The wind rippling across the emerald-green grass of the hills around Tarin-Tiran ruffled Robin’s hair. He stood on a boulder near the top of a high hill outside the city, looking down at what he could see of the warren of ruined streets below.

Considering the age of the city it was surprising this much of it was still standing. Magical construction no doubt. Still, even for someone accustomed to the mega-cities of twenty-first century Earth, this was impressive.

There were soaring towers that still thrust upwards toward the sky, and vast avenues that threaded their way through the tangle of smaller streets. Some of these were lush with green grass, nature claiming her due, but still others remained pristine, clean, and clearly paved with broad, flat stones.

Around it all was a massive wall, pierced at regular intervals by gates. These showed the signs of decay. All of them appeared to have been shattered by titanic forces at some point in the distant past. That fit with the bits he’d been able to recover of the city’s history. The dream of Tarin-Tiran had been ended at the hands of an invading army, probably under the direction of Urkhan or one of his most faithful and fervent.

Robin felt a flicker of curiosity along his bond with Rerebos.

What do you think?

Robin sent the thought winging along their connection. Rerebos was hidden nearby, still one of Robin’s many aces in the hole. It was so much easier communicating this way!

It is big. Many places for a good lair. Many places for hidden shinies.

Robin could feel Rerebos’s approval.

The bard glanced back over his shoulder to the rest of his party, packing up camp from the night before. It hadn’t been difficult to assemble them for the quest, even though this place was incredibly dangerous. Well above their average level, in the parlance of his old world.

Drev had readily agreed. The prospect of lost arcane knowledge as well as riches was enough to secure his presence. Jhess, on the other hand, came for the riches alone.

Against his better judgement Robin had decided to recruit Savra to his cause as well. As well as being a talented healer, the woman had divinatory powers and a connection to a goddess sympathetic to Rhyth. Either might come in handy.

He had considered recruiting Fiamah for this expedition. He’d even carefully sounded her out on the idea. But she was busy with something secret for the Guildmagister and was reluctant to leave the other Sisters Sharp for any extended period of time.

So they had Savra along, in spite of the screaming willies she gave Robin.

The final member of their party, the replacement tank, had come from an unexpected quarter: Robin’s experiences at the Great Library of Noviel. It turned out that Tellurian Vance, slim and elegant appearances aside, was an excellent warrior (and in Robin’s mind, still referred to as a tank).

Vance employed a combination of unusual sorcerous gifts, a few curious blessings from one of the bardic deities, and a great deal of study both martial and academic to create his signature style. The scholar had the ability to control paper and parchment and was able to create incredibly strong armour and shockingly sharp weapons from the stuff. Further, in times of great need he could channel the legendary prowess of individuals featured in popular stories.

Robin had seen him do it thrice already, much to the chagrin of the ogre, the small pack of bandits, and the goblin war party they had encountered on their journey here.

It is good to have minions.

Rerebos’s comment almost made Robin snort with laughter. But he managed to control himself. Laughing out of nowhere tended to draw attention, and that wasn’t something Robin wanted at this particular moment. Not if it might point people toward Rerebos’s presence.

Speaking of shinies, Robin sent the thought to redirect the little dragon’s attention toward something useful, you should go and scout out the nearest gate to see if there are any near there.

Yes. I shall do that.

Keep an eye out for traps or enemies!

Robin felt rather than saw the little dragon depart. There was a sense of someone being just out of reach in his mind that told him that his familiar had flitted away out of telepathic range.

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They’d need to find ways to increase that, eventually.

Robin frowned and pulled up his interface to review his active quests. There were a few related to Tarin-Tiran at this point, but the one that was bothering him was the secret quest he had been given to find lost knowledge of the illusory arts within the city. The quest goal read:

Successfully make your way past the gates of the city and into Tarin-Tiran.

From what he was seeing, that wouldn’t really be a challenge. All of the gates in the vicinity had been blasted wide open, and there did not appear to be dangerous traps or enemies he could see from this vantage, though perhaps Rerebos would scout some out.

‘Ready to head out?’ Drev called to him.

‘Yeah,’ Robin replied, hopping down from the boulder. ‘I can’t see anything from this far away. But the gates are all blasted open.’

‘We knew that from the guild reports we read before leaving,’ Jhess complained.

‘It doesn’t hurt to verify information.’ Savra came up alongside the rest of the group, annoyingly as composed and unruffled as ever.

