While his competitors had been struggling to get past goblin armies and fey, Yason Deets had taken his retinue for a leisurely flight on a set of borrowed wyverns.

There were barely any creatures to bother them high above the Warrens. Only the odd dragonbat and stormquail.

And once they had reached the Promise, there was only the witch to defend it. All goblin troops and high ranking bandits had moved out to defend it at the borders.

"Hey, easier than it seemed, huh?" He gestured around him to the empty street. "We can thank the lord of Linefort for lending me those mounts, he's singlehandedly handed me the barony. Let the others get their quarries, who cares? I was the one that took the capitol."

As he spoke the knights lined up a smattering of non-combatants on the streets. Workmen and traders that hadn't gone to fight.

"We can not hold this place without a rotation of guards," one of the knights said. "We need a secured root between here and-"

"You think I'm stupid!?" He kicked her. "Yeah we haven't really conquered it until we can link it up to our territory. But that's a given anyway. We leave that to the others and *I* take the glory." He became briefly self aware. "None of you tell the captain I said that, or else, huh?"

The knights pretended to take his threats seriously, as they walked through the small town and towards the manor at the back.

"Oy, what's that?" He squinted as he began to make out a young boy in a tall cage.

The boy was dressed in a torn uniform, and the cage was tied to a small stone pedestal.

He sat on his knees, defeated, and covered in blood and dust.

"A knight's academy uniform!" The kicked knight exclaimed, "your lordship. An individual by description has-"

"The witch is known to experiment on children. I know."

-

As they approached the boy did react. Seemingly too damaged to even acknowledge a new face.

But if they had been keener, they would have noticed the calculating glances from the corner of his eye, eagerly observing their every step.

"Ugh, what's that smell!?" Deets recoiled at the stench of death coming from where the cage stood.

"Little boy, what's your name? Why do they keep you here? What is the last time you bathed?" A knight asked somewhat undiplomatically.

"Bath? What is... bath?" He looked up with sad eyes.

"That's it. I'm getting you out of here. How do I get rid of these ropes?"

"They can't be untied. If only there was some fire around to burn them..." The kid sighed.

"Fire, of course. I can-"

"Lancaster, you fool! NO!"

The warning came too late.

When the knight lit up a flame, it ignited the gasses escaping from the sewers below. Both he and the boy were engulfed in a sudden green flare exploding from below.

Lancaster dove to the ground and screamed in pain from the burning.

From within the inferno a silhouette was cackling maniacally, still being burned.

"It's a demon." One of the others groaned. "We were warned about there being a demon. Too small to be an incubus, but some sort of humanoid.

"Well it's not a fire demon," Yason Deets said, "at least it doesn't look like it. So just let it burn, it's fine."

-

The demon did eventually stop laughing, before the burning gas had run out the burning skin of his face had fused together and laughter became impossible.

It didn't temper his mirth. Only when the knight that had gotten burned received healing did he sober up a bit.

"Demons... they're evil in its purest form..." Someone said.

"How do a handful of bandits tame an army of goblins and summon an incubus?"

"Your lordship, down here! It's a dungeon!"

One of the knights had found the engraved doors in the back of the atrium and pulled them wide open. A ghostly chill emanated from the depths.

"There you have your answer!" Deets beamed, "dark sorcery is at play."

"Then you must go in."

"Who said that?"

The demon had pried his bleeding lips apart and whispered with a painful rasp. "Inside these catacombs lie the treasures of my master. If you are to be lord of this place, these treasures are yours."

"Mi-lord you must not listen to him. Demons only speak lies."

"I know that!" He yelled at the underling but glanced doubtfully at the tiny prophet.

"They will ask 'what have you done to secure the capitol?' What will you tell them?"

The aspiring baron looked torn for a moment, then resolved something. "Okay, you, you, and you. We're going in."

"Your lordship!"

"We cannot know what monsters will emerge from there. While the rest of you guard the wyverns, we go in and take a quick pulse of the situation."

"It's dangerous."

