Renzou blocked Nick’s Soul Blade, the two trading attacks in the small dojo within Nick’s suite. Despite only having one arm, the man swung his curved, single-edged sword with amazing skill.
Nick had already received the man’s fealty, and convinced him to become his Follower–Nick providing his promise to protect his family and his life as Lord Noblefrost.
Renzou became Nick’s 7th Rare-Classed Warrior in his kingdom, putting him close to finishing Kaya’s Soul-Pact Quest. The slaves he purchased from Dale at Ironbond Traders counted toward his Ordained Lord Quest, giving him over a hundred and fifty slaves rescued.
As for restoring Renzou’s arm, it was going to be a lengthy process for the priestesses, even with Rebecca herself investing her efforts because of his high level. It was better achieved when they arrived home in Frosthaven where the essence was denser.
Nick sent several Blade Waves at Renzou, and he blocked them with three furious swings and sending his own essence in counter. Despite being large, the panda beastfolk focused on speed and ferocity of attacks. It was a stark contrast to Lothar’s strength and powerful axe swings, combined with a strong defense.
Since he arrived at Silverbrook, Nick had spent each morning practicing his Blade Wave with Kaya, in between obtaining more Redemption Pacts. Nick was continuously growing stronger through training, and thought he was mostly ready for taking on the most difficult Pacts, or the toughest potential enemies here in Silverbrook thanks to Sable’s sleuthing.
Kaya was doing an odd dance with her axes close to the corner. She had practice with Renzou and Nick earlier, and likely would join Eirwen in the Samurai Ordeal once they got back to Frosthaven, and might join with Renzou once his arm was healed.
Nick would be joining Rebecca in Seraphara’s Faithful, instead.
Nick traded more attacks with Renzou, the man smiling with contentment. They had been sparring the last few days already, and they were both impressed with each other’s skills.
Renzou laughed. “You have fantastic skills, my lord. To think I’d find a lord so young and with such foundations! I’m truly blessed.” He grinned, and gave Nick a sly look. “But don’t think there’s no room for improvement, or that you are unbeatable. Watch.”
Essence in the room shifted, and it was drawn into Renzou. Nick could tell he expended a fair amount of his essence all at once, much like Nick’s Essence Burst. Suddenly, Renzou rocketed forward at Nick, like he had used a much more improved version of Dash. Nick countered with his Frost Aura, slowing the man down.
Even still, the panda beastfolk’s attacks came faster and more ferociously, and his Beast Strikes shifted to include a sword. Despite Nick handling the one-armed man relatively easily before, Nick found himself pushing his essence to the maximum to block and dodge, staying on the back foot.
But the attacks eventually slowed, after Nick had received a few bruises. The attacks were lacking much power, despite the speed being respectable. The lack of a second hand on his blade significantly reduced his power and the angles in which he could strike, making his attacks more predictable.
Renzou let out a breath. “Not bad at all! That’s my Beast Warrior’s level 15 ability, my Convergence Skill. Many classes will give you something special, depending on your Path or Concept. So you need to be careful–enemies will get harder to predict having more unique abilities, if they are strong enough.”
Nick filed that detail away, looking forward to his own level 15 ability. He smiled at Renzou. “Not bad, old man–and thanks for the warning. Next month we’ll start the healing for you, then we’ll have to see.”
Renzou looked moved, staring at his blade. “Thank you so much. If I knew that, that alone was enough reason to follow you. You’re sure about sending me back first?”
“I need you to get started on training up the guard. The first caravan is heading back today, and I’d like you on it. We’ll be sending quite the escort with it, so you can help with that.”
“I’m eager to get working, and my wife and kids are excited to have more freedom. They got to visit the city occasionally under watch, but to be able to be around other beastfolk will be wonderful.” He looked at Nick with narrowed eyes. “You’re really going to take on Blackthorne and his bandits? You’re not hoping I’m going to be strong enough to take him on, are you? That guy is too far above us, he’ll crush us like ants.”
