The night after my fight with the golem, I eagerly checked my notifications only to be met with disappointment. Isabel had warned me that things would slow down, but I didn't expect to receive nothing. Sure, I gained some experience, but no levels, skill increases, or titles. It was evident that the golem was weaker than I thought, and I needed to fight stronger opponents to progress.

Finn stayed with us, and Isabel explained that the guild often took in homeless children and gave them an education. Although they weren't forced to join, most of them did after spending years in the guild. I felt uncomfortable about it; it was like grooming, but at the same time, it gave children who had been dealt a bad hand another chance. Without the guild, many children would either die on the streets, join gangs or disappear, never to be seen again.

At first, Finn seemed nervous, but he eventually relaxed after spending a few days with us. He even asked Isabel to train him, and she agreed, giving him a few simple exercises to work on. Isabel was surprisingly good with kids, and when I complimented her, Lyra told me that Isabel had trained several younger trainees in the guild. Lyra didn't reveal much about Isabel's background, but she did say that Isabel came from an adventurer family and had a falling out with them. I wanted to know more, but Lyra told me that it was Isabel's story to tell.

As the days passed, Finn shared more information with us. We learned that the man who dropped the core was not a local and had been dressed in fine clothes. Despite Finn's initial impression, we prodded him to reveal that the man was likely just a middle-class worker. We discussed how to proceed, and I suggested that we should inform someone, but Isabel and Lyra were cautious about who to trust.

The guildmaster had proven to be unreliable, and any information we shared with the guild would eventually reach his ears. This would likely result in a reprimand and an order to stay out of it. Despite this, I felt like we needed to take action, so I began prowling the city at night.

I would run along rooftops, feeling like a certain caped crusader, jumping from one to the next on silent feet. To avoid being recognized, I wore darker robes with no guild markings. Grim roamed the shadows below, and I had changed his name again since he didn't like Pirlo.

Together, we searched the city methodically, focusing mostly on the poorer areas of town. So far, we had come up with nothing, but one night, something happened. Grim informed me of a wagon moving through an alley, and the two men driving it seemed a little suspicious.

I quickly followed Grim's directions and ran along the rooftops beside the wagon. When the wagon stopped at a small local market, another man appeared to meet the first two. "Grim, can you get close enough to hear?" I asked.

The spirit cackled. "Perhaps with a distraction, I could."

I thought for a few seconds, then nodded to myself. I moved around the small square and focused, conjuring a generic brown-haired woman exiting a door in an alley. Her features were bland and not detailed, but they didn't need to be. The three men all turned in her direction, but as she walked down the alley away from them, they ignored her and turned back to their conversation.

The small distraction had been enough, and Grim was now hanging under the wagon. His laughter bubbled in my mind, but I ignored it. My vision blurred, and the next moment, I was staring up at the underside of the wagon.

‘’A few more loads are coming in over the next few weeks,’’ one of the men were saying. ‘’That is fine, I will inform our contact. He should be around to inspect the goods in the next few days,’’ another man said and there was a surprised grunt. ‘’He is coming to inspect them? That’s a first. Until now he didn’t bother..’’

“Apparently circumstances have changed, and he wants to make sure everything is in order,” the man I suspected was the leader said. “That is fine, I guess. Gods, I just want to be done with this job. The whole thing creeps me out.” There were sounds of agreement.

“We will be done and away in a few weeks, but for now we need to move this shipment to the warehouse. I will send a message to our contact, and I will see you in a few days.”

The men split and the wagon started moving again, with Grim following behind. I considered what to do. I kind of wanted to follow the leader, who I could see heading for an alley now that I was back to my own point of view again. But perhaps it would be better to see this warehouse instead. I contacted Grim, “Stay with them, Grim. I will follow behind.”

Grim sent me a quick acknowledgement, and I sat back, deciding to experiment a little. I pulled out the Cartographer’s cube and sent a bit of ether into it. It came alive, and I felt that strange pulling sensation. Then I directed the hologram at the rooftop. A model of the area appeared before me, and I smiled. It was so damn cool. I could see little dots moving, and I spotted the one I knew to be the leader. He was moving steadily away from me, and I tried to interact with the image. I was overjoyed to find that when I touched the glowing point belonging to the leader, it became a bright red. I did the same for the two men in the wagon, then dismissed the image.

I held my breath as I reactivated the cube, and with a wide smile, I saw the same image again, with three bright red markers on it. I would be able to find the man again this way, and happy with that revelation, I began moving."

I followed the wagon through town, crossing into the temple district and over a few bridges until we were close to the keep. Despite my initial frown, I continued to follow Grim's directions. Although I had lost sight of the wagon, I had no trouble keeping a few blocks behind them.

Eventually, the wagon came to a stop in front of a small warehouse on the edge of the city, a pretty secluded spot but with plenty of industry buildings around. The area only saw traffic during work hours and was deserted, except for a few private guards who didn't care what went on in a warehouse they weren't contracted to watch over.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

I caught up soon after the wagon entered the building and saw light spilling out from a few high-placed windows. Climbing the outside of the building in the shadows, I managed to haul myself onto a small ledge. From there, I could look into a large room with all kinds of crates and barrels stacked high, indicating that these guys were a pretty busy bunch. The two men had dismounted the wagon and had begun unloading crates from the back. They were small crates, and one man could easily carry them alone, although they seemed a little heavy. I watched them work for a while until one man said something, waved to his partner, and headed for the exit. I watched him leave from my vantage point and saw the other man continue working for a bit.

