Chapter 49
They headed down the ladder and the apprentice priest led them down a flight of stairs to an open area with the symbol of Talos carved on the ground. Then, down two more flights of stairs to a common area. Several bandits and cultists were there, drinking and eating with weapons strewn about the place. To their right was the kitchen. They were led to the left; through a door and into a large hall, presumably used for gathering everyone in the base. Another flight of steps later, they crossed the empty hall and entered the left door on the far side. Past a metal door was a study.
"Please enter," she requested before stepping aside and letting them enter.
They looked around the place and took it in. The floor was wood paneling and covered with a single carpet. Two doors on the left side and a row of bookshelves full of books on the right. Right next to the door was an iron chest. Opposite the door was a desk and chair. On the desk were several books, a candlestick, a dagger, a stack of papers, an inkwell, and a quill.
"Any idea what she wants us to do?" Aloe asked the apprentice, who shook her head.
"I'm afraid I'm not privy to her plans yet," she replied, "I am just one of many apprentices. No doubt it will be having to do with undermining the royal guard."
"Why did you join her?" asked Nene, wanting to figure out the reason.
"My brother… he-" she began.
"My dear, I'm sure that these mercenaries don't really want to know your sad history," stated the high priest as she stepped into the study, "They only care about gold, after all. Please wait outside until I call."
"Yes, master," she stated, bowing before leaving the room.
The high priest took her seat at the desk and faced the party to address them, "Now, let us discuss rates."
Lamy then stepped forward and said, "Allow me."
As they discussed payment for their services, the party glanced around, hoping to find something that would probably count as evidence. Some notes or a map of sorts to tell where they are. No such luck at first glance. However, Aloe seemed to get a grim look when she looked at the dagger.
After the haggling was done, Nislak stated, "Now, as to what you are being hired to do. I wish to hire you to help with the assassination of the royal guard captain. Your pay shall reflect the difficulty of the mission, five hundred gold pieces each."
"That sounds very generous, high priest," Nene said with a frown, "Usually means it's very difficult."
"Infuriatingly so," the former agreed with a growl, "Difficult as the man is married to his job. According to my spies, he spends much of his time at the barracks and his office, constantly around other people. I will send you to the city to meet an assassin I hired. You will meet him at one of the less reputable taverns south of the city. He will wear a black cloak and will respond with 'Three times' to the question 'How many times does the lightning strike?' Will you do this?"
"Well, you gave us this much already. Yes," accepted the lore bard.
She gave them a rather overly eager smile, "Thank you. My apprentice will show you the way back." She then got up and moved towards the door. Opening it, she said, "Adrina, please guide them back outside."
"Yes, master," she responded. Motioning to the party to follow her, she led them back outside.
"You know, you mentioned your brother," stated Nene after they walked past the common room, "What happened to him?"
"Uh… yeah… but my master said..."
"Heeeey, look, small talk or not, we will be working together for the foreseeable future," interrupted Aloe as she threw her arm around the apprentice's shoulders, "So, answer the question."
"Uhm… well, he died when a killer was running around a few years back," she stated as they walked up the steps, getting angrier and manic-sounding the longer she explained, "The killer was able to escape capture, even killing two guards. They failed to bring him to justice. All because we were orphaned. I was alone until High Priest Nislak took me in and helped me see the truth. She told me that the guards are incompetent and weak. And after being taken in by her, I saw how strong she was. I will gain that strength, then hunt down the killer myself and have my vengeance."
"Even at the cost of everyone living in the city?" asked Lamy softly.
"They are weak!" she shouted as she turned to face them, her hands clenched so hard the white of her knuckles could be seen, "They let my brother die! They don't deserve to live!"
With that, she stormed off, climbing up the ladder in a huff.
"Nislak has already hooked her," muttered the half-snow elf.
"Let's go. We'll discuss this when we're further away from this place," stated the lore bard as she moved to climb the ladder.
Feeling the evening sun on their faces was a welcome one. Thankfully, they were shown the way back. They had to trek through the forest and it took almost an hour to reach the main road.
"Thank you for aiding us," Adrina stated gratefully, "May the tempest favor you."
After parting ways and making sure the apprentice was a long way off, Nene asked worriedly, "So… how do we do this? I don't want to assassinate anyone but I also don't want to get killed from this."
"It pains me to say this, but perhaps Polka was right," admitted Lamy with a sigh, "Maybe we should have ambushed the high priest. Then, perhaps we could have avoided all this."
