A towers defense

It was past noon when Jay left the mansion together with agent Kearnen. Those two of them were set to ride towards the tower as soon as possible.

The sooner they did, the lesser was the risk for whoever was there to flee.

Two horses had been prepared for them, but the moment Jay had walked down the stairs and seen them, he summoned his magical mount and called Kearnen over. She directly understood the difference and knew his horse would be much faster even with the two of them seated on it.

While jokingly asking if he had offered a space on his mount for her to press herself onto him, he shamelessly smiled and answered with a yes.

That was after they waved goodbye to Stoutmantle Daphne and Arya who would look after the city together.

Even though they rode pretty fast, the trip still took quite a while. In between, the two of them held a bit of small-talk and Kearnen asked about the mines. She already knew there had been another exit as he hadn't come back from the mines direction, so Jay told her there was a second entrance.

After he fought through numerous bandits, there had been a cave in and once they dug through, the army would report of a series of caves deep down there.

Happy Jay had told her more than he did for Stoutmantle and the rest, she didn't pry any further as to what had happened exactly down there. They only had a short rest stop in between and a few hours later, they reached the vicinity of the tower.

On the way Kearnen had already told him that they were going to split up:

While he was set on checking the tower, she would search the nearby area for hints to what happened to the water distribution in Westfield.

This was what she had been originally tasked to do when she was sent to this region. She had already learned the original water source for the fields to be the close by river that ended in the Eldrin River, but that was all she knew. Even asking the jailed women as she had the chance to had brought her no new information.

As they reached the crossing where a small path led from the main road into the fields, Jay steered his horse there. Just then he noticed Kearnen jumping off and while still not landed she shouted him he should ride on to the tower.

She was going to travel on by foot and come back once she was done.

Jay halted the horse and was about to ask what he should do if he was done earlier than her, but she only waved him from afar as she had already jumped into a sprint.

Like this he rode on alone and as he got closer to the tower a few minutes later, he noticed the vegetation getting sparse even though the location was close to the river.

As Jay got close enough to finally see the tower, the vegetation surrounding him had turned into not much more than barren soil. The tower itself was more of a ruin than an actual watch tower, with parts of it having broken off and lying on the dry ground.

Jay dismounted his horse and activated (Hide) as he walked closer. The sun was on the descend since a while, but it was still a good bit until it set, so he wasn't sure if he hadn't already been spotted. There had been no cover after all.

Contrary to what he had thought, there was no guards rushing out or any kind of reaction from the tower and Jay arrived at the door without problem.

His first though was that they might have been to late and whoever had been there left already, but then again, the location looked more like it had never been in use.

Thinking it might have always been nothing more than a meeting point, Jay grabbed the handle and pulled on the door.

-Ding-

The door hadn't been locked, but the moment he opened it a bit, a small door bell rang out. At the same time, Jay noticed movement behind him.

It was still far, so he pushed the door closed again and slowly turned around.

What greeted him could have been the scene of a horror movie: One by one, creepy and rotted looking arms reached out of the ground a few yards away from him.

Only a few seconds later it wasn't only arms with clawed hands but whole creatures. Though they had a somehow human shape, their distorted faces with ragged teeth and grayish unhealthy skin was nothing the likes.

Jay instantly analyzed the two of them as Ghouls of level 21 and 22 and then noticed they got shown as red dots on his mini map.

Just as he was done, they started to wobble over towards him. When their rotten smell wafted over, Jay decided to make short work of them.

With his newly boosted fire magic he burned them down to nothing but a small pile of ashes.

But the moment they were gone, three new red points appeared on Jays map. They looked exactly the same like the last, even though their level was a bit higher with it being 23. Deciding to test it out a bit as those were a new kind of opponents, Jay shot an (Arcane Missile).

Like this he learned that Ghouls die without a head.

Taking out his Cruel Barb and waiting for the next to arrive, Jay beheaded the creature with a single (Slash). While he dodged to the side following that, it hadn't been necessary as it died instantly.

The last one was a different story though.

Jay had rushed over to it and first cut off it's left arm, but the creature didn't react at all to this. Then he slashed off the other arm, to what the Ghoul started trying to bite him.

Glad that there was very little blood spraying out of the rotten body, Jay freed it of both legs, to what the creature rolled over the ground.

