The closer Arthur got, the clearer he could see past the sharp rises that obscured the hive complex. The entire hive complex, the cone and the city, was encompassed within a vast, scooped out crater, nestled straight within the mountain range.

This must have been a heck of an eruption. Whatever type of scourgling had crawled out of the top of the cone had scooped out the earth all around in a wide dish. It must have been a volcanic type. What was left of the cone was so thin and spindly that it looked like a tower.

And, of course, all the entrances to get into the town within the crater were guarded. But Arthur wasn’t too worried. He had increased his Climbing skill significantly during his stay at Free Mesa Hive.

Leaving the road, he walked through the wilderness and depended on his Stealth skill to keep him from being noticed, though he still had to be wary of stumbling into patches of brambles. Thankfully, the rising moon provided illumination.

He came to the side of the crater and found it surrounded by a fortress of natural rock. It was too easy to imagine lava flowing out in a wave and then cooling suddenly to form this rock.

The wall had to be almost 70 feet high, maybe even more, and the edges with dark, slick stone. But the weather had formed cracks in the wall. He slid the tips of his fingers into the crack, tested it to make sure it wouldn’t break off under his weight, then concentrated on his Climbing skill and started ascending.

Skill level gained: Rock Climbing (Adrenaline Activities Class)

Level 24

Though he was level 24, it was slow going as he had no ropes or anything else to assist him, and falling down would be... bad.

It helped that his toughened skin attributes kept his fingers from being too chapped by gripping onto tiny ledges and cracks in the rock.

Finally, he reached the top, where the stone tapered until it was as thin as a sheet of parchment. He carefully rested the flat of his hand on the edge and found it exactly as sharp as it looked. If he put any weight there, he would cut himself.

So, he grabbed a heavy blanket from his Personal Space, threw it over the top, and used that as a barrier to scramble over.

Stealth didn’t make him completely invisible, and there was nothing he could do about his dark silhouette as he went over the top, so he just worked on making his movement smooth and being quick about it.

Scaling down the other side was equally difficult, and now he had to concentrate even more fiercely on his Stealth skills because from this side the city torches lit up the walls.

But there was no outcry from below. Finally, ten feet from the bottom, he just kicked off and landed in a crouch.

He waited for a moment, feeling his heart rate slow, and promised himself he would never take dragon transport for granted again. All of this could have been avoided if he had gotten Brixaby to fly him over the walls.

But if I did that, he thought, he would want to come with me into the hive, and it’s important that I do this alone.

Despite his brave words to Soledad and the rest of his retinue earlier, he had deep worries about bringing everybody into Blood Moon Hive.

Part of him knew that if he could simply grab Brixaby’s card and come out again, he wouldn’t have to risk anyone else. Then wouldn’t need to deal with Cressida and Soledad sniping back and forth, or worry about the baby dragons being discovered and maybe corrupted by this place, or himself Brixaby being discovered and dragged back to Wolf Moon Hive, or Marion taken to the capital where he’d be forced to use his card to help his ailing father…

Instead, they could just use Brixaby’s awful portal card and escape somewhere else, at least for a little while.

Arthur knew he couldn’t run forever, but he wanted to give the baby dragons time to grow up. To figure out what, if anything, he had with Cressida…

He had to try this tactic himself before he put everybody else in danger.

Nodding to himself, Arthur nodded once, straightened, and walked straight into the town.

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Unsurprisingly, all the architecture within the crater was made of the same dark volcanic stone. Everything was sharp; all the roof peaks came to a point at the top and cut off at the sides. There didn’t seem to be any natural curves. Everything, all the pathways and roads turned at angles.

Though it was well past midnight, many of the taverns were in full swing, with bawdy music spilling out of open windows and doors. More than a few people wearing dragon rider insignia badges on their shirts or vests were living it up with civilians, which surprised Arthur. In fact, every dragon rider had men or women according to their preference in attendance, cooing over them, laughing at every joke, and practically feeding them drinks.

Their dragons were nowhere to be seen.

Arthur moved through the town, relying on his Acting abilities instead of dropping into stealth. He was dressed in civilian garb and focused on not standing out. He neither moved too fast as if he was in a hurry, nor too slow, like he was slinking around. No one paid him much attention.

