Chapter 7

I was lost by the time we ended up back in the southwestern portion of the city. If the capital had slums, we were in them. I didn't know why, though.

"Over here, Captain," a voice called.

He pointed, and we followed. Samantha put her arm in mine and guided me through the darkened alleyways between the stone hovels. Within moments, we found a group of guardsmen holding torches up, surrounding a shape on the ground.

"We want to know three things," the captain said, turning to me. "Who did it, who are they, and when did it happen?"

The last bit seemed funny. Not ha ha funny, but strange.

"Sure. I need a bit of room, and when my spell finishes, I'll need quiet."

"You'll have that," the captain said, then motioned to the guards to back off.

They did, leaving a dead gnome in my view. Samantha took a torch from a guard and held it up over the corpse. I could see where a knife had stabbed him in the shoulder, but no other wounds. There was more blood than I would have expected from a wound like that on the body, but not much on the ground. Wincing, and not quite wanting to do what came next, I touched the gnome's face and pulled an eyelid up. A bloodshot eye stared lifelessly back up at me. Then I started checking the pockets.

"I thought he was going to do the spell?" the Captain of the Guard said.

"I think I know what he's doing. Just give him a moment," Samantha whispered.

I made a small pile, including a bag of holding. There had been surprisingly little in his pockets and pouches. I touched the soles of his soft foot coverings, finding nothing hidden there. With a sigh, I took a knee and put my hand on the dead man's chest and started casting. I felt it when the spell completed; it was like a snap, and I could feel the drain of mana start.

"So I died?" the spirit asked, its body a formless shape with an ethereal glow around it.

"Yes. Somebody poisoned you, and it looks like they smothered you while you were weak. Who did it, and what's your name?"

"Clemson Harper. Never saw who threw the knife, but I got a glimpse of the bloke who had the pillow." That last bit came out sounding more like 'pillar' that pillow. "All dressed in black, with a mask. It was Teodoro Cavericci, I'd recognize him anywhere, mask or no."

"Good, we'll avenge you. What day did this happen?" I asked him.

He told us; surprisingly it had happened three days ago.

"Do you have any enemies we should know of?" I asked him.

"Aye, I ran afoul of Jerek—" I stumbled as my mana ran dry. I started to slump forward, but Samantha caught me, standing and holding me to her chest.

"Drink the potion," she said, pressing one to my lips.

I drank it, and soon my body was shuddering from the influx of mana.

"That's a bloody sight more than we were expecting. You did the physical examination before the spell to speed things along?"

"Yeah, because I still have a relatively small mana pool," I told them.

"Sorry, I should have drunk a potion while it was still active."

I looked at the corpse, and the spirit was gone.

"We got far more than we had anticipated. Here ya are, lad," the captain said, handing me over a small cloth coin pouch.

Not wanting to open it in front of a crowd, I just put it in my bag of holding.

"Let's go," Samantha said, putting her arm through mine.

I nodded and we started walking away. We'd made it two blocks when I saw a rain barrel and made her stop. I got a scoop of water out, and poured it over my hands, then washed them with a bit of soap I had in my bag of holding. Samantha rinsed them off for me, and I put the bar away, using my shirt to wipe off the worst of the water.

"Do you think the twins left our food and wine out?" I asked her hopefully.

"Oh, I doubt that," Samantha said.

"Oh." The word sounded more disappointed than I had meant for to.

In fact, I didn't want the date to end with a dead body.

"I thought we might head back to my place," she said with an impish grin.

"Oh!" A lot more excitement bled through.

TODAY WAS GLORIOUS. Actually my life was glorious. I didn't even have a hangover, and the last night's exertions... let's just say a stamina and health potion after the first hour or two does a lot when you're my age. What I didn't have was a lot of sleep. That was fine though. I found Samantha's privy outside her cottage, then headed back in to make sure I had everything in place.

I walked back in and marveled at her place. It was a small stone building. The first floor didn't have a very high ceiling, maybe six and a half feet tall. Weapons were almost as common on the wall as paintings, bright scenes that looked to be watercolors in frames with glass. So many contradictions for me to ponder here. Samantha Braylee was a formidable battle mage. In fact, she was a storm mage in her level thirties. Her age wasn't the only thing that'd shocked me, it was the fact that she was so high leveled. I'd only met few people like her; the Duke's family, Master Ironfist the blacksmith, Master Blackthorne, and James and Brinda Madder. Now?

