“And why a commoner’s graveyard?” Aubert complained.

That stopped me for a second. “Are you complaining because you think I’m going to murder you and leave you in a hole that’s beneath your station? And it’s the second part that offends you?”

“That would be stupid,” he said. “I just - it's not - this is not the sort of place that I would normally go to. Paying respects -“ he cut himself off.

“-to commoner dead?” I finished for him. “Don’t worry, you’re here to learn a lesson.” I turned away and started following the directions that Aesrideu had left me. A few turns, and a lot of counting, eventually found me at my destination.

“Here we are,” I said, indicating the stone. “Estelle Marcheterre.”

Aubert blanched. “What!” he said, turning to the stone, his eyes scouring it for every detail. There wasn’t much. “It was only two years… she was too young?”

“Knew her, did you?” I asked, though I already knew the answer. I’d guessed I’d find something like this when I sent Aesrideu looking for stories about the lordling. Sometimes you can get everything you want and not be very happy.

“We were in love,” he said dully.

“I don’t know the full story,” I said. “My informant didn’t want to open up old wounds for the parents, so he relied on third-hand reports. You were actually there for the first half, so I’d like to know your side.”

“There’s not much to tell,” he said. “Her parents… didn’t approve. They forbid her from seeing me, I abided by their wishes. That’s where the story ends. At least my involvement in it.”

“Not quite,” I said. “You see, she was pregnant.”

“With-“ he started, but I interrupted.

“You’ll feel better if you don’t ask that question. But yes, as far as the neighbourhood gossip goes, you were the father. She fought with her parents about it, and left home.”

“She would have come to me!” Aubert insisted. “If that happened, I would have provided for her…”

“Like the others?” I asked. “I’m curious about how many bastards you’ve fathered already at your age, but don’t tell me.”

Aubert glowered at me. “Why didn’t she come to me?”

“I don’t know why she didn’t,” I said. “I only know that she left her family and got a job in a different tavern. It wasn’t as nice, and she had to live on her own, but that’s what she did.”

I sighed, and pointed at the grave next door. “She died during complications in childbirth.” The stone read ‘Unnamed daughter of Estelle Marcheterre.’ “She might have lived,” I continued, “If she’d been able to afford a [Healer], which she would have been if she reached out to you. Which she didn’t.”

“Why?” he asked me again.

“I don’t know,” I said. “The only reason I can think of is that she hated you so much that she was willing to risk her life keeping you out of it.”

“But she loved me!” he protested.

“That’s… not what it looks like from where I’m standing.” I told him.

“I preferred it when you were humiliating me,” he said, shoulders slumped. “This… hurts. What lesson am I supposed to learn from this?”

“I’m hoping,” I said, “That this will show you that just because you think someone likes you, it isn’t necessarily so. Your wealth, your power, your Skills, will make people smile and flatter you because they’re too scared to do anything else.”

“So all affection is false?” he said grimly. “Are you sure you’re not a noble?”

“No, you idiot. People like each other for real all the time. The difference is respect.”

“Respect,” he repeated thoughtfully. “You’re saying that I wasn’t respectful towards Estelle?”

“I wasn’t there,” I said. “And she’s dead. The only one who can answer that is you. Have a think about it.”

After all that, the sewers came as almost a relief. Almost. Unlike every sewer I’d seen in a film, these sewers had a raised platform running though the middle of the stream. It meant that you were right under the highest part of the curved ceiling as you crept along, while fetid water flowed on either side.

Cloridan and I were mapping out the sewer system. Neither of us were happy about it, but if we wanted to get the jump of the Thieves guild, we needed to know the way around their neighbourhood.

I’d planned on doing this alone, as it would probably be safest for me to do this invisible, but Cloridan had pointed out, reluctantly, that the Guild probably relied on traps more than guides, and his skills would be needed. Then he’d recovered his senses and spouted a lot of nonsense about putting his body between any ‘fair flower’ and any danger, but the first part made sense.

Once in the sewers, he was all business, insisting on silence and an excess of caution. He taught me a few hand signs, we braced ourselves against the smell, and in we went.

Progress was slow, this was the second day and we still weren’t close to mapping the full network. As Cloridan had suspected, there were traps.

This can’t be good for sewer maintenance. I thought as I watched Cloridan temporarily disable a hidden mechanism so we could get past it. Maybe they know where the traps are? Or the guild knows where they do maintenance and disable the traps beforehand.

Most of these traps were pretty permanent. There was the occasional trip wire, but a lot of them were dug into the walls and floor, the stones removed and replaced. We were noting the location of all them, and would be comparing the layout with the historical plans we’d gotten from the Count.

The only warning I got was a shouted “Move!” from Cloridan. Suddenly there was a massive crash all around me, pain, and darkness.

The next thing I knew, I could hear voices.

“Whoo, what a mess!”

“Good thing we don’t have to clean it up.”

What happened? I wondered. I was still groggy, because the box that told me was still in my face.

You have taken 200 damage!

You have been stunned from massive damage.

We must have triggered a trap.

I tried to move, and found it… difficult. I managed to get an arm up, dislodging some rocks.

Rocks… a deadfall trap, rocks coming down between Cloridan and me.

It was dark, that’s why I couldn’t see. My light spell had gone… I went to cast it again, but then I remembered.

Voices. Oh shit.

There was a light coming from the other side of the pile, where Cloridan was. They were probably Thieves guild.