Nick snorted. “Someone has to stand up to him. I’m doing my best to give myself time to build myself up and blindside him. My goal is to be in the third stratum before he knows I’m even his enemy. You are just a small piece of the puzzle in me building up my kingdom, so don’t think I’m relying on your old ass to be the one to take him down.”
“Old ass? Ha! I’ll make sure you eat those words. You said you had the Ordeal of the Samurai back at home? Give me my arm back and let me in there, and I’ll show you how it’s done.”
He sighed, but gave Nick an approving smile. “I’m glad you’ve been doing your best to balance the danger, and do what’s right. I know our Pact means you’re going to protect us with everything you’ve got, and I appreciate that.”
Nick continued practicing his blade wave on the moving Renzou, and he felt like he was finally getting the hang of it. Both Renzou and Kaya moved fast and fluidly, but he was hitting them hard with the waves more often than not, by utilizing the practiced attack distances Lothar had recommended.
Soon, he’d be able to alter the distances on the fly, and then his attacks would be devastating at any distance.
Renzou was getting covered in frost and slowing as a result. “Damn, that’s cold–even for me. It feels like you can do that move forever. I can only make so many of my swings carry with Essence Carry before I run out of essence.”
Nick chuckled. “That’s about right, and that’s the advantage. The aim is much harder, but I’m getting better at it.”
Eirwen entered the training area, Renzou’s panda beastfolk wife next to her. “It’s time, Renzou.”
“Ah. Alright. Well young lord, do be careful. I’m not much for fighting with stealth, or I’d want to stay and help. Don’t get yourself done in.”
Kaya walked over, and her tail curled around Nick. “Not to worry. I’ll make sure he lives no matter what. Take care, Renzou.”
***
Four days had passed by in total since they met with the Captain Aronde, with the door-to-door nuns becoming a major success. Three attacks occurred across the whole city on the first day, a dozen bandits in total captured–and numerous contraband goods confiscated.
The underground areas held stolen goods from the warehouses in the area, though it was primarily from the buildings outside of the Merchant’s Guild. That building had special protections, and was difficult for the bandits to crack.
Instead, the bandits preyed upon the merchants unable to afford the premium space within the guild, and Nick thought there was probably more to this deadly cycle. The warden of the jail was a person that seemed the most suspicious, and this Jameson was another culprit that he had trusted people watching.
Nick wanted to meet the warden, but hadn’t found a normal reason to do so just yet. He was earning his good will, already having healed a majority of the silver masked people. There wasn’t a cause discovered yet, but in the end it might not matter. All that was left was Lord Silver himself, the Treasurer, and the Harbormaster.
With each person healed, the silver mask seemed to do more and more work to restoring them, the poison, or whatever was causing their ailment, slowing its effect further. Nick guessed that the poison had a larger impact due to how they had already been harmed or effected.
Because of his suspicions about the warden, he already had Sable monitoring the jail at night, and orcs and wolflings during the day. He had a theory that they were letting these bad guys go in secret, and that was a piece of the puzzle on how this vicious cycle would always continue. At this time, however, the people they’d sent to jail were still inside.
As much as he wanted Sable to sneak inside the jail, it was a bit too difficult and risky. The guardsman class provided a substantial bonus to detecting her, the place only had one point of entry, was well lit, and the thick brick and enclosed spaces were simply not conducive to her sneaking around.
In contrast, the bandit dens often had multiple exits, and the entries were typically in the shanty areas or defunct warehouses. Easy for her senses to pierce, and her shadow magic had plenty to work with as she snuck around and found their hidden passages.
Nick wanted to gather evidence first, and take the man down with the help of the guard.
The events of the last few days didn’t hold all good news. A few people around the city did actually get robbed and harmed, the bandits somewhat carrying out their threats. But the nuns were persistent, and actually came to their rescue.
The patrolling pattern they had chosen combined with the mobility of their bikes meant they were frequently checking alleys and dangerous areas, and they quickly discovered and healed the distressed people.
