I’m not the type of person to give up on a task or mission
that I have been given. If I don’t
believe I am capable of doing it, I will turn it down and explain the reason
why to the person giving me the assignment.
Some things I just don’t have the skill set for but I don’t run into
many of those types of assignments.
Once I recovered from my near death experience, I put my revised
plans into action. I was going to get the
bloodgem first. I was ready to give some
payback to those Magisters. I went a
little more stealthier than the last time and made sure of everyone’s positions
before I snuck up to the encampment and systematically took them out one at a
time looking for a gem. Apparently, once
they charge a smaller bloodgem, they place them in a storage box which closely
guarded, so I had to get to a Magister before they actually charged the gem in
their possession. This took a little bit
of time but I finally managed it. The
difficult part was charging the thing from the larger blood gem as the
Magisters are always coming and going around those larger gems. Fortunately, the Magister I took the gem from
had been wearing a cloak and since their clothes are red the blood didn’t show
up too bad for a quick glance. I threw
the cloak on and waited until the majority of the Magisters had charged their
gems and was taking them to the storage box before I headed to the large
bloodgem and charged the smaller one. I
was trying to figure out how I could leave the area without being stopped for
not turning the gem in when there was a commotion on the other side of the
encampment. They had found one of the
bodies I had stashed and the general alarm went up. I used the confusion created to sneak away
from the encampment and recover my mount and leave the scene. The task was completed.
I returned to Area-52 with the charged bloodgem and the
Magistrix was delighted to get her hands on it.
She immediately set about examining it and running tests on it. I left her to it with a brief comment to the
Spymaster that I would work on his assignment the next day. My energy level hasn’t quite returned yet
since my injuries healed. I wanted a
full night’s rest and a nice meal under my belt before I dealt with the Sunfury
elves again. Plus I wanted some of the
commotion to die down before I attempted to thin their ranks further.
While the commotion had indeed died down during the night,
there was a lot more activity in the camps than there had been previously. This was going to make my task for the Spymaster
a little more difficult but not impossible.
I would never make a good rogue but I don’t think I did too badly that
day. I was able to sneak around and take
out the warp-masters and the warp-engineers.
While I was sneaking around, I overheard some conversations that
Overseer Theredis had moved some of the guards away from the manaforge in order
for them to patrol the area looking for culprits behind the recent
killings. I found that interesting news
and crept around toward the back of the manaforge to see if security might be a
little looser there and sure enough, there were only two guards back there. They can easily see the path and the surrounding
area to their left leading up to them so if they were approached by an enemy
they could sound the alarm. However, the
approach to them from their right is almost non-existent as the manaforge sits
close to the edge of the drop-off. A
skillful climber could come from that direction and take them by surprise.
I knew that the Spymaster wanted this manaforge shut down
and with security being thin right now, I believed I had the perfect
opportunity to do it. I retrieved my
gryphon and came up on the manaforge from the backside where it backed up to
the edge. I dropped from him onto a
narrow ledge and made my way around toward the two guards. A quick peek told me all was quiet and I got
as close as I could unnoticed and then charged them knocking the breath out of
the first one by delivering a well-timed kick to the crotch – it’s surprising
how quickly that will drop a male for a time; as such you would think they
would design their armor to better protect that sensitive area – and immediately
engaged the second by continuing my charge to knock him back. These two were inexperienced fighters which
was good for me but bad for them. I was
able to dispatch the first guard quickly and as the other one was recovering
his breath, I ran him through giving him a quick death.
With the guards out of the way, I made my way into the
manaforge and scanned the area. There
were very few workers in there. I needed
to get the access crystal from Overseer Theredis in order to permanently shut
down the manaforge. When I asked the
Spymaster why we couldn’t just storm the manaforges and destroy them, he told
me that the resulting explosion from just one would almost destroy Outland so
we have to shut them down instead.
I went back out the way I had come in and shoved the bodies
over the edge into the nether so they couldn’t be found, covered as much of the
blood up with loose dirt to try to hide the evidence somewhat if anyone came
strolling back this way. Hopefully they
would think that the two sentries had abandoned their posts for some reason and
not set up the alarm immediately. I then
whistled for Skytalon, my gryphon, in order to put a plan into motion. Gryphons are very smart creatures and
Skytalon was exceptionally intelligent.
I told him that I needed a diversion at the front of the manaforge and I
wanted him to dive bomb the area to hold the Sunfury elves’ attention for a
bit. He chirped at me to let me know he
understood and left. I returned to
interior of the manaforge and waited for my diversion.
Suddenly there were lots of shouts at the front of the
manaforge and just about everyone inside ran outside, including the
Overseer. I took the opportunity to head
toward his office and await his return.
I didn’t have long to wait. He
was still shouting orders as he entered and I didn’t give him a chance to do
more than look at me with his eyes going wide before I planted my sword in his
heart. He wasn’t wearing armor so it was
an easy kill. I had already searched his
office for the crystal and didn’t find it so he had to have it on his
person. I retrieved it off his body and
made my way to the control console. A
cursory glance at the mechanism told me all I needed to know in order to shut
it down. I inserted the access crystal
and entered the shutdown command. Within
moments the manaforge powered down and I took the access crystal out and
smashed it on the ground and beat a hasty retreat. Skytalon had been watching for my return and
he swooped down to me allowing me to quickly climb on his back. He was back in the air in mere moments and we
returned to the Spymaster in Area-52.
I gave him my report of what had happened and he
congratulated me on a job well done. He
also told me that he liked my initiative and he hoped that his operatives at
the other manaforges could shut them down as easily as I had. I thanked him and when he asked me what I
planned to do next I told him that I had heard that the Consortium had some
work they needed done in some of the eco-domes and I thought I would head that
way on the morrow. He nodded, wished me
well and turned to speak with someone who had just entered the room. I took that as my dismissal and I returned to
the inn for a bite to eat and my soft bed.
It would be another long day tomorrow and I needed my rest.
Kahtraa((currently Level 71))
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