Models wanted

Elias called me a couple of days ago. He seemed a little upset. He had a person he found who was ill. The lady claimed to be a model from a local modeling agency, and to be 24. However, she looked to be easily 80.

Have I ever mentioned that Elias reminds me of a 1970s police detective?

Elias believed her, he tracked down who she claims to be and it is a younger woman who hasn’t been seen for a few days. He also noted that this happened five years ago, and five years before that. Pretty women who were models would disappear, only to reappear old, decrepit and dying.

Evidently five years ago he came across a similar situation, but was reluctant because of how unreal it seemed. The lady passed away of old age before he could prove it. So now it seems Elias is feeling personal about this. Especially when he realized at the very minimum it had happened five years before that as well.

So I followed up and interviewed the lady. She is whip-smart, even in her advanced age. I realized she was a model who knew what she was doing. You see the same thing in the dancing field. There are women, I do think of myself as one of them, who use it to make money and go where they want to go. “Mandy” (that is what I will call her for her privacy) is exactly like that.

Still a hot woman

She told me she went down to a local photographer who had set up a shoot with her. The next thing she knew, she was on the side of the road, old, in pain and desperate.

I have to say though, Mandy was holding her shit together. Here was a lady who was 24 or 25, who found herself in her late 80s and at the end of life. She was upset, but holding on like a tigress. It makes me so happy when I see other women who can hold their shit together.

So Kylo, Elias and I all went down to the photography studio (name redacted to protect the stupid). We arrived inside and approached the owner. We could tell something was off and secured him for a short while, until he started whipping magic out, mostly in the form of wards.

Fuck him I said!!! 

We chased him down and tried to stop him outside on the sidewalk, I nailed him with a taser and it bounced off his field. He then turned into a motherfucking demon. A 10 foot tall, broad ass demon.

This doesn’t do him justice

We laid into him hard. I burned a stone taking him down. This was unusual, it almost never takes more then one lightning bolt, let alone enough power for 20 of them. It also took Kylo emptying a clip and Elias shooting all the shots in his pistol.

I called Piper and had him come out (he is charging Austin City separately). He confirmed it is a REAL MOTHERFUCKING DEMON. Not a halfblood, not someone who found themselves accidently on the other side, but a full demon with some sort of implant in his heart that keeps him here.

Well it turns out he wasn’t completely dead, so we had to finish him off, and Piper took the device before we did finish him, because everything of his vanished on his death. We got back and I scanned the studio. The demon has been here a long time, using the magic for his “demon cameras” and for himself. I think he has been taking energy off all his clients and every five years he has to do a ritual. It doesn’t look like he will be doing it again though.

We got back and I talked with Mandy and her roommate. After talking with Hunter and trying to figure out “the right thing to do” I offered to reduce Mandy’s age. Of course I told her I would want payment, and it will be a good payment, but I need to accept I probably would do it for free if needed. Damn this new conscience thing.

So Mandy and her roommate both are going to use my services. Her roommage is 28 and I am going to drop her down to 18-19 in looks to give her more years in the business. Same with Mandy, but I am going to wait a week until she uses this being aged business and me healing her for publicity.

Shit, this probably means I am on the news… actually that has been confirmed I am public again.

That is ok, I think I might pursue this. I never considered my age reduction spells as a way to make money, but shit it sounds like its worth a lot of money. I need to buy a palatial estate with many servants… ok let’s be honest I need vacation places, I don’t think I am moving away from Mason.

Compass

I went into Austin last week. Piper had called me up and asked me to come over, and to bring the compass. The most important part he stressed was that I should not utilize the compass until I had brought it with me.

The compass sort of looks like this.

I showed up in town and went to see him. He had someone at his counter wanting desperately to own a grimoire and to be a real mage, but I could tell the person didn’t have the spark. It was kind of sad really.

Finally he came back into the back rooms with me and we talked about the Compass. His understanding is that these compasses are rare and very potent, almost relics. They are made for specific individuals and unless you are attuned to them, they will cause you bad luck, real bad luck.

My compass was made by the two Seelie Courts in a ritual. That would definitely mean I won’t mess with it until it was attuned. Piper said he could attune it with me if I wanted. He even had a way using sex magic.

