Chapter 66: Cheep!? 64

Cheep!?

Chapter 64

Niko led the way upstairs, though he was forced to take every step very slowly and awkwardly in order to keep from tripping over the, decidedly, bird-unfriendly architecture. He grumbled all the while, leaving Skye with amused empathy that he easily picked up on.

“I don’t like this mansion. The other one was much better.” Niko squawked at her.

“I agree, but you didn’t have to go up any stairs in the last one,” Skye pointed out, “Everything we needed was on the ground floor.”

Niko huffed and refused to acknowledge that point on principle. After all, he didn’t like this place in general, so what was one more reason?

As soon as they crested the staircase, Niko looked around, trying to guess where his nose wanted him to go. The building itself fought him on being able to see through the walls, though. If he had to explain it, it’d be like ordinary walls were partially transparent, containing minute amounts of essence themselves, but not enough to obscure his essence vision around him. These, however, were denser in essence and while he could get impressions through them, it was far more difficult. 

That said, he could still sense a sizable chunk of essence at the end of the hallway against a wall. Niko’s head perked up at that, but before he went in that direction, he heard a door near them open.

A pair of women stepped out from a nearby room, both dressed as maids. Niko noted that, at the very least, they weren’t scantily clad in some mockery of true working clothes. These were the real deal, something Niko had vaguely been worried might not be the case given what they’d heard of the Baron, the statues outside had also done nothing to allay that concern. The pair started in surprise at the sight of the group of adventurers, before stepping back as far as they could to the wall and curtseying. Judging by the way their eyes had firmly landed on Niko and widened, he could tell they were definitely shocked, but also well trained, as they hadn’t shown any other outward sign of distress. 

Admittedly, he did think that they might possibly be a bit too close to the wall as they got out of the way, but then, he wasn’t sure of how etiquette was supposed to be here.

When they didn’t rise from the curtsey fully, remaining in a partial bow for several awkward seconds, though, the group shifted in confusion.

“Uh… You don’t have to bow to us,” Ronald said, clearly uncomfortable with the gesture, “We were just… wandering a bit.”

The moment he gave them permission to rise, they both did so, in concert. Niko was vaguely unsettled by the practiced apathy he saw on their faces and the robotic way they held themselves.

The first one–a young woman with short, dark brown hair–stated flatly, “As the guests wish it. Is there anything we may have the pleasure to assist you with?” 

Niko watched Ronald turn back to the rest of the Wyldwalkers, seemingly asking for support from them. Mithel obliged with, “Well, not really? We’re just waiting for that headmaid lady to come get us for a meeting with the Baron. We…” Mithel paused then, seeing the masks of apathy on both women strain with some unknown emotion. Niko imagined they looked profoundly uncomfortable. 

“Well, we’d like refreshments, perhaps?” Mithel said wonderingly. 

“I beg your pardon, esteemed guests,” The first maid spoke again, “If the Master and Headmaid have determined your care, I dare not insert myself into their plans.” The pair bowed even lower than before, and this time it wasn’t hard to tell that a slight sense of dread had leaked into their expressions.

“Uh… sure. Then… I mean, I guess don’t mind us then? Carry on?” A bewildered Ronald said. 

The maids didn’t miss a beat before they swiftly turned as one and moved past the group, keeping as far away from Niko as possible. Niko tried to not feel disgruntled about that, and considering how quickly they wanted to be away when the Baron and Headmaid were name dropped, he felt like he had a little more insight into how this place ran. 

“I don’t like this.” Dachna muttered, “Feels like a privately run orphanage here.”

“What do you mean?” Mithel turned to him with curiosity.

“Just a feeling, the kind of ‘Do as I say or get the whipping stick,’ feeling.” Dachna’s frown grew, “At least we don’t have to worry about being bothered, then, but might have to pick up the pace. Also… doesn’t this place seem way too big to only have had a pair of maids in it so far?”

Niko chirped, “Very, and I don’t even smell a lot of traffic through here recently, so it’s not like they’re all in the rooms cleaning them.”

Skye shared his words before adding, “They went from saying ‘guests’ to ‘esteemed guests’ after we mentioned the Baron and Tabitha, does that mean anything or am I reading into that too much?”

Ronald shook his head while walking up to the room that the maids had come out from, “No clue. Might be nothing, but I’m no expert on all of this… stuff.”

No one missed how uncomfortable he was with the pomp and ‘manners’ that the maid’s had displayed, so Niko was hardly surprised at his lack of knowledge. Niko himself had only a shallow knowledge of what being a noble entailed, and that meager knowledge did not even begin to cover what servants could be expected to behave like outside of very minimal scenarios. 

Ronald opened the door the two came out of, revealing a large bedroom, but nothing of particular note. Niko stuck his head in, gave two very obvious sniffs to the space, before withdrawing disinterested.

