“T-tell them what you told me” Tolu said shyly to the dark haired young woman.

“About a dozen of men wearing cloaks left this in last night, a few of them were limping. One of them carried a big sack slung over his shoulder. The whole group striked me as suspicious so i followed them. I would have intervened earlier, but there were to many even for my considerable magical talents. That and i am pretty sure they had a mage with them.”

“Thank you for following them, it would be a great help to know where they went.” Dorian said looking at the girl. “Where did they head?”

“They entered a small shop a few streets down. They never left the shop though, i waited an hour and they did not leave so i assumed they would not leave anytime soon. Then i headed back here, i heard from the barwhench that a girl was kidnapped from this inn and that another one was injured. I thought you would desire this information.” She said drawing her hair back over her shoulder with a hand looking at them with slight arrogance.

“The information is indeed worth a lot to us, i will pay you for it. For the information and your efforts. Ho-” Dorian said to the girl before being interrupted.

“I have no need for those gold coins of yours, i wish merely to accompany you on your rescue attempt. Judging from the look of you and your friends, that is wat you will be doing no?” She said tilting her head.

“Indeed it is but we seek vengeance aswell, are you sure you want to come with us, the retaliation won't be by the law. If we get caught we could get in a lot of trouble.” Dorian said looking at the girl.

“Doesn't matter, evil must be punished. No matter the time or place.” The girl said with an ice-cold look on her face.

“Very well, welcome on board then.” Dorian said.

“I will be coming aswell!” The huge innkeeper said stepping forward with an angry look on his face. 

“Those who dare ruin the safety of my customers, who dare ruin the sanctity of my inn! They shall face my wrath.”

Well, Dorian thought to himself, He looks like he can handle himself just fine and extra hands won't hurt. “Very well, let us be going then!” Dorian said walking towards the door. “Just a minute if i may.” The young priest interjected before he had gotten far. “I would like to join this mission of yours. Fighting and protecting people against evil is in our job description afterall.” The priest told him lightheartedly.

Dorian looked at him then sighed. “Why not, the more the merrier right?” He motioned the girl to lead the way and they set out of the inn. Mori and Tolu wished them luck at the door, they had wanted to come at first but the innkeeper had forbidden it. Said that they would be more than enough. So they just waved the group goodbye at the door.

As they headed down the street in the dark of night the people who were still outdoors quickly made way for the grim looking group as they headed down the streets. They did look rather intimidating with their grim faces and the 2 giant figures walking amongst them.

It did not take long for the group to reach the store the girl had told them about. The store was more of a shack than anything else, it basically screamed blackmarket or illegal goods to the people in the street. They were no in one of the less wealthy areas of the city after all.

“I know this store and its owner.” Gladiel suddenly said. “Dorian give me some of that gold and i can figure out what happened in no time.” 

Dorian gave him a quick look before tossing him all the gold he had made from the sword. Gladiel deftly caught the money and put it in his belt. “You guys should stay here, money will make this man talk more than muscle. You guys look extremely intimidating after the moment and we need to do things fast.” 

Dorian just nodded and motioned Gladiel onwards. Gladiel walked inside the store and the rest of the group just waited. After a minute or so gladiel stepped outside and motioned the rest in. As they walked in the store they could see arrays of dark goods and potion flasks on the shelves of the shop. The whole shop had an eery feel to it, Dorian was sure he even saw some bones, human bones, on the shelves.

They quickly followed Gladiel into the shop, the shop keeper was standing behind the counter wringing his hands nervously, sweat was dripping from his brow. The rat like shop keeper stared at them fearfully stepping as far from them as possible.

“Right here is a secret passage way that leads into the underground sewer system, that is where the group that has taken Ístril entered. Although the nice shopkeeper here has no idea where they are headed exactly.” The shopkeeper fervently shook his head confirming that he indeed did not know anything more than that.

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“That will be no problem.” The priest suddenly said. “The magic used in the attack is quite easy to follow, i can almost smell the essence left behind.”

“I wonder if you are still able to smell all that when we are in the sewers.” Gladiel jested.

The joke slid off the priest like water off a rock. “The stink of the sewers will in no manner obstruct the trail of essence. But we must make haste, the trail will dissipate if we wait for to long.” 

Dorian hurried by the words of the priest motioned for Gladiel to open het secret passage. Gladiel put his hands on one of the bookshelves and pressed somewhere inside. The bookshelf swung inside the wall showing a dark passage headed beneath the city.

“I also asked the nice shopkeeper for some light, and he handed us these handy torches that never run out. Magic! Isn't it nice of him.” Gladiel said handing out some torches with blue flames that he grabbed from the desk. The shopkeeper smiled nervously and nodded to Gladiel hoping to appease him. “Now lets head into these sewers.”

Walking down the stairs they continued to go deeper and deeper untill they head a sound that resembled the sound of running water. Gladiel led the way with the priest close behind, telling him which way to go. Gladiel didn't seem bothered in the least by the smell of the sewers he just walked past them without even looking at the junk flowing by. He almost seemed a bit at home here, he took the turns the priest told him to and led the way without any hesitation.

As for the rest of the group they had some trouble with the stench. Most of them got used to it after a few minutes. But Blaitz simply kept nearly throwing up every time he inhaled. Untill the priest made a small gesture and said some words and plugged his nose with some magic.

Blaitz thanked the priest and they continued on down the sewer. After some time the priest told them to halt. 

“There are people up ahead, 2 more turns and we will run into them. I would advice that we dim the torches before we head that way.”

“Are these the same men that kidnapped Ístril?” Dorian asked

“No they are not the same group but they are associated with them, the magic has seeped into their skin. Suggesting longtime exposure to the user. Multiple spells have been used on them in the last few years. I can assure they are in the same organisation as the group that did take your friend.” 

“Let me go forward and clear the path.” Dorian told the rest of the group. “The priest will tell you when it the path is clear and you can move further up.”

“I could use some magic to further decrease risk of detection.” The young woman suddenly said. “I can make it so that they will never hear you coming.”

“Anything would help, Do it.” Dorian answered.

The young woman nodded and started whispering words. The shadows around her seemed to flow onto Dorian. The shadows formed themselves around his feet and then spread over the rest of his skin. Dorian skin turned darker untill he nearly resembled a shadow himself. The young woman gave him a one over before nodding approvingly.

Dorian nodded back to her and drew his dagger. As soon as the blade left the sheath the whole area around Dorian turned to an even darker black than it was before. With the magic from the young woman he was as good as completely invisible in the dark. The priest, young woman and the innkeeper stared at the blade in complete surprise for a minute but said nothing.

Dorian made his way through the sewers stalking like a beast of the shadows, he silently made his way to the people around the bend. “I can't even hear him” Blaitz whispered troubled. The rest of the group stared at Blaitz in surprise. For even a beastman to be unable to hear you amounted to a level of skill beyond their age. They stared at the young woman in amazement impressed by the amount of cover her magic gave.

“That amount of silence is not due to the spell i put on your friend. I can dim the sounds a bit but i can not remove them completely. That friend of yours, he is quite the scary one.” The young woman said eyeing the rest of the group.

Gladiel grinned. “To bad for those idiots that they pissed him off then ey?” The rest also grinned grimly at his words listening for sounds of combat.

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And we are BAAAAACK in buisness, expect another one tomorrow or the day after. And as usual

THANKS FOR READING!