Jadis’ first sight of Alawar came when the ship was pulling into the village’s port. She and the rest of the mercenaries were called up by the captain so they could disembark as soon as the ship was close enough and secure the docks from any demons. The image the abandoned village presented was a striking one.
Untold centuries of erosion had created a sea cove with a small beach, the entrance to which was a natural archway in the stone cliffs large enough for most ships to sail through with plenty of room to spare. The village itself had been built into the walls of the cove, creating a layout that was just as vertical as it was horizontal. The many stone buildings were practically stacked on top of each other, rising up into the surrounding steep slope of the cliffs and taking up the back half of the cove entirely. Jadis could see that the only way up out of the cove was a manmade switchback road carved out of the left side of the cliffs.
Alawar was no city, but it was a far larger settlement than the nameless mining village Jadis had spawned near at the base of the mountains. Now that she could see the place, she wasn’t sure ten mercenaries were enough to secure the village. With enough buildings to house over a thousand citizens and their places of work, there were a lot of spots for demons to hide. Then again, they hadn’t been sent to take Alawar back from invasion or slay every hostile they could find. They just had to keep a small team safe for a few hours while they extracted some valuable equipment.
There were three large piers jutting out from the village docks, but the one on the right was half sunk in the water. The Silver Breeze slid gently in next to the middle pier, between it and the other good pier on the left. Before the prow of the ship had even come fully in line with the edge of the wooden walkway, the Stenger and Son’s guards were swinging over the edge on ropes, acting as guides to help pull the ship in. Moments later, Kerr and Jana swung over the side too, taking point as they rushed down to the end of the pier to scout for any demons that may have started coming their way.
Jadis didn’t bother with the ropes. Seeing the other mercenaries preparing to follow suit, she simply picked up Aila in Jay’s arms and leapt off the ship, easily clearing the distance with her strength and agility, landing with a loud thump on the dock. Before the rest of her followed suit, Syd turned to Eir and swept the priestess up as well, paying no head to her embarrassed half-protests. Dys and Syd promptly jumped to shore as well, leaving behind her guard escort to figure out how they were going to follow.
Setting Aila and Eir down, Jadis quickly made her way past the guards working on securing the ship to join Jana and Kerr. As she hustled down, she pulled down the visors on her helmets and readied her weapons. It didn’t look like anything had come rushing to attack yet, but she doubted their arrival had gone unnoticed.
“See anything?” Jay asked as she came up a few feet behind Kerr.
Kerr stood on top of one of the wharf pylons, effortlessly balancing on the wooden pole as she scanned the surroundings.
“Nothing hostile,” she answered seriously, her tone all business. “Just birds and rats. But it smells like corruption.”
Jadis took the archer’s meaning. No demons spotted yet but their presence was felt.
While she kept her two sets of her eyes focused ahead, searching the empty doors and windows of the surrounding buildings for any movement, Jadis couldn’t help but glance at Kerr. Now that she was fully suited up for battle, the crude therion cut an impressive figure. The studded leather armor she wore had been dyed black, the various metal bits even painted a matte black to help her blend into the shadows. The helmet she wore had a faceplate that went on separately, attaching onto the main part of the helm so that the two halves could let her long, arching black horns stick through. The face of the helm had been designed to look like a snarling beast’s maw, and the helmet even had a short black mohawk. Compared to the disheveled, half-dressed state the therion had been in when Jadis had first seen her, Kerr looked every bit the experienced adventurer now.
It took another minute for the rest of the mercenaries to make their way off the ship, but once all were present, Otwin moved to the fore and started pointing at different buildings nearby.
“Kerr, Thurstan, check that one on the far left. Jana, Mounce, next closer left. Jay, Aila, take the right. Douglas, Syd, take the far right after that. Dys, with me checking the middle one.”
As he spoke, the mercenaries started moving, heading to the buildings Otwin had instructed without hesitation. Jadis didn’t want to argue the assignments and slow things down, so she just went with them, presuming the older merc knew what he was doing. As she too started to move, he turned to look at Eir and the city guard escorts that were finally catching up.
“If your orders don’t allow it, I understand, but I ask that you stay here and keep the main walk secure. If there are injuries, we’ll come to you.”
Eir bowed her head in consent.
“I will follow your wisdom in such matters, Mr. Otwin. May the gods protect you.”