‘Agreed,’ Vance said. The scholar was dressed in a flowing robe that completely belied his status as the party’s tank.

The incongruity appealed to Robin on multiple levels.

‘So shall we proceed and see what we can see?’ Vance began walking down the hill without waiting for a response.

Robin and the rest of the party followed. Many of them had already braced themselves with longer lasting defensive magics, or girded their loins with their customary arms and armour. Drev shimmered slightly as he walked, due to the shield of force wrapping around him. Jhess had her fingertips resting lightly on the hilt of one of her daggers.

Savra and Vance, however, might as well have been strolling through a garden party for all the concern or defensive posture they displayed.

The walls were large. Very large. As Robin approached, they rose up like a cresting tsunami of stone. The sight didn’t bother him, though. For some reason he felt a welcoming vibe from them.

This was not the case with all of his compatriots, however. Jhess pulled her knife and started nervously flipping it end-over-end in her hand. Ripples of distortion, like heat over a summer’s highway, flickered around the tips of Drev’s fingers.

Even Savra looked slightly peaked.

‘There were some serious siege spells used here,’ Drev said, pointing to some warping in the stone around the edges of the gate when they finally drew near enough to see.

‘And siege engines as well,’ Vance noted. ‘Look at the cracks in the foundation and the way the hinges are bent.’

Robin looked and filed the information away. This was not the kind of thing that generally made its way into ballads and legends, so his [Bardic Lore] was a bit less helpful than usual. Even with [Shard of the Shattered Manymind] to reinforce it.

‘I’m more concerned about what might be waiting for us inside,’ Jhess had stopped flipping her dagger and now held it in a reverse grip, ready to lash out should anything attack them.

Anything?

Might as well check in with Rerebos now that they were close. The little dragon can’t have gone that far.

Unless he spotted something shiny running away from him. Then he’d pounce on it like a cat after a mouse.

No shinies. No foes. No nothing.

A mixed bag of news, then, but worse for his familiar than for him.

Robin wished he could consult with Ruprecht but the dungeon was currently stowed safely away inside his mimic conveyance within Robin’s storage space. And there was no way the bard was risking taking that out here and now.

Things have been here recently though. I can smell them.

Robin stiffened.

Things? What kind of things?

I do not know. The smell tastes a bit like goblin, but muskier.

‘Any sign of goblinoids about?’ Robin asked casually. ‘I heard some of the others back at the Adventurers’ Guild telling stories about ambushes within the city, but I have no idea if they were winding me up or not.’

As lies went it wasn’t his worst. It got the job done.

‘Nothing yet,’ Jhess said, flicking a glance at Savra to see if the seeress agreed.

Savra nodded.

‘I think the danger, if any, will come later. When we are already deep inside the walls and have no easy way to get out. Why close a trap early?’

‘Thank you for that wonderful sentiment,’ Drev drawled sourly.

Vance just laughed and strode through the gate.

‘Come on, you lot,’ he said. ‘We’re here for adventure, aren’t we?’

Robin followed. Passing through the gate took longer than expected. The walls were thick. Fortunately, the gate-passage was also large enough for all of them to walk abreast with plenty of room to spare. Though they had to step carefully around all the debris gathered at the edges and across the intervening space of the tunnel.

‘What did they move through here? Elephant-drawn double-wide carriages?’ Robin muttered.

Eventually they made their way through and into the city proper.

Robin blinked in the sunlight as they emerged. All five of them stood together, taking in the sight.

The buildings were a strange mix of resiliently intact and picturesque ruin, in a style that Robin’s mind tried valiantly to chart as somewhere between art nouveau and art deco. There were a great many artistic touches to the architecture, as if the people who lived here saw everything as a canvas.

The streets were a tangle, gentle curves intersected with ramrod-straight lines. Even here there was a mix of pristine condition and decay, with some boulevards opens and clear and others choked with vines growing up from centuries of accumulated dirt and detritus.

But they were here! They stood upon the streets of Tarin-Tiran, legendary city! They…Wait.

Robin frowned. He hadn’t gotten a quest update. They were through the gates.

Weren’t they?

He opened his interface to check. Nope. The quest line item was still listed as pending.

Huh. So if these weren’t the real gates to the city, what were they? Were they even in the right place? Something funny was going on here.

Before he could ponder further, however, he felt a spike of alarm from Rerebos.

Ambush! Big-big goblins coming for you!