I said, as she cracked up through the link.

“…what the hell was that?” one of the guards said.

“I dunno,” said another.

“Let’s kill that guy!”

I said.

Ezzie was still laughing, her voice loud in my ears.

I stood at the center of the dark room and waited for the bandits to draw close. I caught three of them in a Witchflame Burst, incinerating them all, then smashed my hammer into the chest of a fourth. The fifth tried to run, but a throwing knife to the back of the head went critical and one-shotted him.

Ezzie said.

Ezzie said.

I said, as I headed for the Chainkeeper’s door. I reactivated Lecherous Strike when it came off cooldown, drawing a few oohs and ahhs from the miners, who were still bound to the outskirts of the cavern.

“Hi. I’m here to rescue you guys, so you can head home when the chain breaks. I’ve already killed everything you’ll meet on your way out.”

Ezzie said, just before a round of cheers thundered through the room, echoing off the walls.

I slipped the key into the lock and the door swung open just as it had before. I raised my shield a split-second before an axe thumped into it.

Ezzie said.

I said.

The Chainkeeper ran forward, that same poisoned shortsword glinting in his hand. He came in low just as he had before, but I was much more prepared this time, and I easily avoided the blow and countered with a hammer strike to the keeper’s right shoulder.

The socket collapsed inward with a dry pop and the sword dropped from his hand. The Chainkeeper cursed and retreated, the blue orbs forming about his head as he ran.

I followed him and kept up the pressure, activating Frost Reflect just as the first orb flew toward me. The attack ricocheted back into the Chainkeeper, an icy cloud exploding off his chest.

Then I paused, considering. He’d just stood there before and launched the orbs, so…why not learn Frost Reflect and get that over with?

I reflected a second orb—careful to make sure that I launched it away from the Chainkeeper to avoid killing him—then a third, hiding behind the pillars whenever I needed to let my cooldown recharge. I repeated the process and eventually got the prompt I was looking for:

Congratulations, you permanently learned {Frost Reflect}!

With that finished, I dashed in swinging hard and horizontal, with everything I had behind the attack. The Chainkeeper was dead before he hit the floor.

Ezzie said.

I said, as I snatched another glowing scale off the cabinet. I held it out in front of the Constructor for Ezzie to see.

I tore the cabinet open but found nothing of use, so I ransacked the rest of the room, finding a bunch of copper ore and a few pieces of pretty worthless gear, but that was it. I said.

I flushed hot all over, fully awash in panic. Then I remembered that I’d looted the Chainkeeper the last time around.

Ezzie said. The Constructor zoomed off and hovered around the back wall; it looked like Ezzie was examining the stonework there.

I checked under the bed first, where one of the floorboards had caught my eye. It wasn’t as dusty as the rest, and I was unsurprised when I rapped a knuckle against it and the sound indicated a hollow beneath.

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I pried the floorboard up with one of my throwing knives and found a small sack within. I yanked it out and dumped the contents onto the floor. “Hell yeah,” I said aloud.

Ezzie said. Ezzie deprinted them all, then bobbed the Constructor back to the wall.

I grabbed the torch and pulled it, pushed it, nothing. But when I moved it side-to-side, a loud click emanated from behind the wall and a grinding sound filled the room.

A little stone door popped open, about four feet high and three feet wide. I ducked my head and slouched through the opening.

The walls within were smooth and the air was cold and damp, refreshingly clean compared to the stink of the cavern. The small tunnel continued on for about fifty yards, then sloped slightly downward, ending in a stone wall with a little lever beside it. I threw the lever and the stone wall clicked, then swung open.

Ezzie said.

The room beyond was narrow but long, with three sets of railroad tracks leading off into darkness beyond. But the platform was full of guards—all low level—watching as another twenty or so villagers swapped lumber and coal between the many, many hand carts.

I’d been wondering about that; it seemed like an actual train would be an anachronism given the time period we were supposedly in.

