Stella and Sophie took turns carving the thick stone roof. The monks had done a great job keeping the zombies moving in a different direction. The infrequent loud sounds of bricks being tossed to draw the attention of zombies punctuated their work.

Having never cut stone, neither woman was ready for the reality of the situation. Magic could only do so much. According to Finley, card shops took their security quite seriously. There was a roll up door that was made of some metal that Finley didn't know the name of off hand. The monks had said that it looked impressive when they passed by.

Anthony's words stirred in Stella's mind.

"Get in. Get out. Don't fail."

She edged over to the side to peek out over. There had to be a window somewhere, right?

"A fire skill would have been useful about now," Sophie said. "We would be killing it with something like a fire dagger. Wait, stone doesn't burn. Maybe we need to hit some of the bricks?"

The roof was solid. The craftsmanship that it must have taken was a credit to whoever was responsible. Unfortunately that wasn't great for her team.

"Ideas?" Stella asked.

"A wall of fire around the door, someone slips in the front entrance."

"That would be mana intensive. If we had a sledgehammer, then I would say yes," Bob said.

Stella brought out a smaller sized sledgehammer.

"Where were you hiding that-nevermind don't tell me," Bob said, groaning. "I'll provide overwatch with my bow. Sophie, you have the elemental magic for fire spells. Stella?"

"Yes, meat shield?"

"Smash."

"With pleasure."

Stella anchored the shortest rope they had to the roof.

Bob took over a position, as if he was brandishing a machine gun. Sophie was on his left. Stella checked and her infiltration skill had advanced.

Rare Class Card: Rogue Level 3

Skills:

Sneak Attack Level 3

Skill Mastery Level 2

Weapon Expertise Level 1

Infiltration Level 3

Evasion Level 2

Stealth Level 2

As a rogue, you may learn one extra class skill per level. New skills start at the average of your other class skills.

This is a soul card and cannot be removed.

She swung down, rappelling the two meters to the ground. The monks had done their work well. The block was empty. She could see several zombies that were further away. She was about to make a ton of noise.

The sledgehammer crashed against the glass storefront. Stella told herself that she wasn't going to look, but several zombies from far off reacted. It didn't change what she was going to do, just increased her speed.

She slammed against the glass several times before it cracked. Then she shot a load of ice magic right at the center of the tempered glass door. The next hit took the door down. Behind the door was a roll up cage.

One quick look saw the zombies heading her way with a purpose. She might have a minute or two before they arrived at most. She got to work on opening the door, brushing away frozen shards of glass as she did so.

Above her, she heard the sound of a bolt being loosed.

At the bottom of the rollup steel door was a lock. Her infiltration skill pinged and she realized that she didn't have any small thieves tools. What she did have was one dwarves tool, though. She iced the lock, pouring mana until frost rose from the floor.

Then she pounded the lock with the sledgehammer. It broke into hundreds of tiny shards. The steady twip of the bow increased as more zombies were taken down by Bob. She lifted the heavy cage taking one look to determine if any zombies were inside.

"I don't see another way out, Bob!" She yelled.

"Take as much as you can carry!"

He had affixed a rope to a large dwarven rucksack. He tossed it down next to her. She grabbed it and made her way under the roll cage, allowing it to return.

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The room was dark except for a few high and tiny windows.

"Jackpot."

Regular glass cases lined waist high displays. Orange custom grown wood bookshelves dotted covered each wall. Several large boxes of copper cards lay ready for inspection. For about two seconds, she marveled at the display. Then she remembered that she has a job to do.

Stella smashed the glass cases as quickly and efficiently as she could. She tossed every case of copper cards into the sack it was nearly full. She gave the line a tug, then pulled the door up enough to let it pass. The sack quickly made it's way up, either via meat shield or muscle mommy.

Having the door open gave her a chance to ice part of the road. She took it.

She waited for the second sack to be lowered, then grabbed it. She checked the tie, then pulled the bag into the shop. She began to unload iron cards into the second one as fast as she could. There were precious few gold cards in the back, behind what had to be a tempered glass case. Those could wait. Volume would help a lot, according to Finley. Copper commons and iron uncommons were going to help them survive. Rare gold cards? Felt like overkill.

It felt like she was robbing a gaming store, an experience that she had never had back on Earth. It wasn't anything that she expected.

The bolts continued to fly.

Stella had to make a choice. The box with the rares was highly valuable, but she didn't know how much time that Bob and Sophie could give her. If she could find a way to open the hatch to the ceiling, she could be upstairs easily and this problem might not exist. She allowed herself a glance at the cards behind there. A few caught her eye.

Rare Ability Card: "Never tell me the odds."

Succeed on any class skill, usable once per day. Skill cannot involve combat.

