Chapter Four-Hundred Eighty (Patreon)

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Karn

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He never thought he’d be using his guild’s vault like this.  Then again, he never thought he’d need to keep anything from Thedeim.  But if this really is going to be treated as preparing for the raid on the Betrayer, he’s going to treat it with the seriousness it deserves.

It also reminds him he should update the vault with a few new features, like a fungicide array.  Or regular applications of anti-fungal powder.  Cappy is very good at his job, and sometimes needs a firm reminder to stay out of certain places.  As far as Karn can tell, the vault is secure, but he’s under no delusion that Thedeim couldn't come up with something weird to get around his precautions.

And the reasons for wanting to keep him out are the detailed maps laid out on the table before him, his own war room with which to plan how to get those keys.  Along with Jondar and a few others.  At the moment, only the large elf is in the room with him, the two directing as their guilds work in the field.

At the moment, their attention is focused on the tree fortress, as they’re starting to call it.  Honestly, Thedeim should keep it around even after all this.  It’s an interesting new twist that he hasn’t seen in a dungeon before.  He and Jondar both look at their reports and the rough proposed plan.

“What do you think the odds are there isn’t even a key in there?” asks the elf, frowning as he gets a better idea of the fortifications.

“Moderate, but I wouldn’t put my own money on it.  He does like to hide things where nobody expects, but I think this is a bit much for him to be faking it.  He also doesn’t like to put all his gold in one chest.  If the other three are hidden, it’d fit for him to put the last one somewhere with obvious obstacles, even if only to get us thinking along the wrong lines about the others.”

Jondar chuckles and shakes his head at the absurdity of having to play mindgames with a dungeon.  “Any word on the last key?  I’ve got reports here that all but confirm one’s in the roots somewhere.”

“And ravenkin activity around the challenge gauntlet means there’s probably one there, too.  Nothing solid on the last key yet.  I still think it’ll be in one of the floating orbs, but it’ll be hard to verify while still being subtle.”

The elf nods at Karn’s analysis.  “While I think it could be in the labyrinth.  Either way, we may need to be more direct with our scouting.  The orbs are open enough that it’s not strange to see the ravenkin flying around, and the labyrinth is so convoluted they could be preparing something without anyone noticing.”

Jondar glances at the cathedral on their shared map, and Karn follows his gaze, soon speaking his mind..  “Probably not there… but we shouldn’t rule it out.  The dwellers are working with us, but the ravenkin still frequent the cathedral.  I also don’t think Thedeim wants to have any fights around his Sanctum, either, but he could also be sneaky enough to hide a key there exactly because we wouldn’t expect it.”

“Probably best to leave investigating the cathedral to the priesthoods, then,” suggests Jondar.  “They’re getting along well with Thedeim’s followers, so if there’s suddenly anywhere they’re not allowed to go, it’d be a pretty obvious clue.”

“Speaking of the obvious: do we attack the obvious key, or try to confirm the others before we move?  Attacking sooner would give them less time to prepare, but are we actually ready to lay siege right now?” asks Karn.

“Do you think you can sneak inside to open the gate?” Jondar answers with a smirk.  “I have a few members who might be able to manage it, but you’re probably our best bet for this.”

Karn folds his arms and considers that.  He likes being retired, even if he does still sneak out to keep his skills sharp.  No taking anything, but he can’t let his skills of infiltration get rusty.  The only one he would honestly give better odds than himself would be Miller, and Rezlar is trying to stay neutral.  Larrez is certainly trying to help, but the mayor’s alter ego isn’t going to be able to ask Miller to do something like this.

“I’ll give it a shot, sure.  I haven’t really had a chance to test myself against Thedeim yet, aside from the raid on Fluffles.  Stealth and fighting are two different things.”

“Do you need anything to prepare yourself?”