Once he got within view of the hive tower, he stopped and stared. It was odd. Rather thin and straight up and down instead of cone-shaped, and sort of squiggly where it tapered at the top as if the top floors had melted and slumped in a half curl. However, as he got closer, he saw it was still plenty large — at least half as wide on the base as Wolf Moon’s more conical shape. It also seemed to have many more floors. The top was only visible because of the bright moon and clear sky.

Arthur accessed Brixaby’s Call of the Heart card and focused on Brixaby’s next card.

It provided him with a map which showed the card was within the hive and not in the city. But it was vague enough that he couldn’t tell which level of the tower it was located. Well, he never expected to be that lucky.

As he drew closer, he saw the base of the hive had many V-shaped entrances carved in at ground level, and it was fully staffed with guards. The entire area was lit up with torches so brightly that it was nearly as bright as day.

“Now, how am I supposed to get in?” he muttered to himself, frowning as he watched one guard ask extremely pointed questions to an oncoming visitor.

He could try to bluff using his Acting skills and his Subtle Influence card, but both would only go so far. If he really screwed up, they would remember his face. That would give him trouble later.

Arthur thought about it for a few minutes, then turned and went back to the taverns. He didn’t have to wait for his mark for very long.

It seemed that the locals were all too happy to take a dragon rider’s coins and card shards. Then, the moment their pockets were empty, their admirers lost interest and they were kindly but firmly told to get lost.

He wondered about that and guessed that perhaps the ones who had spent too much drinking supplemented their income by raiding cities instead of killing scourgelings.

Arthur waited, feeling the minutes crawl by. He knew he should get out of the hive before dawn came, and the moon was already on its downward arc. He would only have a few more hours at best.

He was just becoming impatient when a bearded dragon rider came stumbling out of a rough tavern called the Onion and Hammer. The man was so intoxicated that he immediately was sick out on the road. He staggered away from the mess, though much of it went down his shirt.

Arthur wrinkled his nose, but needs were a must.

“Can I help you, friend?”

“They took all my money,” the rider said, vaguely. “Going to kill them... I’ll show them who…”

The man turned back to the tavern door, but Arthur intercepted him. “Maybe before that, we get you to bed,” he said, and took the man by the arm.

But the man had no balance. He staggered, almost tipping over and dragging Arthur down with him. So, Arthur was forced to sling the man’s arm over his shoulder to help him along.

“This way to your bed, and to your dragon,” he glanced at the man’s badge, “yellow rider.”

“One more drink,” the man said, and made an effort to start turning back to the tavern, but Arthur steered him away.

He put both a bit of Leadership and Subtle Influence into his voice. “They say there is an eruption tomorrow. You can’t fight scourglings hungover, can you?”

“Yeah… harvest those scourglings,” the man said, chin falling to his chest as he walked. “Get my coins and my shards and come back... show them all...”

“Sure, whatever.” Arthur patted the man’s shoulder awkwardly.

At least he wasn’t resisting as Arthur helped him along to the hive entrance.

The guards watched him as he approached.

“What’s going on here?” one asked.

Arthur rolled his eyes. “I work at the Onion and Hammer, and this rider had a bad time. The owner sent me to make sure he makes it to bed.”

As if on cue, the rider started heaving again, and the guards backed away. Luckily, he seemed to have gotten everything out of his stomach the first time.

On impulse, Arthur said, “Do you want to take him?”

The guard looked disgusted, which Arthur couldn’t blame. “No, boy, you finish what you start. He can go into the drunk rooms. Take a right down the hall, then the next left. Dump him in a bed.”

The guard next to him leered, “And if you want my advice, don’t let him drag you down with him until he gets a wash.”

Arthur made a face, and the guards laughed.

But they stepped aside to let him pass.

Arthur gamely led the dragon rider in. The tunnels were built close, and not nearly as lit as they were on the outside. He saw just enough to lead the rider to the right room.

He dumped the dragon rider into the first bed that he saw, and made sure that the man was in some sort of recovery position on his side and not on his back, where he could choke. Though, Arthur wasn’t going to take off his boots and left him in his disgusting shirt.

Some people needed to learn when they’d had enough liquor.

The man was unconscious the moment he hit the bed.

And now Arthur was inside the hive and free to explore.