"Bet you thought that looked cool, right?"

Two others looked interesting at first glance; "Suspiciously Convenient Alibi" and a gambler class card. That was when Bob started yelling, the sign that they were overstaying their welcome.

It was classic Bob behavior.

She could handle herself. She just didn't need to.

She filled up the sack, rugged on it and raised the rolling cage door just enough to let someone pull the second bag up. It wasn't heavy, just awkward like a second cousin you've only met twice.

She didn't wait for anything else. She had a small pouch for very important cards. The rares would make it in there.

She froze the tempered glass box and then smashed it with her sledgehammer. She immediately took the "Never tell me the odds" card into her soul deck.

She looked over to the hatch and activated the card on her infiltration skill. She was trying to infiltrate the roof. The card lit up something in her vision. There was a latch up there. She just needed to follow her brand new instincts.

"Well shit."

Stella made her way up the short ladder, hit the latch with just the right amount of force. She could hear a catch release and the hatch popped up. The sky had never looked so good. Stella popped her head over, then got her entire body onto the roof.

Bob was reloading when he saw her. He briefly turned her way then nodded.

On the opposite corner, Sophie was laying down covering fire. Her particular mix of magic was sending equal parts fire and lightning down. A girl could appreciate options.

Now she needed to get all of their loot back to base.

"I'm going to get as much as I can," Stella said.

The sounds of continued attacks met her. A quick peek showed at least twenty downed zombies within what she would call a reasonable distance. They were close enough to be family, and that was a problem.

She just needed one more trip down.

They had talked about how they would deal with being cut off. She realized with a pang of guilt that she was going to be stupid if she went back. There was far too much heat on them now. The monks would only be able to do so much.

A few blocks back was safety. She could see Sonya on top of a mansion, eyeing them. At least it looked like her. If she had binoculars she would be certain; there were only so many blue scrub tops.

"Bob! Let's cut out," Stella said, affixing a simple dummy trap over the hatch. It wouldn't do anything, except look imposing. She still wanted all of the books. They seemed like they had some value. Also there was no good smut on Noverra, and she had more than one itch to scratch.

"I couldn't agree with you more," he said, slinging his crossbow onto his back.

Bob made a beeline for one rucksack, quickly stringing it up onto his shoulders. He looked down for about five seconds before he waved to Brandon. The monk paused to catch the first rucksack, slung it onto his back and then ran North.

"That one is on him now. I hope our caravan team has set up some sort of defensive screen," Bob said. Stella was right behind him, when he summoned his companion. "Ca'at, there's a bunch of targets on the ground. More of the same-undead dwarf suburbanites. Do your best work."

The black cat disappeared as fast as it had come.

"Now, onto the next part," Bob said, grabbing Sophie's forearm. "We run."

They made their way as fast as they could over the rooftops. Before she knew it, Stella was standing next to their two rope crossing. It was a half mile at most to safety. There were no zombies readily apparent, having all been drawn to their.smash and grab operation. Some of them were trying to track the team as they moved over the roofs.

They had a slight advantage, having set this up in advance. Stella, crossed followed by Sophie, then Bob. They made their way over the major road this way, then descended the ladder on the far side. As soon as Bob hit the ground, they ran all out.

Instead of holding his bow on his back, Bob held it in a half ready position. Brandon had inexplicably dropped his rucksack and returned to them.

Bob gladly unloaded on the guy, keeping one hand on his crossbow, even as they ran. Bob moved like an Olympic sprinter who had never been told to slow down in his entire life. Stella admired his commitment to duty, but mostly his speed.

It took nearly five minutes to return to the yard before safety.

Sonya had been busy. Waving at them from the third floor, she smiled.

"Did you bring a ladder?" Bob said. "This wall is new."

"There's an entrance there?" Stella said. "I think that they're going to get us a ladder. Otherwise, we'll climb or go around."

True to form, by the time they reached the wall, a ladder had been dropped.

They didn't stop to catch their breath until they stood on top of the wide wall. Stella took off her gear and nearly jumped with joy. She thought better of it and instead waited patiently for Bob to remove his equipment.

Behind them about six zombies had followed them this far and they had just reached Sonya's range. She began to fire purple tinged magic blasts at them.

Sophie sat down. Anthony pulled the ladder back up.

Stella felt the rush of surviving well up. Bob was looking pretty damn good at the moment.

"Bob?" She said, turning to him.

"Yeah?"

"Get the fuck over here. That was a fucking trip."

Bob smiled. He walked over to her. Placing his hands on her hips, he pulled her into him. A tear dropped down her face.

He cupped her chin and locked eyes with her. And in that moment, she let the tension evaporate. Impossibly, he somehow drew her in closer. Then he kissed her and she immediately forgot about the mission.