While I was nominally in charge, I decided to just go first to explain what I had found. I had no doubt Mousethief found out a lot more than me with his Mes given Skills.

“What about you?” I asked once I was done recounting what I had learned.

“The priest just saw some ducks with some symbols on their clothing in town. That was why he got suspicious. Asked about, and it is the Order of Seven Quacks,” I nodded at this. “Never heard of them, so probably new like you suspected.”

“Asking around, I managed to arrange a boat across the lake tonight. We can get to the compound and kill them all. I have the precise location,” Mousethief explained and pulled out a map. He pointed at the other compounds and then at the one further back.

“Alright, let’s get out the shotguns and go,” I replied. Mousethief went to the back of the container where there were several crates and got out a cat sized harness. I took off my cloak and put the harness on. Two shotguns on my back. I noted that my father took a harness and two shotguns as well.

With birds in the air, the idea was to just aim up and keep pulling the trigger. Any wound on their wings would send them back towards the ground and make it hard to fly away. It was the standard anti-flying measure of the organization.

Still the goal was to take out birds before they got into the air. That was why attacking in the night while they were sleeping was critical. I tossed back on my cloak to hide the shot guns and we left the container and made our way to a nearby fishing dock.

“This yer group?” An old rat asked while looking us over.

“Yes. Three, no questions. And you wait for us to get back or else,” Mousethief said as we all got on board.

“As long as you got the credits,” the old rat said.

“On the return trip,” Mousethief said.

“Well, you get two days. Just like you paid for,” the rat replied and started up the engine on the little boat. Thankfully there were only light waves in this freshwater lake due to a gentle breeze, so my stomach wasn’t trying to jump out of my body once we took off.

The ocean was always rough with the two moons circling overhead, messing with the tides and the waves. Looking up, only one of them was out this evening. The smaller of the two with a reddish tint. The Warrior’s Blood was its name. The other one was more bluish and was called the Warrior’s Soul.

I went to the front of the boat and kept my paws tight on the railing as the boat pushed forward rapidly through the water. I couldn’t see the far side, but we would reach it about an hour before dawn. Unfortunately, there was no place to rest on this small fishing boat even if I could.

What I was focused on was trying to decide my approach on the compound. An isolated location, it would be best to approach upwind and from an elevation to avoid being sniffed out and to assess the situation. Unfortunately the compound was in the middle of rolling grassy hills, just like the rest of the area.

There was a large stream nearby, but it wasn’t a river that the fishing boat could go up. Speed would be the best option. We would move directly for the compound while it was dark and try to get there at dawn. Bypassing the other compounds next to the lake that were full of civilians.

I kept scanning the sky to look for any scouts. I couldn’t see any. Eventually we came to a stop a short distance from shore. “As close as I can get you without running aground. You didn’t want to land at the docks,” the old rat said.

“This is fine,” I replied.

“Well, I will wait here and keep an eye on things,” Mousethief said. I rolled my eyes at that. He really didn’t like any kind of danger except when he was driving. I leapt over the side and my father was right behind me.

I was glad I had practiced all those times in the swimming pool back at the Island. It let me be a much better swimmer. I stepped through the mud and the reeds once we got to shore. My larger size and wait caused my body to sink more into the muck than a smaller creature would have. Once I had cleared the worst of the mud and was concealed from the lake itself. I checked my shotguns and made sure they were fine. I didn’t spot any issues and then set off, my father right behind me.

I had memorized the map and the distance wasn’t that much. Running quickly through the tall grass, I kept up a fairly quick pace. Once we got past the muddy parts by the lake it was much easier to travel quickly.

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Pulling out a compass from one of my two side pouches I made sure I didn’t get turned around and was headed in the right direction. The red light of the Warrior’s Blood illuminating the grassy landscape in a hellish color of dark red.

Racing through the landscape, we crested a hill just as the light of dawn was coming and saw the compound in front of us on the next hill. An outer concrete wall, with a single entrance and a few ducks flying about and patrolling the wall.

There were no towers or anything. Just a fortified area. The grass around the compound was pushed down and the stream was on the far side. I considered my options as I looked at the ducks. They had dyed their wing plumage black.

That was surprising, but it made it really easy to tell the Order of the Seven Quacks apart from the rest. I adjusted my approach to come in at an angle towards the compound where there was no duck on the wall. I noted my father had disappeared, but he was probably moving to a position to keep watch.

