Chapter 56 - The Watch

“Where were you?” Kass asked as I ran back. “I thought you were watching our backs.” She and Calliope had pretty much all the people out of their cages, and they were performing triage on the injured. Most people were huddled together at the entrance to the warehouse lot, and the street was filling up with people. That wasn’t super surprising to me. Even though it was a fairly isolated area, it probably didn’t take long for word of an entire building turning ghostly to get around.

“I’m sorry,” I replied, panting slightly as I ran back. “The ‘Guests’ were still running loose, and I wanted to make sure they didn’t do any more damage,” I said with a lowered voice.

“Fuck… I hope you killed them,” Kass growled as she directed her elementals to rip the door off the last cage.

“I stopped them, that’s all that matters,” I replied. “I think Lanivia has pretty much wrangled up the rest of the staff. Did you find the girls?”

Kass nodded. “Luckily they were still in the new arrivals area, and hadn’t been put on the floor yet. They were a little shaken up, but wanted to help, so they’re keeping an eye on everyone for us,” she said, pointing at the small crowd gathered at the front of the compound.

As she gestured at the group, I could see a commotion on the road behind them. The gawkers on the street were being forcibly disbanded by a small, makeshift looking group. “Why the hell are there adventurers here?” I asked.

“The majority of the militia is made up of conventional troops, but most cities also keep a moderate number of adventurers on the payroll, in case of wild monster attacks.” Calliope said, as she gently helped the last group of detainees to their feet. “We should go talk to them.”

The leader of the adventurers seemed to be an ancient looking gnome, who was directing several animals to push the crowd back and make room. “I suppose you lot are responsible for all this,” he said wearily. “You want to tell me why I have a half invisible building, and a road full of injured people?”

“It’s actually immaterial, not just invisible,” I corrected him, which earned me a sour look from the old gnome.

“What my friend means,” Kass said, cutting in, “is we were investigating the disappearance of some of our employees, and discovered a blood dungeon.” I noticed the old gnome’s already cranky expression darken. “When our boss found out she… reacted strongly.”

“And who the hell is your boss? Look, I don’t care who you are, you should be reporting this to the guard, instead of taking justice into your own hands,” the gnome growled.

One of the younger adventurers, an elf with a massive greatsword, came over and crouched by the gnome. Even though he was whispering, I could hear what he was saying. “Angus, don’t you recognize them? They work at the dungeon.”

“So what?” the gnome grumbled.

“So, the boss they’re talking about is the lich! Stop trying to threaten them,” the elf hissed.

Angus grumbled to himself, then took a deep breath, and turned back towards us. “My apologies. You all did good work here today, I was just caught off guard by both the scale of this crime, I didn’t mean to take it out on you. You mentioned your boss was here? On site?”

“That’s right, last time I saw her she was floating around, collecting pretty much everyone on the premises,” I replied. “Oh, speaking of which, you might want to bring a couple dozen extra men, or prison wagons, or something. She’s going to have a lot of criminals to drop off when she’s done, and I doubt she’s in the mood to stand around waiting.”

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“You’re saying that the archlich might get violent?” the elf asked, quietly.

I just pointed back at the half corporeal building behind us. “She doesn’t normally do shit like that when she’s calm,” I replied.

“Noted,” Argus said, before turning to his younger friend. “Micheal, run to the nearest watch building, and rouse the entire garrison. Use my name if you have to, but get EVERYONE here, including the support teams.”

The elf nodded, and took off in a sprint. After a quick run up he accelerated to an unnatural speed, he must have known some sort of acceleration magic.

Once he was gone, Angus turned back towards us. “My team will handle the crowd, and look after the victims. I’d appreciate it if you lot stuck around, until the chief investigator arrived.”

“You’re not going to order us?” Calliope asked.

“Look, I may not be up to date on the whole dungeon scene, I retired from the circuit years ago, but I know who your boss is. If she wants you to leave, no one is going to argue with her,” the gnome grumbled. “It would really help if you stuck around to answer questions, but in this town no one’s going to stop you.”

“Won’t that cause issues with the investigation? Obstruction of justice or something?” I asked, surprised.

“Are you joking?” the gnome asked. “Your boss predates not only this city, but the entire country. Many of the earliest laws were either created at her request, or in order to prevent people from aggravating her. No one in this city would dare imprison her people, or doubt her word in a situation like this. Assuming she IS actually here.”

“I am,” Lanivia’s voice echoed out. I twisted in surprise to find her standing not even two feet behind me, her disguise back in place. “I’ve taken the liberty of collecting those involved with this operation, including their backers,” she declared, before holding out a small book. “They’re all imprisoned here, along with a record of their crimes. Just rip out a page when you want to release one of them,” she said casually.

Angus noticeably paled, at her appearance. He gingerly reached out and took the tome from her hands, holding it as far away from himself as he possibly could. “Thank you ma’am.”

“I admit, I may have gone a little overboard,” Lanivia said dismissively, she waved a hand over her shoulder and an instant later all the elementals were dismissed and the building was re-constituted. “It’s been awhile since someone has been so brazen to open a torture pit within the city, never mind kidnapping some of my own people. Please ask the watch commander to stop by the manor once the investigation is finished, I’d like an explanation on how this place managed to go undetected for so long.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Angus managed to choke out.

“Very good. Then, if you’ll excuse me, I want to check on the girls,” Lanivia said, turning away.

“Excuse me, boss,” I called to Lanivia, before she stepped away. “Are you… okay? You seemed well, pretty pissed there for a while.”

She paused, and glanced back. “Yes, I have recovered myself,” Lanivia said, beckoning for me to walk with her. “I apologize for showing you such an unsightly display. Although eternal life has many advantages, one major downside is my… memories, and emotions, from the day of my ascension are as raw today, as they were back then. Let me tell you, the world was very different back then, and I promised myself that I would do my best to protect people from some of the torment I experienced.”

“Are you sure you should be telling me this?” I asked hesitantly, slowing down half a step.

“It’s hardly a secret,” she replied with a laugh. “Most of the information is available in the history books. I just don’t speak about it much.” She flashed me a smile, so natural looking I forgot I was looking at an illusion. “Thank you for checking on me, but I’m fine.”

A moment later she disappeared into the crowd, I could only assume it was to find Adriena and Bree. I ran our conversation over in my mind, Lanivia to have such an extreme reaction to this dungeon, something major must have happened to her. I resolved to pick up some history books once we got home, so I could determine why.

Out on the street I could hear yelling, and whistles, as the city watch flooded the area. George huffed at the spectacle, and I couldn’t blame him. It looked like they were more interested in putting on a good show for the city’s patron, than efficiently solving the crime. There were some people checking on the injured, and beginning interviews, so I wandered back towards Kass and Calliope. The sooner we gave our statements, the faster we could get the girls home.