I climbed through the tight space, the finished surface of the fortress on one side and the remains of the rocky hill on the other. I did this to hide my work. The fewer people that knew about this the better.

I was inspecting a set of runes I had just finished carving. With this much surface area, mistakes were bound to happen. I already had to melt down a section of runes and recast the mithril. With my work, I hadn't seen Ska or Martin for days. They were around, just busy getting the fortress stocked and trying to level.

I wiped the sweat from my brow and moved to the next section.

***

Hours of grueling labor later I crawled up from the crawlspace. The room was dark, a single small light running off the mana generator, the only thing providing light. The open cavern was no more. There were now two floors, with a staircase running along one of the curved walls.

There were even walls. They didn't connect fully to the ceiling, I left gaps at the very top of each wall and room. It was a trick I had figured out while playing with the teleportation scrambler. Now even with the doors closed, the whole fortress should still be protected.

I walked over to the shower. Yes, we had a shower and fresh clean water. I used my skills to carve out an aquifer in the floor. It held over a thousand gallons of water and everything we used, minus what we drank, was recycled. I would like to say I designed those systems but I didn't. Martin had found them while searching for beds and other items to stock the place with. After the nice hot shower, I went to get a snack from the kitchen.

The fridge was taken from an abandoned house, along with the stove. Another mana generator sat in the corner powering those. Central wiring was low on the to-do list but this worked for now. I topped off the generator with mana and grabbed some leftovers from the fridge.

I assumed Martin and Ska were asleep but they may be out and about still. I shrugged and sat at the table. The sandwich was delicious, definitely one of Martin's creations. I still didn't know how the man got all these spices and sauces. The meal complete, I cleaned up and headed to bed.

I was awoken early the next day by a pounding on the front door. I was tempted to remain in bed and let one of the others get it but the pounding continued.

"Alright!" I groaned, "I'm coming, hold your damn horses."

I got out of bed and willed a set of clean clothes on through my ring. With a self-satisfied smile, I padded down the stairs to the massive new door set into the entrance. The portal was heavily enchanted with hidden runes, and anyone dumb enough to force their way in would have a really... really... bad day, assuming they survived.

I checked the security cam to see who it was, another device we stole out of a house and powered by a mana engine.

I didn't recognize the visitor, some woman. To be on the safe side I donned my armor, the weak mana shield snapping into place. I had to suppress the hate-filled thoughts about those dwarves before I opened the door.

I pressed my hand to the activation plate, powering down the enchantments and unlocking the door. All via the new hidden tattoos.

I opened the heavy door. "This better be good," I said grumpily.

The woman jumped a bit as I startled her. "Sorry, Is this where Ska lives?" she asked quietly.

I stared at her in confusion, "yeah?"

"Oh... um, is he here?"

"I'm not sure but going by the fact that he didn't answer the door and I had to wake up and do it myself, I'm going to go with no. Who are you, why are you here?"

"Ska said he would teach me tricks to be a better hunter."

I blinked a few times, deciding to use Identify on the woman.

Fayline | Hunter | Level 5

I was about the send the woman away when Ska approached down the tunnel.

"Good, you're here." he crooned happily. "Let me get my gear, and I will teach you. This is ok, yes, Paul?"

I shrugged, "fine with me, just leave a note or something next time."

When the woman tried to follow Ska in, I stopped her. "Sorry, the house is under construction and the areas are a bit dangerous. Best if you stay out here."

I could tell she didn't believe me but I didn't care. I stood there and glared at her the entire time. She looked away awkwardly and I smiled internally at the petty little victory. Ska returned a minute later.

"Ready, see you later tonight."

I grunted in confirmation. After they left I closed and locked the door, feeling the enchantments kick in again.

"Back to work," I said to the empty house.

I was just about to head back into the crawlspace when another knock came. I groaned loudly and turned around. I was actually happy to see this visitor.

"Fiona, you're back!"

"Yes, I can see a lot has changed since I left."

"Was your trip successful?"

"Yes, those dwarves never knew I was there. I found where they stashed most of our stuff but it was heavily warded. There is a key that is needed to enter."

"Good to know, were they able to repair my damage?"

"Unfortunately yes. If it wasn't for that beach I would have never known where to look."

"Damn, was hoping it at least inconvenienced them."

"If anything, it put them on alert. You did kill about a dozen people with your attack. I learned that from listening to some conversations."

"Good to know it wasn't a complete waste. Learn anything else? What about Bella?"

"Yeah, it seems this clan of dwarves are outcasts. I witnessed them attacking a few groups of outsiders. As for Bella... there was no sign. They likely would have killed her since she was already bonded to another."

I thought as much but the confirmation still stung.

"So essentially, they are bandits. Well, that makes things easier. What about defenses?"

"They had plenty of mana cannons, all of their tunnels are sealed off but I found that supposed infrastructure you mentioned. The stuff they say you damaged. That was a water filtration system. There were some air vents as well. Everything was cleverly hidden. I still don't understand why they let you go."

"I'm not sure either. Perhaps they were afraid we belonged to a larger force? Really, it doesn't matter. They chose their path, it's just a shame we won't be able to attack them anytime soon," I said, scratching my head.

Fiona looked at me in surprise, "I thought that was the whole reason you were building this," she replied, gesturing to the walls.

It was true, that was the original purpose. I filled her in on what we had learned since she left.

"You're right, that is a much more pressing issue. But we can't just let the dwarves get away with stealing and killing."

