‘I will apply vivus only if you are safely away from the dead,’ I /promised my eight undead warrior helpers, feeling more than hearing their nods as I steered us away from the sentry slightly, getting closer to and scanning more of the shoreline. He was set up high in a tree, with a good field of view that would cover a great deal of the shoreline, so there shouldn’t be any others too close to him.

  The key would be finding the trails they had doubtless made getting to their positions over the years. Short Ugisko would be our tracker for such things, leading the rest of us to their base of operations… and hopefully Harlune.

  ‘We can expect more of their forces to be deployed on the side facing the olthoi, I am assuming,’ Master Ben Ten /spoke up. ‘They do appear to be fighting them.’

  ‘It is possible that the olthoi managed to open a tunnel under the waters from there to here, and the Raven Hand simply flooded it to stop such nonsense. Master Oswald told me there were at least two of them before the Fall, and there may be another, but it is directly connected to another hive and not exposed the way such things were previously.’

  ‘Nuhmudira clashed directly with the mind of the Queen before. I doubt the Queen would tolerate her presence willingly, if she knew Nuhmudira was here,’ Agika the Laugher /mentioned cheerfully, tachi already in hand as a sliver of darkness, ready to fight.

  ‘Doubtless why she was on the Singularity Caul instead, not long ago,’ I /agreed. ‘I am actually hoping she is not here. Her best choice would be the Northwatch Fortress, as long as she believes it is secure. If not, there are other places. But this, this is where Harlune should be.’

  ‘And we know someone else is here,’ Master Ben Ten agreed. ‘Let us find the old master, my friends, if he is here. If we happen to dispose of some of the Raven Hand along the way, I doubt the surviving Knights of the Golden Flame will denounce us for taking away their fun.’

  I was never a big fan of killing fellow humans, but I also realized that it was hypocritical of me not to do so when it was warranted, yet kill non-humans so easily. I just nodded, as the Raven Hand had sold out mortals for power from a Mythos entity, and there was little to say about trying to redeem or reform them. They had to be willing and we had to have the time, and both were unlikely at this point.

  -----

  Our sentry we left where he was, not knowing how long it would be until he was relieved, and seeing no reason to break out of our Invisibility to deal with him.

  He did have a fairly obvious trail winding into the island, but not towards its highest point. Ugisko took the lead to follow it, everyone alert for wanderers who might be coming down it.

  Lord Mick wasn’t the only one with Sound Bubble up for his Weapon. Glowing in a nice display was nice, but quiet killing was definitely preferable in most instances to making yourself an easier target.

  The fortress was built fairly low, as were the walls, and right up against the stone of the hill that gradually rose towards the high point of the center of the island. Unseen, we studied it from the tree line, noting the bored men on guard there, and the trails that wound off towards the western shoreline.

  ‘Harlune preferred his caves. We can assume there’s a mine or similar layout of tunnels behind that building there if he is involved,’ I /noted for all of them. ‘If either is present, I can’t feel them, but that’s definitely an undead Zharalim up there in the central tower.’ The full-face wrapped mask they wore and its complete motionlessness was a dead giveaway, even if it wasn’t pinging Detect Undead for the heck of it. ‘You all confirm that’s Raven Hand garb on about half the sentries, and the rest look like freebooters?’

  There were quiet murmurs in the Fellowship /channel. ‘Separate and take them out quietly, my brothers. Lady Magos, I will trouble you to take out the Zharalim up there. We all know how fast you can kill the undead.’

  His words were dry, but unafraid. It wasn’t a skill I was going to be turning against them, after all.

  ‘Of course, Master Ben,’ I /agreed promptly. ‘Take note of this Rune on the ground.’ They all looked down at the pattern of stone that rose up under me, which glittered subtly behind the brush for a moment. ‘This is an Evacuation Rune, attuned to all of us. If you need to flee to avoid destruction, pull on your tie to this Rune, and you will be instantly transported back here.’ I pulled out a twelve-pack of glittering black, oily liquid in clear glass vials, setting it to the side and out of sight. ‘This is Empowered and Energized Unholy Water. To you, it’s a moderately effective Healing Potion that should get you out of danger range.

  ‘Do not hesitate to use this Rune if you are in danger of being destroyed. We do not want your shell to be left behind here, even if you would normally return to your grave. There is every chance that the Casters here can enslave your soul if they have possession of your body.

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  ‘Recall to here, get Healed up, and take up station outside, informing us if there are more intruders. Unless you’ve the power to massively Heal yourself and recover, this is all we expect at this point.

  ‘If this matter gets dangerous, I or Master Ben will give the order and we will ALL pull out. These are honorless foes, so prudence is necessary. I do not doubt the bravery or skill of any of you, you have proved all of that by climbing out of your own graves to defend the likes of myself. Remember that, and if it is time to go, do not presume your graves are going to be there to take you.