A wooden door opened on the far side of the room, and a pair of goblins marched two bound and blindfolded villagers toward an empty handcart.

“Anyone else sick of not getting coins for all these heads?” someone said, their voice echoing from down the tracks.

“Aye,” someone said. “Bossman and his scales. Least he could do is pay us out for the effort. Village is starting to get a little thin, too. Gonna have to start pulling people out of Hillcrest pretty soon.”

“Hey gobbo, you can drop the adult off with the other slaves—the dragons only pay out for children.”

“Least there’s that. Free labor’s nothing to sneeze at.”

The goblin nodded and threw the smaller figure over his shoulder, the kid kicking and wailing through his gag. The father fought to pull free despite the fact that his hands were tied, but a knee to the stomach dropped him where he stood.

The goblin dumped the kid unceremoniously into a handcart, where a few more guards were keeping watch.

Ezzie said.

I said.

Ezzie said. The Constructor stripped it away.

<…why would I be beating children?>

I said, remembering just how close I’d gotten to the goblins way back by the lift. I pulled a throwing dagger out of one of the slits in my bracer, and the Constructor zoomed down in front of me.

Ezzie said.

I grunted and slotted the dagger back into my gauntlet. As Ezzie had said, I stayed undetected until I made it about ten feet from the nearest human, who shouted something wordless, drawing the attention of the other guards before he charged.

He seemed intent on tackling me, so I stood my ground and put a boot into his chest when he drew close. Five more guards closed in on me from all sides.

Every time I’d focus on one of them, the other four would lash out with cudgels or fists or swords. The attacks were weak—with the cudgels hitting the hardest, clocking in at about six damage a shot—but the frequency of the blows kept me off my game.

Ezzie said.

I flashed out a roundhouse kick which probably looked a little ridiculous giving my flexibility—or lack thereof—but succeeded in forcing my attackers back a step.

I launched two knives into two throats, opening a gap as the guards dropped. I ran through it and put my back up against a nearby wall.

Ezzie said.

I finished off a third guard with a throwing knife, then drew the last and held it, making short work of the others. I scraped the bloody dagger across my greaves as I headed for the cart, then jammed it back into my bracer. The rest of the guards seemed to have scattered, judging by the footfalls echoing down the tracks.

The kid was still squirming inside the cart, and no matter what I said, I couldn’t seem to get the little bastard to settle down enough to let me cut his bonds; I was worried that he’d thrash and I’d accidentally stab him.

So I scooped him up out of the cart and threw him over my shoulder just as the goblin had.

Then I realized that the villagers that had loaded the carts were all staring my way. “Oh right, sorry. You guys are free now or whatever, so. Take that little stone door into the mine and head back to Rivercrest.”

Ezzie said.

The slaves blinked at me, then erupted in cheers.

Ezzie said.

I set the still-kicking child down next to his father, who was doubled over on the ground, groaning. I cut the blindfold off the father.

“You’re safe,” I said. “I’m gonna cut your bonds, don’t move.”

The man nodded, so I cut his gag first, then the ropes that held his hands. He crawled over to his boy, whispering something in his ear that instantly stilled the child.

Then the boy began to cry. I was about to hand the knife to the father when Ezzie yanked my arm back so hard that the socket popped.

Ezzie said.

I said, nodding. I knelt down in front of the boy. “I’m going to cut you free now too,” I said. “Can you hold still?”

“He won’t move,” the father side. He was rubbing the boy’s back as he wept.

The boy kept crying, but he didn’t fight me as I got him untied and guided him to his feet. He pulled the blindfold off and tackled his father, burying his chin in the man’s stomach. The father hugged him, then scooped him up off the ground and into his arms.

I directed the two of them back out of the mine, then searched the railyard while Ezzie deprinted an absolutely staggering amount of coal and lumber. When all was said and done, we had more than six hundred of each. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything else of note, but it was pretty hard to complain given the haul we’d just scored.

Ezzie said.

Ezzie said.