Triple Strength

58. Mess: Wiremu

I had a nice three weeks of generally peaceful travel and I get back to Jern to discover Tabitha has got herself entangled in one hell of a mess. I still don’t understand how she became one of the top three crime lords in Jern, basically overnight. What the fuck was she thinking? Her predecessor Fett must have been one hated bastard to have nobody want to avenge him and they would take an untried girl instead? I know Tabitha can be convincing, but hell, really?

When I got back Tabitha had already had a full ‘leadership’ meeting with her new Shadow Guild, and survived. I asked Skavt about Modrica and found out she was a loner and rogue away from the clans. Rogues were considered very unstable and unpredictable.

I went to see this slave she had locked up. She had already had a Sølv Emporium negotiator question her and got some information. He had had some experience questioning unwilling Imperiel slaves and you can get information from them if you carefully word the questions arround their previous instructions. Apparently Tabitha has a new skill that helped the negotiator by twisting meanings and intentions slightly. They got more than expected. When I was there I met her second in command, a smooth talking fellow named Nijel. Seemed competent enough and seemed to be doing most of the day to day running of it. He figured out who I was quick enough even though I was cloaked up. He knows ‘Black’s’ real identity so it was not a surprise.

The Sølv Emporium negotiator was in agreement with Modrica about the slave. He thought that nobody would want to live with those memories. I can see their point. Tabitha is struggling with the decision though. She sees it as basically killing an abused victim. The choice is kill her or Tabitha take over her slave bond in the hope of finding a way to help her. According to her, the slave master has about a day and a half left under Nyx’s ministrations. He is basically unconscious now and even if Nyx stopped he wouldn’t survive without some very expensive healing and there would still be permanent damage. Tabitha can be very hard and very soft. I am glad it is not my decision. What a mess.

‘Black’ also took me to meet her forger, a real weasley bastard I thought. He had forged documents and bribed some treasure clerks to get access to the previous bosses’ accounts. She wanted me to meet him as he ran their spy network. We took an instant dislike to each other. Tabitha wants me to find out how he does what he does as she doesn’t trust him. I can understand the mistrust. My Truth Sensing levelled just by being near him.

Enough about her mess. I have a contract to join the Canine Queens. Tabitha is looking it over for me. I guess I should really learn to read. I know my letters enough to read signs, but I have never gone further than that. Spy would help me learn, but I would rather go fishing. It is a permanent contract for us both but with several termination clauses. I wonder when Tabitha will tell Skavt they are offering a contract to a crime lord to join them? I guess she will make one hell of a supply officer. I am not even sure she wants to join now, or that the Canine Queens will have her.

We were going to wait in Jern until the auction and our big payday. I think it will now be only a big payday for me, and small change for Tabitha. I still want my coin. I question whether we will now move on. I still want to find a way to combat slavery. How many others are being abused daily like this Eyslk girl? I will still be going to the capital to find a way to combat slavery with or without Tabitha. The answer will probably be in some dusty tome. I should probably learn to read. What a mess.

Whatever happened to my simple life hunting? Maybe I should just go fishing for a week. The Canine Queens don’t have anything lined up for now so everyone is concentrating on their professions. My profession is technically hunting so… I will feel guilty leaving Tabitha in the lurch.

I switched to some town clothes to blend in and used Facade to change some things. I then followed the weasel for a couple of days. He met with a lot of people. I could see and listen in from a long way off and some he bribed, some he got jobs from. He seemed to have connections everywhere and knew everyone. I followed a couple of the people he met with at random, but they just seemed to be normal people, most just dealing on the side for some extra coin. I identified several key people. I am not sure if they were part of the Shadow Guild or not. He had an office where he did most of his work in the main business area. He advertised himself as a Consultant without specifying what he consulted on. He would be in the office most mornings and out and about in the afternoons.

I checked out his office and he had quite a large cache of Spiritually Enhanced materials, from paper and ink to waxes and strings and a number I couldn't identify. He mainly forged Treasury documents, contract amendments and ID papers from what I could see. There were a couple of letters he was altering before forwarding on. I couldn’t see any pattern. He probably didn’t keep the sensitive stuff at the office.

After the first day following the weasel Tabitha came through in a foul mood, grabbed her riding gear and left. There was no sign of Eyslk so I think she killed her. That was a hard decision and I didn't know what I would do. It has only been a week and this Shadow Guild is changing her and not for the better.

I needed to clear my head so I spent a day at the Blacksmiths getting paid to repair weapons. Simple stuff. I made Tabitha a cloak from the spare Bear and Llama hide I had. That perked her up. In fact she loved it. She could hide in the hood and it wouldn’t hamper her senses. I was a bit envious of that. I would need to go hunting for hides to make cloaks for the others in the Canine Queens.

I signed onto the Canine Queens as a member. Tabitha decided she couldn’t. They did sign a supply contract with her, which they were all pleased about. I was really happy with the Queens, but worry over Tabitha did put a damper on things. Ört said he could teach me to read. He was a member of the “Lore Society” and they had access to books and scrolls. To become a member you had to have at least four Lore Skills in Apprentice or above and at least one in Journeyman level. We started with a scroll in Plant Lore to help raise that while I learned. I did hint that Monster Lore was my lowest Lore skill. We are starting with Plant.

I fell into a routine with the Canine Queens. Morning training and then a variety of things. One day it was mounted training with Skavt, then a day with Ört. I think he thought I slacked off on reading when he wasn’t around. I joined the twins for a simple contract clearing pests from a farm. I spent half a day with Najperj trying to sense gems. I spent some time levelling the Leather Armour Repair Skill and that paid a lot more than the Weapon Repair. A week quickly went by and I was enjoying it. The only downside was I felt I was getting further apart from Tabitha.

