I followed Jacob along a winding path deeper into the city. Most of the main downtown had been reduced to rubble in the early fighting. The skyscrapers still stood but they sported numerous signs of battle. Windows blasted out, melted exteriors, even bullet holes. Any transported individuals didn't survive long in the fighting. Now the downtown center was the domain of monsters, or so I heard. Someone said they spotted a dragon roosting on top of the sears tower. Not sure I quite believed that.

I wasn't about to go there myself to confirm or deny the allegations. Jacob finally stopped at a blank metal door below an overpass. He knocked three times, waited a few seconds, and knocked two more times.

The door opened from the inside. There was no handle on the outside, not like that would stop anyone with magic or ability from just destroying the door. I followed Jacob inside. I didn't see anyone else. I decided to activate my talisman. A form seemed to waver into being next to Jacob. I decided to scan him as well.

Destin Malone | Shroud Hunter | Level 8

The kid didn't look older than fifteen. A wickedly curved blade was strapped to his waist and the kid wore it easily. I made a note not to underestimate young people. They could be just as strong as adults now.

I followed the two silently for another ten minutes. The tunnel getting darker and darker as we went. We popped out into a subway tunnel. No light penetrated the gloomy darkness, so I assumed either one or both ends of the above-ground portion had been caved in.

I was debating on whether or not to use another one of my talisman's uses when I heard a voice.

"I see you have brought a friend, Jacob. Care to explain?"

I looked towards a dark silhouette near the wall. The woman wasn't cloaked or hidden, I had just missed her because the room was so dark.

"Apologies, leader Stone, this is the man our contacts told us about," he said, waving towards me.

"Oh really?" she said, stepping away from the wall to get a closer look.

I couldn't make out her features clearly, with the lack of light. It was a miracle I could see anything at all. I chalked it up to my higher perception.

"So, you're the man that found a way to free the slaves? You don't look like much. How did you do it?"

I shrugged, "I only got the ball rolling, others implemented my plan for me. Perhaps you should ask them how they did it?"

I saw her lips curl into a smile, "Oh, we have, at least a few that we managed to save before the Dragons killed them or they fled the area. I was more curious about this."

She pulled out one of the stamps I had given out.

"Somehow I don't think this item is a short hammer or was it a meat tenderizer, no I remember now it was a device to pleasure oneself with. Yes, I liked that description the best."

God, I really wish there was a way to control that Odin rune to some extent. If it gave the same description every time it would be much more useful. I added that to my to-do list.

I shrugged at the Stone woman's question, "beats me, could be anything."

"A pity then," she said, "I guess you won't mind if I keep it. No, good," she added, without waiting for my reply. The item disappeared into a ring.

I didn't care if she kept the item, perhaps she wanted to gauge my reaction. Sorry to disappoint, lady. Eventually, they might be able to figure the item out. It wasn't like I expected to keep my craft a secret forever. It didn't mean I had to tell them about it though.

If she was stymied or surprised by my lack of reaction, she didn't show it. She just carried on as if nothing had happened.

"Well, what should I call you? Paul, or Mr. Fuller?"

I wasn't too surprised that she was able to identify me, I decided to try the same with her.

Stone | Hidden | Hidden

She gave a soft chuckle at my attempt, "a woman must have some secrets, Mr. Fuller."

I guess she wouldn't make a good leader of a shadowy organization if any Tom, Dick, and Harry were able to use Identify on her.

"Just call me Paul."

"Very well, Paul. I assume Jacob here has recruited you to help us?"

I guess she was technically correct.

"Yes," I replied flatly.

"Not one to mince words, I can respect that. Has Jacob discussed our plans for the remaining sect members?"

"Yes, your teams kill off the members outside while I secure the release of the prisoners. What happens if they don't want freedom?"

It was her turn to shrug, "Can't save everyone, Paul."

It was a cold, clinical calculation. One I already knew to be true, I just wanted to gauge their reaction. I wasn't about to risk my life freeing someone, just to have them turn on me for doing so. What was one more death on my conscience at this point?

"How will I coordinate with your teams?"

"They will find you and provide you the intel needed to be successful in our endeavor," she said as she faded from view.

I guess our meeting was over.

"Come, Paul," Jacob said, motioning me to follow.

I took one last look at the empty train platform as we walked back the way we came. It was hard to put any amount of trust in a group that always remained in the shadows. At least with the other groups, I knew who and what I was dealing with.

***

Leader Stone watched the newcomer leave. She pulled out the odd item and inspected it again. It came back as something different as it always did. She would have loved to know how he performed that little trick. She already knew what the item was. It was a stamp of some sort. Their contact at the gate had turned it over, explaining what it did. She had her doubts until they had managed to capture a patrol group to test it on. She still remembered the glowing symbols, before the magic hid them from view.

