Dressed in a fresh toga and with her pendant in its usual spot, Isabella was examining a sign stuck in the rocky ground by a natural cave outside Siembra's palisade.

  The sign read, "Experienced Adventurers Only."

  Right behind her, Esven was picking up the slack for Gaius with all the nervous pacing he was doing.

  When the captain stopped to adjust his breastplate that came loose due to his frantic back and forth, he posed a question to Isabella's back, "Now where is he?"

  Mostly just to humor Esven, Isabella looked around. A rock's throw away, Alessia was planted on a tree stump with Victor stretching by her side. The witch was shooting daggers at her, to which Isabella responded with a wink and a smile. Her position taught her a long time ago the futility of the desire to be liked by all.

  Aside from the northerners, the path leading up to the cave was devoid of traffic.

  "For all his faults, at least he never fails to warn us about his spontaneous bouts of cowardice," Isabella said, turning to face the cave's entrance again. "He said he'll be here. This means we wait."

  Esven still had a great deal of respect for Isabella's position, so instead of telling her what he thought about Gaius and his promised surprise, the captain chose to chew on his mustache as he continued his pointless march.

  Many a lap later, the clinking of Esven's armor began testing even Isabella's patience. She was about to order the captain to stay put, when Victor shouted, "There he is. And he's not alone."

  That someone was Gertrude, the Mystlund wizard with more than a passing interest in alefs. When Gaius told her about someone with the power to command alefs, Gertrude pretty much invited herself, adding her much-needed arcane powers to the group.

  For this momentous occasion of leaving her reverse tower and going out on a field expedition, Gertrude dressed in a sensible hunting suit accompanied by a stone cane she used in lieu of a staff.

  During their stroll to the cave's entrance, Gaius got Gertrude all up to speed. That didn't take long, since his plan could effectively be summarized with "go deep underground and hope for the best."

  That plan came together after Gaius cross-referenced Esven's notes of his search for Lucius with the map of Siembra's artifact-rich caverns Gaius purchased from the town's bishop. A very plausible trail led even deeper, past what was listed on the map as the point of no return. On account of nobody returning from their excursions past it.

  With the mysteries of alefs looming within her reach, Gertrude would hear nothing of how dangerous their quest was. Nor was she fazed by what happened to Lucius, the only man to ever challenge the map's legend and come back from beyond the point of no return as a shadow of his former self, as Gaius put it in the moment.

  In fact, for the most part, Gertrude kept her mouth shut, suggesting without any words that she wasn't comfortable sharing her theories outside the comfort of her personal tower.

  Gaius was perfectly fine with a wizard who didn't try to lecture or outsmart him. Gertrude's tight-lipped mood even helped him keep the introductions short when the two of them joined the rest of the group.

  That held right until he introduced the wizard to Victor. Upon hearing Gertrude's name, the northerner squinted and scratched the back of his head. He shot a glance to his wife, then threw his arms up and yelled, "It's you."

  Lifting his arms up like that left the axe Victor was previously leaning on without any support. The thing toppled, landing flat on the tip of Gertrude's leather boot.

  "It's me, indeed. How very perceptive of you, young man," the wizard replied curtly.

  Victor dashed to move his weapon, unceremoniously throwing it aside. Then, he stood up, nearly headbutting Gertrude in the process. "No, I mean I'm your fan. Your guide made me into the adventurer I am today."

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  "I figured as much," Gertrude said. "And I really do hope you're less clumsy around monsters than you are around old ladies."

  "You're not old, you're wise," Victor blurted out. When that resulted in silence settling around their group, he turned to Gaius. "Why didn't you tell me the guide's author lived right here in Siembra?"

  "Where'd you think I got that autographed copy of your precious guide?" Gaius countered.

  "I, well, I didn't think too hard about it. How was I to know the Gertrude had a house in these parts?"

  "It's a tower, actually," Gaius corrected his overly-eager companion.

  Victor examined Siembra's skyline. "I don't see any towers."

  Gaius exchanged an understanding half-smile with Gertrude and said, "Seeing your reaction, I think that's the point."

