The Great Seattle Flood

GM: Brad
Transcribed by: Brad
Date: February 13, 2022
In Game date: August 2012
Episode: 43 (118)

Part 01: David Clay

The situation was for lack of a better word, tenuous. I stood inside Jack’s front room next to Fergus, Ash, and the various prospects of the Pack. The previous battle with Donald Goldman had forced me into my Golem form and to mind the ceilings inside Jack’s Victorian home. Outside the home and across the lawn stood about a dozen members of the Kulikova Clan. A clan of Ghouls who had just come up from the sewers, being led by two other Ghouls of seemingly superior rank.

Adding to this was the rain. Over the previous two weeks, Seattle had set new records for precipitation. When Jack had gone to sleep about twenty-one hours ago, the rain had started again and still hadn’t stopped. Jack had explained to me that the Djinn’s wish-granting magic had caused it, but its origin did not matter.

Jack Youngblood, Warden of the White Council, had the dubious honor of breaking the silence.

“For once, I could really use some cops right now,” Jack said.

“That’s not going to happen,” Ash answered.

I spoke as softly as I could, but it still rumbled and put the Pack members on edge, “Why?”

Ash looked to me, more comfortable with my form than the others, “This rain turned into flooding a few hours back. The cops and the national guard have been deployed to the lower elevations. We passed a bunch of them setting up sandbags and shit on our way up here.”

“You estimate the Police response will be nonexistent due to the disaster?” I asked.

“Cops are going to be elsewhere for a while.” Ash answered, “Good time to loot some shit downtown if you wanted.”

“I advise against such criminal acts.” I said.

My golem form seemed to stand up to the water so far since my design was warded against it. Large amounts of water normally defused magic, but my form seemed to hold up to the deluge.

“We are on our own it seems.” I said and looked to Jack, “Will your wards hold up top attack?”

Jack grinned with pride and tapped his stave against the floor, “No one’s getting through my new wards.”

One of the Ghouls took a cautious step forward. When he crossed the property line, some kind of invisible force crashed into him and caused a flash of light. When the light cleared, the Ghoul collapsed into a charred heap.

“What the fuck are those things?” One of the prospects asked. The man, though sporting military tattoos, was clearly scared.

“Ghouls.” I answered, “Very dangerous.”

“Ghouls? Like undead or somethin’?”

I shook my head, “Ghouls are supernatural creatures. They can take human guise, possessing of enhanced strength, toughness, and speed.”

“And they eat people.” Fergus said not very tactfully, “Those the Kulikovas

“Let’s find out,” Jack said as he stepped onto his porch.

The Ghouls stayed on the outside of the property line but were clearly armed and disguised as humans in Russian tracksuits and cheap sneakers. They looked ready for battle.

“You are trespassing into my territory,” Jack called out over the storm, “Get the hell off my lawn!”

A form appeared, a Ghoul in his human guise who the others parted for. I could barely make out who it was at first because of his broken nose, but as soon as he spoke there was no mistaking him.

“Jack, my old friend!” Vitally Kulikova said in his thick Slavic accent, “This situation is unfortunate because I cannot flee. Give us the vessel or we will take it from you. Burn your house down around you and take it from the ashes.”

“Leave this place Vitaly,” Jack said, “You still owe me.”

“Unfortunately, I will have to owe you two. This job comes from our benefactor.”

“Benefactor?”

“Kulikova clan has a new employer. Mister Radcliffe gave our clan several new warehouses in Georgetown. Good new base of operations.”

Trevor Radcliffe was mired in legal trouble. I was involved in some of the lawsuits against him. If he was liquidating assets, that meant he knew about the bottle and was willing to do anything to get it.

I peeked my head out and decided to offer an alternative, “Perhaps we could negotiate a peace. A compromise of some sort.”

“Sadly, that is not possible, Counselor. Our new boss does not negotiate.” Vitaly replied.

Squeezed his staff hard and leaned on it, “What do you mean, ‘New Boss’?”

Vitaly took a step to the side and another form appeared. He was dressed not in a tracksuit, but some kind of body armor and made no effort to hide his Ghoul form. We recognized him immediately as the Assassin that had nearly killed both Fergus and me in previous encounters.

“The Knife of Hunger has taken over the Kulikova Clan.” I said somberly.

The Knife of Hunger didn’t speak as much as make military hand signals to the other Ghouls, who already seemed to know what do.

Vitaly picked up one of the motorcycles the Pack members had come in on and threw it at the house.