The second and third days of door-to-door worked well enough, but now Nick was ready to make his first moves. It was clear the bandits were on the back foot, as over twenty bandits had been captured, with numerous hideouts destroyed, their goods confiscated.
The shanty town had already been abandoned by the bandits, and much of the city had been quiet on the fourth day, with only one attack.
That left a large holdout at the docks, and beneath one of the larger bars. Tonight, Andross was going to start a fight at the bar, and Nick and Kaya were going to follow Sable to the docks.
The three of them were now on top of a three-story building, overlooking a large warehouse near the docks. The smell of salt touched Nick’s nose, the bay visible in the distance. Dozens of large ships were anchored at the port, the small waves causing them to rock and bob.
Nick didn’t want to leave such a major bust to the guard. They still hadn’t learned how the bandits got their intelligence. There was some form of mole or informant, and to have so many guards involved meant they would surely learn of the bust. Not only that, but Nick did think he would learn a lot with his dream interrogations.
Sable asked suddenly, “What’s the point of the mask and the hood, Boss?”
Nick was wearing dark clothing, including a hooded robe that went over his plastic-like armor. He was thankful that Jasmine had taken the time to make such clothing, to allow for clandestine activity. “So nobody recognizes me. It gives me deniability if they see me. It’s the same for Kaya.”
Kaya too was covered in a black cloak and black robes which went over her leather armor, which would hide her features–somewhat. She even removed almost all of her fur, turning her into…mostly human, minus her tails which were hidden. It was a little freaky, for her to just be a red-headed woman–her red-panda ears had shrunk to be completely covered by her hair.
Sable looked at him doubtfully, chuckling. “You don’t believe that, do you? White hair, knife-like ears, and your eyes are like two blue-green lamps that shine in the darkness. People who’ve met you will know who you are instantly–and this is not even talking about beastfolk, and their sense of smell. Maybe…squint your eyes all the time, or something?”
Nick groaned. “I’ll…do my best, if we’re running in the open. But you scoped this place out, it’s all bad guys, right?”
Sable’s grin grew wide. “Oh yes, we’ll be having some fun tonight. Kaya will even be able to go wild in there.”
Kaya’s tails flicked, her expression turning wicked as she gripped the axe handles at her waist. “Nice. Been hoping for a good fight while we’ve been here.”
Sable arched her brow at Kaya. “I don’t know about that. They are a bunch of weaklings, but who knows what they got underneath. I suppose they may keep some of their best fighters in reserve though.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Nick chuckled. “Just keep a few alive, but don’t let any escape. I need to do some dream interrogations. I need to get to the bottom of what’s going on here.”
Sable replied, “I’m about… eighty-percent sure it’s the warden of the jail, or his assistant. Combined with the slave merchant’s assistant, they likely swap out law-abiding people for criminals and let the bandits go.”
That was in line with what Nick was thinking, as he had updated her on everything he had learned. “What makes you so sure?”
“Just how secretive the man himself is, and the rumors are that he’s a weird one. I’d tried to look through the back offices of the jail with Soul Sense, and it’s got special protections–even beyond the rest of the walls, and even the special Ordeal buildings. He doesn’t ever leave there, unless it’s through a secret tunnel–which I’ve been unable to find. We may find the exit here.”
Nick was doubtful, as that was all the way across town. If anything, it was much more likely for Andross’s target path to find such a major hidden tunnel–which was a part of Nick’s plan. Captain Aronde himself would be there for the other bust with a few trusted individuals, and the warden wouldn’t be able to deny him.
Eirwen and Rebecca were on standby, ready to rush in to heal at either location.
Looking over the target warehouse, there were numerous tainted, evil souls inside. Nick could judge any one of them, and would if he got the chance. His people’s safety was first and foremost, and making sure none could escape was important.
Sable suddenly gasped. “Oh! Here it is. One of those invisible wagons is going in. Let’s move–I’ll sneak in and help you slip in. Move to the windows up there.” She pointed.
The Wolfen girl then slid down the side of the building with her feet, before leaping off and disappearing into the shadows. He could see her soul as she sort of skated in that direction, but he could not visibly see her.
