It didn’t take him long to find his next job once he had arrived in Baska. Unlike the previous location he’d tried to settle in for a bit, Baska was practically teeming with jobs and requests. And this one promised him at least a little entertainment, if nothing else.

His instructions had been clear, he was to make his way to the mine his client had previously worked in, set up some explosives and trigger them, once far enough away of course. What’s more, he wasn’t allowed to harm any of miners that may be present. That seemed fairly simple enough. At least, that’s what he had thought before he arrived at the location and found it practically crawling with miners.

He knew he would need to find a way to clear them out before setting off the explosions, otherwise there were bound to be at least a few major injuries as well as deaths. If that happened, he could kiss his payment goodbye. And though he could live without the payment, if he had to, his meeting with the man told him one thing, he was bound to get many more opportunities from this man. His grudge for the company that owned and operated this mine had been exploiting their workers like crazy, and Mattoro, his client, was out for blood.

It didn’t take long for him to find his opening. He had been watching the miners come and go from the mine for a good twenty minutes. There was one that was making his way away from the mine and heading towards the bathrooms. Within a minute Mikajia too was entering the small building. After insuring no one else was inside, he surprised and quickly subdued the man, placing him in a choke hold until the man passed out.

Once unconscious, Mikajia removed the man’s shirt and replaced his own with the miner’s so he would appear as an employee. He took the helmet next, hefted the man’s unconscious body into the stall and closed the door as best he could before leaving. Mikajia donned the helmet, picked up the pickaxe that was left outside the building and wandered casually into the mine.

No one really paid him any notice, a few glances here and there, but nothing more as he wandered deep into the mine. Once inside, and sure he wasn’t being watched, Mikajia went to work placing the explosives at the four locations designated by Mattoro. With the explosives in place, all that was left was to make sure all the miners were free and clear of the blast radius and the soon-to-be-collapsing mine. And he figured the best way would be for them all to believe the mine was about to collapse.

While no one was looking, he fired a blast of magic at the ceiling. It made a decent boom and he heard several other miners stop working just before he shouted, “Run! It’s collapsing!”

The miners didn’t hesitate, they all began sprinting for the entrance of the mine as fast as they could. Once they were within ten feet of the entrance, Mikajia took out the remote and activated the explosives. The resulting quakes from the bombs made them all falter a bit during their running, but they were still close enough to the entrance that nobody got caught in the blast or the collapsing mine.

With everyone preoccupied with the now collapsed mine, it was easy for Mikajia to slip away unnoticed by any of the other miners. He had left the helmet behind, removing the stolen miner’s shirt as well as he walked back to his meeting place with Mattoro, replacing his original shirt. Once back in the abandoned shack they had first met in, he informed the man of his success. Mattoro was very pleased with his work, and said he knew he could expect as much with the kind of reputation Mikajia had garnered over time.

However, though he was more than pleased with Mikajia’s results this day, Mattoro felt there was still much more that needed to be done to crush he previous employers. With a grin, Mikajia gave the man a small bow of his head as he accepted his payment, then left.

He knew he would be called on again soon. And he would be only too happy to accept.

WC = 724/500