The motorcycle bounced off an invisible wall of force about a foot from the house itself and landed on the lawn in a heap. One of the prospects sobbed. It must have been his motorcycle. Hopefully, he had insurance.

It was not an attack, just a test of the defenses. The Knife of Hunger stood still and made another gesture at Vitaly. The Ghouls began to gather up guns from the other motorcycles the pack had left behind in their haste. I saw several shotguns and assault rifles among them.

I caught Ash giving a disapproving look at some of the younger prospects. Clearly, someone had left the wrong kind of gun behind.

“At least the wards are holding up.” Jack said, “You’re not getting in here. This place is warded to hell. You can’t shoot through it.”

Vitaly shrugged, “Who said anything about shooting you?”

The Ghouls readied their guns not at Jack’s home, but at the other homes in the neighborhood.

We looked at each other and I felt what I believe humans call despair. The rest of the neighborhood was not warded as Jack’s place was. The guns could kill Jack’s neighbors endangering the lives of the innocents within.

I understood Ash’s concerned as well. If the Ghouls fired on the house with the Pack’s weapons, they could be implicated in the crime. If Ash turned against us, we would have to face him and his prospects in close quarters.

My mind raced for words that could lead to compromise. Perhaps an exchange of the Bottle for safety. We could retrieve the bottle later.

But, my thoughts of negotiation ended when Fergus charged out the front door.

Part 02: Jack Youngblood

My home had been rebuilt by Bruno Walsh and magically warded by me to be one of the best-protected places in Seattle. I had wards upon wards on the house itself, the front yard was full of magical traps, and all of it had protections from even this deluge. It’s amazing what you can do with a proper Threshold and plenty of time.

No one was getting in. No one could.

But then Fergus ran out the door before I could think. The Knife of Hunger was going to shoot my neighbors if I did nothing. Outside my home’s threshold, Fergus would be vulnerable.

The battle had begun and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it.

I looked up at the sky and I felt the magic from it. The Djinn had told us that the weather had been a result of his magic. More specifically, the more magic The Builder threw out into the world, the fewer wishes he would have to grant, so he made his spells sloppy on purpose. This storm was fallout from that deliberate sloppy-ass spellcasting of legendary power. Wreckless as hell, but it put a lot of ambient magic in air that night.

So I thought, might as well go big because I was already at home. It was insanely dangerous, but the lives of my neighbors mattered more than mine at that moment.

I tapped the storm for power and drew in as much as I could. As soon as I touched it, I experienced the most powerful magic I had ever felt coalesce and answer to my will. I would only get one shot, but with this much power, I only needed one shot.

I raised my staff in both hands, focused the energy, and moved a charge from positive to negative, from sky to ground, and back again. Or something like that. Electricity is weird and I was boosting it with phenomenal, cosmic power.

The hairs of everyone in a two-block radius stood on end then I released the spell.

“FULMENOS VENITE!” I shouted.

The biggest bolts of lightning I have ever seen crashed on the Ghouls.

All of them.

My ears rang and afterimages invaded my vision. The Ghouls tried to dive out of the way, but all of the water acted as a conductor, and they found themselves in an invisible electric chair.

The fatigue hit me like I had run a marathon and I almost keeled over.

I couldn’t see if any of the Ghouls had fallen. They definitely had all been hit.

Luckily I had missed Fergus…who had just entered the fray.

Part 03: Fergus Mac Cormaic

I am called the Green Man of Seattle. But in that moment, I saw red. The Knife of Hunger had nearly killed me and David in the past. He was unbelievably tough, and the Ghouls outside were armed with guns. The odds were far from even.

Jack’s wards could obviously withstand any attack the Ghouls could throw at us.

But the rest of the neighborhood couldn’t. The Knife of Hunger was threatening innocent lives.

I couldn’t let that stand.

My Irish blood boiled and took my body forward without thought, just action. I didn’t think about my own safety or the lives of my wife or my daughter if I fell. I wanted vengeance.

I called a shillelagh to my hand, drew in Wyld power, and ran out Jack’s front door.

I was out for blood.

I screamed and came to a halt as lightning blasted down in front of me. My Wyld Power allowed me to ignore the sound and light from the lightning.

The Ghouls stood in place from the lightning as it hit them like their own personal electric chair. The lightning burned the clothes from their bodies and set fire to the hair on their bodies. The electricity even caused the ammo to cook off simultaneously and made the remaining weapons white-hot.

Then I got to them.