Seelie court I think.

That caught my interest. I always like having sex with him anyways, and being able to practice magic with him, and especially during sex doesn’t seem to have too many down points.

He did tell me a story about a Wiccan woman who wanted to practice it with him, and the hilarious response he gave her. Ya, I don’t see him doing that with most people. We do get along great together. We both know this is a physical thing. Don’t get me wrong I consider him a close personal friend, but we are not a “thing” or a relationship. It makes it easy, and clean.

He took me downstairs to his ritual room. All the while giving me a hard time because as we stepped into his danky dark basement I made light. True, I think I could see just fine down there, but I like the light, what can I say.

It kind of looked like this.

The room itself is beautiful, etched in magical designs with several crossing wards. It will work perfectly. He explained he would bring a bed in, but that I would need to prepare for the ritual by going without sex for a week. I will admit, that was a hard week (HAHA not in the way I would hope) but that week went by without a problem.

I showed up a week later with a white robe and he walked me through a ritual down in the room. It involved the bed, me on my hands and knees and him behind me with the compass on my back. It was an intense session and the sex was good. I suspect I did better than most non-demons, but I do admit I lost part of it at the end with the intensity. At least he kept it together.

It was pretty comfortable actually.

So now I have an attuned compass. Now it is time to see what it does.

Hula Hut the Tiki Bar… of the DEAD!!!

We had our very first official mission that was actually brokered by James. What we didn’t realize is it would involve a necromancer and a Tiki Bar… you heard me right, a Necromancer and a Tiki Bar. It sounds like the start of a joke.

Definitely not what you would expect a poltergeist to haunt.

James arranged for us to meet a man named Jeff who owned the Hulu Hut. A local popular tourists’ destination in Austin. Evidently for the last two months he had been suffering from a haunting. Specifically, a poltergeist who destroys property and hurts his patrons.

We discussed this for a while and decided we need to look at the Tiki Bar to get a feel for it. Before we arrived, I talked with Piper and he wasn’t so sure about a poltergeist, it didn’t seem right and with all the little details I would have to agree. So, upon arriving I was prepared to look for something more involved, something different.

While at the Hula Hut I discovered it is a Tex-Mex with a Polynesian twist. The food seems great as does the drinks. We enjoyed some food while we examined the area Jeff told us about hiring hunters after being turned down by the cops. Evidently three times they fixed it, but it didn’t stick, which would be unusual since that is what hunters are good at.

We looked at old video footage and it helped us determine the time. From there I used my historical and seeker spells and we noted something specific. Before each occurrence a woman would walk into the bar, wrapped in a cloak, make hand motions similar to other spellcasting I have seen then walk out. I managed to trace her out to her van.

Kylo traced the license plate back to a woman that turned out to be Jeff’s ex-girlfriend who believed he owed her part of the tiki bar. We confirmed that it looked like she was casting necromancy, which is mega bad. It is a death penalty to be convicted of it, and rightfully so. So, to prepare got our gear together, talked with Piper and I called ahead to Elias at the Police Station to prepare. Even a minor necromancer is bad news.

So Kylo, Paz and myself went to her house and found it dark and quiet. I cast silence and we scooted through the house securing it. We caught her in her bed and secured her without incident. She was crying, pleading for her life. We also found her shrine to a death god. I am still going to need to study who that was.

On our way to the station she lost her shit and freaked out. She rotted out the inside of Kylo’s car, almost catching us. She even caught my hair a bit, leaving a grey dead bit that I couldn’t shift, I had to cut it off and regrow it. Holy shit I am glad none of us got it on our skin. We secured her again and turned her into Elias.

While at the station Elias felt a little bad about not taking Jeff serious when he came to them before. He was elated we got her (and yes she is going to be tried and if found guilty executed for being a necromancer). While there I got to watch an elf come in who interrogated her. He has a lot of power and is supposed to be from Ireland. I am going to need to get a hold of Ruby and see if she knows who he is.

We got paid by Jeff for the job, and collected a 10k bounty on the lady. I hadn’t thought in time to scour her house, next time I will make sure I do that as well.

