120. GALA: WIREMU

So the end result was everybody moved into town for the Gala. We picked the largest safe house, and all squashed in for the weekend. By all, I mean the Catkin, the Canine Queens, and of course, Abigail. The Inns were all booked out, and we were lucky we still had our booking at the Inn with the Comedic Rhythm. Oske got his own stable.

Abigail was still a mystery. Imperial assassins supposedly targeted her, and we had seen exactly zero assassins. She was paraded to us in the middle of the day in full view of the public and the Watch, and when we did get attacked, they targeted Mayakku, not Abigail. She has been helpful and worked hard on the repairs. She is quiet and seems very … meek is the only word I could think of. Maybe she just wants to get to Kirghiz, but it is very different from what I expected. Am'mā and Appā just think she is a nice kid. If the Imperials want her dead, this is their last chance.

Everybody wanted to join in the festivities, so we had buddy partnerships organised and systems in place. Mayakku had to have two people with her at all times, and one of them had to be a Canine Queen. Fortunately, she and Najprej had developed a fantastic friendship, which started with a discussion over Enchanting and Gems. Najprej’s jewellery was very close to Journeyman level, and they were trying to figure out how to enchant the gems. That’s what they told us anyway. The laughter and giggling told a different story.

The first day of the Gala proceeded without incident. There was no sign of the Swift Wave. There were no explosions. The crowds of people were hindering the hunt through the city, but that was expected. Everybody was enjoying the fun and the food. There was a stage set up, and different acts were performed throughout the day. The Comedic Rhythm’s public performance was scheduled for the late dinner crowd to help with the shadows.

We were especially vigilant around the Comedic Rhythm performance, but everything went fine. They only performed the first half of their show, leaving out the Barman and the Nobles Daughter. Zabavano is very talented, and this sort of live street performance is his forte.

That night Tabitha and I went on the hunt. I patrolled the Duke’s and his relatives' residences for suspicious signs. They were the most obvious target, but I was wondering if we missed something. Maybe the Navy caught them, and Sione didn’t inform us. I was seriously starting to doubt the competence of Sione and his goon squad. What has he done to date? His biggest accomplishment seems to be that he hired us without upfront payment, which was our mistake.

I would often loop past the safe house and the Inn. Ruku and Modrica were in charge of the Inn with the Comedic Rhythm. Eluf’s guards were good, but I didn’t fully trust them with all the corruption around them. The Canine Queen were in charge at the Safehouse, with Mayakku being the prime ward to be protected and, to a lesser extent, Abigail.

Tabitha went to check out some possible leads from the Pack Rats and check some of the taverns and contacts in the rougher parts of town. With her new Body Image Skill she could easily appear to be a different person. Smell and hearing were harder to fool than sight, which was the main focus of the skill. It was an illusion skill with “image” in the name. Combined with her Mimic Skill, she is going to be devastatingly effective with it once it levels a bit.

The revellers were out past the early hours of the morning. The streets finally cleared after about 2 am. Everything was quiet. The occasional watch patrol moved passed, usually collecting the passed-out drunks. I saw a lone thief making use of the opportunity. I followed them for a bit, but they were targeting wealthy homes, so I didn’t interfere.

It was about 5 am when I returned to the Inn. The sky was just starting to lighten with the dawn. It was too early for breakfast, although the kitchen staff were hard at work. I scammed a cup of tea from them while I waited for Tabitha. She arrived fifteen minutes later, and I also fetched her a cup.

“Anything?” she asked.

I shook my head, “You?”

“The Pack Rats' leads fizzed. I think the Imperial had been at one of the sites, but they cleaned out the place thoroughly when they left,” she replied.

“Which means they are definitely in town,” I stated. Tabitha nodded. “Should I try Tracking?”

Tabitha shook her head, “they were long gone, and it was a main thoroughfare. There were two suspicious boats at the public wharf. There was nothing on them that I could sense, and I am sure the port authorities were being thorough, but I took the liberty to slap a tracker on each.”

We had taken Sven’s sticky spider rope and cut it into small coins sized tags. I attached my Hunters Mark to them, and Tabitha carried them in her Spatial Pocket. I had pushed the Skill hard to get it to the Apprentice level, so I now had eight marks available and a nine-kilometre radius. The thing with the Mark at the Apprentice Level that I didn’t realise was that it didn’t just disappear once it got out of range. It just faded until it eventually disappeared, and I could reuse it. If I got back in range within the time, I could re-energise it and continue. I don’t know how long it took to fade as I had only just gotten it to Apprentice level, but it seemed to be a function of Spiritual Strenght. Tabitha had been carrying five of these. I checked the Skill and sensed the two near the harbour. I brought up my Mapping Skill, and the markers were visible on the map. Since the Mapping got to Journeyman Level, it synchronised with all my different senses, and I relied on it more and more. I could always cancel the marks if I needed them.

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“We have done what we could,” I said. “I am going to get a couple of hours shut-eye. It is going to be a long day and longer night.”