"I've cleared dungeons on my father's estate before." He slapped the knight's back and took him aside, "the demon doesn't know I have the

Escape spell. Rest assure that I foresee a trap and am prepared for it."

The knight looked up and gathered some courage. "If that is your command, the family Bernhardt will always follow it."

"And Aster!"

"And Breen!"

The other knights were quick to assert their own family honor.

-

And so a party of four, led by their ambitious lord, tread into the dark corridors of the goblin basement.

Rather than take the path directly down, they explored the branching rooms one by one.

The ceiling was too low for them, and the architecture crooked and uneven.

"Make sure to stick together," Deets said, "that way nobody can get flanked or snuck up on."

The candlelight spells floating around their heads made them a gleaming beacon in the dark cellar. Goblins could see them coming three rooms ahead from the beaming light coming through the doorways. So what they encountered were abandoned rooms. Dining tables, hearths, and water basins left to stand in absolute darkness.

That and treasure.

The gold of the colonies and the weapons of defeated enemies were tallied and displayed orderly next to the accounting records.

"Argh! These chests are all mimics!" Bernhard cursed and healed his hand, while Aster threw the still chomping maw chest against the far wall.

"We're not here to loot," the lordling said, "that comes later."

"You say. But we're here to find monsters and the mimics are the closest thing to..."

They fell silent as they came face to face with a small group of worker goblins.

-

Alpheba had recruited some of Barbara's crop to help her haul the petrified sorcerers all the way up to the surface.

The stone statues had been wrapped in relatively smooth leather and the goblins were pulling at the corners. They had done some lasting damage to the moss of the wolf den and were now stumbling over the stone tiles of the basement, with Alpheba leading the way, shedding some light from her wand for her own benefit.

In their dedication they had not noticed or taken an interest in the goblins leaving the area, and they were now stunned to stand in a light flooded hallway in front of a bunch of armored men.

After a moment of silence Alpheba suddenly dove to the ground. "Oh no! Goblins! Please save me!"

"Little girl, how did you get here? Were you snatched?" One of the knights stayed behind to check up on her while his party dashed forward to chase and exterminate her captors.

"I... I'm safe now. Thank you, my hero!"

"But you weren't tied down. Come to think of it... the way you were walking in front of-"

The girl's expression soured as he was turned towards himself putting two and two together.

Yason Deets and his remaining knights then heard a loud crunch behind them.

Suddenly there stood a massive direwolf in the narrow goblin tunnel.

The head of their comrade rolled out its grinning maw.

-

There was no maneuvering or flanking the enormous beast in that corridor.

Just the advancing maw of a berserking beast.

The knights got in some good hits, but it did not stop the werewolf from charging forward and driving them back.

"Stand your ground you cowards!" The lordling cussed as the knights turned tail and fled deeper into the dungeon.

Dispersed they dashed madly through doors and curtains, seeing not even three paces ahead of them, until the floor underneath suddenly gave way and they were stumbling down a wooden stairway.

-

They landed in a soft moss.

The space at the bottom of the stairs was lit with an uneven scatter of sunstone light.

This was no longer a basement. The walls here were natural stone, and a green nature filled the place. There was even the gentle clattering of an underground brook.

"It's a werewolf," Deets seethed, "it's not that strong."

"She killed Breen!"

"Well... it got the drop on him. A simple beast can't..."

They slowly came to the realization that they were not alone.

More beasts were emerging from sleeping pods between the mossy carpet.

The few warg wolves that had stayed behind to guard the pups.

The roaring direwolf could be heard from somewhere upstairs, forcing itself through a passage it did not fit in just to get to them.

"The escape spell! Cast your spell then!"

"Do not presume to give ME orders! ... Fine I'll cast it, keep them at bay."

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

-

The warg wolves did not attack.

They growled defensively as a magic circle began to appear around the dungeon delvers.

"What's taking so long!?"

"Shut up and let me concentrate!"

Before the lordling could finish the spell, Alpheba, the werewolf, burst out into the wolf den.

She was caked in her own blood and torn skin. She was more hurt from her own struggles than from their weapons.

