“Any idea who or what it was?” Martin asked as he stared at the mangled corpse on the coroner's table.

Martin was thankful the city had power again, otherwise, the smell would have been unbearable.

Kurt shrugged, “your guess is as good as mine,” the man answered noncommittally.

Martin suppressed the urge to throttle the man. He had become more a detriment than an asset since Martin took office.

“Who got the kill message?” Martin asked, keeping the frustration from coloring his question.

“One of the guards, why?”

“Go find out who it was and see what the message told them.”

“Fine, but I don’t see the point. It's pretty obvious who sent them,” Kurt grumbled.

“Just do your job, Sheriff.”

With one last irritated huff, Kurt left the room. After he was gone Martin turned toward the coroner, “was he always like this?”

Before answering the coroner made sure to check that Kurt was long gone.

“Far as I can tell, the man has always been an ass. I never really worked with him but others I knew said he only got his position through brown-nosing. The funny thing is the man is decent at his job, when he wants to do it. Plus he was one of the few officers to stick around after the change.”

“Fair enough,” Martin replied. “What can you tell me about the body?”

“It’s dead,” the man stated.

“I can see that,” Martin said in exasperation as he gestured at the corpse.

“Sorry, I meant it was dead prior to being um… dead.”

“Undead… like a zombie?”

The man shrugged, “no clue if it was a zombie or not, It's not like I have a medical degree in alien species and undead anatomy.”

“Fine, anything on it?” Martin asked as he ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

The man motioned him over toward another stainless steel table where the dead… or re-dead, man’s clothing, and items sat.

“The clothing doesn’t appear to be anything special. Or it isn’t anymore. I think the damage may have destroyed any enchantment it had but that isn’t my area of expertise,” the man began to ramble.

“And the other items,” Martin cut in, he didn’t have all day to listen to a report.

“The two daggers are enchanted I believe.”

Marin picked up one of the sheathed weapons and used Examination on it, his version of Identify.

Dirk of Disembowelment

Quality: Supreme

Damage: 20-30 stabbing x5 critical damage

If this weapon is used to cause a critical strike or a strike at a vulnerable area it causes a bleeding wound that cannot be healed by anything short of holy power

Martin gently set the dangerous blade back on the table and made a mental note to pick up some holy healing potions. The next dagger was just as brutal.

Dagger from the dark

Quality: Excellent

Damage: 15-30 slashing x4 critical damage

All attacks made with this weapon on an unsuspecting opponent do critical damage.

From what Martin knew of stealth classes or assassin classes, thanks to Paul and Ska’s perusal during their second class, said that most had an ability to double or triple the damage they caused from stealth. That meant one attack could probably kill anyone with an Endurance under fifteen in one blow.

With just these two weapons, Martin knew what sort of people he was dealing with. These weren’t spies, these were assassins sent to cause harm. The problem was Martin had no clue how many more had made it inside the city. Martin wasn’t naïve enough to believe they had only sent one man.

There was a storage ring as well but it only contained a few poisons and general use items. Martin stored the daggers in the ring and stuffed it in his pocket. He wished Ska was back from his hunt, he suspected he would need the Grimalkin’s help to locate the rest of the assassins. Other than Fiona he didn’t know anyone within the city with the skills to ferret out people adept at hiding.

***

“That fucking idiot!” Gol cursed. Kru’Ka had just met up with him, relaying the story of Baline’s death. “What about Nalam?”

“I haven’t seen her since the incident. But there hasn’t been any ruckus so she must be staying out of sight.”

It took two more hours before the woman finally appeared. “Miss me,” she purred in agitated excitement.

“What took you so long?” he asked ignoring her mood.

She sniffed, “I was doing recon of the city.”

“That could have waited,” Gol huffed.

“Perhaps, but I figured Kru’Ka would tell you what transpired, and this way I have a better understanding of the cities response and preparedness.”

Gol grunted, “so what did you learn?”

“They don’t have as many guards as we feared. And there are a lot of civilians. It should be quite easy to cause fear and sow distrust.”

“Did you get any eyes on the leaders?” Kru’Ka asked.

“Perhaps,” she said with a suggestive wink at the Golfin.

She laughed when the gelatinous man reflexively spread itself away from her.

“Enough!” Gol hissed, “play your games later, we have work to do now.”

“Fine,” she pouted, “I spotted the sheriff and I believe the mayor.”

“You believe?” Gol questioned.

She shrugged, “the man didn’t look like any town leader I have ever known but the description Ashlam gave matches. Human with blonde hair and handsome,” she said that last part with a purr of delight that made Gol want to snap the mayor’s neck.

“Anything other than his looks?” Kru’Ka asked, changing the subject.

“I wasn’t able to get close enough to identify either of the men. The Mayor seemed alert and focused though, so he won't be a pushover. The sheriff on the other hand seemed more like the normal town guards we've run into.”

“You think we can turn him?” Gol asked.

