246. PLAN E: WIREMU

Time to vacate the tea shop, change the look and scent, and everything else I can change to throw off trackers. I was still dressed as Dianne, but I need an unrecognisable random look for this. I found a lower-class seamstress with a bundle of ready-made work clothes that she could resize easily. I bought two sets and had them sized for me. They were basic work trousers and shirts. I found a cobbler with work boots roughly my size. I left the coins on the counter; he should find them in the morning when he can’t find his boots. I preferred to keep Dianne’s leathers, so I literally stashed them in the outer wall. I left all my gear there, including the bow. Ruku and Rodion should have taken Mosey with them, so I was on foot.

By this time, Tāoke had located the slave, and I knew I had to try to save or kill him. There were some deep and illegal things happening here. Is it illegal if it is done by the person who makes the laws? There is no way the city Lord was not involved. The man is in his dungeon, and I know he would never have consented to be a slave. It was either drugs or torture, and I am sure if he was tortured, he would have died first. It was probably a combination of both. When this gets out, and success or failure, I will make sure this gets out. I would not want to live in this city. I didn’t know the man or his scent. Tāoke didn’t know him. But when word gets out an orc had been enslaved, I would probably be unable to stop Modrica from turning back to level the city.

I have read the history. For centuries Orcs were hunted to be made into warrior slaves, primarily by the Empire. A Kirghiz Queen led the fight against it in what is now known as the War of the Orc. She also promoted the first orc to the rank of Duchess in the Kingdom. This is the origin of the Orcs' blood feud with the empire, although some details are sketchy. We are not in the empire, but I would bet their sticky fingers are all over this.

Orcs are incredibly stubborn, meaning they have very high Mental Strength. This is weakened but not removed when they become slaves. From the history I read, the slave orcs were in squads of eight with a dedicated Warmaster, which is either another name for a Slave Taskmaster or a specialised war slave master. It is probably the latter. It was not clear from history how they made slaves of such stubborn people, but it looks like they are trying to relearn.

I circled the palace in my new work clothes. I had Granite Sense and Thermal Sensing out as far as they would go. I sensed some of the underground layouts as I leaned on the palace walls, but obscuring runes made things fuzzy further than one room in.

I knew where Tāoke was, and it was more than twice that in and two basement levels down. I would need to burrow for 50m to get to the other wall of the dungeon to get in, and it was not all rock. The City Lord wanted a garden. Digging by hand is noisy. I would need to leave a tunnel open to get the orc out, which is problematic. What do you do with all the excavated material? That is Plan A, and it has significant issues.

Plan B was to get access to the palace-restricted areas by impersonation and forgery. This needed planning and time I didn’t have. Plan C was to pull a Tabitha, use stealth, and burgle the place. I am leaning toward a mixture of Plans C and B. Does that class as plan D? The big question with all these plans is how do I get the orc out? It is much easier to kill him and leave. Tāoke could do it now. I am here to learn how to rescue slaves, and this seems like a key slave to try to release. He can also give us insight as to how he was made a slave, which is important. Barbra could also tell us if she was involved. It may have been her boss.

The first job is to get into the palace. I am not as small as Tāoke, so the hole in the wall needed to be larger to avoid the security runes on the inside of the wall. It is the heat of the afternoon, so there were few people about. I went down just below ground level and then back up. I filled in the hole behind me.

It was a cactus garden with many different spiky plants, some of whom were poisonous. I only found that out by brushing past it. Workman shirts do not have the same level of protection as leather armour. My Poison Resistance actually went up. It hasn’t done that for a very long time. I collected some samples.

I made it to the shade of the building. This must be a later addition to the palace as the basement didn’t start here yet. I worked through the stone here as well, and I was in. I was in a sitting room of some sort, and I moved to the door.

I needed somewhere to hide and scope out the place. Impersonating a servant is the best way to move forward, but I needed information. I have usually spent some time scoping out a place like this, and not having the information and a plan makes me nervous. In fact, I don’t normally infiltrate places like this. A townhouse is usually my size.

The first people who went past were a couple of slaves. I examined their bonds carefully. Just normal slaves, and their job was cleaning. They looked to be about my age, maybe a bit older. The feeling or flavour of the bond was of constant labour. I would assume the head Steward or whatever they are called here, would hold the bonds. A servant girl called the slaves to help with the dinner preparation. None of them were suitable for me.

I moved deeper into the palace, figuring if the servants and slaves were preparing dinner, there would be less chance of discovery. The people who weren’t prepping for dinner were the palace guards. The two walking toward me were alert, and I was in a corridor with no side doors before they came around the corner.

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I lay down on the corridor floor and sunk into the stone floor. As they came, I assessed them. One was about my size. The other was larger. Maybe big enough for the orc to fit her gear? From their conversation, this patrol was not normal during the day. They had been put on high alert but didn’t know why. They were a bit grumpy about it.

