(2,101 words)

Haaaai all. Been thinking about some adventures silly Enket could get into in the wide world of Warhammer. And this has been stewing in my brain for awhile I decided to finally try to write it out. I'm sure the world isn't shown as murderous and war full as many people like the world to be but I hope its still acceptable to you readers.

In part one of this first installment we have Enket being sent to retrieve a stolen trinket. Grey Seer Kritch Deeptaker  ChaosEye decided to 'nicely ask' Enket to go get it back. And after some research and clues Enket has mostly worked out that the special mirror was taken to the Halfling fiefdom of Mootland, or Moatland to Enkets limited knowledge on the place. I hope the story helps show that while Enket isnt a good fighter he still has skills that make him valuable to the other Skaven. Or at least it makes sense as does my still not complete knowledge of the Skaven or the Halflings. Enjoy either way what I could toss up after a few hours of wiki perusing :)

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Squirming out from under a mostly fallen pillar Enket would give himself a quick dust off before heading back down the Underway toward Karek Varn. It was important to focus on the positives when you were forced to do tasks. The Night Goblins had been too drunk to even attempt to notice him and he was near by. Still had plenty of rations to make the trip back once he got out of these tunnels. And everything had gone fine for him so far really. Sure forced into this position but so far. Going well. If he got lucky he could make it back to the Seer in about two days. Assuming that the Mirror wasn't too hard to find. It would be fine. He still had five days to finish this. All fine.

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"Lord-Master Deeptaker, ack!" Enket trying to cover his big ears to avoid them getting clipped too badly by the flailing staff of the Grey Seer as they shrieked and angrily moved in a circle.

"No talk-back! No excuse! No-no more Enk! You do what I say-command! You do now!" Enket managing to duck the next sideways staff swing earning him a smack across the back instead as Kritch at least stopped stomping around. To make it easier for him to smack at Enket apparently as another whap came across the shoulders. "You do now-now!?"

"Yes-yes Lord-Master!" Enket just barely managing to avoid a jab at his nose as he dropped prone. Trying to avoid further wrath since trying to wriggle out of this room wasn't going to work with the two Stormvermin standing at the door behind him. Just shut up and agree. Better than being eaten. The warpstone topped staff now resting between his ears as Enket continued to prostrate himself.

"Good-good. You know I would eat-devour you if you said no." Everyone in this corner of Skavenblight knew that. Its why he didn't scamper away at the first glance at the summon he had gotten. But this wasn't a conversation he was to take part in anymore as he lay still and waited for the assignment.

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Chewing on the loosest remains of what could be called rations Enket was glad he could at least keep time enough to exit the tunnel when it was still dark. Night of the third day. But he still kept to near the rock face in case some of those Night Goblins were waiting around to either head out or back in to do some raiding. Or Skaven. Damn Skaven. Ruining everything like they do. But it seemed clear for now. So after staying still for a few minutes to confirm Enket would set his pack down, pull out a cloak and toss it over himself, before strapping the pack back on his back. It was time to brave the surface world some more. At least he was more confident in that than most of his fellow ratkin. Starting to scamper in a mix of two and four limbed movement as he headed down the mountain toward the Moatland. Didn't look that wet really but eh. Weird surface-things names.

The others always complained how danger and death was around every bush up here. Which was true sure but that wasn't any different than the halls of Blight. And at least most of the thing-things up here liked to shout and make some declaration before they started to attempt to murder. Down in the tunnels you would just feel a weight against your side and then no more kidneys. Keeping his eyes on the road Enket rolled his glowing red eyes. Just what everyone was used to after all. At least it helped others hate him less when he came back with goods. Not like he would do anything to change their minds wandering about what large battles he had undertaken to acquire them. Let them believe his sling and dagger were worn due to intensive combat rather than getting them on the cheap.

Moatland. Looked way more like farmland but at least the swaying fields of unprocessed food provided good cover as the town where the Mirror was supposedly being held was easy to spot with the gentle smoke rising from it. A quiet empty night. Perfect for some thieving. Slowly expanding his first hand knowledge of this place. Only heard about it before.

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"A...Mirror Lord-Master?" Enket keeping his head bowed as he knelt before Kritch. Not wanting to look up and earn himself another smack for his insolence. For once he didn't get one anyway!

"Yes Mirror. Warpstone. Very important-expensive. Missing-stolen!" An angry hiss from the Seer before he continued. "Sneaky Eshin took it." Well that would explain why Eshin wasn't being hired to go get it back, but Enket kept such ponderings to himself as he kept listening. "Thief already ate-devourer. Much struggle-wriggle." A happy sigh, Enket focusing really hard on how well done the stonework was in this room. "But didn't have Mirror. Said sold for information-scheme. Some Man-thing on the Surface. Merchant-thing. Weak-thing like you-you!" Whap! "Pleaded not to kill-kill. So ate alive instead. Good-good." There was a pause so the scout took a breath and ventured a question.

"Has your large brain-power shown where Man-thing went?" He could hear the staff being raised up again, but then it returned to a resting position as the Seer responded. Seems they knew that Enket would need at least some information to try and get back this Mirror.