  ‘Your lives are precious once again. Treat them like it.’

  ‘Yes, Lady Magos!’ they /responded with some spirit, and we were off.

  ---

  Being skeletons and lightweight, as well as quite disciplined, the men could all move quietly even in their heavier armor without much difficulty, and Sound Bubbles basically made it all moot. Invisibility meant they didn’t have to skulk, just avoid anyone on the ground on the way to the targets they worked out, using the Heavens-Up Display to coordinate targets, and then we all moved out.

  Lightfoot aided everyone getting into position, while I ghosted over the wall, to the side of the central tower, and along and up the side of it. Aeromancy wouldn’t take me very high, but it was high enough.

  I basically reached over and bonked the motionless Zharalim staring to the west on the top of the head. Touch-contact Split Shardrays poured into him on contact, blazing with the purest undead-eating fire, and poof, he was vivic dust inside his clothes, armored robes falling to the ground with a swirl of white powder and gushing of vivic mist around him.

  Each of the swordsmen had engaged a separate sentry at the same time, and those fights were ending rapidly. Half dead before they could get a Weapon out, even if the freebooters were wary enough not to be caught totally flat-footed, the fights ended with savage speed and ferocity as Named Weapons went up against Runed Weapons remade for the current magical paradigm, and the cultists found out which was better quickly and rapidly.

  It looked like they were favoring the Way of Water for their styles, which was understandable. It had always been the favorite, the ability to find the weak points in armor and natural armor making it almost universally useful. The Ways of Iron and Stone were next, but they were more about the defense than the offense.

  They had a lot more difficulty learning new things, because they had to forcibly unlearn old stuff as they reassigned Karma. Holding to those two Dragons would be plenty fine for them, making them individually solid, if not as ferociously blenderizing as Fire Dragon Feats would make them.

  Master Ben Ten was definitely interested in the Way of Lightning, but I saw no hint of the Storm in his style as yet. He had a great deal to perfect in other aspects before going for the Way of Lightning and such, and he knew it and was not pressing the point.

  Heck, the Mick was past Fifteen and hadn’t bothered going for Lightning yet. There were just too many things to learn and perfect first, and he was already a Cuisinart with the Fire Dragon stuff he was slowly working into his style. He’d never be Kristie’s equal, nor would any of them, even Master Ben Ten knowing Item Magic and picking up Artificer basics.

  But it didn’t matter. They were clearly well above the danger level of the men below, who used lighter weapons, armor, and were equipped for ranged combat. They were probably ready to hurry out and respond to calls from the sentries on olthoi trying to breach the Shoreward or something, not to be attacked by undead master melee specialists in good Armor!

  In less than a minute, all of the guards here were down, and the skeletal warriors regrouped by the doors to the inside, the two guards there dragged outside.

  I Darted all the corpses, making sure none of them would be coming back, not really caring if someone came in later and recognized the blots of white for what they were at this point. They already knew we played for keeps, as it took actual time and energy to bring back the dead, not just a free trip to some Deathstone equivalent somewhere. If they didn’t have the magic available, they weren’t coming back. If they did it back to us, well, that was only to be expected.

  Konrad and Sumzun, who had Shields, took the lead for us, Sound Bubbles delivering us silence as I sent a Wizard Eye ahead to plot out our course and give us the layout of the place, as well as see any defenders who might be in the way. Detect Evil was pinging locations, and Detect Traps was noting several points of interest I painted into the HUD for them.

  The undead studied the results with interest, made their plans, and acted with the swift sureness of experienced combatants. Doors were cut open, Swords skirled and silenced inside Sound Bubbles as men screamed alarms that went completely unheard, and we cut our way into and through the fortress, not an alarm sounding in front of or behind us.

  ---

  ‘That is clearly Empyrean handiwork, and Harlune’s style,’ Master Ben Ten /stated with authority, looking at the open archway leading further into the mountain, the great doors standing open.

  ‘There were guards standing there and there. You can see the faint imprints of their legs. Probably Constructs, hacked down to allow easy access.’ My Wizard Eye was already ranging ahead, zipping down the hall to the nearest intersection, staying right to survey.

  The image in the HUD opened up into a large room stacked high with crates, sacks, barrels, and other basic supplies of all types. The side of it had a familiar circular set of Runework on the wall, crimson etched into the stone, the area clear in front of it.

  ‘One of their Portals,’ Ugisko /said instantly, the Holos of Caul Island and the Royal Castle at Sanamar shown to them before. ‘We are in their network, then, one of their supply depots. The room to the left probably leads to more storerooms and sleeping areas.’

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