I used their disorientation to my advantage. I swung my shillelagh and cut right through the Ghouls.

I don’t know how many I smashed into the pavement, crushed the face of or otherwise clubbed to death that night. I don’t think I want to know.

I do know that when I knocked the head of the last Ghoul from his shoulders, it revealed the Knife of Hunger and I ran straight at him.

Then he disappeared into the shadows.

Fuck.

Part 04: David Clay

With the enemy thoroughly distracted by the lightning, I took the liberty to charge into the fray behind Fergus.

I called upon the strength of my body and swiped in front of me. It was not an elegant display, but a brutal torrent of raw power.

I picked up one Ghoul and threw him into another. I stomped one into the ground.

All the while, Ash and his prospects began shooting into the Ghouls.

Then, I found a bigger one than the rest. A bruiser with a sledgehammer.

I tackled the bruiser and grabbed the hammer. It became strength against strength as I tried to wrestled the hammer from his grasp.

The bruiser tried to slash me with his claws, but the clay of my body was incredibly resistant to that kind of attack.

I drew upon more of my power and returned his punches with my own.

I managed to loosen the bruiser’s grip and took the hammer.

I then wound up and slammed the Ghoul into the concrete. The Hammer shattered as did the previous owner’s body.

Then, I turned to Fergus. Fergus had run past Vitaly in a move that I missed. Vitaly retreated when Ash fired a rifle he carried into the ghoul’s mouth.

The bullet didn’t kill the Ghoul, but it did knock him out of his bloodlust. It was then that Vitaly must have realized the hopelessness of his situation and called for a retreat from the remaining Ghouls.

Then I heard Fergus scream in bloodlust.

Part 05: Fergus Mac Cormaic

The Knife of Hunger disappeared and all I saw was darkness. I drew on my Wyld power to improve my sense and time seemed to slow down.

It slowed down just enough for me to see Vitaly slashing his claws at me.

I ducked to my knees and leaned back with my arms above my head in a rockstar slide beneath the attack, using my momentum to knock Vitaly out of my way. I had no use for him. I wanted the Knife.

“Face me, Coward!” I shouted to the darkness.

The Knife of Hunger answered me by stabbing me in the small of my back. I felt pain like nothing else and drew upon my Wyld power in return.

This Ghoul was going to die.

As he retreated into the shadows, I called upon my Wyld power. I created faerie fire that illuminated my enemy in a blue aura, dispelling the darkness.

I swiped at the Knife of Hunger but he matched my speed and my strength. Then the Pack kept firing their guns and the Knife used the distraction to disengage from me.

I ran after him, but David got to him first.

David’s massive golem form landed a right hook into the Knife’s ribs, caving them in. The Ghoul healed the wound almost immediately.

I don’t know how many times more he could do that, but I wanted to find out.

I ran at the Ghoul and demanded he meet my weapon, my teeth and my bare hands.

Then Jack shouted some more Latin and threw another lightning blast.

I hated the timing but appreciated the look it created on the Knife’s face as he was electrocuted again and knocked off his feet and off into the dark street by the magic.

The Ghouls began to pick up their dead and flee. The battle was over.

But it wasn’t over for me. The Wyld had taken me over. I was feral. I was going to kill the Knife of Hunger and anyone who got into my way.

I tried running into the night, but the ground wouldn’t let me.

Jack used some kind of earth magic bullshit to make the ground beneath my feet turn into a deep, cloying mud. I sank into it up to my shoulders and was unable to move.

“Let me go!” I shouted struggling in the muck.

“It’s over.” I heard someone say. But I didn’t listen.

“No!!!” I shouted over and over again. I struggled against the mud futilely, until, finally, I was out of gas.

The Wylde power faded from me and I collapsed. I shuttered and screamed into the night.

The fight was over. We had won…but I felt like I had still lost.

Part 06: Jack Youngblood

No one else came for the bottle that night. The Battle of Cap Hill had been won.

Before Ash could say anything, I pointed to the dead Ghouls and said to him, ”Challenge me again and you will get the same treatment.”

Ash got the message loud and clear and hightailed it out of there.

Behind me, I heard a golf clap. I looked and of course I saw the goddamned Djinn standing right there.

“Bravo, Wizard.” The Djinn said.

I was going to say something, but then I noticed a TV tray he had filled with bottles of water, some snacks and some much needed Tylenol. I took the Tylenol and the food and wolfed it down.

“You could have helped us, you know.” I said in a huff.

