Greed God chapter 87

January 29th 2016 Gotham City 6:00 PM

"So  this magic super bar is in Gotham?" Because I felt like I'd have heard  of the Oblivion Bar if it was around here. I may not have lived in  Gotham most of my life but I spent tons of time here. Then again I  doubted most people in New York knew about Midnite's so maybe expecting  to know all about obscure magical shit was unrealistic. For all I knew  there was a magic barber shop under Gotham Station.

To my  surprise Zee sawed her hand back and forth. "Yes and no. It's not  actually anywhere really. It's a pocket dimension that exists outside of  reality. Since it's not anchored anywhere you can enter it from  multiple points all over the world. The pocket dimension's relationship  with realspace is somewhat fluid." That actually sounded really useful. I  made a mental note to try to make one of those later on. Being able to  cross continents with a step sounded useful as fuck. Her explanation  also explained why she led me to a shitty looking run down door in an  alley before stopping.

She made a series of clipped knocks  in a random sounding pattern. A surprising number of taps and a few  counter signs later the door made a series of clicking sounds as what  sounded like a dozen locks were unlatched. Finally the thing swing up  showing...a monkey in a deerstalker. I blinked. I'd seen some weird shit  in my life, but sapient chimps in costume smoking cigars was enough to  give even me pause. The monkey apparently didn't enjoy the stares  because he snarled. "What's the matter stretch, you never seen a primate  in a hat before?"

It took me a second to process that. I  looked over to Zee. "So...monkeys talk in this pocket dimension? Or is  the booze here so good I'm getting contact drunk from the door opening?"  She look amused, but her response was cut off as I felt a walking stick  slam into my leg. It didn't hurt of course. My mantle absorbed the  impact, but it was still annoying that he tried, so I glared down at the  little thug. WAY down. I was MUCH taller than he was.

He  stared back at me without flinching. "I. Am. A. Chimp. Are you stupid  you fucking behemoth? Do you see a tail coming out of my ass? Compare me  to those shit slinging banana gobblers again and the two of us are  going to have a problem." He seemed unaware that I hadn't been at all  harmed by his hit, but the sheer balls it took to spit his game at a guy  who was literally more than twice his height and three times his weight  was pretty fucking impressive. I gave a slow nod to let him know I  understood, and he stepped back to let us in.

When we  stepped through the door, I noticed a slight shift in the humidity, as  in, the normal east coast humidity vanished, because the Oblivion Bar  had none. I looked around to take in the place and had to admit I'd been  expecting something more...spooky. It was mostly just a really nice bar  though, a series of small stylish tables surrounded by comfy chairs and  lit with candles for ambiance. Everyone in the place seemed relaxed and  comfortable, and a few quick appraisals showed me there was a decent  mix of evil and good magic users, so this place was obviously neutral  territory like Midnite's was.

The chimp led us toward a  specific table, and Zee waved at the busty dark haired girl seated at  the table in a domino mask. The girl, Nightshade presumably, waved back  enthusiastically, and she jumped up from her seat and ran to hug my  squealing magic user. The two squeezed each other, shrieking happily as  the chimp winced at the loud high pitched sounds of excitement.

I  wasn't particularly bothered. Girls greeted each other like this at  school all the time when I was younger. I gave them both a once over,  enjoying the bouncing. Zee looked good as always, but Nightshade was  pretty damn sexy too. Fairly tall and busty with dark hair and pretty  regal features from what I could see around the domino mask. Sadly the  bouncing stopped and the two of them walked back to the table. Sitting  down and ordering drinks. I got a mug of rum, not that it would do much  to me anymore. I'd become much less susceptible to alcohol. Still I'd  always loved the taste of rum.

Nightshade sipped her mai  tai. "So, Zee, what brings you to the Bar. You aren't usually one to  visit this place. Not that I'm not happy to see you." She gave me a  smile and a once over. "I have to say I do enjoy your taste in company.  You always have the best taste in guys." She held out a hand to me, palm  down, as if to be kissed, rather than to shake, and I obliged. "I'm  Nightshade, but any friend of Zee's can call me Evie. What's your name  handsome?"

I kissed the back of her gloved hand and pulled  back with a grin. "Nicky, please. As much as I wish I was here to enjoy  your company, Zee and I have been having a bit of trouble back in  Gotham. We ran into a few old friends of yours. Sadly they were less  pleasant than yourselves, but Zee said you might be able to shed some  light on what they were upto. They called themselves Pentacle?"

Nightshade's  full lips twisted in annoyance. "Business then." Her voice had lost  it's flirty edge, and while it wasn't cold, it was definitely serious  now. "Pentacle are...the definition of annoying. Most of them are  harmless honestly. But the two real threats are doozies. The first is  Strega, that vicious bitch will slit your throat and laugh while your  blood sprays her face, but honestly she's not the one you need to watch  out for. Fucking Karnival is the scary one. Youngest member of their  group, and a legitimate sociopath. Rumor says he got kicked out of hell  because the staff thought he was too extreme."