I waited for a good while, making sure the man was alone before I moved. It was time to gather some information.

I climbed down and entered through the door the other man had left from. I crept into the warehouse and hid behind some large crates that were marked with some kind of logo. Not knowing what it meant, I ignored it. I had made a plan while watching and began to put it into action. I focused and conjured an illusion throughout the room. The lights dimmed, casting deep shadows and giving the room an eerie feel. The man gave a surprised yelp, "What the... Hello? Is someone there?"

I conjured translucent shapes that looked like ghosts and had them move around the warehouse silently. Peeking around the crate, I saw that the man was looking around him with wide eyes. He was pale with fright and was holding his cudgel in white-knuckled hands. I dismissed the previous illusion Grim was using, then conjured a fresh set, and they moved into the warehouse, surrounding the man just out of sight.

"Alright, Grim. Shall we perhaps scare him a bit?" I asked.

Grim cackled in my mind, "Oh, I think he's plenty scared, dear partner, but I want to see if we can make him wet himself!"

--

Jari, feeling alone and vulnerable, clutched his cudgel tightly, ready for a fight, but with little confidence in his ability to defend himself. He kept seeing movements out of the corner of his eye, flowing shapes that were barely visible. A creepy voice suddenly spoke from his right and he spun around, his heart racing. "Have you been naughty, little man?" the voice taunted. Jari spun again as the voice came from another direction, and he was beginning to feel dizzy from the repeated movements. "Who's there? Show yourself!" he shouted, hoping whatever was in the shadows would stay away.

"He wants to know! Does he really though? Can he know? Perhaps we should tell him, no even better... show him!" The voice kept changing directions and Jari was struggling to keep up. "Please! I have done nothing... I... I have not hurt anyone!" Jari pleaded, hoping to convince whatever was lurking in the shadows to leave him alone.

Suddenly, the voice came from right behind him, and Jari tripped and fell on his back. When he looked up, he saw a figure clad in dark flowing robes that seemed to almost be alive. The robes swirled around the figure, but the most frightening thing was its face - a mask with a wide, creepy smile and glowing blue eyes. Jari scrambled backwards, his cudgel shaking in his trembling hands. "Stay away, demon! I... I have not..." Jari trailed off, unable to complete his sentence as the figure tilted its head and studied him.

Translucent shapes flowed around behind him, and Jari recognized them as wraiths - he had heard of such things, and none of the stories ended well. "What is in the crates, little man?" the creature asked, and Jari glanced over at the unmarked crates that he had brought into the city that very night. "I... I don't know what is inside!" Jari stammered, but the creature cackled menacingly. "Come now, let us not pretend. One more time, what is inside?" Jari swallowed hard, but the lump in his throat refused to budge. "Fine... They are some kind of orb... I don't know what their purpose is... I swear!" Jari felt a chill run through his veins as another creature materialized out of the shadows, studied the crate for a few moments, then disappeared back into the shadows.

The creature in front of Jari studied him with those blue glowing eyes, "Who is the contact?" Jari's eyes widened in fear, realizing that this creature had been with them since they had met with the boss. "I don't know! Not even the boss knows his name!" From the corner of his eye, Jari saw movement and was shocked to find another identical creature right next to him, its face only inches from his. "Oh, I said let's not pretend! Perhaps a little convincing would be appropriate..." Jari scrambled away only to find himself face to face with another creature. "There is no running, little man, but perhaps you can be allowed to live... should you provide the information we seek, of course!" Jari felt tears of fright running down his cheeks and answered in a shaky voice, "I really don't know! I... I have only seen him once! Tall man, dark robes... sort of lanky. He was arrogant and looked at us like we were trash... that is all I know!"

--

I looked down at the terrified man and felt a pang of guilt for scaring him so badly, but at least it had yielded results. I signaled to my images to pick up the crates, and Grim moved to pick up two while the others picked up one each. The man didn't move an inch, and I crouched down in front of him and whispered, "You should leave Creston, little man. Quit while you're ahead. We know you now, we know your associates. Should we see you again..." I trailed off, letting the unspoken threat linger in the air. The man nodded jerkily, "I will leave! I will bring the others! You won't see us again!" I nodded slowly, then turned to leave before stopping. "Do not warn your contact. I wish to see this man myself. I think you know what will happen if you do." The man paled even further, nodding vigorously. "We won't! I swear!" I nodded again before conjuring a dense mist in the room and leaving the warehouse, disappearing into the shadows.

I sighed, knowing that leaving the rune-marked crates in the hands of these people was not an option. Grim had taken one look at them, and noticed the runes inscribed into them immediately. I couldn’t be sure what was inside exactly, but the man’s description, and the little I knew about rune magic was enough to recognize that it meant trouble. We had to be careful in handling them, but I felt forced to take them with me. Isabel might be able to shed some light on their purpose.

With my team and the crates in tow, we moved carefully through the city. I had taken a gamble by revealing myself to the smugglers, and I knew it was possible that I had also warned their mysterious contact. By playing the scary villain, I hoped I had scared the man sufficiently that he would heed my threat. If they stayed around, I would be able to find them with the cube given some effort. I could map about a third of a district at a time, so with an organized approach, I could comb the city in a night.

If all went well, the contact would arrive at the warehouse in a few days, and I would have to come back and watch the place. The weight of the crates suggested they each carried more than a few cores, which meant that there could be a significant number of them scattered throughout the city. We had a potential disaster on our hands, and we needed to act fast. Combing the city alone was impossible for just the three of us, so we needed help.