“Not here, I guess,” Ronald closed the door, “Door by door, Niko?”

After a moments consideration, Niko decided that would take too long. They still had no idea when they would be summoned, and for all they knew, the head maid was looking for them right now. “No, I don’t think so. I’ll point out doors that look interesting and see if we can check them out.” 

Skye translated dutifully, before trailing behind the Phorus with the others. Niko passed by a set of large double doors before pausing. He really wanted to see what was at the end of the hall, but a whiff of something… odd took his attention.

“There’s something… familiar here.” Niko turned towards the double doors, “In here.” 

“Might be the Baron’s study?” Skye suggested, “Give it a look?”

Ronald put a hand on the doorknob and tried to turn it, before grunting, “Locked.”

“Only for now,” Dachna spoke up, “I can probably get it open. Give me a minute?”

Comprehension dawned on Mithel’s face, “Right, you did say you can pick locks. I suppose that’s useful if you’ve got sticky hands.”

Dachna pulled a face, “Hey, I’ll have you know that I’ve almost never picked something for money or while trespassing. The Mistress at the orphanage just kept misplacing the damn key to the pantry, so I had to learn to get it open.”

Mithel smiled warmly and gave him a friendly bump with her hip as he passed her, “I remember that’s how you learned, but you do have to admit that it fits quite well with your whole deal.”

“What’s that, charming rogue?” Dachna asked unashamedly, and Niko and Skye both shared amused eyerolls at the man’s antics as they looked down the hallways on both sides.

With suggestively raised eyebrows, Mithel said, “You do have your moments.”

“Less flirting, more breaking and entering, please,” Ronald stated in all seriousness as Dachna turned forward. Though most of his face was hidden, his ears were a bright, tomato red. The others said nothing, but Niko was not so merciful, instead trilling out in amusement at his expense.

“Damn drumstick,” the man muttered, before his spine stiffened at the brief sound of Niko clacking his beak closed sharply. “Err, big bird?” 

Two clacks.

“Bah, whatever you feathered fowl–and there we go, open.” Dachna clicked the lock open before freezing, “Bant’s arse.”

Ronald steadily turned his head towards Dachna, “What happened?”

“There’s a pox cursed alarm rune built into the lock. Uhh… Shite, uh, Mithey, you got any metal-grade acid?” Dachna held his position with his lockpicks, “And real steady hands?”

Mithel cursed under her breath, “Yeah, how strong?”

“Looks like… tin? Maybe iron.” Dachna frowned, “Contrary to popular opinion, I have no idea what this looks like.”

Skye shuffled over, carefully putting her head right beside Dachna’s in order to see what he was seeing. Niko felt her thoughts as she saw things, but he was also doing double duty and listening carefully for any sounds of an unwelcome interruption.

“Tin. Bad inscription work though, so you won’t need more than a drop or two to kill it.” She frowned before saying, “Niko, take a look? Can you share what you see?”

“Uhh… I have no idea? Let’s try it?” Niko gave a light chirp at Ronald who took over his duty, though looking more stressed now. This had started as a light investigation but was rapidly becoming an emergency test of their espionage skills. Everything would come undone if someone rounded the corner to witness what they were doing.

Niko put his head on the other side of Dachna’s, and the rogue did an admirable job of not so much as twitching as he motioned with his eyes, “Mechanism is right below where my second pick is, do you see it? Kinda looks like a hook shaped sigil?”

Nodding, Niko focused with his eyes, sensing the sigil in question. It barely glowed in his essence vision, but it was there. He did, however, see another sigil below even that one. “Oh, that looks… bad?” The hook shaped sigil was connected to a shaped bit of metal that looked like it could fit into a hole near the tumblers of the lock. Niko wasn’t sure exactly how the mechanism was supposed to work, though. However, if Dachna tried to fully unlock the door right now, Niko was wary that the tumblers would get stuck on the metal. Assumedly, the alarm would go off then, but he didn’t know for sure.

Though, as he’d seen, there was a second sigil directly beneath both of those, much harder to reach and out of any kind of vision. That was made of the same material as the first and only connected to the first sigil. 

He sent what he was seeing in as much detail as possible to Skye, who cursed under her breath before addressing the others, “There’s another sigil beneath that one, small, looks like a vertical line with a few extra bits? I can’t tell what it means without personally seeing it, and Niko doesn’t know what he’s looking at yet.”

Dachna cursed, “If we’re lucky, it’s a master backup to broadcast the alarm. If we’re unlucky, it's there to catch if the alarm sigil gets damaged, if so it'd probably trigger a backup alarm. How much lower is it?”

Skye reached and tapped roughly where it was on the door, “Straight down, few centimeters.”

