Not long after Deacon and his friends emerged from the ocean, they spotted a large metal egg on wheels burping steam everywhere. It came to a stop just outside the fort guarding the Monument to the Fallen. Only four figures got out before the billowy clouds of steam started up again and it rolled back into the city at twice the speed. The figures were immediately recognized from afar by Deacon.

Sophie, Tantus, Hani, and Ralph began walking toward the fort. Slowly at first but then they picked up speed when they noticed the gates were swung wide and there were no guards present. Sophie found this odd considering Typhus had mentioned they’d meet before entering the memorial grounds. As if the thought summoned him, Typhus stepped from one of the many shadows cast by the almost mile long cliff overhang that was constantly looming above everyone. The sunshine of the day out over the waters of the ocean made beautiful reflective patters along the underside of the rock and stone above. That just made it even more difficult to pick out shapes in the rapidly changing shade.

“Quickly. Inside the fortifications. Something is terribly wrong,” said Typhus meeting them halfway.

“What’s wrong? The architecture is remarkable. I can see why its such a popular landmark,” replied Tantus as he picked up the pace.

An immediate sense of urgency swept through the gathered few. Once inside Typhus closed the gates and pointed to the internal gate house. The interior of the fort was little more than a wide outside wall about three feet thick with stone. They had ramparts and a large wide staircase leading up to them. The internal buildings consisted of the gate house they were gathering inside and an officers building in the center. Off to the eastern side facing the water was a barracks. All of these building were empty save for the gate house.

“There’s no one here,” commented Ralph.

“That is the problem. There should have been at least a token presence here to give tourists a sense of security. Two thousand yards toward the mountain, past the War Golems, lay the great gates that lead to the Deep Cavern. Everything we learned on our way here said that the goblins were making a push for the surface world. The only way to get a real foothold would be through there. My people are the stop gap to prevent that from happening,” explained Typhus as quickly as he could.

“We must warn people. Tell someone one,” said an agitated Ralph.

“I’ve already sent messages. My last one was to my father considering the docks are part of House Bloodbeards territory. I saw Deacon and the others a few minutes ago coming in from ocean side. Let’s wait till they get here before doing anything else,” replied Typhus.

A few minutes later Typhus came back with Deacon, Alfred, and Jerimiah in tow. Everyone exchanged greetings and individual stopped when they realized Deacon did not have any shoes on.

“Let’s not make a big deal about this. I lost one of my sandals and I need some new shoes. You all didn’t happen to find one of my sandals on the boat, did you? No? Thought as much. Thanks for saving me though,” said Deacon, sheepishly.

“You died. Again? You know the three of us get those Death Tax notifications too, right? Armand and Elle might be really worried right now,” chastised Typhus.

“Or they know I’m still out there fighting the good fight. Either way, no harm done. What are we up to?” asked Deacon.

“Did you notice anything strange on the way in here?” asked Ralph.

“Yeah, there are some big ass statues at the exit to this fort. Weird place to put artwork if you ask me,” replied Deacon.

“No, you numb skull. There aren’t any soldiers in this fort. It has been abandoned and those statues are ancient War Golems. Have some respect. This city wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them,” spat Typhus.

“So, what does this mean. Did we miss it? Are we too late to help?” questioned Deacon.

“Not yet. I’ve sent out some messages and there will be some House Bloodbeard specialists coming soon. The point is the town should have had soldiers manning these walls in preparation for an attack I’ve already warned them about. The fact that there isn’t anyone here means someone powerful is pulling some strings. I have my sister looking into this, but I haven’t heard back from her. My shadow self is still with Daskus as he relearns how to walk. For now, we’ll have to put the why of this on the back burner. You are late and the Tuskaxe twins started their hunt hours ago up top. They left from the Jinkbon’s entrance to the mountain range. Did you get that skill book I recommended?” asked Typhus getting a nod from Deacon before wiping off small table and rolling out a map.