After that I went back to my condo stayed the night with Paz, then went home and stayed with Hunter, telling him about the job. I need to keep a closer eye out on this sort of thing. I am sure there are lots of things to learn from it, but it is also like sticky taffy, something you don’t want to do.

Attempted Hijacking

Things have been incredibly busy the last several weeks. So busy in fact that I need to cover them extremely briefly, and not the details I normally give.

1. We have formed a new business called Spell Solutions, a security and investigative firm that utilizes magic and high tech to provide the above security and investigations. Kylo is a full partner, we hired Paz to be our “shotgun bunny” and an older man named James who is taking the from end management. He is even good at diplomacy so I will probably let him handle full negotiations. He has a small granddaughter who stays with him.
2. Rose has bought a house and is having it upgraded. She sent some of her technical stuff via train and asked us to take it from Austin back to Mason. It sounded super valuable so we got ourselves a rental truck, Kylo, Paz and myself escorted it back, we got jumped by six nobodies who were stopped immediately by us. Hunter arrested them and suggested I pick up some non-lethal spells… he is right of course.
3. A group of college kids showed up at the center of town to “call down the moon” or some such shit. Hunter arrested them and I checked them to make sure they weren’t plants from whoever is trying to get the power of the well. I also took off of them a compass that will show you the direction of whatever you ask for it. One of the kids got it from a business partner of his father. It could come in handy.
4. Paz and I are full on seeing each other. Hunter doesn’t seem to have a problem at all, even when she is over in Mason. I suspect that is because Paz doesn’t have a penis, I suspect it wouldn’t be so pretty otherwise. Life is going great with me and Hunter, and me and Paz and I am happy.
5. Still studying magic, picked up sunbolt, a spell super effective against vampires. I am also getting along with the studying of the well, and just studying general magic with Piper at least weekly.
6. Oh, our business office is in Austin and I am going to probably go out there daily or close to daily. It is a good habit to use the office we remodeled out of AN OLD BANK!!!! Holy shit like the best ritual magic room/prison for those I need to keep magically locked in. It is fantastic. Jeff our realtor is awesome for finding it.

That is the most basic of my life right now, there are a lot more details, but I let grass grow too deep between posting so I wanted to give you the highlights.

Georgie

Georgie is probably the largest, yet most lovey dog I have ever met.

Let’s start from the beginning. I have been looking around for more magic work when Elias calls me for a job, leaving a message. I call him back and he gives me a very brief overview.

A well-to-do woman has had her dog kidnapped and has not stopped harassing Elias for days. She is claiming it is a hellhound and that his name is Georgia and he is really sweet. I listen to the detective, but the fact she has money means this might be worth it. After all, a couple of simple seek spells along with maybe a history spell means this should be over in two hours and several hundred richer, so I take it.

I arrive a few hours later at a lady named “Tabby’s” upscale house. Just walking up you can smell the money. The door opens and it is an older blonde woman with a bob haircut. I immediately envision she is recently divorced, bitter and drunk regularly. The glass of wine she is carrying that is half full confirm at least that last part for me before anything else.

She may be older but she knows what she is worth.

She is nice, surprisingly so, and goes into detail about picking up Georgie off the streets and finding out later that he is a hellhound. I check out the pictures and he does look huge… and indeed he looks like a ferocious beast of a hellhound, maybe twice my size. Seriously I could get pixies/fairies to ride it like a heavy mount. His eyes though are incredibly peaceful, I haven’t ever heard of a peaceful hellhound.

Fast for a bit of time and I had done the necessary magic to determine what had happened. Georgie was indeed doggy napped by a human-only member named Curly (yes he is bald) and his friends. They ran off with the dog and evidently the lady was correct and both Elias and I were wrong.

He is still a really cute dog, big but cute.

I went back to the cops and asked them about “Curly” and they gave me the details of his criminal record. He is a bit rough, and has some contact but honestly nothing I was worried about.

More research digs up that they are part of a dog fighting ring. I get the location and then convince by Kylo and Paz to come along. I will give each of them 25% and keep 50% myself. We rolled out all angry on how Georgie was taken and now I was pretty sure poor Tabby will lose her love and it will be a spitting, fire breathing hellhound waiting for us.

