I had a lot of thinking to do as I left the others at the party and started walking back to the fortress. It was a good five-mile walk, nothing I couldn't handle.

I was well outside the city when I stumbled on a rock in the road. It was the only thing that saved my life as a bolt of white tore a chunk of scalp off as it flew past me. The pain spurred me into action and before I even spun around I had my full suit of armor on and my staff in my hand. It was a good thing too because another arrow impacted my helmet's shield, tearing away half the barrier.

I recognized those fucking arrows.

"Come out, Jacob, you sonofabitch!"

Another arrow appeared from nowhere and came at me, but I was ready this time. I swatted the offending projectile out of the air.

"Tsk... you should have minded your own business, Paul," the man said, appearing a good forty yards away.

"How about you come over here and we can talk it over?"

"Ha, funny as always, Paul. But I prefer to remain well out of range of your skills."

He faded into the shadows again and I activated my tattoo. As soon as another arrow was fired I activated Blink Step and the Temporal Skip ring I got from Obidiah so long ago. I crossed the distance in less than a second, my tattoo revealing Jacob as he tried to enter his shadow movement skill.

My staff whipped through his body with all of the enchantments activated. The scream that greeted me was music to my ears. Activating the ring made it so I couldn't control my direction all that well, and before I could turn around and attack again a portal opened and he fell through. It snapped shut as soon as he cleared the threshold. I had a brief glimpse of people on the other side, but nobody I recognized.

My blood was pumping and I screamed at missing the opportunity for vengeance. Once I got that out of the way I removed my helmet and cast Rejuvenate on the head wound I received. My entire armor was soaked in blood from just that short encounter. I decided to rush back to the Hornwell property and alert them of the situation. I highly doubted Jacob had come here to kill me. The only thing that made sense was that he came to finish the job with I/O.

Some guards must have heard my scream because they appeared long before I got to the house.

"What happened?" one of them asked.

"I was attacked. I need to speak with Mr. Hornwell right away!"

I don't know if it was the fact that I was covered with blood or the sheer ferocity of my words but the guards asked no more questions and escorted me directly to the house, where the party was still ongoing.

I was asked to relinquish my weapon when I arrived. A prudent if useless measure. I handed it to the guard who sagged under the weight. It was heavy for me but I had trained with it.

Mr. Hornwell, Mr. Frielan, Ska, and Martin all rushed out after they heard that I was attacked.

"Was it the elves?" Hornwell demanded.

"No, it wasn't the fucking elves. It was one of those Stygian Order fucks," I growled.

That got blank looks and I realized I was probably one of the few people that knew what they were called. I reined in my temper before adding additional information. "They are the people that attacked I/O's village."

"What, how did they get here, why are they here?" Hornwell asked, looking around.

"Everyone I have met from their order possessed stealth skills. They also have someone capable of creating portals. As for why they are here, my guess is to tidy up loose ends."

Mr. Frielan turned white, "Not I/O, what could those bastards want with her? She has been nothing but a model citizen."

"I have no clue, all I know is they were here."

"Why did they try to kill you then?" Mr. Hornwell asked accusingly.

"We have prior history and I don't think they appreciated me learning about what happened to I/O's village."

Mr. Hornwell turned to one of his guards, "double the guard around the house and put two guards on I/O. Let her know what's happening as well."

The guard saluted and rushed off to carry out his orders.

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"Fuck, if it isn't bad enough that we have to deal with those god damn elves, now we got assassins lurking about. Well, Mr. Expert, any ideas on how to combat this new problem?"

"Why are you asking me?" I stated flatly.

"Gee, I wonder, could it be because you just survived an attack from a foe that you yourself said utilize stealth skills."

"Yeah, well that was mostly luck and some innate abilities my class gives me. If you are willing to pay, I can enchant your doorways, making it impossible for anyone under stealth to enter through them. That is only going to deal with half the issue though. You will need to purchase teleportation scramblers from the Bazaar to keep anyone from teleporting into the house."

"Dammit, and how much will that cost?"

"To fuck over the Stygian Order, I will do the work for free. You just need to cover the cost of the mana hearts. I have six that I can install and the range of the spell will cover about twenty-five feet from the source of the enchantment."

The man ground his teeth but finally agreed. "Frielan, get this man his money and show him the best spots to install these enchantments. I suppose they work like the cannons and have to be periodically charged?"

"Yeah, but probably only once a week. They don't require much mana."

"Fine, fine... is our deal still on for the cannons?"

