Shalin, p.14
Shalin, page 14
Elsewhere in the staging area more teams were preparing to head out on their own raids, while a returning team emerged through a portal a hundred or so yards away leading dozens of frightened girls and boys from a child brothel.
Ireni was quick to go to them, Zuri and Leilanna joining her as they reassured the traumatized children and led them away from the noise and confusion to a quieter place where they'd feel safer.
Dare dumped Silverbeard in the cage where the prisoners they captured for interrogation would be held until they could be taken back to Independent. Then he made sure the freed goblin slaves were settled in a couple of the longhalls, debriefed his team on the raid, reassigned them to other raiding teams or to help in the staging area, and joined Marona in coordinating the chaos.
“Two raids completed and three ongoing,” she said with a tense smile. “We've got a few more after this, then we'll let the Phasewarpers rest for tonight's raids and get a handle on the confusion here. Probably also send the first group of those we'll be providing sanctuary to in Independent there.”
Dare nodded. “That just leaves Astellar and Nirima at midday.”
She nodded solemnly. “Gloomrise. The big one.”
Yeah, the big one. The intel they'd get from interrogating the other prisoners they captured, the wealth captured from the dismantled businesses, the slaves and exploited citizens freed, and the businesses eradicated, would all make a huge difference to their war effort.
But when it came to figuring out who Malin's partner overseeing Molzog's Delvings was, Gloomrise was the prize. Also possibly the criminal leaders they planned to capture in the two locations in Nirima they were going to hit, a goblin breeding pens and a slave market that featured exotic races brought down from the surface.
On a completely unrelated note, Nirima was named after the same flower that had inspired Leilanna's suggestion for their first home, Nirim Manor. Which seemed like a hopeful coincidence, even if the place in question was actually a cesspool exploited to near ruin by the Consortium.
Ireni returned, delicate features determined, and began calling over the elements of her team that would be raiding the more difficult locations in Kov that required a direct portal there. The rest of her team were already stationed near their targets, ready to hit them.
Dare and Marona went to wish his wife good luck, holding her for a moment. “Be careful,” he told her solemnly. “You may be higher level than most, but some of the targets you're hitting have strong guards.”
She smiled grimly. “I know. I'm returning to the world that exploited me for most of my life to smash it to dust . . . I know those wretched places better than anyone here.”
He tenderly brushed her soft cheek. “How are you holding up with all this?”
Ireni's beautiful green eyes flashed. “I'll be better when I know nobody else in Kov will suffer the way I did. At least not in overlooked hellholes where monsters like Malin grow fat off the suffering and degradation of innocents.”
He nodded his understanding. “Burn it all down, my love. It may not be the end of evil in Shalin, but it's the beginning of the end.”
“The first step,” she agreed. She briefly hugged him and Marona, then strode over to prepare her team to go through the portal.
Dare watched her, wanting more than anything to go with her and make sure she stayed safe, and ensure that the sight of the places she'd suffered wouldn't stir the demons of her past.
But her efforts would span the next few hours, and he needed to be ready to assemble the team hitting Gloomrise as they returned from their raids. Besides, she wasn't the only woman he loved who was out there in potential danger on these raids.
All he could do was trust in their planning and preparation and do his part.
◆◆◆
Gloomrise's goons couldn't have expected Astellar to rise up against them so suddenly and so thoroughly.
Because the dark elves wanted to reclaim their city, not simply burn and destroy businesses they had no hope of taking over like the Crusade's targets in other locations, there were no fires to herald the major change that swept through the place.
Dare strode across the clear space to the tunnel leading to Gloomrise's compound at the head of his force. That included him, Leilanna, Pella, Lily, Linia, Helima, Veressa, Thorn, Jurrin, Carnon, Gad, a Crusader Spellwarder named Merik, Arick, Le'nim, Vak, and Jlarn. Although the last four were there to sense and dismantle wards and traps.