"Lover." The voice came from upstairs. I followed it up to Samantha's bedroom, where the entire second floor was wrapped in windows.

They were set almost chest high, so if you were sitting at her small dressing table you could see out, just barely. But they let in a lot of light and gave privacy, even though there wasn't a shade in sight. What was in sight though? Samantha was laying on her side, the sheets artfully covering parts of her body, her silken blonde hair framing the swell of her bust.

"Good morning," I said, and I leaned down and gave her a kiss, running my fingers through her hair. She groaned softly.

"I was worried that this old lady had scared you off," she murmured.

"No, I just had to find... well..."

She laughed, nodding in understanding.

"I do need to get going back to the school though," I told her.

"I know. Thank you for last night," she said with a smile.

"I think it's me who should be thanking you, and if it's not too forward, maybe sometime I can perform some culinary magic of my own for you?"

"Magic, you? What are you, a bloody mage?" She was chuckling.

"Yes," I said, leaning down to kiss her tenderly. "But... this time, I'm paying… er… cooking."

"You can cook?" she asked.

"Quite well. Honestly, I know how to do quite a few things that I don't actually have a dedicated skill to. Some time I'd love to pick your brain about why that is, though."

"Hm... we'll see," she said, her hand trailing down my side. "The pick my brain part that is. If I haven't scared you off, I'd definitely love to have another date."

"You haven't scared me off," I told her. "I'd really like to see you again, and again, and again, and…" Her smile was the way I felt.

THE DOOR to my suite was of course locked, and as I worked the key, I could hear a murmur of voices from inside.

"Here he comes, shhhhh." Gavin's voice and a pair of giggles let me know who was in there.

"Lucy, I'm home," I said, getting the door open.

"Wow, even the walk of shame," Myra said with a snort.

I tilted my head and saw that the three girls were all on one couch, with Gavin on the other, shooting me two thumbs up.

"So you totally closed the dealio. I can see the smirk and the hickies!"

I closed and locked the door behind me.

"Thank you everybody," I told them.

"You really did?" Fel asked.

"I really did. Then I took a stamina and health potion, and closed the deal a third time, and a fourth time and then I took more potions and—" "Shhhhh, bro, don't... you'll give the girls ideas," Gavin said, playfully covering my mouth as Seery and Myra looked at him with something predatory in their eyes.

I nodded. He turned and walked their way, so I mouthed to them, "It works."

"So I also heard you got called out of the end of your date by the King's Guard," Seery said.

I was about to sit down, but paused, turning to look at her. She shrugged as Fel got up, letting Gavin take her place, and she came to sit down on the couch I lowered myself to.

"I did. There had been a murder. A gnome had been attacked and killed by what he described as somebody dressed in all black, with a face mask.

He'd recently ran afoul of a group, but didn't get to finish telling me who it was." This part was half true, he'd started to say it, unless it was a name.

"And you know this because...?" Fel asked.

"Oh, um..." I hesitated.

This was likely my five person team right here. Gavin, his girlfriends, and Felicity. Mentally I brought up my character sheet, and sent it over to everyone. They all slightly looked up and zoned out.

"No way, bro, you have, like, so many spells," Gavin said.

"Speak to the dead. I thought it had to be something like that," Seery said. "I... um... appreciate the sudden trust you've just shared with all of us."

"Same," Myra said, looking at me funny, like I had done something wrong.

"What?" I asked them.

"You like, just literally laid your soul bare, broski," Fel said in a bad imitation of Gavin.

"Hey, since when does this kid steal my lines?" Gavin complained.

"I'm older than all of you. Well, not Seery, I think we're roughly the same age."

"October?" Seery asked.

"The fifteenth," Fel said.

"Seriously? No way, man." Gavin always cracked me up, even when he was being serious. His speech reminded me of an Earth trope. All stoners sounded like drunken surfers or something.

"Wait, really?" Myra asked.

"Yup," Fel said. "You?"

"October fifteenth," Seery said. "We were born on the same day!"

I used a quick identify, and saw they were the same age. Exactly. I also saw that the bombshell was also a storm mage, much like my... um...

girlfriend? A level five one. In for a penny, in for a pound, I used identify on Myra as well. She was two years younger, and her class gave me pause.

"Shadow Dancer," she said, seeing me noticing that.

"What's... that?" I asked her.

