“So, the storm broke a hole in the wall here?” I say, pointing at a detailed map of the imperial granary with my dagger. “How do you know?”

“I said a hole was made in the perimeter wall during the storm, not by it.”

“Ah.”

The door burst open and Timos rushes in. “Bad news, our friend disa… peared.” He trails the last word as he notices me casually sitting on the desk with his boss standing behind me, his arm pointing to the map over my shoulder.

“Hey Timos.” I wave with the dagger.

“You said you’d wait outside.” He says, his eyes conveying a strange hurt. Like he’s a dog I just kicked… odd, since I’ve never done that, but still know what it might feel like.

“Yeah, I lied. You should try it sometime, being SoOps and all.”

“What, I mean, why… what are… what are you doing in here?” He stammers.

“Well… first I was thinking I might kill your boss, but now we’re planning on how to burn the imperial granary down… speaking of which, please close the door.”

He complies, face slacked.

“Thank you, now accept my spell, both of you.” They both comply as I drop concealment and recast it on all three of us.

Timos sits dejected in the chair in front of the desk, and silently listens as Lindrid continues to explain the details of his plan. “As I was saying, there are typically five soldiers, plus around ten workers at the granary at this time of day. In addition, there are ten soldiers and a squire on reserve to supress any sudden food riots, but you only need to worry about those if you alert them.”

“So how do you know all this? The map too?” I ask.

“Bribes, mostly. The map is a copy I acquired when I was building my own granary with the excuse of needing to compare, plus more bribes.”

“Right. So, I really don’t want to be inside the perimeter when the fire starts and soldiers start swarming. What’s the plan for setting this off?”

“We have an alchemical device that is incomplete. The incendiary is in a glass tube that will burst into a powerful flame once exposed to air. The plan was to place it in the grain chamber directly. However, the mechanism to break the tube on a timer was set to be completed in four days– right before we were ready to strike. We didn’t want to have the complete object in our possession until we were ready to use it.”

“…that’s fine. Just give it to me. I have a way; it won’t be precise though. Anything else I should know?”

Lindrid shakes his head no, but Timos raises his hand and speaks. “Yeah, just one thing. Why are you doing this? I thought you said the resistance was dead.”

“It’s to plant the seeds of future resistance.”

“You mean fatten Lindrid’s coin purse. With the imperial granary destroyed, his granary will be the only food supply in town.”

“Yes, thankyou for catching up. Now, if you’re going to talk, you might as well be helpful.” Timos’ face reddens as I turn to Lindrid. “I need two things. The first is a complete change of clean clothes. Everything: shoes, socks, belt, undies, cloak included. Also, a filled waterskin. Some thin leather gloves that go to my elbow if you have them, thick will do if you don’t. They don’t need to fit perfectly. I just don’t want to be seen wearing the same outfit I’ve been walking around town in, and I might get blood on me, so it’s best to dispose of it after.” My eyes shift briefly to Timos.

Lindrid takes the hint. “If you could arrange that for us, please Timos. The charity clothes should have what our friend needs.” Timos glances hesitantly at me, but quickly leaves to find the items. When he’s gone Lindrid turns to me again. “Now what’s the second thing?”

“I need to kill someone in the next half hour for… divination purposes.” I half lie. There are divination reasons at play, but I need to sacrifice someone to extend my previous boons. If I go now there’s only a fifty-fifty chance that my current boons will last through the job. If I sacrifice someone before, then my current boons will be extended for another four hours–possibly enough time to leave the city. “I need someone secluded where the body won’t be discovered for at least a day.”

He looks at me suspiciously, so I hasten to explain. “I don’t know how long you plan your takeover to last, but with an event as big as a granary burning down, the perpetrator’s path, both to and from, can be traced for weeks. By killing someone before I go, I can force the trail to break off at the body instead of going all the way back here. So, any hermits living on their own that you don’t mind if I murder? Or maybe a small group that won’t be missed?”

“Won’t they be able to trace the route from the body to here?”

“Not after what I do to it.” I say, hopefully cryptic, rather than making an obvious reference to anthropomancy.

He pauses to consider then pulls out a map of the town. “There’s a small group of thugs here in a yellow house slightly isolated from the surrounding buildings. Three men who’ve refused to become my clients, and so their removal will be beneficial as I take over. Three of them live in the house, and they work at night so they should all be there sleeping. It’s possible their associates might come looking for them sooner, but they wouldn’t go to the watch about their murder given what else is inside. It has a basement with lots of goodies I’m told.”

