Dungeon Noble - Squire

They set out as soon as they’d finished stowing their supplies, the tight time frame meaning that there was no time to waste setting off for the outpost.

Thankfully, Felix explained that one of the reasons the outpost was still garrisoned at all was that it was on a major road heading east. A road that went through Casthorpe and was no doubt how the Triarchy had transported Nepthys there.

While it wasn’t a heavily patrolled road, they still had to be careful of the immediate area around Casthorpe, so they spent the rest of the day hiking, with the intent to link up with the road the next day.

-**-

Jake found fresh appreciation for his improvement in his Trait and his higher rank overnight, as Felix kept them moving for as long as was safe before pitching camp and setting them to take turns standing watch.

All of that together, especially after the days of hard delving, should have been enough to all but cripple Jake. Instead, he found it all quite manageable. He still felt it all, but it was diminished and distant.

As they weren’t close to the road, a fire was allowed for a hot breakfast, but the atmosphere was tense. Even Ari looked pensive and was wearing a frown, which looked entirely out of place on the carefree classer’s face.

Little was said as they ate and got underway once more, this time heading cautiously onto the road to help quicken their pace. Felix didn’t seem happy about the choice, but from the short explanation he gave, the lack of sense to what the Triarchy was doing had unsettled him.

There was no real reason to bring Nepthys this way that they could think of. That meant one of two things as far as Jake was concerned. Either it was a trap, or there was some benefit that they didn’t know about.

The Triarchy knew about Jake, and they knew someone had been with Nepthys when they caught her, so the trap was more likely, which likely explained the worried look in Felix’s eyes.

-**-

“I don’t like any of this,” Ari muttered as they set up their camp for the evening. They’d gone a distance away from the road for safety, but even so, they were careful to keep their fire low and shielded from the road.

“Agreed, something is going on,” Felix said thoughtfully before noticing Jake’s curious expression. “We didn’t expect to see much in the way of patrols, but it seems strange that we’ve not seen any for a full day. Especially given the situation. It isn’t clear evidence of foul play, but in concert with the other oddities, it’s concerning.”

“What he’s saying is that the chances of this being a trap are only going up,” Ari said with a snort, rolling his eyes at the look Felix gave him.

“Is there anything we can do?” Jake looked between the two of them with growing concern.

“We’ll arrive just after noon tomorrow if we maintain our pace,” Felix said, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully. “We don’t know what they have planned; that’s our largest issue at the moment. However, we can work on the assumption that they will either move on to somewhere else or will otherwise take further steps.”

“Agreed,” Ari said with a nod. Noticing the concerned look on Jake’s face, he leaned over slightly and explained in a softer voice. “If they just wanted to kill her, they’d have done it in Casthorpe.”

“Exactly, so we’ll use the initial time after we arrive to scout out their defences and see what we’re working with. If it looks like they will be moving on, or there are clear advantages to acting soon, we will strike that evening. If not, we will plan accordingly.”

Jake felt a chill run down his spine as he realised that this time, tomorrow, he could be raiding a Triarchy outpost.

The other two classers went on to discuss potential plans, and Jake listened carefully, intent on picking up as much as he could.

-**-

They set off early the next morning with little fanfare. Felix had ensured that everyone understood the general plan of what they wanted to achieve and that knowledge brought on a sombre atmosphere.

Much like the day before, they saw no Triarchy guards patrolling the road and precious few other travellers as well.

Each time Felix saw someone else approaching, they all swiftly moved to one side and got out of sight, but they had all seemed to be simple travellers.

With how prevalent the patrols around Casthorpe had been, it grew increasingly unlikely that they would meet not a single one when travelling this way.

For all that the lack of patrols was concerning; it also let them make good time, and they were able to reach the outpost by late morning.

The Triarchy fortification was not at all what Jake had been picturing when Felix told them about the outpost. He’d thought it would be something akin to a small fortress, a redoubt to house the trikes when they were travelling through Strovia.

Instead, it was closer to a hamlet, with a pair of central buildings and a few smaller ones clustered around them. The whole thing was bounded by a low wall and was built in a clearing amid thick woodland.

