April 12th, 1798 14:32

Victor, Rory and Natasha settled again at Lazar's house. Once again, Natasha has prepared something for the three of them to eat, Victor and Rory waited patiently at the living room, ever so slightly sipping from their cups. Their objective is now clear, they have to find the spawning pools of the shades and destroy them. Victor and Rory both know from experience that summoning pools like these need a lot of time and effort to put together, whoever is behind the Shades has clearly worked for some time in the shadows, the person behind the attacks also has a clear plan. If the plan was to destroy Magnus, then an army of Worgs would have sufficed, instead, the attacker has sent only the Shades. All that has been accomplished thus far is to terrorize the town, which means that whoever is responsible doesn't want to completely destroy it but instead exact some kind of revenge or perhaps damage Magnus' economy. With the constant attacks in place, funding for the guard's barracks has increased tremendously and the taxes on the residents have also increased to accommodate the need for protection.

Despite all the effort that Lazar and Diego have put to enhance the town's security, Victor has some suspicion that the actual level of the guards is awful, he has again and again insulted and offended the guards of the town. While waiting at the living room, the front door opened and Lazar burst in the house, raising his hand and pointing at Victor he wanted to share a piece of his mind with him.

"I just spoke to Mr.Pearson, I don't know or care about you, Victor Hill, but I want to tell you one thing. You have insulted me, the town's sheriff and the guards risking their lives too much. Diego told me about the new monster in the forest. You have endangered my niece twice thus far and you have turned her into an absolute vandal. She invited you to stay under my roof without even asking for permission. You have exploited a foolish girl and her crazy ideas just to get free accommodation. I am disgusted by you. I want you to leave this house and this town as quickly as possible, you are not the only hunter that can help Magnus but you sure are the least welcome."

Victor let Lazar finish everything he had to say, he didn't interrupt him while he was yelling and cursing at him. He wanted to have a clear image of what Lazar wanted to say to him so that he could respond with pristine accuracy to his claims. At his point, Natasha was standing by the door separating the living room from the kitchen, she was leaning against the door, way too frightened to come out and face Lazar in that state, she could hear everything though.

"Let me correct an idea you may have, Mr.Barnes. The reason I and Rory are here is to make money for ourselves, you were the one who insisted we do more than actually hunt the Shades. You asked us to help this shithole you are living in. Pearson is so ignorant of what happens around him I can see him being stabbed by his own quil at the end of the day. Your guards are a bunch of village idiots without any actual combat training or hunting training and last but not least, that girl you deemed as foolish is a brilliant woman with enough courage and spirit to outmatch any of your guards, she has enough talent and combat skill to shame your puny sheriff and she is the only one working towards a solution while you all cower at your desks, I won't allow you to mock this girl's efforts but if I kill you then that would make me bad."

Natasha cried as Victor defended her against Lazar, she was so overwhelmed with emotion that she run out of the kitchen and hugged him with all of her strength, her tears fell on Victor's coat and he also raised his hands and pat her head while also hugging and finally acknowledging her skills and efforts. Lazar was shocked at the sight of Natasha embracing Victor with such emotion, he couldn't mutter a word. Rory was also moved by Victor's speech and hardly managed to keep a tear from shedding down on his cheek.

Victor prompted Rory to pack his things and leave Lazar's house, he knew that he wasn't welcome there but the situation has escalated and now he can't just abandon Magnus to it's suffering, as such, he didn't plan to leave the town. While he and Rory packed their stuff, Lazar went to his own room and Natasha also packed a bag and met Victor in the living room.

"If you are leaving then I am coming with you too. After all, I am also deep in all of this."

Victor didn't oppose to Natasha's wish to join them as they left to find another place to spend the night, they needed to find a well-fortified place in case of an attack and also a place where they could get a good meal.