We hit the dog fighting encampment hard. You never seen so many people just run from us, even before we engaged. We had everyone gone or on the ground within 5 minutes. The area was secured and we did find poor Georgie.

dog fighting camp

Georgie had evidently refused to fight any of the dogs and allowed himself to be mauled. We fixed him up of course, rescued the dogs we could and called the cops in. The elven cop that works with Elias showed first, he seemed pleased by what happened and reassured Curly that he had no injuries and therefore nothing to report. I appreciated that.

We then got Georgie home, where he met up with his mom figure, Tabby, who was crying the whole time. The emotion was hard, but we reassured her everything was good and she is going to try and push us among her friends, that would be cool.

 

More Vampires

I am not sure what it is about Texas, but there are a hell of a lot of vampires out here. Evidently there are even gargantuan bug like vampires called primordials that are older than dirt and more powerful then a full vampire hive.

Let’s back this up a bit. Chastity came to me to tell me she has been having dreams that something is coming to attack/tap the well. I gathered everyone else and we listened again and the elders of the town agreed to take it serious. So I called out Pazo for healing and shotguns and Kylo for his combat experience.

We waited for four days and nothing came. Meanwhile the diner is doing great and Chastity had some sort of religious ceremony with her and her kid. It looked sort of like a pagan/wiccan thing, but something was there. I couldn’t see it, but I could see the well reacting to it.

The fifth not is when shit hit the fan. Three people entered the town on foot at night. One of them immediately headed towards the well at full speed, so I started unloading lightning bolts at him. I completely realize this could end badly for someone innocent, but it just felt wrong. Turns out I was right.

I hate it when the face opens up. Its s gross!!!

I hit him square several times, it did seem to damage, but he should have been dead with the first hit. I needed to stop him so I charged out after him, while everyone else was engaging the other two vampires.

Evidently a second vampire got to the well while I was fighting with the first one. He stabbed some sort of spear like item into the ground an the whole park lit up like it was on fire. The vampire shifted into some hideous creature creature over ten feet tall, all bug-like with proboscis and a temper.

They were magic flames, not real flames though.

We were fortunate, it charged at the other vampires while we eventually were able to destroy it. The night ended with us being fixed up, and all the vampires being burned… Oh and Kylo, Paz and I covered in vampire juice which stinks far worse then any skunk.

We also talked with Hunter, Jess and Chastity and realized that the previous vampires were not due to that human we killed. There was something outside of town directing vampires in, trying to mutate them into primordial versions. It means we have to keep an eye on things closer, we can’t allow that to happen.

In addition, it seems that the lightning not nearly as effective, so I am going to learn sunbolt, which shoots bolts of sunlight so hot its like a welder’s torch and effects almost anything. That will be nice and effective.

I was able to offset the stink after awhile, I remembered I had remove smell spell in my books, I just hadn’t ever used it for anything, just as a spring board to work on some harder air spells. Evidently even my little spells come in handy.

Finally got back into Austin, got the books for sunbolt and talked with Piper. Realized I could use my tracking magic to find where the original script it was written from was when it was written, it might allow me to track down old tomes that have less errors and are worth a lot of money on the open market.

What I learned was that vampires are being directed by something else, sunbolt is more effective on vampires, and I might be able to make more money with magic then I ever realized. This doesn’t even include that I know spells I didn’t even realize that are effective.

Contract Cashed In: Fat Man Dead!

You remember that guy who sold the carved elven phallus magical foci? I am sure you do because that was the weirdest job I think I have done. Well it turns out in fact that man (or I should say elf disguised as a fat sweaty guy) has a contract out on his head.

Ruby got back to us a few weeks ago confirming this, in turn we have been preparing. The plan was simple, Piper would arrange to sell a valuable item that the guy wants, we would deliver it and put him down hard.

It should be noted that Piper would almost never do this, he takes is client/foci dealer relationships seriously, but this elf is a bad bad person. Rapey, abusing type bad and on top of that the elf has a really bad rep. Piper figured not only would it be financially beneficial to him to help, but it would be a public service getting rid of him.

Ruby arrived, Piper made the arrangements and we went over and got Kylo for the badass gun support. The meet was arranged with myself, Ruby and Kylo going out onto the guy’s beautiful property.

