There wasn’t really anything we could do with the information the under-dweller interrogation of the Mibritum provided. Even if we had any interest in freeing the Mibritum woman and children from the bandits their village is a long way away and we don’t know its exact location.
Anyway by now they are likely long dead or sold as slaves to either one of the less enlightened tribal groups or the clans of barbarian humans that are said to live beyond the former borders of the Imperium. Telondian allows such practices to continue as long as they keep it within certain limits he has imposed, or so it is said anyway.
His lordship would of course report the situation to the relevant authorities and Captain Walker would do the same with the Mercenary Guild but it was unlikely that anything would come of it unless perhaps they currently had or at some point acquired any knowledge of the bandit group responsible and where they might be found. This was only likely if they ever operated within the territory of the former empire.
The only chance any surviving Mibritum would have was likely to be if the Under-dwellers acted on the information that they had gotten. I don’t know enough about the Under-dwellers, their politics or morality to tell if this is possible but the attack itself might be motivated enough for them to act on the information. Even if they did something it was unlikely that I would ever hear of it and I was okay about it.
As mercenaries, we are hired to deal with situations and after they are dealt with as long as we survive and the contract is completed we only really care about the aftermath if we are paid to. Sure we sometimes might meet people in the course of a contract and come to care enough about them to stay in touch but that’s usually the extent of it.
Once they had informed us of the reason for the attack Captain Walker asked if he had revealed anything about the tunnels they had dug but unfortunately, he wasn’t a miner and hadn’t been involved in that aspect and had just gone where he was told when he was told. All he had told them was how long he had been underground and a general but not very useful description of where he had entered the tunnels.
They did however offer to have one of them stay behind until the others returned to help us search the tunnels and sir Reginald Moore took them up on it at which point the individual in question was called for and quickly arrived at which point he introduced himself to us.
“Salutations my name is Junior Path Seeker Drine Drinzfelin and on behalf of my fellow Pilgrims I thank you for protecting us from those who sought to do us harm. I am told they came up from the bowels of the ground in three places and you wish my help in exploring where they go.
They all likely lead to the same point in the pre-existing cave system that we know to be somewhat nearby or close enough. My seniors tell me it is likely that no Mibritum stayed behind though some parts of the system might be inhabited by animals but none that are likely to cause me harm. With this in mind unless you say otherwise I would like to explore the system on my own, is this acceptable to you?”
“Captain Walker I presume none amongst your number have any experience underground?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
“In that case, Junior Path Seeker Drin Drinzfelin you may proceed, is there anything you require to complete your explorations that we might provide you?”
“I have almost everything I expect to require to proceed as I have outlined but one can never have too much good quality rope, have you access to such?”
“We have access to all kinds of rope, though whether it is of sufficient quality for your purpose will have to be up to you to decide. I will have someone fetch the best quality rope they can find for you to inspect, is that acceptable?”
“I thank you, now if there isn’t anything else I must prepare, everyone else will be leaving soon and there are a few things I need from them for my exploration. Have someone come and find me when the rope arrives, if it proves to be of the quality I require it shouldn’t be long before I can begin. I require a guide to show me the tunnel entrances but that should be all the help I need.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Do not be concerned if I am out of contact for days at a time but if I’m not back in a week probably best not to come looking for me. But that’s a worst-case scenario, after all, I’m not one for taking unnecessary risks.”
After that, the meeting wound down and it was soon time to say our goodbyes to the Under-dwellers who would be leaving soon. Drin was satisfied with the rope provided and Captain Walker soon had me order one of the scouts to guide him to the tunnels.
After the meeting, I finally got around to dealing with my Class Rank increase. I put the two free stat points into Perception and Strength. As to my Class Skill slot, I didn’t currently have any banked so I had to either wait until one was naturally activated or buy one.
If I chose the former there was no telling when that might occur, though depending on the skill ways did exist to help improve your chances. If I choose the latter well they tended to be costly and anyway, the only real place I had a chance to acquire one was the mercenary Guild so that would have to wait until the current contract ended.
Drin returned six days later with a preliminary report on what he had found.
We had spent the intervening days repairing our temporary fort amongst other things, just in case. We weren’t expecting a follow-up attack, anything else the bandits or their employers might have planned was as likely to occur elsewhere on the pilgrimage route as it was in Long Bank Manor.
Thankfully during that time only five of the seriously wounded had died and though they were not expected to fully recover it was thought that the others would at least survive.
After talking it over with Captain Walker I and the other lieutenants decided to were possible temporarily merge each platoon's depleted squads. As such with only twenty-nine combat-effective mercenaries and none of the remaining seven seriously wounded likely to return to that state anytime soon if ever I split them into two squads of twelve men each and a five-man headquarters squad.
Thankfully only one of the sergeants had died but the corporals hadn’t been so lucky and the only remaining one was counted among the seriously wounded. This meant I had to promote three of the privates and not being as familiar with them as I would have liked I had to rely on Sergeant Tucker's recommendation to do so.
Once the new squads were sorted I didn’t waste any time before putting them through their paces to see where there was room for improvement. We trained hard those next few days and I made sure I played my part in all the exercises we undertook. While we were training the scouts continued to patrol the manor but they didn’t find anything unexpected.
I wasn’t there when Drin reported to the captain and his lordship but from what I heard later he hadn’t discovered anything unexpected and had immediately returned to the cave system for further explorations. He returned a further six days later having backtracked the Mibritum's path through the cave system as far as he could, any further having been blocked by a cave-in he didn’t believe to be a natural occurrence.
It wasn’t until two days later that the first lot of returning Under-dweller pilgrims arrived and as soon as the last group of them left with Drin in tow we prepared to return to our camp near Maccleston. By then all but one of the wounded were well enough to accompany us though Captain Walker decided to have one of the other wounded stay with him until he was well enough to travel.
We weren’t in as big a hurry getting back as the campaign season was almost over and the Ebony Hyenas wouldn’t be taking any other contracts this year. This led to the captain deciding to break up our journey into two stages with a day's rest in the middle.
We spent our day of rest camped outside a small town called Hadwick, anyone who wanted was able to pay a visit to the town but most of us myself included stayed away and took advantage of several casks of ale and other drinks that the captain had delivered to camp from the town.
We made good time on the last leg of our journey and soon arrived at camp.
Contract: Long Bank Manor (Under-dweller Pilgrimage), Completed
Objective: Keep Pilgrimage Route secure SUCCESSFUL
Objective: Guard the entrance to the underground cavern the Under-dweller Pilgrims will be staying in during daylight hours SUCCESSFUL
Objective: Protect Pilgrims, if necessary SUCCESSFUL
Objective: Protect Long Bank Manor and its inhabitants from Pilgrims and anyone else who wishes it harm, if necessary SUCCESSFUL
Objective: Return to base SUCCESSFUL
Enemy Killed:
137
Enemy Captured:
1
Casualties:
85
4640 EXP Gained