The stone was not damaged in the slightest, although several potions had been destroyed in the quick melee, and the shop’s goods were either in Jerome’s bag or scattered on the floor.
The dead shopkeeper sprawled motionlessly on the floor, body twisted in unnatural ways where the spine had broken.
Jerome’s current body couldn’t handle alcohol like his regular body could. That much was clear. Would he have to build up a tolerance with each new body he borrowed? Would he have to switch into a hard-drinking gnoll whenever he wanted just a little bit of relief?
Then would come this body’s hangover, which he wasn’t looking forward to at all. He’d have to—
Wait, no. He wouldn’t have to suffer through it.
He had two more available gnoll bodies.
Jerome turned into the other gnoll he’d killed outside, figuring that the shopkeeper would likely be discovered first — and thus an extra copy running around would cause alarm first. Better to save that form for battle, if he got found out.
His new form snapped him to clarity terrifyingly quickly. The pain of the dead humans receded but sharpened; it became a shard of glass in his foot rather than a bludgeon to his head.
With his inhibitions raised back to normal levels, he also saw how horrifically bad an idea it had been to try and break the prisoners free. Without the chaos of the ockdine attack, the combat support of Krystyna, or a solid plan, he’d only end up getting more of the humans killed… and likely raise the defenses of the city even further against him. The gnolls he’d killed were already big red flashing lights signaling trouble to any gnoll that stumbled across them.
This new form was dressed similarly to his last form, so it was probably a gatherer as well. That was good — he could keep up versions of the same cover story he’d been using.
Now to find the palace.
Emotions exhausted, he was able to think clearly for the first time since he’d made that first incision into the gnoll’s belly. With a clear mind he could start piecing some logic together.
He had to find the palace so he could sell the crystals. Asking about where the palace was located would mark him as an outsider as surely as asking for a map had, so his only choice was to find it on his own.
The palace was likely bigger than the other buildings. While this deduction wasn’t much use on its own, he also remembered that he’d seen some gnolls climbing the walls. If he could get to the rooftops he could look across the town and see where he needed to go.
Outside the shop, in the alleyway, Jerome tried it out. The wall wasn’t perfectly smooth; there were little patterned deviations that were designed for claws to latch onto. With a running start he was able to get halfway up the wall, and then the rest took him about ten seconds of climbing to finish.
Being easily climbable was an unusual feature for buildings, but with enemies like the ockdine and the ptau it was probably necessary. If an ockdine could transport itself to a rooftop, then the gnolls would want to be able to follow. For the ptau, someone needed to set those nets. Jerome guessed that every wall in this town, with the exception of the outside of the city wall, was climbable by a gnoll.
He’d have to keep that in mind for the eventual rescue. He had Blast Off as an additional mobility advantage over the gnolls, but Krystyna and the human prisoners would have to go over the ground and would be vulnerable to gnolls jumping from above.
The gnoll city skyline was nearly featureless — a bunch of stone buildings, each looking like they’d been raised from the earth using a set of three or four blueprints. A couple were two stories tall while most were just one.
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The city walls were taller than any building except the building that must be the palace. It was four stories at its highest point, where it looked like more of a guard tower than a proper building. The third story was similarly focused. He couldn’t tell how big the second story was, because another wall, smaller than the city wall but still formidable, blocked his view.
That was his destination. Might as well start running there. Jerome made sure that he had his Bag of Holding with him then ran across the rooftops, able to jump the first few alleyways with just his 4-legged run. Soon enough, however, he came to an alley he couldn’t jump easily, and he decided using Blast Off would draw more attention than it was worth. He studied the layout of the streets below and picked out his path to the palace.
After going up on the rooftops and figuring out his destination the layout of the streets no longer seemed quite as dizzying. There was still a frustrating sameness to the buildings, at least to his non-gnoll eyes, but he could detect differences in traffic patterns as he came to main streets. It was like following a river to the sea — go in the direction of increasing traffic and eventually you get somewhere important.
That rule didn’t end up applying all the way to the palace, but it got him to the point where he could see the four-story spire and guide himself the rest of the way.
The palace was guarded by another wall, this one not climbable from the outside, and placed far enough from surrounding buildings that no normal gnoll could leap across the gap. The wall was discolored in places, with seemingly random variations in thickness, as if it patches of it had been built at different times.
A level 11 gnoll stood at attention, guarding the small gate which allowed entrance to the palace. Beside him was a bell, which could be rung either by pulling on a rope or — this was clever — stepping on a pad connected to a set of levers. An interesting set of obstacles for any attacker… or for any gnoll trying to get in to help with an emergency. If an ockdine cannoned into the courtyard, and one of them blocked the gate, would the rest have the run of the place and be able to kill the king? It didn’t make sense.
Getting through today, however, was quite easy.
“What is your business?” asked the guard.
“I’m here to sell crystals.”
“The king thanks you for your contribution to unification,” it said. “Is this your first time selling?”
“Yes.”
“Go up the path lined with purple flowers. Once you get to the inner compound, it’s the third door on your right.”
Jerome stepped inside and his heart stopped.
To his right were dozens of warriors doing drills, training in combat of spear, club, and claw. Their leader was level 19, with an assistant at level 16, and the average level of the trainee was level 8 or 9… much stronger than the typical gnoll grunt from the outer tribes that they’d faced.
To his left were a smaller set of five gnolls doing magic. The leader was level 16, while the trainees were level 5, 8, 10, and 11. All mages.
The trainees were paired off doing a drill: one would raise a wall from the ground, then another would blast a hole in it. Jerome wasn’t sure how long they’d been practicing today, but drawing up the stone from the ground then breaking it had already created a rubble-filled pit a foot deep.
These mages would explain why the gnolls felt safe making the outsides of the wall unclimbable — their elite could blast holes in the wall any time they wanted, letting other gnolls in and out. Presumably this knowledge was guarded from the common gnoll and the gnolls of the outer tribes.
Jerome’s heart sank as he inspected each mage in turn. Rikan, the mage he’d killed in his first visit to the city, was strictly average for these trainees. Jerome had improved his combat abilities drastically, but not enough to face four Rikans. That Hold ability he could overcome through use of Portal Hands… but if one of them got a Crystal Overload going on him, he would be incapacitated for some time, and the leader could kill him with it and still have enough MP to finish off Krystyna.
Was there a way to increase magical resistance? The ptau had natural magic resistance, and some of the gnolls had resisted his weak Hold, so there must be some way.
“Is there a problem, gatherer?” A rough voice interrupted his thoughts, making Jerome realize how long he’d been standing still and staring. The voice belonged to the level 16 warrior assistant. Jerome might be able to defeat it in a one-on-one battle, but definitely not with all the other firepower on display here.
The gnoll spoke in a voice that was kindly on the surface but permeated with threatening undertones. “It is dangerous to look too long upon the king’s might.”