I stood in front of the door leading to the workshop Mula had led me to and inspected the door looking for any gaps. The door looked reinforced and fairly new so I suspected the mages inside had done some redecorating when they moved in and it looked like they’d done a good job installing it considering the lack of large gaps around the frame. 

Still, there was one thing they hadn’t accounted for. The key hole. The keyhole looked like one of those old kinds one would see in an old house or castle that were big enough to look through. It was reinforced and, when I used Magic Eyes, I could see it was enchanted. Yes, this meant it would be hard to break, but I didn’t need to do that.

As I reached for a specific pouch of poison I whispered to Mula, “Think you can possess one of them?”

Mula shook her head, “This one can only control men for but a moment and even the women creatures are difficult because they are so different.”

I had guessed as much, “Ok, guess we’ll do this my way.”

I reached to my waist and pulled out my Fodder Killer and poured the powdered poison inside its syringe-like body. After that, I pulled out a small flask of water from my poison pouch and poured it inside as well. Finally I put my finger over the hole at the tip and shook it while also enchanting it with an effect to speed up its effects. 

With that done, I glanced at Mula and nodded, before shoving the tip of the Fodder Killer into the keyhole and used wind magic.

I heard the telltale sound of liquid and air ejecting from the Fodder Killer and stepped away from the door.

Mula poked her head through the door just as I heard faint coughing coming from inside, “It’s working!”

I pulled out my lock picks and got to work on the door. Aerosolized poison would only work on them for a few moments thanks to it being diluted, but these old locks were simple to pick if you knew what you were doing, so I wasn’t worried.

I was momentarily blinded by the light in the room when I opened the door, but it passed quickly allowing me to take in the situation and saw Mula had been right about who was waiting inside.

Two of three Fodder were waiting just next to the door, and it looked like they had taken a full hit of the paralytic poison and were leaning against the wall where it looked like all they could do was keep themselves standing as they coughed from the poison in their lungs. They had dropped their giant hammers many of their kind used on the floor, much to my relief.

The two mages had turned over a table and I could see them sprawled on the floor as they coughed too from the poison.

The third Fodder charged at me with a spear, seemingly unaffected by the poison, and a quick check showed them as a Golem, and therefore immune to poison.

I focused on the charging Fodder, and grabbed his arm as he stabbed at me. I then used his arm to swing up onto his body, while simultaneously shoving my Fodder Killer into his elbow joint and using my magic to turn the weapon into a sort of flamethrower that belched flames inside the joint.

The Fodder swatted at me with his other arm, and I used my magic to increase my speed just long enough to get out of the way of his attack while positioning myself closer to his head.

The Fodder noticed my intent, and became frantic and he continued to swat at me.

It looked like none of these Fodder were equipped for battle, as none wore armor, but that didn’t mean I could underestimate them. Even without their armor and poor magic in general, they had their strength, speed, and durability. If I even took one hit, I’d probably be out of the fight.

Still, this Fodder looked to only be on par with my Soul Gem level or maybe one higher and his movements seemed a bit sloppy, so he would be the easiest of the three to kill despite being a Golem. If I could kill him before the others recovered, this would be an easy fight. 

I used my speed again and finally positioned myself on the Fodder’s back where he couldn’t quite reach me. I couldn’t kill him from here, but…

I shoved the Fodder Killer between the large muscles of his back and into his spine, and released a bout of flame.

The Fodder’s body jerked as his spinal cord burned from the flames, and he fell over.

With the Fodder paralyzed from the neck down, I turned my attention back to the mages.

They had already started to recover from the effects of the paralytic poison, so I needed to hurry.

I pulled out my daggers and ran the short distance to them.

I could see the panic in their eyes as they tried to gather the strength to defend themselves.

The one farther from me managed to shoot a jet of fire at me, forcing me to dodge out of the way.

I didn’t fully escape the flames, and my left hip and leg became burned from the attack. I didn’t feel pain from it, and my leg still felt as strong as ever, so I ignored the injury, and continued my own attack.

The closer of the two screamed as I plunged my dagger into his heart using a quick burst of strength enhancing magic.

The second mage tried attacking me again, but I pushed the now dead mage using another burst of enhanced strength between us, blocking the flames.

I threw a throwing dagger from my sleeve into the second mages eye, causing him to scream in pain and opening my way to finish him off.

After I killed the second mage, I turned my attention to the remaining two Fodder.

They still looked unsteady on their feet, but thanks to their large bodies, it seemed the poison hadn’t affected them as much as the two human mages and they had already recovered their weapons.

I reached to grab a throwing dagger, but this only caused the Fodders to shield their faces with their free arms.

My throwing daggers would be useless if I couldn’t hit their faces thanks to their builds, so instead I reached for more paralyzing poison and used magic to enhance my speed to apply the viscous liquid to my daggers. I then enchanted it to make it fast acting.