Ealdread had his own response as he pulled abreast of the priestess.
“One each,” he pointed to four of his men. “Go, stick with those pairs.”
He himself followed after Otwin and Dys a moment later, leaving three guards behind with Eir.
Dys looked at the elf with one brow raised.
“Why guard the other two? Isn’t that beyond the scope of your orders?”
“My orders do give me enough discretion to make judgement calls. To aid in the success of this mission is the best way to make sure you and your sisters stay unharmed, in my opinion. Just don’t force me to split my men too far or our combat effectiveness will be reduced.”
Dys nodded in understanding, feeling a bit more appreciative of the dutiful guard.
“Duly noted,” Otwin said with a glance back at the elf and giant. “I’ll keep that in mind when we set up a perimeter around the workshop.”
Jadis had given the other mercenaries a barebones explanation as to why she had a guard escort and a temple priestess with her, but the guards hadn’t been worked into any plans since they weren’t there on behalf of the merchant’s guild. Their responsibility was to keep Jadis safe, nothing more. That meant if things went sour, they’d focus on protecting the three giant sisters above all others. That said, Jadis was certain that if the fighting got dicey and someone needed help, she’d be in the thick of things to aid them immediately and there wasn’t anything the guards could do to stop her. Ealdread had apparently figured out that the best way to protect her in this situation was to protect everyone else so the chances of her needing to run off and save anyone were reduced.
Honestly not a bad plan.
The building Jay and Aila were assigned looked like it had once been some kind of carpenter’s workshop, perhaps meant for ship repairs. From the outside it looked both weatherworn and empty, the front door hanging from one hinge and the larger double doors further down standing mostly open, revealing an empty interior. Before Jay reached the bay doors, the guard Ealdread had assigned her caught up, a man Jadis thought was called Busch but wasn’t willing to bet on it.
“Ma’am,” he nodded at Jay, then Aila, moving up but not getting too close.
Jay didn’t object. She wasn’t on this job to focus on getting experience anyway, just to make some good money.
Entering the workshop, the interior was about what Jay had expected from the outside. There were some tools and worktables left behind to rust and rot, but most of the structure was empty. Still, there were closed off doors that led to who-knew where and a second floor; plenty of places for demons to be waiting in ambush. Jay took the lead and searched each area carefully while Aila stayed close behind, ready to cast a force bolt. Busch followed behind acting as a rearguard to make sure nothing snuck up on them while they searched the building.
Ultimately, Jay’s assignment proved a boring one with nothing more hostile than a scared rat caught by surprise in a dusty storeroom on the second floor. Syd’s assignment, though, was more eventful.
At the same time as Jay checked her building, Syd checked hers. To her mild amusement, Douglas took point before her, his hulking frame no doubt typically used as a front line in most situations, though Jadis hardly needed him to act as a shield for her. She let him take the lead, though, since Syd wielded a lance and could attack with reach anyway. The guard that joined her march behind the meaty merc was the same somewhat nervous female guard that had accompanied Jadis and Aila on their first escorted outing. Her name was Thea, if Jadis remembered correctly, and she still came off as a nervous sort. Whatever her personal mannerisms, Thea had proven herself on the battlefield before, though. She’d been one of the eight that had leapt into the fight during the wagon caravan ambush as well as at the tunnel entrance. She was a more than competent fighter, just a bit jumpy.
In any case, Syd put thoughts of the guard aside and focused on the building. Perhaps it had been some kind of warehouse at one point, but the structure was large and consisted of one main room with no ceiling, just the roof rafters above. There was nothing in it now, though. There were four doors at the back of the building, however, which could have led to more rooms or were exits to whatever space was behind the warehouse.
Douglas made a beeline for the back door on the left, his huge cleaver in one hand. Without a moment’s hesitation he threw open the door to reveal a small room empty of everything but a few broken chairs and a table. After giving it a quick once over, he shut the door and moved to the next.
Wrenching the next door open with his free hand, a twisted wretch that had been laying in ambush inside leapt upon him, its deformed wolf-like jaws closing around Douglas’s head as it bore down upon him.
Syd immediately moved to the big man’s defense, her lance poised to strike, only instead of striking she paused in amazement as Douglas casually put his free hand around the wretch’s neck and yanked the beast off of him. As the corrupted lupine abomination struggled and thrashed in the mercenary’s thick-fingered grip, Douglas simply looked into the open door of the room the demon had sprung from.