“You didn’t ask.” The Djinn, “It wouldn’t even have been a service. This home is too nice for a bunch of Ghouls.”

As my headache cleared, I looked at the Djinn with a renewed interest. More parties would be here in the next few days, but I still had time.

“I will make my wishes for you in a few days at the earliest.” I said, “When I do, it will be when I say, ‘I wish’ in no uncertain terms while I am awake and sober.”

“Yes, yes. I get it.” The Builder said, “You don’t have to be a dick about it.”

He disappeared a moment later. Just…poof. Gone.

---

Callisto called in the morning and apologized for Ash’s actions. She got the prospects to clean up my neighborhood as a community service. I still owed her a debt, but it was not as much as it was.

One of his prospects took the fall for the destroyed motorcycle. He gave me and my neighbors his insurance information for the terrible bike crash that messed up my hedge when he got struck by lightning in this terrible storm.

The cops took about a day before they actually showed up. That night would be known for years to come as the Great Seattle Flood. They had indeed deployed police and the National Guard to help with the disaster. However, there were miraculously no deaths that night from the flood.

I learned later from the Djinn that one of the Wishes he had granted to Seattle’s new league of superheroes was to mitigate any damage his wish granting would cause. It didn’t make me like the “heroes” any better but knowing that no one died allowed me to sleep well that night.

Fergus crashed at my place until he cooled off while David stood guard since he didn’t need sleep.

A few days later, I consulted with David for a few carefully written words.

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” The golem asked.

“Are you sure this language will work?” I asked him in return.

David raised an eyebrow, “I am a lawyer. Careful language is part of my profession.”

I took out the Djinn’s bottle and rubbed it. The Djinn appeared in his suit and stood at attention.

“What is your command?” The Builder asked.

I answered him by handing him two pieces of paper. Two full pages of the wishes I wanted and how I wanted it. David and I had spent an over a day on them.

The Djinn cringed at the paper.

“Someone’s been playing Dungeons & Dragons.” The Builder said with obvious annoyance, “Compound wishes are not allowed.”

“Not a compound wish.” I said, “Two wishes clearly defined. Both for rebuilding a family.”

The Djinn smiled at the mention of family and took the papers. He spent a minute to read them over and made motions like he was using an invisible abacus. As he read the pages, his eyes seemed to glow and sparkle.

He looked to me.

“I appreciate the lack of foolishness, Wizard.” He said, “The first request will be completed anywhere from a few hours to a few days. You will have the location in writing as described. I suggest you move quickly once the task is complete.”

“You can find her?” I asked my heart in my throat.

“She will be found.”

“And the second labor?”

“That will take some time. A few weeks or months for actual construction, but the main piece will be completed and usable in seven sunrises.” The Djinn, “You will know when it is finished.”

“Thank you.” I said in earnest.

“Thank you.” He said, “Finally something worth my time.”

“How long until you have to find a new owner?”

The Djinn thought for a second, “Full possession will not change until your last task is complete. It will take all my efforts given the limitations.”

“Good.” I said.

“You should get that.” He said and disappeared just as a knock came at my door.

Warden Carlos Ramirez had seen better days. He had gotten injured during the war with the Red Court and was still fighting against the Fomor, but he was my regional commander and was the best person to take care of the Djinni’s vessel.

He arrived with a lead suitcase covered with runes of some kind. After some embarrassing business finding the bottle, speaking to it like it was misbehaving teenager, and touching it like it was a nuclear bomb, Carlos collected the bottle and left.

At last, the threat of the Djinn in the Emerald City was ended. I did my best to mitigate the cost of having him in my city. I knew that when such power was involved you had to be careful What You Wish For.

EPILOGUE

Fergus Mac Cormaic

The morning after the Great Seattle Flood was rough. I had a lot of Wyld power to burn off. A lot of anger I needed to quell before I went home.

I also had something I needed to check.

I took a couple of laps around a few parks until I found one I needed. One that had a touch of Wyld to it. I used it to gather up my power and top off my metaphysical batteries.

Then, for the first time in weeks, I reached for a Way in the Nevernever. In addition to the normal connections I found in the park, I found another. Another place I instinctively knew how to get to. I channeled my power and moved into another world.

I found myself in a deep forest. Trees impossibly large flanked by mist-shrouded peaks. I turned and found a familiar log cabin.

This was the place I had dreamed about during my honeymoon. The wish the Genie had granted me. A place of comfort. It was a recreation of a part of the Nevernever my grandfather took me to when I was a kid. We had built that cabin together.