“Alright, Skye, swap with Mithel.” Dachna didn’t dare take his attention off of the lockpicks, and Niko noted the man’s hands were steady as stone, “Mithey, you’re going to need to get a very narrow stopper in with my hands and picks in the way and… Niko, you’re going to need to tell us when we’re where we need to be. I think it’s shallow enough that we can get it on target.”

Mithel moved in closer with as long and narrow of a liquid stopper as she had, but Niko cringed at the sight of it. It was still too large for the fine work that they needed it for right now, but it’d have to do. Dachna must have noticed, but aside from a brief firming of his lips, he made no other outward reaction. Mithel moved the stopper lower and lower into the lock before she grimaced, “I think that’s the best we’re going to get in depth. Is the angle good?”

Niko stared hard at the angle and the stopper, “Hand up a bit more, steeper angle,” Skye translated, “There. Now… you’re gonna need to really pump it to reach, but then you can move it up, the next sigil is easy.”

Mithel nodded, her hands shaking slightly before she took in a deep breath. While exhaling, she shunted the stopper. Niko cringed, “Ah, cluck.”

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“What happened?” Skye glanced over her shoulder at them, body stiff, “What’d you see?”

“Half of the liquid is on the bottom sigil, but a bit is on the upper one,” Niko reported, feeling his heart-rate speed up as he visibly witnessed both metals being eaten.

Dachna stayed calm, “We’ll see if the bottom one dies first, all luck now.”

The Wyldwalkers stayed in position for several seconds, the hissing sound of melting metal and the acrid stench it created the only changes so far. Niko watched the essence in the sigils complete their circuits over and over, before all of a sudden one shorted, the essence suddenly released back into the air. It was the bottom-most one, and then, shortly after, the first alarm sigil did the same. 

Niko reported with immense relief, “We’re good. They shorted in order.” 

They all felt tension flood out of them upon hearing that, “Ugh, I need better tools for this crap.” Mithel shook her head, “This is not precision equipment.”

“I think I’m the one in need of better equi–” Dachna froze before slapping his forehead, “Crowe’s set!”

“What?” Ronald asked with clear confusion, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m still used to using my stuff, but Crowe gave me that set of tools. I’ll bet there’s stuff in there that would have made this easy.” Dachna shook his head, “Bant’s arse, I need to practice with that stuff.”

Skye snorted in dismay, “You mean we didn’t need to give ourselves heart attacks just now?”

Dachna’s expression turned sheepish, “Uhh… maybe? I mean, I’m not practiced with any of that stuff, so I don’t know them that well. Maybe this was better?”

Niko nodded at that, “Could have been worse. We handled it at least.” 

Skye huffed, “Well… yeah, that’s true.”

“Definitely need to practice that in the future, though. Might be a good idea for all of us to pick up some of the tricks,” Ronald added, “Even I know how to pick a basic lock.”

The others looked at him with surprise on their faces, “Hey, I have hobbies, too, you know?”

Mithel shook her head, “I really barely know you, Ronald. What’s next? You like painting?”

The man’s eyebrows furrowed with his consternation, “Is that bad?”

“Wait, you paint?” Dachna frowned, “Like… Do you paint well?”
Niko cleared his throat, “As surprised as I am about Ronald’s apparent breadth of skills… Can we go see what we nearly triggered an alarm over and risked the Baron’s wrath for?” 

“Indeed,” Ronald eagerly moved the conversation off of his pastimes while opening the door, “Let's find out what we can see.”

The doors opened wide, and the group was treated to the sight of an immaculate and obviously well cared for office. Niko internally remarked that this might be the only room in the mansion that even looked remotely inhabitable to this point. A grand oak desk sat further into the room, and Niko’s vision picked up on several things that glowed dimly to his essence sight.

“Damn, is that an Ironback Badger throw rug?” Dachna whistled, “I’ll bet that took at least twenty of them, good quality, too.”

“That’s like what Niko had in his nest,” Skye nodded appraisingly, “Not bad.”

“All of mine are like that,” Niko frowned, “Is that not normal?”

Skye faltered in her steps before recovering, “Uh, no, no Niko, that is not normal.” She said as she stared at him with wide-eyes.

“What’s not?” Mithel asked curiously.

“Apparently all of the hides he has are like that.” Skye explained before turning back to Niko, clarifying, “You mean they all look like hides, or have that much essence still in them?”

Niko rolled his eyes, “Of course I mean that they have essence in them.” 

“Yeah, all essenced up,” Skye shook her head along with the rest of the Wyldwalkers, “Niko, remind me later to talk to you about item grading.” 