Behind them Alina and her family and fellow conspirators continued to tear apart the businesses he and the Crusade had helped raid, collecting documents for Ireni and all the treasure and resources for the city. They'd slain over fifty of Gloomrise's fighters with only a few casualties on their side, all from their lower level dark elf allies.
Now came the final fight to take Astellar.
Astoundingly, their takeover of the city had been so swift and complete that the guards in the small cavern leading to the compound's gate didn't even seem to know anything was wrong.
They ranged between Level 40 and 45 and were all melee classes, confirming the reports of their spies. Also confirming reports they were embarrassingly lax, reclining on couches in one corner drinking and joking. There were even a couple women with them, flirting and pressing into the hands that groped them.
Unfortunate that they were there, but if his people were precise there was no reason they'd get caught in this.
“They're all below Level 45, I'll leave them to you,” Dare said, gesturing curtly. At the unspoken order Leilanna and Veressa lit a pair of magnesium flares and hurled them into the cavern, in case the laxity of the guards was actually a trap and there were Stealthers lying in wait.
There weren't, which made this even easier.
The guards shouted in alarm as the cavern's gloom was filled with painfully bright light, surging to their feet and reaching for weapons. One woman was dumped off a lap with an indignant squawk, the other shrieked and dove behind a couch.
Dare raised his bow, Lily beside him following suit and the creak of bowstrings suggesting Carnon and Gad, still in Stealth, had as well. Behind him he heard Leilanna, Veressa, and their other casters finishing their spells.
The others were focused on the guards, but Dare's target was the gate as he loosed his first arrow.
Not the three inch thick steel door itself, since as a created item it had durability and his Environmental Impact didn't do much extra damage to it. No, his target was the solid stone surrounding it to block off the tunnel.
His arrow hit one of the spots where the gate's jamb connected to the rock wall in an explosion of stone shards and dust, destroying the connection and much of the wall around it.
He activated Rapid Shot, and thanks to his bow each of his next four attacks did successively more damage, until the cavern was shuddering slightly at the impact as his arrows struck stone; his Level 53 Exceptional bow from Gurzan's Last Hold did extra damage based on the speed of subsequent attacks in comparison to the weapon's basic attack speed. Meaning Fleetfoot combined with his attack speed increase abilities made it more do more damage than a Master quality bow of the same level.
For Dare, at least.
The guards were down, the two hapless women caught in the action whimpering behind a couch. Pella moved to bind them to prevent them from being a potential problem as he continued towards the door.
With the connectors destroyed the sturdy barrier teetered from the force of his last Environmental Impact. He helped it on its way with the help of strength boosted by Great Power, planting a foot in the center of the gate and shoving it down.
The central part of Gloomrise's compound was all one large cavern, with stairways carved into the stone and doorways leading to living areas and connecting chambers. Through the dust hanging in the air he could see shapes darting across the cavern, fearful screams and shouted orders dimly heard above the echoing boom of the fallen door.
More flares flew over his head into the cavern from his team behind him, enough to illuminate the large space. In their painful glare Dare caught sight of a rippling transparent silhouette, a Stealthed enemy indistinctly revealed by the light.
He drew and loosed at the vague shape, revealing a Level 30 Stalker that died instantly to his arrow. He didn't see any more Stealthed enemies, so he stepped aside to make room for the rest of his team and continued loosing arrows at other enemies scrambling to mount a defense.
At the same time he swiftly looked at all the people in sight with his Adventurer's Eye, calling targets and noncombatants to his people pouring through the ruined gate.
Carnon and Gad flowed past him, drawn bows loosing at targets dimly seen through the hanging dust. Lily, Leilanna, and Veressa were right behind them, covering Arick and Jlarn as the Leyviewer and Wardbreaker searched for magical defenses. Le'nim and their Thief Vak spread out searching for physical traps, protected by barriers from Jurrin and Merik.