An inhuman rage sat upon her face and her eyes dashed madly between all occupants of the den.

She finally found the lordling and jumped at him.

The knight pulled him out of the way.

"Watch it! You broke the spell!"

"My lord we have to run!"

The servants were already absconding.

Deets instead drew a sword and faced the werewolf.

But he stood alone among a dozen more wolves.

Once more he cussed and followed after them.

-

They slowed down as they ran.

The werewolf was not pursuing.

It had no goals or strategy, and was rabidly mauling the other beasts of the cavern.

Slowed to a brisk walk they came across a fenced off pond.

Many-headed geese were abiding in the little coop, seemingly unperturbed by the sounds of chaos and death.

Guarding the entrance to the farm was a little girl. She had a thin rod to corral the birds with.

"No! Get away!" She threatened them with the non-weapon.

"What's that?"

"A bandit kid."

"Great, more evil children."

"I'm not evil, you're evil! I'm Cobaline." She said.

"My lord?"

"I don't want to find out what surprise this one has in store. Find me somewhere enclosed so I can cast the escape spell."

"There!" The knight pointed at a wooden box set into the far wall.

"Yeah, you better run!" Cobaline boasted as the moved away.

-

The warg wolves had downed the werewolf by now, and she had returned to the form of a girl.

The wolf and the human were struggling for control and she snapped and whispered at herself.

While the eldest were debating whether or not to kill her, the others were scouting to find the intruders.

"Keep them at bay, I'm casting." Deets commanded. "Once I'm done we should appear at the entrance."

The knights held out their weapons to hold off the wolves and after a few seconds, they became weightless.

"Already? I was..."

The lordling looked up, no longer seeing a mossy cave, but a blur of rock wall shooting up.

Somebody had cut the ropes to the elevator.

The knights looked at him with pleading eyes.

Then the darkness behind the rock opened up.

Their wooden box was falling through the air of an enormous underground cavern.

There were roads, buildings, and orange lit industrial machines.

"This dungeon is..."

Bigger.

It was so much bigger than any dungeon any of them had ever seen.

"We never stood a chance, did we?"

When the platform crashed into the ground, they died instantly.

----------------------------------------

"What would you do if you were me?" Scratch asked.

The knights stared at the ground like schoolchildren.

There was no good way of answering that.

"Because, you know, you've come here to eradicate me. If I let you go, will you get right back to it tomorrow?"

More silence.

"We can not kill prisoners." Lydia insisted. "The codes of war forbid it."

"There are no codes for outlaws," Lacrima said. She had freshened up after her own defeat by the invaders and now barged in on the trial. "Kill them. It will be that many less swords against us."

The most important people of the Promise had gathered around Deets' remaining retinue.

A wolf had alerted the defensive army and a task force had been sent back to defeat the occupying force the same day.

Now they were stripped and bound in the middle of the square, tied to Youthere's cage.

"What's a codes of war?" Ada asked.

"Just a minute Ada," Scratch turned to the witch. "Lacrima, I just received word from the dogs and they tell me your apprentice is no longer allowed on the middle layer."

"How can you receive word from a dog?"

"Well they really barked at me about it. So keep her below, or up top. I don't care which."

"We can not be bound by the codes of war, because we are not protected by them." Barbara said, "many here are hopeful for a new identity in Eston. But now these men have seen their faces."

"Saying it out loud you've definitely ruined it for them."

Lydia began to explain the concept to Ada. "The codes of war are rules. We do not kill prisoners who are no longer a threat. That would be cowardly and dishonorable."

"What? I don't want to follow any rules if that means I die."

"No sweetie you w-"

"I mean if you're gonna fight, you're gonna do whatever it takes to win, right? If we can agree on rules, can't we just agree not to fight then?"

"No... because..."

"There are levels of escalation." Scratch added. "You can agree on some things, even if you can't agree on everything."

"But why?"

"Let's see, what's an analogy? You don't like the girls in the troll garden, right?"

"Yeah?"

"And you're always insulting each other."

