Madelyn and Tiffany ran through the city street, getting to the closest speakeasy, which had the code-word Androgyny.
The house that sat above the speakeasy looked like it had been condemned. All the windows were boarded up, and there were official looking flyers stating that the house was quarantined for Rabies R-7 and toxic mold contamination, which was actually specially engineered black house paint that smelled like bread mold. The Rabies R-7 was actually an entire gross of eggshell bombs holding magically empowered ragweed pollen, which tripled the effects and duration of the allergic reaction created by said pollens, which were already highly allergenic in their natural state. Anyone hit with one of these who was not wearing a gas mask would spend the next several 30 minutes coughing, sneezing and weeping until their tear ducts were sore. Sometimes it would even trigger a hyper-immune response, and the target would get flu-like symptoms.
The Great Conflict had taught her and every other Mage Class to be creative.
The Great Conflict had been America's second civil war, and had quickly spilled over into the rest of the world. During that time speakeasies were what kept a lot of Mage Class alive. As time went by and the Coalition got better at finding the speakeasies, Mage Class Citizens, as her kind were officially known, also got better at defending them. Some were guarded by zombies, but these were slow moving and had to be commanded by a Necromancer. Others had a variety of steel traps disguised to look like old appliances or computers.
Madelyn circled around to the back of the house and found a boarded window and opened it, letting it fall drawbridge style to the ground. Her and Tiff climbed into the house and closed the window, and then moved quickly to the basement, which was sealed with a Bind spell.
She leaned over and whispered the word "Androgyny" into an enchanted quartz crystal, in the middle of the door. The door glowed with an amber-yellow energy, and then faded.
Androgyny was now open for business.
The two of them opened the basement door and ran down the stairs.
Androgyny was one of the nicer speakeasies out there: a ghosted out 2 level warehouse with old skool books, oil lanterns, and enough preserved foods to keep a strike team fed for 6 months.
They set up two tents with sleeping bags and drinking water, just in case one of them got thirsty.
Once settled in, Madelyn said to Tiffany: "Tell me about the Great Conflict."
"The Great Conflict was series of battles that escalated to the point where the Earth was nearly wiped out. At first it was just a few random riots and acts of terrorism, but those from each Faction soon started targeting towns and entire city blocks. Every skirmish got worse than the last. These got really bad when nano-plagues and summoned creatures got involved. Mage Class of all kinds were targeted, but so were Coalition members and their families. Terrible things were done by both sides, some of which were so horrifying that it caused the space aliens to run and hide. It didn't end until the Aliens and the Fedz stepped in and put a stop to it. They forced both factions, the Coalition for Family Values and the Union of Earth-Seekers to sign a treaty of non-aggression, known as the Treaty of Anaheim. Did I miss anything this time?"
"Nope. Now let's get back to sleep."
"Okay."
They crawled into their own tents and went back to sleep.