Nick and Kaya leapt down, but had to parkour down the side of the building instead, dropping and hanging on windowsills. Once on the ground, Kaya was using her Camouflage skill, and Nick was doing his best to stay hidden with his black cloak and staying in the shadows as they approached from a blind side of the building.
He used Double Jump to reach up to the windowsill that Sable had pointed out, and Kaya just climbed up the wall with her clawed hands and feet like it was nothing, arriving next to him with a smirk.
Nick could hear the voices inside the warehouse.
“Hurry up and get these crates loaded! We need to get it all over to the ship, before they find this place too.”
“How can they keep finding our hideouts? There’s no way the guard got more competent overnight.”
“Somebody captured must have snitched, or we have a mole.”
“I bet it’s those crazy nuns–they’re stronger than we thought, and working with the town guard. I saw them scream at Alexander, and his whole body just shut down. The guard was right around the corner, ready to arrest ‘em.”
“The nuns?” The man snorted. “No way. I saw the whole lot of them start to cry when they heard our threats. Alexander is just a pussy.”
The window was cut open with a blade of shadow, allowing Nick and Kaya to stand overlooking the people moving inside. All told, there were nearly twenty people inside loading the wagons.
Nick nodded over to Kaya as he prepared his duelist rapier. It was the captain of the guard’s favored weapon, as his plan was to make it look like he was the one involved. Of course, the real guard would eventually arrive. They would normally patrol the dock area, and had a guard station nearby.
Sable spread out her icy shadows at the far end of the warehouse, the Wolfen girl already preparing their surprise pincer attack.
One of the bandits shivered, his breath coming out in a fog. “Fuck, it’s cold tonight. Is winter early this year?”
Nick spread out his Aura of Frost as Kaya leapt down, her axe cleaving into one of the bandit’s shoulder.
A bandit shouted, “Shit–it’s an enemy attack!”
They drew their weapons, and some dashed toward the hidden entrance, rather than at Nick and Kaya.
Nick called upon his chains, but it took him an extra moment to get movement within him, as souls moved to his Crown of the Frost King. All of his dead Followers had already been restored back in Frosthaven, so none had been left to pilot them.
However, those with his Redemption Pacts quickly began to steer the chains to his will, and they rose up from around Nick.
The chains of frost rushed toward the fleeing enemies, and wrapped around their ankles as a horrible cold filled them–preventing their easy escape to warn the others.
Kaya dashed into the room, her axes swinging as men were cut down left and right. The shadows themselves shifted, ice spreading and grappling along people’s bodies as arrows pierced into other men–Sable firing her bow rapidly.
Nick danced as he cut into the bandits, the men having difficulty choosing between fighting and fleeing. His people outclassed the opponents greatly, however, and so Nick and the girls quickly disabled all the bandits present.
However, a burst of essence showed this fight was far from over, as three strong entities exited the underground tunnel. They were covered in shadows themselves, their powers similar to most of the bandits they’ve faced.
Kaya’s axe filled with essence was swung, sending a wave of it into one enemy, and Nick matched her attack by sending a Frost Shock at one of the men. Sable sent a volley of arrows at the untouched target, and all three of their attacks were met with essence countering their blows.
Sensing their strength, Nick went for the strongest target. A dark elf man with a rapier, with dark essence coating his blade. Kaya’s target quickly became a beastfolk man of some feline descent, perhaps a lynx with a long curved sword, and Sable’s enemy was a man with two wicked-looking daggers.
Nick pushed his Frost Aura further, wanting to break through their auras and inhibit the newcomers. While they protected themselves from his magical frost, they were still slowed by his aura weighing down on them.
Using his Expert Swordsmanship, Nick’s blade full of essence met the dark elf’s thrust. However, Nick had to twist his body and head away at the last moment, as the blade of shadowy essence continued forward and curved toward his throat like a living snake.
