/monster/ - The Last Bastion of Romance

>>389116

It's like pottery.

OR MAYBE IT"S A GHOOOOSSSSST

>>389107

It's possible that whoever did this has less than mundane means to mask their scent? But that would speak of magic or… training? Or perhaps something inherent to them? Hmm.

Killing all the danuki is easier I guess.

>>389123

We can do both.

>>389133

We need to prove it was the danuki first. Because if we don’t then the danuki will claim they were being persecuted for no reason and use that to turn Blackfire Reach’s neighbors against the city. Whereas if we prove it was them first then we form a lynch mob and drive them out/kill them without Blackfire Reach being negatively affected politically.

>>389078

>Unless they came in more recently.

In which case, seeing as the only visitors to the city via the front gate were those merchants of whom were said to have only "foodstuffs and other tools" and thus no magical relics or methods of sustaining their magic such as semen or mana crystals if they had any to begin with, the killer would have had have breached Blackfire Reach via a potential Wurm tunnel, a method which may or may not have led to them being spotted in some capacity. It may be beneficial to ask around to see if anyone saw any suspicious activity around the Wurm tunnels.

>Going with the doppelgänger theory, I would hazard a guess they wouldn’t adopt a lizardman form because they dont know enough to live as a lizardman.

That explanation would make sense if doppelgängers are incapable of swapping their forms at will, but I'm not entirely certain if that's the case or not. We're kind of fucked if they can, thinking about it.

>>389087

>As foreman you can easily go in and out but the miners wont do good work. Its not worth it.

Can we take the order members in our party with us if we do decide to enter the mines? Because it might be worth spending some time scouting out the tunnels via a mixture of [Daylight] and [Audio Tap], considering that the culprit is potentially still somewhere in the mines and that they would find it rather difficult to hide from us when the tunnels are suddenly illuminated and any movement they make is noticed.

>>389107

>So we have no choice but to slaughter and torture the entire caravan in increasingly painful ways until one of them finally breaks.

If you want those council members who are tempted to work with the Danuki to hate us and to give the Danuki justification for turning said council members against us, thus causing an internal conflict within the city for them to take advantage of when they send the next group our way, sure. Unless you intend for us to start a full-on genocide against their race which we unfortunately don't have time for, killing the Danuki at the outpost won't achieve much good until everyone in Blackfire Reach is aware of their bullshit., which will only happen when we have irrefutable evidence of their crimes.

>>389116

>From Wizardquest 2, Thread 3:

<You snap your fingers, and Alice decapitates the Danuki.

I'd argue taking someone's head off is a little more than simply slitting their throat.

>>389123

>It's possible that whoever did this has less than mundane means to mask their scent?

Having researched this a little bit, I've found that hunters tend to utilise scent-covering soaps and clothing designed to absorb scents when it comes to avoiding detection by their prey, usually deer. Considering that such methods are designed to make you give off a neutral odour and that a fox's sense of smell—while certainly stronger than most—isn't as keen as something like a dog's, there is a possibility that we're overthinking this and that the killer simply took precautions to keep themselves hidden. With that in mind, and given the fact that no private bathing exists within the city, it wouldn't be the worst idea to query the staff at the public bathhouse to see if anyone who matches our murderer's features visited the day prior, or if anyone was washing perhaps a little too vigorously.

Maybe asking Helene if she has any ideas.

Hey! Sorry, I'm sure y'all have noticed the lack of consistent updates and I won't bore you with the blogpost. Either way, that may stay the case for awhile so thanks for sticking around! Hopefully will kick out the update tomorrow.

>>389162

It is entirely possible that they didn't do a through search of these merchants. You can request one, if you want, they won't be hard to find.

Sure you can take them into the mines, it's just for the time being they're not having normal operations.

>Story continue

A chuckle escapes your lips. Yes, that’s Tabitha, never thinking of failure, always looking forward for a way to solve problems. Typically this involves her sword or her legs, but until you catch your mystery assassin, it’ll be brains that are needed.

Snapping your fingers, you erect a [Privacy Barrier] around the room, making sure your words can’t be heard. Erwin confirms no one is around with smell and you’re pretty sure no one can hide anywhere in this little room, though somehow this assassin evaded Erwin’s nose so who knows?

Shaking your head, you sit down and say, “Alright we’ve been over the evidence. Thoughts anyone?”

Bardam rubs his chin. “Well, it seems likely we’re dealing with a human-like female, but given how few human women there are here they’d either have to have stayed hidden or be a Monster, though most wouldn’t be able to wear shoes. I suppose going and investigating them all could work?”

“Or it would make them go underground for a time.” Veronica says, holding up a hand. “No, I don’t think being so obvious would work. A better clue may be to gather the remaining council members in the guest chambers of the palace and ambush the assailant when they come to strike.”

“What makes you think they’ll strike again?” You ask.

“Because the death of the mayor spooked the city, but they’ll get over it. Most of the citizens are accustomed to battle and loss. Nothing will have changed.” Veronica lifts a finger and begins speaking as if to lecture you. “A murder may occur in blind anger or as an accident, but it is often sloppy and easy to detect. An assassination takes careful planning and the will of the one who hired the assassin to be patient. The reasons are either for revenge or, more often, to further a goal by removing someone.”

She gives you a motherly smile, “And what goal is furthered by the mayor being killed again?”

“Reducing the number of council members available to keep the Danuki out.” You say, perhaps a little hesitant.

“Indeed. Certainly the mine closure plays a role too, but even with Wurm tunnels, they can’t expect to mine that ore in sufficient quantities without being noticed. It’s not an easy feat to just tap a vein in that manner.”

You nod your head, knowing how true that is. “Alright, you’ve made a good point. But what makes you so sure it’s the Danuki?”

She gives you a look that suggests she knows that you know that everyone knows it was the Danuki who hired the assassin. “How did they know so quickly about the assassination?”

“Communion Matrix?” You say, shrugging.

Veronica blinks and then frowns. “Yes, well. Yes, probably, but let’s be realistic here.” She sighs and waves a hand. “You went and ruined with point with logic.”

Bardam chuckles, “Oh? The great Ascendant’s reason defied. I’ll have to remember this.”

She huffs at Bardam and crosses her arms under her breasts. “Well, never mind that. Everything else fits.” She leans forward. “Now then, if they’re so concerned with being allowed in, what if we put it out that the council will discuss a resolution tomorrow to, in the face of this adversity, still open the mines and make a public decision on the Danuki?”

“Sounds like a good way to get assassinated.” You say.

“Exactly. It will be an easy way to bait them out. Even better if we secretly get the council to stay in the palace.” Veronica says, smiling. She leans back and turns to Tabitha, “I suspect it will be easier to get the council to stay together if Tabitha makes a proposal since she is on it.”

“True.” Tabitha says. “If I stay here then the others will too. Lizardmen do not take well to being called cowards. We can set up sentries to wait for the assassin to come again.”

“In the meantime.” You say, “Erwin and I can explore those tunnels and make sure there aren’t any others. Might as well check if they aren’t still in the mines either.”

“Rommel, that’s dangerous.” Tabitha says. “Your situational awareness isn’t always the best.”

“Honey, that’s quite rude! But that’s why I’ll have Erwin with me.” You say, nodding your head. You can feel through your bond Erwin feeling the same way.

“Still, I’ll take Maya too.”

>>389331

Everyone turns to look at the half-awake Mouse Girl who gives a thumbs up without looking at you. You really have no idea with her.

“In that case…” Veronica says, reaching out to take the blade. “Bardam and I will go ask about the knife. There are very accomplished blacksmiths in here so I’m sure we can get a wealth of information from them about it’s origins, and thus the origin of our attacker.”

Bardam shrugs, “I suppose it won’t be too strange for Order members to go asking those kinds of questions. It is kind of our job.” He considers for a moment. “Sort of.”

“Sounds like a plan for now.” You say, rising. “I’ll go meet Erwin in the tunnels, we’ll regroup before sunset.”

Slinging Maya again under one arm, you make your way out of the meeting room. As you pass one of the Lizardmen attendants dressed in a butler outfit, you pause and ask, “You didn’t murder the mayor, did you?”

“No, slitting throats is for cowards.” She says smoothly. “How can I help you?”

Maya chuckles under your arm and you both look at her for a moment before you ask, “Do you normally do cleaning around the palace?”

“I do! My family comes from a long line of combat butlers. I was quite pleased to be able to leave service and return here to our ancestral home.”

“The door to the mayor’s room, did you oil the hinges recently?”

“No, oil for such purposes is hard to come by at the moment and the mayor insisted we didn’t do that despite the door being quite squeaky. I imagine she wanted to be able to hear it being opened to be honest. When I last cleaned her room yesterday morning, there was nothing like that present.”

“I see.” You say, frowning. “Are you the only one who cleans rooms?”

“No, of course not. There’s a few other Lizardmen and a Wurm who is aptitude for it. Honestly she seems brighter than most, which is quite nice and, oh-!” She leans over and waves to a Wurm dressed as a maid who shuffles with some laundry. The Wurm waves back, dropping the load and she cries out, going to pick it up with her big claws.

You watch her with amusement before sighing. Well, it must have been the assassin who applied the oil right? Potentially right before she did the deed or the mayor would have noticed when she opened her door for the evening. Either the assassin was planning this for a while or they had a contact in the palace who fed them information.

