The Miasma Market
Maddox did not say anything to the goblin driver as they drove along the metal road to their destination. The goblin of course did not say anything as well since it was too scared to say anything to a superior species of infected. So they drove throughout the facility through a maze-like labyrinth of metal which showed that the goblin had been doing this for some time now and slightly assuring Maddox that nothing terrible would befall him.
They drive on for about fifteen minutes before they arrive at a parking lot with a few other golf carts parked with their goblin drivers wearing similar suits, off to the side talking amongst themselves while smoking.
Seeing Maddox and his goblin chauffeur show up led the goblins to stop what they were doing as they scrambled over to their parking spot. The goblins stand on either side of the golf cart that Maddox gets off from and as he does they all bow their bodies to show their respect.
Maddox does not pay any attention to them as he just walks along with the sort of path that they had created which lead out of the parking lot and into this particular section of the facility that had just a simple set of doors.
After Maddox, the goblins sigh in relief and go back to what they were doing beforehand while also offering congratulations to the driver that brought a higher being of their kind here and was able to live.
Entering the facility Maddox was surprised to see that the place was not what he had been expecting to see since the exterior was made of metal he assumed that the interior was going to be the same. The inside of this section of the facility was made to give the feeling of an outdoor marketplace with the area looking a whole lot bigger than the exterior let on as this place gave the feeling of being outdoors.
Maddox looked all around him and saw that his surroundings were nothing more than miasma illusions that made this feeling of being outside, but as for creating a bigger space than what was there was something else entirely, and he wanted to figure out how to do it himself.
All around him though were a variety of infected creatures with most being the more common species of orcs, ogres, and others of the middle-tier classification. There were a few mutated infected that stood out amongst the crowd and even one or two high-tiered infected were visible but standing away from the crowds with a sort of 'I am better than you' air surrounding them.
Each of the infected moved around going through doors that lead into houses in this weird miasma-created landscape which allowed them to enter buildings that were not there.
Still, though there were some infected who set up stalls that were just carpets laid on the ground with various objects placed on them to show off their goods and were trying to sell items to others.
Curiosity gripped Maddox mainly because most of these items were emitting miasma and some were giving off a little essence. So Maddox moves to the least crowded stall placed against a building wall nearby which happened to be a stall that no customers in front of it but a decent amount of items that were emitting some miasma from them.
"Oh ho never seen your species before must be a new breed huh?" The infected running the stall says while looking at Maddox
Maddox does not say anything at first as he just looks at the infected which he figured to be some sort of orc breed that had a completely different skin color than its more common variant since its skin color was blue which would stand out a bit. Other than that it was just wearing a loincloth and some metal shoulder braces.
"You just gonna stare or are you gonna buy something?" The orc asks seeing that Maddox was going to do nothing more than waste his time
"Well how about you go ahead and tell me what you are selling?"
"Alright then first up we go here a genuine set of unbreakable cuffs and chains that if used on some bitch or whore of those Coalition members will become unbreakable," The orc says as it picks up a set of chains with two handcuffs at the end of them
"How does it work exactly," Maddox asks a bit intrigued on how these things could become unbreakable
"Well, these chains use the power used from those coalition sluts to reinforce them over time once they are bound in them," The orc explains how they work
"So it converts their essence to miasma to strength itself, but how?" Maddox asks
"I don't know I only bought this off one of my buddies before his head was cut off in a coalition raid a few weeks ago and I have no use for this"
"How much are you willing to sell this for then?" Maddox asks
"Depends on how you want to pay I accept cash, women, and maybe holes"
"Holes?" Maddox asks not getting what those were
"... When did you turn?" The orc asks seeing that Maddox does not know what he is talking about for the last item
"Only a few days ago" Maddox responds since turning can only mean becoming an infected
"Ah well that explains it then so here let me help you out with this and explain a few things to ya," The orc says while motioning Maddox to sit down
"So where to begin..." The orc thinks to himself before snapping his fingers and sitting up a bit straight
"First up would be how we do things around here, this place is a neutral zone between us and them. Them being regular humans and us being... well us. This is one of many trade hubs around the world where you can buy and sell pretty much anything from items, weapons, slaves or cock sleeves, and other various things. Now most of the time money can do the trick for buying things but still, some people can be picky so make sure to have a few holes or broken women or guys on hand to sell in case some of them are picky," The orc says while Maddox listens to this since any information is good information
"What are those holes that you mentioned before?" Maddox asks
"These things," The orc says while taking out one of those shrunken bodies of the Coalition members from a sack that he was using as something to lean on instead of the hard wall of the building behind him
"So... those are the holes you mentioned," Maddox asks just to confirm that this is what they were called
"Yep, most of those sons of bitches working in the Coalition end up turning into these things if they act too overconfident which they do. Hehe haha dumbasses," The orc says while grinning a toothy grin at the hole in his grasp
"Why are they called holes though?"
