On their third full day lost in the maze Omega called a stop again. The last three days had been an exercise in frustration for the adventuring party. Dead end after dead end and wrong turn after wrong turn.

“I’m telling you, pup, north is that way! Look at the sun laddy.” Omega exasperatedly said for what felt like the fifth time today.

“And I’m telling YOU the map shows this way!” Mal practically shouted at Omega.

“Easy, Easy, dat’s no way ta get outta dis mess.” Taliah said playing peacemaker.

“Oh stay out of it nature witch!” Omega hissed losing his cool a little bit.

“Say whaa? Dummy computer program…” Taliah shot back.

Omega looked confused and shuffled his feet looking at the ground.

Mal let loose an exaggerated sigh and then took a breath. “That was uncalled for Taliah. Now Omega.” Mal reengaged the SI’s attention. “Why don’t you take point for awhile then, lead us north.” Mal said hoping for a way through this challenge they were caught up in.

The group was about to set out when Alison spoke up from the back. She instantly had everyone’s attention because she had been quiet for so long. On the first day she had been slinging the sarcastic insults about being unable to read maps. On the second day when they were clearly very lost and they were taking stock of the supplies they had left, she quieted down. She then took up a rear position in the advance.

“We’ve been here before.” She said. “I’m absolutely sure of it, I recognize that rock formation and that scrub bush next to it. What is even more disturbing than us going in circles is that I marked the wall next to that very rock formation with my dagger and there is now no mark.” She finished and the silence stretched on for a few minutes as the group pondered this development.

“You are 100 percent sure you recognize this spot. It is all blending together for me and looks the same.” Mal said.

“Aye, 100 percent bucko.” Alison said brushing her fingers along the wall of the canyon next to the rocks.

“What dis mean den?” Taliah said. “You have de map how could we be goin abouts in a circle.”

“Fey Enchantment! Must be!” Omega exclaimed. “I don’t know why I didn’t consider that earlier. Give me some space.” He said brandishing his spellbook.

Mal just shrugged at Alison and Taliah as they made room for Omega who began a spell casting ritual.

Omega walked in a tight circle casting spells on the ground and in response glowing red and blue runes with symbols appeared glowing in the dirt. Omega than entered the center of these magical signs and knelt with his head down and eyes closed.

The party waited patiently watching the wisps of mana float around Omega as he enacted his magic. As the minutes stretched by they took up positions around Omega keeping a watch on both him and their surroundings. Mal sat on a rock and started nibbling on some beef jerky with Sylvester steadfastly nearby. Alison and Taliah, with Nena by her side, had moved a distance away and were chatting quietly being careful not to disturb the magics being done.

Omega’s eyes snapped open with one glowing bright blue and the other a dusky red. He called the party over to him gesturing animatedly happy that he may have potentially broken the old fey enchantment.

“Kneel in front of me in a line but don’t enter the spell runes.” Omega said with a magic infused voice that distorted his speech in a mildly jarring fashion.

Mal, Alison, and Taliah did as the dynamic mage bid and arranged themselves in a line before him. Omega pointed at each one of them in turn and a ray of magic arced between Omega and each of the party. Mal looked over at Alison and saw that her eyes had taken on the same glowing effects as Omega’s.

Omega clambered to his feet and dispersed the runes around him and everyone’s eyes returned to normal. Omega assured them that NOW they would find their way through this accursed maze and not starve to death in this dusty ravines.

“Lead on, young pup!” Omega said with a bit of exuberance in his tone.

Mal resumed point position and it was soon clear that the enchantment had been thoroughly messing with their sense of direction. The group now cut almost a straight path north with Mal’s map and not being misdirected anymore they came upon a longer narrow funnel ravine that they all recognized as new territory.

The narrow end of the funnel which was still quite wide generally speaking just not the roomy and open spaces the other canyons and ravines had been. At this natural choke point there was a wall of fortifications that was in ruins but clearly at some time in the past this had been a strongly defensible position. There was a gap in the center of the crumbling stone and wood wall that would have been able to accommodate a large wagon or two.

Mal’s party moved carefully through the opening in the wall when no threats were visible to them. Keeping their weapons at the ready they came through the fortification and were presented with the second layer of defenses. A motte and bailey wooden castle that was in similar disrepair as the wall fortifications they had just passed through.

Both Omega and Taliah scanned the area with their magics and said that all appeared to be clear of any life aside from some critters. So Mal gave the order to search through the ruined buildings that made up the fort and to look for any usable loot or clues to the nature of this place.

Mal made his way past the crumbling palisades and up the motte towards where the keep was. He figured the small keep is where the commander of the joint would have been and therefore any chance of clues or the best loot would be here. The rest of his party split up and started rummaging about the area.

The keep at the top of the motte was made of stone and was a two story affair. Since it was mainly made of stone the keep was in somewhat better condition than the rest of the structures they had found. The first floor appeared to be a meeting area and dining room with spoiled food stuffs laying about and rusty degraded weapons hanging from the walls. There was an unpleasant smell in the stuffy air from the old and expired food. A large candle chandelier had fallen from the ceiling and smashed the main dining table at the rooms center.

