Isaac eyed Lanek for a moment before chuckling. It was easy to tell what was going through Lanek’s mind at that moment, but he was going to be disappointed. Not wanting to get the dranrid’s hopes too high, he spoke up.
“I hate to break it to you, my friend, but there is very little chance that you will be getting into a guild vault. Sure, there is a good chance that you’ll find mundane gear lying around, but the vaults require the guild master to access. Not a key, password, or anything else. You must be a guild master to open the vault, which is actually a title that shows up on your Status once you achieve that rank.”
Lanek swore, making Isaac laugh even harder. “No one’s broken into a vault before?” Lanek asked, surprised at the thought. Surely, there must have been someone powerful enough to pull it off.
“If someone had, the guild certainly didn’t tell anyone and I was a senior member of the guild for a good portion of my life. I’ll let you in on a little secret since the guild is almost certainly dead and gone. Even if you get into the vault, it is a pointless endeavor. To access the contents of the fault, the door must be opened properly by a guild master and closed behind them once they enter. If the vault is forced or the door is not closed, the contents will be inaccessible.”
“How does that work?” Lanek asked.
“The main vault room contains coinage of all kinds in magically sealed drawers that only unseal when the previous steps are followed. However, the guild brings in more money than those vaults could hold and the vaults don’t appear to house any artifacts. This is because once all the requirement are met, a portal opens allowing the guild master and anyone accompanying them to travel to a central repository where all of the artifacts, valuable crafting materials, and excess money was stored.”
“Really, and where might that be?” Lanek asked with a raised eyebrow and rubbing his hands together like the obvious villain in a cartoon before he cracked and started laughing.
Isaac joined him before responding. “Honestly? I have no idea. I was only in there once and there were no windows showing the outside world in any of the rooms or hallways we traversed. I’m not sure how many people knew where it was located. For all I know, it could be under the ocean, deep in the earth, or even in some pocket dimension. Gods know that the guild had the money to get any of those done. It’s funny, there have always been crackpot conspiracy theories about hidden hoards belonging to secret organizations or ancient kings, but this one happens to be true.”
Lanek shook his head at the information. “That was a thing back on my world as well. Man, I don’t even want to know what safeguards were put on the people who knew where the vault was. I’m picturing sudden, magical death if you try to share the location.”
Isaac’s voice took on a more somber tone. “I know you are joking, but that magic exists and is part of some of the most vile classes and organizations in the world. Sadly, that doesn’t mean that the guild wouldn’t have used those methods if they deemed it necessary.”
Lanek froze for a second at that information. He knew that he shouldn’t be surprised that such methods existed in a world with magic, but having it confirmed so directly was more than a little disturbing. Frankly, he hoped that the classes and organizations that used those spells were long dead and had taken that knowledge to hell with them.
Clearly, the information was a sore subject for Isaac as the spirit lapsed into silence and seemed disinclined to continue the conversation. For his part, Lanek really didn’t want to know more about the topic either. The only information he would have liked would be the location of the central vault.
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Shaking himself from those thoughts, Lanek returned his attention to the journey. According to Isaac, they should be near the garrison, provided it actually existed. Normally, he would have expected to see a building rising above the tree tops, but the trees had been getting steadily taller as they traveled west.
It took another hour of searching the area before Isaac spotted a structure in the distance. As they closed the distance to the building, it gradually revealed itself to be a large square structure reminiscent in design to the frontier forts built in the United States in the 1800’s. The key difference was that this structure was made from stone rather than wood.
“I’m guessing that’s it? Looks like a garrison to me.” Lanek said.
“I would say so as well. But hold a moment before you get any closer. Look at the gates.”
Puzzled, Lanek acquiesced and took a longer look at the gates before it struck him. Not only were they closed, but they also appeared to be completely undamaged. Glancing at Isaac, he decided to get closer to the gate and was able to make out that the gate was barred as well through a small gap in the gate.
He fell back and looked at Isaac. “What the hell… This place looks like it was never attacked. The gates are locked as well. Do you think someone lives here?”
“It’s possible. It would make a good retreat being this far in the forest and there is plenty of food to be had in these woods for a group of people. If there is anyone in there, I doubt they are adventurers though unless the guild somehow survived all this time. I doubt it as the adventurers would likely have been compelled to travel to the various headquarters of the guild to help protect them. It’s more likely that someone found the place abandoned and moved in.”
“Should we just go up and announce ourselves or just break in? I can get over those walls fairly easily with Maximilian’s help.” Lanek said.
“Let’s not announce ourselves just yet. Get as close to the wall as you can get and walk around the structure. I can go back to my spirit form and see what’s on the other side and relay everything to you silently.”
Nodding, Lanek walked toward the wall of the fort as Isaac faded from view. Meanwhile, he ordered Max to remain in the treeline for the moment, mostly because he was confident he could remain hidden but Max would be really hard to miss if anyone inside happened to look out.
While approaching the wall, Lanek did find it odd that there were no sentries in what were clearly guard towers at each corner. Had the people living here gotten so complacent that they felt that guards were unnecessary? He couldn’t imagine anyone abandoning this place either, what with the collapse of society and all.
No lookouts. I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Lanek sent to Isaac.
I know what you mean. I’m hoping it’s abandoned or whoever is inside is simply hiding and hoping that anyone who finds the place will assume it’s empty and move on.
Or something that didn’t need to break through the gate got inside and killed everyone. Lanek sent.
Yeah, or that. I hope not, but we’re about to find out. Isaac responded.
Isaac began relaying what he saw, starting with the layout of the interior. The fort’s interior was completely free of any buildings, creating a very large field that had apparently been used as farmland. The buildings that provided the services for the residents, such as the stables, smith, and sleeping areas were all built directly into the main wall. Not a bad idea, it reinforces the wall and makes it so that the residents can report to the walls quickly in case of an attack.
A moment later, Lanek’s theory was proven correct as Isaac described staircases and ladders that extended from the interior of those structures to the top of the walls. A few minutes later, Isaac returned to Lanek.
Someone definitely lives in there. The crops were planted recently from what I could see, although I could get very close. The living quarters are mostly empty, but there were a few rooms free of dust that had been cleaned recently. There were also fresh vegetables in the kitchen. I couldn’t find anyone though, so either they left very recently with the intent to return or they have a very good hiding spot somewhere inside, possibly a cellar.
Before Lanek could respond, Isaac’s voice sounded sharply in his mind. Don’t make any sudden moves. I think the owners of this place just found us and two of them have arrows trained on you. The third one looks like a spell caster.
Three? Lanek asked. How did they sneak up on us? What are they? Lanek asked, not all that happy about having weapons aimed at him.
The answer to the question of who and how are the same. Elves.