“Snapback Ward on that door,” Arick warned, pointing.
“On it,” Jlarn called, hands already glowing black in spellcasting.
“I see a Porcupine Trap on the same door!” Le'nim shouted. “Just above it!”
“That's where we'll find Gloomrise!” Dare called; in spite of their efforts getting into the compound to spy, they knew that much. “Secure the cavern and focus on it.” Suiting his words, he drew and loosed at the stone next to where his second goblin wife had pointed, shattering a hole the size of a tower shield into it and setting off the trap.
Just in time for two more guards, Level 50 Spellwarders, to emerge and get hit by the spraying quills, shattering the barrier of one and weakening the other's.
Surprised, they loosed the spells they'd held ready by reflex, aiming for probably the worst targets in Linia and Helima as the two women charged them. The two tanks were not only buffed but also had barriers, which the spells splashed harmlessly over.
Which was more than could be said for the dozen or so attacks that converged on the two bodyguards, taking them out of the fight before the melee could even get to them to land the finishing blows.
As half Dare's force secured the openings leading to the rest of the compound, he led the rest to the formerly trapped doorway. Arick and Le'nim were close behind, calling that the room beyond was clear of traps and wards.
“There's a lot of magical stuff in there, though,” his Layviewer added. “Magical items and loot?”
Linia and Helima hurled flares through the door then ducked in after them, shields raised. Dare followed behind ready to take down any more gates or other obstacles; being his own personal siege weapon was fucking awesome. Especially underground where so many of the barriers were natural stone or at least connected to it.
He found himself in a luxuriously appointed sitting room, strewn with rich carpets, plush cushions, and with tapestries and wall cloths covering the dressed stone. Jeweled decorations glittered on every surface, paperweights and bric-a-brac worth hundreds of gold.
There were three low level women in the room, a bunny girl, a dark elf, and a drowblin, dressed in transparent clothes and cowering in a corner, whimpering in terror. Probably poor girls kidnapped by Gloomrise.
Pella swiftly moved to protect and comfort them as Linia and Helima kicked open doors, revealing a large bathing chamber with another pair of girls, a study, what looked like an alchemy lab, and a few bedrooms.
Finally, through the doorway closest to where the three women cowered, they found what was clearly the master bedroom as Linia kicked it open.
Shrill screams sounded, and a crossbow bolt shattered on his catgirl friend's barrier and imbedded in her shield. She snarled and Rushed a target inside, Helima Charging just behind her.
Dare had the presence of mind to light and toss a flare, then entered the room and sidestepped for the others as he searched for Stealthers and took in the occupants with his Eye. “Four noncombatants, the girls on the bed!” he called. “The Level 43 is an Alchemist main class Archer subclass. The Level 56 is a Protector. Take them both alive, just in case.”
He loosed an arrow at the Protector, who he was almost certain was a bodyguard; the class was based entirely around sensing incoming threats and taking hits for someone else. It wasn't exactly a tank class since Protectors couldn't draw aggro, but they could wear plate and had increased hit points.
Ideally suited for security details.
Which made the naked asshole fumbling to reload his crossbow Makkal Gloomrise.
The fight was short even though both had barriers from the Spellwarders who'd come out earlier. Although if Gloomrise had been smart he would've kept those two back with him and had his bodyguard bar the door while they kept him alive and loosed spells around him.
It would've at least delayed the inevitable. But as it was the two were outnumbered and caught by surprise, and before long the bodyguard was unconscious and Pella had Gloomrise in a full body hold.
Not the best mental image, but the criminal kingpin wasn't going anywhere.
Linia and Helima led the frightened girls out of the room, assuring them that they were here to rescue them. Meanwhile Pella got to work tying up Gloomrise, then disarming the Protector and tying him up as well.
