Vorm and Lurk moved quietly and quickly from building to building, keeping a keen eye on the forest and hills outside the city in the direction of the goblin cave. They had both been scouting around seeing if they could spot any of Vrek's goblins to perhaps even take some of them out.

Lurk estimated there to be around 40-50 goblins still left. Vrek and two bosses included. But they had been unlucky to not spot any groups and were cautious to not go too near the cave. But today they had to go Lurk had decided, He needed intel on the goblins and what they were doing. He was still worried about traveling with all the women towards human lands if the goblins suddenly came in from behind and attacked them.

It would be a bloodbath in such an open environment with too many goblins to handle. Lurk wanted to whittle the goblins down in numbers, but he also had another motive. He was feeling guilty about leaving Bellie behind due to his failure to notice the [Evil] trait that had given him a suggestion he did not ignore. It was nagging him in his head constantly about this decision he took.

But he primarily wanted to kill more of the goblins and see if he could get rid of Vrek before Xarn would return, which he saw as an even more dangerous development. From what he understood of Xarn he was powerful and able to wield magic, and he seemed to be intelligent.

Vorm leads the way through the city, using as many locations to hide behind out of sight from the forest. Lurk had to give it to Vorm that he was incredibly good at behind hidden and observant at his surroundings. Lurk had better vision due to the trait he had that improved his senses. So he kept a keen eye on the forest as Vorm moved them to the edge of the city, hiding near the broken down walls.

Having not seen any onlookers Lurk decided it was safe and they made the move from the walls across to forest. They made their way past the camp setups Lurk had delegated seeing signs of remains as nature had cleaned away the dead goblins, Today they were going closer than ever to the cave in hopes of getting a feel on what Vrek was up to. If he was simply hiding and not doing anything Lurk might change his plans and try to leave with the women towards the nearby canyon city that blocked entry into human lands.

They got near to the cave when Lurk noticed a group of goblins hiding, there were at least 15 of them spread out hiding behind trees and rocks. One of the bosses was with them. Vorm had stopped and waited out of sight along with Lurk.

("They have guards outside of the cave... Its way to close to the cave and they are spread out...")

Lurk looked around and saw a path to get past them without disturbing any of them. It was a bit of a trek but it was easy enough. Lurk thought it would be impossible to kill all of them before they managed to get away, and that would alert Vrek to the fact he was still in the area and had not fled long ago.

("Maybe I should have fled long ago with the women... Maybe it would have been possible if not for the damn collars...")

Lurk had noticed that the women wearing the collars would suddenly become filled with pain if they went too far away from the control rod. Basically binding them to stay within range of it... This was just one problem with the collars. What would happen to the women if they went back to civilization with the collars on? Would someone take them off for them?.

From what he could gather it was a possibility. But there was a chance someone would take the chance and capture the women. They would have no one to protect the control rod since all the women without collars on were not powerful and were simple peasants. Lurk had begun examining the collars and as many runes as he could find in the Workshop. He had gained many ranks in his new skill.

[Magic Knowledge: Runes] 1.7

[Crafting: Runes] 0.2

The crafting skill was incredibly hard to do, he tried writing on some leather bracers but it was clumsy and slow work and despite making many of the runes it never worked with any effect. Her had basically turned a bracer into a carved up piece of scrap leather in his experimenting.

("Maybe we should just move towards human lands now... Hope the women can handle themselves...")

Lurk thought to himself as they snuck past the perimeter guards and headed to the cave. After a short while, they reached the rocky deformation that leads into the ground down to the cave. Lurk and Vorm saw goblins standing guard around the area as they got near.

Vorm put a hand on Lurk shoulder and pointed towards a lanky goblin with very long arms.

"This is not one of our gobs boss..." Vorm said quietly.

"What??" Lurk stared at the goblin, he had to admit he had not seen any goblin with that body type before... But as he thought back he recalls sitting back in the basket looking out at the goblins gathering equipment he had seen that goblin after all...

"It is one of Shaman Boor's goblins... One of the other caves has sent a boss here..." Vorm said quietly to Lurk, he gritted his teeth now that reinforcements have arrived, and it was the shaman that could heal...

"Let us go back..." Lurk said quietly as he and Vorm fade into the forest and began their trek back home to the workshop, Lurk pondering constantly on the trip back

"... What should I do now..."

---

Managing to slip back to the town and not seeing any goblins in the vicinity of the town. Lurk was faced with a dilemma. Try and escape now, Risk the women to handle themselves with the collars on.

Or spend more time trying to examine the collars to try and free the women from them...

Lurk stepped down into the Workshop with Vorm, he went over to check up on the goblins, he had a schedule with them every day to explain to them how he wanted them to act and resist the trait. If they did not know what was "wrong" to do the trait would just make them do it without any hindrance. But right now he wanted to see if Aurk's wound was healing or not. Vorm took the boar they had managed to hunt on the way back over to be treated and cooked.

"Boss, how did it go?" Aurk asked putting a hand on his chest, the other goblins nearby also did the same and nodded to Lurk with reverence. Lurk responded in kind, this was one of the acts he had imposed on them to secure an order of such, and creating a more advanced group system than, I am the loudest and strongest. All the goblins had proper clothing on and did look a lot more civilized compared to them being half naked fighting each other over small slights and tiny disagreements.

