledgement and I slipped behind the bar, tugging open a heavy door labeled “Staff Only,” and descending into the dimly lit lower levels of Ginsinger Place.

Ginsinger Place consisted mostly of the underground portion, a twisting, turning labyrinths of passages and rooms that ran below at least half of Mordium and contained a variety of exits hidden usually in back alley establishments like the bar of the same name above. Routes through it were so complicated that you could get lost for hours, even days, without reaching your destination, but I had memorized the entire layout and could navigate to Lord Curse’s chambers within fifteen minutes.

I knocked twice against the door, once hard and then another time softly, in proper faceless fashion, and before long the door creaked slowly open and I was faced with the scarred visage of Lord Curse.

“We need to talk,” I said.