After eating lunch, Lucan and Silent decided to descend the astrology tower.
"Master, I will faithfully guard this formation for the next 2 days." The Pixie said as they were about to set off.
"Huh, why not longer?" Lucan asked.
"The mana crystal you supplied me with will only last that long."
Since the formation now had a guardian, the mana consumption rate increased more than 3 times.
"Alright take these." Lucan said while tossing several mana crystals the size of a coin into the center of the formation. Mana crystals was one thing he did not lack right now.
"Thank you Master. I will serve you for the next 20 days."
Lucan nodded, satisfied with the new time frame. He and Silent began to head down the stairs.
"Did you find anything useful when you were looking around earlier?" He asked.
"Not really, this tower is pretty deserted. I did see some of the kobold's movements through the windows, but I already let Shifty know. Has Little Brown found anything?"
"Nope, he is almost at the ground floor."
Lucan and Silent passed by the room they entered the tower through, stopping to see how the battle was going outside.
The fight was no longer an all-out brawl. Sturdy Willow and his people were held up behind earthen mounds since the kobolds had decided to stop charging to their deaths. They now had a few makeshift battlements in place while archers and mages fired at Sturdy's troops from the lower level windows.
Sturdy didn't seem to be concerned about being pinned down. He was giving the melee fighters a chance to rest while his own archers and spell slingers were returning damage to the kobolds at a distance. If it really came down to it, he could back out of the gate with the rest of the Willow organization.
Lucan and Silent continued downward when Lucan cursed. "Damn it."
"What is it?"
"I know why we haven't seen anybody in this tower." He replied with a sigh.
After the reach the ground floor Silent saw Little Brown waiting for them before a collapsed passageway. Rubble and broken stone blocked the path.
Silent laughed. "Why are you upset? This is perfect."
Lucan gave her a confused look.
She knelt down towards Little Brown. "Try and crawl your way through and if no one is around, help your dummy of a master cast a shadow tunnel on the other side."
Lucan's eyes lit up while he smiled. "Ha, ha, yes, yes, I was about to suggest that."
Silent chuckled and shook her head but didn't call him out on his lie.
Little Brown slowly worked his way through 10 feet of debris to find a hallway with a door closed on the far end.
"Perfect." The warlock muttered to himself while casting the spell through his familiar. When he was done, he cast another on his side of the room.
Silent and Lucan stepped through the tunnel and approached the door. She couldn't hear anything on the other side and Lucan didn't see any heat signatures nearby. They slowly opened the door to find an empty courtyard.
The courtyard was scattered with beast pelts. There were several piles of ash where campfire had previously burned. Some still had empty pots held above them. In one of the corners was piles of various bones, probably the remains of dinner.
Silent merged into Lucan's shadow and spoke telepathically. 'This must be where some of the kobolds rest and sleep. It looks like this courtyard could easily house 400.'
Lucan nodded to show his agreement. They poked their heads into a few of the rooms around the courtyard only to fine broken armor and discarded trash. One of the rooms they found unfortunately was filled with fecal waste. Inside was a smell that Lucan never wanted to experience again.
When they left the room, Lucan heard noises coming from the other end of the courtyard. He stood still and entered stealth to see almost 50 worn out and tired kobolds enter the area.
He slowly worked his way around the perimeter of the courtyard and exited through the door that remained open.
With two directions to go, Lucan turned right and moved towards the center of the fortress. After several steps he froze with Silent's warning and slowly turned his head to look back.
A wolf sized creature on four legs and covered in scales was sniffing in their direction. A long tongue flicked out of its dragon like snout and licked the air. It was a wingless drake.
Lucan saw that it was a level 120 Elite. With a sturdy tail capable of smashing a tree, razor sharp claws that could slice through bone, and a bite that was capable of taking chunks out of shields, it was not something Lucan wanted to mess with. Of course, you also had to watch out for its breath attack.
If kobolds were the grunts of dragon society than wingless drakes were the guard dogs. Both obedient and territorial, they were always loyal to their master and often used to guard or patrol. It also confirmed that the fortress housed at least one mid-level or high draconic being. No mater how impressive or magnificent a kobold was, a wingless drake would never serve one and have it as its master.
As the wingless drake moved closer to them with its eyes locked on the spot where they were hiding, Little Brown dashed out of Lucan's pocket and lost the benefit of stealth. The mouse sprinted down the hallway as fast as its little legs could carry it.
The wingless drake instantly pursed, running straight past Lucan and Silent. They changed their direction and began to head towards the outside of the fortress instead of following Little Brown deeper in.
After 5 minutes Lucan received a notification.
[Your familiar has died.]
He wasn't a fan of sacrificing his pets, but he didn't have any other option. Little Brown surprised Lucan with how long he could evade the Wingless drake. The mouse was also able to see many things before his demise.
Lucan promised himself he would give the mouse enough honey tonight that the little guy could bath in it if he wanted to.
Since he was now familiar with the heat signature of a wingless drake, Lucan was able to lead them through the outskirts of the fortress and avoid the scaled menaces that would cause them issues with their superior sense of smell.
They scouted several areas and counted many Kobolds and wingless drakes while moving through the front of the massive fortress. With night coming soon, they made their way back to the astronomy tower. Even after spending all day slowly working their way through the fortress, the two only managed to scout a quarter of the outer area.
When Lucan arrived back at his formation the Pixie greeted him. Silent appeared behind him and tried to make friends with it while Lucan began to cast another shadow tunnel. By the time he was done the sun was gone from the sky.
Since Silent's shadow stalker ability was still on cooldown she waited in the formation while Lucan mounted his broom. He filled it with mana and shot out the window and over the wall, quickly flying to the willow base camp.
Before meeting up with Sturdy, he connected the shadow tunnel so Silent could come back to camp. Once he received a telepathic communication letting him know that she was on her way he headed towards the command tent.
"Lucan, good you're here." Sturdy said after seeing him enter.
"Is Miss Night not with you?" Shifty asked.
"She will be here soon." He replied before disclosing all the information they had gathered.
"So these shadow tunnels will let us bypass the walls and directly enter the fortress? We can use these to initiate a two-pronged attack." Shifty said excitedly.
"I am more concerned with the wingless drakes." Said Sturdy. "We already had 5 players die today. Thankfully our priests were able to react quick enough and revive them within the time limit but if one of those wingless drakes catch us by surprise, we could begin losing players in large numbers."
"This may be a bit more difficult than we thought." Shifty said. "Apparently an elder ghoul in the graveyard is also going to be a tough customer."
"I am only leading the C team for this excursion. Once I return to our main players you will be the one leading Shifty. I want to see if you have what it takes. Come up with some ideas and you will take command tomorrow. I strongly suggest you deal with the elder ghoul as soon as possible."
"Yes boss. I will get on it." Shifty said before turning to one of his subordinates. "Find Virtuous Willow and tell him to come report on the difficulties the paladin brigade faced while cleansing the graveyard."
Shifty turned to another subordinate and started giving out more commands. With Sturdy giving him control he sent out numerous orders so he could try to get the clearest picture of what they would face tomorrow. He had to look good in front of both the boss and the customer.