Nick blocked it with chains of Frost, before sending it after the dark elf. The man retreated, sending probing cuts toward Nick’s chains–and found that they were a lot sturdier than they had any right to be, thanks to it being powered by his fledgling Concept.
Wrapping essence chains around his muscles, Nick bulked up and dashed in pursuit of the dark elf, who was now dodging and attacking his chains of ice. A quick Frost Shock caused the man to stumble with a grunt as ice covered his chest, but he activated Dash to move faster in retreat from the chains.
Thrusting his rapier repeatedly in rapid succession, the dark elf sent several shadow essence attacks to slow Nick and the chains down.
Nick leapt and Double Jumped to dodge the attacks on the approach, and blocked an attack with a chain–before grabbing it and whipping it around using the momentum. The chain wrapped around the surprised man’s foot, causing it to begin to freeze and the dark elf to fall almost flat on his face.
The other chains of ice driven by his redeemed spirits had surprisingly grabbed Kaya and Sable’s targets from behind, and Kaya’s Concept cut clear through her opponent’s arm.
Sensing times were desperate as his allies were not far from falling, the dark elf drew in a tremendous amount of essence, even from the surrounding area, as he got up onto one knee. Feeling the danger rise, Nick understood what was likely happening. He was using an ability much like what Renzou had used.
So Nick drew on his Heroic Concept, gathering his light and dark essence. With a powerful stab, the dark elf sent a large snake of darkness at Nick. As he prepared to swing his saber to block, his essence throughout his entire body suddenly went into turmoil.
Black essence fought the faith energy within him, and wounds broke out all over his body as tiny explosions erupted. The effect on him was shocking, Nick having no idea this was going to happen. The snake’s head loomed closer, heading toward his throat.
Nick’s eyes blazed with determination, as he stirred his Will of the Frost King to shove the majority of the light and dark essence into his blade at the last moment.
His swing met the snake’s head, and the power of his attack was just barely enough to deflect it. Nick retreated as it chased after him, dashing backwards and gathering his chains of ice as he tried to pull in the rampaging dark essence inside of his body.
Noticing something was wrong, Kaya roared and leaped with her axe over her head, bringing the attack downward and her sharpness concept cutting through it. The head began to reform from where it was cut in the middle, and she then swung her Charged Strike combined with her Essence Carry, sending a powerful wave of essence rippling toward the chained dark elf.
The snake absorbed much of the attack, and finally disbursed. The remains of the wave of essence cut into the dark elf, but only gave him a surface wound. Then, an arrow suddenly struck the dark elf in the chest from Sable and frostshadow essence sought his heart. The man began to freeze over rapidly, the light slowly leaving his eyes.
Nick dispelled his light and dark essence, drawing it in with his essence chains. Meanwhile, perhaps sensing his distress, Eirwen used her enhanced connection to send shamanic healing over to him. It spread out from his chest, slowly covering much of his body and healing the small wounds that had opened up all along his body. She was only able to channel it for about ten seconds, but it did a lot to get him in decent shape.
But Nick had a thought–there was a large source of healing, right next to him. He approached one of the two remaining stronger bandits, which had been completely disabled by Kaya and Sable and his chains of ice.
As Nick reached his hand out and was about to Judge the man and heal himself, his body was covered in goosebumps, and it was like death was looming–a powerful feeling of danger. It felt like if he tried it, he would definitely come to regret it.
And then he frowned, as he realized how badly his thoughts had derailed. Just why would he, after he just had issues with the darkness within him, want to heal himself using the essence he was having trouble with? He spent a few more moments, calming his nerves and reducing the darkness within him by drawing it in.
Regarding the warning, it reminded him of that time where Jasmine cautioned him about entering the Ordeal when he first arrived on Orion, but it was a little different. He knew it wasn’t coming from her.
Probing his soul, he understood what it was that was giving him the warning–it was Irene. He sent his thanks, and now that he had a moment to think, he thought he knew what might be going on.
Kaya was breathing heavily, watching over him and the enemies around them. “Seems they’re either all locked up with your frost or dead–none escaped. What happened with your essence? I was shocked I had to defend you.”