The guy had some electronic security measures, but since we were meeting him that didn’t pose a problem. There of course was a huge ton of magical wards and defenses, but that is why we have Ruby. Her speciality is healing and dropping/putting up wards.

Ruby is fairly hot IMHO

The big problem was a pride of panthers (is it a pride when its panthers?). They are familiars and we were unsure how much they would defend him, or attack him. We were gambling that overall most of them wouldn’t help him. After all it is unlikely he is nice to them if he isn’t nice to his lady friends.

They were cute, but not this small.

We rolled up on the scene in a van and saw the familiars following us. There is something awe-inspiring about a pack of panthers (or is that wolves) following silently. We waited outside for a couple of minutes after ringing the bell. I made sure I was in front of the camera, he liked coping a feel last time, maybe that would relax him if he recognized me.

I imagine he looks like this when he is larping.

Evidently it did, because he came out smiling and led us back in. He definitely took advantage of walking behind me by touching my ass. I was worried he wouldn’t stop until he was inside me, through my pants. I just gave him a big smile and I think he was so focused on that he didn’t notice Ruby start dropping his wards when we were inside.

I am not sure what happened behind me specifically because I turned to the fat man and as soon as Ruby dropped the ward that prevented me from touching my magic I ssummoned the biggest lightning spell I could and drilled him with it. While the gunfire and magic behind me erupted at the familiars.

I kept casting the spell until the crumpled body in front of me smelled like burnt flesh and quit moving. You can never be too sure about another mage, and especially an elven mage who might cast one of their fucked up death curses. We then rummaged the house for all the papers, valuables we could.

End result is we walked away with $125k for each of us from the contract, plus whatever we could heist that my awesome accountant can pawn, sell or cash in.

Personal Life Update: Rose and Mother Moons

This month has been slower then expected. I haven’t gotten any real jobs, so it was mostly focused on entertaining Rose, convincing her to come live down here and getting to know Charity better.

The Rose thing went well, she is going to finish up her project in NYC then leave. She will have to take two years out of action due to her NDA, but she can spend that time down here working on projects, and then just get even richer from her work then she does now.

I dropped her off at the train station, already was missing her when she climbed up on the train and waved to me. Maybe I should go visit her once before she leaves, take advantage of that Manhattan condo of hers.

The other thing I have been working on is talking with Charity. She is another dancer, a hedge mage/witch that comes from a long line of witches. She dances so she can work less and be around her son who is getting into trouble. Not the drugs and girls trouble but the bad boys and using his lightning ability type of trouble.

We talked and I had her come out to Mason and look around. She is the whole “mother goddess” archetype all rolled into one. She is sweet, she is a good cook and she took my offer to run the restaurant in town I bought. I ended up buying that cannibalistic bbq joint and we are stripping it down and making it into a small place.

She brought her son out, he seemed to like it out here. I think I impressed him with my lightning spell and armor… although he is 12 so I think a lot of things impress him. He is a good kid and I am glad she decided to come out and do it. I even gave her 10k as a sign on bonus, this way if she finds she hates Mason she has money put away to move back to where she wants to go.

I guess she is going to name the place “Mother Moon’s”. It kind of fits her. I guess this is where I start my land holding empire! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

The Weekend: Part 2 “Shot by an Assassin”

You heard that right folks, I was fucking shot by an assassin the same weekend Rose showed up. I will tell you know that I am both eternally grateful to Paz for saving me, and to Spike for taking down the asshole who did that.

Let me rewind for a minute. We had just finished dropping off the kid we had escorted from Houston the night before (Friday night). The of course is the weekend with the same incident with the scorpion. Rose and I then wandered around town enjoying ourselves and found that evidently I had made the news. We didn’t think anything about it at all, but we should have.

Saturday night rolls up and I go to the club to dance. It is funny, Rose, Piper, Hunter and even Kylo keep asking me why do I bother to still dance. I make more money with magic. I think part of me its a routine that doesn’t involve others and ties me back before I lost my memory, but that could also just be a lot of armchair psychology and maybe I am just a slut.

So my number starts and I notice this freak sitting up against the stage. He just stares at me during my whole set. I get that creepy vibe, but this isn’t new. It actually happens quite frequently and I don’t think he is a match for me, so I don’t think about it anymore.

