She healed their wounds, bound, and gagged them. Now with the six intruders inside a cell, Cless had questions to ask. The first one of them should be the most obvious one. No, she wasn't going to ask them about the vampires. But she learned her lesson. She needed to break their spirits first.
"I'll tell you what is going to happen. I am going to make a deal with you. If you cooperate and give me what I want, I'll let you go with your lives. Otherwise, you are already in a catacomb, a few more bodies won't hurt. Who is the leader of this group? Use your eyes to point at the leader."
They didn't answer. Cless decided to test her [Fear Aura] on them. After making sure her guild wasn't in range, she triggered it. All six cowered, clearly affected by her aura. Not high leveled, then.
"I'll ask again. If you don't answer, I'm going to hurt you. I don't think you want to be hurt. I can heal you and hurt you. It will break your minds." Two of them looked at the one that she was getting a leader vibe from. "You. Let's talk. I'm going to remove your gag, if you curse or spit at me, you'll lose your mouth."
She took his gag and he just glowered.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" She didn't bother to tell them they were in her property. It would be a waste of time to make them believe her.
He kept silent. "Are you going to speak or are you hoping the rest of your group that is coming in from the catacombs two levels below will save you?"
She took that time to study the man. He had freckles and dark red hair. Not bad but she liked her own brand of bad boys. She preferred them clean, to begin with. Cless wrapped the gag around his mouth and bound all of them to the stone of the cell.
"Well, I'm going to capture the others and bring them here. Maybe if the merry group is all together you'll feel inclined to speak."
They left through the tunnel they came from. after going down another flight of stairs, they came into the catacombs proper. The other party had four to five people and were coming through a lower floor. The walls of the catacombs had shelves dug along the walls full of human remains, sometimes more than one skeleton per shelf.
She knew they would come this way as the two groups of intruders were probably trying to reach the crates. Cless hollowed out half a meter beneath the ground underneath the floor and filled the hole with spikes. The stone spikes plus the height of the hole would not be enough to kill someone but would cripple whoever was caught. She made the section of stone above the hole resistant enough to support only one person. Two or more and it will break. They hid in an unused corridor, away from lantern range.
The other four came up after crossing the two floors of catacombs and moved ahead, ignoring the corridor they were hiding in. Once they heard the trap breaking and the men cursing, they rushed in to capture them. They were removing the man that was caught in the trap when Silverfang turned the bend and rushed them. The sight of the werewolf running to get them scared the men and without anywhere to run to, they ran over the spikes. It didn't end well.
Cless restored the floor and carried her four new prisoners to the other six.
"Good. Who wants to talk now?" She asked them. None of them. She snapped a finger. Silverfang grew behind her, growling and menacingly stretching his claws. "Who wants to talk, who wants to be eaten?"
One of them squirmed and nodded. "I think we have one for talk. Anyone else? I really only need one to tell me everything. Including why those crates full of valuable goods are there. Good. Get that one for me, big bad wolf."
They took the guy to another room. Cless removed his gag.
"I'll talk, I'll talk!"
"Why are you here?"
The interrogation was convoluted, that guy wasn't the sharpest arrow in the quiver. As they suspected, these guys were part of a gang of smugglers that were taking items out of the Dungeon through a tunnel that connected with the catacombs to avoid paying the taxes. The Association charged the usual ten percent but the Lord was taking twice as much as the Association. Some of the common items were taken to the town through the graveyard but most of them went out of town through a tunnel that opened in one of the further farms outside the walls.
The worst part. There were at least two delver guilds, one of the priests, and several porters as the ones that just carried the crates back and forth were called. A lot of people were in the operation and they were going to be very angry that Cless snatched the mansion from them. The path to and from the Dungeon goes right below the manor where Cless found the crates.
She returned the smugger to his group.
"Oh, what a nice operation you got going there. I'll let you go if you guys play a game with me. You will be let go free and I'll even give you guys two crowns each. All you have to do is to forget about this whole smuggling and tunnel scheme including about us. We never met. In exchange, you'll give me three points of Charisma, Wisdom and Magic each. After you agree, you will go through the tunnel to the farm and return to town. Once you cross the gates you'll forget everything we agreed to. You will also give me the names of all the others in this scheme."
They didn't want to, but after some persuasion including the choice to either die by werewolf or by venom bite all of them agreed to the deal. They went to the tunnel leading to the farm and Cless had a list of names. The guilds were called the Timberwolves and Dragon Delvers. The priest that was smuggling things into the city was called father Justin.
The reasons she didn't take their Skills was because a person without a Skill would be something too strange and she wasn't going to eliminate them. These guys had family and she believed Helga to be one of them. None of them had either of these stats unlocked so they would never find out that she took their points. What should she do? She was involved just because the tunnels went through her territory. If she routed their path away from her land and sealed off everything, they would keep smuggling and it wouldn't be her problem. Her other option would be to face the smugglers and either capture and brainwash or kill them.
