At-level dungeon mobs swarming with plentiful numbers brought a bevy of experience points flowing into Calaf’s coffers. These level rewards were a veritable bounty, despite getting no boost to that class-critical endurance stat.

  Split two ways, Zilara lapped him, gaining two levels to Calaf’s one.

  Another bountiful multi-stat increase across the board. The mid-level doldrums had not hit Zilara yet. Actually, no one was quite sure what Zilara’s ‘custom class’ was meant to be used for. It seemed to be a jack of all trades focusing on rare spellcasting requirements. Like Battlemage but with tertiary boosts to Agility rather than Strength.

  Gold, too, flowed plentifully. Split two ways, it went into the posse’s coffers either way. They’d have more than enough to fund operations for another year after a good clear.

  Many doors were once unlocked and covered by sentries during Paladin Joan’s ill-fated occupation of the fort. All but one path was now well-barricaded. A doorway into a perimeter tower beckoned.

  “Guess they want us to go up.” Zilara motioned to the tower.

  Upward they went. A spiral staircase brought them to the top of the tower… and a minor treasure trove hidden in an unlocked chest.

  There was plenty of medium-strength Duran mail armor to be found. It was not an upgrade to Calaf’s current equipment, but he took as much as could be reasonably carried. There were standard-issue spears in here too. No different than what the enchanted mail dropped down in the bailey.

  “If only we had some kind of spear-hammer thing,” Calaf said, browsing the slots upon slots of simple steel spears. “Do blunt damage without throwing off my stance.”

  “What if you had a spear that had like a cannon in it?” Zilara asked. “That would be neat. You could stab and also explode things.”

  Calaf shrugged. “The force would throw me on my back.”

  Maybe – a big maybe – it was viable under the Interface. Otherwise, Zilara’s idea would be wildly impractical without significant control of the blast. All this high-impact cannoneering would occur right beyond Calaf’s shield. It was more than this simple kite shield could handle, alas.

  Beyond the standard spears and armor, there was a battle skirt of sorts that could work for Zilara. It was meant for adults, but the Interface would fit it for her. Offered a twenty percent across the board defensive boost, good for back end healers and the like.

  “Any cleric robes in there?” Jelena asked.

  Calaf sorted the Inventory, then nodded. “Basic robes, but they’re mid-level.”

  “Get us a few,” said Jelena. “Might need it for a disguise.”

  Calaf took three, then traded them to Zilara to even out Inventory weight distribution.

  At least someone wanted them to start the dungeon fully equipped. During peak season there’d be a line running up the tower with prospective Paladins waiting to receive their Duran-themed equipment.

  Now equipped, the trio backtracked halfway down the tower to a door leading out onto the outermost wall of the fort. Down in the entrance bailey, three reanimated armors patrolled about in a route that would cause them to aggro in on anyone entering the fort through its main gate.

  “Huh.” Zilara nudged her head, motioning down into the courtyard. “Wonder how they came back so soon.”

  Calaf had a theory about that, though it would require additional observations.

  As they stepped out onto the wall, three more animated armors assembled themselves, looking out over the surrounding forest through some arrow loops. They were arranged like they were facing a siege, but the nature of dungeon crawling meant everyone would be hitting them from the flanks. Regardless, the empty armor turned, swords out. An arcing lightning jumped from the nearest foe to the furthest, stunning them all.

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  “All yours now, other Hoss,” Zilara said. “Good luck stabbing to death things what don’t have organs to pierce.”

  Another lengthy shield bash session ensued, during which Calaf used his defensive tool to deal more damage than his spear. Experience flowed. Zilara was one good encounter away from her third level of the run.

  The path was clear to a second tower, looking out over the northern woods. The way up was blocked by a hefty, locked door. No amount of Strength and Endurance-enhanced ramming would break the lock.

  The crew’s goals in Fort Duran here were three-fold: one, run the gauntlet to the top of the tallest tower, acquiring the rampart rubble for Calaf’s eventual rank-up (and Zilara’s rank-up item collection). Second, they needed to continue to search for hidden gospels following in the footsteps of the ancient heroes. Third, they were to use the enemy-dense, compact environs of the fort to raise Calaf and Zilara’s levels as high as possible. To these final two ends, Jelena insisted they stick around in this tower, trying to find any hidden passages up or down the tower. They wasted a good half an hour on this before venturing out the one remaining door running from the north to the east tower.

  A single foe awaited, blocking the narrow path:

  The halberd had twice the reach of these standard-issue spears and ended with a sharp steel axe-head in addition to the pike.

  “Let’s not damage this one too much,” Calaf said. “I want that halberd.”

  The ghostly armor stayed back in a defensive stance. It was waiting for something. Calaf advanced… and the rap was tripped. Arrows flew from the tower ahead, bouncing off Calaf’s shield ineffectively.

