Meeting the Client, and Learning the Terrain

See previous chapter here!

Heath walked down the finely paved road of Hosenka Town having gotten nothing but idle speculation and incompetence from the local police force.

Heath chewed on his lip angrily remembering what that fat idiot of a police chief told him, "isn't that why Clayton hired you three magicians? Why should we be going after some magic freak?" Heath's snarl only widened the more he thought about before he heard the clamoring of people around the block.

Turning left on the sidewalk Heath's headache went into overtime as he came upon a situation that almost made him see red. There Moss was, nervously laughing and answering the policemen's questions outside a now thoroughly ruined bar (although it didn't seem in the best condition to begin with).

"Yes sir, he just through a little pig statue at me and ran! Thank goodness I was there to stop it from ruining that poor man's bar!" Moss laughed nervously, hand hidden behind his head in shame.

Moss's laughter came to a screeching halt as he felt a familiar claw dig into his shoulder, "Oh, ugh, hey Heath!" sweat had begun to drip from his forehead, "you'll never believe the kind of day I've had!" Moss tried to lighten the mood with a hardy laugh, but it came out as more of an intimidated whine.

"Judah sent you to gather a little bit of intel on the case," Heath snarled at a now frightened Moss, "and you decided to destroy an entire pub!?" Heath's voice had reached a crescendo and the whole street seem to back away a few steps.

Moss knew he had to explain quickly, "hey, on the bright side I think I found our guy!" The grip of Moss's shoulder, that had only grown tighter, loosened at this new prospect.

Eyes still sharp, Heath managed to snap a response, and he began to drag Moss back to the inn where the team was supposed to meet up.

Meanwhile...

Judah had reached the brightly lit carnival where a large neon sign hung above the entrance reading: ''Crazy Clayton's Compendium of Calamity and Cheer! ''

Judah stalked towards the front gate where a teenage attendant stood bored and alone in a decrepit booth that read "Entrance".

"Ah ah ah" said the teenager, sticking his hand out at Judah, "sorry, no entry at the moment sir, it's closed until further notice."

Judah eyed the young man hesitantly, "look kid, I'm looking for Clayton Bartee, he hired me for a job involving a carnie he fired; do you know where I can find him?" At that the kid's ears perked up, "Oh! You're that guy! Yeah follow me I'll lead you to him."

Putting a closed sign on the booth, the young man, whose name read "Cory" on his crooked nametag, led Judah to an equally decrepit administrative building that read: Information and Administration.

Cory barged in through the front door surprising a rotund-looking man in a yellow striped suit, "Clayton this is the mage guy you hired to take care of Cascus" the now identified Clayton looked up at Judah, and his face brightened immediately, "Oh yes my boy come in!" He said jovially.

The large man rushed over, his receding, orange hair combed back, "you must Judah! Real pleasure to have you here!" The man continued to shake his hand vigorously. Judah eyed him until Clayton realized his awkwardness and let his hand go.

"Yes sir, that's me!" Judah replied professionally with a dip of his head, "My name is Judah, and my partners, who are busy gathering intelligence, are Moss and Heath." Clayton wrung his hands excitedly, "oh yes! Thanks for coming on such short notice!"

Judah raised his hand in a sort of "no problem" gesture before he continued, "so if I may ask, what is the full nature of this assignment you wanted?"

Clayton stiffened quickly, and, adjusting his tie, spoke hurriedly, "yes, that man.... The man I fired went by the name of Cascus Niles, and... Well... He was an absolute maniac," the large man's speech changed and got faster, "he always seemed wrong, but he worked for cheap, and he showed up on time, and he never complained, and-" Cory stopped him short.

"Clayton, calm down. Tell him what happened." Clayton took a deep breathed and dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief he had retrieved from his pocket, "yes, you're right Cory. Anyways, Cascus was a weird guy, but we never had problems until about a week ago." The man's expression soured, "a boy's mother came up to me angrily saying there was a man who was scaring the kids in the fun house." Cory suddenly jumped in, "yeah, more like attacking them" he said with a scowl.

Clayton nodded, "well I went to confront Cascus about it and he just went ballistic!" Clayton shifted uncomfortably, "he started slinging curses and threats so bad I couldn't think which was worse, his words or his actions!" Clayton stroked a non-existent beard, "he screamed at me saying how I "didn't know true fun", I mean, what a nutjob am I right?" Cory silently nodded.

"Well anyway I fired him on the spot and thought that was it," Clayton muttered, "but he kept coming back, the next day and the next day, then-" Clayton lowered his eyes, "he came back at night and attacked the carnival with these weird carvings."

Judah stopped him short, "carvings?"

"Yes carvings, like statues." Clayton looked to Cory, "there was a hog-type thing, a lion, a tiger, and a eagle, except they were just normal statues at the beginning." Clayton rubbed his forehead, "but he threw them like rocks as us and they sort of..." He trailed off.

"They sort of... what?" Judah questioned. Clayton struggled to get the words out before Cory once again cut in, "they grew, fast, like really fast. They went from little desk souvenirs to monstrous creatures the size of cars!" Cory said exasperated.

"We were lucky to get out of their with everyone intact and relatively uninjured." Cory continued, "the equipment that was destroyed we moved to the back, you can take a look later on if you want."

Judah's face wrinkled in thought, this was really bad. Judah knew of Doll magic's inherent abilities but this was something new. "Alright guys thanks, I'll get back to you tomorrow on this but I have to regroup with my friends first." Cory and Clayton nodded and said their goodbyes.

As Judah walked back towards the town's center he became lost in thought, and never noticed the man in the alley...