<~> Chapter 156Whe the notification all of us slowed to a stop and turned around to look. The taller building had half colpsed over the side of the one we were standing on and had formed a pile of rubble up against it. I peeked over the edge but I couldn't see the monster anymore, it must be uhe huge piles of bricks and wood.

  "I don't see it, just a pile of rubble," I told everyone.

  Everyone was already rexing on the roof, this one was ft with a little garden on top. It was lucky something like this had been so close to the wall we jumped out of.

  I touched Mimi in neck. "Good job Mimi."

  She pulled away from my fingers and flowed bato her normal body, only a moment ter her clothes and equipment appeared ba top of her. It seems she's improving her trol over bringing things in and out of her pocket dimension.

  I walked back to the edge and looked dowreet. I couldn't see any of the guards from here. The two buildings are close, were close, but no one came rushing after us when we ran.

  "Let's get out of here, see what's going on with Jasper," I said.

  Everyone nodded and agreed. We headed over to the roof access door of the building we were standing on and knocked. When we didn't get a response I cracked the door open and peeked inside. Doesn't look like anyone is home. We walked through a small mansion that was well-furnished. It doesn't look like anyone had been here sihe attaot even looters. Perhaps the buildi door with the giant hole in it had dissuaded anyone from poking around too much. There wasn't any way to lock the doors behind us so I just shrugged and closed it.

  Before we headed back we poked around the rubble. The entire building had colpsed, between the giant hell hound smming against the thing and rotting wood from when the hungering corpse had filled the entire pce with miasma, the thing couldn't hold up any longer. It was a surprise it held out as long as it did frankly. There were bricks, wood pnks, and dust all over the street. I didn't see any signs of the monster's corpse but I also wasn't that ied in digging it ht now, even if parts of it might be worth something. Not that I had access to the guild to sell any of that stuff at the moment.

  I turned away from the rubble and looked dowreet. "e on guys, let's go."

  Whe back to the building we had raided there was arguing going oween the remaining guards. Wherand turned and noticed us he lit up a little. "Oh thank the gods, you're still alive. Does that mean you mao kill that demon?"

  I looked at my friends and shrugged. "Kinda? We were running from it and it dropped a building on itself. We got the kill notification but I don't feel like we did anything."

  He sighed in relief. "As long as that thing is dead. you heal my arm?" Bel nodded and began to focus as she poured healing magito him.

  I looked around at the guards. "Where's Jasper?" I asked.

  Bertrand's face went grim. "Jasper is dead. That monster bit him in half and swallowed him. I was there when it happened, he was being reckless because of Abby." He gestured at the unscious woman Silva was still carrying.

  "After that, the demon switched targets to me and knocked me around until I made it out of the building. I wasn't sure what to do when it chased all of you dowreet. We were arguing about following but I don't think any of us were strong enough to kill that thing. Since Jasper is dead and Abby is still knocked out, I'm in charge right now, not that any of us will be half the leader he was. The prisoners weren't only the ohat the hell hound killed when it spit fire at us either. Over a third of us died in this raid." He sighed heavily and tried to wipe some of the dirt off his face.

  "Is there anyo in there?" I asked.

  He shook his head. "No, we killed all of the ones who resisted us and the hell hound killed the rest. Everything inside is clear now, all that's left are the prisoners and sves."

  "Prisoners?"

  He nodded. "They were keeping some people locked in cages back there. Maybe demon experiments or sacrifices or something. There were also two sves in there, including one of the ones we were told to look out for, a golden-furred dogfolk that Nathaold us about."

  I nodded, I remember Matilda mentioning that one. She was the one who looked "sad all the time" if I remember right.

  "Was there a deerfolk in there?" Bel asked.

  Bertrand nodded. "I'm not sure, the prisoners looked like they were kept in good shape though. We locked the sves in one of the cells in a separate room and haven't let any of the prisoners out yet. We wao clear the entire pce before we tried to rescue any of the civilians. When we reached the st room underground, one of those summoners had just finished a ritual and that giant wolf thing came out of it, I had never seen a summoning in person before today. Almost killed Abby and Jasper rushed her out before ing back. When he died I couldn't hold the thing on my own anymore and it knocked me off my feet like three times before I mao get outside. Without Jasper I wasn't sure hoere going to kill the thing so I was hoping we could surround it ireet where there was more room to fight."

  "Yeah." I sighed. "There wasn't any ere going to be able to kill that thiher. We were only lucky the building fell on it, we could barely even hurt the thing when it was stig its face through the hole iairs."

  As the words came out of my mouth I realized something. Lucky. Did our bined luck have something to do with what happened? Sure the building was falling apart but the timing was perfebsp;It's not only my luck at py anymore. Luck felt like an unreliable stat but there were so many times that we've e out of something like this by the skin of our teeth. If I couldn't attribute that to luck, what could I attribute it to?

  I looked at the building and sighed. Jasper was dead. It felt se, I had talked to the mahan an ho. Silva was suspicious of him but I never felt anything from him but kindness and camaraderie. Now he was gone. ...dead.

  I turned back to Bertrand. " I speak with their prisoners and sves? Actually, are you going to free them?"