"Oh, we won't. Since we have to go back that way anyway, I have a plan," I said coldly.

Well, it was more an idea than a plan but if it worked it may even give us a leg up on the dwarves. It had come about when I was searching the Bazaar for something to counteract what the dwarves used on us to render us unconscious.

My search led to an alchemist, after explaining the effect of whatever the dwarves used, he hypothesized that it was a concoction called 'The Sleeper'. It could be injected but was just as potent in an aerosolized form. I did purchase a few vials of a substance that would prevent the effects of this mixture but that was for my original plan of storming the dwarven stronghold. Plus if it wasn’t this so-called sleeper poison, it would do very little to counteract the effect.

That had been before we were in a rush. Now it was time for plan B.

"Follow me," I said, unlocking the door and heading out.

We had to trek to the outskirts on the far side of town. Martin and I discovered this facility by accident while searching outlying buildings for supplies. On the outside, it looked like a normal, if rundown warehouse, the name 'East Texas Chemical Supply' in faded letters on the building. The inside was another matter.

I slipped through the same opening we used the previous time. Once inside I made a beeline to a room near the back, Fiona following quickly behind. Inside the room was an elevator that required a keycard. A sign above the elevator read 'Authorized Personnel Only, Trespassers Will Be Shot On Sight'. Now you didn’t go through all this trouble unless you wanted to secure something important. While the sign didn’t say property of the U.S. Government, it had the same text and spacing that they used.

"Can you go below and tell me what you see?"

Fiona nodded, floating through the elevator and down through the floor. I waited ten minutes until she returned.

"Some sort of storage facility, they look like an armory of some sort."

Jackpot.

"Yeah, that's what I hoped. Anyone down there?"

"I didn't see signs that anyone had been down there."

"Good," I replied, not wanting to get into a fight if this place was what I thought it was.

I tore open the floor to the elevator and dropped into the hole. The tunnel dropped down hundreds of feet and I was forced to use my wings to slow my descent. When I saw the floor approaching I activated my Area of Denial, landing with a loud boom. I peeled open the doors and climbed out of the elevator shaft.

The area was too dark for me to see, so I pulled out a glow rock. The magical item bathed the area in a light blue glow. They were perfect for use in areas where there could be explosions, so I had purchased a few from the Bazaar.

What I saw was row upon row of missiles and bombs. I had been correct, it was a secret military storage facility. I walked along the rows, inspecting the tags. Most were simple explosive munitions. I found some that held napalm, bunker busters, even a few air-fuel explosives. Those weren't what I was looking for.

We passed through dozens of rows of the deadly devices until we got to a thick metal door.

The sign above reading chemical weapon storage, hazmat precautions required. I paused for a minute, debating on this course of action. With a heavy sigh, I donned the hazmat suit, thankful that it worked with my ring since it needed a second person to help zip it up completely. I checked the oxygen supply, noting it was topped off.

I used Earth Fist to manipulate the wall around the door, once a large enough opening was created, I stepped through. The room was smaller than the previous room, only about a quarter of the size, but even one of the warheads inside could kill off the population of an entire town. And there were hundreds stored within the chamber. I recognized the names of more than a few of these chemicals, Hollywood doing their best to make them famous.

"What are these?" Fiona asked.

"Neurotoxins, and other deadly chemicals," I replied, my gaze sliding over a sign that said VX1.

"So poison?"

"Essentially, yes."

I walked over to one of the devices, I didn't have to worry about anything being activated, The System rendered all powered systems inert. Still, I wasn't about to manhandle them. I found a set of tools and removed the cover. My dexterity was high enough that the process of pulling the warhead out took no more than a few minutes. What I was left with was the tip of a missile, with a metallic tube attached to the backside, about the size of a small air tank. I had to thank my high Intelligence as I wouldn’t have known where to even start disassembling the thing otherwise.

I collected four of these devices from different chemical agents. It was overkill but I didn't know if the dwarves would be immune to one or all of them.

"So if you are going to use these devices to poison the dwarves, why not just take the whole thing?"

"I would, but they are inert, and even if they weren't, there are probably safety features built-in that I won't be able to bypass. I'm not even sure if the substances are still viable but it's the only option other than trying to find a vendor in the Bazaar."

Fiona cringed at hearing that, "I would recommend against that course of action. While you certainly could find one if you looked, talking to the wrong person would get you arrested at best."

"Yeah, guess it's not a good idea to advertise the fact you are looking for a large amount of deadly poison."

"No, no it would not be."

We left the room and I sealed the entrance I made. I didn't want to leave these deadly weapons around for any idiot just to stumble upon but it would be too dangerous for me to try and blow the place up. I used my spells to seal the bottom of the elevator shaft. I then carved some defensive runes into it. I even used some of my spare mana hearts to add more protection. I did this six more times as we made our way up the shaft.

Someone was going to have to be very determined to get in or have the ability to pass through solid matter. I couldn't do anything to stop that though. At least not without another teleportation scrambler. Once at the top, I collapsed the elevator and the room on top of it. That was the best I could do to keep curious people away.

We hurried back to the fortress so I could finish the preparations. I asked Fiona not to tell the others about what we did today.

"You are going to have to tell them eventually," she replied.

"I know, and I will, just... not right now."

She agreed, reluctantly. I could tell she wasn't fully on board with my choice. That was fine. I would carry this sin if I had to. 'At least the Geneva Convention was no longer enforceable,' I thought. Hard to enforce something when some magic is by far worse.

Once home, I climbed into the crawlspace and got back to completing the house.