Sable looked worried as well. “What’s the matter, Boss? Something happened to your essence, and then it looked like you were going to…” She looked at the bandit, who was close to dying from his wounds and the cold.
“I’ll explain later. For now, I’m fine. I need to learn a bit about the situation here, before these two guys die.”
Ice had grown up the bandit’s legs and sides, and soon they would pass out. Nick then had Sable to go down and check the hidden passage, the girl slipping inside the hidden entry in the floor.
Inside the barrels and crates were actually huddled people, and the people below had been working to load more of them inside.
Several of the bandits expired from their wounds and the frost, but a few had passed out into a dreamless sleep. He would do his best to learn more about what was going on.
“Watch over me, Kaya.”
“Always.”
Nick kneeled next to one of the sleeping bandits, and closed his eyes. Using his magic, he sent his consciousness into the bandit’s dream, and formed the framework of his interrogation.
Because of the scenario, Nick played it a little different from usual. He made it feel like a weird instance of déjà vu, where the bandit was back in the warehouse before the attack. The scene played out much like originally–except that Nick, Kaya, and Sable were defeated, after a few of the bandits got taken down.
The boss then told the bandit to bring the wagon to the ship since several of the bandits had died, and Nick learned about where they were supposed to meet up. He played a dumb young bandit, asking questions that would normally be known.
It was in fact the warden that was a part of their plots, and a few of the bandits worked as his guards. The man was an ex climber, who somehow met Blackthorne before he came to Silverbrook and took on the role.
But there was nothing about inhibiting those with the silver masks. Making sure Sable was okay between each, Nick entered a few more men’s dreams and questioned them, and couldn’t find anything related to them doing anything related to the odd poison he witnessed.
Nick did learn how they remained apprised of the guard’s movements. It seemed they had used their tunnels to plant listening devices, and would monitor conversations in many of the buildings. While they couldn’t easily penetrate most of the Ordeal-powered buildings, they often didn’t need to.
One of the main listening points was in that field within the barracks, as the guards would often be loose-lipped about their plans to catch the bandits. It seemed there was a huge issue with information security within the guard, as the gatehouse and a few of the small guard stations throughout the city were also listened to as well.
None of them had anything specific about the warden. In fact, one of them who had been caught in th past was blindfolded as he arrived inside the prison until one day he woke up outside of it. He wasn’t even sure what happened in between. It seemed the bandits actually had good information security in regards to this, just in case the men were interrogated by the guard.
Then, it seemed there were several blind drop locations where they left people to be enslaved, and they were retrieved by someone. The locations were all throughout the city, and many of them were among the places Sable already uncovered.
Frustrating, but at least Kaya’s target was certain it was the warden involved with breaking people out of jail. The rest had only heard rumors.
Finishing the final dream interrogation, Nick’s eyes snapped open, nothing having changed in the last ten minutes, other than Sable returning. “All good downstairs?”
Sable nodded. “There was…quite a few more slaves downstairs, and the tunnels went back quite far. The place is clear of all bandits for now. I looted some things not bolted down, while I was at it. Check this out, what do you think this is?”
She pulled out a small device from her pouch, that looked a lot like an old-timey record player. It had a large cone, but also a large spike that was meant to pierce into the ground.
“That must be the listening device. It’s how they monitored the guard’s movements and plans.”
Kaya looked back at the crates. “We should get the guard and have them rescue all of these people.”
Nick nodded. “We’ll do that, but we need to hurry and secure the ship before they escape.”
Kaya frowned as she looked him over with her purple eyes and magical senses. “Are you sure you’re going to be alright?”
Nick stretched, and flowed through a few swings, and moved his essence around without issue. He was still sore all over his body from the wounds, but he wouldn’t re-open them. “I…think I’ll be okay if I focus on using my Frost King Concept for any fighting instead. Let’s just get this done for now.”
Sable landed next to him. “I’ll watch over what’s left of these guys, then catch up to you once the guard takes them in. You go ahead, Boss.”