Earlier in the night it was quiet

I come out for my second set and I start dancing. I notice the guy stand up and I am just assuming he is going to do something inappropriate when I see him pull a pistol out. My first instinct is to stun him with lightning, but that does absolutely no good and that is when he shoots me. You heard it right, shoots me solid in the upper chest. Next thing I know I am on the ground bleeding, looking for Rose to pull her aside and we get behind one of the bars.

At this point Spike just steps forward howling in joy. A whip appears out of nowhere and wraps around his head. At some point she has him down and cuts his head off with a knife. Meanwhile everyone runs out, and the girls go get Paz who heals me. I think my wound was pretty serious, Paz joked about it and wouldn’t talk too much, but the paleness she had on her face when she saw me gave away more then her talking. 

I wish I could say Spike wasn’t this cute, but she really is.

The cops are all over Spike but I tell the cops what happened and that there was no head (by the way, Spike had removed the guys head and given it to me to find information with magic later). The cops distrust Spike but have to leave her alone.

Eventually I call Hunter to tell him I am ok and he is so angry on the phone. Not with me, it is that useless anger that you can’t do anything. He tells me to stay in town and I do. We go hang with Piper, Rose and I. Meanwhile Kylo goes searching our condo to double check no one else is there.

After a romp with Piper and Rose I feel more like myself and I cast some of my magic on the head and find that my old team commanders had seen me on the news and sent him after me. I then get back to Hunter and do more magic on the head (much to Hunter’s annoyance that I do things like that) and find more details.

First, I did take the account numbers out of the assassin’s head of the $200,000 he was given as a down payment to kill me. The accountant is going to run those through some offshore accounts and give me 180k (keeping 10%, which is a good deal for me).

I also found that my old commanders are super angry with me. Evidently I had a plan in action that when they messed with my head and sent me away, it fucked them over financially. I don’t even remember what I did, but it makes me happy with my old self that she thought of that.

Meanwhile Hunter is very very angry that someone attacked me, and the rest of the town is very concerned. So much for keeping things quiet… however it is nice to have people evidently care enough about me. I guess I have been here for quite a while. I also feel warm and fuzzy that Hunter got so angry. I don’t  know how serious we are, he hasn’t really talked about it, he just lets me keep clothing here at his house, but I wonder if it is serious with how he reacted.

During all of this time Rose and I are talking. She wants to strike out on her own and away from a corporation working on weapons. She wants to develop prosthetics that she wants, not that the military wants. I took her around here and she was dumbfounded by how cheap it is. She may sell her stuff in New York, come down here buy a place and live down here with us. That would mean so much to me, but I am trying not to put any pressure. 

We figure she could work down here on her own projects for two years. Once the two years are up, her NDA is over and she can be a consultant and sell her stuff. She will always be rich even on what she has made so far, but this might allow her to put stuff out there to help people. Maybe she can even work a way to work with the Red Order healers. That is probably not, but you never know what happens in the future.

So that is my weekend, scorpions, being shot, sex, taking a lot of money from those trying to shoot me, and maybe having Rose come live with us in Mason. I call it a good weekend.

 

The Weekend – Part 1: Scorpion Love

The first weekend that Rose has been here has been the most action-packed weekend I have had. I think she may have a skewed view of my life, or maybe I do thinking it’s fairly slow.

Piper called and he asked if me if I could pick up Jenny and her son (I can never remember that kids name for the life of me). Of course, I agreed. It might only be $500, and I may have to split it with Kylo (I promised him I would start taking him with me), but for a few hours’ trip over two days it isn’t bad. I figure it is also good advertising for me and Kylo.

Rose was incredibly excited and I can’t blame her. She has never been out in the wilds like this. So, we got her in some armor just in case there is a fight. I realize it is over protective and paranoid but I would rather be crazy then dead. We then got in the truck.

At least we could keep cool in our armor plated truck

We headed out to Houston, Rose was excited for a while, then the boredom of driving took over for a couple hours. That is until the traffic stopped. There was honking, flashing lights, something was going on.

I am one to never be left out of things so I drove up closer and I saw the biggest fucking scorpion I had ever seen. I don’t mean a large couple of foot long scorpion, I am talking a giant, size of a cow or bigger scorpion. It was in the middle of the road, taking up multiple lanes. No one dared try to drive past.

