The alley was nestled between two large buildings, the first floors made of stone the rest made of wood. One was the house of several people that had a staircase leading up to the roof and a platform extending over the street, leading to the house opposite to it, on every floor. The other was a large shop led by an old woman who sold all kinds of things, from weapons to animals. Right below me was the entrance to the sewers as well as an artificial river that led away from the town. Luckily it didn't lead to the river everyone used for drinking water... I checked that on my first day here.

I stood on the roof and looked down at the alley between those two buildings. It was filled with multiple boxes and garbage, but at the end of it was something special. The wall at the end of it had a skill sticking out of it, a skull carved out of the same stone the wall itself was made of. I jumped from the roof and landed on the street below. People gasped when they saw me.

"It's the crow," some whispered.

"Wonder what he's up to," another said.

I ignored all the chattering and went inside the unnaturally dark alley, making not to step into any piss puddles or any pieces of human or animal shit... which was a thing that often happened in this city. The alley itself wasn't very long and there was no place to hide anything. I looked behind and beneath the boxes but there was nothing. When I opened them all I found was either nothing, rotten or rotting food and rags, some of which were bloody.

When I saw the blood I felt a tingle all over my skin as [Blood High] threatened to activate. I grit my teeth and turned away from the box and redirected my attention towards the stone skull at the end of the alley. It had always intrigued me. I had heard rumours about it actually being a door leading to various places. One drunkard swore that he knew that it led to the depths of the underworld. Others argued that it led to a dungeon while one particularly drunk member of the church had sworn that the secrets of the world and the deities themselves was hidden behind it.

As soon as I found out that he was a member of the church I took him in and questioned him but he just kept babbling about this and that and then this again so I ripped out his spine and just left him somewhere.

I led my hand brush over the suspiciously smooth stone the skull was made of. It was placed on six bricks, two wide, three high. The mouth was opened and each of the teeth seemed like it had been made individually and then glued to the skull's lower and upper jaws. I tried pushing on them just like I did the first time I found this place. Nothing happened, even when I began pressing them individually. The angle also didn't matter since I had already tried to flick them like a lever.

"Hmm..."

"Maybe there is something else to this skull?" M suggested.

"Maybe..." I said, pondering what to do.

I pressed a finger against the inside of the skull, it was hollow, and felt around for something. But there was nothing I could feel in there. Now I leaned down and tried looking inside just in case something had suddenly been drawn on the inside, but there was nothing in there, not a single mark or anything. That was actually one of the most suspicious things about this skull. I had never seen it dirty, neither on the outside nor on the inside.

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"Hmm... something is definitely up with this fucking skull but... there is nothing I can think off..." I said to myself.

"Maybe you should punch it real good?" M suggested.

"Oh yeah, and potentially lose a very important piece of information or at least evidence for this job," I said, rolling my eyes at the raven's suggestion.

"I thought you didn't care about that girl?"

"I don't. But I do care about the money," I said.

I could hear Ira chuckling in my head.

Before I could do anything else I could hear someone from behind.

"Mister Altair, we found out something," a small half-goblin girl said.

She was very small, had slightly larger than normal ears, a large nose, cat-like eyes and a greenish tint to her skin. Her hair was also growing very slowly.

"What did you find?" I asked.

"We found a sewer dweller that saw someone down in the sewers carrying something," she said, sounding very excited.

"Great work, lead me to them," I said.

She nodded and scurried off, me following behind her. I could already hear people talking and whispering.

"The Crow and a fledgeling," one man said.

"It's the Crow again," a woman whispered to her friend.

"What was he doing in that alley?" another person whispered to the person next to them.

But I once again ignored them, rather focusing on not losing it in the presence of my fledgeling since the wind had started to pick up one again and the voices began shouting into my ears.

"Die!"

"Slave!"

"Pathetic worm!"

"You disgusting pig! Go on, oink for us pig! Go on! Do it!"

"Die, slave!"

"Stop cockroach!"

"You little rat! I should kick your fucking teeth in!"

"Die you fuckhead!"

"I'll fucking kill you!"

"I'll rip your head off!"

"Fucking die you pathetic insect!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Are you alright mister Altair?" the girl askes as she was holding my hand.

I hadn't really noticed but I stood in the middle of the street, shaking, sweating, my head hammering and I was sure that I was on the verge of crying. People were staring and pointing at me, whispering amongst themselves.

"Yes," I responded. "Let's continue."

The little half-goblin girl nodded and we continued on our way. She led me down the stone stairs that led to the artificial river and the entrance to the sewers. It reeked of shit and piss down here.

"It's inside here," the half-goblin girl said as she opened the barred door that led into the sewers.

I nodded and followed her inside. M left my shoulder before I did and flew away.

Coward, I thought.

'Can you blame him?' Ira asked.

'No, not really. It reeks of... shit and piss down here'

'Right?'

I chuckled, earning a weird look from the little girl.

The sewers consisted of many long tunnels with a fairly wide walkway, the artificial river, which was mostly green, and another walkway. Often it would split and lead elsewhere. It had become a haven for the homeless since most gangs didn't come down here but there were multiple ways out of the town down here, and that meant that there were also ways into the town down here.

After we turned a few times and walked over a few wooden bridges we arrived at one of the bigger chambers. Inside I could see another one of my fledglings, the little wood elven girl who smiled when she saw me. She stood in front of an old-looking man dressed in rags. Once I entered the chamber I felt like throwing up. The feeling the humans in here gave off was worse than the smell.

"This man said he saw something," the small wood elven girl said, pointing at the old man.