116. Master Trap: Tabitha

The last three public performances went well, and Eluf threw us a party afterwards. That was fun, particularly when I woke up in his bed the next morning. I quizzed him about his siblings over breakfast. He and Linne used to get on really well as they grew up together, and they still do. He is only getting to know Sven since getting back from the Army. The kid was only six when he left, so he missed out on his growing years. Fifteen years in the army, and the kid is now twenty-one. Apparently, Sven and Linne get on really well as she helped him grow up and was there for him when he went through a troubled teen period. Big sisters are sometimes better than mothers.

Then Eluf tried to ask me some questions from the raid, and I had to distract him with some serious kissing. He knew what I was doing, too, the bastard, and he made the most of it. Him and his bloody mental shit. Yes, we had a good time.

Now, it is time for me to break into his brother Sven’s place and have a look around. Sven didn’t have a mansion. He had a townhouse. It was a very nice townhouse. I have learned my lesson from breaking into Linne and Reiner’s place, and I will try the backdoor before I try the fancy aerial manoeuvres.

There was an advanced alarm trap on the back door, but nothing out of the ordinary. I disabled it easily enough. Fortunately, my Spatial Awareness had given me advanced warning of what I was entering. This was definitely a bachelor's pad. The rear entrance opened into a kitchen area, and it was a mess. Dirty dishes and unwashed food containers littered the kitchen. The floor was unwashed, and crumbs lined the edges of the main walkway. This set the tone for the house. There were two bedrooms upstairs, a Reception room, and an office on the ground floor. There was a second office in the basement and the utility rooms. The only room that was some semblance of clean was the Reception room. Everywhere else was just cluttered. Dirty clothes were left on the floor, and books and knickknacks were everywhere.

I had to carefully pick my way through the mess, trying not to disturb anything or leave a mark. The place was coated in dust and cobwebs. Wait a minute. Cobwebs. I focussed my Spatial Awareness, and there were spiders with the cobwebs, just like there were ants, flies and cockroaches in the kitchen, and a nest of mice in the basement. This place needed to be gutted, or at least he could hire some cleaners. The lad was a noble, I am sure he could afford it. Unless he wanted it this way.

I carefully focussed my Spatial Awareness around me, slowly expanding it from my body. Just occasionally, there were extremely thin broken cobwebs where I had walked. So thin I had not looked closely enough with my senses. This place was one big trap. He would definitely know I had been here. The house is a master trap masquerading as a bachelor pad. I recognise this, but how would you prove it? It could just be a messy house of a young man who doesn’t care.

I was convinced this was the home of the Spider, but there was no evidence to back up that claim. A lack of proof has not stopped me from acting on things in the past. It depends on what I will do with this information. Eluf would need proof. It is much harder to assassinate a Noble than a government employee, especially if they are my lover's brother. I could try recruiting him, but I would need to know his aims and motivations first. By all accounts, he is an established Noble and doing a good job in that role. At least I now know where to focus my attention, at least until I am proven wrong. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.

The more immediate problem is what to do now. I have illegally entered his house, and he will know. If he is the Spider, he will know. If he is a bachelor slob, he will not know. Working on the assumption he is the Spider, and I can’t cover my tracks, what message do I want to send? I could make it like an amateur break-in, mess the place up, and steal some stuff. Looking around it would be redistributing the mess. I could do nothing and leave and leave him wondering. I could leave him a message. I could just burn the place to the ground, and that option would be best for the health of the neighbourhood.

Before I burned the place to the ground, I would need to determine if his bond was present. It could be watching me now. I was in the ground floor office where five spiders were hidden. None looked unusual to my senses. I looked with Sense Spiritual to see if the Spiritual flows went anywhere in particular. If his bond was a normal spider, I would not be able to tell. If it had turned into a monster like Tāoke, there would be a change in Spiritual flows. I could sense nothing.

It seemed a waste not to leave a message of some sort. Where would the Spider look, but a slob wouldn’t notice? One of the cobwebs was the obvious solution. But what message? I looked through the contents of my slim backpack, coin pouch and Spatial Pocket. My Spatial Pocket was mid-Apprentice level and 70cm cubed, which was quite a large space. I now carried a lot of my essential or valuable supplies there. It was a big change from the days when I could only fit some oils and dust in it. I found a small slither of Blacksteel, not enough to make a broach, but it is the Black Butchers symbol. I disturbed a cobweb and then placed it wrapped in the web.

I was retracing my steps out of there when one of the cobweb strands that I had broken caught my eye. If this house was a master trap, it would do more than just let him know he had an intruder. I carefully put my gloved hand behind the loose strand to see it better. It would break if I touched it. If I had someone break into my place, I would want to know who it was or be able to track them.

My Spatial Awareness was just telling me this was a very thin and hard-to-detect strand of a spider web. I no longer believed that. My Sense Spiritual was just in the Journeyman Levels, and I had been practising sensing Spiritual flows with it. I used it and focused it on the strand by my hand. Even now that I had raised my Spiritual Perception to 40, I still couldn’t sense anything. I know Mayakku has the Spiritual Sensitivity Skill, and she might be able to sense something. She is not here, but Nyx is.