"Why? Well cause what other use is there but to fuck em hard and good till they are used up!" The orc says before laughing once again
'Jesus the more I learn about them the more disgusted I am...' Maddox thinks to himself as he finds out the purpose of these things were
"Ah but there are some high-class folks who like to use them for spells and such since there ain't nothing but mana in there for us to use"
'Mana... does he mean miasma?' Maddox questions since he had never heard him mention miasma before but this mana might be it
"So mana can do stuff like this?" Maddox asks while putting out his hand and creating an illusion of a stack of cash in his palm
"Yep, our mana can do that and much more you see everything around us was created with mana by one of the apostles"
"Apostle?" Maddox asks since he had never heard that name before
"Ah, right you don't know about them. The apostles are some of the strongest of our kind that work directly with the spirits" The orc explains
"And the spirits are?"
"Beings that you never want to get on the bad side of..." The orc says in a serious tone while looking Maddox dead set in the eyes
Seeing that the orc got serious and the fact the strongest beings within the infected served them would have to be a testament to their power and influence. Hearing this worried Maddox but also excited him since if he was able to successfully kill the spirits then he would deal an extensive blow to the infected.
Still, though that would be another goal for another time since he still had to worry about his mother 'The Siren' as she was known by the Coalition and he had to save his sisters if that was still possible.
"Well now then that will be $500," The orc says while putting out his hand as if he were going to receive payment for telling Maddox these things
"You take card?" Maddox asks since this information which although may be common knowledge was of tremendous help since he knew where to aim after dealing with his mother
Maddox pays for the information and then asks for information about the other goods that the orc was selling which he happily provides since he was finally getting some business.
Eventually after about twenty minutes of explaining and a bit of haggling about the price Maddox was able to spend about $700 on two items that the orc was selling in his little carpet stall.
Maddox bought the chains that he mentioned before since he found that they might come in handy later on in case he is hunted by the Coalition then he could utilize the handcuffs to restrain a few for a variety of needs. The second item was something that the orc was selling for dirt cheap but was something that Maddox could hopefully utilize.
He bought a sword of a now dead high-rank Coalition member and this blade was special because it made channeling essence through it easier as well as its unique properties of allowing it to boost it although slightly.
Now since no infected could use essence it was therefore useless to them and all it could be used for was as a mantlepiece or something else stupid.
So Maddox saved it from the fate of collecting dust somewhere and decided to use it for its intended purpose of killing the infected.
The sword in question was a classical-style Japanese katana which unlike most of the straight edge swords of the medieval era has a slight curve in the blade and a long handle which allowed for a person to hold it easily with two hands. This particular katana that Maddox purchased had a blade length of 23.6 inches which was on the shorter side of katanas but he was content since he knew next to nothing about this weapon or how to use it properly with only one arm. He would have to find a teacher once he finished up here and returned to find Katherine...
'Oh, shit...' Maddox completely forgot the reason why he even came this way in the first place and now that so much time had passed Maddox had no clue if she was still in that den of infected in Las Vegas
"Fuck..." Maddox says to himself as he walks around trying to find something else in this miasma filled market
'Wait a minute I am forgetting something else...'
Maddox had also left his suitcase back at the street near the house where those girls working for the Coalition lived in. He had cast an illusion over it so the girls would not see it as he did not want to just leave it and then have them go through his stuff.
"This trip is just turning into a major pain in my ass" Maddox mumbles to himself as he adjusts the katana hanging across his back
One of the good things was that the katana came with a scabbard and was pretty well taken care of since the orc had been trying to make it look presentable at the beginning so that it would have a higher chance of selling but that turned out to not be the case. Something interesting Maddox found out was that no matter how much miasma he used that he was unable to coat the katana in miasma for something which intrigued Maddox more since the maker of this sword must have done something to make a blade in this way.
It had also been a bit surprising to find out that miasma could be infused into things and as such give them additional supernatural properties which made him sweat a little since most of their effects were crazy bad, for Coalition members of course.