While he saw the health points displayed to him ticking down, it would have taken quite long so he beheaded the Ghoul and it died instantly.

Leaving the corpses without checking, Jay went to one of the graves where he found something glimmering greenish inside. He didn't dare to touch it as it looked poisonous, but it explained the state of the ground there.

After looking around once again and waiting if more of those Ghouls crept out, Jay went back to the door.

He pulled open the door and looked inside, but saw only darkness. Out of pure instinct he somersaulted back and dodged...

A new opponent showed itself as it broke through the door.

The white ghoul he was facing was a lot bigger than the last ones and looked even more dangerous. A swift [Analyze] told Jay it was a level 22 Elite Undead with a lot higher health and most certainly power.

The moment it got out, destroying the wall around the door in the process, it arched back and gave of a blood-curling shriek. From behind it two more adds came out of the tower, both level 20 as Jay saw, and they instantly positioned for attacking.

But it was the big one that took the initiative and lunged forward.

Jay, still holding the Cruel Barb, countered with a riposte and managed a deep cut on the creatures right forearm. But like it had been with the other ones, it wasn't bothered in the slightest with this.

Deciding to take some distance first as the claws looked poisonous ant therefore close combat was dangerous, Jay jumped back. He managed to dodge a follow up attack and as he halted a few yards back, the other Ghouls went on the move.

That was what he had been waiting for as Jay had prepared a nice surprise for at least one of them.

It was the maximum he could manage to that point, but as he ducked down and touched the barren soil, a massive earthen spike shot out of the ground, skewering one of the adds.

The Ghoul that got his torso impaled died close to instantly, showing Jay yet another way to get rid of those creatures.

As for the spike, repeated uses and practice had enable Jay to form a structure like that underground and then shoot it out with the use of additional mana, something he was not low on.

The other one had come close in the meantime and was about to jump at Jay when it got hurled back by a heatwave, followed by two simultaneous (Fireballs) that incinerated it.

While there was no need to finish it up with the little health it had left from that, Jay had no time to either way.

The elite creature had arrived and tried to bring down both its claws at the same time. At least that one seemed to be able of thinking was what shot through Jay's head.

Different to that it was a hurriedly fired (Arcane Missile) that shot through the Ghoul's head.

But as it didn't rid it of the whole thing, the creature kept attacking after it received at least some serious damage.

Rolling to the side, Jay loaded his sword with fire magic and in the passing, sliced at one of it's sturdy legs.

As he had gained a bit of distance again, Jay switched back to arcane- and fire-magic. The Ghoul surprisingly managed to dodge his first fireball, but the second was a hit.

Having one arm partially disabled from Jay's cut and the other one burning, it was no longer able to shield it's head when Jay fired a fully loaded (Arcane Missile) into the still visible hole of it's head.

Following a small explosion upon impact, the head- and neck-less Ghoul fell backwards and Jay was glad he had kept some distance.

The green smoke the corpse emitted looked similar poisonous like what he had seen in the graves and on the creatures claws.

It was finally time to enter the tower.

Walking over to the entrance and stepping through the no longer existing door, Jay nearly had to puke from the rotten smell inside. He used one of the bandanas he had on him that made it at least bearable and then ascended the spiraling stair along the outer walls.

The first floor had broken down for the most part, with only a few beams still intact. Jay spotted something like a nest on the opposite side, probably this was where the Ghouls had been kept. But he couldn't make out more in the darkness as his (Night Vision) robbed him of all color.

Walking further up the stairs he noticed the smell receding the closer he got to the second floor. This one looked to still be in good shape and as he arrived on it, Jay was a little surprised.

Through the small windows on all sides, the last bit of sunlight shone in, illuminating the circular room. But even if it had already been completely dark outside, the lit candles would have given off enough light to see every piece of furniture there.

But it wasn't the book shelves on the walls, the wardrobe or the simple bed that had been set up there. Even the relatively big desk with what looked like a chemistry kit on it wasn't what took his eyes.

It was the man standing in the middle of the room and seemingly awaiting him.

He looked so unhealthy and pale, even his bones showed under the skin. Jay could see that because of the rolled up sleeves on his slightly dirty, white shirt. The dark trousers didn't look intact as well, so Jay got interested and analyzed him.

