B4 Chapter 422: Recap, finale

Walking across the frontier, Kaius enjoyed the warm summer air as he gathered his thoughts about how he wanted to continue their story. Glossing over his first delve and the missions of the Guild had been easy, but there was so much to cover about their most recent adventure that he didn’t quite know where to start.

Almost offhandedly, he wondered what any onlookers would think if they saw them — three Golds, eight Silvers. Practically an army in this part of the world. People might watch with curiosity, succumb to anxiety, and then flee.

The conversation didn’t just stop because he was distracted.

Ro was suspicious of his brief description of how they had made it into the Depths.

“How did the lot of you even find an entrance when you were fleeing for your lives?”

“It took a fair few hours,” Kenva replied. “Between Kaius’s ocular skill and mine, we kept an eye out for the glow of mana until we spotted one. It was off a cliff in the middle of a river, which I thought was a little… dangerous. Kaius was rather gung-ho about us jumping in.”

Ro narrowed her eyes at him. “I bet he was. Tell me, Kaius, what layer was this delve?”

Kaius gave her a weak smile. “Twenty-five.”

She knew, and he knew, she wasn’t going to like that. No chance in all the hells. Her right eyebrow twitched.

“And you were what level?”

“A hundred, or thereabouts,” he answered.

Ro took a deep breath, rubbing her brow. “In all the gods’ graces, what in the hells possessed you to think that was a good idea?”

“We didn’t really have much other choice,” Ianmus insisted. “That beast swarm was immense. We had dozens on our tail, and we were pretty damn sure we’d been hit by a tracking curse when we’d broken into Old Yon’s vault. We needed to get down there fast. That was the only option we had.”

Hearing Ianmus say it was necessary seemed to mollify her. She had always treated the mage as the responsible one of their group, at least in comparison to Kaius and Porkchop. She did, however, give Kenva a questioning look — as if to confirm the truth of the matter.

She shrugged and nodded.

“Hang on just a minute there, lad,” Rieker interjected. “What’s this here about a vault? Is that where you guys collected your gear from, Kaius?”

He had forgotten to mention that. Not intentionally, but with how much there was to cover, it had slipped past him.

“Ah, yes. I was able to track my blade after they confiscated our belongings. After we broke in and disabled its defenses, there was a flash of light and mana from something I missed. I suspected it was a tracking curse or something similar. Regardless, we made out with quite the haul. Most of it we’ll be looking to get back to its rightful owners, or sell if that is impossible.”

“What did you find?” Ro asked.

“Five storage rings filled with an assortment of tier-one artifacts — art, wine, and other random finery; toxins and drugs, and a fair amount of coinage, too.”

He didn’t see the harm in sharing what they’d found. The Guild worked from the principle of ‘you keep what you kill’. No doubt the art, jewellery, and artifacts would be checked to see if they had been stolen, but what he truly valued — the rings themselves and the simple currency — was incredibly unlikely to be traceable. It would likely be the same for the artefacts too.

Rieker presented a similar opinion when he was asked. Kaius shared some rough details about the artifacts, their rarities, and the like.

“Mostly Rare, you say. Well… if we can’t find the owners, then the Guild will be happy to help you liquidate some of those artifacts. Toxins and drugs — even the nasty ones — can still find new use as reagents or tools for hunts and delves. Regardless, we can save the fine details for a later day. You were talking about your delve?”

Nodding, he turned back to Ro. “You’re right that it was dangerous. It pushed us to our limits, even with all of our advantages. The first biome was desert-like, mostly populated by rare elite depthsborn — we grew quickly because of that danger, though. In the first biome we ignored all champions and guardians and pushed laterally, roughly heading towards Deadacre. Still, we ended up with a close call as we rushed through a transition zone — that was one of our first honours of the delve.”

Excited, Bronwyn’s team perked up, but Ro raised her hands. “We can save a discussion of the details and specifics of honours for another day — we are still planning how best to spread it through the Guild.”

The Silver team looked pained, but they nodded their agreement, holding their tongues — something Kaius was glad for.

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Detailing their traversal through the Godsmaw Jungle, their second biome — and where they faced off against Kolnirs and Porkchop had been poisoned by root borers — Kaius held his audience in rapt attention. He described their surprise fight with the champion Old Thousand-Eyes, which had ambushed them as they crossed one of the underground jungle’s many waterways. From there, he brushed over their fight with the giant turtle Champion and hurried his tale to when they crossed into the final biome.

He paused for a moment, slowing his steps as he thought back to his first moments on those snow capped peaks. That first tug towards the Crucible Guardian had been a surprising one.

“One of mine and Porkchop’s honours allows us to sense the location of the biome’s guardian. It’s immensely helpful, but in this case it only led to confusion when we sensed two.”

“Two?”