There were growing sightings of Goblins and then the bounty went up as well as specific quests about them. The weather was turning too and snow wasn’t far away. I had levelled Cold Resistance to 24 and Tāoke could now operate fine in the frosty weather. He certainly preferred not too though.

Skavt decided we would take one of the Goblin Contracts. She felt that with Oske, Tāoke and myself on the team that we were OK to do it alone. Before we left I made an effort to spend some time with Tabitha. She had renegotiated her contract with the Sølv Emporium and was only working as a merchant three days a week and was no longer part of their security team. Instead she was providing information on contract to them. She seemed to be getting more and more isolated from people she knew and there didn’t seem much I could do about it.

The village with the goblin report was a three day ride away. We could be a week scouting the land around it, trying to find the exit. The city guards were collapsing the tunnels where they could find them. The idea was to leave one or two exits and build kill zones outside them. Goblins could dig, but they were not great at it. Talking with Ört and Skavt the goblins weren’t a direct threat to Jern, unless they got inside the walls. It is the surrounding countryside and villages that would be devastated and it would take decades to recover, if ever. Goblins prefer to live underground and the reason they were coming out was they had used up their food sources. To a goblin anything they could fit in their mouth was a food source, hence the potential devastation to the area.

There were a lot of different contracts becoming available, not just goblin extermination. A lot of villages were scraping together what they could to enhance their defences, or improve their defence enchantments. The limited number of enchanters in the city could pretty much ask for anything in payment and were very busy. As usual it was the poorer villages that were missing out, with the towns and the rich estates and mines getting the resources.

The village we were approaching was typical. It had a wooden palisade with a watch tower at either end. There was a narrow wooden walkway along the inside of the palisade to allow defenders up to defend the walls, but it was not really wide enough to fight from. This village was better than most and had a stone wall on one side. This would keep out most ground beasts and quite a few monsters. Without enchantments the goblins would just climb them.

This is exactly what was happening when we came into sight of the village. We wouldn't need to find the goblins, they were attacking the village. The defenders were doing everything they could to fight them off. Archers were in the watchtowers, villagers were on the walls and throwing stones and oil, then throwing torches to light the oil. Fortunately, the goblins were dumb and were only attacking from one side but it was still a losing battle for the villagers.

Skavt started issuing orders straight away. “Wiremu and I will do a mounted charge along the base of the wall, clearing out as much as possible, making a gap and giving the defenders a break. You three get to the wall and work your way along it keeping the wall at your back so you don’t get surrounded. You should get support from above. We will then reverse our charge back to you.”

Skavt and I had been practising our mounted fighting, including a charge. She and Oske were a sight. Mounted on an almost fully grown Yak bull whose shoulders were taller than I am, with sharp pointed horns, wielding a spear, charging at you with the ground thundering, was a very intimidating sight, even when you know it is only for practice. She got a longer spear made but in my mind the spear is almost superfluous. Now we are doing it for real.

I positioned Rocky behind Oske and on the outside away from the wall. I would mainly be there to keep goblins off her flank. I had a spear ready as well, although I had practised with both spear and bow from Rocky’s back. Oske in full charge was just as awesome as I imagined. His head down he just ploughed through everything, an unstoppable force. Rocky and I did our part, but the cheering from the walls wasn’t for us.

We came to the end of the goblins and Skavt slowed Oske down and started him in a turn. He wasn’t the most agile beast. I had Rocky follow and switched sides so I was again on the outside as we went back at a slower pace. My off hand was now away from the wall so I hooked the spear back into its holder and created a Granite Shield to bash with and started throwing darts. The slower pace meant more work for the riders. I am glad I had the darts premade.

The others were in their standard formation with Ört and his two handed axe flanked by a twin on either side with their shields and swords. Kryddor was darting in and out but he was also protecting the horses who were behind them. Tāoke had gone with Najprej and was helping Kryddor keep the goblins from the horses. They were carving their way towards us with steady efficiency. Oske was flicking his head, skewering the goblins and often throwing their bodies to get them off his horns. Skavt was a steady constant thrusting with her spear and I was throwing darts and bashing those who were too close. This was a good team. This fight was one where we excelled, but I was very happy to be a part of them.

The goblins finally broke and ran. I figured they would be easy to track back to their cave. The villagers welcomed us with cheering and smiles. Oske was the star of the show and Skavt had no problem finding helpers to wash him down. We decided to stay the night in the village before tracking the goblins to their cave. I helped pile bodies to be burned and looked at the walls wondering if there was anything I could do to strengthen their defences. The problem was the goblins' ability to climb. If I created a row of spikes they would just climb over or around them. A spiked pit trap at the bottom of the wall would take out the first wave, but there was no way I could do that around the whole wall. Spikes on top of the wall will hinder and hurt the defenders. I could make the stone wall more difficult to climb by smoothing everything out, but this attack had been against a wooden part of the wall. Enchanted was really the best solution. That evening I went out without being seen and smoothed the top third of the stone wall anyway. It might help and only cost me energy. I just hoped there were no teenagers who had climbed down for a quickie and now wouldn’t be able to climb back. I doubted it, straight after a goblin attack, but you never know with teenagers and their hormones.

We tracked the goblins in the morning. The cave entrance was about two hours away and I doubt we would have found it without tracking them. It was a very narrow crack in the rock. The Guild had sent us with an alchemical explosive if we found an entrance, but I convinced Skavt to let me try first. Granite Quake seemed to collapse everything well enough, and now we had a spare potion for us. The trip back was fairly uneventful and Skavt went to hand in the quest and get paid.