  All too eager to change the subject, Gertrude focused her attention on Esven.

  "Captain, do accept my sincerest apologies about that business with the kids."

  "Sure. It was all just a big misunderstanding anyway. Nothing to start an incident over." Catching himself talking like this, Esven straightened himself up and waved the question away. "Ah, I'm suspended anyway. Let the magistrate care about that crap."

  "Bureaucracy never disappoints," Gertrude said, "I'm guessing your suspension is to thank for there being just the six of us here instead of an army of constables and priests?"

  "Pah, who needs an army. When Lucius decides to meet us in an open field, then I'll start thinking about an army. Narrow dark tunnels are better suited for a small group of people who know what they're doing. And we can't exactly send adventurers to deal with something this sensitive. Those louts would get sidetracked with looting the place dry and leave their actual job for the last thing to do before retirement. Can't trust them."

  "There's merit in your words, captain, but, and pardon my morbid curiosity here, what happens if we fall before reaching our goal?" Gertrude's question lacked even a hint of concern. In a true Mystlund fashion, she was merely gathering information to better perform her duties.

  "Ah, not to worry, ma'am. Unlike my old boss, I know I'm not infallible. I left an envelope in my office. If we don't come back, whoever takes my place will know exactly what we're dealing with here."

  "And I'm still not sure you should have mentioned the beast," Isabella interjected. "Those not in the know are likely to assume you've gone mad."

  "You're giving my guys too little credit. If anything, once they start ringing all sorts of bells, your higher-ups, the ones in the know, will be sure to get wind of it. And that, along with our untimely and undoubtedly grisly demise, will make them take my warnings seriously. But before that happens, we get the first crack at this thing."

  "I like your determination, captain," Gertrude said. "And I'll support whatever course of action you think necessary, as long as you give me a chance to study our discoveries down there."

  "Depending on what those are," Isabella said. "The tunnels are packed with holy artifacts."

  Gertrude's subsequent cough was directed at Gaius who was standing by the cave's entrance.

  "I already promised Gertrude free reign," Gaius said without turning. "It's all just tools, remember?"

  Isabella's silent nod went against a lot of her teachings, but she was still not in an especially pious mood after her encounter with Lucius. Silent, she joined Gaius by the entrance. On the opposite side of him, Victor and Alessia did the same.

  This left Esven and Gertrude a few steps behind.

  "From what I gathered, this Lucius launched his little invasion from the mountains on the opposite side of the basin. Why exactly are we gathering so far outside Siembra's borders?"

  Esven pointed at the cave's entrance. "I've done my research when searching for Lucius before. This passage gets us deep faster than any other within walking distance from Siembra."

  Gaius responded by waving his outstretched thumb at the warning sign. "What's this, then?"

  "Our lucky break is what it is," Esven said. "We go down here, and we skip past the well-explored caverns frequented by the novices. And the best part is, so soon after an alef night, all the small fry is still hiding. The only things we should concern ourselves with are the big bads. You know, your minotaurs, trolls, maybe a feral vampire or two."

  "This doesn't sound like the best thing to me," Gaius said.

  "Ah, you don't get it. With those things, at least we'll see them coming. And with our town's legion of adventurers still licking their wounds, we'll be unlikely to encounter any opportunists who prefer to hunt the hunters."

  "If you say so." Gaius combined a sigh with a shrug and took the first step past the cave's threshold. "Just do me a favor and let me scout ahead to at least try to avoid all those things you've mentioned."

  Taking point, Gaius made sure his axe, reagent pouch, and emergency potions were all in place. Then, he gave his chest a few light taps. From the side, it looked like he was adjusting his leather tunic. In reality, he was feeling the comforting outline of the tablets. The markings on Lucius' escape tube did a great job convincing him that these things weren't just precious collector's items like his employer led him to believe.

  Gaius may not have been an adventurer by trade, but he was no stranger to exploring dark and menacing places. For what was a treasure hunter if not a thief whose targets have been dead for centuries.

  Story Facts - Chapter 30