"So like, get this," Gavin said. "A rogue, an illusionist, an assassin, and a spatial mage walk into the inn together. They pound back some fire whiskey, and have a love child. That sort of makes the class shadow dancer."

"My parents did not have a love child with—" "I got the metaphor," I told her, seeing she was about to get a little...

angry. "So your class is like somebody who multi classes, but you're more specialized."

"Yes," she said. "I'm a bit of a squishy glass cannon, but then again, somebody who can teleport through the shadows to strike from the darkness generally doesn't tank, do they?"

"No, they don't..." I said, my words trailing off.

"You have a thought. I know this look," Fel said. "It's like when you really have to use the privy, but you're trying to wait."

I burst out laughing. When I got it under control, I gave Fel a look. "I was thinking the five of us... I know we're all mages but... would it be nuts if we ran an instanced dungeon?"

"When?" Fel asked.

"What's wrong with today?" Myra asked, standing. "My family has weekly slots. I can see if they've used them up yet."

"Mine too," Seery said with a smile.

"Um..." I reached into my bag of holding, and came out with a brass coin.

It was actually a talisman with a thin chain on it. I gave it a look and handed it over.

"Dang... you got an all-inclusive pass, with the drink package to boot," Gavin said, handing it to the girls.

I so had to ask where he got his Earth references, because as far as I knew, he'd been born here.

"How?" Fel asked.

"It's how I made my money. I did some dungeons for Lady Natalia and her gobs, on gathering missions. I was the... um... security? Me and a couple others rotated the low level dungeons there. The talisman is mine from the two summers I worked there."

"Wait, you worked for Lady Natalia, the potions master?" Fel asked.

"I mean, it was part of my schooling. I took her classes at the keep, so when they wanted volunteers to be security for the goblin gathering teams, I raised my hand. I was a bit surprised that there wasn't a ton of interest, because I got to keep whatever loot or plants I harvested, and I got this coin to come and go whenever I wanted. With it an instanced dungeon. The only rule they ask is that nobody run a level 10 without getting her and James Madder's approval first."

"Dungeon management," Gavin said nodding.

"Does it work for other dungeons?" Fel asked me.

"No, but it'll get us consideration if we request to run others. I hear Highspire has a couple, and it's said Baron Cromwell's got one as well.

Probably not enough people running them now a days," I said with a shrug.

"Well, my man, we need to either put more perfume on you, or you need to go wash up and get my clothes back to me when they don't smell like Professor Braylee."

I turned to see him smiling.

"I didn't tell him, he figured it out from what you let slip," Fel said.

"That's cool," I told them all. "I'm going to wash up and change. Any chance there's a bucket warming in the hearth?"

"In fact there is," Gavin said, pointing.

It had only been roughly a week, but I was already starting to reconsider how badly my life actually sucked. Yes, I was still in the afterglow of mind blowing sex with an elven goddess... so maybe that was why I was so happy.

I grabbed the two buckets, and headed into the bathroom. One was a bit too hot, so I topped it off with cold water from the pump until it was perfect. Then I stripped and washed up completely. By the time I was dressed and got my belt on, there was a knock at the bathroom door.

"Did you fall in, bro?" Gavin asked.

I snorted and pushed the door open.

"Whoa, he sorta looks all edge lord emo evil super villain type, doesn't he?" Gavin asked his girls.

"I don't even know what most of those words mean," Seery said.

"Me neither, girl. Fel?"

"I don't understand most of what falls out of Gavin's mouth," she replied.

I just snorted, making sure my belt was secured and my potion loops were full. And... they weren't. I'd used up everything I owned last night.

Shit.

"I got it, and yeah... I got the outfit and cloak as part of that reward where I got my bag of holding. Just the cloak is enchanted with muffle."

"Badass, man. So are we really doing this?" Gavin asked. "I totally got to go get my gear and focus if we are."

"Yeah, go ahead," I told him with a laugh. "Want to meet at Lady Natalia's? I sorta have to restock supplies."

"That works. I wouldn't mind heading to the enchanter's shop too," Gavin told me.

"Oh yeah, I forgot she's up and running now. I've never been there though," I told them.

"I heard she's smoking," Fel said, then put a hand over her mouth as she turned red in the face.

"So we'll definitely go there," I said, bumping Fel with my hip. "Do you need to get ready?"

"I don't normally use a focus, and I'm already wearing appropriate attire," she said with a shrug.

"Ok, see you guys there," I told them as we all left our suite.