The road they’d been following went right past the gates of the outpost, and there was a space on the opposite side of the road that looked like a permanent spot for wagons and travellers to camp.

Jake and the others were as far away as they could manage while still being close enough to make out details. Felix had led them in and tasked them to wait while he and Ari got a little closer.

Jake didn’t take it personally that Felix wasn’t going to trust their talent at sneaking. He was pretty sure he didn’t trust himself not to fuck it up, either.

“So, what do you see?” Jake asked in a soft whisper, glancing over to Alan, who was peering out into the distance.

“There’s a pair of Triarchy guards at the gate, two walking the walls and another two sets of three walking a patrol around the clearing. Can’t tell what’s going on inside right now, but they all look pretty serious.” Alan pointed out the closest of the patrols, and Jake nodded thoughtfully.

Felix had said the outpost was lightly garrisoned, but it seemed they’d kicked it up a bit since the Seeker arrived.

Channelling his Wyrd to his eyes, Jake tried to see if he could sense the strength of the guards via their soul, but he was too far away. That was for the best, though, as anything he could do to them, they could do to him.

Settling in for a wait, Jake found himself wishing that he had a Boon that could let him get closer.

In fact, he’d been just following Felix’s lead for Dungeons so far, and while that had worked reasonably well, the duck Boon was proof that it wouldn’t always be the case.

Perhaps it was time for Jake to start taking a more active part in choosing where to go next. They’d not really interacted with the Delver’s Guild that much, but he could probably get some sort of rundown on the Dungeons in Strovia and what sort of monsters they had.

Thinking of the monster types made Jake wonder if there were any commonalities between Dungeons that he could follow. He got their names when he bound them, and he’d thought there was a pattern there until the duck Dungeon.

Holrswar Murk had been the first they completed, and Jake doubted it was a coincidence that there were murk hounds within it. Wilfek Murk had been a similar style, but with less rats and more bugs. Close enough for Jake, though, and he had begun to think that the second name was a grouping.

Haugask Deja and Engans Deja made no sense as a grouping, though. Undead and waterfowls didn’t go together, no matter how hard Jake tried to make them.

Realising that his mind had wandered, Jake banished his musings on Dungeons and focused back on what they were doing. Now wasn’t the time to get distracted.

Alan stiffened next to him and looked to their right, giving Jake a bare second of warning before Felix moved into view, followed shortly after by Ari.

The two classers moved silently into concealed spots of their own before Felix made a slight motion to catch all their attention and spoke up softly. “We’ve identified two classers of a higher tier. I think they are a pair of Seekers, but we won’t know for sure until we lay eyes on them.”

Jake paled and shared a worried look with his friends before whispering back. “How are we going to deal with them? Just how high a tier are they?”

“We couldn’t get close enough to find their tier, but they’re high enough to be suppressed while here, which means at least third tier.”

“Suppressed?” Alan echoed, almost visibly perking up in interest.

“Classers beyond certain thresholds of strength are weakened in lower Realms. Which is why you don’t see higher tier classers commonly. Ari and I are currently only slightly stronger than a peak tier two classer, in raw terms anyway. Experience and breadth of Abilities also give us an advantage.”

“Which is great, but even with that, we can’t take on classers like that,” Rhew said with a grimace. “As much as I’d hate to admit it, they’d walk all over us.”

“Which is why Ari and I will draw both of them and their strongest guards out and keep them occupied,” Felix said, ignoring the wolfish grin that crossed Ari’s face. “While we do so, you will all attack from the rear and attempt to extract Nepthys. It isn’t ideal, but it’s all we can work with.”

“But that’ll be just the two of you against who knows how many,” Rhew said before pausing and gesturing uncomfortably to Felix’s missing hand. “Are you sure you’ll be able to manage them?”

Ari stirred and frowned, but Felix quelled him with a look before answering softly. “You’re right to be concerned, and against someone of a similar advancement in a higher Realm, I’d struggle. As it is, I’m confident we can prevail.”

Rhew nodded, seemingly willing to take Felix’s words at face value. “Alright, then, when do we do this?”

“Tonight,” Felix said with a tight smile that didn’t touch his eyes. “We have no reinforcements, and the longer we wait, the worse the situation may become. Our best option is to act decisively.”