She was going to take the non-confrontational path. Cless blocked the path before she returned to the surface. It was dark outside and she didn't want to leave Kurt and Kate alone for too long. They cleaned up and went to the tavern for dinner. They went later than usual and the tavern was almost empty. Helga was there, working.
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Cless greeted her preemptively, "Good evening, Helga. Food for five?"
The barmaid leaned on their table, "How is the cleanup going, guild master?"
"We are burning the debris, all the wood and walls were ruined. We will have to rebuild from the stone foundations. At least it is not cold anymore." She giggled.
"Did you check the basement?"
"I went down for a while but it was terrible. Dozens of moldy crates and barrels, we gave up. I'll probably seal off the whole thing, you know? Mortar it off and forget it even exists."
Their food came and they were eating when the ten smugglers entered the tavern. Cless had her back to the wall but Silverfang growled.
Skills are fantastic. Cless might be the only human to speak Wolf.
She focused to overhear their conversation. The guys took a table and asked Helga for food and drinks. Lots of drinks. They were talking about their sudden luck. They were in the woods when they found a dead traveler with twenty crowns in its pouch.
Cless' guild finished eating and they paid Helga with two ducats, taking the change in bread, cheese, and fruits for their breakfast. These guys would have a lot of trouble but it was the path they set on when they became smugglers. She returned to their plot of land and went to sleep. She almost threw the smuggled goods in the burner. They would surely try to find these items, and as long as they didn't find them... yes. She had to put the crates somewhere in their path so they could find it. Because right now it might seem like the porters took the goods, sold them and tried to get out. She might've doomed them by giving them money.
Morning and she once again placed the golem down in the pit to shovel ashes away from the burnable material. She had tons of ashes, literally.
They ate breakfast and moved back to the tunnels. This manor was once used as a barracks sort of facility, that was obvious. And they built it on top of the cemetery. There were several floors of catacombs beneath the ones the smugglers used. Cless moved around, trying to find intruders but sensed none. She moved the bones to the lowest level of the catacombs and started to reshape the tunnels to link the three exits the smugglers used. Dungeon, Church and Farm. They put the crates of contraband along the path to the farm and blocked off all other tunnels. By blocking off she meant caving them in. It would be easier to dig another tunnel than clear the ones she filled with a lattice of hardened rocks.
The rest of the day was spent clearing the shrubbery. She even mixed some ashes with the soil to act as a fertilizer. They went to Helga's tavern to eat dinner. Helga was there, but her usual cheerfulness was absent. Cless could even tell what was going on.
"Hey, Helga. The same as always?" Cless asked.
"As you wish." She went into the kitchen to get their order.
When Helga returned, Cless had to ask. "Helga, what is wrong?"
"Nothing that concerns you, guild master. I'm sorry, I just..."
As if Cless would resist butting in when she was the catalyst for that hard-working woman's distress. "Problems with your family? Please tell us, we can help."
Helga looked at Cless and her guild members. Perhaps she saw something. "We are closing in half-hour. Stay and we'll talk." They did. Helga sat with them and started to cry. "They got my brothers."
"Who did?" Cless was dreading the answer but she had to play the part.
"Some smugglers. They hired my brothers as porters to carry the contraband out of town, but now they think my brothers stole the goods and sold them to a third party. They did show up with some coin they had no chance of earning. Who would believe they found a dead traveler in the woods?"
Cless felt a pang of guilt. The goods were in the tunnel but the smugglers didn't even check. She would know if people entered her Stronghold and since the graveyard was part of her plot of land she knew they didn't.
She glanced up. Vic grinned, his fangs and forked tongue in full display. "Let's do it." He said.
Silverfang nodded. Kurt cooed. "How can we leave a lady in distress without giving a hand?"
Venaris giggled. "C'mon. We would have to deal with them sooner or later, sooner sounds easier. Where are they, Helga?"
The barmaid was taken aback. "I can't. That is none of your business."
"They are kinda using the tunnels underneath my property," Cless exhaled. "That makes it our business. Now, let's go home and get Kate and Shad. Then we are going to kick some criminal butts."
They left the tavern, Helga hung her apron. Two streets later, they were at Cless' front gates. She opened the gate and Helga met Kate.
The Barmaid whistled. "Now, that's a biiiiig girl!"
Status:
> Name: Queen Cless Hreidmar of Myrkheim and Infernal Realm (in exile)
>
> Race: Human.
