“Mudmouth?” Briggs repeated blankly, and was swiftly informed of the relevance of the name and where the creature had come from. Another of Aerbax’s shenanigans.

  “So, you’re thinking this not-tusker and its False Bobo servant survived the Fall and took control of the external tuskers? Bobo might only be holding onto his own Dungeon?” Kris wasn’t skeptical at all that it could happen, just wondering how. “How is it maintaining control?”

  “Better question: how did ghouldom suddenly get introduced into Dereth?” I replied smoothly.

  Briggs nodded to me. “Good and dangerous point. It’s not natural or native to Dereth that we know of, but with the changes in magic, there’s no reason having so many undead around didn’t bring it in ‘naturally’, as it were, at least in a necromantic sense.”

  “There’s no way the virindi would not know of ghouls, if they have any planar traveling experience at all,” Kris considered slowly. “At the same time, Shades have a control mechanism as part of their darkness infestation, and we haven’t gotten any good looks at the southern tuskers, have we?”

  “Huh. You think the Bhael-Zhaon’s Patron got his hooks into some of them, and is infecting the rest?” Briggs asked, pale green eyes intent on her.

  “I’m saying this Mudmouth is a creation of shadow and virindi magic, as is the False Bobo. Furthermore, Mudmouth was a spellcaster, its appearance as a tusker was basically all show. There’s a lot of things it could have done, especially since tuskers aren’t too bright and bow to strength.”

  “He would have gotten rid of the two women who helped King Bobo out the most,” the Mick broke in suddenly. “Jilna Fullgood, an’ the juju priestess calling herself Kleoh. Apothecary an’ poison expert, respectively. If they are dead, well, Bobo was poisoned by Mudmouth once, an’ might well be again, this time with no King’s Crown infusion to help him fight it off.”

  “The eradication of all the Isparians just being cover to kill off two of them. That sounds incredibly ruthless,” Kris commented grimly.

  “Mudmouth were a cunning little shit what did whatever it took t’ complete its mission. The lives o’ others meant nothing to it. Would nae surprise me a bit were he behind this, an’ that fact only makes it sound more convincin’, Highness, not less,” the Mick nodded firmly. “Nastiness o’ the shades, uncaring ruthlessness o’ the virindi. And if it be true, it got what it was sent t’ do, taking power from Bobo.”

  “That means we have to reach the Tusker King,” Briggs stated.

  “There be a lot o’ monkeys in the way, even if we come as friends. The Summons just go off on ye,” the Mick shook his head. “Even the Isparians, although I dinnae know how much changed with the Fall. The fact they are in there as Summons don’t mean they can’t be reclaimed, aye?”

  As we’d proven they could be. Everyone looked at me, I inclined my head in acknowledgment. “We should get Martine in on this, too,” I said firmly. “They are all basically related. I believe the Prodigal Hea joined him at the Keep, and I’ve heard rumors that Harraag might be joining them there, if it can get Ayan settled to its liking.”

  “I’ve no particular designs on reclaiming Ayan or Wai Jhou,” Briggs grunted. “The banderlings didn’t wipe the town initially, that was a virindi force taking advantage of the Fall. Candeth Keep is much more defensible and commands the terrain around it better. Ayan doesn’t even have a wall.” He rolled his eyes, muttering something about silly magical rules when a town in an incredibly dangerous high-Level monster playground didn’t even have to put up a fence.

  “Are we going under the waterfall there, then?” the Mick asked, frowning. “I have the feeling that will be quite the fight to get in there…”

  “Not the normal way, of course. I want a Scry of the outside first. If what we suspect is true, there are going to be a lot of hostile tuskers outside there,” Briggs confirmed.

  “What, no sending the elite scouts through twenty miles of jungle dripping with powerful tuskers?” I grumbled. “No, no, just have the magos Cast a basic Div and save all the running around and stealthy stuff, sure, sure…”

  “You are the BEST support mage!” Kris grinned shamelessly.

  “Damn right I am.” I got out a basic crystalline plate for the spell, and began to weave it together. I knew the location because of my earlier Locate Creature, so I just scanned for that area and a higher vantage point, and slaved a Holo to it so everyone could see what I was.

  The spell materialized about a hundred yards above the waterfall that was the single largest source of fresh water on Aphus Lassel’s islands. The Dungeon was located behind the rush of water spilling up from below under volcanic pressure or something.

  “Ah,” Briggs murmured grimly, staring at the scene.

  There were hundreds of tuskers gathered in the pool in front of the waterfall. Bones could be seen scattered around the shoreline, where the waters had pushed them back and away from the entry point. The tuskers were a dark green, not black, with soiled and stained armor that was dripping something that was staining the water there, giving it a nasty tinge as it flowed down and out of the pool there.

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  The Mick leaned forwards. “Huh. Those look like the diseased Assailers what popped up on the south island long ago. I guess that disease were more than a disease. Are those Summons, lass? They aren’t moving much.”

  “There is a lot of twisted shadow essence there, it’s kind of hard to tell, and might be immaterial, if they are infused with enough of it,” I responded, eyeing the hundreds of brutish creatures standing guard and contaminating the water supply at the same time. I shifted the focus of the Scry north, to the top of the waterfall instead of the pool at the bottom. There were a hundred more tuskers up there, lazing around in the water and blackening it as they did so.