It took up almost the whole freeway.

Rose’s eyes got huge, but I have to say she never shrank away. She has metal in her, I think if she didn’t she wouldn’t have gotten through school and done it while dancing.

Meanwhile both Kylo and I get out of the car. Years of working together kicked in and while I don’t recall our missions we both took positions that felt practiced for thousands of hours. We moved up on the scene, hearing some fighting going on.

There are several of the Red Order samurai or whatever they call themselves fighting. They are using swords, a few guns but not really. I don’t blame them necessarily; the scorpion seems really armored and while they might be ok with guns, it seems to be bouncing off pretty often. Kylo immediately does his gun thing and starts working the scorpion. The Red Order doesn’t seem to notice too much, but once again the scorpion is shrugging off a lot of their attacks. However, you know what scorpion armor doesn’t protect against? Electricity.

I started laying into the scorpion with lightning. I hadn’t done it full bore like this repeatedly so I had to adjust as I was going. I am glad though that I have been practicing. The Red Order almost jumped out of their skins when the first bolt hit the scorpion. Two of them turned towards me and for a moment I thought I might have to put them down, but then they obviously realized I was with them and went back to work.

The scorpion was pretty tough, but with my lightning, Kylo’s well placed shots, and the Order’s swords cutting of parts we got the scorpion down on the ground and finally dead.

I still couldn’t hear well because of so many lightning bolts exploding and the loud gunfire of Kylo next to me, but a lot of people around us just stared at us in awe. They mostly looked at me, probably because the lightning was the flashiest part, after all this is Texas and they all have seen guns. Evidently lightning casting women are new though.

James the leader of the Red Order, and the same cute half-elf I saw on my first trip to Houston was walking over towards me. While he did that, I called out to Rose and asked her if she wanted to look at the scorpion. I didn’t even get three words out before she was out of the truck and over with a little pack. Meanwhile I carved off a few pieces for myself, trinkets are always nice. Maybe Paz had a use for it.

Rose walked right over to a young human guy that was ordering James and the rest to start cleanup. She took the young human’s sword right out of his hand, his mouth was just making a gulping fish face in surprise as this tiny attractive woman climbed up on the scorpion, hacked off its tail, several other pieces and packed them all in her pack.

I haven’t ever seen Rose work, but watching her I could tell she loved doing the science stuff. She is in charge at her work and you could tell she was used to being in charge because she kept directing Red Order members to do things for her, and they did without thinking about it (but with the most surprised looks on their faces).

Eventually James and the Leader both were talking to me and asking about my magic. They were waiting for some trackers so they could find out where the scorpion came from. I gave them a huge smile and told them I had investigation magic and I could do that to them. They seemed skeptical but agreed.

 I did a history spell, and found where the scorpion came from.

At least they understand magic and I didn’t have to put on a show.

We drove out there, although they were skeptical until we got there. When we found the location, I cast some more spells and found the scorpion was a single scorpion that just had the bad luck to be caught in a mana swell, transforming it into the giant scorpion. No plots, no enemies, just the wild. It was funny though, the Order looked disappointed that they couldn’t go attack someone.

James and the Leader paid me 10k and went on their way after I gave them my business card. They seemed mildly interested. Oh, and the leader wasn’t a kid. He was a human that had eaten an apple years ago so he kept his youth. We talked about the apple a little, and I found evidently they can still be made to look older or younger after the apple, that is good if I can find Rose and Kylo apples, otherwise we will just use the Elf collars to keep them young.

We eventually got to Houston, picked up the mom and her son. He was excited, he had seen me on the news (this is an important fact in my second entry later today). Evidently not many people had seen a woman who could attack a scorpion with lightning, so now he wants to learn lightning from Piper eventually. I just smiled, offered him a chunk of scorpion carapace and took them to Piper.

We retired for the day with Kylo and I each richer by $250 for the ride. I also split the payment of $10,000 from the Order with Kylo as well. So at the end of the day we had each made $5,250. I am comfortable starting my wages at that. 

Then we just went on to prepare for the evening and dancing. However, that is a different story that I will tell later.