>
> Level: 88 ( 3,486,000 / 3,914,000 Exp ) [Experience Threshold > level 38]
>
> Class (tier) level (Experience):
> — Dabbler (1) 25 ( 300,000 Exp / ** ) — Beast Tamer (2) 25 (900,000 Exp / ** ) — Vicar (3) 25 ( 1,500,000 Exp / ** ) — Wizard Princess (4+1) 9 (636,000 / 720,000 Exp )
>
> Profession — Veteran Warmaster 25 (300,000 Exp / **) — Master Instructor 16 (464,072 / 495,000 Exp)
> — Crafter 25 (Skill) — Farmer 25 (Skill) — Herbalist 25 (Skill) — Alchemist 25 (Skill)
>
> Base Stats — Strength: 65 [152] — Agility: 86 [201] — Health: 105 [245] — Intellect: 114 [221] — Wisdom: 181 — Charisma: 135 — Magic: 291
>
> Available Status Points: 3
>
>
>
> Skills:
> S-rank: [Absolute Contract]
>
> B-rank: [Fear Aura] – [Perfect Might] – [Succubus’ Kiss]
>
> C-rank: [Eat Anything] – [Elven Longevity] – [Appraise Immunity] – [Craftsmen] – [Dangersense] – [Earth Magic] – [Master Miner] – [Seductress' Charm]
>
> D-Rank: [Alchemical Tolerance] – [Alchemist] – [Brownie Magic] – [Curmudgeon crafter] – [Dancer’s Grace] – [Darkness Resistance]
> – [Druidwalk] – [Farmer] – [Gemsense] – [Giant's Stamina] – [Great Leap] – [Grounding] – [Heavy Handed] – [Herbalism] – [Merchant sense]
> – [Ore sense] – [Poison Resistance] – [Runner's Dash] – [Sharp Mind] – [Singers’ Talent] – [Snakes' Flexibilty] – [Spell Resistance]
> – [Steelshine] – [Tinker] – [Tremorsense]
>
> E-Rank: [Air sailing] – [Architectural Ingenuity] – [Burrower Bond] – [Coin Sense] – [Enhanced touch] – [Gravebreath]
> – [Hearth’s warmth] – [Howl] – [Pack Rat] – [Seamstress Talent] – [Silk Hair] – [Splinters]
> – [Virility] – [Wanderlust] – [Weavertouch]
>
> F-rank: [Cheat] – [Florist’s Wonder] – [Gardener’s touch] – [Inner Compass]
>
>
>
> Techniques:
>
> — [Beast Taming VI] — [Beast Status] — [Share Skills]
> — [Sanctuary]
> — [Appoint Stronghold] — [Appoint Demesne] — [Appoint Protector]
>
>
>
> Spells (Master Instructor: +1 to all. Spells without a number are at the soft cap / * denotes a level 25th ultimate):
>
> Divine: — Mending — Detoxify — Light — Turn Undead — Blessing — Holy Bolt — Purify — Protection
> — — — Hallow — Flametongue — Cure — Uncurse — Banish — Heal — Warding — Revivify*
> — — — Censure — Bulwark — Mass Mending — Sacred Dance — Judgement — Song of the Accord*
> — — — Water Breathing — Shield of Faith — Sanctuary
>
> Mage: — Detect Magic — Mage Bolt — Armor — Firebolt — Icebolt — Lightning Grasp — Shield
> — — — Fireball — Resistance — Shockwave — Magic Missiles — Wind Blade — Deeppockets* — Blink*
>
> House: — Detect Dust — Doorwatch — Prestidigitation — Never Overdone! — Touch Up — Dry — Repair — Clean — Bloom — Hearth Recall*
>
> Earth: — Soften — Earth Armor — Spike — Stone Shape — Earthen Maw — Earthwave — Terrakinesis — Golem*
> — — — Earth to Stone — Grasping Hand — Spike Wall — Construct*
>
> Wiz.Princess: — ???? — ???? — ???? — ????
>
>
>
> Proficiencies (Master Instructor: +1 to all. Values under 10 hidden / {A} = Automatic Proficiency: Soft Cap +5):
>
> Appraise: Status: 80 — Resistance: (immune) — Forgery: (immune)
>
> General: Prayer: 80 — Reading: 50 — Architecture: {A}
>
> Academic: Magic Theory: 50 — Spellcraft: 50
>
> Crafting (+9 Profession): Tailor: {A} — Embroidery: {A} — Knitting: {A}
>
> Farming, plants (+38 Profession): Foraging: 30 — Forestry: 30 — Gardening: 17
>
> Farming, livestock (+13 Profession): Dismantling: 30
>
> Production (+9 Profession): Mining: {A} — Weaving: {A}
>
> Social: Negotiation: 80 — Persuasion: 80 — Bluff: 80 — Flirting: {A} — Sexual Technique: {A} — Etiquette: {A} — Dancing: {A} — Singing: {A} — Gambling: {A}
>
> Movement: Running: {A} — Athletics: {A} — Balance: {A} — Jumping: {A}
>
> Martial (+18 profession): Leadership: 80 — Intimidation: 60 — Tactics: 80
>
> Weapon (+18 profession): Long Blades: 80 — Unarmed: 80 — Archery: 80 — Maces: 60 — Pickaxe: {A}