"Sitrep!" I asked Juana as soon as I was back inside the tunnels.

"Your grandpa's still fighting the other Proxima team. There have been some hiccups, but he says they're nearly done, and to trust him."

I didn't like that, but I had to go with it. “What else?”

“We took down one of the other two teams,” Juana said. “That leaves one more outstanding. They're one of those multinationals. Glory of Dhafani’li. They’re on the second-to-last boss in their raid. Our harass team is having trouble. The galactics just keep respawning and pushing us out.”

"Alright, so them, or going after Mak'gar's crew?" I asked.

"Mak'gar’s group has paused between attempts," Juana reported. "The third boss is down, but our spy says they are regrouping. There seem to be some arguments going on. My gut says you should go for the Glory team." She looked me over. “Or maybe you need downtime. That nap you took, I don’t think it helped.”

I could feel my exhaustion, pressing up against a wall in my head, ready to take me down. If I thought about it too much, I’d realize just how tired I really was. A two-hour nap didn’t make up for the last three days of exhaustion, but I waved off her concern. She wasn’t wrong, but we didn’t have time for me to properly rest. Not yet, not until I dealt with the pressing threats. “It’s fine, I’ll pop a pep-up potion.”

“Those things are like meth,” Juana said. She had big dark circles under her eyes. “They’re not good for you, you’ll crash eventually.”

“I know, I know.” I had a brainwave. "Are the Mongeese busy?"

"They're just coming off a rest cycle."

"Give me them, plus I'll keep my team here. I'll ambush Mak'gar in the halls."

"What good will that do?" Juana asked skeptically. "It won't reset the boss timer. You'll get a few kills, but I don't think they're going to care about that."

"I want to send a message, that we're always watching," I said. "And I want to get a feel for these guys. It's hard when you go up against a team the first time to understand the composition and how they work."

I had realized on that last fight that Grandpa's previous experience with dealing with that bear tank's might have been handy. I was determined not to make the same mistake again. "I know Mak'gar. I can get under his skin," I insisted.

"It's your call, Shad," Juana said. "I'm just wondering whether he's getting under your skin."

She had a small point. I popped the pep-up potion as I waited for the Mongeese to join us. The effect coursed through my veins like one of those canned energy drinks dialed up to 11. I’d pay for it later, but now my reflexes were sharper, my mind more focused. The exhaustion in the back of my brain retreated. Once the Mongeese arrives, I gave everyone a rundown on what the tunnel rat spy reported.

"They've got a max team of 25. All built from different factions, so they won't have coherence yet. I want to get in, give them a wipe. If possible, we'll put a checkpoint in the hall outside the boss's room. Maybe get a few more wipes in before they put — push us off." I frowned as my words got jumbled up there at the end. Pull it together, Shad.

The Mongeese nodded. "Machine gun nest is off cooldown," Brown said. "Get us in position and we'll hold the point."

Smith scratched his head. I was glad to see they all looked a lot better rested than me. “What if they know we’re coming? I’ve tangled with orc mercenaries a couple times and they’re tough in a fight.”

“We’ll focus on tying up Mak’gar so he can’t make command calls. If we get him down, they should collapse. Orcs don’t take orders from anyone who isn’t in the fight.”

Smith nodded, though he looked a bit doubtful. “Anything else?” I asked. “Then let’s get out there.”

I'd spent so much time in the tunnels beneath Castle Byalgrad, I had neglected to look at its main floors. The upper castle was lighter and airier than I expected. The walls were covered with vibrant tapestries depicting hunting scenes, Bible stories, and regal-looking kings that I didn't recognize. The floors were covered in rushes, and as we walked, a sweet-smelling scent emanated from the herbs we crushed underfoot.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

We passed two enormous rooms with their doors flung open. I peered inside as I went. One was a huge bedchamber with all of the furniture out of scale. The beds were upturned, huge quilts scattered around the room half-burned, a wardrobe standing open with clothes falling out.

The next room was opened onto a courtyard. It looked as though it had been a beautiful garden, but now entirely burned. I wondered what storylines lay inside that we had completely skipped.

Juana filled us in. "They are outside the hall of Dragomir the Shadowed. He apparently commands powers of both shadow and sickness, and I don't have more information than that. The final boss in our raid is of course Chernobog."

Something was bugging me. Something I had been meaning to follow up on back when I thought we needed to face this raid.

"Have you still got that Slavic myth expert on staff? Gabriel?"

"He's been helping out the crafters, but I can talk to him.”

