32. The Bunker

Novum finished his third breakfast and with a smile on his face walked out of the inn. He stopped outside rolled a cigarette and headed for the Duke's manor. Now he just had to figure out where it was.

Novum started walking towards the building that he was in the day before since he assumed that the Duke's manor was close to that location. He had only walked for a couple of blocks when he saw a few of the city guards walking towards him. "Excuse me gentleman I was wondering if you would give me directions to the Duke's manor?"

"Why are you looking for that?"

"I am supposed to be meeting the Duke's mage this morning and Duke later in the day. How about you point me in the right direction and I will make sure the guards on the gate are doing their jobs?"

The old guard that was leading the group laughed. "Go two more blocks the way you were going and turn right Sir Novum."

"None of that sir crap. But how did you know my name?"

"Sergeants and above were briefed on you and what you found yesterday. Duke is worried about it so told us to be on alert and to support you in anything that you might need."

"Sarge you are saying this is Novum?" All of the guards started looking at him a little differently.

"That is good to know. Thanks. I am probably already late compared to what the mage is expecting." He gave them a bow of his head and started towards the manor. He looked over his shoulder and the sergeant was nudging them to stop staring and continue on their route.

Novum was not sure what that was about and he was not sure that he wanted to. He was wondering what rumors about him were going around. He might have to find a quiet corner in the bar and listen for a night. As soon as he turned the corner he saw the building that he assumed was the Duke's manor and walking quickly towards it. He did not want to run and stand out but he felt like he needed to hurry.

Novum was almost to the gate when the mage came walking out the front door and towards him. "We saw you coming and sent word ahead."

"Thank you." The mage motioned for him and by the time that he got there the gate that he created was opened. The two of them stepped through and were at the Earl's property.

"Please lead the way." The mage motioned for Novum to lead. Novum headed for the stable that he could see in the distance.

"Just so you know this is underground and there is a spell on the area so that no light or sound come through. It is really hard to spot if you are not looking for it and no light comes out at night so you could not see any cracks in the floor to tell you where to find the hatch. I got lucky to find it as quickly as I did my first time here."

"How did you know to look here?"

"I talked to someone and asked the right questions. They thought she would be either here or in the warehouse. They also let it slip earlier in the conversation that there were underground areas."

"And who was this person that you talked to?"

"Someone that was in a bad way with the Earl. If he had anything to do with this I would have told you about him. I think that he assumed more than he knew and since he had no proof and only a theory he could not bring it to anyone. But that is done and over with."

"You really don't intend to tell me, do you?"

"I had not planned on it. But depending on what is found down there I could change my mind if he could possible provide more information."

<Outside influence detected> Novum stopped in his tracks. "Stop right now or kill me. Cause if you try to get into my head again I will draw my sword and I might not be that powerful but I am strong enough to make you kill me."

"I apologize. I will admit that I was trying to get just a little peak of the person that you were talking about. I give you my word that I will not try it again."

Novum turned and headed back for towards the building without a word. Because the system had not told him that he resisted and the mage had told him what the spell was he started thinking of horrible things and even remembering images from his old life. Disgusting stuff that could easily turn a man's stomach. He was thinking about finding the mass grave when he got another notification. <Outside influence removed.> When he got that notification the mage had moved a few steps away from him as he walked.

When they go to the stable Novum walked straight to the spot on the floor and opened the hatch. "I would have had to wasted a spell to find that." Novum climbed down the ladder without a word. Once he got out of the dark area he could smell blood. It was not a powerful odor of blood given the lower temperatures but it was unmistakable.

Novum did not wait at the bottom of the ladder and headed into the first room to wait. The mage was moving quickly since he could also smell the blood. "This is the room where the six guards were rotating their shifts. I was in and out as quick as possible and did not search anything but I am fairly certain you will not find anything of use out here. Aureus and Henry were in the next room. The door had some kind of magical alarm things. He knew as soon as I opened the door that someone was there."

"That is a very useful low level spell for a mage. Well for anyone. It takes almost no energy to make. Even the most non-magic person in the world has enough for this spell. The problem is not the energy but the focus necessary to bind everything together. After you show me the next one would you please come and search this one. And after I am done in the next room would you come and search that one. I would prefer two sets of eyes on things since even my magic can miss hidden things sometimes."

"Of course." They went to the back room and the mage whistled when he saw that both of the man's hands were missing. "Yeah he was really good and it took a lot to make that happen in one attack."

"And yet you manage to rip a heavy stone out of the wall and run around the city carrying it and a young lady."