  “They are either trying to Taint or sicken the tuskers inside the place, but they’ve still managed to hold it. That’s impressive on its face,” I noted.

  “No, it were impossible. There’s more tuskers there than were found in the whole Dungeon afore.” The Mick leaned forwards, studying everything. “The Dungeon be not strong enough to stop that kind o’ force… unless they be using magic.

  “Lass, can a Caster avoid yer divs?”

  “Easily, if they are skilled. A basic Div Ward at VII will block Divs at VIII. If someone thinks that Mudmouth is trying to use Divinations to see what is going on, they could easily block me from seeing them,” I informed them all.

  “Then I think a powerful Caster is running the Isparian spawns inside that Dungeon, and giving the tuskers the edge they need to hold the line. If they are organized and disciplined, the tuskers can provide the brute power and the brainwashed sots the spell power. With their Spawn Points right nearby, they can recycle endlessly faster than the attackers could. If they choose their ground as near the magical traps what Cast Bludgeon Vulns and Shockwaves an’ the like, it could get really bad, really fast for someone coming in.”

  “We can’t truly break the Siege, although I imagine vivus would clean up a lot of the place…” I blinked, and then clenched my fist. The Scry shattered as there was a bit of motion at the edge of my vision.

  Everyone looked at me. “Something was coming, and I didn’t want it to notice me looking.”

  Briggs grunted, looking at the frozen image on the Holo left behind. “It concentrated its forces below, there’s no quick way up to the waterfall if something were to happen. Think you could get up there, slaughter everything, and put something vivic in place to really mess up Mudmouth’s plans?” he asked me.

  I looked at the arrangement of lazy tuskers doing nothing but spreading disease and Taint up top there. No sentries posted or anything, they weren’t expecting anything to get that close. “I could put up a wall around that place, Sound Bubble to contain all the noise, and we could butcher everything inside it, sure. When vivified water starts pouring down from above, it’ll burn the Summons and force them out of the pool as it starts purifying the waters. Put some Vivic Eternal Lights sunken down out of reach of them, and they won’t be able to turn the effect off, either.”

  “You mentioned a King’s Crown Infusion. Let’s say that it might be a solution to this problem. How do we make it, and where do we get it?” Briggs asked reasonably.

  The Mick smiled widely. “King’s Crown flowers grow about the base o’ the Deru Tree on Xik Minru’s Island,” he said cheerfully. “As for making and powering up the Infusion, I have no knowledge o’ that, but I suspect whoever is in charge of the place will know.”

  “You think Madame Kleoh is in there?” Kris reasoned out.

  He nodded. “She were a cunning one who saw things others missed. I expect she an’ Jilna Fullgood might both be in there, directing what Isparian survivors are deep in the Dungeon. If yer Divs were stopped, then stands t’ reason Mudmouth’s were, too, an’ he might not even know there are survivors in there at all.

  “The wholesale slaughter o’ Isparians weren’t like the Tusker King at all. He appreciated having Isparians around t’ work magic an’ do things the tuskers couldn’t, as we’re smarter than his people are. Killing us all would weaken him, not strengthen his position in the slightest.”

  “Mudmouth playing on racial anger and territorialism, then,” Briggs agreed with him. “Ryin, can you insert, wall them in, slaughter them, set up the vivic cleansing, and prep things for a full-scale assault on the outside forces?”

  I studied the numbers of the tuskers there. Despite their infamous vulnerability to fire, that was a lot of meat to have to pound through. If I could just sit in the air and kill them, sure, it wouldn’t be a problem. But how likely was that to happen?

  “Summons have no brains, but the stronger tuskers can toss their little ones right over any walls I put up, so the walls will be contested, even if I make them pretty big and strong. Also, I won’t be able to mana reinforce them, so they can be battered down, even if it might be difficult. Lord Mick said Mudmouth is a Caster, so he could smash them down fairly quickly with straight magic. The walls won’t hold forever…” I shrugged. “I can do it. They aren’t undead, but they are definitely unclean and they have to go. I don’t know if the tuskers down below will notice any residue from the fighting.

  “Once we have the top, I can put in a Teleport Focus and we can start bringing people in via that route.”

  “Do you want Martine and Hea Rheaga there now or later?” Kris asked reasonably.

  “Either way. They may wish to study what Mudmouth has done before or after, but the fact is we’re going to have to run the bastard and his False Bobo to ground and then True Death their asses. It’s a big island with a lot of holes to crawl in. I imagine the Prodigals will want to talk with Bobo, as he was basically the first of them and the most unintended.”

  “We don’t want to be calling on either of them to display their power. Wisdom, experience, and understanding of otherworldly powers at play, sure,” Briggs stated firmly. “We have to make them see we can indeed handle the fighting, even against something like them.”

  I inclined my head slightly. “Well then, why don’t we bring in some real muscle, then?” Everyone looked at me. “Tim’s Ring will be up and working in a few days, and he’ll finally have his appetite under control. I imagine if we put some Buffs on him, and he gets some actually decent armor and effective weapons, even if they are crude ones, he’s going to be a much more terrifying opponent than any tusker on that island is prepared for, right?”

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