“I will do the same. I have to perform tonight.”

We split up, and I crashed into bed.

I woke to an urgent knocking on my door. “Wait a minute,” I yelled. Tāoke usually slept beside me for the body heat, but he wasn’t there this time. I looked over, and he was curled up on the window sill, soaking up the morning sun. The sun was quite high in the sky, indicating it was late morning, and I had slept longer than planned. I was still mostly dressed, so I slipped my feet into my boots and opened the door to find Am'mā there and a sleepy Tabitha coming out of the room next door.

“Abigail has gone,” were the first words out of her mouth.

“Go on,” I said as I brought up my Map. I had kept a Hunter's Mark on both Abigail and Mayakku. Actually, Mayakku had two marks as she could sense them, so I gave her a second and said if she was ever in trouble, she could break one of them, and I would come. This gave her more security than I thought they were worth, but she found comfort in it. Abigail couldn’t sense them, so I never told her I had Marked her.

“Appā, Tāttā and I took her out to Brunch in the market. We then browsed the early market, and when I turned around, she was not there. We searched for a short while, and then I came to get you. Appā and Tāttā are both still looking.” she said.

“Is that the market just north of the safe house?” I asked. She nodded. Abigail’s marker was heading further north and at a fast walking pace, indicating it was deliberate. Whether it was voluntarily was yet to be determined.

“Tāoke and I will track her. She is moving north.” I turned to Am'mā, “Get Appā and Tāttā and go straight back to the safe house. Tell Skavt to change houses and go into lockdown.” She nodded and moved off at once.

“This could be a trap,” Tabitha said. I nodded. “You should take Modrica for backup.”

We both knew that Modrica stood out where ever she was, but Ruku was still slowed down by his injured foot. I retreated into my room and started putting on my armour as I thought about it. Tabitha watched me from the door. These were not street thugs. We had cleared out the low-level people. Ideally, this was a scouting mission, but if I didn’t go armed for war, I knew I would regret it. I nodded to Tabitha, and she went to get Modrica. If I was going armed for war, I was taking all my weapons, including my bow and spears. The weapons would make it harder for me to blend in, but I had now changed this from a scouting mission to a hunt.

I picked up my backpack, which was all ready to go, including Ruku’s navy surplus. Tabitha, Modrica and Ruku met me as Tāoke, and I exited the room. Modrica was also dressed for war with her gauntlets and mace. Ruku and I exchanged nods. We were going to gather some funny looks when we got to the streets as everybody else was dressed for partying. I was done caring about that.

I was keeping an eye on Abigail's marker, and it stopped moving, so I concentrated on the Map and saw where it was. Then the marker disappeared.

“Shit, the marker is gone. Either she has gone into a shielded area, or they have someone with the Perception and Skills to remove it,” I explained.

“Then just go!” Tabitha said, and Modrica and I were off at a full sprint. We crashed down the Inn’s stairs, through the lobby and into the street heading north. We might have to buy the Inn a new door.

The lunchtime crowds were out, so the streets were busy. I let Modrica take the lead as people tended to get out of her way faster. There would be multiple complaints to the Watch about this. They can take it up with Modrica.

It took us about ten minutes to get to the place the marker disappeared. It was the back entrance to a craftsman workshop, which had a sign-up that they were closed for the gala. Modrica and Tāoke went in to check it out while I circled the place, looking for a trap and/or where they may have gone. There were fewer people this far out from the festivities, and a lot of businesses had closed to join in. I had my bow in hand, and an arrow notched and ready. Most people who saw me scurried out of the way and got out of my line of sight as quickly as they could. One shopkeeper tried to challenge me, but I looked at him, half raising my bow and growled, “Watch business,” and he backed off. He was too intimidated to challenge the lie even if he had looked for any Watch insignia. We should have appropriated some Watch badges, which may have been worth it. Never mind, intimidation worked.

Modrica moved in on the yard at a walking pace, her hand on her mace. I know people look and Modrica and think she had no ranged options, but I knew that was mostly why she carried the mace. She rarely used it in close combat. She could throw it with lethal accuracy. When she entered the yard, Tāoke slid off into the grass. The feedback I got from him was there was no fight. He could taste Abigail and three others in the air, two humans, a male and a female and a Mer male. A Mer means there will be Sonar.

Tāoke joined Modrica again, and they set off following the scent. I didn’t join them this time but kept a parallel route and a sharp eye out for watchers. Tāoke disappeared into camouflage on Modrica’s shoulder.

I suddenly twigged to where we were headed and ran ahead. I was too late. Near the Fisherman's Wharf, there is a place they clean fish. With the rotting fish smells, nobody comes out untainted. I circled the place, trying to pick up the scent again, without success. I had used this same place to mix up my scent so I couldn’t be tracked. There were several other useful places in the city for this. Two different tanning places, an abattoir and Alchemist Lane, were the most well-known.

We kept searching and asking the locals for information but drew a blank. We gave up mid-afternoon as we needed to get back for the banquet and concert tonight.