"... sorry..."

"But even if you do whatever it takes to hurt each other's feelings, you'd never escalate to actually land a punch, would you?"

She looked away.

"And even if you did, there's a difference between getting in a fistfight and drawing knives on each other."

Lydia nodded. "That ladder of escalation progresses all the way up to war."

"And beyond."

Ada's face cleared up. "Oh I see. Because you wouldn't be able to go back down if you esk-a-lait."

"Exactly, this is important stuff for a ruler to know you know."

"And none if it is in any way relevant!" Barbara nearly screamed, "because we're outlaws and monsters! The knights of the realm capture and execute our kind daily. It has been escalated!"

"I escaped the free-state of Ries, when it was besieged," one of the bandits threw in there. "We were a society of free and honorable men, but the king of Reddington declared us a bandit city so their forces would not need to be bound by the codes. I say kill them!"

There was a murmuring and a hurrah and Scratch banged his gavel on the stone to calm things down.

"Now I've done a lot of this sentencing stuff, and I usually let people go. That's because I'm a big softie and don't want to perpetuate the cycle of revenge. That's a real belief I have, I have sacrificed for it, and I have benefited from it."

He paused and looked around.

"But those sentences are on the roads, in the woods. Even I can see there are more interests to keep in mind when they penetrate this deep..."

One of the knights held up a hand, "if I may-"

"You may not. Kill them."

-

There was no execution facility in the Promise, but the men were taken to the butchery to have their throats slit next to the livestock one by one.

There was a sense of panic and despair. But even these younger knights had more dignity than to plead for their lives.

"Well done master, I did not expect you to follow the codes of the forces of good." Youthere grunted through a raspy voice.

"Christ you look like shit."

"You have come to understand the power of evil. But you have only begun to shed taboo."

Scratch looked at him up and down. The crowd had dispersed by now and he was debating giving the demon the time of day. He did look pitiable, ravaged by fire as he was.

"I can feel the eyes of the lich's familiar on us even now. He stands at the ready to deliver your message."

The dungeon repelled most naturally occurring wildlife, so the solitary black raven at the top of the mansion stood out tremendously. Ever since it had delivered the gauntlet it had not left.

Looking at it its gaze seemed almost intelligent and human-like. It was waiting for something.

"Summon his power. Bathe your enemies in a sea of the undead. Once you've done that-"

"Look I'm not going to do that, okay?" Scratch pinched the bridge of his nose. "And one of the main reasons is you. Talking like this. I can't- I just..."

"I want nothing more than for you to embrace the darkness."

"Yeah that. That's exactly what I mean. That's an escalation of force. We're not getting into this war of annihilation stuff, I've made that very clear."

"Surely master, you do not believe that you have a choice in the matter? The goblin throng has a strong resolve, but it can be beaten down over time. When a suppressing army returns day after day for short bouts at a time, they can match the goblins' ferocity and chip away their strength.

As the goblins sustain more permanent losses."

"Not this time, I control the supply lines into this place. It's the silver spoons that sustain losses they can't replace. There will be no battles after this next one. This is their last big hail Mary."

"And you're certain?"

"I'm telling you, they're out of it."

----------------------------------------

"We're not out of it yet!" The Rochast knight declared, holding up the sack of grain from the farmstead.

"Baron Deets may have some questions for the count. And for the captain for that matter." Someone said.

"Those self important-" he looked behind him in case one of the nobles had walked in on their looting, but it was just his peers there, "self-important brats knew what they signed up for. We've also lost comrades, we're entitled to our revenge!"

"We're entitled to an early grave if things carry on like this. I thought with the lordlings and the adventurers would bring us victory, but we're floundering. And now we've even lost one of them!"

The chain of command was breaking down and everybody was throwing in whatever opinion came to their heads now.

"We've been floundering because the city hasn't been providing for us. Empty stomachs, no proper equipment. But that ends now." He held up his looted prize. "If you count the other farmsteads as well, we'll have enough to keep pressuring the goblin army for weeks on end. If we strike and we keep striking, they won't have any time to recover. That's how you kill a goblin army."