Thanking her, you head out back to the tunnels where you meet Erwin, the poor guy covered in dirt. She shakes his coat clean and sits on his haunches, lifting his forearms up.

{Upsies!}

{Erwin, please, this is embarrassing.}

{But I’m tirrreeed.}

{You trekked through most of a country made of sand you lout!}

{But the mouse gets to be carried!}

You look down at Maya and shrug before placing her on the ground and rolling her over with your foot. She lets out a displeased sound and turns away from you, curling up in a ball. It would be cute if she wasn’t being such a pain.

“Maya, if you don’t get up right now you’ll have to sleep on the floor with no pillow or anything.”

She bolts up in a split second, flashing you a salute, her eyes firm and resolute. “Reporting sir! Ready for duty!” Blinking, she wipes some drool from her chin.

“Maya, why are you like this?” You ask, shaking your head. “You seem to be good at your job, but why are you so lazy?”

“I’m not lazy, I just get sleepy.” She says, yawning. “Proper sleep is good for your health you know.”

You watch her for a moment, looking for her to say anything else, but she just watches you, eyes fluttering slowly closed until you sigh and ask, “Do you know what we’re doing here?”

“Finding any other tunnels that lead onto the palace grounds and tracing the present ones so we can watch for any entrance by our assassin.” She says, still yawning.

“I-“ You say, thinking to trip her up. So she was actually listening then? Hmm.

“Alright then.” You say, rolling your shoulders before placing your hand on the ground. “Let’s see what we’re looking at.”

>>389332

A pulse of power goes through you as you cast [Survey]. You’re able to instantly grasp most of the landscape underneath the palace and feel the boring mineral composition of it. Questing outward, you sense the tunnel before you and trace it a good distance before pulling back and locating the other one Maya found. Spreading your net further, you’re unable to find any others, barring a few recent ones filled in by the staff due to some Wurms getting turned around and burrowing up into the grounds.

Sharing the findings, you and the other two head down into the tunnel the knife was found in, you keeping a hand on the wall the entire time as you survey. Maya scouts forward while Erwin sits on your shoulder, ears twitching for any sounds. You’re able to discover a few collapsed side tunnels that go who knows where, but the main focus is upon the tunnels heading to the mines. When you find the footprint that Erwin mentioned beforehand, you study it and indeed, agree it must have been from a woman, or an exceedingly small man. Something about this nags at you, like you’re trying to remember something familiar about all of this but you can’t quite place it.

The tunnel stretches on for quite some time but you still find no trace of your assailant or any other prints. Maya confirms the same when she meets you at the entrance to the mines, the tunnel coming out into a deep shaft near one of the depleted sections of mine. Would make sense that no one would follow this carefully as no one goes here much since the Lizardmen long ago stripped the area bare.

“Are you sure she went here?” Maya asks Erwin as she taps her head. “I really don’t see much of anything. How could they not leave any tracks?”

The fox shrugs at her and she huffs while walking back to the mine proper. “I’m jealous. I bet they could sleep wherever they want and no one would find out.”

“Any ideas on how they could mask their scent?” You ask, to which Maya shrugs. “Some soaps and such can do that, but even then it’s hard to beat an animal or a Monster’s sense of smell. There’s some magics that can do it, and I’ve heard assassins from the east can do it to, though I’m pretty sure that’s magic involved also.”

You frown. “Assassins from the east?”

“Yeah like, uh…” She frowns. “I don’t remember what they’re called, but they’re supposed to be really good at this sort of thing. Anyway, there’s a few ways to do it, though I’m not really a hunter or anything and it takes so much effort.” Another yawn escapes her.

“Hmm.” You muse as you enter into the main shaft of the mine. “Well, looks like we’re in the clear here. Might as well head back to the palace and prepare for this evening.”

“Are you sure? Because we didn’t investigate these tracks.” Maya says, pointing ahead of you.

Confused, you look at the ground but don’t find anything much at all on the hard stone. Frowning, you turn to her when Erwin sends, {Ohhhh, that’s interesting.}

“What? What’s interesting?”

“You think so too, hmm?” Maya says, nodding to Erwin, who nods back.

You sigh out, “Maya. Erwin. What are you talking about?”

“The Dragon tracks.” Maya says without hesitation. “Heading further into the mine.”

{Yeah, can’t you tell?}

You groan as Maya walks forward and squats down next to some dirt. “The dirt here is disturbed with the size similar to that of the Dragon’s footprint. It’s recent and, given the traffic through here, it was likely today, though this set is going outside.”

Eventually you see what she’s talking about. So Valeria was here today? But why? The mines were closed down, so she shouldn’t have been here. But there’s no other set of tracks, so it was only her? She… she couldn’t be related to this after all, could she?

“What do you want to do?” Maya asks.

“I think we should leave it for now.” You say. “She’s clearly not the assassin and we have more important matters to attend to. We’ll follow up later.”

“Whatever you say, boss.” Maya says, slumping to the ground. “But… can you carry my back again?”

“No.”

{How about me?} Erwin asks, giving you sad eyes.

{NO!}

Both of them let out miserable sounds as you leave them behind on your way back to the palace.

>>389333

It’s near sunset by the time you arrive back at the palace. Covered in sweat and dirt, you consider taking a bath, but as you’re the last to arrive, that option is taken from you. Maya, who you made walk the entire way here like a good member of a militant order, flops down on the table, complaining about sleeping while sweaty while Erwin saunters over to Tabitha’s lap and hops up into it, sighing at how cool her legs feel.

“Hello to you too, you furball.” She says before nodding to you. “I see you’re alive, though I question that for your companions.”

“I do as well.” You say, sitting down at the table and casting [Privacy Barrier]. “The mines were empty of our assailant save for someone who shouldn’t have been there.” You tell them about Valeria.

“That’s…” Tabitha says, frowning before shaking her head. “You’re right, we’ll deal with it later.”

“How’d they take your proposal?” You ask.

She sighs. “Well enough. I think they understand the necessity and those who are a little more philosophical weren’t going to lie down and take the implication that they’re cowards for not wanting to stay here. The maids helped me set them up in rooms on the third floor of the palace with guards around the perimeter as well.”

Veronica chuckles, “Yes, well at least that’s settled. I’m sure some of them understand the true reason behind it, but we know the rooms they’re staying in and can set up sentries, right?”

You nod. “Yeah, I’ll set up some golem friends to keep watch. Anyway, how did your adventure go?”

“Hmm? Oh.” She says, putting the knife back on the table. “This knife wasn’t made in Deleor or the Monster Nation. The metal composition and the techniques used to make it aren’t used here. It’s not exactly stylized in a manner that would be recognizable to anyone without the skill to do so, but it’s clearly eastern in origin.”

Blinking you turn to Maya who looks at the knife with flat eyes. Licking your lips, you say, “You’re saying the Danuki imported an assassin from the east?”

“Given the location of Danusreal, it’s entirely possible.” Bardam says, shrugging. “There aren’t many humanoid Monsters who come from that way and they’d be instantly recognizable in this city.”

“A human, on the other hand, would be much easier to conceal their identity. Though as it stands no human has been seen in the palace today and all the rooms were already inspected.”

“Could it be…?” You begin before shaking your head. “No, better not go chasing after this when we don’t have a definitive idea.” Looking to Tabitha you ask, “Does the city know about the resolution tomorrow?”

“Yes, people are talking.” She says, having the same thoughts as you. “They have to know about it.”

“Alright then.” You say, nodding as you pull out your friends and start shaping them into humanoid little golems.

“I guess the pieces are together. Let’s put the plan in action.”

>>389334

“Pass the mountain elixir.” You ask Bardam, yawning.

The man stares at you for a moment before handing you a jug of green fluid. You take a swing and sigh in relief. If there’s one thing this “El Dorito” is good for, it’s a constant supply of Mountain Elixir. Which is good, because it keeps you awake, which you need to be for this mission.

It’s already very late at night with no sign of the assassin. There’s eight remaining council members, including Tabitha, all staying in the palace and you have a golem assigned to each as well as invisible sentries placed within corridors of the palace. Practice with your magic made this possible, but it is a little taxing to split your concentration between so many of them linked with [NSA]. Thankfully Erwin and Maya, concealed quite well, are watching the outside tunnels, and you’re going to just have to trust that the Mouse Girl isn’t asleep right now.

“Anything?” Veronica asks, somehow not seeming tired. She flips through her scriptures as if they aren’t boring before setting it down on the table of your hiding area, one of the guest rooms near the council members.

“No, not yet.” You say. “Maybe they won’t come?”

“A loss for the Danuki if they don’t, however that may be best as combat is not always the answer.”

Rolling your eyes, you send to Erwin, {Any movements from the tunnels?}

{Nope. It’s super quiet here.}

{Alright well, the gates are guarded so it seems unlikely that they’d come from elsewhere.}

{If you say so. I’m not certain what Maya is doing though, I wonder if she’s asleep?}

{Wake her ass up then!}

{Fine! Just let me- wait.} He goes quiet.

