Underground Operation

"Faye sent you?" Gwen asked the rogue. If she had sent him, that would make this man a Seeker as well.

He licked his lips nervously before responding.

"Yes. She thought you were interesting in your first meeting and asked me to investigate your actions in Glendon." The man still had his hands raised to show he meant no harm. 

"So you are a Red Seeker?" 

"Yes, Captain Enzo of the Red Seeker Band, in the service of the Crimson Emperor himself. My medallion hangs from my neck," the rogue replied. He looked cautiously at the unconscious man on the ground and nudged his shoulder slightly with the tip of his boot. "It seems General Highgate was right in her interest."

Cautiously, Gwen removed her hand and blade from the man's neck. 

Enzo turned to face her and pulled the medallion from his neck. Sure enough, it was a small golden necklace with a ruby-tipped arrow, the symbol of the Seekers.

Gwen relaxed a bit at this assurance.

"You may want to work on your sneaking. For a rogue your footsteps clomp like an orc," she joked at his expense. 

A slight flush appeared in Enzo's tanned face. He was tall and slightly wiry, but still strong for a rogue. 

The two of them looked around at the aqueduct they had entered. It was surprisingly well-lit for being an underground sewer. Someone was regularly maintaining the magical torch-lights down here as well. A large room opened at the end of this corridor, across which were several other well-lit doorways. The hallway they dropped into was lined with crates.

Enzo walked over to an open crate and peered inside.

"Hey, look at this," he called to Gwen without taking his gaze from the crate. 

Within the crate was a ceramic jug filled with black grains of sand and packed on all sides with hay.

"Do you know what this is?" Enzo asked with a slight break in his voice. 

"Not at all," Gwen answered. Nothing in her strange memories seemed to remember seeing this type of sand. 

"It's black powder. An explosive." 

Gwen's eyes widened at the revelation. An explosive in the aqueduct under the city!

"Were you already investigating this?" Enzo asked.

"No… I only ducked down here to escape your tail. You were quite obvious." He blushed again slightly.

"In my defense, my specialization is a saboteur. I make strategically important places and people go 'boom'," he chuckled. "That is why I know what this is. Come, Gwen, I am temporarily drafting you as a Seeker. We will investigate this strange discovery further."

Gwen felt her heart quicken. For some reason she still felt that she should not aid or trust the Seekers. However, the prospect of an adventure like this was too interesting to pass up.

"Okay, lead the way."

○○○

The air in the sewer was damp and foul, especially in the small corridors that seemed to branch off in infinite directions from the occasional large room that housed a sluice gate. Every wall and ceiling was teeming with grime and fungus, forcing the duo to keep their hands near as they walked.

They had already avoided two other parties of strange men in the sewers that carried crates and torches. Something was definitely amiss; there should not be so much activity down beneath the city.

Gwen was glad that Enzo agreed against killing the men until they find out their objective. If she discovered that this was a misunderstanding and they had killed innocents it would weigh heavily on her conscience. 

As the duo was about to step into the large sluice gate room at the end of their current hallway, Gwen suddenly heard a voice ahead and froze. She pulled Enzo against the wall and put out the nearest torch-light, enveloping them in darkness.

"Yes, Ken, this shipment is just the first of many. Keep your men moving these crates and you'll be paid handsomely. Our Lord appreciates the hard work of his ardent supporters."

"Oy, listen, we don't give a shit about yer Lord, eh? We's movin' the crates, you's providin' the gold. I don't need ta know nothin' else."

"Very discerning of you, sir. At the end of the week you will have your gold. Remember - the weapons stay in a stockpile here, and the powder is spread throughout the tunnels."

"We ain't stupid. I heard you's the first time. I'll meet you's again at the monastery, eh?"

'The monastery? Does he mean Cloud Level?'

Gwen peeked an eye around the corner into the large room. Two men stacked crates in the center of the room. A broken sluice lay at the end of the room, after which was a tunnel that lead outside. There was a man standing in front of the tunnel. He was balding and middle aged, and wore extremely over-sized gauntlets.

'BRAND'

His name etched itself in her mind with a shock, the same as Isshin's name had before. Another minion of the Ashen Prince was here in Glendon!

Brand was a pugilist who fought with his gauntleted hands to brutally and personally kill his assassination targets. He must have taken a liking to the martial arts skills at Cloud Level after Isshin cleared it out.

Gwen turned to Enzo, still pressed against the wall, and relayed what she had seen.

"They are staging attacks on the nearby area with the monastery as a staging ground. It is well-defended on the mountain peak, and undead never tire, so the constant ascending and descending is not an issue."

He was more intelligent than he let on earlier. It made sense that he was a Red Seeker captain.

"We can't take him on our own. Let's wait a few minutes after he steps out and ambush the two in the room."

Gwen nodded. It was a good plan.

Waiting in the darkness made Gwen nervous, but it was reassuring to see that Enzo was calm even with a worse sneak ability. After perhaps 10 minutes had passed, they crept into the room. 

The two men packing the weapons were petty thugs hired by the Ashen Prince. It was simple to sneak up on them in the dimness of the sewer and knock them out. 

Enzo pulled out several lengths of rope and began tying the thugs together.

"Where did you get that?" asked Gwen.

"A Seeker is always prepared," he answered with a wink.

'How tacky.'

After a short while, both of the groups that they had encountered earlier showed up as well. They were just as quickly dispatched. 

"I'll have these thugs arrested and interrogated," said Enzo while wiping his hands clean. "We'll get what information we can out of them, but your eavesdropping already gave us the most valuable thing."

"Oh?" Gwen responded in surprise. "What's that?"

"If they are beginning to stage an attack, then they have no idea that we are raiding the monastery tomorrow."

'Raiding the monastery!? They're taking back Cloud Level?'

Her surprise must have been visible on her face, because Enzo chuckled.

"Would you and your squad like to come tomorrow? We have already recruited a few squads of adventurers, so it would be no hassle having another."

"There is nothing I would love more than to cleanse the blight from that holy place," Gwen said seriously. 

This made Enzo laugh heartily, confusing Gwen. "Sorry, I didn't take you for the pious type! Anyways, thanks for your help today. I will report your deeds directly to the general herself."

The two shook hands and parted ways as Gwen ran to deliver the news to Petra and Anne.