Dare turned to Carnon. “Scour the compound for other combatants. Get all noncombatants bound and in the main cavern. Then tear this place apart for every scrap of paper or other useful information you can find.” He motioned to Gad. “Let Miss Alina and Masters Salinor and Halarin know we have Gloomrise secured and it's safe to come in. Make sure they don't run into trouble on the way here.”
“Judiciar,” the two men said in unison, saluting fist to chest and hurrying out.
“You've signed your death warrant, you know that?” Gloomrise said from where he sat on the bed, hands tied behind his back to one of the bedposts. He was scrawny and bookish, maybe early 40s, looking more like a clerk than a criminal kinpin. “Do you have any idea who I am?”
Those were the first words he'd spoken; even in the thick of the fighting he hadn't so much as uttered a sound. Either cold as ice or too shocked by the swift surprise attack to react.
“Do you mean who you are in relation to Astellar?” Dare asked mildly. “Or would that be your ability to call on help from the shadow rulers of both the surface world and the underground, at least as far as Shalin continent is concerned?”
He kicked his foot up on the bed frame to loom over the shivering dark elf. “Whether or not we have to worry about retaliation from Malin Meadowbrook and his Consortium, that won't matter much for you. Your fate is sealed.”
Gloomrise's eyes widened at the name and his mouth clamped shut, although his charcoal gray skin literally turned ashen in fear.
Amazing how much information a person could provide even with saying nothing.
The dark elf kingpin might keep his mouth shut, but Le'nim would get what they needed out of him soon enough. Or eventually, if he held out. They'd start with more gentle methods and her Truth Sense, but given what Alina had told them about this man's deeds, it wouldn't keep Dare up nights if they had to resort to keeping him awake for a week straight or giving him alcohol or hallucinogens.
They could use some of the ones confiscated from Gloomrise's drug dens.
Salinor strode into the room, flanked by his son and daughter. “So you really were able to crack this nut as easily as you claimed,” the older man said in satisfaction.
“Speaking of cracking nuts . . .” Alina strode over and kicked Gloomrise square in the balls with the full force of her body behind it. “I saw the poor girls you've kept as playthings on the way in.”
The scrawny dark elf let out a strangled grunt and curled up as much as his bonds would allow, retching and whimpering in pain.
“Easy,” Dare said mildly. “I need him in good enough shape to answer questions.”
His dark elf lover spat on the bound kingpin, red eyes flashing with hate. “I hope you chop the entire thing off as part of your torture.”
Gloomrise whimpered again.
Dare kept his face impassive and motioned to Pella, who grabbed their prisoner and hauled him out of the room. Once the man was gone he turned to the dark elves. “We're about a third of the way through our raids, assuming the attacks in Nirima went well. So while we'll leave a means for you to contact us if you run into trouble, you probably won't hear from us for at least a few days as we finish the raids and sort out the aftermath.”
“And you'll turn over Makkal and his lieutenants once you're done questioning them?” Halarin pressed. “Seeing them publicly punished for their crimes is critical to restoring our city.”
“I've given my word,” Dare said. “And believe me, I want them to face justice as much as you.”
Salinor grunted. “We've captured roughly 100,000 in gold and assets from his operations. Are you sure you don't want any of it?”
Depending on how the other raids went, they'd clear a few times that amount from what they took from the Consortium's holdings. All of which would go to helping those who suffered under Malin's organization or funding the war to bring the gnome overlord down. “Use it to reimburse what was taken from your people and restore your city.”
Alina abruptly threw her arms around him. “Thank you!” she said fervently. “I can't believe the nightmare is finally over.”
Dare hoped it was, at least for Astellar. Although he felt the weight of all that was still left to do to bring down Malin resting heavy on his shoulders.
He briefly hugged his lover back, then stepped away. “I'm happy for your city and wish for the best for your future. I hope to be a welcome friend moving forward, but for the moment I'm afraid it's time to get back to work. The portal back will be opening soon and we still have a lot to do.”
“Right, us as well,” Salinor said. “We have a city to rebuild.”
Chapter Seven
