Leyocan carefully watched the single guard that was standing at attention near the prison.
From the outside, it resembled an basic two story building with the Warden's office occupying the entire second floor.
A small circular arena was also built here, and often staged fights between the less famous prisoners.
A prisoner could earn his freedom by fighting and winning a certain number of matches in the area.
Most ended up killed by the more dangerous inmates housed within.
The Prison was privately owned by a particularly brutal nobleman that according to the rumors, may have been a notable slaver until he went legitimate and funded the construction of this building.
While most nobility had some form of hobby or collection, they tended to be harmless, like gems or artifacts.
The owner of this Prison collected notable outlaws.
Displaying them like animals in a zoo.
He often hosted tours for rich noblemen, showing off his private collection of outlaws.
The ground floor housed the mess hall, the armory, a privately owned smithy and the barracks of the prison guards.
He could hear laughter and conversation coming from inside the barracks and he knew it wouldn't be long before the place was swarming with guards.
The cells were located underneath the main building, accessible by a small flight of stairs Leyocan was watching now located at the side of the main building.
Defeating the guard at the stairs would be a simple matter, it was what was inside that worried him.
He had no way to tell how many guards were located inside, nor what defenses he could expect to find.
The prison extended deep into the earth and was five stories deep.
Finding a single man in such a maze of tunnels would be almost impossible.
What made the task even more dangerous was the fact that each floor of the prison could easily be locked down by an elaborate network of magical barriers.
This entire network could be controlled from a central control room located near the entrance to the prison.
He could take the control room easily enough, but he had no way to hold on to it, and if any reinforcements came while he was deeper in the prison, they could easily trap him inside.
Fortunately, he had an escape route planned.
The entire fifth floor of the dungeon was dedicated to interrogation and torture.
On this floor was a large dumping chute that emptied out on the opposite side of the cliffs and into the waters below.
The guardsmen used this chute to dump the corpses of the prisoners who died during interrogation.
Leyocan knew that the waters below the chute were free of rocky obstacles, but the waters were rough and were often infested by sharks or worse sea monsters that prowled those dark depths looking for an easy meal.
It was the only route available to him though, and Leyocan was confident he could repel any creatures that tried to take a bite out of him.
Leyocan pulled out a dart pipe that he always carried with him and loaded the dart he had prepared beforehand.
It's tip contained a poison that put anyone affected by it to sleep within moments.
If the affected person woke up, he'd wake with a debilitating effect that mimicked the effects of inebriation.
Hopefully, if anyone found the guard, they'd just assume he was drunk and had passed out.
Raising the dart pipe to his lips, he aimed at the gap between the man's helm and his breastplate and fired.
As the dart struck his neck, he flinched, then raised his hand up to his neck and pulled out the dart.
He stared at the dart in his hand with a wide eyed expression, before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed up against the wall beside him.
"One down..." thought Leyocan.
He ran towards the stairs, then shifted to his human form.
The existence of his race was still a closely guarded secret and he didn't want some of the prisoners finding out too much.
He could hear murmurs of several people in the room beyond.
The room seemed to be a processing point for new prisoners.
Their details are recorded on a ledger, before being assigned to a cell deeper in the prison.
The guards check the new prisoners for concealed weapons or tools, before they are escorted deeper into the facility.
He pulled out a small glass ball and after pressing the button on it's top, he rolled it into the room and waited.
A moment later, Leyocan heard an hissing sound, followed by several people crying out.
He heard the thunk of several people hitting the ground a moment later.
Taking a simple black cloth out of a pocket, he secured it to his face to protect him from any poison that was still lingering in the air, then stepped into the room.
Several guards were passed out across the room, he ran towards the center where the glass ball was located and picked up the now empty container.
Much like the dart he used earlier, it contained a powerful sleeping agent.
This poison was in a gaseous form that dissipated quickly once released and the container was designed to spread it out in an wide area.
If properly placed, it could clear out an entire room in moments.
Each Nogitsune clan had it's own specialization.
The clan in Kingsport specializes in the use of poisons, and as Leyocan was raised by this clan, he still remembered many of the clan's special recipes.
He shared this knowledge with his own clan in Northburg, but also chose to create a different specialization for his clan.
Leyocan had always been an exceptionally good climber, and he decided to share that knowledge with his clan.
The grapples so regularly used by his clan, was an invention of his own design.
After extensive testing with prototypes, he taught his clan members in it's use and how to create and maintain them.
Their unique training, as well as their tools, made Leyocan's clan the best cat burglars and infiltrators of all the Nogitsune.
Most clan Sensei had several sons in their clans from a selection of consorts, but Leyocan was unique in that he had none and had yet to father his own child.
Instead he grew his clan from taking in Nogitsune like him that grew disillusioned with their own clans, and who had set out on their own to forge their own destiny.
As a result his clan was something of a melting pot of different fighting traditions and values.
As a relatively new clan when compared to some of the other, more established Nogitsune families.
The other Sensei didn't take him seriously and considered him a dangerous maverick in charge of a band of misfits and outcasts.
It was a view that he worked very hard to dispel.
He rushed over to the ledger and after a moment of searching, he found the name he was looking for.
The floor Leyocan was in now was something of a processing point and security checkpoint that housed the barrier control, and a storage room, and rooms where visitors could be met with.
The first floor of the prison itself contained the common pickpockets or con artists and as a result had less security than the others.
The second story contained human criminals with backgrounds in violence.
Murders, Bandits and other scum were contained on this floor.
The third, and by far the largest part of the prison was reserved for the non-human prisoners.
Located in Block D, was the non-humans with a history of violence. It was here where his target was located.
Leyocan rushed into the prison to enact the next stage of his plan...
Taking out the control room, and the shift of mages currently placed in charge of it..