Your heart begins to hammer in your chest at the implications. He’s wasn’t harmed or you’d have felt it through your familiar link, however he’s not responding. You wait for an excruciatingly long period of time before he finally sends, {Maya thinks she saw something! Something came over the walls!}

{What!} You send back. {Fuck, which way did they go?}

{She doesn’t know, her night vision isn’t the best!}

Snapping your focus back to the room, you say, “I think our assailant is here. I’m going to focus on the golems to find out where she’s going! Get ready to go!”

You shift your focus to your sentries, trying to locate the assassin. All of the council are housed in one wing of the palace, so you’re able to get a good view of the hallways leading to it. The rooms are still secure, so when you shift back to the hallway you sense something in the corner of your vision. Focusing on it, you see a lithe, human-like form clothed in pure black clothing, their head concealed and obscured by a cloth mask. Only their eyes are visible, though through the spectrum of your sentry there’s no way to see what they look like.

They sit in the shadows of the hallway not making a single sound. The candles on the walls illuminate the doors well and they seem hesitant to enter. The figure suddenly makes quick hand signs and the hallway darkens as all the candles are blown out. Visibility becomes nothing, and you lose sight of the assassin.

Switching to your golems hurriedly, you stop as you view through Valinthia the [Bauxite]’s eyes a black form blocking your view to an older Lizardman councilor who sided against the Danuki. Damn, Tabitha’s room is closest to the stairs, how did they pick the room of one of the anti-Danuki ones? Cursing, you reach out with your magic for the other spell you laced into the hallway: [Vox Caster].

>>389335

Feeling terrible about this, but knowing the necessity, you utilize a spell you learned from the Grand Wizard. A spell you hoped you’d never have to use. Sucking in your breath, you channel your will and sing the [Irate Frog Song].

Sounds of angered frogs echo through the palace. In a distance part of your consciousness you feel the figure in the room dash out as the councilor awakens with a shout, sword suddenly in her hand. You exit your hiding place to see the door flying open but by this point Bardam and Veronica are already there, the later shouting a canticle as yellow light floods around her, illuminating the dark hallway.

The figure, obviously female lets out a curse in a foreign language and throws a knife at Veronica, but she turns and it clips off her armor. Bardam charges forward in that moment, but the assassin is already dancing backward, her goal to exist the palace. A door opens behind her and Tabitha slashes out of her sword, but the assassin nimbly ducks underneath and sweeps with their leg, catching the lizardman and knocking her to the ground before she rolls away and toward a staircase.

Before she can reach the end of the hall, you cast out with your magic upon the marble floor and with [Build the Wall] you wrench it forward to block off her exit. The assassin, seemingly unfazed, turns swiftly around and charges back toward the rapidly filling hallway, their hands flashing back and forth as a surge of energy pours through them.

“Oh shit!” You shout, remembering this move. You throw up another wall as a gout of flame appears from the assassin. Thankfully your wall blocks it, but when you pull the wall away you see the assassin gone, a door inside that section open. Tabitha runs forward and shouts,

“She left through the window!”

Cursing your lack of foresight, you dash to the window and cast [Daylight].

The grounds are suddenly illuminated, revealing the assassin the stark contrast. They stumble for a moment and fall from the wall they were scaling using no tools somehow. Taking the opportunity, you leap from the window and [Rock Slide] down the face of the palace while casting [Rock Solid] on the assassin.

Normally this spell would be useful for armoring someone, but it also slows them down. Rock assembles upon the female as she looks on, surprised before rolling and pushing to her feet with some effort. She says nothing as she makes more hand-signs and you feel another rush of power.

Your spell crumbles around her. In your shock, she dashes forward while pulling out a knife similar to the one left in the tunnel. Before you know it she’s not five feet from you, weapon pointed at your chest. At this range and with the daylight, you can see her brown eyes filled with contempt for you, perfectly ready to deliver a killing blow. You try to bring up a wall of rock in time, but there’s just no way.

Something whizzes past and the blade only slashes your chest, drawing a line of blood. You stumble back as your wall forms and the figure is out of sight. Quickly dodging to the side, you notice an arrow sticking out of the ground nearby and with another whizzing sound, the assassin rolls back, dodging another arrow.

Kneeling in the bushes nearby you see the form of Maya, short bow in hand as she knocks another arrow. Shouting is heard all around as more guards make their way around the palace to where you’re fighting. Tabitha drops down too, her legs absorbing all the impact, sword at the ready.

>>389336

The assassin looks between all of you before nodding her head and reaching into her clothing for something. In that instant you reach out with your power and shout, catching her leg with a spire of stone. The assassin, mid-motion, throws down a ball that explodes into a cloud of black smoke, but it’s too late for her. Unable to move, you feel her struggle as you draw up with your magic and encase her in rock, only leaving her head open.

Quickly channeling Aeromancy, you blow away the smoke to reveal the form of the captured, and frankly stunned, assassin. She stares at you with wide eyes as you stalk toward her, not even noticing the blood dribbling down your chest. Growling, you grab her mask and rip it off, revealing the face of a rather attractive, far eastern woman. She immediately spits in your face.

Grabbing her hair and cranking her head back, you growl out, “Was getting caught part of your master plan?”

She stares at you a long time before smiling. When you think she’s going to say something, she spits at you again. Feeling enraged, you make to knock her out when a hand rests on your shoulder and you turn to see Tabitha, who shakes her head.

“That’s enough. Don’t let her get to you.”

Your wife looks at the wound on your chest before turning her gaze on the woman. In a swift motion, she delivers a blow to her head which renders the assassin unconscious. When you blink at Tabitha, surprised, she merely shrugs and says, “I never said anything about her getting to me.”

Sighing, you give her a light kiss as Maya and Erwin walk up, the former shaking her head. “You should really be more alert, boss. What were you doing? Napping?”

You’d like to be angry at her, but honestly, she just saved your life. As guards and the rest of your party arrive you sigh, hoping with this, you can finally put it behind you and move forward. Unfortunately there are still too many questions and you need answers. But for now, everyone is safe, the assassin is caught. Let’s just take that as a small victory.

>What do you do?

Damn, there was every possibility she was going to get away. Begs the question though, how did she know so much about things and so quickly? Guess she's just good at her job.This asian human lady with crazy assassination skills and weird hand signs you've seen before.

Also, what was Valeria doing in the mines? She should have stayed home! Well, not like you can't get the mines going now that the assassin is caught anyway. Really you could just kill her and go back to mining, it's probably fine.

At least no one got hurt.

>>389337

ask her why does she wear the mask

we could take her outside (still bound up in rock) and question the danuki as to why the assassin is specifically going after anti-danuki councilors

we could also keep her locked/bound up while mining the gold/runite, and when we have enough we can pay the assassin more than what the danuki did, and then have her kill all the danuki

Alright. Now that we’ve caught her we just need to hold her. Keep her encased in stone. She should also be stripped down, be shaved bald, thoroughly searched and deprived of sleep. Then restrained in stone. Doing this serves several purposes. Firstly we keep her from hiding any items or weapons she could escape with or kill herself with.make sure to inspect her mouth, teeth and/or jewelry for things like cyanide pills. This includes anything such as hairsticks(some Asian women commit suicide by putting them up their nose and falling on them) I would honestly be surprised if she didn’t have anything like that Secondly, it weakens her psychologically and makes it easier or more likely that she will tell us the information we need. The final reason, to restrain her with stone is in case she has backup who will try to rescue her. Being encased in a wall makes it pretty hard to be rescued. Her hands especially need to be encased. We can’t afford to have her using any magic or hand motions to escape.

Ideally we will have three guards inside the cell to watch her then two more outside to keep anyone from entering.have one of our golem friends with NSA stand watch with them just in case the three inside will make sure she doesn’t escape and also that she remains awake for as long as we hold her.(ideally for about a week but 3-5 days is also acceptable. Just long enough to weaken her resolve)

To add to this she should not be starved. Rather she should be given approximately 500-1000 calories spread evenly throughout the day. It should consist mostly of carbohydrates. Stale bread would be a perfect example. This will prevent her body from entering ketosis and she will be weaker physically and mentally.

I doubt the assassin will give in to anything like torture or bribes. Professionals usually have a mix of training and personal honor to resist both. Instead I propose we go in and tell her the truth. That she is going to be executed for the murder of the mayor, as well as attempted murder of other council members. BUT if she tells us who hired her, then we shall make it quick and clean. then once she tells us (((who))) hired her we go round them up and publicly execute them

Now since she might not be operating alone we should keep the council within the palace for another week or so to wait and see if there’s anyone else. Let a rumor spread that the assassin was captured then we wait and see who takes the bait. If no one comes to try to rescue her, or complete their mission then we proceed with her interrogation. By this point it will have been a few days at least and sleep deprivation and the change in diet will have started to kick in. Hopefully weakening her enough mentally and physically that she will accept our offer.

Some of this may seem cruel, and there are other, more humane methods to turn someone to your side, but at most we probably have a week at most before the danuki hire more assassins, or any friends she has try to rescue her. Given our time constraints this is our best option.

kinda kicking myself for not thinking of a kunoichi as a possible suspect

>>389338

Heh, He thinks she's getting the sweet relief of death. How cute.

>>389353

This nigga's got the right idea. I'd like to add that she should be kept in total isolation, With literally no interaction besides the guards giving her food. More mental pressure.

