When they left the inn, temple guards filled the streets in greater numbers than Hump had ever seen. Squads of heavily armed men patrolled the streets, parting crowds who watched on with a mixture of fear and curiosity. More guards were stationed on every major street—those of the temple identifiable by their colours and sigils, while the ordinary city guard wore lighter equipment. This wasn’t just a display of strength. They looked ready for war, and it wasn’t hard to guess their purpose.

They were stopped twice on the short walk to the guild campus; both times their bronze adventurer medallions had allowed them to continue onward. When they arrived, the guild campus was busy. Hump looked around for Emilia and Celaine, but it was the girls that found them first.

“They must have every guard in the city on duty,” Emilia said. “I’ve never seen so many active.”

“I guess we were right,” Celaine said. “They must have found some warlock bases.”

Hump nodded. “They figured it out quickly too. Graham said it could be two weeks.”

“I get the impression Graham may have exaggerated the timeline,” Dylan said. “My master didn’t say it explicitly, but I think Countess Daston wanted to make it sound like the warlocks had more time to prepare than they did.”

Bud laughed. “If it caught us off guard, it probably surprised the warlocks even more.”

Hump frowned, surveying the crowd of adventurers. “Still, it doesn’t explain the numbers here. We’ve got an army’s worth of adventurers. An unorganised group like this will just destroy the city if it comes to a fight.”

“Did Wizard Vivienne say anything this morning?” Emilia asked. “I was hoping to speak with her actually. I take it she’s not coming with you.”

“She’s part of Countess Daston’s retinue,” Dylan said. “She left early this morning for the academy.”

“I guess we’ll have to find out what’s going on with everybody else,” Emilia said. “Nobody forgot anything important, did they?”

Hump glanced at Bud. “Did you remember to grab your brain before you left?”

The knight nodded seriously. “I sure hope so.”

Hump snorted, then turned back to Emilia. “We’re good. Let’s do this.”

***

While the guild campus was crowded, their meeting hall was relatively empty. There were six other parties already inside when Hump arrived, Marcela’s amongst them.

The five of them made their way over.

“Morning,” Marcela said quietly. Her voice echoed in the largely empty hall, reminding Hump of a library.

She was wearing a new set of armour unlike before, covering her upper body. It reminded Hump of the suit of flowing, enchanted armour that Kassius had worn in Bledsbury. The metal conformed to her body almost like a second skin, appearing light yet strong. Her legs and feet were unbound by plate, sticking with the boots and cloth trousers he’d seen her use before.

“Have you been here long?” Hump asked.

She nodded. “Squad leaders were brought in early to be briefed in advance. The rest of my party came with me.” She gestured to a man in full plate mail. “This is Varris. He’s been around for a couple of our training sessions, and we’ve officially brought him on board.”

Varris nodded in their direction. “Looking forward to working with you all.”

He had a deep, charismatic voice. Hump had seen him training with the others a few times before but hadn’t spoken to him.

The ten of them chatted between themselves, leaving the other parties alone. Len and Teff seemed fairly at ease, but there was a nervousness to Nina that Hump had noticed after Matthias died in Stonebark Forest. If push came to shove, she may not be reliable. He took careful note.

Over the next ten minutes, five more parties arrived, including Corvin’s, bringing the total numbers in the hall to a little over fifty. Only after everyone had arrived did Sir Ricard enter the room, alongside the two survivors of his party following the failed quest in Stonebark Forest.

His steel-jacketed boots clanked across the floor as he walked up to the table at the front of the room, drawing all their attention. He unravelled a map on the table and placed weights on each corner. On it was a detailed drawing of what looked to be an area in Sheercliff, though Hump didn’t recognise it.

“Thank you all for coming,” he began. “For those of you I have not met before, I am Ricard Godward, silver ranked adventurer, and the commander of this task force. I’m sure most of you have pieced it together already, but for the purpose of clarity, warlocks have been located across the city. Our purpose today is to find their exact location and take action to destroy them. Similar operations will be carried out across the city.”

Hump swallowed, mouth feeling dry. The room was silenct, each of them hanging on his every word. There was a nervous tension in the air that was almost tangible.

“My lord,” a woman said, stepping forward. “I must ask, why are we only being informed of this today? Surely an operation as important as this requires more planning.”

“I know this may be frustrating, but even I was uninformed of developments until last night,” Ricard said. “The order for secrecy came from the very top. There is fear of spies amongst Sheercliff leadership, and the warlocks could not be allowed warning of our strike. You are adventurers—of course, if you decide this is a risk you do not wish to partake in, you are free to leave, though I must insist you remain here until I finish. For those of you that stay, Countess Daston has promised ten gold for your assistance today, and the same again for any warlock captured or killed. Further rewards are available for those whose service I deem worthy.”

Ten gold for a single day’s work was a lot of money. Almost as much as all their time in Stonebark Forest had been worth, and that was before they factored in the bounty on warlocks.

When nobody spoke up, Ricard smiled. “Very good. Then let us continue. Countess Daston’s research team were able to locate more than ten locations across Sheercliff with warlock activity. Due to the nature of the artifact, the accuracy of the readings was insufficient to identify specific buildings.” He pointed at a street on the map, to the east of a large park. “We’ll be searching this area near Sutfield Park.”