There was a care package hanging from the front door. Just a manilla envelope containing a small bound bunch of papers labeled as, “New Owner’s Guide” along with some symbolic arcane focus objects of some kind.

The book and knickknacks taught me how I could attune to this place and make it my own personal demense. My own little corner of the Nevernever I could get to from any wild place.

However, inside the cabin I found something else. I found my grandfather inside. Or at least a simulacrum of him.

It reminded me of the robots you see in movies that are made to look human but are…off. Wrong in some way. The simulacrum had my grampa’s face, spoke with his voice, and seemed to know some of what my grandfather knew…but it wasn’t him.

The thing was so creepy I told it to just stay in the cabin and closed the door behind me. I leaned against the cabin’s front door and slid down. This was too much.

I did leave one thing inside the cabin before I left. The mask that fake Greenman was wearing. I didn’t want to risk it getting into anyone’s hands and the cabin was one of the best places to keep it.

When I got home, I kissed my wife and my little girl. I also found Kerouac, the maine coon cat that hung around the neighborhood. The cat demanded scritches, so I abliged.
“It’s been crazy, little guy.” I said to the cat.

“I know.” The cat replied in perfect English.

I leaped backward.

“Jesus Christ!” I shouted.

I thought that cat was…psychic or something. But he never…talked.

“We have much to discuss.” The cat said, “I have a job to do.”

Jack Youngblood

A few days later, Virgil came back from his trip looking green at the gills and shivering. He looked like he had slept in his clothes in what was either the side of the road or a swamp or…I don’t know what.

“Where did you go?” I asked him.

“You don’t want to know.” Virgil said, “But I found the car guy’s trail. Finally…”

I welcomed him into my house and led him to the kitchen, “Coffee?”

“Much.” he said, “What have you been up to?”

I told Virgil about the Djinn and about Abby’s recovery. He nearly dropped the cup of coffee he was holding in shock. I thought the color from his hair was going to drain out and catch fire.

“You had a Genie in a bottle and you didn’t even phone me?” He asked exasperated.

“You were out of town.” I told him, “And truthfully Virge…I don’t trust you with that kind of power.”

“Neither would I.” Virgil said, not angry, “It would have been nice to hold one after all my previous efforts.”

“Previous efforts? Have you looked for one before?”

Virgil shrugged, “As soon as I found out about the supernatural, I checked to see if wish-granting genies were a thing. Clocked a record of one in Baghdad that got looted when Saddam’s palace fell. Never found the damn thing. Just a warlock and some ‘42 Bordeaux.”

“Probably for the best. We still have some superheroes at large.”

“I know. The Patient One met me when I got back into town. The Conclave wants me to keep an eye out for them and tell you if they become active.”

“Superheroes. Just what we need in this town.”

“How dangerous are they you think?”

“Plenty.” I said firmly, “A bunch of comic book nerds with magic masks. The dumbest of them almost fended off three of us. No telling what the other four smarter ones can do.”

“I saw that article in the Times. That green guy isn’t going anywhere and isn’t talking.”

“We secured the mask. ”

“But not their lair?”

“Nope. If it is a demense, it will be impossible to find unless we find the supers themselves. The power the Genie used to make it and the supers were what caused the flood. It will not be easy to find let alone shut down if we have to.”

I sat and drank my coffee. I only hoped that those four idiots were smart enough to not hurt people with their new power. Technically, they hadn’t broken any Laws of Magic yet. Yet…

“What were your other two wishes by the way? They have something to do with that new key you got?” Virgil asked.

I looked down at my keyring and found next to my car keys, a key I had never seen before. It looked like any other that you would find at Home Depot, but it had the word, “Safety” printed on it. Looking at the calender on my wall, it was about a week since the Genie had left.

I smiled and told him the truth, “I wished for a safehouse for my family. A demense only me and blood relatives can access. The safest place on the planet the Djinn could devise and build.”

“Smart”, Virgil said, impressed, “That will certainly keep the Genie busy for a while.”

“And hopefully the Council will take care of it by then. I don’t know where the bottle is now and I don’t want to know.” I said.
I was done with this monkey’s paw Aladdin bullshit…

But then I saw something else on my table. A single piece of paper. It had information on it.

I picked it up.

Virgil must have noticed my slacken face.

“I take it that’s the third wish?”

“Yeah.” I said.

“Looks like a map.” Virgil said, “Where does it lead?”

“My daughter.”

END OF BOOK EIGHT

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