"Yes-yes. Assassin-snack told that he followed the merchant-thing to take Mirror back. Get both reward. But the Merchant-thing shortly after buying from Assassin-snack then sold it again to man-child. Man-child on horn mount. Much fur. Stupid fur-horn. Only great-wonderful Grey Seer get horns!" Some more stamping around the room as Enket tried to run that over in his head. The man must have been semi near by Blight to have bought it directly from an Eshin. Bretonian? Best guess so far. And then sold it to a child sized man like thing on a fluffy thing with horns...a ram? The Half-things? Mulling that over in his head as Enket tried to think of other possible options. And thankfully his silence as he pondered was just what Kritch wanted. So no second smack as the Seer pointed dramatically out the door. "Go-go! Get Mirror back Enk! You have one week-cycle!"

Enket not even able to bow and say that he would do before the Stormvermin behind him grabbed both of his arms and hurled him out of Deeptakers' chamber. With a smack across his backside for good measure. Enket curling to try and minimize the injury from the rolling as the door shut in his face. Muffling the further words the Seer and his troops had as Enket hummed from the floor. Thankfully Gilm had records of descriptions like this man-child for him to check. Time for research with his clan.

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Enket was shocked honestly. Sure he didn't expect walls to be around the farm land of this Moatland but even the small settlement he was now upon had no real walls. He could see right inside the city in the moonlight and saw only a few shapes moving around. A sparsely populated little town. They were fairly close to the Vampires and their ilk and looked as if they lived without a major care in the world. And this is where the Fangleader had claimed the Man-child had gone? Swishing around some pilfered raw corn in his mouth before swallowing he considered his options. The few out and about seemed to have dog-things with them. That would be a problem even if there were no walls. Sure he was used to his own smell but those sneaky little sniffers would find him out quick. Simple enough to fix at least as he crawled back from his position outside the perimeter of Gipfel, not that the Skaven knew its name, and backtracked to the creek he had passed earlier. Quickly disrobing and stashing his gear under a bush the Skaven quickly rooted around the creek band before snatching up some Bouncing Bet. Before taking a last look around before sliding his brown fur body into the creek and scrubbing as quickly as he could. Surely those Man-things he occasionally dealt with would gasp in shock of him bathing himself. But all you needed was the proper incentive to do things you disliked. Like preventing yourself from being eaten. Dunking his head under a few times as he scrubbed between around his ears while trying to keep his ears and eyes open for movement. So far so good.

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"Yes-yes. Saw them on raid. Was watching us from hill top as we took lunch-meat from the Man-things. They squealed and ran with pitchy-forks high!" Enket just nodding at this news as he handed over the warptoken that would pay for the information. Keeping Kritch's token snug around his neck which got the Stormvermin to talk to him in the first place. Enket waiting for the larger Skaven to finish laughing before he added. "Had a fancy little look-glass. Wanted it. Tried to send Gutter Runner after him but his floof-horn was fast." The big rat chewing on the ration he had demanded as payment too before he pointed at the stone wall behind him. Super helpful. "Ran-scurried off to the north-east. Had silly white cluck-food on saddle. One of the Half-things for sure." Well it was good to have it confirmed at least.

"Did Half-thing have any other shiny-thing with? That belongs to you-you?"

The big rat would humm and consider that before he blew a foul smelling breath right into Enkets face. Not that it bothered another Skaven - its not like he was a Pestilins Fangleader. "Yes-yes! One of those smoke-stick." Reaching out to grab the collar of Enkets shirt and yanking him close to growl in his ear. "You get-get me one Scout. Or I take your tail!" Pretty standard stuff really as Enket bowed deeply and put on his scared voice.

"O...of course Great-mighty Fangleader! I will get-steal for you soon-soon." Before he was shoved backwards and the Stormvermin turned and started to swagger off.

"Good-good. We will be scout-seeing around Underway. Be back soon-soon." Keeping his spooked look with quivering big ears as he bowed and backscrabbled before that rats raiding party was out of ear shot. So the Half-thing had a smoking pipe. That didn't narrow down the possible settlements as all the Half-things did that but it did give him a starting point. Leafing through his notes Enket would hold his claw over the main items stolen from caravans from each town. Smoke weed. The most from...it didn't have a name. Fantastic. But at least he knew it was the one with the biggest farmland. Returning that to his pack the merchant would head back down the Underway. Narrowing it down!

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Now clean and smelling just of soap Enk would reach over to pull over his cloak and gently rub his soapy wet paws over the interior and exterior to hopefully cover his Skaven stink even more. Trying to keep it from getting soaked but damp was alright. And once he was satisfied he clambered out of the creek. Taking another look and listen around before shaking out the majority of the water from his pelt. Slipping back into his clothing he wound his sling back around his wrist, Seer token around his neck, dagger to his belt, and half empty pack back over his cloak covered back. Back to the town.

Still no initial change from the first time besides a much nicer smelling him. Still the same dull lights in the hands of the walkers and their dogs. And now Enket had to make a choice as he licked his lips. He had never done deals with these Half-things before. They were small, could they be like dwarves? Nearly all of them wanting his head off his shoulders or a slave in the mines? Or more like Man-things? Where if he could offer wealth or information that could advance their station he could be a Chaos Cultist for all they cared...Well he couldn't wait all night. So gathering what courage a Skaven could muster, with a helping dollop of 'do this or be eaten', Enket left his perch and worked on sneaking into the town.

Maybe he could observe them while searching for the Mirror. Or they would observe how best to riddle him with arrows. What fun! The merchant hissing to himself as he crouched low and started to skulk into the city proper.