Published at 11th of August 2026 7:18 am

Chapter 168: Indignant Pursuit

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Being unreasonably prepared for this exact circumstance, I reach into my pocket and retrieve my darksight lenses. Unfolding them with a practiced flip, I smoothly don them and assess the situation in the familiar red glow. It takes a second to get used to the change of view, and another to process the flurry of motion below.

Most of the movement is from servants rushing to where they last saw their lords, presumably to shield them or possibly the opposite. Noticeably, Marcus has not rushed to protect me. Is it faith in my ability to handle myself, or just indifference to my fate? Ill assume the former.

More importantly, in addition to the expected figures, there are about a dozen new guests in the venue rushing in from the right side of the stage and attacking the guards who are simultaneously rushing to protect the auctioned item. A few of them rip off their masks to don lenses like my own, only to get cudgelled while in the act. The rest try to take the Ocean Stone to safety, but, being reduced to fumbling in the dark, the attackers immediately whelm them before taking the armour themselves and carrying it back the way they came.

Terrys Armour!

With indignant rage, I target all of them with multi-guidance, jerk out my new throwing knives from my sash and throw without hesitation into the throats of the two carrying my gift off the stage.

The thieves seem surprisingly not surprised at two of their own falling, and the ones behind them immediately pick their prize back up. I pull back to throw again, but stop. Seconds before they leave. Too many to stop I throw again, but not into a throat. Just the shoulders, and not the ones carrying the armour. Theyll leave their dead but possibly not their wounded, and the blades are poisoned anyways.

Having set up the blood trail, I leap off the balcony, using my cloak to glide a ways and hit the ground running. I get about halfway across the room before a formation of guards wearing darksight lenses rush onto the stage from the opposite side to the thieves and block my path. I glance to the side and see more guards closing the side doors and fumbling to bar and lock them in the dark.

Chance! I careen to the right and run into a door that a guard is still in the process of sealing, clipping them as I go. I manage to open the door but stumble from the impact, then, briefly blinded by the return of the light, tumble through the passage.

I turn my fall into a roll that carries me ungracefully into a kneeling position several feet into the passage outside a covered outside passage overlooking another garden area. I knock something fragile as I go, shattering it, which naturally alerts several guards posted in the exit hall to my egress in a way that does not make me look good.

You there! Stop!

I dont. In fact, I start running down the hall. A pair try to intercept me with spears outstretched across the hall, but theyre more a gesture to accompany their continued orders than a serious attempt to bar my movement. I do, after all, still look like a guest, and they wouldnt want to hurt me. So, I just duck under them and continue running.

KLACK!

Theres a startling sound to my side just as Im about to run through a large double door leading to another hall. I look over and see a crossbow bolt clatter off the stone wall a few feet away. Apparently, theyre not all of the same mind about not hurting me. That does rather complicate things. Perhaps I should have started with a different approach.

Terry probably would have just talked to the guards. Just shouted commandingly and utterly charmingly that thieves were getting away and the guards would have just followed him. Absurd. Still, I suppose I could have tried. Probably just an instinct not to get along with soldiery types from all those years hunting them (and the inverse). Well, too late now.

I make my way back into the building, into some sort of maze-like, dimly lit storage/ servant passage area. More guards are running about, but I shift the colours on my clothes from party to stealthy and manage to avoid any further encounters. I do feel a bit of pride each time I slip past, since I dont even have time to cast concealment as I run towards the general direction of the thieves.

I do have time to draw my divining rod and get to work with it. Theres no way theyd try something like this without someone counterdivining their general movement and the Ocean Stone. So, I target the two knives I wounded them with, which will be much harder to hide given my familiarity and their lack of. That leads me to where they discarded them in the hall, so I pick them up and follow the blood trail by scent.

Strange, its leading up a set of tight spiral stone stairs. Why would they be going up? Wondering this, I nearly stumble on the bodies. The two I hit in the shoulders now have their throats slit, blocking the way up. I notice as I leap over them how calm their faces look a resigned acceptance mixed with resolve. It reminds me of how Ibil looked when I sacrificed him.

The second thing I notice is the alchemical device tucked under one of their arms that looks very similar to the one I used to explode that granary in Fluemberg. The only difference, in fact, is the second cylinder attached to the side at the exact spot where I was told the timing device was supposed to go. Theres a faint sizzling sound coming from it, as if a piece of meat on a hot pan, but much softer.

Not wanting to find out what thats about, I run faster. This decision is proved correct a moment later when something cracks behind me, and the stairs get a lot hotter from a burst of flame covering the whole passage.

The fire overtakes me, but Im far enough away from the source that my shield holds, though I do stumble a bit from the force. Trapped corpses. Huh. Ive never been on the receiving end of that. Ive always wondered how effective that was, but I can see it working very well. If I had stopped to investigate, it would have been timed perfectly. Of course, a better trap would have activated by moving the corpses, but I suppose not everyone has access to such methods.