Klaven Mortwake was his name and he was of level 25. That his occupation was a Slaver didn't surprise Jay anymore, given the man fitted the sparse description he had gotten from Arya. Completely new to him though, was the man's race.

It was called Undead, but from what Jay saw he was nothing the likes of a Ghoul.

After they looked each other into the eyes, Klaven didn't say anything but greeted Jay with some kind of unknown spell. At least he wanted to, but thanks to Jay's absurd magic reflection, Mortwake got the better of his own spell.

After it hit back, It was Jay to get surprised though. There was no reaction at all and Klaven began casting another spell.

Jay smiled under his red bandana at the man's attempt and waited motionless for him to finish.

While looking a bit irritated, the Undead finished casting his (Shadow Bolt) in close to no time and fired it onto Jay.

Again it got completely reflected, and this time it seemed to hurt.

Stepping back once and holding himself on his thin legs, fear shot into Klaven's glowing yellow eyes. Indecisive what to do, he waited for Jay to make a move.

And Jay did.

He had gotten interested in the physique of the Undead and leisurely walked over. As Jay had learned, the ghouls seemed to feel no pain.

But Klaven had reacted to his second spell while not to the first. Deciding to test it out a bit, Jay swung his sword once.

Like this he learned that Undead were different to Ghouls as Mortwake screamed on top of his lungs after loosing one leg and falling to the side.

Walking over and grabbing him by the hem of his shirt, Jay pulled the one legged man to one of the four stands on this floor and leaned him against it.

"You wouldn't happen to mind it if I ask you some questions, right?" J.

Starting his interrogation with his trademark question, Jay went on without waiting for the man's reply. The first thing he wanted to know what those things he encountered outside were and how they got there.

To that the Undead looked a bit proud as he announced them to be his personal guards. Though they were only mindless corpses reanimated to work again, they were not allowed to sleep or rest, only to wait for their next prey.

Jay corrected him that those -had- been his guards as none of them remained with a head and at the same time, made sure this really killed them.

Not sure if Klaven could have become more pale, Jay at least noticed his twisted expression. But he gave the Undead no time to remorse and directly asked his next question.

With that one Jay asked about his connection with Lady Kendra, to what Klaven only shot his eyes open.

At that point Jay noticed their conjunctiva to be black, something he hadn't seen before due to the light yellow glimmering from the irises. But without getting too impressed he simply held his sword onto the man's crotch and repeated his question.

The answer he got then was something he hadn't expected.

Not only that Klaven seemed to think not much of Kendra, calling her the lowly human slaver, but he had been ordered to work with her, what told Jay there was even more at work than they initially thought. This whole conspiracy was too damn big, and the reason still shrouded in mystery was Jay's honest impression.

After inquiring a bit further, he learned that Klaven had traded what he called special scrolls for human slaves, what brought Jay to the next questions. The first was about the scrolls what he ignored for the moment as the second question was more pressing: It was what Mortwake had done with those slaves after he got them.

The Undead explained he only brought most of them over to the river and there they got loaded onto boats going down the river. A few of them already had slaves loaded, so whoever received them was doing big business.

"Most of them? What about the rest?" J.

"Ain't that obvious? 'Cause some died…" KM.

"But not that many, am I right?" J.

"Clever guy, huh? Nah, I got ordered to pick the highest leveled and kept 'em. Different men came picking them and brought 'em to a different boat, but also river down." KM.

"Again with that ordered… Who gave those orders?" J.

"Can't say it. They'll sure kill me if I talk!" KM.

"And what do you think I'm gonna do?" J.

"Urg... but...The masters are strong! And they're already pissed off as ma delivery rate dropped over the last weeks…" KM.

"Can't be that strong if they fear getting found out that much, right?" J.

"They're working with some high ranking humans, so they have to hide... for now at least…" KM.

"That's just the information I wanted, thanks." J.

To his last statement Klaven got completely baffled. While Jay hadn't learned the ones ordering that Undead, he then knew they worked with officials in high positions or else they wouldn't be that careful.

The names Klaven knew would surely only be middle men, and Jay was sure to find their names in papers on the messy desk once he had gotten rid of Mortwake.

But he still had some use for the Undead...