"What"s going on Davey?" Lone asked.
"This is a teleportation gate, it"s broken, let me see," Dave hurried ahead and began a thorough inspection of the gate.
The only missing piece of the gate was a square rock that was placed a few feets away from the circular structure and was in the water.
Dave went to the lonely slab of stone and inspected it, it was undamaged. But it seemed like something had torn it from its place. He went back to the gate and noticed that there was a small spherical orb socketed at the base of it.
"The mana core is still here, we won"t need to worry about it, if we get this stone back to its proper place, the gate should function and we"ll have a backdoor right to the Qin territory," Dave said in amus.e.m.e.nt.
"Isn"t that really good," Lone said, "I mean, use it correctly and you can raid the Qin kingdom any time of the year any day," Lone said
"Yep, which was the plan but we had to move out from Urburg to do it. Now we won"t need to. I"ll have to change the plan a bit." Dave said.
"But I thought you had a solid plan," Lone said.
"They say, Man, plans, Fate laughs. Now a new variable is present and we"ll need to move accordingly. Singund, can you lift the rock back to its place?" Dave said pointing at the missing piece of the gate.
"Yes sir," Singund said and went to the puddle of clear water, marrying it with his boots as he walked knee-deep until he reached the rock.
The orc chieftain went down, with a grunt of effort, he heaved the rock over his shoulder, his boots sinking deeper into the mud. Causing the pool to look murkier.
The orc made his way toward the gate and slammed the rock back into its socket. With a click and a groan, the gate lit up and shone brightly. The teleportation gate was once again functional.
Dave typed in the codes to the undead frontier and walked into the gate.
He appeared back in the camping ground of the undead, many of the Legion stood at attention waiting for anyone to enter through it. The task Dave was doing risked his discovery, and if the Qin kingdom manages to use the gate to the Underworld, there will be h.e.l.l to pay for both the legion and the Qin army.
However, they eased their holds on their swords once they saw the undead Kis"Shtiengbrah walking through the gate.
Dagla"s voice boomed through the undead frontier, "You have come earlier than expected. Much earlier, has there been a problem?" Dagla asked.
"No, actually, I need your help, I found something interesting, again," Dave said in a wide draugr smile.
"Then let"s see," Dagla said and followed Dave through the gate.
Once he was on the other side, the arch-lich frowned.
"I know of this place. This gate… has been forgotten, how fascinating it is that you end up finding relics of past."
"You know of this place? What can you tell me about it?" Dave asked.
Dagla pointed his staff deeper into the cave, there was a standing wall on the other side of the cave, "That is the resting place of a powerful, powerful man. I dare not awaken him, not out of fear for his loyalty, but if awoken, he could challenge me to a battle."
"You mean, there is an abyssal Knight rank corpse on the other side of the wall?" Dave said frowning.
"Indeed, let it rest. We don"t need something as powerful as it right now. It is not the time to tame such a thing, only the Undead King can manage it, and he is too distracted with the upcoming events regarding the raid of the Ash King"s domain."
"Right, then Dagla, I need a favor."
"Which is?" Dagla asked.
"I want this cave sealed up. I can"t afford it found by the Qin warriors. It"ll ruin our surprise factor."
"Right I can do as much, but you will have to order your legionnaires to leave. I shall lock the gate and leave through it. The rest of you should be gone. I will also make sure it is inaccessible from other gates of the Qin kingdom." Dagla spoke calmly.
"Thank you," Dave nodded to the Arch-Lich and left with the company of his undead.
"That"s it? You found the gate, activated it and locked the way through." Lone said.
"Yeah, this way only we can use it. When I decide to campaign against the Qin kingdom, It"s best if I have a strong foothold. A gate right up their territory is the best way to raid them. Now, we need to hasten our first mission. Bud, come here," Dave said.
The ghoul appeared literally out of nowhere, growing from the shade of a lone tree.
"I need you to infiltrate a city," Dave said. He opened his map and pointed at a nearby city. "You know what to do, right?" Dave asked.
"Yes," the ghoul grunted in accord then added. "Lady Delvina has many undead that can match my shadow ability," the ghoul said.
"Really? I didn"t know." Dave said, he was rubbing at his beard, thinking.
The ghoul grunted in agreement then disappeared in a swirl of black smoke into the distance.
"Mercy, are you here," Dave spoke through the party chat.
He heard the m.u.f.fled voice of the a.s.sa.s.sin in white, muttering a word "Stop-it," in a hushed tone.
Dave had the feeling that the a.s.sa.s.sin wasn"t alone, and was probably have some fun with a big oaf of a swordsman.
A more serious reply came right after, "Yes, I"m here, what do you need," the a.s.sa.s.sin"s rasp voice came in through the party-chat as if she was free of any guilt.
"I need you to do me a favor, how fast can you come here," Dave asked.
"Give me one minute," Mercy spoke and cut the conversation off.
"Davey, I hate being left in the dark what are you planning!"
"The same plan, only more daringly," Dave said in a wide smile.
Mercy appeared not a second later, "Yes?"
"Tengu, come!" Dave said and the flying red-nosed creature flew down from the sky and stood on attention.
"Lord Doom Knight," The tengu said while nodding.
"Mercy, I need you to go here, and destroy their food warehouse," Dave pointed at another city.
"That"s far, so I guess I"ll be flying huh?" Mercy said.
"Yeah, sorry about the inconvenience, but I really need this mission to succeed," Dave said.
"Alright, consider it done."
"Once you are through, and off from pursuit, I need you to go to yet another city."
"So, you want me to destroy as many as I can, right?" Mercy asked.
"Yes, if you find yourself in trouble, teleport out," Dave said.
"I can"t teleport out of here, the scrolls won"t work." Mercy said.
"You should remember, Urburg"s scrolls always work. You"ll be fine. At worse, the Tengu here will secure your escape. Be careful," Dave said.
"Right," Mercy said and looked at the red nosed tengu.
The old creature sighed, "I never thought I would become a carrier, alright young lady come."
The tengu grabbed Mercy by the arms and flapped his wings, flying high in the air.
Surprisingly, Mercy managed to m.u.f.fle both their appearances and they turned transparent. It wasn"t complete invisibility, but they were hard to see if one didn"t look for them intentionally.
"You there, call all the a.s.sa.s.sins of the legion present here, give them these instructions," Dave spoke to a captain and rallied the following.
Spread around Qin, don"t be spotted, and infiltrate the cities, breakthrough their food stocks, burn them to the ground and fold back.
The task was simple, but its repercussions on the Qin kingdom would be disastrous in no time and Dave knew of it.
An undead captain came running toward Dave, he stopped, gave a hasty salute and said," Commander! We have trouble. We spotted two wyvern riders coming our way. We have been compromised!"
"It"s about time," Dave said in a grin.