With a nod, Niko moved over to where his nose and essence sense were telling him to go. The familiar scent was only getting stronger as he approached a specific wall. He inspected the wall as he went, but realized that unlike in any movies he’d seen, there was no painting, nor any obvious crease in the wall to note that there was some kind of false-front. Niko tilted his head, ‘Huh… is it well hidden?’ 

“Do you see anything?” Ronald asked Niko before standing beside him. Niko briefly trilled in acknowledgement before stepping closer to the wall. It was a simple, ordinary white wall with black accenting lines to his normal vision, but the closer he got to it, the more it shone like the sun in his vision. 

‘Why is this smell so familiar?’ Niko drew on his memory. He quickly filtered out anything from the past week, whatever this seemed to have been from the forest. Yet, it didn’t smell like something from the forest itself.

‘This reminds me of…’ Niko paused, before feeling a pulse of rage thrum through his veins. 

Skye felt the emotion roll over through their connection, “Niko!? What–” 

Her words fell on deaf ears as he reared back and, with essence roiling through his head, smashed it forward into the wall. 

“Damnit,” Ronald groaned, “Well, so much for no signs of our passing.”

Niko ignored the man, feeling bits of wood and other debris fall away from the impact zone. He pulled away other parts, revealing a safe with a dial, key, and simple lever to open it. “Pecking bastards. I’m going to tear this man open.” Niko hissed as he reeled back.

Before anyone could stop him, he hit the safe door at full force, his beak hitting something reinforced with essence before he rebounded painfully. 

“Niko, stop!” Skye said with a low shout, “Why are you attacking the safe?”

Niko startled out of his single minded rage, turning his head towards Skye while stars danced in his vision from the impact against the very immovable steel door. For a moment, his vision snapped towards the doors of the study where a flicker of essence that was vaguely shaped like a human seemed to be, but when he blinked it was gone. ‘Was that actually a person or…? But I don’t see anything now.’ 

“Hold on a moment,” Niko didn’t wait, charging towards the door and swinging it wide, then sticking his head out and looking down either hall all the while enhancing his sight as much as possible. The black and white decor, which admittedly would have looked good if it weren’t for the overly gaudy pictures that hung on the walls, was the only thing that greeted his vision. No individuals whatsoever.

“Niko?” Skye asked warily, “You… okay?”

The Phorus pulled his body back into the room while shaking his head with embarrassment, “I thought I saw someone. And… I think I smell something from the poachers in the safe.” 

Skye’s eyes lit up first with alarm, then with recognition and empathy at the second of his statements. She patted him on the side comfortingly, “Ah, I understand. Alright, well, safe to say we need what's in that safe, then.”

“What’d he say is in it?” Dachna asked curiously, “And there’s nobody out there, right?”
Niko gave him a flat look while Skye translated, “Don’t you think I’d mention something like that the moment I knew?”

“Also, he said there’s something from the poachers in the safe.” Skye added to the end of her translation.

Whatever jesting comment Dachna had died on his lips as he and Mithel grew serious. “We’ll get it open, then. If that’s not something damning, then I don’t know what would be around here.”

Niko squawked in the affirmative, and then said, “There’s another door down the hall that we should check. It feels like that one… does…” Niko trailed off as he stared at the wall that he’d hammered down.

With the pause, the others all looked at what caught his attention, and Ronald let out a low whistle, “Huh, guess that’s a good way to keep something secret.” 

Debris from the wall slowly lifted into the air, gradually coming up and replacing itself at the edges of where the damage had been. It was exceedingly slow, but seamless, already having replaced a centimeter of wall with unblemished and uniform reconstruction.

“Guess we better get started,” Dachna grunted, “You guys go check out that other thing then. Which way down the hall in case we need to find you?”

“To the left as you leave this room,” Skye translated, “Between the last and second to last doors on the right at the end of the wing. Niko says there’s an ugly painting of some fat man to the right of whatever he’s sensing.”

Dachna snorted, “Sounds good. Alright, good luck guys.”

Niko trilled back at them as he, Skye, and Ronald left the room swiftly. “It’s funny, we came here for a banquet, but now we’re speedrunning this mission.”

Skye blinked in confusion, “Speedrunning? Huh… I think I like that term. Much better than having dinner with some prick.”

Ronald didn’t even bother trying to hide his own elation at that, “I was so worried about that. I was expecting either you or Dachna to make a scene with the man.”

“What? Why me?” Skye pouted, “That doesn’t sound right at all, I’m perfectly cordial!”

Ronald and Niko both gave her a look of disbelief, “You… uhh… don’t actually believe that, right?” 

Skye spluttered, “You’re a bird! How would you know what’s cordial!?”

“Skye, you don’t actually…” Ronald cleared his throat upon seeing the look of dismay on Skye’s face as she turned to the man who was about to say the exact same words as their bird companion, “In any case, Niko, which wall was it again?”

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