Chapter 31 Thirst For Adventure
Isaac and Lenna’s first full day in Outpost Charles was spent hiding in their room in the inn. They went down for meals in between the times when other patrons would be there. Gregory told them when Lisa usually returned in the morning and Chris gave them descriptions for the guards that worked with her. They had a loose timeline based on a sample size of one. They had only witnessed her leaving at night once themselves. Chris had seen her leave late once before as well but he had no idea how late it was when that happened so his data point was nonexistent. She always seemed to return around the changing of the guard in the morning. More than a few times Gregory had seen her as he was taking over for the day. All of this meant that she was spending around nine hours out in the tunnels every night.
Chris had stopped by the Adventurers’ Guild around lunch to take over for the receptionist like he had been for the past two weeks. While there he took the time to go over all of the maps that Lisa had sold them. When he returned, in the afternoon, he had a late lunch with the duo. “It’s just as I thought.” Chris began as soon as his wheelchair had stopped next to Isaac. There wasn’t another patron in the inn so they could talk freely. “She’s covering less ground than I could and I’m, well,” He gestured downwards to his wheelchair and missing limbs. “ya know, a bit slower than I used to be.”
“That bad huh?” Isaac questioned.
Chris nodded grimly. “The receptionists have to be aware. Unless she is only ever working with one of them.” His frown deepened.
Jennie set a full bowl and mug in front of Chris at the table Isaac and Lenna were using. “Eat. You’re losing weight.” Jennie told him.
Chris rolled his eyes. “I am not.” He argued. “Thanks mom.” He added as she turned to leave while shaking her head. It was clear that she didn’t believe him but wasn’t going to fight with him about it. At least not while other people were around.
“Mhm, finish it before it gets cold.” Jennie acknowledged without looking back.
“A drop in efficiency as large as what I saw wouldn’t go unnoticed. She kept sighting stray monsters around a few specific areas.” Chris explained and then tsked. “I wish I could go out and check myself.” He grumbled. “There isn’t a pattern that I could see but when you are out there you should check out the locations.”
“Sure, we can do that.” Isaac agreed. “You have the maps?”
Chris grinned and reached into his shirt before pulling out a stack of a dozen maps and tossed them out into the middle of the table. “Just who do you take me for?” Chris asked smugly.
Isaac chuckled. “There’s two of them.” Lenna grumbled under her breath. Isaac was the only one that caught it but he could hear the smile in her voice.
“Alright, we’ll look over the maps and then after the guard change we’ll meet between the monster guts shed and the showers.” Isaac told Chris.
“We usually just call it the storage building.” Chris clarified. “Though ‘monster guts shed’ is probably more accurate.” He started digging into his food. “But yeah, I’ll meet you there.”
Isaac nodded and got up from his seat. “Good. See you then.” Lenna gave Chris a nod as she passed to follow after Isaac and he returned it.
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The pair were almost to the bottom of the steps when Jennie stopped them. “Isaac.” She said quietly enough that Chris couldn’t hear. Isaac stopped and looked at her with a quizzical look. “Please don’t lead my son in’ta any more danger. We all know where that thirst for adventure got him last time.”
Isaac gave her a reassuring smile. “He’ll be safe. No one is going to go after him for helping us. No one even knows that he is helping us and even if they did, what are they going to do? Yell at him for distracting a guard that was already compromised?” He went to leave before stopping. “Jennie, have you ever thought about leaving here? I can have a job lined up for Chris by the time you guys get to Safeharbor. Gregory is already trained as a guard. A friend of mine has a bar and no one to run it.”
Jennie’s face was shadowed in sadness. “I have.” She replied and then was silent for a while. “Can I have some time ta think about it?”
Isaac gave her an understanding smile. “Take as long as you need. It would be nice if I had an answer before we leave though.” He assured her.
Jennie nodded a few times absently. It was clear that whatever was on her mind was tinged in sadness and a heavy topic. Isaac and Lenna left her to it and retreated to their room to wait out the rest of the day.
—
Lisa was strolling towards the gate at a quick but leisurely pace. She needed to look natural. Her bag was packed a little heavier than usual and she could only hope that no one noticed. It was Fred again at the gate and that threatened to bring a frown to her face. He was friendly, probably a bit too friendly, but he was also sharp. She could tell that he knew that something was up but she couldn’t risk moving back the timeline any more than was absolutely necessary. She was barely in line of sight with the gate and Fred when she heard wooden wheels on stone. She turned her head to see her ex-student wheeling himself towards Fred with a lunch basket on his lap. He didn’t seem to notice her. The thought of waiting until he was gone crossed her mind but if anyone saw her waiting for him to leave then that would raise even more questions. Questions she could no longer afford. She was starting to run out of goodwill in town.
“Hey Fred!” Chris said brightly and wheeled to a stop a few feet from the guard. Lisa was a dozen paces behind him walking leisurely.
“Oh hey you two!” He replied with his own bright smile.
“You two?” Chris asked and looked back over his shoulder at Lisa. “Oh hey, I haven’t seen you in a while.” He commented.
“Yeah, I’ve been busy.” Lisa replied with the most generic response she could think of. She just wanted to get whatever pleasantries out of the way so she could get going. “I’m glad you are getting around alright.” She added with a smile.
Chris shrugged. “I try.” He replied. “But don’t let me hold ya up. I just have this here for Fred.” He said and held up the lunch basket.
Lisa smiled. This time it was genuine. If he had no intention of holding her hostage with conversation then she wasn’t about to complain about it. “Thanks.” She replied.
Fred jumped to do his job and moved the bar out of the way so he could get the gate for her. “I bet you’ll have the whole of the Innerworld mapped out soon at this rate.” Fred commented. “You’ve really been going at it recently.”
Lisa felt a shiver but had no idea why. She forced herself to act naturally and keep her attention on the person talking to her. She shrugged. “I’ve got nothing better to do down here.” She commented and then waved to the boys as she headed out. “Have a good night boys!” She called out over her shoulder.
“Be careful!” Chris called after her before returning his focus to Fred. The boys continued talking as she walked swiftly down the tunnel away from them.
Lisa’s eyes were slowly getting used to the dark again. It was taking a bit longer than usual because light was still pouring down the tunnel from the open gate. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She felt like a predator was watching her but she couldn’t see it. She thought she heard something behind her and whipped her head around. All she was met with was a dimly lit tunnel and silence. After a long moment she turned back around and started walking again, albeit a bit slower than last time. “The stress must be getting to me.” She whispered to herself. The gate finally closed and the tunnel was now completely black.
She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. This was always the scariest part. The lightfoot and half-elf blood in her worked wonders for her darkvision but she knew that it was just a pale imitation of what the drow or any of the other natives had. She had to be twice as careful and twice as quiet if she wanted to survive alone in the tunnels. Thankfully she didn’t need to be alone the entire time. She took another deep breath and opened her eyes. The vague shapes of the tunnel were visible to her. In time the picture would get clearer but it would always be hard to see through. “Time to get to work.”
She continued down the path that she had memorized long ago. Her uneasiness never lessened. She felt like she was walking inside of a dragon’s mouth. Her instincts were screaming at her but no matter how many times she stopped and looked behind her, she saw nothing. Every now and then she thought she heard a scraping sound of something hard on stone but it was always just a bit too far behind her to be certain that it wasn’t her imagination playing tricks on her. The tension rose and rose until she felt like just running towards her destination. Little did she know that it was already too late.