Chapter 52 - Arrival at Karlsfjord

Søren woke from his rest and sat up quickly when the alarm he had set on his dataslate buzzed in his ear. The sound rattled loudly inside his [Guardian Helmet (Copper VI)]. The blacked out faceplate gradually faded away to reveal Søren's green eyes, squinting against the light of the day, and slight grimace on his features. He tapped a button on the right side of the helmet and a straw popped out. The former archaeologist, now Traveler on a distant world and a friend of the Fuervan, took a long pull on the straw, cool water quenching his thirst and wetting the inside of his mouth.

The straw vanished back into the frame of the helmet after a few moments of inactivity. Søren then brought up a display inside the helmet's faceplate that showed the status of the drone overhead. Still fully charged. As long as the sun was out, the drone would be able to remain on overwatch indefinitely. Engaging any of its other systems might cause some issues down the road, but the batteries appeared to be very efficient and energy dense.

Neeka waved at Søren from the ridge, where she kept watch on the road. If it weren't for her being in his party and highlighted by the HUD of his helmet, Søren would have been hard pressed to see her at all. She had tucked herself into the shadow of a scraggly bush and added some of the laves and branches to her own armor. Sehro of course was entirely invisible to Søren's senses. The Fuerven assassin had also unlocked the [Fuerven Camouflage] perk that Strik had accidentally discovered a while back.

Combined with stealth perks from his [Path of the Assassin], Sehro was essentially invisible to any form of detection of equal or lesser quality, thanks to upgrading the perks to [Rare]. Sehro only showed up as a dot on the minimap, a ways up the road towards Karlsfjord. His position was updated by the drone's camera feed because Sehro allowed it to know his location through the party interface. Jarth, still asleep, was sprawled out in the shadow of a scrub tree nearby with a bit of dried spittle on his chin.

A little peace and quiet before the storm, Søren thought to himself, a bit uncharitably. He levered himself up off the ground and made sure the camouflage feature of his armor was still enabled. No sense warning any potential Scrappers in the area of his position. Neeka waved Søren over to her side and then gestured towards the road in the direction of Karlsfjord. He nodded and slid onto the ground beside her, moving as quietly as he could. Mentally he directed the drone to climb out of sight and head in the direction Neeka had indicated.

It didn't take long for the drone to reveal what Neeka had spotted already. A few hundred Hordelings were heading towards the town and vanishing into a series of tunnels that had been crudely dug into the ground.

"That's going to be a problem," Søren muttered, not really expecting a response. Neeka just nodded, having picked up the gesture from all the time she had spent with Søren.

Neeka > How do you want to handle this?

Søren > We could circle around and try to warn the town. Send the drone in with a note attached, but who knows if they would heed the warning and we would probably lose the drone. Alternatively we could assault the Hordelings from behind as they disappear into the tunnels and make enough noise to attract the attention of those in Karlsford.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Sehro > Fuerven are not unknown to the others. I could sneak past and warn them as well. I do not believe the Hordelings would notice me now with my upgraded perks

Søren > What do you think Neeka? You and I can harass the Hordelings and get the party started back here while Sehro warns them.

Neeka > It is a good plan. Risky path here, but faster. Safer path this way

Søren watched as Neeka toggled on a tool on the party interface and marked two paths from Sehro's position to the entrance of Karlsfjord. She also circled a small ridge within a stand of trees to the southwest of the entrance, where Søren figured they would set up for sniping at the Hordelings. The drone had worked out an algorithm for highlighting each of the Hordelings, marking them as they traveled towards and into the tunnel and an estimated time of arrival under Karlsfjord. A thermal layer overlaid on the ground showed areas heating up unevenly compared to the rest of the landscape. The temperature anomalies extending towards Karlsfjord lined up neatly with the tunnel entrances.

Søren > Looks like we have about thirty minutes before they breach the walls.

Neeka > We should begin soon. It will take Sehro half that time to reach the settlement.

Søren > Agreed.

Neeka smoothly transitioned from lying on the ground to loping towards the area marked on the minimap in the party interface. Søren rose from the ground, but kept crouched low as he followed after Neeka. Though ungainly compared to the Fuervan warrior and hunter, he managed more gracefully than most would be capable of. The play of shadow and light across his armor rippled as the camouflage function tried to keep up with the rapid pace Neeka set.

"We should fall back to this ridge if the Hordelings look like they might overwhelm our forward position," Søren suggested. He circled, in red, a second ridge further down the road that they had passed earlier in the day. "What should we do with Jarth?"

Neeka glanced back with one eye rotating in its socket towards where the Karlsfjord resident slept.

"Leave him for the Hordelings?" Neeka said with a slight hiss and open mouth. Søren frowned at his Fuervan companion through the faceplate of his armor.

"We'll bring him with us. Can't protect him if he's wandered off or gets cut off by some Hordelings," Søren said. "Go on ahead and get the first ambush site ready."

Neeka nodded to Søren and vanished into the thick undergrowth on the sides of the hills, keeping the stony ridges between her and the Hordelings. Søren turned back and slid down the hill to wake Jarth. However, the young man from Karlsfjord was already awake and staring at the sky with a distant look in his eyes.

"Søren. What's going on? I just got a quest all the way out here from the crystal obelisk in town. Says there's hundreds of Hordelings attacking and is offering a [Starter Deck] as a reward if we stop them." As if on cue, a notification for a new quest appeared in Søren's visor.

Stop the Hordeling Horde!

A Horde of Hordelings Harrows Karlsfjord

0 / 233 Hordelings slain

0 / 110 Hordeling Maulers slain

0 / 23 Hordeling Hunters slain

Rewards

• 2500 TEK

• 5 settlement build points

• 3 [Uncommon] engrams

• 2 [Rare] engrams

• 1 [Epic] engram

• 1 [Starter Deck]

"What the fuck?!" Søren shouted as he looked up towards the Gateway stations in the sky passing overhead.