Karn shakes his head and smirks, gesturing all around them.  “I’ll be dipping into the vault here for a few things, and making sure to pass some out to the others, too.  If the Betrayer is half of what the legends say it is, we’ll need to bring in everything we can.  And if Thedeim can’t handle our adventurers with the best gear, he might need to come up with a few more tricks, too.”

“Fair point.  I don’t have nearly the depth of a vault that you do, but I’ll break out what I can to ensure my adventurers can keep up, heh.”

“Have your crafters had any luck replicating Thedeim’s armor?”

Jondar sighs and shakes his head.  “My crafters are still arguing about what it’s even made from.”

Karn laughs and nods.  “It’s definitely weird, having so many different materials in a single piece, basically all glued together.  And everything enchanted, to boot.”

“Hopefully we’ll be able to get a lot of it from the upcoming raid.  With the enchantment density, we could probably swim through the molten abyss without any trouble!”

“It’d be nice.  That does make me wonder what he’s going to do about getting everyone there, though.  Against the Maw, we could all basically walk.  I don’t think anyone will appreciate swimming through magma for however long it takes.”

Jondar shrugs.  “Maybe some kind of magma barge?”

Karn shrugs as well.  “You can never tell with him.”  The two smile, letting the mood settle before Jondar speaks up once more, looking at the map.

“Should we try to move on the other keys at the same time?  I don’t think everyone will even fit in that fortress.”

“It’d be tipping our hand… but it might be a good idea.  Thediem likes to do split strikes to force a foe to split their forces, and hopefully miss the strongest strike.”  Karn nods to himself.  “Yeah, we’ll hit the other places at the same time.  It’ll make it trickier with the fort being alert, but it should force them to divert attention to the other places.  So long as they actually have keys.”

“Then… we stop being quite so subtle with exploring the roots and the gauntlet so we can confirm the keys there, and scour the gauntlet and orbs to see if the keys are there, too?”

Karn nods once again, a devious smile slowly forming as he gets into the kind of attacks Thedeim does.  “We pull back slightly from the fortress, too.  Make him think we’re considering our options for the other keys before needing to lay a siege.  Keep a good presence in the forest, it’s good for training anyway, and once we’re ready, I open the door and everyone converges on the fort.  If we do it right, we’ll have three keys in a single day.”

Jondar grins and starts jotting down what they’ll need to coordinate everyone.  “In a few days, then?  We’ll have the guilds start focusing on the two prime locations as well as scouting out the potentials, give Thedeim a few days to get used to us changing our plans, then make for all three!”

“Exactly!  And it’ll give me a chance to dust off my old gear and old skills.”

“Karn the Slight finally coming out of retirement because of a new dungeon and a really old one, eh?”

“I suppose so,” Karn answers with a smirk.  “You’ll probably be needed to head the charge once the fort’s open, too.  You already have a reputation of being even tougher than Ragnar, and that’s saying something.”

“I really need to talk to him, too.  It’s not often I meet someone with the same affinity, and even rarer for them to be someone worth meeting.  He’s been your guild's premier shield, eh?”

“He has indeed.  That laughter of his is only more insane when you see him shrugging off hits that by all rights should flatten him.  And he knows how to keep an enemy focused on him, instead of his allies.”

Jondar nods as he stands.  “It’s not far from how I fight, though minus the laughter.  I think we could both give the other pointers.”

Karn nods and stands as well.  “I’ll let him know once he gets back, unless you find him first.  Him and the others have been out for a while, so I have to imagine they’ll be back soon.  They wouldn’t want to miss out on the raid, nor on the training.”

“Then I’ll make sure everyone knows the change in plans.  I’ll see you later.  Heh, or not, if things go well.”

Karn grins and waves him off, before venturing deeper into the vault.  It’s been a long time since he wore his old armor… probably not since he escaped the thieves guild, so long ago.  He still keeps it in good condition, but more out of sentiment than an expectation to need it.

He opens the chest with his gear, looking like any other chest, and smiles wistfully as he runs a hand over the cloak folded on the top.  His adventurers are giving their best.  As their leader, how can he give any less?