"In my defense most of my injuries happened after I got back to the city and was holding off the Earl's guards. Numbers matter."

"More often than not you are right. And usually I am afraid of the smaller numbers."

"Since you have spells that cover a wider area you can block large groups but if the area is big enough smaller numbers can spread out and leave you vulnerable. I can see how that would be an issue."

The mage looked at him and Novum was not sure if it was a good look not. "You are very worrying young man. You look at things differently and have a broader knowledge base than any other your age to include a lot of mages and priests who spend all their youth accumulating knowledge."

"I can understand that perspective from a lot of elders. I am going back to search the other room while you do your portion here." Novum headed back and searched every nook and cranny and still found nothing worth mentioning. More than likely everything in here belonged to the guards and they took it with them when they left. He moved a chair over beside the door and waited for the mage to finish. As he sat there something did not feel right to him. But he waited on the mage to ask him about it.

A short while later the mage came out and saw him sitting in the chair with nothing around him. "Seriously nothing?"

"And the body in there still had everything. Does something fell off about that to you as well?"

"If they had enough time to come and grab their stuff why did they not take his. I mean the man had two magic swords and quality armor. If I would have had more time I would have taken everything."

"I am not above taking what I am owed either. I am concerned that something more is going on."

"Sir I would take everything that was found very lightly. I have a feeling that this was left here with the intention of sending you after someone that the real power is after."

"I feel that way as well. But I will still look into everything. And honestly by figuring out who they are after it might tell us who we are after."

"You are not wrong there."

"I piled everything that I found of monetary value on the table. Please take all of it with you. Their loss is your gain. No use in wasting it."

"Thank you very much sir. You might try a magic spell in here but I seriously doubt that you will find anything. I will go and look in there through normal means if that is okay?"

"Please go ahead."

Novum walked in and started looking at everything that was around him. He ran his hand over everything to include the walls and the backs of the dressers. He knew that with the time that he was taking, if there was something there the system would alert him. He was about to give up when he walked over and moved the bed away from the wall. There was a big symbol carved into the floor. "Sir, I think I found something."

The mage came in and saw the symbol. "This is not good. I can't believe that they missed or even intentionally left this. This was definitely missed."

"Sir, what is this symbol?"

"It is the symbol of a cult that worships an old dead god that is not quite dead."

"I see. He was killed by another being at deity level and most of his followers were killed so he was almost completely dead but enough of his followers survived that his core was not completely destroyed and a few fanatics have been trying to bring him back."

"That is correct. A should have said goddess and not god but same thing. The dark goddess Layla was destroyed a century ago but the cult has stuck around. There is a chance that the slaves were not slaves but sacrifices."

"It seems that Henry broke a huge cardinal rule and left a symbol behind and they missed it. What are the chances that someone left it here to force the Duke into a confrontation with them?"

"I don't think that anyone that knows about the Cult of the Night Seekers would be willing to do this. If the cult found out it would be bad for them as well as for us."

<Find out more about the Cult of the Night Seekers.>

"Is there anything else here that we need our should we go ahead and take Henry out and get him buried?"

"Load up your stuff and I will put the body in storage and get it taken care of by the church. Novum did you really rip the stone out of the wall?"

Novum gathered up everything off of the table where the mage had placed it. "Yeah it was in there really tightly. I was pretty motivated at the time and still really wound up from the fight."

"Either way it is still impressive. Now that we know who we are looking for it is going to change a few things. Do you need anything else or are you good to go?"

"I am good to go sir." The mage cast the spell again and another portal opened and when Novum stepped through he was inside the Duke's manor. "That is an impressive spell."

"I will admit that I cheat. I have an item that links me to the manor that I can use at any time from any distance. It was very, very expensive to create but so worth it."

"Would you be willing to provide me with a list of things that are required for that spell? I can't use it but I would gather the necessary items for yourself or another mage to use that spell on me and my property."

"I will provide you the list but one item will be missing. And before you get upset I will provide that item when I come and cast the spell. Only a few mages could even think of casting this spell and I don't want to give away and secrets."

"That is more than acceptable. I should have taken that into consideration. I will gather everything that you need and also include the cost of coin as well so I will make sure that I have everything that you need before I message you."

The mage led his way though the manor towards the main meeting room since the Duke wanted to see him anyways. "I will have you the list shortly. How much longer are you staying in the Capitol?"

"Unless the Duke has something that he requires of me I plan to head home in the morning." About that time they entered main hall and a dwarf quickly crossed the distance between them and dropped to his knees.

"I, Rurik Anvilbreaker, offer you my life. Please allow me to accompany you wherever you may go."