"Not good I am afraid. How are your arm and eye doing?" Lurk looked Aurk over and could easily see that the eye socket around Aurk's wounded eye was slightly red and with the same veins gathered around it, like with Lurks own hand that was regenerating.

"Sore, but I have not regained my vision as of yet boss. My arm has not had any change yet."

Lurk opened up Aurk's eye after making a motion that he wanted to examine it. And a bulbous mass had grown inside the before sealed up wound, but it did not look like an eye yet. Lurk nodded and held out his hand as Aurk undid the wolf fur bracer on his arm to reveal his mangled arm, the bone was slightly crooked and it had clearly been set badly. Lurk examined it closely but nothing seemed to have healed. The spell clearly ignored the lack of a proper wound or a missing limb or it was simply moving infinitesimally slowly because of the bone had already been set and healed long ago.

Lurk rubbed his chin and thought about how to fix his arm, but he could only come to one conclusion that he was not quite ready to do yet. He had a few changes he wanted to make to his spells first.

"I might need to break your arm later Aurk, it is not changing from the spell... But not until we are safe... A new boss has joined up with Vrek. Apparently, it is Boor the shaman."

"Boor??.." Aurk nodded with a tense look.

"Vrek must have sent out gobs to gather the other parties from their hiding spots... There will soon be a lot of goblins here in this area... This is bad boss." Aurk said after pondering for a while.

"I know... We might have to leave soon, be sure the teams are ready to move out Aurk" Lurk nodded as Aurk stated his thoughts and patted Aurk on the shoulder giving his order, he made his way over to Emily who seemed to be sleeping, another woman was wielding the shield and sword Lurk had given her. As Lurk approached she prodded Emily that sat up startled and took the sword and shield, moving over to stand between Lurk and the women, something she had been doing ever since she had been put in charge. She stared at Lurk

Lurk thought she was still very defensive but he could not blame her. She had been through a hellish ordeal, it was actually the first time he had seen her sleep since they had been freed. Lurk approached and nodded to her. She simply stared back into his eyes. Though from her sudden movement from getting up and taking the sword now she seemed more calm and ready.

("She sure is ready fast..") Lurk thought to himself before beginning to inform Emily of the situation.

"We have been scouting the cave, and I am afraid we might have to leave soon, more goblins have gathered and they seem to be rejoining into one force. We might have to drop you off at the humans before getting the collars of you..." Lurk said plainly and calmly, Emily staring at him as he gave her the news, she gritted her teeth hearing that.

"I thought you said you could remove the collars," Emily said with a harsh tone.

"I was hoping for that too, I can understand how the arcane runes function to a degree, but my attempts at changing or influencing them have failed, I was hoping to study it more but time has run out I am afraid... We might need to get ready to move soon." Lurk was telling Emily what he had gathered so far from his brief study of the collars, he could tell that the women nearby were getting distraught hearing that the collars could not be taken off. The women that were not collared though seemed slightly more elated, some had argued they could handle the control rod and try to get them all the way back to a city to find someone that could cancel out the rods effects.

But Emily said it was unlikely such a person was to be easily found, putting the women in a precarious situation since slavery was allowed in the kingdom and they had no proof except the control rod in their hands was used to entrap them. Normally proper collars did not require a control rod and this one was not one Emily had ever heard about.

"I will redouble my efforts in the time we have left... Scouts will go out here to check the path towards the canyon city and when they get back we will leave." Lurk nodded looking conflicted, Emily stared at him as he went over to the storeroom where he instantly yelled out to Sala.

"Don't train Lula yet!!"

"What! Sala is just fighting her with her fingers!"

"I was gonna stop her but honestly Lula seemed to like it"

"Hello, master welcome back."

Hearing Lurk giving Sala an ear full and Resti's calm demeanor followed by Sylvie's response, Emily clicked her tongue and sat back down staring at the doorway.

"I knew we could not trust him..." Emily gritted her teeth.

Meanwhile, inside the storeroom, Lurk had picked up Lula and said hello, the small goblin smiling back at him, making his heart melt a little inside. He handed Lula back to Sala who was also grinning.

"Are you all doing alright?" Lurk asked them as he went by to check them individually.

"I do not know about the others but I have been having a starving feeling, despite having eaten" Resti responded first, Lurk nodded as he knew their bodies would be requiring a lot of food.

"Master, Sylvie has also been hungry. But also..." Sylvie also responded but then looked away.

"Yes?" Lurk's eyebrow lifted slightly as he waited for Sylvie's response.

"Uhm, Thank you for removing my curse... I have never had so much mana before." Sylvie bowed her head slightly towards Lurk.

"Ah, you are welcome... I merely found a way for us to share our mana with each other" Lurk said as he sat down over by a collection of items and books he had collected in one corner of the room on an empty box there was in here.

"How, did you do that exactly" asked Resti who along with Sylvie shuffled over to look at what Lurk was about to experiment with, something he had been doing on and off since they had been here, he had looked over potions and the items the adventurers had with them, and staring at the books that none of them could read.