“Hey, you see that? We got somebody!”

Shit. First things first. I cast [Greater Invisibility] again, and then started freeing myself from the rockfall. Fortunately, they were all fairly small, rounded rocks. From a river, I guess. Did they use these so that they would tumble correctly? They used a lot of them, whoever they were. The pile of rocks had blocked the channel completely and formed a pile about a metre above the old water level.

I managed to clear myself, but not without attracting attention.

“You hear that? Somebody on the other side?”

“Go check it out,”

I heard a clattering of rocks from the other side. Well, time to try an old classic. [Phantasmal Entity]

“Fuck!” The climber reached the top of the pile, only to be greeted by foot long rat, that hissed at him… and then ran away. “Just a rat!” he called, and gave the area a cursory look round. “Nothing else.”

He slid back down to the other side, and I used the racket he made to cover my own climb.

“Whoo, they sure took the time to do a proper trap in the old days, hey?”

“Stop gawping and help me with this guy.”

Below were five people. Three were human and two were some animal-kin that I couldn’t identify in the darkness. They had pulled Cloridan out of the rubble and were tying him up. Hopefully that meant he was alive.

Speaking of alive. I pulled out a healing potion and consumed it, immediately feeling better. I could have used the other one, but I only had two and Cloridan had just lost his.

[Body Development] Level 3 acquired through use

For gaining a skill level you have been awarded 1 XP

“Hey, he’s got enchanted weapons!” one of the animal-kin called.

“Nice,” said a human. “Undead bane - must be one of the new ones they’re selling now. I hadn’t heard they were doing daggers.”

They bickered over who was going to keep the blades as they headed back down the tunnel. I followed silently, and I had my rat come along too. It might come in useful later. Phantasmal animals couldn’t do damage, but they could soak up a fair bit before disappearing. And they were always good for a distraction.

They only had to travel for a short distance before they stopped. Their leader banged on the ceiling with his club. To my surprise, the stonework rang with a hollow sound, instead of the dull thud that I’d expected.

There was a sharp clang, and a light shone down from the ceiling. The leader stood square in it, looking up. “Viridian Monkey,” he said sourly. There were scraping sounds, and then more light shone, as the ceiling opened up and ladder came down.

I needed to get up that ladder. If the trapdoor only opened from the other side, this was my only chance to get into the house above. Maybe I could figure out where it was from the sewer maps, but I really didn’t like my chances.

Of course my chances of getting up the ladder and into a room filled with at least 6 people didn’t seem high either. I watched as they efficiently got the unconscious Cloridan up the ladder with the aid of a rope. One by one, the remaining thieves headed up. When there was only one left, I made my move.

Sic em, Rex, I thought, and sent my rat in. He couldn’t actually hurt them, but no one wanted a rat climbing up them. The man on the ladder cursed, and let go to take a swipe at the furry bastard. That wasn’t the best idea, as he fell off the ladder and fell into the sewage below. Acting according to my will, the rat jumped off him and scampered up the ladder.

I was right behind, as I could direct him properly without eyes on him. When I poked my head above the trapdoor, I saw a scene of instant chaos. It looked like everyone had either lunged towards the rat and collided with each other, or flinched away and tripped over one of the bodies on the floor. Cloridan had been the first of these, but now there were three thrashing bodies on the ground - someone yelling “Get it off me!” and five fools running around chasing after the rat.

I had it move into the farthest corner of the room, and slipped into the space that made. Once I was out of the way, I had Rex run between their feet and drop back down into the sewer. He didn’t even make it to the ground before I cancelled the spell. When one of the cursing thieves ran to the trapdoor to take a look, there was nothing to see.

“Goddam you idiots, falling over yourselves over just one rat!” One of the meaner looking humans yelled. The others mumbled into the ground, and didn’t mention that she - I was pretty sure she was female - had been fumbling around with the rest of them.

“Get this guy to the cells and tie his fingers - he might be a mage. We’re supposed to be on the lookout for an illusionist.”

They went about their business while I quietly watched. Tying up Cloridan and moving him - they could be quite professional when they weren’t distracted. Two of the four that ended up carrying him out were the ones that had ended up with Cloridan’s knives. I had noticed that they hadn’t brought those items to the boss woman’s attention.

I followed them, along a corridor to another room. I thought that we might be still underground, but not by much. Noises from above made me think were at cellar level, and that this corridor had been dug out to connect the cellars of at least three buildings.

The ‘cells’ were four closet-sized rooms arranged along the side of a larger one. It looked like it was setup for guards to watch over the cells, but no one was there when we arrived, and the porters didn’t stay. They put Cloridan in one of the cells, locked the door and put the keys back on the wall, and then left.

I sighed. This was making it too easy. I pulled out a piton and moved over to the exit. The piton was part of the adventurers kit that I’d picked up on the other’s advice. A few items that had multiple uses. This door opened inwards, so I jammed the piton into the gap in the doorframe on the side with the hinges. Now the door couldn’t open without crushing the piton - in practice the door or the hinges would break first.

Confident that we wouldn’t be surprised by visitors, I now unlocked the cell door and moved over to Cloridan. I lifted him up and poured a healing potion down his throat, then held him steady as he jerked around in shock.

“What- what's going on?” he asked, confused.

“Well,” I said, taking my knife to his bonds, “The good news is that we’ve found the Thieves guild hideout.”