As the guards walked over me, the smaller one suddenly stopped and looked down. He said, “Floor is different.” He raised his food to stomp, saying, “There's a heartbeat.”

It was only a thin layer of stone over me. Fortunately, I was ready. I sat up, breaking the thin layer of stone and threw two lava darts. Their reactions were good, especially the smaller male. The dart only scraped past his cheek, whereas the female took it through the cheek into the mouth. That didn’t stop her from swinging her fist at me, though.

My aim was to stop them from sounding the alarm. This was foiled as I ducked the fist, and the guy let out a mighty yell, “Intruder!”

I clocked the female in the side of the head with a stone-covered fist. Whether she was dead or unconscious would depend on her constitution. This allowed the male to draw his sword, and he came at me, letting out another yell. He was aiming to delay me so reinforcements could get here.

I could not be held up, Plan D was already scrapped. Plan E needed me to move because Plan F stood for Failure and possibly Fatal as well. This meant no holding back. He was fast, but I blocked his sword with a Granite-protected arm and punched him with a Granite Spike, which went through his leather armour and into his heart. I wasn’t doing full Granite Armour yet, just Snakeskin and a thin Granite Shield on my chest and back, under my shirt, so it was not obvious.

I created a Granite Hammer, put my hand on the wall next to me and did a small Granite Quake to loosen the blocks. I swung with the hammer and barged through the wall into an inner courtyard. There were slaves and servants setting up tables who stared for a moment and then ran. They were why I had chosen to hide in the floor instead of coming this way.

I ran across the courtyard and dived through a window. Now I was above the basement area, but I kept moving as guards were starting to swarm into the area, and it was obvious which way I went. I took a left in the corridor and then a right into an empty room. Heavy feet stomped past as I created a small hole in the stone floor and dropped down a level. I took the time to put the Stone back but just enough for someone to walk on. It would break easily with more than that.

I moved out to where the next level down would start when I heard multiple heavy footsteps crash into the room above my head. They picked up my scent quickly. Lizardkin are extra sensitive in that area. Hopefully, the scent stopping in that room would confuse them and slow them down.

This level was a service level with storage and servant supplies. I grabbed some dirty laundry as I ran past to confuse the scent. I ducked into a pantry and grabbed a small bag of some random spice, and sprinkled it on my shirt as I ran. I passed a couple of servants who scrambled out of my way. Stealth was gone. Plan E required maximum effort as it was a quick smash-and-grab. Speed was more important.

I was getting close and chose a cupboard to duck into. The dungeon walls had runes to stop people from spying and to hinder entry. This included the ceiling, which I was standing on. It would take time to burrow through them with Granite Manipulation. Turning them into lava was quicker, and Puia went out of my foot and turned the floor I was standing on to lava. This floor was thicker than the previous one, but it was only a short time before we dropped into a corridor lined with cells.

The heat and fumes had obviously alerted the prison guards, who were coming at me behind shields. The corridor was only wide enough for two people side by side, but as soon as the guards saw me, they activated a Shield Charge. There were four guards. The two in front had shields, and the two behind had short swords. I only had time to raise one Granite Spike, which stopped the momentum of one of the guards and ruined his shield. The other shield smashed into me and turned the thin granite vest into pebbles. I was pushed back. several meters, but I rolled and was striking at her as she swiped at me with her claws. My strike was partially deflected off her scales, but her claws shredded some of my Snakeskin.

She hissed as my hammer still connected. This is my first time fighting a Lizardkin. Her tongue darted out, tasting the air. It wasn’t just spice she was tasting. It was Venom Vapour. I had been releasing it since I dropped into the room. A closed environment like this was ideal for it.

I backed off a step, creating a small shield to go with my hammer. Her two fellow guards were coming up behind her. One of them was coughing badly. He must have inhaled a lung full of vapour. I deflected the sword coming at me. with the shield while striking at the first Lizardkin with the hammer again. This time I cracked her leg bone as well as the scales. The sword sliced through my Snakeskin as I missed deflecting with the shield.

The coughing fit behind these two had stopped. I twisted the hammer to alter the swing as I lowered my centre of gravity to counter the shield coming at me. There was much less power behind it now the Lizardkin was favouring a leg. I pushed back, and she had to step back on her bad leg. This put her off balance, and I crushed her skull with the hammer.

I don’t think she even realised she was the last one standing as Tāoke unwound himself from the swordsman. The shield Lizardkin that my spike had stopped had his neck torn open from a massive fang. The one coughing had a Granite Spike through his chest, and the swordsman I was fighting was crushed. Tāoke 3, me 1. It was a team effort as I was the distraction and Tāoke the ambush predator.

Several cells were occupied, but I moved to the orc’s cell and smashed the lock with the hammer. He was a big lad, probably almost as tall as Modrica but not as muscular. He was wearing a simple shirt and shorts, and I saw scars on his body. He was no stranger to fighting. He looked at us. What would happen next would depend on the instructions he had and how much willpower he could raise.