"We can do this. One step at a time," stated Botan thoughtfully, "First, we should try and stop the assassination attempt. Maybe we can capture the assassin and interrogate him."
"Ooh, I'm game for that," agreed Aloe with a smirk.
"We should also let the captain know about this as well," mused Polka as she turned a cartwheel, "Then again, there are spies too."
"Splitting up again?" suggested the lore bard.
"Yes, splitting up again," replied the half-snow elf with a nod. Everyone else also agreed with that.
By the time they reached Silicasa, night had fallen and they went back to the dorms to rest. They will be having a long day tomorrow.
Nene and Botan stepped into the Lucky Piece. This was the third tavern they visited that morning. As usual, there was barely anyone there as it was not yet drinking hours. They looked around and spotted yet another figure in a black cloak. They sauntered up to him and sat down at his table. He was a scarred man. All sorts of marks and scar tissue marked his face and bare arms. He was nursing a mug of ale and he glared at them when they sat down.
"Whadda you want?" he sneered.
The lore bard leaned forward and whispered, "How many times does lightning strike?"
He glanced over his shoulders for a moment. After a pause, he leaned forward and replied, "Three times. You lot took ya' time."
She shrugged and said, "Not our fault there were three other taverns south of the city."
"Feh, right," he grumbled and took a gulp of ale. Wiping the excess on his arm, he continued, "So, are there any others or just you two?"
She glanced at the archer and nodded. The lion girl then put her fingers to her lips and whistled. The other three came in and sat at the adjoining table.
"Wot? A group of broads? Is this a joke?" he said in surprise.
"Got a problem with that?" asked the lore bard with narrowed eyes.
"Feh, if her bear-ness thinks you'd do, who am I to say anything," he grunted with a glare, "If you do your part, then I don't give a shit."
Downing the rest of his ale, he began talking about the plan. He repeated what Nislak had told them, however, he also said that the captain also doesn't stay at his office or at the barracks. He has his own tidy house near the north of the city, though not in the nobles district itself. They can ambush him on the way back to his house.
"Right, so where do we come into this?" asked Nene curiously, as the plan was a sound one, as unsavory as it is.
"I was getting to that," he grumbled, glaring at her, "You lot will be there to pretend to rob him. Then, just keep him there in one place long enough for me to shoot him. Now, in case that the poison doesn't get to him fast enough, you'll have to help me gang up on him. Simple as that."
"Good enough. When do we start?"
"Tonight. No point waiting around with your thumbs up your arse doing nothing," he grunted as he got up, "You broads do what you want in the meantime but we meet back here at sundown. We go over the plan one last time and then head to the streets. You got that?"
"I get it," she replied seriously.
He nodded at them and walked away. After a while, they got up as well and made their way outside.
"Lamy, can you write a message to Sir Quinn about this?" the lore bard asked as they made their way back to the dorms.
"If Isaac has any writing implements, I can. Why?" the cleric asked.
"We are going to warn him about this as well as maybe make a counter for this," she stated as they swiftly turned a corner, "We need to do this as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Polka needs to think up some musical routines."
"Eh?"
"You and I are going to make a scene," she stated with a smile.
The black and white world of the Ethereal Plane didn't phase Aloe too much. She was trained to jump in and out of it, after all. However, the fact that she could flit through what should be people unnerved her a little. Still, she continued wandering the guard headquarters of the city, trying to find the captain's office.
"This is starting to get annoying," she murmured to herself, hoping to find him soon.
Thankfully, she encountered him as he came out of one of the rooms. Peeking inside, it looked like it was his office. It was spartan in decoration save for the emblem of the guard displayed proudly behind a desk and chair. In front were several chairs and nothing else. She slipped in and took a seat, deciding to wait patiently for him to return. It didn't take too long, but it was long enough for her. He came in with another guard, probably someone directly under him. As they took their seats, she made her move and jumped back into the material plane. His subordinate jumped out of her seat and reached for her sword, but he held up his hand.
"Why are you here?" he questioned sternly, "You should be infiltrating the cult."
The succubus said nothing as she handed him the message. Warily, he took it and opened it up to read. As he did, he sometimes gave her a careful glance for a second. Eventually, he placed the piece of paper on the desk and he leaned on it on his elbows, steepling his hands.
"A strange turn of events," he muttered. Glancing at his subordinate, he ordered, "Sit down, sergeant." As she took her seat, he freed his hands and said, "I suppose you wish to apprehend the assassin?"
"Well… we will be turning him over to you, of course," Aloe stated, "We also have the location of the cultist base."