.

Also get Maya some fancy cheese for being a good little mouse, She's earned it.

> Well, it must have been the assassin who applied the oil right? Potentially right before she did the deed

Wait, the hinges are on the outside of the door?

> She sighs. “Well enough. I think they understand the necessity and those who are a little more philosophical weren’t going to lie down and take the implication that they’re cowards for not wanting to stay here. The maids helped me set them up in rooms on the third floor of the palace with guards around the perimeter as well.”

> Damn, Tabitha’s room is closest to the stairs, how did they pick the room of one of the anti-Danuki ones?

So we've still got an insider to catch. I wonder if they'll try to free the assassin. I wonder if there's a way we can randomize which council member sleeps where without telling anyone, it'll make it a little more risky to try and assassinate people without inspecting them first since you'd be doing it at random.

>>389337

Stopping the assassin before more council members were killed is fantastic, but as >>389369 points out, we still have enemy agents among our ranks to weed out, so our work regarding this problem isn’t quite done yet. As for who the mole(s) might be, we can make a guess that they are either within the council or have the ability to be around any conferences the council has so that they can listen in to what is being discussed I doubt the meetings utilise [Privacy Barrier]s when those present lack magic, so it’s not like they have much protection against eavesdroppers, because it’s unlikely that there would have been enough time for the assassin to be informed of the exact locations of her targets following the decision to place particular people in particular places unless that information was received and began to make its way to her the moment the decision was made, and the assassin clearly knows who is anti-Danuki given who she targeted just now, which is information that hasn’t been disclosed outside of the aforementioned meetings.

As for how to go about finding the moles, a few methods come to mind. Firstly, we should have people/small woodland creatures that are basically people/rocks stealthily tail each of the council members, regardless of their opinions on the Danuki it’s not out of the question that one of the anti-Danuki council members is lying about their beliefs to avoid detection, to see if they do anything suspicious like sneak out of the city or pass certain bits of information onto other people that they really shouldn’t, because any questionable action from them is rather likely to mean guilt red herrings are unlikely at this point. Secondly, we could have one of the Order members snoop around the meeting locations to see if anyone else is sticking around themselves and to question them if so, because anyone still present is most likely listening in; it should be stressed that we only send Order members to do this, because they at least have the excuse of investigation for being present and that’s exactly what they’re doing, so it checks out. Finally, similar to what >>389369 suggests, we could continue to have the council members stay within the palace while we spread conflicting information about where each particular member is sleeping, before we finalise their positions at the last possible moment. This way, should another assassin reach the palace and we should really continue to watch for any, we can observe where they go to get an idea of which members they are intending to kill and thus get an idea of what information they were given regarding the council’s positions, which in turn should help us determine who might have spread said information based on who we tell what.

>{Maya thinks she saw something! Something came over the walls!}

The assassin being capable of scaling the walls is probably something we should have considered in terms of their method of getting to the Mayor, but hindsight is a wonderful thing it seems. Still, the fact the she was able to do that at all, and with such ease too, means that we really need to figure out a way of countering this, as otherwise any other assassin could easily use the same method of entering Blackfire Reach when we least expect it and cause problems as a result. As for how to go about doing that, I would recommend we set up patrols on top of and at the base of the walls inside the city preferably for the latter with multiple sources of light plastered in the same locations, as well as on the side of the wall outside of the city, to help with night vision; this way, any potential intruders will be spotted before they manage to reach the wall, and any intruders that somehow get to the base of the wall will hopefully be noticed regardless of if they try to go over, under or through the wall. Furthermore, I’d recommend setting up patrols at the entrance of the mines as well as any tunnels that may exist leading from the mine to the city if we don’t purposefully go out of our way to block them, because there is a chance that any future assassins may try alternative points of entry in their own infiltration attempts and we should really prepare for this possibility.

>>389337

>>389385

>So Valeria was here today? But why? The mines were closed down, so she shouldn’t have been here. But there’s no other set of tracks, so it was only her? She… she couldn’t be related to this after all, could she?

While I doubt she’s related to the murders, attempted or otherwise, it still wouldn’t be the worst idea to query her regarding her recent activities and why she was in the mine today we can be pretty sure it was her given the lack of other dragons (to our knowledge). Her reasons for going there could be benevolent she could have been searching for potential entrances to the city that may have been/may be later used by assassins, malevolent she was looking to take advantage of the problems on the surface to steal resources belonging to Blackfire Reach as a whole for herself or benign she simply felt like going for a stroll in the darkness, don’t judge, but regardless this would be a good opportunity to discern whether or not we can trust her going forward.

Speaking of trust, I’m fairly certain we can be sure that Maya is indeed on our side and is not an agent of another party at this point. If she were an enemy agent, then the event just now where the assassin was about to kill us would have been the perfect opportunity for her to hang back and let us die, thus sabotaging our mission while she gets away scot free due to having plausible deniability in terms of why she didn’t do anything; instead, she actively took a part in defending us and ultimately saved our life as a result, which is the opposite an enemy agent would want to do because why would Phallia or anyone else want us to be able to find the Hearts of the Crags? If they didn’t want anyone to use it, then it’s much easier to simply prevent the only people searching for it from finding it in the first place than it is to let them find it and then prevent them from using it by breaking or stealing it. Furthermore, she could have simply not mentioned noticing the assassin slip into the city when she did under the excuse of her having poor night vision, which would have had a similar result, yet she went out of her way to find Erwin to report her findings to us, which is once again something an enemy agent wouldn’t do. As such, while we definitely shouldn’t just drop the bombshell that is Phallia’s fuckery on her, it wouldn’t be the worst idea to be a tad more open with information regarding our objectives with her going forward.

>>389353

A very well thought-out plan for containment and breaking the assassin, good job anon. I would like to propose some alterations though:

>Keep her encased in stone.

We should have other methods for binding her in place, or at the very least other methods on top of sealing her in stone. [Rock Solid] isn't going to stay in place unless we're constantly channelling it, so relying on that alone runs the risk of her somehow managing to wiggle her way out, even if we stack a ton of stones on her which in itself runs the risk of crushing her, something we want to avoid until we have the desired information from her.

>Her hands especially need to be encased. We can’t afford to have her using any magic or hand motions to escape.

The aforementioned point of encasing her hands alone being a risk aside, why stop at simply encasing them? We're planning on killing this woman once we're done with her, so there's no reason to leave her hands still functional and thus capable of potentially using her magic against us. We should either break every bone in her hands or simply cut her hands off—it's rather hard to make hand signs when your hands are either completely shattered or just outright missing, after all.

>I doubt the assassin will give in to anything like torture or bribes.

While she may be able to resist the urge to give in when tortured, it still doesn’t mean we shouldn’t utilise it against her. Personally, I’d recommend we use the classic Chinese water torture method, because it both ensures she will stay awake for prolonged periods of time and isn’t physically damaging, meaning we can continue it for as long as it takes for her to break.

>If no one comes to try to rescue her, or complete their mission then we proceed with her interrogation.

This implies that we shouldn't interrogate her until after we confirm no one else is coming, right? Why not start interrogating her from the moment she wakes up? Worst case scenario we waste like twenty minutes talking to her for no information, which is pretty negligible when we can't be digging every waking moment of every day and will thus have some down time, so we can only really benefit from trying to get information from her as early as possible, especially if we want to get rid of the Danuki before they can cause more issues for us.

>>389354

I’m fairly certain mice only really eat cheese out of necessity rather than preference. It might be better to get her chocolate instead, since mice apparently have a sweet tooth.

>>389387

>We should have other methods for binding her in place, or at the very least other methods on top of sealing her in stone. [Rock Solid] isn't going to stay in place unless we're constantly channelling it, so relying on that alone runs the risk of her somehow managing to wiggle her way out, even if we stack a ton of stones on her

I should have been more clear. I meant we literally put her in the wall. Break down part of the wall, place her within it arms and legs spread apart, then reform the wall around her. That we can leave without having to channel it constantly

>We should either break every bone in her hands or simply cut her hands off

That’s a good idea. We should shatter her hands over cutting them off though. Cutting them off runs the risk of her dying from shock I think.

>Personally, I’d recommend we use the classic Chinese water torture method

Fun fact about Chinese water torture, it’s not actually the water that breaks you but rather being bound and in an exposed position.

>This implies that we shouldn't interrogate her until after we confirm no one else is coming, right? Why not start interrogating her from the moment she wakes up?

I mean it’s a given we’re going to ask as soon as she wakes up but I’m asuming she won’t tell us. Waiting a few days to a week is more for the purpose of softening her up.

If she does tell us what we need to know, then we should just kill her then and there with a pebble through her head. In addition Rommel and Tabitha should be the only ones to speak with her in order to avoid the mole that >>389369 talked about

>>388340

Welp, the cover is finished! Just gotta finish the interior. Again. And I can ship this stupidly large book off.

What was I thinking being able to make it just one book? Oh well.

Hey! Thanks for the suggestions, most of it was certainly little shit I should have picked up. I found other mistakes you didn't mention also in those sections so I'll be going through the rest of it and HOPEFULLY get the vast majority.

>>389339

Nobody cared who she was until she put it on

Well you already are outside but yes you probably should ask that.

