226. Boris: Tabitha.

The obvious place to start looking for information is to sneak into Boris’ mansion and look around. If I threw my weight around as Countess Auditor, he would try to hide key information. Why make life difficult for myself?

To get to Boris’ mansion, you take the western gate out of the city, and after about half a kilometre, you turn off the main highway. The road to the mansion is humbly called the Duke's Road, which is conveniently carved into a marker stone.

About two kilometres up this road, the jungle wides into a clearing, and the gate to the Duke’s Mansion is on the left. What you can’t see from the city is that the jungle on the right of the road has been cleared, and a fort, or barracks or similar, is under construction. They are close to being finished, actually. The outer wall is all timber logs. There are Watchtowers around it, and the walls have a walkway for defenders to stand on.

I climbed the wall with Shadow Step. There are barrack-like buildings, cook house and stables, with a large open parade or training ground. The cookhouse and one of the barrack buildings still need the roof finished and then to be furnished.

My estimation is a couple of hundred soldiers could be housed here. It looks very military. The only people here tonight are two of the Dukes House Guards. Why would the Duke need to house guards close to his mansion, and where is he getting those guards from? There were only fifty or so in the Dragon’s Fart, and we thinned them out.

There was a site office with plans. It was definitely a fort with barracks and a training ground. The rest of the information was just schedules for crafters and goods delivery. The pressure was on as it was all supposed to be complete in five weeks. It was time to try the Duke's mansion for more information.

The Duke’s Mansion didn’t have any more information. I left Dusk in the shadows by the road and went over the wall. Slipping in an open window was easy. There were patrolling guards, but they were easy to avoid. It was so easy to get in I spent all my time looking for the trap and waiting for it to spring. It was no trap. It was just easy. It was also a waste of time.

His office had a safe with boring stuff in it and barely enough coin for a week’s expenses. There were a couple of mementoes from his military career and a portrait of a woman on the wall. Probably a wife, maybe a daughter. There is no record of where his coins went or the purpose of the fort next door. The city records must be kept elsewhere, maybe the city mayor’s office in town.

I poked my senses into the Duke’s master suite, and he was asleep, and he was alone. He was a tall, thin man with greying hair and a beard. There was no fat, so there goes theory number one. He is not spending his coin indulging himself. He looked quite elderly, so I must find out about his heir. Maybe the heir is stealing the coin.

The Master suite was on the city side of the mansion. Maybe he enjoys watching his people suffer. There was a balcony with a table and chairs. I was watching through the glass doors. The doors were locked and alarmed. I could get in but chose not to. I figured it was still early in the morning, between 1 and 2 a.m., so this hadn’t taken as long as I thought here. I was deciding whether I had time to get to town and hit the city administration offices when the wall alarms started ringing.

This was interesting. My Hearing Aid was almost Journeyman Level and picked up a lot of sounds from the city. People shouting, Alarms ringing, and, was that the sound of angry monkeys? I couldn’t see very well as I didn’t have Farsight. I was tempted to go down and join the excitement, but it would probably be more useful to stay here and see how Boris reacts. I retreated back from the window and then decided to climb onto the roof. I could hide in the shadow of the chimney. I could track Boris from the sounds through the chimney to his room and could follow on the roof or head down as appropriate.

It was ten minutes later when a knocking on the door woke Boris. I was surprised the rising noise from the city didn’t wake him. The noise was getting worse, and whatever it was moved through the city. I am sure they are monkey sounds. Maybe Farsight would be worth it, although I tended more toward Keensight or similar enhancement to my Spatial Awareness.

Old man Boris is a deep sleeper. It took repeated and increasingly loud knocking to finally rouse him. I caught most of the conversation about a rampaging horde of baboons moving through the city. Boris dragged the messenger to the balcony to see for himself.

“They came from the southeast, my Lord.”

Boris’ eyes tracked to that part of the city, and he spent some time just looking at different parts of the city. He may not have Hearing Aid, but he definitely has Farsight and Darksight. Then his eyes lifted to the sky, and he spent some time searching the sky. That was interesting. Was he perhaps looking for certain Avion farters? Did he suspect this was arranged?

“How are the guards handling it?” Boris asked.

“I am not sure, my Lord. I was sent to warn you as soon as the alarm was raised.”

“Alfred!” the Duke yelled. He may not have Hearing Aid, but he has some voice Skill for sure. As soon as a servant came running, he said, “Get the horses ready. We are going to the city to sort this troll shit out. You,” he pointed to the messenger, “help him. I will be down soon.” Boris then quickly dressed and put on a strong leather jacket and leather leggings, grabbed a sword and briskly marched out of the room.

Since I knew where he was heading, it went over the roof and called Dusk to move closer. The Stables were to the side of the main entrance by the road, and when I got there, there were a whole squad of guards getting ready to mount up, with stable hands running everywhere. They were mounted up and on the road fifteen minutes later. I slid off the roof and followed on Dusk. The city gate is only a five-minute gallop away. I was halfway there and cursed myself for not stealing something. My Burglary Class will never level at this rate.

The gatekeepers had the western gates open or the Duke, so he galloped straight through. They held the gate for me, not realising I was the eleventh person in the ten-person squad. My Mimic and Body Image Skills made me look like one of the guards. I peeled off from the group at the nearest side road. I debated staying as a guard in the confusion but decided I would rather not be ordered around. I kept the guard image going as a disguise.

The Duke went to the main square and entered the City Administration offices. I finally got a look at the attacking creatures. Baboons. They were not causing a lot of damage. Anyone with a basic fighting class should be able to fight one off. The trouble is there wasn’t just one. There was a whole pack or group or whatever the hell they are called. Hundreds of them, and they were mad. I climbed on a roof and looked around. Despite being monkeys, these baboons seemed to prefer to stay on the ground. Strange that. Wiremu could probably tell me why if I cared enough to ask.

I saw squads of guards and one squad of soldiers clearing streets and herding the animals to the south gate. There was some property damage, but I would be surprised if there were any deaths. Some injuries certainly, but most of the population were locked up in their houses asleep. They were no longer asleep, but the smart ones stayed in their houses. What was the point of this? Boris searched the skies, so I followed suit now that I was closer.

It took a while, but I eventually saw a bird I was sure shouldn’t be out of its nest at this hour. I think. My Animal Lore is not great. Then I caught the flutter of larger wings at the edge of my Darksight. This was being observed and had probably been orchestrated. Was this at the Duke's request or attacking him? Seemed to be against the Duke at this point, and he knew who was against him. Maybe we could get a contract to deal with these pesky bird farters. We will deal with them anyway, but there is no harm in getting paid for it at the same time.

Then I saw an Avion fall with an arrow in its chest. It has to be Wiremu with his Marksman and Darksight / Telescopic sight combo. I jumped down back onto Dusk, and we headed to where the Avion fell. I saw another bird fall, no arrow, but obviously full of poison. I left Dusk a block away and went overhead. When I got there, the avion was being collected by a squad of guardsmen. She was dead, but I was unsure if it was the arrow or the fall. They also collected the arrow, and the squad leader wrapped it carefully to avoid contamination. He was obviously an Investigator. It will be interesting to see where that leads them.

I followed them to the local Guard HQ. Then I went to check on my mate Boris. He was doing Duky things, which means he was sitting around listening to people report to him and issuing the occasional order. When I got back to Dusk, there was a dead monkey at her feet, and Nyx had another bound in shadows and was feeding. I moved them all back to the Inn and left Nyx in the stall with Dusk to finish her meal. It was a very interesting evening.