Broken Skull

It had been three days since we took the fortress for ourselves, and already we were improving upon it. The pit filled with meat and other waste had been emptied and burned, before it was turned into the beginnings of a forge, using the bones of orcs killed as kindling.

Lakus was handling recruitment, sending recruiters to the second floor and getting his hands on as many skeletons as possible, vetting them on the third floor, and sending them out to fight with whatever basic equipment we had at that time, though groups of recruits were always supplemented with at least two veteran skeletons who made sure we didn't lose too many people, especially since we still weren't strong enough to ensure the survival of all those we got our hands on.

Other than that, Lakus took care of the day to day management of the fortress so that Lilith and I could focus on the future. She was sending individual skeletons down to the fifth floor to find whatever equipment they could, with explicit instructions to avoid all combat if possible, only fighting when there was no other option.

The first time we received items from below we were amazed at the qualitative change between the floors we'd been on, and the fifth floor. The weapons were no longer rusty or broken, though they were often a bit dull or dented. The armor that was found was average enough that we'd be able to shrug off at least one or two blows from low level enemies, which would give us a serious advantage when the time came to break free of the dungeon.

Training new recruits was organized by Rivax, who left his position as Rivena's top Sentinel to one of his subordinates in order to ensure that there would be others able to not only survive the coming battles, but also become more worthy Sentinels for the few mages that were under our protection.

Iliana was stationed inside the fortress for all those who were wounded, but still able to make it back to her. Her bedside manner got worse as skeletons came back with more and more wounds, eventually to the point that she just started scolding people while healing them, telling them that they shouldn't be taking so many risks or at least trying to dodge an attack or two instead of getting beaten nearly to death in their efforts to get stronger.

I ended up stuck in the command tent trying to draw up as many battle plans as I could based on my limited recollection of when I'd been in a bloodthirsty rage and slaughtered as many dungeoneers as I could.

From what I could remember, there was a large open area that we could probably occupy, though I wasn't sure how easy that would actually be to accomplish since I didn't have the layout of whatever city we were in. If we were simply on the outskirts of the town we could fight our way out and disappear into the wilderness to plan with more information, but since we weren't, I kept coming back to us having to mount a full scale invasion if we wanted even a remote chance of success.

I sat at the table on a chair made from rubble harvested from the ruins of the dungeoneer's outpost. The stone would've been uncomfortable to anyone else, but I didn't mind it. Not being able to feel the discomfort was one of the perks of being dead, my bones scraping against the stone as I focused on what would be needed for the invasion, and what equipment we'd need to be able to procure.

So far I was at least sure that we'd need a very large amount of archers to blanket the surrounding area with arrows to deter any would-be heroes. After that would be infantry strong enough to create a defensive perimeter around the dungeon so that we could get reinforcements equipped and into the fighting as soon as possible.

A candle taken from Tyrant's stores of dungeoneering equipment sat on the table off to the side, the flame slowly burning away the wax as time passed me by. Outside the command tent everyone was bustling with activity. There was a whole slew of skeletons trying to figure out how to create a functioning forge to melt down and remake whatever we found in equipment chests, including all the money we'd found. All sorts of designs were being tested to create kilns and furnaces to melt through the metals that were available.

I wrote down a few more equipment needs while the sounds of hammers striking wood sounded outside. Some skeletons had decided that with the few days off they would build better living quarters for everyone, though it wasn't like they were actually needed. The added comfort would be a nice touch though, compared to all the tents that had been set up throughout the area beforehand. While most had been taken down, Tyrant had been adamant that nobody try and disturb the system he was setting up so that he could keep everything organized and in their proper places.

Hearing the flap of the tent moving aside, I looked up to see Lilith setting a metal shield down on the table in front of me. "A new shield from the fifth floor. Try not to lose this one this time. The way you go through equipment, I swear I might as well have Tyrant throw together a backpack full of daggers and axes for you. Most people try to keep hold of the weapon in their hand, you know." I sat down on the edge of the table, looking back at me. "How's the planning going? Lakus told me you were working on it, but that things were moving slowly."

I scratched the back of my head as if there was an itch there while looking back down at the list I was preparing. "There's not much in the way of information for me to go off of, and it's not like we can send any scouting parties up there without tipping our hand to the enemy. I keep circling back to a full scale invasion of the city I saw, and all I can think about are the casualties that it'll bring us. Even if we succeed, I'm not sure we'd be able to hold the city for very long unless we could get a massive influx of reinforcements, which I doubt we're going to find in the time we've got." I leaned back in the chair, letting out a mental sigh. "I can plan for a battle in which I have knowledge of at least the terrain. I can't make a single workable plan for this without making enough assumptions that I might as well send up a scouting party. I'm not saying that I'm giving up, but maybe we should leave someone down here just in case things go badly up there. Give the next generation a chance to learn from our mistakes." Lilith just stared at me as I spoke, waiting for me to finish before hopping off the table and walking around to me.

"I can tell you now that I'm not going to be waiting down here while you go up there. I'd rather die fighting at your side than hide down here waiting for another chance. I owe you that much, at least. You're definitely not going to go up against that damnable mage again, especially after the damage she did last time we fought." She knocked her forehead against mine forcefully, before pulling back. "If we're going to fall, then let us fall in such a way that history at least remembers we were here. So that if someone is left behind, they know to have more than just skeletons like you and me at the helm." She leaned against the table, her hand pressing down against the parchment I'd been writing on.

"Right now we're doing well, so don't bother dwelling on what might be. We'll have forever to figure that out once we're out of this endless dark. For now, just focus on figuring out what we can do with what we have, and how we might use that to give ourselves an edge in the fighting to come, even if you don't know where we'll be fighting." She turned and began walking out of the tent, her armor rattling a bit against her ribcage. "If you don't know where we'll be fighting, at least try and come up with some options for us so that we aren't totally caught off guard. I'm sure you can manage that, even if your name suggests otherwise." If she wasn't nothing but bone, I would've sworn she just winked at me before sauntering out of the tent.

I knew she was trying to help me out of whatever introspective stupidity I found myself stuck in, but as I looked down at the equipment list and the several plans I'd made, I put down the quill I was using, and just buried my face in my hands. The endless rage was still writhing inside me, though now it was tempered by the fact that an uncountable number of lives were now relying upon my decisions and the impacts they would have. I'd lost count of how many had died in my name, for a future I couldn't even guarantee. That so many had faith in someone as angry and reckless as I was...

It almost felt wrong, in a way. Like I wasn't the one they had trusted to bring them victory.

I picked up the quill and began writing again, trying to come up with countermeasures to whatever we'd be facing on the surface. If all went well, then we'd swarm out of the dungeon and kill the defenders, forcing all others to flee in terror as we took their homes from them just as they'd done to us.

But then there was the chance that things went so wrong that victory wouldn't be possible. If that happened, I didn't know what I would do. I couldn't even begin to guess, though I knew it would probably be the act of a coward trying to save his own life. I might even end up standing alone amidst a sea of enemies like the orc leader had done, being shot with arrow after arrow until he finally fell. I could even see it, a sea of well made arrows fired with the strength to break and shatter bone all hitting me in various places, cracking and smashing me to powder.

I had my face buried in my hands again by the time a messenger came in, telling tales of a single group of dungeoneers, travelling around the second floor in powerful gear and making a mess of Lakus' recruiting efforts.