"Even if we have to ransack our own people like bandits?"

"It's hard on them now, but they'll thank us once the goblin threat is eradicated."

"Nah..." someone said darkly, "this is all Harkness. He doesn't want to help the people, he's here to erase the shame on his family name."

Rochast grabbed his fellow knight by the scruff and pushed him to the ground, very much unlike a leader. "Shut up, lout. We're here to eradicate evil, and for that we have to keep fighting. It's evil. They're evil!"

"A-are you drunk?"

Just the accusation sobered him up. "What? No."

"Just remember that it's the lordlings getting all the glory over the coming months. This isn't our redemption for last year, we're being shown how it's done."

Rochast looked over at the farmers family, crying and holding each other over having to go hungry this winter. It was because of the goblins that they had to give up their possessions today.

"I'm fine with that..." he sighed, "I just want to get this over with."

----------------------------------------

"We'll get this over with soon enough." Scratch boasted not too long after. "This is the last battle."

I am not at ease. Cyclophan rasped.

"Well I am."

He was standing atop a temporary wooden scaffold. It had been erected to repair the outer wall, but for now functioned only as temporary obstruction for the enemy and lookout post.

The vantage point gave him a view of the forest. And the signs of an approaching force were already visible. He gave a hand signal to his family below.

"They haven't eaten in days. There's no whetstones or tallow for their weapons. And there's the mana thing."

Mana takes a few days to replenish.

"Yeah that. You know how many fodder goblins we can raise in that time?"

You were not this confident before.

"I was never worried about *whether* we could fend them off. Just *how quickly*. We have real problems threatening us... the lich. You know how he gave me a month ultimatum to get my affairs in order? That time is almost up."

I must warn you that the Ravenous Lich is a dark sorcerer and an outlaw. He is not bound by his word.

"Well, anyway..." Scratch grew silent as he watched the signs of activity under the foliage rapidly approach, he slowly raised his hand. "I feel a lot more confident in making the deadline now that we got the wonder twins down and the captain starved."

And after that?

"What? The fairies? I figure we just need numbers, so-"

No. After that. What are your ambitions? Are you content under the Lich's rule forever?

"... They're here!"

Scratch brought down his hand and pointed at the horn blower.

The little goblin had been waiting on the cue and immediately bellowed.

Inside the forest, hidden agents sprung into action.

-

"They expected us to wait them out where we stand the strongest. But there's no underestimating the element of surprise." Lydia said as Scratch came abseiling from the lookout.

"You're telling me. The last time I let myself get surprised I still had two eyes!"

"But you have two eyes now."

"Hehe." He flipped his eye-patch up and down. "So it's always true."

A clattering of steel and splintering wood erupted from the forest.

The skirmishers had engaged with the lordlings. Trying to scatter their retinue and stagger their advance.

But when the invaders came into view, they were in perfect formation.

The goblin hoplites lifted their shield wall to receive them.

"Something's wrong..." Scratch whispered.

The lordlings were in formation with their knights. Aligned and united in purpose.

All the attack power of the enemy had been focused into one.

Lydia suddenly arched her back. "Clear your head before the oncoming battle, elder. We must act faster than thought."

She straightened herself with a surprised expression.

"Still getting used to it, huh?" He asked.

"I..."

The armies clashed.

Instead of dashing forward to claim their glory, the aspiring barons and baronesses held back and used their abilities to make openings for the knights.

A rupture in the earth threw the left flank into disarray and warg wolves had to fill up the area of the fallen hoplites so the knights wouldn't be able to encircle and flank them.

"Piers, Constantine. Move back and defend our left. Will, take over on the flamethrower." Scratch commanded over his voice amplifier.

Two of the hobgoblins separated from the rest, leaving the important task of suppressive fire on the magic users to their brother.

One of the lordlings dashed forward and yelled some magic word. A hundred ghost-like cuts echoed his own as he cut into the goblin shield wall.

But Bree was there to shield with her massive gauntlets.