“Maybe, but it won’t be me,” she said with a frown.

“Into men?” Gol asked.

“No, he definitely enjoys the female figure but it's clear to see his distrust of outworlders in the way he eyed them all with distrust. The man was either afraid of them or actively hated them for some reason.”

“Fine, I should be able to pass myself off as a human and gauge his reaction.”

“You should go now, the man is in a bar drinking his worries away.”

After getting the directions and assigning tasks, the three split up again to start weakening the town’s resolve.

***

It was three days after the excitement outside the gate when Ska returned from his hunt. He was happy with the results. He had managed to get to level twelve in his Warden class. As always he put points in Agility bringing it to twenty-seven but he also maxed out his Perception and Endurance to twenty and decided to finally add a point in Intelligence bringing it to twelve. He didn’t feel any smarter but perhaps he understood concepts just a bit better than before. Now he only needed to figure out how to unlock the second tier of Perception and Endurance before level fifteen.

As soon as he crossed the gates into the city he could smell an underlying stink of fear and uncertainty. He didn’t like it and went in search of Martin to find out what was causing it.

“Ska, you’re back!” Martin exclaimed happily.

Ska rumbled in agreement. “I am but what is going on in town, I can sense the unease.”

“We have some enemies causing trouble around town.”

Ska could sense the man’s frustration. “Why not get rid of them?”

Martin smiled wanly, “If it were only that easy it would have already been done. No, these people are skilled at hiding and espionage. We haven’t been able to locate them or even tell how many of them are in the town since they arrived three days ago.”

“Why didn’t you send me a message?” Ska growled.

“I tried, it seems they planted some device that prevents that enchantment from functioning. I would have sent a runner to get you but we didn’t know where you were hunting.”

Ska hissed in displeasure, he hated subterfuge. “What do you need of me?”

“We managed to kill one of the men when they were trying to infiltrate the town. Can you see if you can find their trail, or at least tell us how many we are dealing with?”

“Of course, just show me where to start,” Ska added in a predatory growl that started deep in his chest. Most people would realize it for what it was and flee but Martin just nodded.

“I will call one of the wall guards to show you where to begin. Stay safe, there haven’t been any deaths that we know of but I suspect that might change shortly.”

***

Ska found himself outside the walls and was scenting the area the guard had told him of. The smell of foul undead still hung heavy in the air, which didn’t surprise Ska. Martin had told him of the creature they had killed. The visible tracks were easy to follow but the scent was weak after three days. Ska still followed it down the plateau and into a small clearing in the woods. The smells became even harder to separate here but thankfully, whoever was here, had lingered for some time. He found trace footprints of at least two more individuals and some sort of trail he couldn’t discern the origin of. He leaned down and sniffed at the prints, inhaling deeply for a couple of minutes until he was satisfied. He growled softly and picked one of the trails to follow.

He had tried to use Hunter’s Scent but the trail was either too old or something was blocking the skill. But that didn’t stop him from using his own senses to trace it.

The trail ended near the lapping waves of the ocean and Ska turned toward the city wall in the distance. While he was loath the brave the waters, it would be one of the easiest ways into the city. Ska would mention it to Martin.

The next trail was more difficult to follow, not because the scent was weaker but because it was odd. He knew it was a beastkin of some sort from the few stray hairs he found along the path but it was like the trail would start and stop behind random boulders. He lost it among the scattered boulders outside the city. That was fine, he returned to try and track the last trail.

This trail was odd as well, at first Ska thought it was made by some sort of snake-like creature but there were signs of slime amongst the trail. It was also the most well-hidden trail and Ska could see where attempts were made to hide portions of it. But that only proved to Ska that whatever it was, it was intelligent. This trail he managed to follow all the way to the city wall. Any chance of tracking it into the city was gone as the trail had been destroyed by too many people crossing over it.

Ska hissed his annoyance, scaring off two patrolling guards. The trails were cold but he had their scent now. If he came across it inside the city his Hunter’s Scent would be able to lock onto it.

***

Gol knew everything had been going too smoothly. First, the Sheriff had been easy to turn against the town and the Mayor in particular. A simple guarantee that the town and its citizens would remain safe and the man was happy to spill his guts. A little liqueur and a simple potion sped that matter along.

Gol had almost felt disgusted at how easy the man had been to turn. Gol enjoyed a challenge and that was hardly even an hour's worth of work. It didn’t matter though, the man would die before Lord Vik’t took over. It never paid to have weak-willed individuals or traitors within key positions.

That wasn’t what had Gol agitated though, no it was the Hunter he had spotted heading into town. And not just any hunter but a high-level feline-beastkin hunter. Gol had gotten a good look at the man and could tell by his attributes that he was more akin to the large predatory cats than Nalam’s own heritage. His secondary worry was Nalam seeing the beastkin and falling head over heels for him or worse trying to seduce him.

He needed to head back to their meeting spot to warn the others.