106. Contagious: Tabitha

I awoke a couple of hours before dinner with Wiremu’s Glassmaker. I was very relaxed and totally satisfied. Eluf, the idiot had kept me up all night. He insisted on tracing all my scars with his fingers and mouth. I insisted on doing the same, although he didn’t have nearly as many as I did. He claimed it was the advantage of hiding behind a shield. We already have a second date booked. I insisted that I was in charge of this one, and I am seriously thinking about skipping dinner and booking a two-person hot tub.

It was time I dragged my satiated arse out of bed and got ready for dinner and the performance. After the performance, Wiremu, Ruku, Modrica, and I will meet Rotte, scout this Seadog cave, and plan strategies. Eluf should have already assigned some Guards for the Comedic Rhythm, so that would free us up a lot and ease the minds of Canwr and Bwr.

Dinner with Gwydr was interesting. He bought a sample glass knife I tested out, and the blade was nearly invisible with my Sleight of Hand Skill. We will be getting more of them despite the brittleness. My Sleight of Hand Skill is only one step from Journeyman level, and Wiremu really wants me to be able to teach it to him. It goes well with my Distract Skill, as that is a large part of the Skill. It won’t be so effective with his Deceive Skill, but it should still make it easier to learn.

When Gwydr found out I was part of the Comedic Rhythm, he went all fangirl on me. Seriously the guy is a 40-50-year-old male, and he acted like a teenager, and I know Elves are not considered adults until they are 50, but still. Elves live, on average, longer than humans, probably another half century or so. As a result of his fangirling, I got a free knife, as he insisted on giving it to me. I promised I would introduce him to the other members.

Tāttā is planning to visit him tomorrow, along with a visit to Master Glass to negotiate the sand deal. For Gwydr, we were thinking of paying in buckets of sand that Wiremu will produce. Personally, I want him to hurry and level Granite Wall as he can then make us better accommodations on the road. I am getting used to an inn. Currently, the energy cost is too high.

Before the show, I introduced him to the other members of the Comedic Rhythm, and he immediately latched on to Canwr and Bwr, and they chatted away in Elvish. That is the next language I will need to learn, as Elves are more prominent as we go further south. The main Elvish forests are across the Vasa Sea. The Mer control most of the Islands and much of the coast around the Vasa.

The performance went well, considering all the unrest over the last few days. Not our best performance, but Zabavno covered the minor lapses smoothly. That Orc is one talented Entertainer. I may have the Class, but his natural ability is there, and it shows in the quality of his performance. I doubt I will ever be that good. It is not my main talent, and that makes a difference in the quality of the work and not just in how fast the class levels. My leading talent is still in theft. You can’t be great at everything.

Back at the Inn, I left the Comedic Rhythm in the bar chatting with Gwydr. He is a nice fellow, and Canwr and Bwr seem to be getting on very well with him. I changed into my thieving outfit and met Wiremu on the roof. He had also changed, and we headed to the wall. Everybody else is at the quarry, where we will meet Rotte and whoever she brings.

I am pretty sure Rotte has convinced everybody she is human. My Spatial Awareness can see right through her, and the physiological differences are obvious. The double bond is also a big clue. She is not Ratkin, as she couldn’t hide that. Animal Kin bonding with their related species is the most obvious way to get more than one bond. Some rare classes enable more than one bond, but only one race has an affinity to bonds. They are almost the only ones with multiple bonds outside Animal kin. Rotte is obviously not her real name, as it just means Rat in Dwarvish. There must be one hell of a story to explain why an Elf is masquerading as a human and leading the Pack Rats Gang. Information can be a weapon, and I will keep that information close until I need it.

Wiremu and I scaled the wall quickly enough. His handholds are still there from the night of the fight. Maybe I will warn Eluf to get the wall checked more frequently, or perhaps I won’t. Ruku and Modrica were waiting for us. Appā was on sentry duty. The Catkin often took the night shifts because of their Night Sight and the perception bonus from the Sentry Specialisation. At least, that is the reason they gave me.

Rotte arrived with two others. Their rat bonds were all inside their clothing, although I noted Rotte only had one with her. My Spatial Awareness is now journeyman level, and very little can stop it. The range is the limiting factor. I introduced Rotte to Wiremu but called him Bror. He did not introduce Tāoke, and there was no sign of him. My Spatial Awareness showed he was camouflaged on Wiremu’s shoulder, and even I might have missed it if I hadn’t known to look there. We set out toward the coast, and about two hours later, she signalled, and a person stepped out from the bushes.

“This is as close as we can get and not be heard easily. Over that rise, about a hundred metres, is the cave entrance. The cave system is quite large, and there is another entrance on the coast about half a kilometre that way. That entrance is larger, and a small row boat can row right in. We are still scouting, trying to find other entrances,” Rotte summarised their work.