That  was...kind of hardcore. I made a mental note to murder the living shit  out of the guy if I met him. I'd noticed people who other people called  pure evil tended to be really unpleasant and fairly irrational about  most things. I didn't much gone in for morality one way or the other,  but irrational people were dangerous. Regardless, that wasn't what the  information we needed. "Noted, but we're actually not here about  Pentacle themselves. They pulled off some summoning ritual or something  and woke up something scary. We can't find any info on it so we thought  you guys might be able to shed some light on the subject."

Instead  of the hottie, the chimp was the one to answer this time. "Hardly.  Pentacle are a bunch of grade A morons. It isn't a shock they tried the  wrong invocation, but it could have been for anything. Maybe if we knew  what this big spooky was trying to do we could help better. Any ideas  about it's plan?" He turned to look at Zee, obviously expecting her to  be the one to give him the down low on the mystical particulars.  Which...wasn't unfair. I barely knew anything about magic at the moment,  though it was still more than I'd known before.

Zee, for  her part, was happy to share. She pulled out map out of her pocket,  which had to be magic because her clothes were WAY too tight to have  been hiding a map that thick, and unfurled it on the table. "We don't  know much. We managed to get some info on the overarching plan but it's  less illuminating than you might think. Whoever this warlock is he's  planning to change the layout of Gotham's leylines to create a permanent  self sustaining ritual circle. We just don't know what spell or ritual  he's going to use. We also don't have a name. Or at least nothing valid.  Apparently he's taken to calling himself Doctor Gotham."

Nightshade  and the chimp looked disturbed. The heroine spoke up.  "That's...ambitious." She turned to the chimp. "You don't think it could  be...him, do you? I mean, given this is Gotham we're talking about.  You're the expert on him, I've never actually run across him before.  Hell I wouldn't even know he existed if you hadn't told us about him."  She sounded extremely worried, which didn't seem like a good thing given  the kind of shit Zee said these people dealt with on the regular.

The  chimp chewed his cigar. "It might be. If anyone would know the local  environment well enough to attempt something that crazy it would be him.  Plus if anyone ELSE tried it I'd say the chances of him not waking up  and glassing their whole neighborhood would be slim. The question is how  the hell did Pentacle find out he existed, and what on earth made them  think trying to invoke him was a good idea. That's pretty much peak  level stupid, especially IN Gotham."

Zee cut in. "Sorry to  interrupt but it sounds like you do know this guy, which is good news.  We might be able to figure out what he's planning now that we know who  he is. So fill us in. What's his name? His MO? We need to know  everything we can about him. Trying to narrow it down hasn't exactly  been easy, given that Gotham is such a hotspot for supernatural evil."  Her excitement over the lead was palpable, but it definitely wasn't  infectious.

The chimp shook his  head. "You don't get it. He doesn't have a name. At least not one anyone  can remember. Whoever buried him down there did it so long ago that  there are no written records. I heard about him from an old Shaman who  heard about him from an even older Druid when he was a boy. You know  that magical hotspot you mentioned? That wasn't there before he was laid  to rest under that spot. The wellspring of supernatural power and  darkness that has permeated the city that is currently known as Gotham  IS him. It's his ambient energy, seeping from the tomb where he was  sealed."

I  wasn't an expert on this magic stuff but that sounded kind of fucking  terrible. Zee certainly looked disturbed. "The question is what the hell  would someone like that need a ritual like this for? If his power is  mixed into the local leylines that thoroughly he would certainly have  the know how to do it, but with power like his what would he even need a  spell of this scale for? Whatever it is, it can't be anything good, for  us or for Gotham. Maybe we can get some clue from whatever he was  trying to do before he was buried. Do you know anything about it?"

Once  again all we got was a headshake from that talking primate. "Nothing.  Like I said, I don't even know his name or the name of the guy who put  him there. I might know someone who would though. Sargon the Sorcerer is one of the oldest and strongest magic users in the world. He's a homo magi like Zee over there, and might be willing to talk to her. I can put  you in touch if you want? He might be able to help even if we can't come personally. We have some...other matters that require our attention."

Zee  looked amenable to the idea but I shook my head. I had pretty much had my fill of meetings. "You go ahead. I need  to get back to Gotham and get ready for this party. Whoever this guy is  he can't be planning anything good and I need to make sure my friends  are ready in case worst comes to worst." 

I stood up turning to Zee.  "Keep me up to date? I want to know what's coming as much as you do, but  I feel like working from two fronts is a better call." She smiled and  gave me a kiss on the cheek. I nodded to the others, trying not grin as I  felt Nightshade slip something that I was pretty sure was her number  into my pocket, and then headed out of the Oblivion Bar. I had  preparations to make, and it was going to be even more important than  I'd thought before.