Of course, she recognized the design. She had a friend that had gotten a similar tattoo when she was younger. She didn't know what they had to do with magic though. She knew about enchantments. She even had an enchanted dagger. The design on that was completely different than the designs Paul utilized.

She even tried to have a few people duplicate the design. None of them had been successful at getting them to do anything. It did, however, give her a full layout of the design he used. One that didn't fade away after a small amount of time. A team had been sent to retrieve some books. Unfortunately, those didn't help explain what the combination of runes did. She couldn't even find one of the runes listed at all.

It would have been so much simpler if Paul had just told them. Instead, he chose to be standoffish. She wasn't surprised. She had the reports of what the Black Queen had done to him. She was surprised the man had managed to remain sane. She might be wrong on that assumption though. Who blows up a building while standing at the top?

***

I found myself huddled on the third floor of a building. It was late in the day and patrols were starting to return. These were long-range patrols and would be unaware of the events that transpired over the last few days unless they carried the bound books. Jacob popped in fifteen feet away, startling me. On reflex, my staff was already in my hand.

"Relax, I just came to let you know the group should be passing by in about three minutes."

I glared at the man before nodding in acknowledgment. He watched in curiosity as I produced a Dragon armband.

"You didn't think I was going to just go out and subdue them all, did you? I can weed out the followers faster this way."

It looked like the man wanted to say something, but chose to hold his tongue. I activated my buffs as I made my way to the first floor. The thick walls would help block the sound of my chanting.

After I got to the ground floor I hid off to the side of the broken out storefront. A few seconds went by before I started to hear the crunch of footsteps approaching. There was a shout of alarm followed by a flurry of activity. This was followed by some grumbling and complaining.

I chose this time to make myself known.

"Halt!" I said, stepping out of the store.

The five slaves froze. No that wasn't right, four of the five froze, and I gave the fifth a raised eyebrow.

"Well, looks like I only need to free four today. You might as well take your collar off, the revolt already happened."

The man looked at me and then at his team in uncertainty. He took a few steps back as they watched him. He reached up and slid the collar off, tossing it to the ground. Then he bolted. I let him go, no point chasing the man. I turned my attention back to the four remaining slaves.

"So... who would try to harm me if I freed them?"

I cleaned the blood off of my staff. Two of the four had sworn to destroy me if they got the opportunity. The remaining two had seemed relieved when I cut the others down. I could only imagine what nasty deeds they had performed. I used my newest stamp to free the last two, storing the collars.

By this time someone from the Shadow faction had turned up to lead them supposedly to safety. We repeated this process for three other groups that day. I only had to kill two more people during that time. One had managed to lie during my questioning. He managed to stab me twice before I used Calcifying Strike on his face. My armor blunted his blows, saving me from a fatal strike just barely.

The result of my attack was pretty startling. The calcification spread across his head in less than three seconds, thanks to my high intelligence score. The spell appeared to affect surface tissues first. The man screamed and tried to pull the affected tissues off. Well, he succeeded in doing that. Chunks of skin broke free as he clawed at his face. One of the other slaves vomited after seeing this. Couldn't say I blamed them, it was pretty horrific. After about twenty seconds the guy's upper body was encased, including his arms. He was still alive though.

I could have healed him, or cleansed my spell, but why bother. I freed the man from a life of enslavement and he turned around and stabbed me. Instead, I decided to test something. The other slaves had run off or were scooped up by the shadow faction by this point. I activated Earth Fist, but I didn't aim my spell for the ground. Instead, I used the calcified skin as my target. I pictured what I wanted the spell to do. I heard a crunch as the man's body was crushed like a tube of toothpaste.

I stepped back to avoid the fountain of gore that spurted out the top. Safe to say my test worked. I needed to play around with Metamagic and some of my other skills more later. I think I should be ok as long as I stayed away from my buffs and heals.

With that nasty bit of business out of the way, I pondered my mistake. I would have to be more careful with my questioning going forward. I would have to revive the tactic I used when first recruiting people for the revolt. I hadn't done it before because I thought it would have been clear if someone wanted to be free or not. I guess I was just being naive again. This whole process would go much faster if I just killed them all and moved on.

I don't know why I was even contemplating that as a possibility. Sure I would have to kill some people but others were still decent. Well, as decent as someone could be after being forced to be a slave soldier for months on end. I decided to just see how things played out. If the ratios started to change too much I would just change my plan of attack. Time was ticking away and I needed to confront the leaders before they recovered. I didn't have time to play nanny or be everyone's friend. There was likely a good reason the remaining slaves were still collared and not freed by the agents I set loose. I pondered this while I headed to my next ambush location.