Number 5 here, the self proclaimed security and espionage guy. Well, not like we’ve done any espionage recently or at all you know. Anyway, yea in the early morning I got up and did some chores, helped clean up Dr Raths place as a thanks for letting us crash but quickly got bored.

With the sight of poor Number 2 banging his head on the table at dinner I figure that research may not be the best so I headed down to the Adventurer Society to grab a job, there was not much but I did end up finding a mission back to a familiar place, the sewers.

So thats how we find ourselves, in the far western part of the city, deep underground and even under the city walls in some parts. The job is to check the sewers out like a quality job you know, what parts need repair and stuff like that. I only considered this job because their sewers are much better than the ones on Earth and there is always the chance I can grab some more Kage.

I walk overland to the far western side of the city and then descend into the depths via a specialised sewer maintenance room and Hoist. When I arrive I have immediate regrets, some pipes must be leaking nearby cause the smell is ugh. The walls feel old, moist from condensation, and cracking apart, the cracks filled with webs. Oh yea, this is going to be my whole day isn’t it.

The one good piece I news I have, the nose is awesome and after a few minutes the smell will go away. So that's how I spent my day, I had a map of the area they wanted me to mark when there is stuff to fix and mate, the entire map was filled in with stuff to fix. Seriously it looks like no one has been in this part of town for decades.

After a few hours of trudging through the sewers I fall into a rhythm, I’m practising walking and paying attention to my surroundings while I have a look through the Memory Palace, As I have taken the mantle of “The Security and Espionage Guy” so I’ve been having a look at cyphers, codexes and any constructed languages I know, some examples are Klingon (looked at translations from Star Trek), Elvish (Same reason but for Lord of the Rings) and Elian Script (A constructed language that I and a few mates looked at cause we wanted to make our own spoken and written language. It did not get far, looks hella cool tho.)

I did get into a few fights, some of those giant rats we came across on that first mission with Lock, either a scout or one who got away. Ended up with one more rat-like Kage who is just sleeping things off in my shadow.

I keep walking, on and on and on and… hold on. What's that sound? It's not the constant dripping of roof and pipes, the sounds of water moving through pipes, the distant noise from the streets above or even those rats. It sounds like, wood?

I crouch down and stealthily walk down the tunnel, closer and closer to the sounds of wood on wood I reach a T section, the tunnel I’m in continuing further down while there is a side tunnel to the left. Strange… This side tunnel is blocked by bars and a curtain, none of the tunnels down here are blocked.

Peeking around the corner and pulling away a corner from the rough blanket being used as a curtain I see that along the right side path of this tunnel there are crates and crates of boxes piled up and down the tunnel with two very bulky guys walking down the tunnel away from me.

Oh yea, this is giving me bad vibes, moving around so I am next to these stacked crates I pull back the curtain to get behind the closest crate, it looks like a normal wooden crate. Can't see any security protections or magical things which I was expecting but considering our location…

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I put back the curtain and lean against the tunnel wall and reach out to the new Kage via Voice Chat.

“Oi mate, you awake?”

“Affirmative. Awakened.”

Ok. “Mind going into one of those crates behind us? I wanna see what's in them.”

“Roger. Query: Do you want me to collect a sample? Over.”

Uhh, “Confirmed, Over.”

“Wilco, Out.”

I watch as the very PROWORD Kage leaves my shadow and moves along the brickwork into the tunnel and into a small gap in the wooden crates. I can slightly hear grunts and heavy footsteps in the distance coming up the side tunnel. I don’t dare take a peek and instead slowly and silently shuffle a bit down the tunnel I am in to be as far away from these guys as possible.

I hear another crate stacked with a smack of wood on wood and grunting, they then walk back down the tunnel leaving behind the sound of slightly creaking wood settling from the weight. I wait for a few more moments and hear the two guys come back with yet another crate further down the tunnel before it is silent once again.

I sit there in the slight light from the automatic lights, hidden only from the stacked crates and this blanket as I wait, I keep my breathing low and slight, waiting for an update. As I wait I strain my ears to hear something, listening out for either something coming up the tunnel I am in, these guys again or from our newest Kage.

I hear something, a slight creaking of wood. Ever so slight it sounds like someone is carefully prying a wooden panel away. I shuffle back toward the intersection and move away the blanket, one of the wooden panels is bulging out. I carefully insert part of my right hand behind the panel and my left against the panel on my side to carefully and silently move the wood away.

As I move the panel further and further away the Kage who I definitely need to name pushes out a small vial. There couldn’t be more than 10 millilitres of liquid in there, as he pushes the vial out it starts to tip precariously and then is about to fall.

I take my left hand away from the panel and catch the vial just as it starts to fall, moments before landing and cracking apart. But as I had taken my hand away the iron nails made a horrendous creaking sound which those other two may have heard.

I quickly place the vial of whatever it is into my Inventory, it takes a ton of mana to place in for something so small.

I hear running a moment later, oh yea they definitely heard.

Picking up the Kage I carry it in my arms as I start sprinting down the tunnel retracing my steps. I remember on the map there is a more local exit that I can take to get upstairs. As I keep running I hear, “Oi, you stop!”

I turn around for a moment and see one big burly bearded guy standing in the tunnel I was just in and another guy walking right through the bars and curtain as if it's not even there, like it's a hologram or they have some kinda Power that does that.

I pick up the pace as the Kage moves back into my shadow, I am way too far away for the Voice Chat to reach the others so I just need to run and run quick, as I sprint down the tunnel dodging pipes and puddles of water I turn back again.

Oh come on! These guys are just walking right through the pipes that are in the way, that’s just not fair!

I dodge a pipe, ducking under it and then sprinting again, these guys are slower than me but I have to dodge all those pipes which slows me down. As I jump over one pipe I spin around to check their location, still about 10 metres away from us but catching up, and about 10 minutes away from a Hoist back up to the surface.

This was just supposed to be a simple mission, how do I get out of this now?