April 12th, 1798 16:12

Victor had scouted many inns in the town and he has selected what seems like the best choice when it comes to fortification, the front door has a metal bar that locks it from the inside and the wood seems strong enough to withstand a blast from a musket, he walked up to the innkeeper, Rory and Natasha slightly behind him.

"I need two rooms, next to each other with single beds."

The innkeeper slightly intrigued by the lack of politeness from Victor has given him two keys for what he asked, two rooms, next to each other with single beds. Natasha asked Victor about that arrangement as soon as they stood out of the rooms in a hallway that was on the second floor of the inn. The fact that it was elevated also provided useful in case of an attack.

"Why two rooms with single beds?"

Natasha asked Victor while he tried to unlock the door of the room.

"Two of us are going to sleep at one time, one will stand to watch the hallway, we will split the shifts during the night, I don't want anyone to jump out, just keep an eye out and if we are threatened and only then, we will wake the others up."

Victor explained that he needed one person awake at all times to be on guard in case of an attack. As soon as they left their stuff at their rooms, they went downstairs to the main room of the inn, a typical pub-like place with a couple of wooden tables and chairs, probably to treat the customers of the inn. They sat down at one of the tables and the innkeeper, a middle-aged man with a long brown beard wearing fine linen clothes has instructed the waitress to go over to them and take their order while he was putting on his apron to probably go in the kitchen. The waitress has walked up to them and they asked for whatever they have for today. The meal was fresh fish with steamed potatoes and a unique type of bread called "pita", a thin, tasty round-shaped flatbread with seasoning.

April 12th, 1798 17:03

Not much time later, they all have finished eating and they ordered a couple of mugs filled with ale and they began discussing their plan for destroying the black pools.

"The plant that Rory has will lead us to the other pools, what we need now is a way to burn them without attracting the Worgs"

Said Victor and sipped from his mug. Rory provided a possible solution.

"Do you think that the Worgs are there to protect the pools? If so, then we need a way to remotely trigger an explosion and burn them from afar, that way we won't be anywhere close."

At that time, Natasha also wanted to take part in the conversation and decided to suggest an idea.

"What if we had an explosive with a long fuse, that should give us enough time to move away from danger."

Rory agreed to that, it's way easier to have a timed explosive than a remote mechanism. The cost would be less as well. Victor was worried about something though.

"Whoever is responsible for the monsters clearly wants to defend the black pools, the existence of the Worg proves that he wants to keep things safe, even if we somehow make a fuse long enough to delay the explosion and set fire to the pool, it's not guaranteed that we will have enough time to plant all of them before we come face to face with one of those things, also we don't even know how many pools there are."

Both Rory and Natasha lowered their eyes and saw the fault of their plan, all three of them spent a couple of minutes in silence while trying to think of something. Without any clear plan, Rory suggested,

"I can try to work something out, I am going to need time though, I will try to work on something during my night shift. First thing in the morning, we will go buy as much Halia root as we can and try to sneakily figure out the exact number of the nesting pools."

Victor agreed to that idea and made sure to load all of his pistols in preparation for tomorrow, Natasha also loaded three guns as soon as she returned to the room, they couldn't simply pull out gunpowder and lead bullets at the inn and start reloading guns after all.

April 12th, 1798 18:59

With the sun slowly setting, they decided to rest for a while, Natasha had the first shift until 22:00 and the most important. The attacks occurred around that time at night. Rory was at his room working on a design that could be useful to their plan of destroying the pools without having to deal with the Worg, Victor after having all his gear ready decided to sleep for a bit. Time passed and soon the sun was setting for good.

April 12th, 1798 21:34

The sun has set, the night is way too quiet, there is nothing out of the ordinary, Natasha didn't hear or see anything happening, luckily, tonight doesn't seem like there is going to be an attack at Magnus, Victor woke up from his sleep and geared up to take the second shift that ended at 01:00. He walked outside fully geared up and ready to keep an eye out, Natasha walked into the room that Victor just left and fell asleep immediately as she was way too tired, Rory was also asleep at that time, he spent a couple of hours working on some designs and also planned to work while he is supposed to watch the hallway, he has spotted a small decorative table at the hallway that he could easily turn into a temporary working station. Victor was glad that tonight was also a quiet night, the last thing he wanted was to engage in battle with a pack of Shades.