Mal spied the stone stairway at the side of the room to the second floor and carefully made his way through the junk and debris of the room. The second floor was obviously the commander or lords office and sleeping quarters. A mahogany desk and many leather bound books lined the room. The guy must have been a big deal!

Mal noted an iron bound chest in the corner but it was locked and beyond his skill to pick the lock open. He could smash it with his Mana Blade spell but he thought better to wait and see if the versatile Alison could pick it open or if Omega had a more fitting spell for opening it. Mal also looked more closely at some of the books but it looked like a sneeze would cause them to disintegrate so better again to wait for Omega.

In the corner Mal saw a ladder and hatch that went to the roof of the keep where Mal had seen battlements when he was walking up to the keep. He gingerly climbed the rotting rungs to check out the view from on high without the crumbling walls obstructing what he could see. Almost slipping only once Mal forced the rusted hatch open thankful for his moderately high strength and agility scores.

Out onto the fortified roof he walked and his immediate view was the motte and bailey interior so he gave a shout for Alison and Omega to join him to sort through the finds he made in the commander's quarters. Turning the opposite direction off the back end of the keep he looked out over the valley this fort was protecting and his breath was taken away by the sight he beheld.

Stretching back past the small fort, which was the warden for the valley itself, lush greenery of trees and fertile fields lay before Mal from his perch. Looking past the gentle slopes of the vibrant life Mal saw a river snaking through the heart of the valley that led to a large lake in the center of the hidden paradise that was truly the show stopper.

The lake was at least a mile in uneven diameter that the river flowed into one side and out the other. Clear blue waters reflected the brilliant sunlight off it’s surface but it wasn’t the lake itself that was the showstopper it was what was on the peninsula that jutted into the lake.

A mighty fortress that put the small fort Mal stood in now to shame as a warrior would to a child in comparison.

Mal marveled at the citadel noting the massive wall that defended the end of the peninsula that attached the whole structure to the rest of the valley. The peninsula had a rise to it as well almost like a promontory so that the tip of the peninsula was far higher on the natural rise of dirt and rock. This made the fortifications built deeper back on the peninsula rise up above the preceding defenses giving any defenders ample view down the slope to the great wall.

Surrounded on the 3 sides by the deep dark blue lake and the great wall on the 4th side Mal imagined what a strongly defensiveable castle this would be to lay siege to. As Mal looked closer it became clear that this castle was in similar disrepair as the fort he stood in now. It was a distance away and he could see the castle fine due to it’s large size but when he squinted his eyes to attempt to reduce the glare from the lake he saw that some towers were in fact collapsing. Also there were rifts and cracks in the great wall that had seen better days.

Suddenly a message popped up in Mal’s vision from his user interface, it was a guild invite from Jake. The elaborate script and flowing calligraphy looked quite fancy compared to the usual fare in his interface. On a backdrop of a 2 swords crossing over a stout shield it said:

Guild Master Jake has invited you to the guild Resolute, do you accept yes or no?

Mal quickly selected yes since he was excited about the prospect of a guild and what advantages it would bring. To Mal’s mild surprise he was immediately promoted to officer, I must have made more of an impression on Jake than I realized Mal thought to himself. Mal looked over the interface of the guild settings and saw people quickly being added to the guild as he watched so Mal made his own invitations since he was an officer.

Alison apparently was able to join even though she wasn’t a real person Mal was pleased to see as her name joined the list on the roster. Taliah’s name joined Alison’s there a moment later but Mal was unable to invite Omega which made sense with him still being a simulated intelligence.

Guild chat sprang to life in the corner of Mal’s vision with many ‘woot woot’s and other exclamations and greetings of fellow guild members. Mal remembered most of Jake’s friends were beta testers so they were probably powerful characters already. Jake stated in chat they were in fact the first guild to form due to his efforts so they received some special bonuses that would be apparent as they grew. Jake was saying now all they needed was a base of operations to set up their guild hall.

Mal saw that the guild interface was much like an old discord server and he had added functionality to share things with his guild mates. One such feature was shared snapshot and Mal took advantage of it to snap a photo of the great citadel he was looking at and share it in the guild feed with the captions ‘May have found a base for us’.

There was a long pause in the chat then everyone exploded at once raving about the potential of the place. Jake especially seemed pleased and wanted to come see the area for himself so Mal gave his guild mates his location on the map and told them they were just now scouting things out. Mal warned of the maze canyons and said there may be more dangers and we’ll let you know what we find.

Alison joined Mal on the roof of the keep and Mal let the guild chat fade to a background opacity. Alison gazed out at the large fortress in the lake for a few moments before she let out a low whistle.

“So that will be our base you think?” She said.

“Hoping so. There probably is some monster or something we’ll have to clear I’m betting though, you up for it?” Mal said.

“Darling I’m up for anything you could possibly send my way.” Alison replied with a cheeky wink.

“Well let’s get moving then before the other guildies show up. What was in the chest?” Mal said heading for the ladder.

“Junk. Well, valuable junk, it’s being put in Sly’s pack right now by Omega as well as any of the books worth a shit.” Alison said somewhat dismissively.

With that Mal gathered his companions and they set out for the castle in the lake hoping to conquer the place.