"We are almost to the city and then we can all go to sleep." Sasha said.
"I will murder every last one of you and eat your eyeballs." Teamasa said in response.
From her tone they knew that she meant what she said literally, she would eat them just to spite her friends with the way she was feeling right now. The reason for this was simple, she had been up for the last twenty-four hours chugging mana potions constantly to keep her undead running at top speed so that they could get here in a reasonable time frame.
Down they raced with the city growing ever larger in the foreground. It was not far now and they had already messaged the gate to expect their arrival. No one would be caught with their pants down now. Just a little more and they could rush Neka to her new shop. It was already outfitted with everything she would need enchantment wise to allow her to stretch her legs out.
More than that though, pretty soon everyone in the underworld would know exactly what kind of power grab this was. How big it stretched, and most importantly, where the party had set their sights. It was without a doubt that some would try and obstruct them after this more but it was too valuable an opportunity to pass up. It would increase their power and influence in the city if they could keep everything from imploding in on itself.
They had put many of their eggs in this basket and were waiting to see if it would be dropped or not. If this succeeded it would be a major boon that couldn't be taken away from them easily but if failed they would lose the ability to build higher in the future. It was an all or nothing bet and the chips were down, the time had come to see what would come of it.
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The first thing that the gate guards noticed was that the undead was charging the gats at speed. The second thing was that they refused to slow down and the third was their superior yelling at them to open the damn gates already.
Having the instinct trained into them to follow his orders they did so immediately caused them to jump to action. The gates barely opened in time to allow them through and that was a good thing because by the look on the wizard's face she would not have stopped anyway. If those gates had not opened in time they were sure she would have started throwing fireballs at them. Sometimes as a guard, you could just tell when someone was not having the best of days. This was one of those times!
Though they did not yet know it, this was one of the few parts of the journey throughout the city that was not accounted for. If it were not for the quick thinking of the guard captain they would have been fighting their way through the city instead of having an escort all the way. If they had made it to their destination then chances are they could have talked their way out of trouble but that would not have been guaranteed.
Next up where the assassins sent to wreck their day. Not those from the little cult that they had nominally befriended but rather a normal guild of rogues that specialize in murdering their victims before robbing them blind. A bunch of malcontents, every last one. They cared about nothing more than the sum that they were paid. Loyal only to the highest bidder and as such only the new or despite would dare use them for contracts.
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A group of fools charged the carriage as it was rampaging down the road. It never stopped nor slowed but that was not the intention. No, they were nothing more than a distraction used to draw attention. While all eyes were on the fools that had just been run over by undead warhorses the real master assassins struck. Not with daggers like many would expect, but with spells and bows.
A sniper shot from the bell tower at not a single member of the party proper no. It was Neka that was the target. If they could just take out the cursed mage then all this preparation and money would have been wasted. That is why when the information of this little plot came to the interested party they did not stop it when they had the chance. No, they were after a bigger prize, they wanted to cut off the head of the snake and let the body die.
"Shields, shields, where are our damned shields when we need them. This day is just going from bad to worse. We can't even fight back properly because if we do we will end up pissing off an old ass Dragon!" Drassisa said while healing Neka from the scratch.
The arrow was enchanted, fired from an enchanted bow, and with plenty of skills behind the attack. It had punched a hole through several layers of barriers and was only barely pushed to the side so that it would not kill her outright. The problem was that like most assassins the sniper had used poison on the off chance that it would kill her just a smidge faster. This was not something that just a few used as it was recognized that the number of people that could just shrug off poison was far fewer than the number of people they would be called on to kill.
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"Faster Tea, we are almost there. Just a little farther and we will be inside the protected area, then they will have to stop or fear unleashing some trap we have prepared in secret." Smithy said with a grin. He was at least enjoying himself.
"I am almost out of smoke bomb and the guards are looking at us like they want to hang us all for dropping them." Embrda said to the group letting them know that the window he had bought would be closing soon.
He had not told them that he would be dropping them, they had just trusted him to buy time like that. What good was a thief if you had to direct his every action? None at all in most cases, that was for sure.
"Here take these and do not ask what they are, I do not want to frighten you but make sure there is nothing you care about within thirty feet of where you throw them." Smithy said, and when someone like him tells you something like that, you listen.
"Thanks just hurry. They did not have a lot of time to prepare this so be on your guard, if we take too long then all the others they have sitting in reserve will come out of the woodwork. If that happens we will be in a way worse situation than we are now." When a thief tells you something like that you listen. It did not make things any better that Drassisa started demanding Tea make the damned horses go faster or she would rip off her arms and heal them on backward.
We are almost there just a little farther and we will be home free. Move faster and we are done for today. Now it is insight.
They were all thinking this as they crossed the line where the shop was separated from the outside. At this point only those invited in could get in so without an appointment it was next to impossible to force your way in. They had done it. They were safe. If only for now. Those that had conspired against them would not back down from a near setback, they would just change tactics and attack from a different angle. This was just the beginning.