  “Watch out!”

  It was Jelena. Something hit Calaf in the mail, lodging itself in his back but not piercing the heavy armor. Still, he took an annoying two points of damage despite dealing no physical harm.

  “There are archers in the other tower!” Calaf cried.

  He swiftly moved to cover Jelena from a second volley. As the lone nonbranded among them, Jelena was by far the most vulnerable member of their party. Wounds that bring a loss of two dozen hit points and mildly debilitating status effects to Calaf or Zilara would be debilitating to Jelena.

  “Well that’s not fair,” Zilara whined. “We can’t get up there behind us.”

  Bashing the reanimated knight down to zero with his shield would take too long while under fire from two high points. They were completely exposed down here.

  Zilara threw lightning spells at the knight, stunning it. Immediately, she frowned.

  “Oh, this one stuns for less than half the time as the others.”

  Arrows meant for Jelena bounced once more off Calaf’s shield.

  “Got an opening,” said Jelena. “Stun him again, then run up the far tower.”

  Ill-timing sent lightning arcing over Calaf’s shoulder as he charged forth. He didn’t want to know how electric damage would negatively affect him in his heavy metal armor. Still, the animated knight was stunned once more. They had their opening. Calaf kept his shield up, blocking arrows as they ran. The archers ahead lost a line of sight on the party past a certain point, meaning only the rear archers could get a bead on them, and the knight, now lagging far behind.

  The stairs up here were unblocked. They rushed up, after ensuring the knight-armor would not pursue into the tower.

  Four bow-wielding enchanted armors awaited, one of them keeping the stairway locked down, which proved futile against the kite shield. Another chain lightning stunned the crowd long enough to drag this door guard down the stairs and shield bash it apart. They got a bow for their trouble and were free to stun, divide, and bash the other three enchanted armors apart at their leisure.

  Another level for Zilara. Calaf still had another handful of kills to go.

  The halberd knight patrolled ineffectually below. Standing here on the east tower left them in range of the northern tower’s archers.

  Calaf was… not built for ranged combat. They had these arrows, for what good it would do to these reanimated armors. What Calaf did have on hand was a bevy of basic spears he’d stocked up on back at that nameless hinterlands settlement. Thrown Spear was a last resort, and Flaming Spear of Faith added no extra damage to this type of enemy. But he kept at it until the pincushioned archers finally collapsed.

  The halberd knight was all that remained. Rather than pelt this one endlessly until it finally collapsed, Calaf hit it with a single spear to draw it close to the tower, then leaped down and landed a gravity-enhanced shield bash attack. The armor flew apart all across the alure with HP dipping into the negatives.

  Calaf looted the halberd while Jelena and Zilara made their way down the tower in the intended fashion.

  An even-keeled weapon that required dexterity as much as strength to use. Calaf swapped it out just as Jelena appeared in the doorway.

  “Got another level?” she asked. “I can tell. You subtly change your body language.”

  Calaf showed off his new spear.

  “With this we should be able to finish off the reanimated armor quicker.”

  “Heh. I don’t think they expect people to enter this dungeon with chain lightning,” Zilara said from within the tower. “Kind of trivializes their whole gauntlet.”

  “Most people are going to be Paladins.” Calaf tested the halberd for weight and balance. “So it makes sense that

  “You’re lucky I’m here,” Zilara said, puffed up.

  “Come. We’ve barely cleared two rooms, and we’re not even inside yet,” Calaf said.

  Another wall along the southeastern perimeter awaited. And with it, stairs down into a back-facing courtyard Calaf had not visited on his first trip here.

  Down in this second bailey, the rank-and-file reanimated spearmen possessed the same abbreviated lightning-stun ability as that halberd knight mere rooms before. Still, now that they were properly equipped, the halberd axe cleaved armor apart, dishing out dozens of hit points per blow just as effectively as the business end of his shield.

  Five enchanted spear-armors littered the floor of this eastern bailey. A door blocking the way to the next bailey opened through some unseen mechanism.

  “Well, we’re making good time now,” Jelena said.

  Calaf looked back over the battlefield. He’d gained a fair amount of experience, but far from enough to level up again. At this pace, he could expect to gain another two levels by the time they reached the tower roof.

  Just then, the animated armor began to stir. Five ghostly soldiers reassembled themselves, their armor partially damaged and their spears missing now that they’d been looted for their spears.

  “Oops. Let’s go before they notice us,” Zilara said.

  “Wait.” Calaf moved towards the newly reanimated armors. “Let’s wait here a bit. We can practice on these things.”

  He suspected the real fight would not begin until they were inside the proper fort interior. Still, if these enemies offered XP each time, and continued respawning…