I called Nyx out, and darkness filled the corridor as she expanded around me, wall to wall, floor to ceiling and a couple of meters on either side of me. She is an Elemental, so she is made from Spiritual Energy and lives on Spiritual Energy. Our Elemental Bond is at the Journeyman level, and we can now share a lot. I focussed on the bond and what Nyx was sensing. I have tried, but I have never been able to get the Skill Bond Senses, like Wiremu and Tāoke share. Wiremu’s is strongly focused on smell. I don’t know how Nyx senses, although it is definitely in the Spiritual. I remember putting those points into the Spiritual Attributes to bring them up to 40 and seemed to get nothing for it. Now I could sense those attributes coming into play and enhancing both my Bond Senses and my Sense Spiritual. I was trying to sense what Nyx is sensing, and I am getting a vague sense of it. I push on my Spiritual Perception and add my final two free attributes to it, and I get a breakthrough. The trouble is, I am not sure how I would describe it to anyone.

Nyx can ‘see’ the spiritual. It is different to my Sense Spiritual but complementary. There is so much more detail, or colour, or flavour. I don’t know how to describe it. I can see that this web differs from a normal web. I can’t see the flow of the Spiritual in the air like I discovered I can with my Sense Spiritual in Journeyman levels. What I can sense is the Spiritual in objects with much greater clarity. The denser the object, like Blacksteel dense, the better it shines to my new sense. Maybe it is the stronger the Spiritual material, the more it glows. The web is not bright, but it is obvious to my new sense. I look down the hall and see other, thinner, broken webs. This is the home of the Spider. I have no doubt. I also cannot prove it to others who can’t see this.

Then I see Nyx. She is the most beautiful creature I have ever laid senses on. When she is spread out, her shine grows dimmer. When she is concentrated, she is like a little sun to my new sense. The colour, or flavour, is incredible! She has so many different colours, she is amazing. I am assuming she accumulates colour or flavour from the energy she syphons. She is incredible, and I could sit and stare at her for hours. Well, I would if I wasn't crouched illegally in a house belonging to a crime lord.

I check my Status, and I now have the Skill Elemental Senses 1. I turn those Elemental Senses on myself, and I can see where the broken webs cling to my clothing. They have left a Spiritual mark. The marks are tiny, but there are a lot of them. I am sure this is some sort of tracking ability and possibly some other ability. Fortunately, now I know about them and can see them they are easy to remove. I just syphon the Spiritual Energy out of them. I can’t see them all as the Skill Elemental Senses isn’t compatible with my Spatial Awareness yet. I think it will synergise as I level it, but I might have to wait for Journeyman level. I get Nyx to remove the ones I can't see. I will also need to scrub these clothes in case a physical residue, like a paralytic, might work its way through my skin.

The Elemental senses were so strange I couldn’t move while using them, so I turned them off and made my way out of the house. Once I was clear, Nyx and I did another sweep over me to remove any new marks, and I left to ponder what to do about this while washing my clothes and taking a long hot bath myself.

Tabitha Carter

Class

Thief

Merch

SPred

Rider

Rack

Enter

Brglr

Total

Type

Attribute

Level

13

11

10

5

4

5

2

Constitution

Physical

Strength (PS)

9

2

3

2

7

2

5

30

120.0

Agility (PA)

12

3

13

10

5

2

45

Perception (PP)

11

5

13

11 5 45

Mental

Strength (MS)

8

3

4

6

1

4

5

31

114.0

Agility (MA)

12

2

1

11

2

1

5

5

39

Perception (MP)

10

1

13

11

4

5

44

Spiritual

Strength (SS)

9

1

6

3

11

6

2

2

40

122.0

Agility (SA)

10

1

5

3

11 10 40

Perception (SP)

10

4

7

8

9

4

42 Totals

91

22

65

55

50

20

20

25

8

178 Free Points

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Resistances: Cold +20, Poison +3, Pain +4, Disease 1

Skills

Novice:

Sewing 4, Spiritual Traps 1, Syphon Energy 4

Hearing Aid 4, Elemental Senses 1

Apprentice:

Pickpocket 7, Trapping 5, Shadow Puppet 7,

Blunt Weapon 9, Knockout Strike 9, Parry 7,

Cooking 7, Animal Care 9,

Sleight of Hand 9, Dual Wield 7, Rampage 7,

Sentient Lore 7, Orcish 6, Performance 7, Adjuster 6

Binding Shadows 5, Spatial Pocket 7,

Journeyman:

Riding 11, Bargain 11, Appraise 10,

Lock Pick 10, Detect Traps 10,

Detect Spiritual Traps 10, Disarm Spiritual Traps 10,

Sense Spiritual 10, Confuse Status 10,

Identify 11, Distract 13, Disarm Traps 10,

Dwarvish 12, Lute 10, Coax 10, Mimic 10,

Elemental Bond 10,

Engulfing Shadows 13, Shadows Embrace 14,

Intimidating Aura 11, Spatial Awareness 11,

Small Blades 13, Unarmed Combat 10, Swords 10,

Master:

Stealth 16, Darksight 15, Shadow Manipulation 15,

Affinity: Shadow

Bond: Nyx, Shadow Elemental

Skills: Syphon Energy, Binding Shadows, Shadow Manipulation, Mimicry, Coax, Engulfing Shadows, Sense Spiritual