>>389353

Wao. Well good thing you have stone-cold Rommel cause he'd do this kind of stuff I suppose. Turns out the palace has a dungeon too, though part of it is ruined due to Wurms. Still fairly usable!

You really want to wait a week before starting up mining again? Or is that in the interim?

As I was writing I was like, "Man, I wonder if this is enough hints?" I think the answer was, "not enough initially, or at least not focused. Oh well.

>>389354

Maya is a nice girl who just wants to sleep. She will accept cheese though.

>>389369

>Hinges outside the door.

Ehe…heh…

Hmm. Maybe it was the butler after all?

It would be very difficult to randomize who is going where until the last moment. I don't know if they'll try anything exactly that bold again but who knows?

>>389385

The timeframe between decision of the rooms and the assassination was a few hours. The house staff made up those rooms in that time and the guards were made aware the council was staying. There were many people who knew they were here and the possibility of magitek communications devices and the communion matrix make it easy to give such info too.

To follow the 7 other council members and not be caught would be extremely taxing. You could do it since they were stationary, but throughout the day and hiding all the time? Even taking commands from you it's going to be incredibly difficult to do that.

The walls to the palace are tall but not thick, mostly for privacy. You can't station anyone atop them. The walls leading into the canyon to the city on the other hand, yeah, that's like a fortress.

>>389386

Sure, talking with Valeria can certainly and should be arranged.

Once again, Maya is a good girl. Sleepy little good girl. Sleepy little good girl who is actually rather perceptive.

>>389387

>>389393

>I gotta write out very detailed restraint and torture.

Guess we'll see if I can manage that okay.

Something that has just come to mind, we should probably start looking for someone who knows eastern languages, because there is a chance that the assassin doesn't speak Deleorian, which would make interrogation rather hard otherwise.

>>389393

>I meant we literally put her in the wall. Break down part of the wall, place her within it arms and legs spread apart, then reform the wall around her.

So less [Rock Solid] and more [Build the Wall] except she's within the wall as it's made? Makes sense but I still think it doesn't hurt to be paranoid and add extra bindings to her, just in case.

>Cutting them off runs the risk of her dying from shock I think.

Fair enough, though we should probably be at least somewhat careful when destroying her hands due to risks of serious internal haemorrhaging if we go too far with it.

>>389412

Just FYI, I've started going through the rest of the story in a similar editing style to what I produced earlier like I said I would, although progress is slower than I'd like due to life distractions and the sheer volume of text—you weren't kidding when you said it's a lot of work and I probably should've expect this, but I digress. I'm currently on chapter 36 now after having had to redo chapters 1-20 due to finding more stuff so I doubt I'll have a complete document before you decide to publish anything, but at least you could use it for a second revision if you ever decided to bother with that or something.

>Story continue

The assassin awakens and looks about, confused. Pitch black darkness surrounds her, making her question if she’s still asleep. She tries to turn her head but finds it quite difficult as something is compressing her neck and forehead. Struggling, she finds in horror that her entire body is encased in a rough, hard material that feels like stone. As she does so a violent pain courses through her hands and she lets out a muffled cry of pain. Relenting in the face of this, she lets out a grunt of frustration before closing her eyes and focusing, trying to get hold of her chakra and utilize her jutsus. But it’s no use, unable to use her hands or move her body, she can do nothing.

Something shifts nearby and her eyes snap open. Though she still can’t see, a moment later she hears a male voice say, “Ah, she’s awake.”

A bright light suddenly appears and she closes her eyes to shield them from the light, though it still stings. Blinking, it takes her eyes a few moments to adjust before she sees two forms in front of her: you and Tabitha.

Holding your staff in your hand, the arcane item glowing with the magic coursing through it, you give the assassin a hard look. The chair under you creaks and you stand, wound on your chest hurting as you do so. Tabitha merely puts a hand on her sword as you approach the assassin watching her.

“Do you speak Deleorian?”

She stares at you with a blank expression before making to spit at you again. As she does so, you send forth a small pulse of power and her bindings, a sheet of granite, compresses her neck, causing her to cough and sputter. Pulling back on the magic, you just wait until she’s finished choking on her own saliva before asking again, “Do you speak Deleorian?”

She glares at you in a way that says, “Yes, I do speak Deleorian you son of a bitch.”

Nodding, you say to her, “I trust you understand why you’re being restrained the way you are. If it’s any consolation, I wasn’t allowed to be the one to give you a cavity search before encasing you in here. You rap the bindings, a solid block of granite pulled from the floor you’ve encased her in, with your knuckle. “It’s solid rock and your hands are… well they don’t look much like hands anymore. I’m well aware of your… what did Ako call them… ‘Justus?’ And I know how effective they are for you Kunoichi.”

She continues to glare at you as you continue. “I’ll be blunt. I can’t see a way in which you get to live for what you did. I know your sort are very loyal to those who hired you. While I don’t relish having to do this, I can make it quick and painless. I’m no stranger to executions.”

Your expression becomes hard as rock. “Tell me who hired you and why. That’s all you have to do to end this.”

She continues to remain silent, her eyes boring into you with hatred. Well, she’s got guts at least. Sighing, you turn to Tabitha and say, “Very well, we’ll be going then. We’ll return when you’re more amenable.” Without saying anything further, you and Tabitha turn on your heels and walk toward an iron-wrought door, closing it behind you without even locking it. Turning away from her, you snap your fingers and part of the granite bindings shift in their consistency, becoming coarse and incredibly, incredibly irritating. A moan of discomfort whispers from her lips as you walk down a tunnel away from the cell, the light vanishes, casting the prisoner back into darkness.

You and Tabitha walk through the ruined tunnels of an old dungeon under the palace that was mostly ruined by the Wurm assault in silence, the only sound the clicking of Tabitha’s metallic legs and your staff as they scrape along the old stone floors. The light of your staff illuminates the tunnels until you reach a section with lanterns hung on the walls and three Lizardmen guards. They nod as you approach, one of them asking, “Did she say anything?”

“Not yet. I doubted she would so soon. Make sure she has no visitors and only arrive to give her the bare minimum of food and water. If she tries to speak, don’t answer. Don’t allow her to do anything to harm herself either.”

The guards nod their heads, looking a little uneasy. They’re not squeamish at all in battle, but torture… that’s another beast entirely.

>>389598

Part of you feels the same way. You’d rather just end her and be over and done with, but nothing’s that simple. This Kunoichi is going to be difficult to get your answers from which means torture is the best method. If your adventure in Ectria taught you anything, it’s that sometimes you need to be hard about these things. Sometimes you have to suck it up and do what needs to be done.

Tabitha places a hand on your arm and squeezes, as if sensing your conflict. Nodding to her, you head further down the tunnel to the stairs up, where you find more guards outside. It’s only been a few hours since the Kunoichi was caught, the sun barely having risen, but the palace is alert and alive with people protecting the council members, searching the grounds further, etc.

Entering a room where the others of your party are waiting, you stifle a yawn as you cast another [Privacy Barrier]. Veronica nods to you and pours you a cup of tea, which you accept gratefully as you sit down. She asks, “Anything?”

“No, but I didn’t expect it.” You say, sipping the tea. “But I suspect in a few days she may be more amenable.”

“I don’t like it.” Veronica says, brow furrowed. “Torture is not something we should aspire to.”

“I have to agree with Veronica.” Bardam says. “It’s not something the Order typically condones.”

Tabitha lets out a sigh for you. “We know, but do you have a better way to get the information? I doubt she can be bribed with their sense of honor and she’ll kill herself if we give her the chance.” She waves to a box nearby which holds the woman’s clothing and items. “We even found a poison on her person, likely to be taken if she suspected she’d be killed.”

“Sadly that’s about all we found.” You say, though again, Tabitha wasn’t keen on you feeling up another female. Not that you’d really find any pleasure in running your hands down the fit and surprisingly feminine form of the Kunoichi.

Veronica sighs. “Fine then. We would not like further deaths if possible. However…”

She trails off as Bardam says, “There’s likely more than one culprit, isn’t there?”

“Probably.” You say, annoyed. “A lot of this doesn’t quite add up. While it could make sense that she would know where the mayor sleeps, there’s no way she could have known who would be in what bed chamber last night. To make a random guess at one doesn’t fit. Someone had to have told her.”

Tabitha frowns. “The decisions were made after the council meeting. Theoretically the information could have gotten around, but only the maid staff would have known besides the members of council themselves.”

An uneasy silence permeates after that. The implications of such a statement hang heavy in the air. Unless there were means you didn’t know about, the only people who could have leaked this would be those working in the palace or the councilors. Someone is a traitor.

Bardam is the first to break the silence. “That’s just silly. The Lizardmen aren’t always the brightest, but they are honorable. To assassinate someone just doesn’t fit!”

“Lizardmen can do some pretty dishonorable things.” You say, thinking of the slavers in Ectria. “However… they are still upfront about it. I wouldn’t rule it out, but it seems much more likely to be one of the other races, right?”

‘Well…” Tabitha says, frowning. “There is a Wurm on the regular house staff, as well as a Lamia, but they’re well liked and do a good job. They seem happy here.”

“Hrm.” Veronica muses. “I suppose we should question the council members then, perhaps the maids and such as well.”