"I should be in there. Fighting alongside them." Lydia said.

"We're waiting for the- Excuse me." Scratch held the spellrod to his face again. "I need a target on those big glowing letters in the back. George?

Thank you." A ballista shot interrupted the casting of a fire rain spell.

A green arrow from an elven archer suddenly flew over the battle, targeting the goblin commander, but Lydia snatched it out of the air.

Scratch was unfazed. "We're waiting for our special problem to arrive."

Lydia's back arched again. "And for revenge from beyond, with renewed strength, renewed fury."

After not too long their problem did make her way to them.

"Nyaah! Got ya!" The cat-girl of the Dieless house managed to bound over a thinned part of the goblin shield wall and dashed right onto the wall.

"What'd ya think? I brought my army this time."

"We came prepared as well." Scratch said.

Lydia drew her knives.

Dieless straightened her back smugly. "You're the Brood Knight. I don't exp-"

But the woman was already in her personal space, slashing at her.

Dieless dodged and attempted to jump over her, but Lydia matched her speed and acrobatics, striking at her in the air.

"Stop it!"

The cat-girl grabbed the wrists of the woman to hold her back.

But as soon as their feet hit the ground Lydia's hands morphed into grotesque claws that tore into her forearms.

She withdrew in surprise and was unprepared for the head of a wolf to bite into her shoulder the next moment.

"Aaaah!"

Feylina Dieless was completely disoriented to suddenly be fighting a wind wolf in Lydia Harkness' clothes.

Her air sickle attacks were dissipated by the enemy's own wind manipulation, and when she tried to kick her she suddenly changed back into human form to round house kick her from a surprising direction.

"Do you remember me?" Lydia asked. It was the spirit of the windwolf, possessing her via Lacrima's lycanthropy.

-

Meanwhile, Scratch had descended from the wall.

He would be less of a target on the ground, but his oversight on the battle was also reduced.

"Something's wrong... something's real wrong..." he muttered, "Where's the fatigue? Where's the ramshackle equipment? It's like they're in top form."

He hitched a ride on a warg wolf and began to ride back and forth behind the shield wall.

But the battle was almost over anyway.

The humans pulled back and eventually retreated into the woods.

It was just in time for Lydia, as Dieless had gotten the upper hand and would have stuck around to kill her if she hadn't gotten afraid of being stuck behind enemy lines with no army to run back into.

But it wasn't a victory.

Dozens of goblins had died, and Will's left leg had been almost completely severed by the lordling's magical attack.

The ground was littered with broken weapons and metal shards. It wasn't the knights that would be fighting with diminished equipment but the goblins, at this rate.

"But this was the last fight, right Papa?" Ada said, involving him in the middle of a conversation with her brothers.

He dismounted to stand among them.

Will was grimacing at his wound, but triumphant.

Piers had lost a few fingers.

Out in the distance Lydia was holding her head, trying to sort out human and wolf thoughts.

He sighed. "Something sat wrong with me the whole battle. And now I know why. They never escalated their use of power, they don't expect this to be their last fight. Did you get a look at those faces? That's not what a deprived soldier looks like."

"Hey..." Ada said nervously, "that's not true. Come on Papa."

"We'll go back to the Promise, we'll heal and stuff, and we'll make an even greater secret weapon." Piers suggested. "Better than a werewolf. We'll buy something from Lucky, we'll..."

Scratch shook his head. "They'll regroup and come back within a day. That's the tactic for keeping goblin armies down."

Will grasped at his open wound. "But then we'll..."

"What's the plan?" Ada asked.

Scratch furrowed his brow. He didn't have one.

Just then a Raven landed on top of his head.

It was the Lich's familiar.

----------------------------------------

Escape

Class: Rogue/Mage

Level: E

Adventurers that have mastered this spell are able to escape dungeons whenever they please. The escape spell will transport the caster to the entrance of the dungeon they are in, but has no effect outside of it. Further mastery of the spell allows one to take others along. Although the effect of this spell is weaker than that of warp, the mana cost is also significantly reduced.