“Have you mapped the cave?” Ruku asked.

“No, we have tried and lost two rats so far. I have two upset and angry Packrats wanting revenge.” Rotte explained.

“I am not surprised they are on the lookout for rats,” Ruku said, “You are a known enemy, and you advertise your speciality in your name.” Rotte scowled at him. “They will have set traps specifically for rats, and they probably have several Mer in the gang using their Sonar to keep watch. The Mer may be from the smugglers if they are there”

That is going to stop me from going to scout the cave. Ruku’s Sonar sensed me from over 30m away, and in the cave's confines, there was no way natural-born Sonar users would miss me. Nyx is only good at seeing Spiritually energised objects, so she couldn’t map the cave.

“My bond and I could map it,” Wiremu said. “It would take several days as it is slow and energy intensive, but then I could draw an accurate map.”

I looked at Wiremu, questioning what he was thinking. We didn’t need many words between us these days. He tapped one of his Granite darts, and then I understood. His Granite manipulation was at Apprentice level and could be used on any rock. He, and Tāoke, could only use it to move small amounts of rock, enough for a small snake to make its way through the rock into the cave and hide in the stone if necessary. He could probably hide under a Granite Shield and look like a rock to a Sonar. The energy usage would mean he would need a lot of rest periods. Wiremu could then use his Mapping Skill through the bond and draw an accurate map using Map Making.

I nodded to Wiremu my understanding. I sensed Rotte looking at the exchange, and she looked very puzzled. On the way out here, I noticed that she occasionally gave Wiremu a puzzled glance. I wonder if she had a skill that was picking up glimpses of Tāoke and not understanding what she was sensing. She is not someone to underestimate, and I get the impression she likes people to underestimate her.

“How many Seadogs do you think are in there?” I asked.

“We estimate no more than Twenty Seadogs, but they are the high-level ones.” Rotte continued and nodded to Ruku, “We think there are some smugglers there, but we don’t know how many. There is a small daysailer in the cave that has been out once. We don’t know where it went, but it came back the following night with some cargo. It is not marked with a name or symbol. One of the crew was a Mer, one of the obvious ones with tentacles.”

“They are called Merquid,” said Ruku.

The first Mer I ever met was Sione, so I had no idea how many types there were. There are probably as many types as there are species of Animal Kin.

“I will need to see the ocean entrance as we must block it or attack through it,” Wiremu said.

“Attacking from the sea is one of my speciality areas, and I might be able to scrounge a couple of helpers,” said Ruku.

I wasn’t keen on a commando raid if that is what he is thinking. While I had no doubt they would do the job, the goods in there were ours, and I doubt the military would let us loot the place. I also don’t want the military to know about the Pack Rats.

I made a non-commital noise, “We need to find out how many are in there first and how many entrances there are.”

“We have a way to soften them up,” Rotte said, “if we can get some rats in there,” she qualified.

“Oh?” I queried.

“Disease,” she said.

“Disease?” queried Wiremu, “Is that like poison?”

“It is better than poison,” she said. “If you poison someone, you give them a dose of a specific amount and see if it works. Diseases create poisons, but the good thing about diseases is that they grow. The disease will continue to multiply and generate more and more poison until it overcomes the resistance. Then the person gets continually worse. Most people don’t even have Disease resistance because your constitution blocks most common diseases. We have diseases that can affect even stronger constitutions, and once they start, they can spread themselves. It is hard to fight when you are puking or shitting your guts out.” She smiled at this as if it was a fond memory.

“What about healing potions?” I asked.

“Healing potions are mostly for wounds. You need cleansing potions for diseases and the right one for the disease,” was her reply. “Natural regeneration can overcome the disease, particularly if it has maxed out in the body. You are still going to be sick with a slow recovery.”

“How long does it take?” Wiremu asked.

“For those with a Physical Consitution of around 150, the disease I am thinking of would need about two days to grow strong enough. The plan would be to send in the rats and wait two days before attacking. If we left them alone, most would live and recover over about a week. There may be some permanent reduction in attributes.” she replied.

“How would we avoid contracting the disease?” Ruku asked.

“All the Pack Rats have a high disease resistance,” she said. “I suppose I could brew you something to immunise you,” she added reluctantly. “It would probably also give you your first resistance level.”

“That sounds good,” Wiremu said. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to drink anything she brewed. Wiremu continued, “Let's look at these entrances, and then I can get to scouting the cave.”

We moved to the nearby entrance and then to the ocean cave. Wiremu then stayed behind, estimating it might take two days to scout the cave. Ruku stayed to watch him when his concentration was on Tāoke and not on his surroundings. I am sure the nearby coastal fishing had nothing to do with that decision at all. The rest of us headed back to the quarry. I had two more nights of performances ahead of me anyway and then another date with Eluf to look forward to.