While Sean was at the Slaver’s guild

Temple of Ariana, Head Priest’s Quarters

“Your Excellency?” Came a light knock on the door, interrupting my conversation with our hero.

“Yes?” I called. Should interruption prove unworthy, someone was going to be flayed for this. The thought of finally letting out some frustration brought a smile to my lips.

“Visitor with important information your Excellency.” The door opened to reveal a priest leading someone in tattered clothing, who looked exhausted. It took me a second to recognize him, but it finally clicked.

“Wesley? By Ariana man, what happened to you? Father Marcus, go and get him a pitcher of water and a cup this instant!” I ordered, and the priest disappeared in a flash. Wesley closed the door, and slumped into a chair.

“Gah, he best hurry. My control is fading, and the mask is slipping.” Wesley growled out, a bit of his true nature taking hold.

“Just sit for a few, and don’t speak. We have time.” I said, silencing him with a glare. A few minutes later and the door opened to reveal Marcus with the refreshments on a tray. He swiftly left them on the table and turned to look at me. “Thank you, Marcus. That will be all. Make sure we aren’t disturbed.” I shooed him out with a wave, and turned my attention to Wesley.

“If you’re here, then I take it our nest has been destroyed? It is no matter. Gnashveil will find and corrupt another host, and even if they found the books, the closest place they would bring them is here.”

“That could be possible, if Gnashveil was alive.” Wesley growled out. “Idiots attacked a celestial mage, and he tore them apart. I heard his death wail myself.” He held out a hand to stop objections. “If that weren’t bad enough, the leader was a gnome.”

“Valorian, you’ll have to drum up some pretense to enslave that caravan then.” I said, turning to the rooms other occupant.

“Oh, I’m sure a whispered word in the right ear will be sufficient. When do they arrive?”

“Sometime today or tomorrow.” Wesley said with a shrug. “But you’ll want to bring all the backup you can. They supposedly have the Chosen of Ariana with them.”

“Hah!” I chuckled. “How fortunate this is then! Even with the loss of Gnashveil, capturing the hero this early will leave none to oppose us. Valorian will lead the humans in a surprise attack against the demons, and we shall finally be able to invade.” The others laughed darkly with me, and we started planning. Wesley filled us in on the caravan’s composition, and more importantly what the true hero looked like.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Mage’s guild, Sean’s POV

“Sean, welcome back. And these are?” Carrigan called out, heading towards our group.

“New additions. We need to hurry, I’m not sure how many followed us.” I answered.

“Right. Here, I have a small meeting room for the next hour.” He led us into a room just off the main reception area, and we all filtered in. “Can you fill me in?”

“I had to show the card, so most likely they are sending a runner to inform the fake that the real hero is in town. We need to move immediately.” I said, changing my mask. Instead of a nondescript person, I was now a grizzled veteran. A cross shaped scar on my cheek pulled the corner of my mouth up, giving me a perpetual sneer. I enhanced my eye color, giving be a very intimidating appearance. The addition of facial hair that refused to grow on the scar brought your attention to that part of my face, and an additional slight limp rounded it out.

“Alright, we are escaping the city with a caravan. You’ll have to remain quiet, and then we can explain everything. For those that know him, the leaders of the caravan are Bribis and his brother Dramitian. If you are asked, I’m your master and my name is Shepard. That’s it, no first name. Understood?”

“Yes, master Shepard.” They chorused.

“Excellent. If any of you have a way to mask your identity or magically alter how you look do so now. Those that can’t, step forward and I’ll do it for you.” To my surprise, only the demons stepped forward. I looked them over, and thought of how I was going to do it. They had a slight red tinge to their skin, but otherwise looked like tall, sturdy humans. I ended up giving them a tan skin tone, and having their hands bearing a lot of scars. I couldn’t do much with the height, but they might be able to pass for human. “Alright, your story now is that you are both former guards. After blackmailing your previous employer, he cut out your tongues and sold you to slavery. If someone asks you questions, shrug your shoulders and point to me. Can I get two volunteers to chime in with their story if a guard asks on the way out?”