The Fodders understood my action and charged at me, using their meager magic to increase their speed.

I had only fought low level Fodder Golems before, so despite these two still being affected by the poison, I could tell these two would be far more dangerous than what I was used to.

I enhanced my speed again, noting that my magic reserves were close to running out.

Both Fodders swung at me with their giant hammers. 

I dodged them using as little movement as I could, then strengthened my legs and tried to jump onto the Fodder to my left while also trying to strike one with my poisoned daggers.

The Fodders swung at me with their free hands, while dodging my attack.

I used wind magic to dodge them, but the Fodder I’d tried to jump onto clipped my leg, sending me spiraling onto the floor behind them.

At this point I could tell I was out of my league and I probably had no hope of beating them unless I could poison them. I could tell from their actions and stances that not only were they well trained, but had combat experience so even just getting a cut on them would be a task.

The Fodder that had been to my right staggered, confusing me for a moment. 

I pushed myself off the floor, hoping I’d be fast enough to get out of the way of the attack that was certainly coming.

A hammer crashed onto the floor where I had just been, sending cracks through the bedrock that made it up.

The Fodder that had staggered swung too, but to my surprise, the hammer wasn’t aimed at me, but its companion.

The hammer blow hit the Fodder’s head, causing their skull to crumple from the impact and sending gore in every direction.

I froze at the scene and how easily a single blow from a Fodder could do so much damage even to another Fodder’s enhanced skull.

As the now dead Fodder fell to the ground, the remaining Fodder turned to me, “Tamana, kill this creature before this one loses control.”

I blinked as I realized what had happened, “Mula!? You took control of that Fodder!? I thought you said you couldn’t!”

The Fodder’s comically small head nodded, “This one is too different and can’t stay for long. Hurry!”

I stood up and jogged to the Mula possessed Fodder, “Mula, you amazing woman! You saved me for sure!”

The Mula possessed Fodder grinned with pride, “This one wasn’t sure, but this one wanted to help..”

It dawned on me how broken Mula was in a fight. If there was a woman on the enemy's side, she could take them over. Even if it was for a few seconds like right now, it would make a huge difference.

I jumped onto the Mula possessed Fodder and reached for my Fodder Killer, “You think you can get out before I kill it?”

She nodded, “Yes, this one can leave in an instant.”

I readied the Fodder Killer and made the mistake of looking them in the eyes. I saw a face a lot like any other person. One that had a life, friends, family. Perhaps they had been a Golem once and were from Earth?

I shook the doubts from my mind. They were here killing and taking over people. They deserved what they got.

I thrust the Fodder Killer into their left eye. For a brief moment, I saw surprise and fear, then agony, as I finished the thrust of the weapon into their brain.

I used wind magic and blood and gore exploded from around the weapon, while also popping the eye from the opposite eye socket where gore soon came flooding from as well.

I jumped off the body as it fell limply to the floor trying not to think about the gore explosion I’d just caused.

Mula glided down next to me and appeared to be looking at the Golem Fodder I’d paralyzed earlier, “Tamana should kill this creature before it recovers.”

I shook my head, “We should hand him over to Calvin. Might be able to get some answers from him.”

I looked at the dead mages and wondered if I should have kept one of them alive too.

It was too late so I turned away from them and looked around the room before deciding what to do next.

Aside from the bodies, there wasn’t much abnormal about the room. It looked like it had been used as a woodworking workshop in the past, but I couldn’t see any evidence of anything being made at the moment.

I saw a room leading further back and wondered if I should look or report to Calvin.

I turned to Mula, “Can you look in the back? We should make sure no one is hiding before we call the guards.”

Mula looked out the still open entrance door, “This one thinks the noise of battle will summon the guards.”

I shrugged, “I guess?” I turned to the back door and started walking towards it, “I hope it’s not full of ticks.”

Mula moved ahead of me and disappeared through the door.

I stopped and waited for her to come back. 

I began to think that my companion was probably one of the best scouts in the world as she could go through stuff and could only be seen by someone using Magic Eyes. I wasn’t even sure if anyone could hurt her even if she was seen. Being able to possess other women was also pretty cool too.

Mula came back through the door after a bit, “This one saw some of the digging creatures hiding and also people in cages. There is a tunnel that goes far away, but this one didn’t see anyone that way. There are many dead ticks in cages.”

I guessed she had seen some Grounders hiding inside? I was also happy to hear about the ticks being dead and wondered if by killing the mages they had died too. As for the people in the cages… had they been kidnapping people too?

I opened the door a bit and peered inside using Magic Eyes. I could see many cages inside, mostly small ones that looked like they were used for the ticks, with two that looked more like jail cells where I could see the outlines of dozens of people.