Hump shuffled forward, the rest of the room doing the same. The main street was called Cinders Lane—from the looks of it, a residential area of terraced houses, spotted with a few shops. At least from the map, there was nothing that stood out as an obvious target.

“This is a large area,” Marcela said. “How are we supposed to find them?”

“Each party will be assigned three artifacts: an essence detector, a warlock identifier, and a crystal locator beacon. Beyond that, we must resort to traditional search methods. Temple guard are already positioned in the area and are watching for suspicious movement. Once we arrive, we’ll launch a synchronised sweep and search operation in tandem with the guards”

“You want us to search everything?” Corvin asked, surprised.

Ricard nodded. “Indeed. There’s a reason the city has called upon all forces. We must see success today. Guards will be assisting in the door-to-door investigations, but it comes down to us. Expert opinion is that the warlocks are heavily enchanting an area to prevent detection, most likely underground. While that makes them difficult to locate across an entire city, it simplifies the job for us. Use your blessings and magic. If you sense disruption or anything unusual, that may be their enchantments interfering.”

“So, we’re looking for basements, sewers, cellars—anything of the sort?” Hump asked. “Is anything off limits?”

“There are no limits. Apprehend anyone that refuses you access, and have the guards officialise their arrest. The warlocks will be merciless. Expect traps and ambushes. They will know we’re coming long before we find them, so any engagement will be decided by them.”

“Do you have any idea of numbers?” another squad leader asked.

“Due to the number of locations found across the city, it’s assumed that each location is minimally manned. Assumptions are just that, however. The truth is, we do not know. With that in mind, our initial goal is to locate the warlocks rather than to engage. Upon discovery of their location, smash your locator beacon. That will alert me, and my party will immediately come to assist. Do not hesitate to kill, but capturing targets is preferable when it’s safe to do so.”

“Is there an additional reward for that?” a man asked. He looked to be in his forties. He had a battle axe over his back and wore old mail and leathers. His face was scarred and gruff—a look Hump had seen on many veteran adventurers.

“No,” Ricard said. “Such a reward would only risk mistakes in search of profit. The reward for this quest is high to prevent selfishness. We are a team. This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. Our moment to take back control over Sheercliff. Work together, don’t take risks, and with the gods on our side, we’ll all come home safely.”

Hump grimaced as Ricard finished. He didn’t like the sound of that. The gods hadn’t done him any favours before, and now Ricard had gone and jinxed any chance of good luck they had. Well, thinking about it, just being in the position to join on such a quest had probably used up a year’s worth of good luck anyway.

Ricard looked them over. “Now, are there any questions?”

***

“I hate this,” Bud said, as another person slammed their door in his face. “Why do I have to be the one that scans everyone? They hate me.”

The five of them had split off from the main group now. The eleven parties under Ricard were divided into four squads, each one given a different direction to sweep through the streets around Cinders Lane. He would catch glimpses of Marcela and Corvin’s party as they worked their way up the small side street. It was all houses here, most of them filled with normal, scared people.

Celaine shrugged. “You have a friendly face.”

“I’m worried the detector will go off on me if I carry it,” Hump said.

“You look all shiny and official in your new armour,” Dylan said.

Emilia chuckled. “And I just think it’s funny to see you squirm.”

He glared at her. “Thank you.”

Hump grinned.

“Why are you smiling so much?” Bud snapped.

“It’s just nice to see everyone ganging up on someone else for once.”

Bud sighed. “I feel like the bad guy.”

“If there’s warlocks in this neighbourhood,” Hump said, “believe me, we’re doing these people a favour.”

Hump didn’t take his focus from the three Burning Wisps he had spread out around him. He directed the small flames through the air, covering as much of the street as he could as they walked, and getting into the smaller gaps between houses where the others couldn’t. He wasn’t quite sure what to expect if he encountered the warlock enchantments, but Burning Wisp was the best spell he had to continuously test for such a thing, and he was fairly confident he’d notice a discrepancy in his essence.

With so many guards about, it was no surprise that the streets were empty. An aura of fear permeated the neighbourhood. Hump had a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t just the warlocks the people feared. The five of them moved through cramped, cobblestone paths, passing under walkway bridges and through the alleyways between brick houses. The quiet was creepy. It just didn’t feel right in a city, where the distant murmur of merchants and carts were ever present. Now all he heard was the bang, bang, bang of guards on doors, followed by muffled shouts.

“Any luck?” Marcela asked, their paths crossing once again.

Hump shook his head, letting out a breath. They’d been searching for hours, and it was growing tedious. The worst part was, he knew how dangerous that tedium was. If the warlocks were smart, they’d be waiting to catch them bored and off guard.

“Right, we’ll sweep through this next section and then circle back around,” Marcela said. She stood taller, looking down another side street. “Corvin!” she called.

A few seconds later, he stood on the other side of the alley.

“Wait for us at the next crossroad,” she shouted.

“Will do.”

“Right, best of—”

A surge of essence tore through the alley, sending a screeching sensation through Hump’s body as if he’d bumped a nerve. Marcela’s belt was glowing, the locator beacon shining with light.

“Perhaps not,” Marcela said, holding up the crystal. The light gathered on the right within the crystal, indicating a direction. “It seems someone found our warlocks.”