Lurk pondered if he should explain how he copied Sylvie's twin link ability. He began rummaging through the many knickknacks he had collected in from the kobolds and the workshop looking at them to discern if they had any use. While he also readied the Control rod and a couple of unused collars.

"Well... When I saw Sylvie's children with my ability I saw the potential to link souls, the twins you are carrying have this connection, I managed to make a version of it that allowed you to use my mana."

Lurk explained it somewhat, but did not go into detail about the fact that it was actually Sylvie's own Twin link ability that was severed that allowed for it to work, otherwise he would not have had enough points to do the change.

"That is amazing that you can do that Lurk, honestly its also scary... With that much mana between people to share you could do a lot of powerful effects. The great guilds use large magical circles where spellcasters combine their abilities to make items and cast huge spells. But they require a lot of resources and you can just do it by making a connection to us??. That the twins had this ability is amazing in its own right too..."

Lurk nodded and looked the Control rod over once more in his hand, he could understand the runes but they were lacking a lot of detail and nuances. Compared to the runes he saw in his mental system this rod had way too simple runes, there was a lot lacking like it was hidden from view.

When he thought about it, it would make sense, when he was looking at runes in his menu they had subgroups and several layers of runes making up the structure of the rune itself, he was just able to somehow perceive them all depending on how much he focused... But how would you do that on a solid object with runes already applied?

Focusing on these runes did nothing, but allow him to feel they were magical in nature as he could sense the mana within them, but only at this close of a range when holding it. Lurk stared at the rod getting annoyed, after a while, Sylvie also leaned in to look at it too.

"I am sorry I do not know much about magical crafting master... All I know is you need tools and materials and a lot of mana to do it."

"Hmm... Oh, wait... I have an idea, Sylvie would it be alright if I give you a command with the rod?"

"Oh yes, go ahead master." Sylvie sat up straight and waited.

"Right Sylvie, hum a tune for me." Lurk held onto the rod and watched the two crystals at either end glow briefly, Sylvie began to hum a tune Lurk had not heard before.

"Good... " Lurk closed his eyes and opened up his mental menu.

Lurk shifted his avatar out to the side and took a look at Sylvies. He looked through the runes dancing around her within their different magic circles until he found one connected to her mind and mental faculties.

("Hmm... There is the control [Slave] Rune... ")

Lurk focused on the rune and its connected parts on Sylvie. He could not glimpse a part of the control runes effect and its runes in great detail since he could see them in effect when used.

But the longer he began to examine the runes the more disturbed he became.

He quickly brought up Resti's Avatar and looked through her runes as well under the same magic circle in the area of her mind. The same signs were there. Lurk blinked as he returned to normal looking at Sylvie that was gently humming to herself, Resti smiling at the scene.

"I... I... Uhm... Sylvie, you can stop humming if you wish..." Lurk said as he looked at Sylvie then Resti with a disturbed look.

"What is wrong master?"

"Lurk? Sylvie is right you look like someone stepped on your grave" Sylvie and Resti both voiced their concern over Lurks demeanor.

"...Girls... Do... Do you really like me?"

"Uhm what do you mean master? Yes, I like you for treating me well and saving me" Sylvie said looking confused.

"Uhm... I did say that last time when we... " Resti looked away a bit shy. her cheeks getting rosy.

"I... I just took a look at the Runes around the [Slave] function... It is eerily similar to the [Evil] traits basic form..." Lurk said as he looked a little sad.

"What do you mean master?" Sylvie said tilting her head, Resti stared at Lurk also looking confused, but then something struck her and she blinked looking at Lurk then down at her stomach.

"I do not think you were... thinking these thoughts of your own volition... The collars made you do it subconsciously... I am ... Sorry" Lurk gritted his teeth, the collars had basically made the girls ignore vital steps of resistance they would have had suddenly begun liking him so much in such a short span of time. Lurk had thought it was maybe a kind of coping mechanism, Sylvie had suffered so long at cruel masters and suddenly was saved, it kinda made sense she would be responsive to kind treatment. But Resti...

Resti had just lost her mother to goblins and seen her village burn down... It was fresh in her mind and should have caused a lot more issue... She even had a moment when she realized she was pregnant, but it was explained in a somewhat sensible way. But would someone really leap like this at a kind person... Lurk could see the runes were actively doing something to their minds, especially around their perception and memory. It was not as bad in Sylvie's case but it was with Resti.

"Wha.. What?" Resti said looking at Lurk as he tried to explain it. Doubt crossed her face as a tear ran down her cheek, and memories of her mother would appear again.

"It is like the [Evil] trait I deal with... If I do not focus on fighting it, it can effect me...

"... I might not like you... Is this fake?" Resti said stammering it out.

"... Did I sleep with you because the collar told me too?... I thought you told us to do what we wanted..."

Lurk nodded

"Yes... But the collar also was doing subtle changes and effects, the commands work entirely different... That was what I saw when I noticed the humming command Sylvie was under..."

"... It's fake?" another tear ran down Resti's cheek