But why trap them at all? Theyre thieves, not partisans; right? Even if thats wrong, why trap your own corpses? I only ever trapped enemies'. I suppose the bodies could be used to divine their hideout, but location association is a tenuous link. Much easier to just look for the survivors directly. So, if they can counter the general divination, they should be able to cancel the corpse scrying. Unless, of course, they think the investigators are going to use anthropomancy, which is unusually good at finding out where the combined object/subject have spent their time.

Likewise, if they just wanted to block their passage, then why use the timer? I dont think I could have gone through that if I had arrived after it went off. At least, I wouldnt have tried. For that matter, why did they even have incendiary devices in the first place? Were they planning on some of them dying? If so, why would they try to steal the armour in the first place? Its worth a lot, certes, but not their lives unless they were desperate; but desperate people dont have the resources to pull this off.

My questions are partially answered as I reach the top of the stairs and see several more plumes of black smoke arise from various spots on the grounds. So thats why they had the devices. They planted them on the way in to serve as distractions on the way out, and probably had one extra.

I also see why they went up. The roof is flat, and theyll be able to jump from it to any place on the grounds. There are a number of guards with crossbows, but theyre all looking down at the fires. Doubtlessly, none of them thought to look behind them to the thieves running across the roof. Likewise, none of them see me as I follow them.

I dont see any sign of the thives, but they messed up when they killed their companions. They have blood on their hands now, and I have the nose to track it. Admittedly, it is rather hard to with all the smoke in the air, but the combined increase to my senses from Anar, the cat god and a quickly uttered spell puts me at the level of a knight. Not a knight of Allans focus, of course, but even knights who ignored their sensory training should be able to track freshly spilt blood.

So, I run across the roof completely unseen and look down at where the carriages are parked. Theres a spot of wide softish-looking ground that bears the sign of somethings heavy recently landing on it. Not on their feet, from the look of it, but rather a tumble type of landing.

Did they just jump? Surely they dont all have slow fall items like I do. Again, why be thieves if you have that sort of coin? Much more likely to be the result of a divine boon. The god of thieves has something, but I don't know if their basic boon would handle this height (about eighty feet). The god of acrobats, probably could, or maybe one of the animal gods like squirrels...

Distraction! Where are they I glance about, not seeing anything, but then a carriage door slams closed, and my gaze snaps to it. It doesnt gallop away, but they do at least trot in a hurry. Exactly how I would go if I was running from a theft. Good enough for me. I chant the lightning bolt spell, targeting the carriage with guidance and aiming for the back wheels. If Im wrong, well, no one should die, and I can pay damages.

Something rumbles below me, but it doesnt distract me until a torrent of flame erupts from the window below me and forces me to stop my spell as black smoke obstructs my sight. I adjust my position and start again, but by the time I finish, the carriage has turned a corner out of sight.

Cursing, I jump down and do a quick divination to find my own carriage. My driver gives me a confused My Lord? as I slam open the door and retrieve my heavy crossbow (I still dont trust Rakenhal, and its the only weapon that might be able to kill him (discounting the liquifying beam)), then continue the chase.

I dont bother going out the gate, but go to the fence to intercept where I guess theyll be. Its a tall fence, at least twenty feet, but thats a height to keep out mundanes, not those enhanced to my level. With a running jump, I grab onto the top, mindful of the little, somewhat dull spikes, then pull myself up to the top.

The carriage is right where I expect it to be. I could just blast it right here. Itd be easy. But well, having them in my sight, in a carriage thats moving slower than I can, I have time to think. Besides being only eighty percent sure its the right carriage, I am rather curious about this. Its just so well, extra. Everything they did is drawing so much attention. I suppose just stealing the hot topic item is attention enough, but how they did it will make them the number one priority to find, especially if they accidentally killed any of the very important nobles who attended with all that fire.

So, what is this all for? It cant just be to get the armour, since theres no way they can keep it from the various divinations looking for it for long. If its just to sell it themselves, well, who would buy it and why would they be so desperate for coin?

This whole situation just doesnt sit right with me, and I dont think Ill find out whats going on if I just blast the carriage with lightning. Besides, I have an instinct I might be able to use the knowledge.

So, I take out a listening token, which Ive sharpened the edge of, and flick it at the carriage as it drives by. The wood is not enchanted, so the former coin sticks easily into it... First try, nice. Usually takes more.

Activating it, I quickly confirm that they are indeed the thieves as they celebrate amongst themselves with a sense of optimistic tension as if they cant believe theyve gotten away. Unfortunately, they dont make any convenient and illuminating comments, so I guess Im just going to have to follow them for a while. Well, they at least dont suspect that they have a tail. Ill just hang back and follow them to their hideout, then decide what to do there. Besides, it shouldnt be too hard to steal it back.

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