“Just the one,” he grunted in his low, monotone voice.
Apparently satisfied that there was nothing else to deal with, Douglas got down on one knee and forced the still writhing demon’s head onto the floor. As casually as a butcher might behead a chicken, he brought his cleaver down on the wretch’s neck, killing it in one blow.
Syd and Thea watched the whole ordeal with mixed expressions. Looking at the guard’s incredulous face, Jadis was glad that she wasn’t the only one feeling shocked about the man’s calm execution of the demon. It didn’t help that the wretch’s bite had cut up Douglas’ face, causing blood to pour freely down his rough features. The man just didn’t seem to care.
“You alright there, Douglas?” Syd asked, motioning at the merc’s wounds as he stood up from butchering the demon’s corpse for the eye-core hidden inside.
“Yes,” was his only reply before he moved to check the next door.
The building Otwin, Dys, and Ealdread had taken to search had been the harbor master’s office, or whatever the imperial equivalent was. One of the few three-story structures, it was mostly halls and offices, a frankly inconvenient locale for Dys to move through. Bent over and with no room to swing her maul if she needed to, Dys let Otwin take the lead with his sword and shield. Ealdread followed the same pattern as the men under his command, acting as a rear guard.
The first and second floor proved to be clear of any dangers, but the third floor held a trio of bone thieves hiding in a back office. Otwin moved in on them fearlessly, his sword cutting into the lumbering bone-constructs with little difficulty. The man was skilled with his sword and shield and handled two of the bone thieves at the same time, not letting any of their wild and disjointed strikes get through his defenses as he methodically took them apart at the joints. To keep him from getting overwhelmed, Dys handled the third bone thief.
Sort of.
There wasn’t room for Dys to swing her giant-sized improvised maul in the office, not without hitting Otwin. So, she did the next best thing. Shoving the hammer head against the chest of the clattering demon, Dys shoved it hard against the wall, using her superior strength to hold it there while the older mercenary finished off his two foes. She figured once he was done with them, he could make quick work of the third while she held it down.
While Otwin and Dys handled the three bone thieves, a door across the hall burst open, a fourth bone thief charging out to leap upon Dys’ exposed back.
Before it could take two steps, Ealdread’s shield slammed into the demon with a burst of stone magic, sending the bony abomination skidding across the hall floor.
“I’ve got it,” the elf calmly stated as Dys shot a look over her shoulder.
“Thanks for the backup,” Dys said with a nod.
Once the bone thieves were dealt with, the harbor master’s office was deemed clear of all hostiles and the three exited the structure to rendezvous with the rest of the mercs.
Jadis knew how her three searches had gone, but with no eyes on the other teams, she couldn’t be sure what had happened with their assignments. Both of the other teams were waiting for the rest of them by the time Dys and Syd’s groups came out of their buildings, with Jay and Aila being the first to make it back.
“Nothing in our building,” Mounce reported with a shrug. “Except for something that’s been dead for a long time. Just rotted flesh, no bones.”
“Yes, we encountered bone thieves,” Otwin nodded. “I’m sure we’ll see more of that. What about you?”
The last was addressed to Kerr and Thurstan, who both nodded in the affirmative.
“Two wretches hiding in the rafters,” Kerr said. “They were being sneaky fucks, didn’t attack the moment they saw us, waited to try and ambush.”
When Syd confirmed that the same had been true for the wretch that Douglas had killed, Otwin frowned but nodded his head in thought. He turned to look up the road as the rest waited for him to come to a decision.
“So, what now? We sticking to the plan or making a change?” Dys asked,
Otwin shook his head.
“No, no, I don’t think so. Just, everyone stays in communication, ja?” he said, looking around the group. “Don’t wander off and always keep at least one other within sight. We’ll continue our sweep up the road to the workshop. Check every building and alley on the way. When we get up there, we check all the surrounding buildings, and the row after that, just to be sure. It’ll take longer, but let’s do this right.”
With no objections and everyone in agreement, the group set about clearing the buildings that lined the main road as it went up its own wide switchback course.
There hadn’t been much resistance to their arrival so far, but as they made their way further into the village, Jadis had a feeling they were about to find a lot more. That was fine with her, though. She hadn’t gotten a chance to put her real strength to use yet and she was itching for a fight.
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