“I will, master.” One of the elven women said, though she had aged considerably and now was hunched over.

“Thank you. I’ll learn your names later, but right now we are pressed for time. How soon will they be here?” I asked Carrigan.

“I’m not sure-, now apparently.” Carrigan started, changing his answer when Bribis entered the room.

“Good, you’re here. All set?” He asked nervously.

“I am, how are your distractions coming?”

“They are ready to go, but something’s going down. The Adventurer’s guild is on fire.”

“Right, time to go. I’ll explain that bit once we’re free and clear. Everyone, this is Bribis. Orders from him are like orders from me. Let’s go, quickly and quietly.” I said, following the confused looking gnome outside. We left through a side door, that opened up into an alleyway. At the mouth of the alley was the first of Bribis’ carts, and we both hopped into the back of it. Gareth and Carrigan joined us, while the rest spread themselves between the following carts.

We didn’t speak as we headed towards the east gate, simply trying to make as fast of time as possible. To my surprise, the guards were checking people as they exited the city. “Is this normal?” I asked a nervous Bribis.

“Not in the least. Dramition, I’ll take the left side, you get the right.” He said.

“Agreed brother. As we pull up, activate the distractions.”

When we had one cart between our caravan and freedom, a guard sauntered up to us. “Who’s in charge here?” He asked.

“That’d be me.” I answered in a gruff voice, cutting off Bribis. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, slowing us down like this? If we don’t make the waypoint by the time night falls, I lose money.”

“Sorry sir, but it looks like someone decided to try and burn down the Adventurer’s guild. Probably some of those fucking twigs, the pointy eared bastards.”

“It’s no wonder you aren’t making any progress.” I growled out. “Elves don’t burn things you idiot, they’d just grow a massive tree right through the building. Someone probably brought in a magical beast and it got out of control. That, or some demon got in. Either way, I’m leavin’ this town. We good to go through?”

“I need to check.”

“Here.” I threw a small sack of gold at him, probably 20 or 30 pieces. “You inspected. All my elves are slaves, and I vouch for ‘em. You and your friends didn’t see anything suspicious, and are probably going to have a very good time at your favorite inn when you get off work, am I right?”

“That you most certainly are sir! Have a wonderful day.” He said, giving me a head nod and turning to the gate. “Let these guys through Jim! I checked ‘em, they’re clear.”

Bribis was a nervous wreck for the next five minutes as we made our way down the road. “Last cart is through sir.” Came a voice from a speaking stone, and Bribis sighed in relief.

“Excellent. Give us a minute to get on the way, then set off the distractions.” He said into the stone, then turned to me. “So, what’s going on?”

“Sorry about taking charge like that, but the way things were leaning in that town they were going to tear apart our caravan looking for everything if they knew a non-human was in charge.”

“Not that.” He said, waving away my concern. “Though that was some fast thinking, and thanks for it. How did your other stuff go?”

“Terrible. The Adventurer’s guild tried to cheat us, and I had to kill everyone there. So we set it up to catch fire long after we left. We headed to the Slaver’s guild, and got everything we needed from them.”

“And the new recruits?” He asked, raising a brow.

“You saw how the other races are being treated there. I couldn’t leave them. So I traded all my slaves for these ones, who were enslaved for non-violent crimes. The gnomes I got for Elendria’s collar, and the demons for a hundred gold. So what’s our plan for now?”

“Impressive thinking on the spot, getting the slaves out. As for the plan.” He was interrupted by a series of loud explosions behind us, and he barked at his brother, “Go. Fast as we can.” The wagons lurched forward as the oxen sped up, not quite as fast as a galloping horse but easily faster than we could go on foot.

“Dramitian has replacement mounts for us at our first stop, and I was hoping you would be willing to light the way with a few spells. Those explosions were spread around the city, though a good bit were in the more expensive districts. That should occupy the guards long enough for us to escape. Even if the fake hero wanted to hunt us down, he would have to deal with that first. Did you tell anyone where you were going?”

“No. In fact, I told the head of the Slaver’s that I was heading back to the Southern Forests, so hopefully that information makes its way around.”