He began to go over the many layers of his plan. Deacon was to scale the cliff face and assist the Borin and Corin with felling their giant. All while Ralph finally delivers Tantus to the Tower on the magus island. That island houses the Deep Dweller rune crafters as well as the Tower. Typhus will be gathering forces to hold this position and figuring out where all the troops have gone.

“What about Amanda? We still need to find her,” interjected Ralph.

“That’s fine, once you’re done delivering Tantus, return to the Adventurer’s guild hall just outside of the wharf here. That’s where Sophie needs to be anyway. Try to get the guild master to send back up here. Offer a quest if you have too,” answered Typhus.

“I can go to the Islands Shadow. I might be able to dig up Amanda’s whereabouts with my contacts. Best I can do in a city I barely know,” added Hani.

Ralph put a hand on Hani shoulder as a sign of solidarity. That’s when Jeremiah raised his hand. All eyes turned to the Sea Elf in confusion.

“What should I do?” he asked.

“You will come with me. I think it would be wise to have you join the Adventurer’s guild. We can get you some training and I could always use an assistant,” replied Sophie winking at Deacon.

“That just leaves me,” said Alfred.

“Big problem. I had a conversation with the sovereign of House Jinkbon, Erlick Jinkbon. He immediately sent an expedition to the site at Crok’s Landing. They are claiming it as a historic landmark. I fully expect the location to be off limits to civilians within the week as they excavate it for its engineering marvels. It was like I wasn’t even there after explaining what we found. Gnomes and Deep Dwellers were rushing from doorway to doorway collecting rolled up papers and traveling equipment. That said, you can’t go stomping around the city in that body. They’ll snatch you up immediately to run tests. I’d say we secured their vote but I’m not sure they’ll even show up now. That’s why helping the twins is now our number one priority. Deacon learn that skill and I’ll take to a smugglers path that may lessen the burden of climbing all the way up there,” explained Typhus.

Deacon dug into his bag and pulled out the small book titled, Mountaineering.

New Skill Learned: Mountaineering-mountaineering, also called mountain climbing, the sport of attaining, or attempting to attain, high points in mountainous regions, mainly for the pleasure of the climb. It is more properly restricted to climbing in localities where the terrain and weather conditions present such hazards that, for safety, a certain amount of previous experience will be found necessary. For the untrained, mountaineering is a dangerous pastime. At higher levels of this skill, you can unlock better grip positions as well as the rare Do-Over ability.

“Neat,” said Deacon.

“Everyone understand their assignments?” asked Typhus getting a round of head nods.

“But what about me?” asked Alfred steepling his fingers nervously.

“Don’t you worry good buddy. I have a plan,” replied Deacon.

Ralph began shaking his head as he led Tantus back out of the guard house. Sophie ran over to Deacon and planted a kiss on his left cheek before looping her arm within Jerimiah’s and following Ralph and Tantus. Hani leaned in toward Deacon to kiss him before he was snatched up by Deacon and tossed bodily from the building. Deacon turned back to the room that still had Typhus and Alfred in it.

“Shall we?” asked Deacon.

Ten minutes later Typhus was standing impatiently as Deacon inspected the War Golems. Two flashes of light later, Deacon placed Alfred’s body into his bag and jogged up to Typhus’s position. Typhus brought him to secluded outcropping. He pulled down on one of the craggier pieces of stone jutting out from the cliff face and a boulder three times wider than Deacon and half again as tall slid to the side.

“Okay, you can only take this up about halfway. At that point it’ll be very obvious where to start climbing. Now be careful, there are rumors of a legendary giant named the Mastodon near the hunting grounds. Steer clear of that one. He’s over level forty and some assume he’s the progenitor of the giants,” stated Typhus.

“You realize you’ve all but guaranteed that I run into him, right?” quipped Deacon.

“Do me a favor and listen to my advice this time. Help the twins win. They just need to land the killing blow for their hunt to be a success. They’ll have others with them and no I don’t have any idea why they’ve failed twice before,” said Typhus before he pushed Deacon into the passage and the boulder rolled back into place.