“Get him up here. Tell him I'm remembering when we fought the gatekeeper, he said something about another boss named something like Chernobog, but started differently. Balog? Ask him if it rings any bells."

"I'll do that," Juana said.

The hall ended at a stair leading down, but not to the kobold levels. This stair was wide enough for three to walk abreast. Torches lit the stair, casting pools of flickering shadow.

"Camouflage," I ordered, and we descended down into a dungeon. Not the one I had visited when I first came to Castle Byalgrad. This dungeon was much too large, clearly a set piece for a fight.

The doors of the cells all stood open. Dead wolves lay on the floor. I inspected them. They were called Gloomhounds, and were labeled as minions of Dragomir the Shadowed. They had a contagious [Rabid] debuff on them. I wondered if they'd been able to spread it to any of Mak'gar's people. Maybe that’s why they’d stopped, to cure some debuffs.

And there they were, all arrayed in a wide space where the corridor opened into an antechamber. At the end of the antechamber stood a pair of ominous doors. Blood ran from under the doors to a drain in the middle of the floor.

Mak'gar's new crew of raiders faced the doors. Five of them were orcs, all wearing Firebrand's colors. They huddled around Mak'gar, who stood at the back of the room, gesticulating to a squad of lizardfolk.

These lizardfolk were squatter than most I'd seen, more like horned toads than geckos or salamanders. They had spikes on their heads, and their scales were mottled gray and brown.

There were five of the angry dwarves, and then a smattering of animalkin. Wolves, bears, and a turtle. Everyone was wearing different colors, showing allegiance to different groups. I hoped that meant they were fragmented.

I muttered some orders. “I’m gonna charge in there, and throw Call 'em Out. When they're all on me, I want Jack to set up an artillery barrage. It'll kill me, but we should take a bunch of them down. As soon as that's launched, the rest of you jump in, kill everyone that's left, and form a chokehold here. I'll get back as fast as I can."

Jack answered, "Got it."

“If it goes south, retreat back to the stairs and set up the machine gun nest. We’ll hold that point. If they respawn we’ll try to stop them coming back down to join the fight.”

"Understood," Tall Smith replied.

I engaged Fastest Gun in the West and raced in. They looked up as I came, turning to face me. I threw Call 'em Out, and then I skidded to a halt in the midst, and they turned on me.

Two of the animalkin threw up some sort of a shield around us. "I can't target you!" Jack yelled frantically.

Mak'gar shouted at me, "You have no honor!" and I felt myself wrapped in chains again.

Ah, shit. I sent a quick message to my team. Get clear, it’s a trap!

"What did you think was going to happen, Williams?" Mak'gar asked disgustedly. "We're here right under your nose, waving a flag that says 'Come and attack us.' So you come and attack us! Really?" He turned to his allies. "Get them!"

My team started to retreat up the stairs, Smith and Brown laying down covering fire, but the turtleman threw a couple of projectiles that bounced off the stairs and formed a force shield, trapping us. Jones lobbed a grenade over the force shield at the turtles. It blew up, but they avoided most of the damage. The Proxima team fell on my people.

I tried to send directions in chat, only to realize nobody had any time to listen to me. They were too busy trying to stay alive. Smith was shouting directions, doing a good job, but our tactical position was disastrous.

Mak'gar just stared at me, shaking his head. "Look, Williams, it's been a good run. You've done well. But you're out of tricks, and you can't take us in a fair fight. As soon as one of us had a fancy class, you were out of it. Your people were relying on their classes to carry them. My people have centuries of experience doing this kind of thing. Of course we were going to win. We were always going to win."

I just stared at the timer, willing it to run out. Ten, nine, eight. I had been such an idiot. The wave of exhaustion in my mind was like a roaring ocean. My temples throbbed. I’d screwed this up big time.

The Mongeese were trying to get their machine gun nest set up, but the orcs kept interrupting them with thrown grenades and spell silencers.

"Walk away," Mak'gar said. "Just go. My team and I will have this done by the end of the day. It's over, Williams. You can't win."

He waited until the last of my people were down. My timer ran out and I rushed him. He pulled a dagger. I was so furious, I didn’t care. I just wanted to get my hands around his throat and strangle him. As the timer ran out, I Quick Drew my gun. It flew to my hand and transformed to a long wicked dagger. I shouted in frustration at Mak’gar’s annoying new ability. My vision was going red. I just wanted to get the orc out of my way.

So I rushed him, and Mak'gar lifted his wrist, and his dagger slid into my chest.

The last thing I heard before respawning was, "You're good, Williams. You're just not good enough."