9th Day of Ash, 122nd Year of the Age of Steel
Sabrione stepped out in front of them, shoulders square. She had the faint frown on her face of someone about to deliver bad news to people who really could do fuck all about it. Masagh, Cleon, Calliope, and Riah stood in the warehouse of the Creth Compound anxiously. Sabrione’s appearance did nothing to assuage that anxiety.
“Okay here it is.” Sabrione said, kicking a crate out from a wall and perching one foot on the edge. She waved them all to relax. “We’ve got knowledge of some rich mage who killed a few goblins. She lives up in the Southside mansion district.” Sabrione began, looking stressed.
Masagh settled on the corner of a crate, leaning back against the wall and adjusting his sword. “What’s it to us?” He couldn’t keep the aggressiveness from his tone. He was done with goblin favors, or whatever Sabrione liked to think of them as. They had already struggled through two tough nights. Masagh could tell in the heavy look she gave him that she was reading between the lines in his attitude.
“These goblins were allegedly carrying wands with our mark.” Sabrione said. “She’s a mage of some renown. So we can’t be letting these bread crumbs lead back to us.” Sabrione said.
“Okay, so what’s the plan.” Cleon said as he gave Masagh a hard look. Masagh had been about to open his mouth and protest further. Cleon and the others didn’t know about the near disastrous operation he and Sabrione had carried out a few nights before. He was just prickly about authority. If he had known, Masagh was sure he would have just as many protests about this operation.
They were skirting a fine line, with all this disruptive activity, and Sabrione knew it. That’s why she looked so uncomfortable.
“She’s apparently accomplished enough to give us all a hard time. So we will go when she is away at the Academy teaching.” Sabrione said heavily.
“That is when?” Riah asked. The rest remained silent.
“During the day.” Sabrione replied shortly.
“Gods below.” Masagh shook his head.
“Cloud cover today, we will be fine. We will spend barely any time out in direct sunlight.” Sabrione said, cutting the air with her hand. “There’s going to be no danger in that. I will be bringing us through slipspace to right outside the home, I’ve already scouted the area.” Sabrione pressed on as the others all shifted uncomfortably.
“Look I get it, and there’s a stable attached to the mansion that I’ll bring us into. We won’t have to worry about it.” Sabrione said.
“I remember another mage we tried raiding during the day…” Masagh said, letting the words drift into the silence.
“This won’t be like that.” Sabrione said. “Besides, it’s got to be done.”
There wasn’t much to be said after that.
Masagh stood and crossed his arms. Sabrione had been backed into a corner here, and there was no use reiterating what she already knew. “Do we know anything about the mansion?”
Sabrione looked grateful that he was done questioning the mission and had moved onto logistics. “Two stories, no courtyards. It’s an H shape and the stable is in the north-western corner. We think there’s a basement only because why would there not be.” She said. “I don’t know where these wands would be, that’s something we figure out on the scene.”
“What is the plan to get out?” Cleon asked.
“We gather up and I bring us out via slipspace.” Sabrione said shortly.
“So you have to be saving enough aether to do it.” Masagh reminded her, raising an eyebrow.
That could be dangerous. If this mage had enough defenses in her home to require five Knights to raid it, Sabrione would be pressed on her aether anyway. If she was crippling herself by saving some for an exfiltration, it was just that much more dangerous for her.
“Yes, I know.” Sabrione nodded. “That’s why I keep you people around. Now, are we all ready?”
They were, of course they were. They had all their gear and weapons. They had all been prepared for a mission when showing up to this brief. Were they prepared for this mission? Masagh had the feeling this was the type of mission you couldn’t really be prepared for. There were too many unknowns. It felt like walking into a gladiator arena.
“I’ll take point.” Masagh muttered. If it had to happen, it had to happen. The least he could do is dive in and show some unity after being so divisive in the brief.
“Alright.” Sabrione said, giving him a brief look that nonetheless spoke volumes. “Masagh and I will lead. Find and secure the gate, Masagh. Cleon and Calliope come through next. Riah, you take rear.”
They all nodded or spoke hushed affirmations. Masagh drew his blade and touched the iron reverently. It had seen him through some rough times, and it would see him through this mission as well. The iron shimmered with an oily texture, silhouettes of ghoulish figures packed along the blade. He blinked down at it. For a moment he thought the tiny face of Cynfael swirled into sharp and exact relief. When he found the spot again, he was not there.
Sabrione had already opened a portal into slipspace. Masagh hurried to step through with her, Cleon and the others following close behind. The space in-between all things was not as frightening as it had been the first time. Looking around in that void Masagh had to admit that it was not because it had become more hospitable, it was simply more familiar.
Sabrione opened a tear into a shadowy space he could not make out.
He stepped through, blade first. His feet touched hard packed earth and the smell of animal accosted his nostrils as he slipping into the space. He did not pause outside the portal to glance around. Masagh kept moving forward, taking in the space as he did so.