"I see. Well done," he praised but in his serious tone, it sounded flat, "Very well, it seems I will have to play the bait tonight." Turning to his sergeant, he ordered, "Get our trusted group ready. We will be storming their base as soon as we settle the assassin issue."
"Yes, sir," she stated. Standing up, she saluted and left the room.
Turning back to the succubus, he said, "Thank you for the information."
"No problem. I better get back to the others. Bye-bye," she replied. She then jaunted back to the Ethereal Plane, waving with a smile.
Slipping out of his office, she quickly made her way out of the building itself. Stepping out into the street, she smirked as she spotted Nene and Polka. Still at the street corner, the two were raking in a lot of attention and money. They had set up there beforehand while she snuck into the guard headquarters. With Lamy's blanket in front of them, they played songs and tumbled for the passers-by. A varied amount of copper and silver pieces were on it. There was probably a gold one or two in there somewhere as well. Smirking, she slipped into an alley and jumped back into the Material Plane. She then came out and tapped the lute-playing bard on the shoulder.
Nodding, she stopped playing and announced, "Thank you for your time, everyone. Thank you so much."
Polka and Nene bowed to the dispersing crowd, gathered up everything they earned, and hurried back to the guild dorms. They met back up with Lamy and Botan, who wanted to know what had happened.
"It seems your plan is coming together," stated the cleric with a smile.
"Mmm, let's hope the hunt goes smoothly," added the archer.
"Right, we should get some rest," said Nene, "We might have a long night."
The party met up with the assassin outside the Lucky Piece. Night had fallen and the tavern was quite noisy with drinking and boisterous chatting.
"Ready?" he asked gruffly.
"We're ready," Nene confirmed.
"Right, follow me," he ordered as he moved past them.
They headed northward towards the street border between the noble district and the commercial district. As they walked, they could see the lighters making their way down the opposite way, lighting up the street lamps with long-poled torches.
"In here," he said as he ducked into an alley. As the party followed him, he continued, "There's a lonely stretch of road on the other side here. He usually takes that road back. And since it's a long stretch, we can ambush him here."
"And what do we do to help?" she asked as they left the alley.
"Right, so, I'll climb up one side, your archer here can climb up the other. Then, if my poison doesn't work fast enough, she can do some backup pincushioning," he stated as he pointed to the other side of the street, "As for the rest of ya? Two to watch one exit and two to watch the other. Then, you can box him in quite nicely when I whistle for it. And up to you who goes where. Any questions?"
"Nope. The plan sounds good," she replied. Turning to the others, she tossed out, "So… I'll go with Aloe and Lamy goes with Polka, okay?"
"Yosh," sounded off Botan as they moved out.
The bard and the succubus went round the left while the cleric and the monk went round the right. Meanwhile, the archer ran across and up the side of the building before climbing the rest of the way. The assassin grunted and scaled up his own building. After settling down in their preferred spot, they waited. They didn't have to wait for long.
The faint clink of metal on stone. The muffled grunting. The royal guard captain trudged down the street in a calm and stoic manner. The half-snow elf and the fennec fox girl waited for a little bit before trailing behind him. As it was a straight street, the other side caught sight of him immediately and they moved towards him as well. Everyone came together and stopped at the center of the street. The captain glanced behind him and looked at the people in front of him.
"Do you need help with anything?" he asked sternly before gasping and making as if to stumble a little.
He didn't fall. He reached to his shoulder and wrenched out the bolt from the side of his neck.
He growled, "He is here. Take him."
AN: Hello again, readers. Welcome back.
Truly such interesting times. Holo5 avoided getting in trouble early on, even if they could have taken out the leader of the cult. Nevermind. On another note, I've decided all groups of followers of the many different gods and goddesses that come up in this setting are cults. And pretty much only the gods and goddesses with evil ties are looked upon with suspicion and so more likely to be secretive. Those that are actively spreading death and destruction are given special, deadly attention. On the other hand, some places follow domains instead of alignment. Places like the healing temple in Rivirapolis, for example, are open to those who follow those under the life and peace domains, regardless of alignment. Other smaller places like the shrines are generally open to all as long as you don't bring harm to the attendants.
As to their cult mission, well, they meet up with the assassin in Silicasa. After getting the game plan from him, they quickly inform the captain of the royal guard. Later that night will be the ambush. The assassin will definitely get a surprise attack off before they roll initiative.
Next chapter, Holo5 will try and capture the assassin. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.