The campsite filled with protest, as all 25 of the miners had now gathered in and around the Lords’ tent to listen to Stick’s plan.

“Burn down the shanties? Are you insane?” he heard someone yell.

Another said: “I knew he’d lost it.”

Stick tried to calm them down. “I know, it’s drastic, but if you want the Lords Blitz to survive, you have to listen!”

Shadis clapped his hands twice. “Men, focus! Remember: Lady Cassandra escaped in a similar fashion. We need drastic right now.”

The crowd quietened down again. Stick gave Shadis a thankful nod.

"Under the guise of gathering wood for lunch, we’ll head to the outer edges of the camp," Stick said, pointing to the direction where the palisade of the manor was closest. "There, we’ll remove sections of the defences and place them in the shanty town. Then, we’ll lure in a pack of Dire Wolves. They prowl nearby every night, waiting for an opportunity. At lunchtime, we give them one."

“You can’t do that!” Cadmun said. “We’ll be left defenceless!”

Murmurs of concern rippled through the group again, but Jacoby raised a hand again to immediately stifle them.

“Of course the wolves will be gathered at another entry point at the palisades where the defences are still up. We’ll put up the defences and use the fire in the shanty town to keep them at bay. We take the horse from the knight we’ve captured and guide them from the closed entrance to the one we’ve opened and then towards the pantry outside the mansion, which the servants will have left conveniently open, using scrap meat the rider will throw over the palisade. This should draw the attention of the guards in the mansion. Once the guards are distracted, the horse rider comes back and gives his horse to the Lords and their guard, which will be Sir Moore. With no spikes blocking their path out of the manor, they’ll be free to ride out into the woods.”

The men exchanged glances like they couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

“This doesn’t solve our problem with Stamos.” Shadis was the first to object. “The wolves will be no match for him.”

“That’s true,” Stick emphasised. “Even Becket, who is half his LVL, could kill them in one blow and the main objective is to buy as much time for the Lords to get away as we can. Surely, having those wolves killed doesn’t really help us, right? Well, we do want those wolves killed.”

The men leaned in, hanging on Stick’s every word, as he was prepared to retort every objection.

“There will be some of us who can’t risk being involved with this plan. Their loved ones work somewhere else inside this manor or they aren’t strong enough to fight Dire Wolves,” Stick said. “So, they’ll be ready to put out the flames with water from the well, while the Adventurers take the pack out. When the Adventurers finally finish off the wolves and come to the burning shanty town, they’ll fake enough chaos to make Stamos or any knight for that matter believe that the Lords have been taken to safety by Becket and Reacher, who will both be mysteriously missing during all of that commotion. It will take them a long time to figure out that the Lords are long gone and we’ve already blocked off the open exit to the manor with the defences again. Once they do, the Commoners putting out the fire will stand in the way of their horses, while those with a high enough LVL to survive against other Dire Wolves in the woods scatter in all directions outside of the manor to confuse any pursuer.”

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“But what if the knight we didn’t tie up comes back from the Slaughterhouse before we seal the exit again?” Cadmun asked.

“Even better.” Stick let out a laugh. “Then we’ll have two horses.”

The first smiles started to crack among the slaves.

“Since you’ll have a helmet, you should be better equipped than him,” Stick continued. “And you’re a lot of LVLs above both of them. You’re the perfect candidate to fight any one of them.”

The men cheered Cadmun on, whooping and praising his strength, but Cadmun’s face was filled with worry. If things really work like a video game here, then we really need him.

“Don’t you worry about Lydia and Timmy. They won’t suspect him of anything if he stays inside the mansion during all of this. And her- Well…” Stick pointed his thumbs at his chest. “If you get us that second horse, you’ll have the greatest hero watching over her.”

His words hit right at home. Cadmun smirked a little. That’s right! Everything will be alright.

“So that’s why you’re doing it,” Jacoby said. “You’ll be on that second horse with Sir Frost and Lydia.”

The energy in the group shifted a little. Shadis crossed his arms with an accusatory look in his eyes.

“We put our lives on the line to help the Lords escape, not you!” Titor yelled.

“We need our strongest to protect them. There’s no space on that horse for a goblinshit like you!” another commoner added.

“Hold your horses,” Stick sarcastically said.

Stick remained calm, because he knew that his motivation wasn’t as selfish as they suspected it would be. This was expected after all.

He opened his [Inventory] and manifested out of it a [Carrot] and a [Potato] in his hands. The slaves, who could not see the windows of the [Menu] as he discovered, stood in awe as he produced vegetables outside of their season out of thin air. He gave the potato to Varyan and the carrot to Jacoby.

image [https://i.imgur.com/1b9HmXc.jpeg]

“As fresh as if they were harvested yesterday,” Stick announced. “But those were meant for the stew on Hero Day.”

Varyan held the carrot against the light, as if to prove its authenticity. An understandable reaction, since they haven’t had carrots in months.

“You’ll want me with you if you want fresh food,” Stick explained. “We can survive off of what they bring us for the holiday meal for weeks if we use my Adventurer Inventory.”

A silence fell over the campsite. His heart was still pounding from the adrenaline, but he felt a strong sense of resolve. The miners were unsure how to act, some shifting around in place without the proper words to express their doubts on such an unbelievable truth, which they witnessed with their own two eyes. Finally, a loud, warm belly laugh interrupted the silence. Sir Cadmun Frost hysterically hit his leg.

“Look what you’ve done now!” the bald man screamed in a laughing fit. “Monty, you genius piece of shit.”