I reached the edge of the matted grass and checked the wall again. No ducks nearby. I extended my claws and rushed to the wall. I had done this a couple of times, but not that often, since it was rough on my paws and claws. My claws dug in, and I scaled the ten feet, or three meter tall wall. I was only about six feet and my father seven feet tall, so it wasn’t a real wall.

Mainly a dividing line for inside and outside the compound. I got to the top and saw numerous nests scattered about inside with sleeping ducks. Also, a concrete building in the middle of the compound with supplies next to it.

I leapt over to the other side of the wall, softly touching down on the dirty concrete. I then quickly and silently made my way over to the building. While paying close attention to my danger sense. There were two half asleep ducks outside the door, guarding it.

A duck only came up to about my chest, but their beaks were powerful and deadly. A single blow would easily rip through my fur. I stayed low to the ground and approached the side of the building. Moving in between the various nests and sleeping ducks. Once I reached the side of the building, I quickly climbed to the top. I hadn’t seen a duck up here when I was on the wall.

Duck’s eyes were more on the side of their head, but they were drooping. Still approaching from the side would have been a bad idea. I leapt down behind one duck and quickly ripped open their throat with my claws, dropping them and moving towards the next one.

The duck tried to take a deep breath to let out an alert, but I was too quick. Their throat was cut as well. Looking around no one had noticed, but the smell of blood was in the air. I quickly dragged both duck guards behind some supply crates next to the building.

I then went to the building and carefully pulled the door open. I then checked inside before ducking in. There were a couple of lights, but what was most interesting was the staircase leading downwards along with barrels. I closed the door and confirmed there were no other side rooms.

Going to the stairs, I made my way down them quietly. There was no turnback, just steps going straight down made out of concrete. I got to a part where a cave-in had been patched up with support beams and fresh concrete.

I continued downwards and it was about five floors of descent. This was quite far down now, with only a string of jury rigged lightbulbs lighting up the stairs and then the bottom. There were several barrels and ducks with completely black plumage pecking at the ground to make channels. I counted eight ducks in the room, with one of them having a gold necklace with seven duck heads emblazoned on it.

This looked like a ritual chamber, where they were attempting something. First rule about rituals, kill them all and leave it to the cleanup team. Well time to get to killing. We were deep enough underground, that I didn’t need to worry too much about any noise. Tossing my cloak off I rushed into the large ritual chamber.

Rushing into the room with my claws extended, I immediately cut one of the duck cultist’s necks. They collapsed on the floor, bleeding out and I rushed to the next closest one. I killed them and that was when the rest of them became aware of me.

“Kill the intruder!” their leader shouted. Five ducks rushed at me, beaks extended, honking angrily. Underground they were at a huge disadvantage. I rushed forward, my claws darting out as my body twisted out of the way of their attacks. While it was a bit confusing, since they were using their beaks and not paws, it wasn’t a challenge after all the spars I had with my father.

It took half a minute to kill the five ducks that had been attacking me. It had taken that long as I was forced to avoid their beaks, but they weren’t skilled fighters. Also, with their beaks on their heads, it left their necks exposed.

I had thought their leader would flee, but he had broken open several barrels, which was adding copious amounts of blood into the ritual diagram on the floor. The blood began filling up the channels. Whatever he had planned I had to stop. One of the key rules of this job, was just kill whatever was causing trouble, then look at stopping said trouble. Killing things tended to resolve most issues.

“HOOONK!” The sonic attack was so forceful, I was stumbling back, my ears ringing. “Let the Quackening commence!” The spilled blood suddenly burst into green smokeless flames as I rushed back towards the leader, claws extended. He tried to dodge, but I was too quick. I ducked under his beak with ease and my paw grabbed onto his neck.

My claws dug into his throat. “What did you do?” I asked.

“Nothing can stop it now. I have unleashed the First Quackening! The herald of the other six. The Age of the Covenant Church is over. The Age of the Duck begins!” The entire chamber began to shake.

“What is this Quackening?” I asked while shaking the duck cultist.

“It is beyond you or anyone else. It is the Quackening!” The duck cultist began to trash about, and he ripped out his own throat. I pulled off his pendant as the shaking got worse. Putting the duck cultist’s pendant in one of my side pouches I paused to assess the situation. Looking around, there was nothing else of value that I could spot.

It was time to get out of here. I maneuvered around the flames and made my way for the exit when a small creature came down the stairs. My danger sense spiked at their arrival. They work a dark robe, with silver snakes stitched into the hems. It was an Apostate!