The next morning, the trio woke to the usual hustle and bustle of a city just waking up for the day. From all they could gather, their acquired mask was not the item looked for from the place it was stolen from. At least, there was nothing that suggested the owner cared that much for its loss.
Nelson could only guess the owner hadn’t yet realised. Either way, he was glad that he could relax enough to not stress over the smaller details of the day. He had far too much to plan for tonight, including making sure he was ‘on the list’ for the party.
That itself would require finding one such person who he could replace with no one realising it. Many such people in the city likely fit the bill, but he had to be sure none could tell the difference. This meant any family man was off of the market for body-snatching. So to speak.
Nelson knew this would not be easy, but there had been a few candidates last night at the tavern. If one of those were bachel
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Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH13
The journal, while seemingly important, lacks anything that would give Nelson a lead on where to go or if Sethis is part of the slave trade or not. It does, however, have a few entries about both the late Kings; Fenryn’s older brother and their father. With a sigh, Nelson puts the item back into the draw. “Well, that was a waste of time,” he mutters to himself. “This guy has to have some skeletons somewhere. No one is this perfect.” A light whispered voice speaks somewhere behind him, “another exists.” Spinning around, Nelson’s hand quickly goes to where his hidden blade is located, but his gaze does not locate the voice’s owner. His golden-brown eyes scan the room. Had someone snuck up on him somehow? That should be impossible. Was it one of those guard-birds? The ones who could use the common tongue to alert of any intruders? He glanced up to see if one was perched anywhere above him. Nothing was. Cautious that someone was hiding from him so
Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH 14
“So you want us to go… where, again?” Atraas asked. His gaze on Nelson was deadpan. He did not believe what he had just been told but knew full well what Nelson had said. Inleet herself was not impressed, and she glared at Nelson in horror. “You know the lands of the dead are not something we can just sneak in and out of, right?” She asked, her tone blunt. “Not to mention the ground-elves,” Atraas agreed. “Everyone says they’re just an old wives’ tale to scare young children, but I swear to the Goddesses, I saw one!” Sighing, Nelson looked between the two. “I can’t force you to go with me,” he began, shaking his head. “But your second pay from our benefactor will only come if we succeed in our mission to sort this out. That the trail leads towards the Underworld is…” he paused, looking for the words he needed. “An adventure none of us expected, sure, but we’ll be fine. Maybe.” “Oh, I feel so confident now, thank you!” Inleet barked out her sarcastic r
Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH15
Finding a way around Ket and the demonic beast, Nelson couldn’t help but notice it had wounds from previous skirmishes. If that had been here or somewhere else, however, he wasn’t sure. What he knew was that most of them were concentrated in the same area. This could only mean one of a few things. One was that this beast was originally a pet or slave of someone and that was the spot they used to make it do as commanded, or those who fought it off knew something he did not. Either way, he guessed that if he struck that area, he might see better results than aiming for a direct fight. It was a plan, at least. He just had to make sure that he could gain enough height for it to count. Climbing up one of the dilapidated buildings, Nelson did his best to ensure his footing was strong before he pulled out some of his throwing knives. He had come prepared for battle, but he hadn’t expected to be in a fight so soon. Ket had yet to notice him, but that was fine
Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH16
The first thing Nelson did was have the twins eavesdrop on the children. Finding out if they lived nearby, or were orphans, was the first clue on how to deal with them as a whole. Most who lived with parents were harder to sway into doing things you needed them to do, but an orphan looking for some quick profit would be much more willing.When he had his answer, the next task would be to figure out what they wanted out of life. Money, a rare item that only the jerk across the street had, or the chance to see the person they loved. Then, Nelson could find a way of convincing them he could help.Or he could just steal something from the group and get them to give chase. Sometimes the simplest plan was the best one and lucky for him, these kids were orphans who had just come into a small amount of coin.“You have a good sense of the place’s layout, right?” Nelson asked Inleet in hushed whispers. The three were accustomed to this form of distractio
Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH17
An icy breeze swept through the area, causing the fog to swirl and dance around them. Nelson REALLY did not like this at all, and he turned his back against Ket so that nothing could sneak up behind him. The twins followed suit. “So, what are we dealing with?” Nelson asked, his voice kept low, though whatever had been stalking them was likely already close enough to hear him. Ket let out a low hiss and replied, “unknown. Not a thing marshes have.” “Oh. Wonderful,” Nelson sighed out and shook his head. The spirit clinging to him made a little chuckle. He wondered if it knew what it was, or if it could tell where it was. He wanted to ask it but doubted it would tell him much. After all, the spirit had been quiet until now. It surprised him when it said, ‘watch the fog.’ Glancing at the level the fog was at now, he realised it had again risen higher than where it had been before. It had gone from his ankles to his knees and was now at his hips. T
Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH18
A few smaller demon fights later, the group finally made it to the end of their annoyingly long journey. Nelson hadn’t thought that there could ever be such an expansive maze-like city within the mountains just from their outside appearance, and he hoped he never had to deal with this shitty place again.The dim light from outside told him it was a little after sunset, so what sunlight they had left would not last long. He cursed inwardly but gazed out around the hole.What he saw surprised him. This was not a normal exit at all and appeared more to be a crumbled opening from either an explosion or some other force that might cause the mountain’s wall to collapse. Below him were the ocean’s rough sea and a series of rocks that looked far too slippery to give decent footing.“Could the one you’re after really have escaped this way?” He asked, unsure if he wanted the answer to his question. “There were other paths, right?
Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH19
Teasels’ constant yapping was annoying Nelson. Though Ket was right about one thing. He was helpful with their mission to get to the entrance into the Underworld. With any blockage they encountered, Teasel moved it with ease. Any time they needed a new blockage to prevent a demon from stalking them, he did so.The entrance itself was like a cave within the mountainside, but after a few steps, it sloped downwards in unsteady ledges. Teasel was quiet now as they got lower and lower into the ground. Nelson wasn’t sure how much light they would have left as they were leaving the surface where the rattus had made sure the cave had offered light via their alchemy.He was fairly sure they had passed a few smaller openings in the sides of the path they took, though if they led anywhere or ended at some point further in, he wasn’t sure. Ket let Teasel guide them down, knowing he could read the earth with his natural magical ability.The twins followed d
Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH20
The end of the small path finally gave Nelson some peace of mind. He was not afraid of tight spaces, but he knew that one wrong move and he would have been in a very tight situation.He heard the sound of rats again, but outside of that, he couldn’t see anything within the large cave opening. Though there were areas where the light of the mushrooms did not reach.He tried to get as much of the scope of the area as he could, but from what he could tell, things seemed safe. He turned to Teasel and asked, “what do you think?”The fae shrugged and flew around the cave, and then returned with a shrug. “Hear ratties, but not see any. Maybe they don’t like me?” He said, sounding sad. “But no demons! So I’ll get the others!”Nelson didn’t get the chance to agree or deny him, as he was already gone before he could open his mouth.He glanced back around the cave and folded his arms. He frowned when
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