I couldn’t see the Grounders, but they were built more for working than fighting so I wasn’t too worried about them.

I stepped inside, “Where were the Grounders?”

Mula pointed to the back of the room, “They are hiding behind some boxes of things.”

I nodded and approached the Grounders cautiously, “Um… I won’t hurt you if you… um…”

I neared the cages of people and saw there were two separate cages, one with six men and two boys, and the other with five women, a young girl, and a baby who was being held protectively by one of the women. The women were all naked for… well… I didn’t want to think about it.

A man approached the bars, “They’re hiding behind the boxes behind the neck biters. Hurry and kill them, then get us out of here.”

At that, a Grounder popped their head from behind some crates just behind the boxes of ticks, speaking in a low bass voice typical of Grounder men, “Wait! We surrender! Please don’t kill us!”

Another Grounder stood up too, this one also a man, “We didn’t want to do this! We’re just Ignatio’s slaves! We had to!”

I kept my short swords ready, “Where are the keys to the cages?”

The first Grounder pointed to one of the tick cages near the door I’d come through, “It’s in there, under that tick’s bedding. The cages aren’t locked.”

I wrinkled my nose at the thought of having to look through the cage, especially since I couldn’t be sure if they really were dead, but thankfully I didn’t have to, “Get it out and unlock the cages.”

I stepped back into the doorway so I could jump back into the room in case I needed cover.

The Grounder shuffled towards the cage, cowering as I watched him. He then stopped at the cage and paused as he looked at the tick inside, before opening a latch and reaching in. He soon found something and pulled his hand out, the key in his palm.

He muttered a curse to himself in English, then turned towards the cages, “I hate those things.”

The man who had spoken before moved to the cell door, “Did you kill them?”

I nodded, “All but one of the Fodders.” I glanced back into the front room to make sure he was still paralyzed, “Wanted to keep one alive.”

The man nodded, “A shame, but it had to be done.”

I heard several others murmur their agreement.

The Grounder stopped just short of the cages, “I… I can’t do it. I was ordered to help capture them. I can’t unlock it…”

I pointed to where his friend still watched, “Drop it and go back.”

The Grounder dropped the key, it ringing out as it bounced on the stone floor, “Y-yes!”

I picked up the key and unlocked the door to the men’s cage, “Okay… uh… I guess you’re free.”

As the cage door opened I moved to the women’s cage, “Are… they didn’t do anything to you, did they?”

Several of the women looked aside in shame and I suddenly didn’t feel so guilty about killing the kidnappers.

I unlocked the cage door and opened it as I stepped back, before turning to the men, “Can, uh… someone go grab some guards?” I glanced back into the front room, “And maybe get that Fodder in here before he heals.”

The men nodded and all but the boy ran from the room. 

The boy ran to a woman, “Momma!”

I smiled at the boy hugging his mother, then turned to the Grounders, “Um… Get in the cage?”

The Grounders nodded and entered the cages.

I locked the cage and looked at them, “Ignatio summoned you from Earth?”

They both nodded, “Yeah…”

One of them squinted, “Hey… aren’t you the ninja cat?”

The other seemed to realize this, “Yeah… I think I saw the Fodders drag her out once of the mines once.”

I blushed at having these two remember me in that way, “Uh… yeah…”

They looked at each other, “You escaped during the attack last month? We thought you’d died.”

I nodded, “Nope. Got away.”

Memories of endless swamp and wetland flashed through my mind.

The men returned, save one I figured went to get guards, and were dragging the Fodder behind them.

The same man that had spoken before began ordering the other men, who then began rifling through the supplies in search of clothes and food for the women.

I walked to the man, and pointed to a door at the back of the room, “Um… I’m gonna go look back there if you’re watching here.”

The man nodded, “Of course, lady Avree.”

Mula followed me, “This one didn’t see anyone. It is dark and goes a distance.”

I reached the door and opened it, but saw nothing but pitch black past a certain point. Even using the IR goggles I couldn’t see very far. 

There were some hooks with lanterns hanging off them I could use, but I decided to leave that up to Calvin and his guards to go exploring.

I turned back to watch the people I’d freed, feeling a sense of satisfaction. I’d originally set out to kill some ticks and find the mages controlling them, which I’d done thanks to Mula, but had never expected to find one of Ignatio’s human sacrifice collection crews. I hoped this would be a blow to him, but doubted this was the only one set up.

I noticed some of the group approaching me, and decided to stop them before they started, “Um… Thank Calvin. He… um… well… he… I couldn’t have done it without him and his guards.”

Mula gave me an embarrassed look at hearing my stuttering, but stayed silent.

I sighed as the people came to thank me anyway. Sure it was nice to hear it, but I hated the attention. The guards couldn’t come any faster.