  He shrugged. "I suppose you talk to them. I probably shouldn't let you but I give two fucks about that with the way today has turned out. I had hoped watg my friends die would have stopped after things started going back to normal, appears not. As for the sves, you'll have to ask Nathaniel what he pns to do with them. He was looking for that dogfolk so he may free them or he may not. He's a Morkinnen priest so he's no friend of svery. Probably why no one objected to him ag in Baron Morrister's pce." He turo Bel. "Thank you, ma'am. My arm feels a lot better now. Five me but I o refoy men. You snoop around inside if you like but be quick. I o get bad talk to Nathaniel soon, especially now that Jasper is dead."

  Bel gave him a nod before stepping back behind me and Silva hahe unscious beastfolk woman to one of the nearby guards. We walked toward the door and off to the side a bit to give Bertrand some space.

  I noticed Silva looking around at the guards. "You see something Silva?" I asked.

  She shook her head. "Not sure. I'm going to keep an eye on things out here while you go inside. I think it would be a good idea to stay alert while you're in there."

  "Mimi, will you stay out here with Silva, make sure no ohers her? Bel o go in to heal ahat's still hurt and I don't want to leave a here alht now."

  Mimi nodded but looked a bit fused. "Sure I stay out here. Are all the rest of you going inside?"

  I turo my group who all looked at each other at the unsaid question.

  "I want to look around iorien said. "There have to be some clues as to who this cult is and what their goals are. I think I'm the most likely to find some information in there."

  I nodded, agreeing with her.

  Man shifted her weight, I got the sehat she was unfortable. "I suppose I could wait outside with these two. You already see mana so I don't think there is much I could tribute in there. ...just be careful."

  "I will." I turo face the doorway and steeled myself. Even if this pce has been cleared, several guards died here today. It was anrim remihat despite all the magid healing, this world was still brutal, people still die.

  One of the guards led Bel, Torien, ao the ruined building. The walls were scorched and all of the furniture was destroyed. Several of the bodies had been dragged into two separate piles, one for the guards and another for the cultists. ...the pile of cultists was rger.

  Deeper into the building there was a rge office with a hidden wall that led down into a cave. The cool grey stone of the foundation looked to be carved out manually with small tools before turning to packed dirt reinforced with wood, I could still see the pick marks.

  "These tunnels aren't made by ah mage," Torien said, toug the wall. "They had to have beey dedicated to carve their way through the building's foundation without magic."

  "Why wouldn't they just have ah mage help them?" I asked.

  "Not sure, could just be that they don't have one in their ranks. Earth mages that would be able to do this kind of thing wouldn't be g for job opportunities, especially with the frontier opening up."

  I nodded and we tinued down the dirt slope into the rge tuhere was fresh blood in pces on the dirt. There were signs of battle here. Fresh cw marks from where the hell hound had chased people through were still visible in the dirt walls and floor.

  "The prisoners are dowuo the right." The guard poio an opening iunnel marked by a torch.

  Ihe room were rge cages built right into the walls. The pces where the bars met the edges of the tunneled-out room looked reinforced with wood and stone. I wasn't sure how sturdy the cells were but I doubted any of the prisoners would be able to do anything about the bars with the cultists watg over them. Especially not at their level. I sed across them, none of them felt like they were even a quarter of my strength.

  Most of the prisoners looked weak and malnourished. Not to the extent that they weren't bei all but more that the food they were being given probably wasn't good enough. Most of them were humans which made the deer-kin in a cell with only two others stand out even more.

  My group walked over to the cell and I poio the deerfolk. "Are you Matilda's brother?" I asked.

  He frowned and furrowed his brows. "Who's asking?"

  Fair, he didn't know me, had no reason to trust me, and it wasn't like any of them had bee out of their cages yet.

  "We're here to rescue all of you. Your sister was worried about you so we've kept a."

  His face grew more ed. "Is she... still alive? They said that they left her to die in the castle whearted fighting them..."

  "She's still alive but it's... plicated. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to see her again soon."

  There were whispers among the prisoners, the hat we were going to rescue them was met with cautious optimism. With how long I assume these people have been here, I wouldn't expect a much better rea. I was relieved that Matilda's brother had survived the ordeal, that she hadn't done all of that only for her brother to be killed anyway. It wasn't a rge sotion but it was something.

  "Is anyone hurt?" I asked as I put a hand on Bel's shoulder. "My... panion here is a healer."

  This led to another round of whispers as a few of the prisoners came forward nursing broken arms and sickly bodies. As Bel began to heal them I stepped to the side with Torien.

  "What do you think they were bei for?" I asked her.

  She shook her head. "I'd rather not specute, to be ho. Demon summoning has been said to have ritual sacrifices and such. They could also be political prisoners or hostages like Matilda's brother was. Jas— The guard will have to question all of them thhly to see what they know."

  "Should we be asking questions?"

  Torien paused in thought before shaking her head. "No, probably not worth the time. We don't know how long the guard will allow us to 'snoop around' and I'd rather look for something Nathaniel would be less likely to share with us."

  "Okay. Once Bel is finished let's go see what we find."

  I scratched the base of my horn as Bel finished up with the st prisohe spirits of the people inside already looked a lot better. They were starting to believe they might actually be able to escape from this pce.

  Saine

  Rest in peace Jasper, puy got eaten. Not much else to say so see you ime.

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