“It will have to do. Do you know what boons they have?”

“A basic level brute’s. Highest strength and resilience, plus some healing. No coordination or perception or anything else.”

“Good. Now let’s talk price. My assumption was that I would be leaving town before the granary actually went up. I don’t want to be caught in any of the aftermath. Was that your understanding too?”

“It would be nice to have someone of your capabilities around to help with harder targets, but I had planned for success without needing a field asset.”

“Good, that will lower the price. The first two items I need on my mission should be simple for you to get. Coin and food. I need traveling expenses, coin for when I get where I’m going, and enough trail rations to get me out of Caethlon and then some without having to stop at a town or forage… in fact, do you have a map of the empire?”

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“Yeah.” He says, grabbing a large scroll and unravelling it on the desk.

“Okay, where is the nearest imperial port outside of Caethlon?”

“You’d want Port Salunt, here.” He says, pointing.

“Then I need enough food to get there on foot. Also, I’d love this map.” He raises an eyebrow. “I have divination techniques that can utilize it. The higher quality the better and even I can tell this is high quality.”

“… All right. I have a spare.” He says, rolling it up and putting it in a traveling case which he hands me. “The food is easy to gather. As for coin…” He opens the armoire that I hid behind to reveal a quickly opened safe. From it he hands me one large gold, two medium, three small, and a pouch of lesser coins. “The pouch has three of each silver and copper coin types– an amount I’ve found usefully liquid. This should be able to get you to anywhere you need and sustain you, no?”

I quickly do the math. The pouch is worth four hundred and eight raem, which added to my previous funds should be enough to go anywhere, not even counting the gold. The small gold being worth five hundred and four. The two medium gold are worth more than that, and of course the large gold is worth more than everything else I have combined besides the three I already have.

He’s smiling smugly as I take the coin. He’s showing off that he can just casually give this to me as if saying ‘see, this is the worth of our operations.’ What would he think if I told him Tanyth gave me three large gold?

Still, the smaller coins are more useful in the short run, so I say “thanks” and hide them in my pack.

“No problem. Now what else can I get for you?”

“Any spare magic items?” I say, without missing a beat.

He laughs. “And to think I didn’t believe you when you said you’re an opportunist like me. Hmm, what to give you. You obviously don’t need my silencer, and I’m not going to give you my ring…It would be helpful if you could tell me your mission, but of course you can’t. No wait.” He smiles broadly. “I know just the thing.”

He goes to a drawer and pulls out a glass bottle with magic symbols which he explains with gestures. “A smoke catcher. Perfect for a little pyromaniac like you. Twist the top like this and it will suck in all the smoke in the area, leaving the air breathable. Twist it the other way and it will let out the smoke it captured at a rate proportionate to how far you twist. What do you think?”

“It’s perfect.” With this I can use fire without fear of notifying everyone for miles around.

“A word of warning. It removes some of the smell of whatever you’re burning with the smoke, but not all of it… Oh, you should take these too.” He ruffles through a desk drawer and pulls out a pair of short knives in black leather sheaths with short wrist or ankle straps. He draws one to reveal arcane symbols made of fine gold wire.

“I never use them”, he says displaying the gleaming metal, “so I think they’ll suit you better. Greater version of the standard sharpness/durability enchantment, will always hit point first when thrown, and automatically cleans and repairs themselves. The sheathes are also enchanted with the symbols on the inside. Same self-cleaning/ repair, won’t let the blades fall out while being easy to draw, and will conceal themselves and the knives. They won’t produce a bulge through your clothes, either visual or tactile, and will briefly turn itself and the knife invisible when cloth is separated from them, such as when searched or when you initially draw one– allowing you to throw unseen blades.”

“That’s… impressive, thanks.” I say, feeling warm(?) in my chest at receiving a serries of items that are clearly excessive for the help I’m giving. Like with the coin. I expected a hostile negotiation, not him giving me far more than I would think to ask. Just the copper and silver would have sufficed for the stated need of traveling funds, but the gold far exceeded my expectations. I thought he just wanted to rub in the usefulness of SoOps to the cocky Field operative, but then he did it again with the magic items.