“No.” You say, shaking your head. “That will show our hand. Anyone crafty enough to work with the Danuki like this would be crafty enough to keep their mouths shut and play dumb.”

“You assume it’s the Danuki.” She says with a cocky smile. At your flat stare, she just chuckles. “Very well then. However I worry that someone will try to free our assassin while we investigate.”

“Doubtful.” Tabitha says. “She’s a broken tool now, even with healing magic those hands will take time to heal.”

Veronica raises an eyebrow at this but says nothing. Instead, she turns to you. “This will not be as quick or easy. How long do we intend to keep the mines out of operation?”

“Not long.” You say. “In fact, I probably need to do some investigating in the mines myself. I’m worried that someone’s been going in there without authorization..”

>>389599

“Oh?” Bardam asks, clearly interested. “What do you mean?”

You tell him about the tracks belonging to Valeria you found and he frowns, concerned. “Is that so? I hope she’s not thinking about taking it for herself.”

“It would be difficult to hide that fact.” You say, shrugging. “So I’m confused at why she would do it at all. Still, just to make sure I’ll be checking on that in a little b-bit.” A yawn escapes your lips, to which Tabitha frowns.

“Oh no, you’re getting some sleep. Besides, you have that wound on your chest.”

“Dear please, it will form a nice, sexy scar. Besides, it doesn’t hurt that much and we need to be working at this together.”

Veronica chuckles, “It’s fine. Bardam and I will take over listening in at the council meeting, which I’m sure will occur. I’d say you earned some sleep like her.” She nods to Maya who is curled up in the corner on some blankets, snoozing silently.

“She’s… much more dependable than I’d expected.” You say, honestly meaning it. “I’d probably be dead if not for her.”

“So I heard.” Veronica says. “While I’m glad to have her here, it’s a shame what happened to lead her to this position.”

You sit up, interested. It seemed rude to ask much about Maya’s past and she wasn’t one for telling people about it. Your eyes drift over to the sleeping form of the Mouse Girl and you swear you can see her ear twitch, but she makes no other movements. Curiosity winning out, you turn to Veronica who leans forward and sighs.

“From what I understand she was one of the highest order of scouts in the Order itself. Her ability to get into small places, to find things other couldn’t, and to be on her own for weeks at a time were remarkable. She’d be sent here and there, always in demand from various commanders who wanted her skills. I’d heard multiple stories of lives being saved by an arrow fired seemingly from nowhere.”

You blink, amazed at hearing all of this, and yet somehow it doesn’t surprise you. Veronica continues, not even looking at the sleeping Monster. “I believe about a year ago there was information passed down that a rather violent group of brigands was to be moving through a forest in western Deleor. Maya was assigned to locate the brigands as they’d move through and fire a magitek flare when she did, allowing the soldiers she was with to come down on them.”

Veronica looks down, hands cupping her tea. “The flare never came though. The soldiers, awaiting the signal to move in to attack didn’t expect the brigands to come from a different path and attack them. Though the soldiers prevailed, they took casualties they shouldn’t have. When they eventually found Maya she was asleep in the crook of a tree right by where the brigands should have passed. Because of that, she was brought back to the Hero’s Hall under censure and so far as I’ve known her, she’s been like that.”

You risk looking back at the sleeping Mouse Girl again to find for some reason her face looks a little pained, as if she’s having a bad dream though. Furrowing your brow you turn to Veronica and say, “Why do you think that happened?”

“I don’t know.” She says. “She didn’t say much in her defense initially and I doubt she’ll come out about it now. In time, perhaps, but as long as she does her duty, then all is well.”

“As long as she doesn’t fall asleep at another critical moment.” Bardam says, shaking his head as he stands up. “Alright, we’ll go with Tabitha and check on the council and see what’s happening next. You get some sleep and check out the mines.”

“I thought I was team leader.” You say, raising an eyebrow. The man merely shrugs and goes to wake Maya while you consider just how nice a nap would be right about now.

>>389600

Erwin trails behind you as you enter deeper into the mines, your staff providing illumination. The warmth of the mines feels nice after your rest, though you didn’t sleep too long at your house, your familiar waking you. As it stands, it’s around noon by the time you trek through the mines, pausing as Erwin notices fresh tracks again.

{Yep, she’s here again alright. I don’t see return tracks either.}

{Alright. I doubt she’ll do anything dangerous, but we need to be on our guard.} You send back, preparing yourself. As you move forward, you cast [Privacy Barrier] at intervals to muffle the sound of your approach until you reach the new section of tunnel you just excavated, where you’re certain she must be.

You wonder if she’d be able to even get in there if you hadn’t spent the time to widen it a few days ago, but it allows you entrance as well. Continuing to muffle your presence, Erwin eventually twitches his ears and sends, {Ah… I hear something ahead.}

It takes quite some time to reach the end of the tunnel and come to the large cavern housing the gold and runite. As you walk into the area, the heat becomes even more oppressive due to your proximity to the volcano. Loud, striking noises reverberate through the cavern and you turn your gaze to the far side where you see the form of Valeria striking the stone with her large pick-axe, breaking off huge portions with each swing.

She turns and wipes dirt from her brow and you can see with surprise that she’s bare from the waist up, her rather shapely breasts covered in glittering red scales. She rolls her shoulders before reaching into the hole she made and yanking, pulling out a piece of glimmering gold. Placing it close to her chest, she lets out a sigh before looking up and seeing you.

The gold tumbles from her clawed hand as she stares at you with wide eyes, a mix of shock and anger playing over her features. This lasts for a long moment before she lets out a booming roar and leaps through her air, her wings unfurling and carrying her in a bound that delivers her before you faster than you can react, her draconic feet nearly shattering the stone under her as she raises herself to her full height before you.

Fire burning in her eyes figuratively and smoke drifting from her mouth literally, she growls out, “What are you doing here?”

Despite having faced down abominations, impossibly powerful demi-goddess, and even a Sandworm, you’re still a little afraid of this enraged Dragon. Taking a few, calming breaths, you force yourself to stand up straight and look up into her eyes. She watches you, making no movement, though smoke continues to gently drift from her mouth. Taking a moment to steady yourself, you say with what you hope is authority,

“I was inspecting the mines for traces of the assassin when I’d noticed your footprints. I was hoping to find you here to ask why you’re mining when the mines are supposed to be shut down.” You give her a cold look, “Taking resources from the mines without permission is rather frowned upon you know. Even more so if such resources are given to those outside the city. Even MORE so if this is done while there is a current threat to the lives of the people in the city.”

Valeria looks down at you like you’re an insect. Perhaps this is a trait common to Dragons, but part of you wants to quiver under that glare. She speaks, her voice rough as gravel with all the smoke. “Are you accusing me of using the killing to gain gather materials to give to the Danuki? That I work for them?”

“It is not an accusation, but a questi-“ You cut off as she suddenly backhands you, sending you into a full spin before you crash to the ground in a heap. Though you’re fairly certain you’ve stopped moving, the world continues to spin and you see stars in front of your eyes. Erwin lets out a cry of shock and anger, but before you can do much else, Valeria plants a taloned foot on your back, pressing down hard.

>>389601

“If I was working for them, then I could kill you like it was nothing. You may have your magic, but I am a DRAGON. Humanity is nothing compared to us, all other Monsters are WEAK compared to the might of our ancient race.” She leans down and her hot, smoky breath plays over you as she breathes in and out before surprisingly pulling back, her taking her foot off you.

“While it is true, when taken too far, it leads to what happened to my cousin. It leads to resentment, to strife.” She shakes her head as you push yourself up. “I was hoping I wouldn’t be caught so quickly, however.”

You cough, your old back injuries and your new chest injury catching up with you. “W-what was that for?”

“Is it not customary to be angered when someone accuses you of being a pawn of someone?”

“I-“ You don’t have a good response for that. Instead you say, “So I’ll believe you’re not working for the Danuki. What are you doing?”

“Mining.” She says, as if it’s obvious.

Erwin stays by your side, glaring at the Dragon as you push yourself to a sitting position. “Alright smartass, why are you mining? You seem rather… interested in the gold.”

In a rather shocking turn of events, Valeria covers up her breasts (not that you can see much with the scales) and turns her head to the side. “I… didn’t want to waste any time not mining. Who knows how long the operation will be closed? I didn’t want to just sit at home not doing anything and I’m perfectly capable of mining by myself. I was going to leave it here when the operations started up again and we’ve already have made headway and…”

“… Valeria, do you get aroused by gold?”

She turns to you and if Dragons could blush you’re sure she would. “No! I mean. No, that’s… not… true.”

It’s actually adorable to see the big, scary Dragon suddenly act like this. She lets out a sight a moment later and says, “Almost all Dragons have a similar sort of feeling toward gold and treasure. It is nearly irresistible at times. Perhaps my late cousin was one of the few who didn’t have this desire.”

“So you’re out here mining with no one around because it turns you on?”

She sniffs. “No, though with an opportunity like this… anyway, as it stands I do truly want to get this gold mining started because it will benefit the city. I was not lying when I said I want the city to prosper and am not interested in tricks left behind by the Danuki. I do not want any part of these political games any longer, I merely want… an honest life.” She sighs and turns her toned back to you, wings unfurling. She looks over her shoulder, eyes searching. “What are you going to do?”

