I was still hesitant to leave the ork patrols to their business but hopefully taking out the thaumaturge would at least slow them down. The house at least looked far less defended than the idiot’s mansion had been. I would be done quickly.

It was still early in the night, at least six or seven hours left before dawn. Hopefully, my target would sleep early. My biggest worry was defensive items on the thaumaturge’s person. He might be wearing some rings wherever he went. That would have to wait for after my infiltration.

I decided to be careful with my approach. I had just recently stolen his runic matrix and the ork knew I could fly. It was likely he expected an approach from above. Still, that was my best bet for scouting. The town laid silent in the midst of the night, barely a soul out on the street. Some goblins were up to something a little to the south. They huddled in the darkness a few dozen metres away from the closest buildings. From their equipment, I concluded they were preparing to leave. Or they had just travelled here. The latter case seemed unlikely with how they stood outside the village’s border in the middle of the night. Probably, the orks had bullied them even worse in the last weeks and whoever was still alive made for greener pastures.

While silent in the streets, the same could not be said about the buildings, especially those near the plaza. Several of them had lighting in the form of vis crystals active on their walls with voices coming from inside. The thaumaturge’s home was much quieter, luckily. Still, light came through the windows and I heard some shuffling or cursing every now and then. For defences, he had set up a small squad of golems on the roof. I did not know how he got them up there but they were equipped with a quiver full of darts and some sort of launcher on their wrists. I only noticed the launcher thanks to the concentrated air and flight mana accumulated around it. They also wore little monocles engulfed in sensus mana.

I already knew how to get past them. From some of the reading I had done in the Thaumonomicon, golems ‘saw’ their surroundings through its aspects. They also were not very bright. It should be more than enough to use [Mingling] and hide my body in a layer of air mana. I took a few minutes to carefully align my magical appearance with my surroundings before finally dropping into the courtyard once more. Not a single golem reacted to my presence. I kept the mana signature up for now since I did not know if the constructs could ‘see’ around or through walls. I found it unlikely with the simplistic magic this ork was using but rather safe than sorry.

This was the first time I would enter this building. I had to watch out for defensive measures, especially around the entrance. It was filled with magic, that much was obvious. A look at the windows gave me a much easier approach. They were still trapped but not well enough to stop me.

I made my way to a window at ground level. It was right next to the door. If I was a thaumaturge, I would place my alchemical furnace close to my infusion altar. I was doing that, actually. That was why I went for that specific window. I eyed the magical safety measures and found them lacking. They were a simple trigger for an alarm and an electric shock if the window was opened. Granted, the discharge seemed powerful enough to kill a goblin but it could not stop me.

My shadows quietly slipped through the small gap between window and frame and with a small exertion of my will, I was inside. From there, I decided to be sparse with my mana use. Whatever protections the thaumaturge had, I needed the power to punch through. First, though, his workshop. Which I found myself inside of at that very moment. It looked… unorganized. There were several workbenches covered in half-finished artefacts and open books. The back wall was covered by a shelf holding partially filled jars. Tiny stairs led up letting the two golems nearby access them easily. They were inert and standing next to an alchemical furnace. A triple set of arcane alembics was attached on top. I wanted them.

The golems needed to go. The easiest option would be destruction but I was worried about the noise. They were made from fired clay and I would have to exert quite a bit of force to break them. The second easiest option was a little risky as well. I still went with it.

I stepped up to the two unmoving bodies. Slowly my shadows extended around them. They were at most 30 centimetres tall and I could easily lift them. Then, I activated my [Owl Stomach]. The storage portal opened and I held for a moment, waiting to see a reaction. Nothing happened, so I pulled the two figures into my storage.

The alembics were next. A set of pipes let them disperse their essentia into a set of jars at ground-level most likely to let the golems access it more easily. It might make a lot of noise to steal the thing if I was not careful. That could be a good distraction to draw in my target. I decided to fill up on jars while I was here and helped myself to the two dozen containers sitting on the shelves. When they entered my storage, the essentia immediately dissipated into the Empty but at least the glass was still there.

Then came the hard part. I slowly and carefully disassembled the stack of alembics from the furnace and pipes. The metal went straight to storage for later use. Then, I picked up the topmost alembic with my shadows and carefully lifted it into my storage. Easy. The other two were no more problematic.

Now, only the thaumaturge was left. The target for tonight. I had what I needed for my crafting so I could just leave but it would be a waste to not at least scout out the defences. I carefully searched the house, still [Mingling] with my surroundings to make myself appear as a gust of air to magical senses. My own were running overtime, looking for any possible risks. Besides the doors and windows, there was… nothing. Not a single trap or hindrance barred my way on the bottom floor. Only going up showed me what he really used. Golems. The upper floor was patrolled by a set of two iron and several wood golems. They all held the same bolt-blasters as the ones on the roof. And they could not see me.

I slowly made my way through the hallway. It went around the courtyard in a U-shape only blocked on one side of the building by a large room. I heard the ork from in there. Both ends had a door and both doors were guarded by half a dozen iron golems. Those had to be the best he could make. This time, bolt-blasters were not the only weapons. They also had tiny swords and spears to cut heels and poke thighs.

Because of how small the doors were, I would have difficulty sneaking past them. The small figures stood attentive and so close, I was not confident in my [Mingling] to go unnoticed. Some of the other golems had already stopped when I walked too close during my exploration of the upper floor. Another entrance was necessary. What about the roof? Too risky. I would only have two more [Eldritch Shift]s after getting outside and then back inside again, needing one of them to leave in case things went wrong. If I could not find a way to get in with only one shift… Why did I not just do that through one of the main doors? No. The risk of going directly into the room was too large without knowing the thaumaturge’s line of sight or how occupied he was with his work.

Maybe I just had to go for him some other time. I decided to keep looking for a little longer but could not find another way. The walls of stone had no gaps, either. I had to wait for him to go to sleep. The best chance I had would be to find his bedroom. I went back downstairs in the hopes of it being there. It was not. That meant I had to wait for him to leave his workshop.

I settled in a corner somewhere on the opposite side of the large room, keeping an eye on my mana usage. I had about three hours before I would leave, no matter what. That time was spent on the golems’ patrolling patterns. I found the two iron ones going back and forth around the corners of the hallway. Most of the time, one of them was in the part of the building where I hid. The wood golems turned out to be a total of seven. Looking a bit closer, I found them moving much more smoothly. The wood was more dynamic and the reduced weight made their energy use more efficient. They looked less sturdy, yes, but would have a much easier time moving where they were needed. They were also made of greatwood, which explained why they were rarer than iron. They would still be easier to destroy than the metal versions if it came down to a fight. I wondered if the constructs had a status screen.

Before I could confirm, the lights in the workshop went out. I heard the door to my left open. Fast steps quickly followed but only four of them, before another door opened. The golems either did not notice the movement or ignored it.

I made my way around the corner, eyeing the door the thaumaturge had most likely entered. It was suddenly filled with magic, similar to what protected the building’s entrances. The same was true for the workshop. I mentally sighed. I had missed my shot. Waiting for another chance was a huge risk with the threat on the goblins. I would have to come back in a few days to clean this up. Probably to more defences. Unless he had no other alchemical furnace and needed that one. I doubted it. Without the runic matrix, the most it could do for him is ease the alchemical process with refined essentia.

It was time to get back to my workshop and set up the finishing touches. Maybe the golems would even work for me? I had to read up on that but I lacked time. For now, manual crafting had to suffice.