The smoke catcher is a major quality of life improvement, far beyond what I was expecting, but then he casually pulls out a pair of… maybe the seventh most impressive magic weapons I’ve ever seen.

The way he smiles with his perfect white teeth and piercing but warm eyes while I examine the blade’s absurd sharpness… it’s like giving me these items aren’t to help the resistance or pay for my help, but because he wants to help me personally. It makes me feel… something… like I want to look away.

“I believe I’ve more than paid for my title, no?” He says, still smiling. “Especially since I’ve done all the groundwork myself. But do let me know if I can be of any further assistance.”

“Yeah…just a few more things. Nothing expensive, just time consuming for me to hunt down. Starting with the most difficult and costly. I need a silver rod this long.” I pull out my string and have him hold it at the elbow and wrist tautly while I cut it with my other hand to produce the exact length needed. Then I place an ink drop on a piece of paper and blot it with my thumb. “It should be this wide with uniform thickness except at one end where it tapers into a conical point for the same length as the width, not enough to be verry sharp, but like a top. Halfway down the length should be engraved a shallow ring around it, then again at a quarter and three quarters.”

“That’s rather specific, but I know a silversmith who should be able to rush it out.” He says, writing everything down.

“Good. Next, I need a dozen more rods of the same design, made from wood. The harder the better, but it will be fine so long as it’s not soft. They need to be sanded smooth but not varnished. Then I need a wooden carrying case, cloth lined and padded, with slots to hold all thirteen rods. The details of the case don’t matter so long as they can protect and snugly hold all the rods in place.”

“How tolerant of you.” He quips.

“I need tools for engraving the rods further on my own. Also, I need a stack of paper about the size of both my hands put together, but not the exact dimensions. Finer the better. About two pounds. I need about a half pound of ink, an ink pen and an ink brush, and maintenance tools for them. Ideally the case from before would have a space for all of these other items as well.

“Finally, I need a hiking staff. I’m not picky, but it should be thick enough to act as a weapon, and just a little taller than me.”

“Would you like it enchanted?”

“If you can.” I say, feeling like he wants me to say yes.

He nods, smiling. “I should be able to rush these, especially if you don’t care too much about the quality of the case. What time are you leaving.”

“I have an item that was promised to be finished by three hours after noon. I intend to leave by the eastern gate immediately after picking it up.”

“All right. I’ll have Timos bring you the items at the Flaming Goose, which is right by the gate on the main street.”

Timos, having been spoken of, comes in with the requested stack of clothes.

“Great timing Timos.” Lindrid smiles. “Take these notes to the addressed artisans in order. Pay them whatever they need to get the items done by two hours after noon today.” Timos sets the clothes down, gives me a questioning look, then takes the letters and leaves when I don’t respond.

“Well,” Lindrid says while handing me a glass tube with milky white liquid, “here’s the incendiary. I’ll let you have the room to change. I suppose you can leave the same way you came?” I nod. He goes to the door then stops. “I suppose this is the last time we’ll be meeting. Pity, I somewhat enjoyed our shared sense of greed mixed with duty.”

“Yeah,” I say, feeling like looking away again, “I suppose getting stuff from you was nice.” He smiles brightly. “Good luck on the lord thing. Who knows where my mission will take me. Maybe after your rise to power I’ll come back and hit you up again.”

He laughs as he leaves and locks the room.

I quickly change into the new outfit: an urchin’s garb with a scarf for a face covering, and the requested thin leather gloves. I put the gloves and my old clothes in my pack as well as everything else I received here besides the knives which I strap to my wrists under my sleeves.

I draw one to see it blink invisible as promised, then fade back into sight after a five count. I use it to cut my palm in order to place a rune of resilience on the alchemical tube, so that it will only break when I want it to.

It's so much nicer to cut myself with a truly sharp knife. It doesn’t tear. You don’t notice how blades tear the skin until you cut yourself with one that’s sharp enough not to. It just glides through, feeling completely different. Well, not completely different, there is still a sharp pain until my regeneration heals it. But it is nice to have a knife as sharp as the one I yielded to Tanyth again.

Once finished with everything, I open the window and jump down on the roof below with a soft roll. Then I jump down to the alley I ascended from, kick off the walls back and forth as I fall and land lightly before rushing off to the house of thugs– feeling my boons about to slip.