I rolled my eyes, "yes, it's still on."

"Good, once you are done here, I will have a group of guards, along with Mr. Frielan, escort you back to your ship. You don't have any issue with them collecting the weapons at that time do you, Mr. Fuller?"

"Not so long as the payment is made in full," I said, using a towel I pulled from my ring to wipe some of the blood from my face. I realized I must look like a serial killer covered in blood like this.

Hornwell grunted in approval and snapped his fingers. Everyone still present, my team excluded snapped into action.

I had to give the man credit, while he was gruff and blunt, he ran a tight ship.

I followed Mr. Frielan around and he pointed out six locations to install the warding. It wasn't all doorways either. Two were hallways that covered a significant portion of the floor. Anyone would have to pass through those halls to get to bedrooms or the downstairs living room. He also had me put one covering the stairs. The main entryway got one, the kitchen got one and the back door got the final one. All-in-all it covered most of the house and would make it a nightmare for anyone using stealth to get through undetected.

I wasn't about to waste Mirthil on this guy's house. While a rune carved into the wood wouldn't be as effective, it would still outline a hazy figure. I started with the kitchen, carving the symbols into a light fixture that hung over a central island. I, of course, forced everyone to leave the areas I was working in. I inset the tiny gem and hid my work with the Odin rune. I filled the gem, activating the rune. A soft blue glow filled the space before being washed out by the light coming in from outside. It would be impossible to tell an enchantment was active unless you were paying very close attention.

The rest of the work went quickly, most of the runes getting carved into wooden beams. Only the tiny gem gave away the position of the rune.

"So, how do we know these will work?" Hornwell asked.

"Well, you must have a scout or someone with a skill to hide themselves, have them test it."

"Go fetch Barnaby," Hornwell ordered one of his guards.

A few minutes later a lanky teenager was escorted down the stairs. He had similar facial features to Hornwell so I figured he was a younger brother or a son.

"Barnaby, use that skill you use to sneak out of your room at night."

The teen seemed to freeze at that revelation. "Wait you knew?"

"Of course I knew, you aren't exactly quiet. Now be quick about it boy."

"Gawd, fine."

Oh, teen angst, how I don't miss it.

Hornwell was correct, whatever skill the boy possessed was not exactly quiet. It sounded like cracking glass as his body seemed to fracture and the light seemed to be reflected off a million facets. When the boy was fully invisible, his father had him walk through the areas where I had installed the runes. Sure enough, a blue silhouette appeared as soon as he stepped inside the area of the spell.

"Not exactly easy to spot," Hornwell grumped.

"It's the best I could do with the materials available. If you want to purchase a thousand credits in mithril, I can improve the resolution."

"No... this will have to do. Thanks... I/O wished to express her thanks as well.

I nodded. "Since we are done here, let's go finish off the last of our business so I can be off."

It didn't take long to conclude our arms deal. It was weird to think I had become an arms dealer. Well, I guess no more strange than magic or owning a flying fortress.

We didn't take off right away, I had a splitting headache from the near-fatal head wound I had received less than two hours ago and was resting on a couch. I would have gone to my room and slept it off but I needed to discuss events with the others.

"What about the Reaper title?" Martin asked.

"Tried it, the location must be too far away. Not that I would know, I have no clue how far the ability reaches."

"Well, what about seeing if you can reach someone in Houston with it?"

I groaned and sat up, it was worth a shot. I decided not to use the skill on someone I liked. Not that the description said it had any effect, but the name Reaper didn't bode well for anyone involved.

I picked one of the thugs we had apprehended alive. Most were rotting in prison cells, their skills unable to get them out. It took a considerable amount of time for me to focus my pounding head until I felt a tug at my mind. It was a strange sensation for your mind to start acting like a compass.

So three hundred kilometers was within the range of the ability. Next, I decided to see if I could pick up on the location of that Kurt fella. I knew for a fact that town was well over five hundred kilometers away. It took a considerable amount more effort and all I got was a vague sense of direction. Still, it cut down the search area.

That being said... where the fuck were the Stygian Order located if I didn't even garner an inkling of direction. I even tried locating their enigmatic leader Stone, but got nothing. I guess the only thing I could do was use the skill every five hundred or so kilometers and hope for the best. The other option was actively questioning people and seeing if I could narrow down the search.

Since there was nothing that could be immediately done we took off, heading back to Houston. I needed to finish up the vehicle for the Marshall and decide on which direction to head in next.