You sigh, not certain how to handle this. On one hand, it’s innocuous enough what she’s doing and could even be beneficial. You also trust that she would have killed you if she was working for the Danuki. On the other hand, it goes against protocol, and as the foreman it’s your duty to keep this behavior in line.

“For now, just put your clothing back on and head back with me to the city. You’re on house arrest until I decide what to do with you.”

A flash of pride appears in her eyes for a moment, but she relents, instead leaping back over to the pile of her clothing on the floor, which she puts on without seeming to care if you’re watching. She eyes the gold for a long moment before you wave your hand and cover it to some of the surrounding rock. She lets out a huff and joins you as you leave the mines.

When you step outside of the mine complex she sighs and turns to you. “I trust it will be fine if I go home myself?”

“Sure.” You say, shrugging. “I’ll be in touch. I don’t want you going back in there though, I’ll know.”

“Alright.” She says, expression stoic. She readies herself to fly but pauses, looking back at you. “I didn’t mean to cause any trouble with this. Really.”

“We’ll see.” You say, nodding at her as she takes off. You watch her fly away as Erwin walks over to you, shaking his head.

{You believe what she said?}

Rubbing at your back you mutter, “I don’t know.”

>>389602

>Four days later

The council meeting a few days ago just highlighted the general concerns of the council. They too figured there could be more than one assassin and until the one being held had been broken, they wanted to stay on their toes. While their proclamation against the Danuki was made, curiously there was no reply from them. No further requests, nothing as of yet, though Wyverns did confirm that they were still there at the outpost.

The mines have stayed closed and you’re reasonably certain that Valeria is staying at home based on what people in the city have told you. Though the mines have stayed closed, the council does allow access into and out of the city again, although all people going in are inspected thoroughly this time. Oddly enough, very few merchants have come into the city since but many of those who had finished their business left quite quickly, though a final one had left earlier this morning, laden down with various goods they’d purchased.

There have been no strange interactions from the council members during meetings that Veronica or Bardam can report and no further assassination attempts have been made. They mostly spend their time in their rooms or in the large meeting chamber, rarely going about to other business like overseeing trades, etc. Though Maya and Erwin do their best to tail the house staff, they don’t see anything strange happening to the rooms and the living situation for the council is randomized before bed with only Veronica knowing who will go where. Hells, no one has even attempted to get to the prisoner. It feels as if you’re on pins and needles all the time though, wearing you out.

Speaking of the prisoner, as per your instructions, she’d been fed a sort of gruel which was enough to keep her going, but barely. The guards report that each day she seems a little more unhinged, her expression tired. One of them thinks they heard her ask them to scratch this itch, though they couldn’t be certain. Taking it as a sign, however, you descend into the dungeon in the afternoon with Tabitha at your side, ready to try and get some answers.

As you approach with your staff lit, the Kunoichi looks up, incredibly weary, her face covered in sweat and dried gruel. She licks her dry lips as you sit down in the chair again and watch her. She stares at you with haunted eyes before eventually saying, “Fuck you.”

“At least you can talk.” You say, nodding your head. “Who are you?”

“Nothing. No one cares who am until I put on the mask.” She looks down and chuckles, which comes out more as a cough. “But it doesn’t matter.”

“You seem quite willing to talk now.” You say. “Is it the itching? Would you like me to make it stop?”

“It would be extremely nice.”

“Yes.” You say, nodding your head. “For you. Do you remember what I said before? Just tell me who hired you and why.”

She coughs again. “Just kill me.”

You sigh and channel some of your will. The Kunoichi’s eyes bulge and she screams as the pressure on her mangled hands increased. You shake your head and say, “Now is not the time for death, assassin.” You relieve some of the tension. “That comes later.”

Gasping, she lets out more hacking coughs before groaning. Tabitha next to you shakes her head, “What true loyalty do you owe to the Danuki? As a failed tool, they’ll leave you to rot here and never acknowledge your existence. They won’t send help either. They have no honor, why should you honor them?”

>>389603

The Kunoichi glares at Tabitha. “Honor is more important than you know. It is the lifeblood of my people.”

“I understand.” She says, nodding. “But is it worth the constant itching? The sensation shifting against your skin, rubbing against your nethers, driving you mad with irritation? My husband described what he’s doing and even I’d have difficulty in there.”

You hold up a hand to quiet Tabitha. “We can keep you alive for quite a while, making things more and more miserable for you.” Sighing, you stand and nod toward the door. “I’ll be back in a few more days then. I hope you’re more amenable.”

“W-Wait.” She says, causing you to stop. Turning your head, she whispers, “How long has it been so far?”

“Seven days.” You say, lying.

She closes her eyes. “Good enough. Very well, I’ll tell you want you want to know.”

When you turn to face her, she says, “I was hired as part of a bodyguard detail in Danusreal for a Danuki client and traveled to this land via boat. My interactions with them were limited, however I was given information on targets and assassinated one before being caught.” She chuckles, “Is that good enough?”

“Who gave you the information? What did the Danuki hope to achieve?”

“I don’t know, I had received orders through the Communion Matrix. Even if you found the glass I used, you can’t follow the runic signatures. As for what was hoped to be achieved?” She chuckles, “If it’s been seven days then it’s been enough time.”

“Time for what?” You ask, frowning.

“Check your vault.” She coughs, “Now do it.”

You briefly consider letting her live, allowing her to suffer. But no, even you aren’t that cruel. Taking a pebble into your hand, you shoot it through her head, piercing her skull and instantly killing her.

Her head slumps within the cage and you frown at her words, turning to Tabitha. She nods and you both hurry out of the dungeon, taking the guards with you. Your entourage increases in size as you walk through the palace, gathering up Veronica and Bardam as well until you reach the large vault inset deep into the Palace. A large, combination lock keeps it closed, which Tabitha opens, knowing the code. As the large door opens you’re shocked to see that the inside is almost barren.

The city’s stores of coins are depleted somewhat, but most importantly the samples of runite and other artifacts recovered from the city are missing. Tabitha goes through the vault in shock as the rest of the council arrives, showing equal surprise. One of the older members, shakes her head, distraught.

“We don’t have the food production to supply the city without the money to purchase it!”

Another holds up a scaled hand, “We have found a gold deposit, right? We’ll mine it and trade that.”

“But to who? The last few days have had very few merchants come by and the rest left the city!”

As you search the room, you find a section of the wall that’s different from the rest. Using your magic to remove it, you find a hole tunneled in through the thick stone of the vault. From the looks of it, and the few spilled coins, it was recently dug. Questing out with [Survey], you find it leads out to around where you think the stables might be. Carrying something out of the stables in a wagon wouldn’t be surprising and someone digging through there wouldn’t attract as much attention. Especially since you’re certain you know what was used to dig it.

Standing straight, you watch as one of the Danuki-favoring councilors says, “We have no choice, we’ll have to trade with the Danuki unless we can find where it all went.”

“Perhaps.” You say, feeling angered. “Are there Wurms who work out on the grounds or in the stables?”

Tabitha blinks in surprise. “I… think there’s one, why?”

“Where is she?”

One of the Lizardmen butler says, “She loaded up a wagon for a merchant heading out of the city very early this morning. I think she went into the city afterward.” She considers for a moment. “Now that I think about it, the Wurm on the house staff took the day off for personal business in the city also.”

“Damnit.” Tabitha says, gritting her teeth. “Who could have seen Wurms playing us like this?”

“They haven’t gotten the last laugh yet.” You say, gripping your staff tight.

>What do you do?

Someday I'll be able to get home from this new job and not feel like exhausted/ not get called out across town on a tuesday for drinks.

Damn, played like a fiddle. Problem is you can't be everywhere at once! Who could have expected Wurms to be craft? Also, that vault really needs to be reinforced in the future. Either way, the treasury is mostly gone… Do you think it's still in the city? People do go in and out of the vault so it's unlikely that it happened before today!

That would be nice if it was, but you probably gotta hurry…

Oh but at least Valeria is a nice girl. Right?

sorry if I didn't capture your torture perfectly, had to just move along

>>389604

I would suggest asking Val to help in tackling the wurm.

>>389607

As motivation we could tell her that she gets to spent a night in the vault no questions asked if she manages to recover the stolen goods

>>389605

You did a good job.i would be concerned if you were anymore graphic or detailed.

The treasury is not gone yet. We must act quickly. No one is allowed to leave the city, especially traders. We need to find that wurm and the wagon. Let’s get Valeria like these anons suggest

>>389607

>>389609

The wagon can’t have gotten far, the more people we have in the air the faster we find it.

Also let’s get some people to round up the danuki, can’t have them trying to escape

I was excited and forgot my sage, sorry

>>389604

if when we find the wurm that stole everything, we can totally promise her a husbando if she'd just come back with us (and with all the stuff) to Blackfire

>>389604

As it stands, we have four issues we need to tackle:

>There’s a traitor still within the city leaking information to the Danuki

>A sizeable portion of the city’s vault has been stolen, particularly the rare and unique items

>The Danuki are confirmed to be behind the murder of the Mayor and attempted murder of another council member, meaning they will still try to fuck with us and are currently doing so

>Merchants aren’t coming to the city to trade, meaning food supplies will eventually run out

The first issue will probably be covered when we query that Wurm working among the palace staff, but regardless the other issues are more pressing at the moment and should be dealt with first.