April 13th, 1798 00:45

Time was passing by and soon, Victor's shift is about to end, Rory has woken up and he has picked a couple of tools and paper rolls to work on his contraption. Victor informed him of what was happening, it's quiet outside, there are a couple of people that are even walking around at that time, walking home from a pub or from a cabaret. Rory has taken the shift and Victor walked to the empty room to fall asleep once again. While Rory was barely standing straight, having to wake up in the middle of the night and all, he made himself the simple desk he wanted to work with. Not much time later he noticed some movement coming from one of the rooms that Victor and Natasha were presumably sleeping in, he took a look and he saw Natasha coming out of the room, dressed in her sleeping gown, she was walking on the tips of her toes towards the room that Victor was in. Rory smiled,

"Victor, you lucky bastard."

Natasha entered Victor's room, she found him lying on the bed trying to sleep, his weaponry was close enough to grab at a moment's notice, she lied next to him and started to softly rub her hands across his chest. The previous speech that Victor gave during his argument with Lazar has clearly sparked something inside Natasha. She felt like she could trust him, she felt safe with Victor. He also grabbed her and started to stroke her hair, they made love for a while, passionate love with emotion from both of them, even Victor who up until now hasn't shown any sign of it.

April 13th, 1798 01:38

They made love for about an hour, they stayed on the bed together with Natasha inside Victor's arms, he hugged her tight and the linen covers of the bed have kept them warm while they lied on the bed. Rory knocked on the door and as soon as he figured that they weren't in the middle of something, he entered.

"Sorry to interrupt but there is someone who wants to see you, Victor."

Victor had already made a move for his sword as soon as he heard the knocking, he thought that Rory implied there was trouble. He stood up, got dressed and also geared up once again, Natasha was still on the bed covered with the brown linen cover, worried as to what was happening at that time. Victor walked out of the room, he saw Rory standing there with what seemed a squad of guards and the sheriff, Diego Pearson who as soon as he noticed Victor he said,

"Ah, Mr.Hill. I understand that this is a weird request but I had hoped that we could share a drink, as it seems the night is quiet and I would like your company. We started off badly but I hope we can better our relationship over some drinks, my treat of course."

Victor was curious about what this was but he felt like he had to comply with Diego's request. He walked downstairs with him, the small squad of guards was also behind them, fully armed with three swordsmen and two riflemen.

"I see you are walking around with a personal guard, Mr.Pearson."

Said Victor while pointing at Diego's squad.

"Even at a night as quiet as this, I must take precautions, you never know what's going to happen in these times. I suggest going to another place for our drinks though, I don't like the ale they serve here."

Diego prompted to move to another location, that picked Victor's interest but he still walked with him outside of the inn, the street was empty, the dim light of the lanterns barely gave off enough light to see where they were walking, Diego was leading the way and Victor walked beside him. Dim fog engulfed the streets that they walked, Diego seemed to know where he was going despite the obstructed visibility though. At some point, they ended at the harbor, there was no one around the place, the only thing that they could see was the lake and a couple of fish boats tied at the harbor.

Diego was standing at the edge of the harbor with Victor next to him and the guards just in front of them, that's was the moment where Diego walked to his guards and broke the awkward silence.

"You have been messing around with some dangerous stuff, Mr.Hill. You dared to insult me in my own town, your actions in the forest have also brought shame to me and my guards, the townspeople have begun calling my men incompetent, I cannot allow this."

Victor knew what this was all about, he had figured out everything while they were walking, he made sure to check where they were going and he knew that there wasn't any pub around there.

"So? What is your plan, Pearson?"

Said Victor and placed his hand on his sword.

"You are going to become fish food, Mr.Hill."