“Excellent!” Bribis chuckled. “Here’s to hoping that Lokir blesses our trickery, and that we can escape unscathed.” He settled back into his seat, and tried to get comfortable. It was a lot harder than expected, with the speed we were going, but I decided that Bribis had a good idea and tried to get some rest myself.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Three Rivers, Slaver’s guildmaster’s POV

I wiped the sweat from my brow, cursing whatever caused this series of explosions. While it would be a while for bodies to be found, I knew at least three of my slaves had perished when a building collapsed. I had a further three mages who were in an extreme state of mana exhaustion, and would be useless for at least a week. “Lawrence!” I shouted, and my butler appeared from nowhere.

“Yes sir?”

“Do we still have eyes on that bastard?” I growled out. Mayhem like this was the perfect place for people to escape, and I looked forward to getting him and that delectable Frost Elf back in collars.

“No sir. Last we knew, they had entered the Mage’s guild. We watched the front and back doors for hours, but none of their group left. Sadly, we didn’t have the manpower to watch all the exits.”

“Double damnit!” I growled. “Alright. Take charge here, make sure all our slaves get back. I have to head to the temple.” I stormed off while Lawrence bowed, fuming. I had let the little whelp think he got the better of me, trading off those non-human slaves at a rather large loss for myself, fully expecting to have him acting as my persona footrest by the end of the day. Instead the bastard manages to slip our followers and probably escape the city.

I was still fuming as I threw open the doors to the temple, startling a neophyte who was cleaning something there. As I saw him cowering from my aura, I took a few breaths to calm myself down and forcefully dampened it. “I need to see his Excellency. Immediately.”

“Ye ye yes sir!” He stammered, nearly taking off at a trot. I followed him, already familiar with the path. I had just arrived to the door when the brat reappeared, flinching at my appearance.

“He’s here, your Excellency!” He squeaked, voice breaking in puberty.

“Move kid.” I snarled, knocking him aside with my arm. “Your Excellency, I have some dire news.” I said, bowing.

“Enter. Neophyte, for your rudeness at not taking our guests name, and leaving him at the door, you shall be cleaning the latrines for the next month. Go and report for duty.”

“Yes, your Excellency!” The poor kid bowed and left, trying to hide the sniffles.

“Damien, surprising to see you here. You slaver’s aren’t necessarily of Ariana’s most devout.” He chuckled.

“Cut the crap, we have a major problem.” I snarled, sliding the card across the desk. “Imagine my surprise when our target waltzes into my own guild, like he owns the damn place.”

“You saw him? Why is he not in a collar?”

“I couldn’t, there are too many eyes at the guild, you know that. Gilderoy watches me like a hawk, so I had to play nice.”

“Then where is he now?”

“Gone.” I slumped into a chair. “We tracked him to the Mage’s guild, but with the explosions and chaos, he’s likely escaped the city. From what information he dropped, it sounds like he is getting ready to go after our friends in the Southern Forests. He did leave this behind.” I said, slipping the golden collar out of my inventory and placing it on the desk.

“Damn, the bitch is free then? I’ll send word to our friends as soon as I can. Valorain, I’m sending the city into lockdown. You will go through street by street searching for him, maybe we will catch him. I think it is time that any non-human still in the city feels the comforting embrace of a slave collar, don’t you? After all, it was obviously through their aid that the demons could strike such a blow to our fair city.” He chuckled.

“A sound plan as always, master.” Valorian smiled. By the Great Shadow, how I hated that bootlicker! Every word oozing praise, I just wanted to slam his face with a hammer until his perfect visage was permanently ruined!

“DAMIEN! You paying attention?”

“I’m sorry your Excellence, I was distracted. What were you saying?”

“I was asking if you had enough collars for those who resist, and if your guards will assist. We will send hunting parties along the south road, and hopefully find this hero.”

“Of course, your Excellency. Our guild would be proud to lend a hand. Are we calling this a divine conscription then?”

“You know, I think that sounds perfect! Most would balk at forced enslavement for this, but if it comes from that divine bitch, who’s to argue?” The high priest started chuckling darkly, and Valorian and I joined in.