Regarding the vault theft, we know a few things:

>“If it’s been seven days then it’s been enough time.”

>From the looks of [the tunnel], and the few spilled coins, it was recently dug.

A breach of the vault was only recently made and supposedly seven days is “enough time” for this operation to be successful. As such, it can be inferred that the stolen treasures haven’t really had much time to leave the city, given we’re only four days in from the assassin’s capture.

> Oddly enough, very few merchants have come into the city since but many of those who had finished their business left quite quickly, though a final one had left earlier this morning, laden down with various goods they’d purchased.

>“[The Wurm working in the Stables and likely culprit] loaded up a wagon for a merchant heading out of the city very early this morning. I think she went into the city afterward.”

The most recent merchant to leave the city left in the morning and was assisted by the Wurm we think is partly responsible for the theft, meaning there is a good chance said merchant is smuggling the stolen treasures out of the city. However…

>As it stands all the precious metals found are being stored [in the vault] until they can be sold off to mineral merchants.

>Though the mines have stayed closed, the council does allow access into and out of the city again, although all people going in are inspected thoroughly this time.

All people going in and out of the city are thoroughly inspected, which you would think would turn up any runite or rare and priceless artefacts if they had any, the former of which in particular not actually being sold yet I’m fairly certain and thus raising an immediate red flag if spotted. This means either the guards at the gate are compromised, either due to being traitors or bribed, or the stolen treasures have not yet passed through the city gates, either because they have yet to have the opportunity to do so or because they were never intended to be smuggled through them.

So ultimately, one of three things has happened:

>The last merchant to leave the city has smuggled the stolen treasures

>The Wurms have smuggled the stolen treasures out of the city via tunnelling

>The stolen treasures are still somewhere within the city, being hidden away to make us struggle in their absence

The second possibility is fairly unlikely, since carrying the vault’s contents and digging simultaneously is pretty hard to do and any large group of people that would have been required to make it possible around would have drawn attention in some capacity with everyone being on edge still, meaning it’s probably the first or third possibility being the case. With that in mind, we should follow up on both by splitting up our party, having one group go to track down the Wurms who were probably just being manipulated honestly, only Emphrasea was intelligent and cunning in any capacity to question what they did and where the treasures may be now as well as to maybe arrest them, potentially recruiting Valeria as per what >>389607 said in the off-chance that the Wurms turn hostile, while the other goes to the guards at the gate to question what they saw and where the final merchant was headed, dealing with any compromised guards if necessary, with Erwin acting as a form of communication between the groups by going in the opposite group to us. Once both groups compare and discuss the information they’ve obtained, we can make a fair guess as to which of the three possible locations the stolen treasures currently are and can react accordingly.

>>389604

>>389615

Assuming the first possibility is the case or is at least somewhat likely, then we need to chase after the merchant who most recently left before the treasures become nigh impossible to recover. If they’re heading anywhere but the outpost, then it shouldn’t be too hard to catch them on the road; they aren’t going to go off-road if they want to get the fuck away from the city as fast as possible, and we travel faster than a wagon with solo horses and [Rock Slide]. If they’re heading to the outpost, then they’ve already likely got there it took us from early morning to midday walking there from Blackfire Reach back in WQ2, and it’s afternoon now, but they will need time to process the goods, meaning we should still be able to get there before they move again. When there, have Veronica and Bardam lead an investigation under Order authority into the contents of all goods of the merchant’s present, as otherwise the merchants may feel oppressed by Blackfire Reach’s governing body and will be less likely to trade with the city from then onwards, which would only further the whole ‘lack of trading’ issue. Hopefully at least some runite would turn up to give us good reason for making the accusations and taking back what’s ours, punishing the thieves in the process.

Assuming the third or second, I suppose possibility is the case, then it probably shouldn’t be too hard to find the missing treasure, especially if the Wurms freely tell us its location, which they probably will if it turns out they were being manipulated. Assuming they didn’t though, spamming [Survey] should reveal any hidden tunnels leading from the stables, as well as any runite that may be lying around there if [Survey] lets us find rocks within rocks, it should also let us find rocks on top of rocks, so we can simply do that and follow any leads that happen to come up.

Moving on, we now have confirmation of the Danuki’s crimes and thus we need to deal with them in some capacity in order to ensure they don’t cause problems for us in the future. As such, I would recommend we first let all of the other council members know of our findings, just so that everyone is on the same page and won’t try to oppose what we do next, and have Veronica and Bardam head to the outpost, either during the solving of issue one or after we recover the stolen treasures from within the city, to confront the Danuki about this. We know they’re still there from the Wyverns’ report, but it’s unlikely they’ll still stick around after they realise we’ve caught on so we need to deal with them now. As for how to deal with them, have the two Order members hold a trial for them, accusing them of what we know they are guilty of, before promptly declaring them guilty and having them and potentially anyone working for them killed, and their goods confiscated jury’s out on if the stuff is safe, but you would think they would keep some stuff safe for their own personal usage. Like before, having the Order people do this is important to ensure that maximum JUSTICE is displayed to the merchants at the outpost so that they don’t start thinking this is just Blackfire Reach acting tyrannical and thus opt to not trade with the city out of fear.

Regarding the whole ‘no trade to the city thing’, honestly just executing the Danuki would probably solve this, since they are almost certainly responsible in some capacity for lower number of traders to the city despite the sudden increase in wealth the city has seen, likely because they wanted to establish a monopoly which puts us at their mercy. If they die, then any bribed merchants suddenly aren’t getting their bribes and might be more willing to come back to trade. Assuming this doesn’t fix the issue, however, then it wouldn’t be the worst idea for us to go to the merchants rather than the other way around, seeing as this would let them avoid complications like being searched and make trading easier for them.

>>389604

>Wasted time torturing her rather then just getting Helene to bite her..

>>389618

I’m pretty sure we established Helene wasn’t skilled/powerful enough to actually command someone

>>389604

Oh for fucks sake please lets just fucking genocide the fucking Danuki honest to god just stop the quest so we can skin every single danuki in Danusreal. God do I hate them the whole race was Dollora's mistake.

>>389606

I didn't know Saya was so busty goodness.

>>389607

>>389609

>>389610

>>389616

Yes, These. Make them pay

>>389726

Even if we have to swim there it must be done. Kill them all. Even the Husbands and children

Thinking more on it, while I still think we should tell the council the results of our interrogation of the assassin in order to get everyone on the same page and avoid conflict later on, we should absolutely not tell them or anyone else outside of our party, for that matter anything regarding our plans for the Danuki. We still don't know who among them can be trusted, so we can't be entirely sure if one of them will leak our plans to the Danuki in advance of us putting them into action. While still somewhat risky to mention anything, it's rather unlikely that a traitor will expect us to go out and take down their masters when we're preoccupied with trying to recover stolen treasures, meaning a leak regarding our awareness of their master's crimes will likely be put off until they are capable of doing it more subtly, thus we can be rather confident that the Danuki won't flee before we bring the hammer of JUSTICE down upon them.

>>389726

>How do you want to split up the parties?

It's not that big of a deal seeing as they'll be merging once we've got the information we're after, but I guess having Tabitha, Bardam and Erwin talk to the guards at the gate while we, Veronica and Maya plus an added Valeria and maybe Helene if her venom does anything to Wurms go find the two Wurm culprits makes the most sense to me; the guards are more likely to be co-operative when one of the ruling council members is involved in the investigation of them, while out group needs both the ability to track down the Wurms and enough strength to adequately restrain them for questioning if necessary.

>By the way the canyon road works, it's difficult to bypass the outpost. It was placed in a very specific location for a reason.

In which case, it only makes sense to head to the outpost rather than anywhere else if it turns out our merchant is carrying stolen treasures. Also, that just gives us more reason to get rid of the Danuki in the outpost, considering they hold the choke point in which all of the traders heading to Blackfire Reach have to pass through, giving them the ability to starve us effectively if they want to and it's pretty clear that's exactly what they're doing, despite Veronica's warnings and threats against it. Speaking of which, it might be worth trying to dig up proof of that during the investigation of the outpost as further proof of their crimes and more reason for Veronica in particular to administer punishment.

>The Danuki before you might be fine to kill though, if you're ready for the consequences.

If we do nothing, we slowly starve until we have to bend to the will of the people who have already committed uncountable crimes against us, or until whatever else they have planned for us comes into play. If we get rid of them, then the only thing we have to worry about is retaliation, which will almost certainly come in the form of whatever else they had already planned for us, meaning we lose nothing. It only makes sense to get rid of them now so that we have time to prepare for any future plots and also to let us get back to our primary objective, as we've wasted enough time as it is. Besides, no one should be above our home's law, let alone a foreigner.

So I appear to have damaged my wrist somehow and typing is… a little painful atm!

Hopefully it'll be better tomorrow once I get home from pushing plastic snakes around a board.

>>389888

>Those trips

>Those anti-danuki words

Oy vey boyim!

Finally caught up after 3 months off board. I missed this

>>389961

I'm glad you're enjoying!

Also we're past 400 so we don't need to sage anymore.

>>389969

I'm used to it