“Renegade?” Jake echoed flatly. “I’m not sure how you’ve come to that conclusion, but I think you’ve missed a few key points. The first of which being the entire occupation of our homeland!”

  “The invasion of our home was approved by the Triarchy as a whole, but there have been inconsistencies since then. Not the least of which is the persecution of classers with Patrons from other Pantheons. The official standing on that is exile, not what we see here.”

  “I suppose that makes the hunter’s actions more understandable,” Alan said, shrugging at the incredulous look Jake gave him. “If they were all working together, it doesn’t make sense. We all agreed on that. We know he’s from outside of Strovia as well, so it makes sense he wouldn’t be part of whatever is happening here.”

  “I suppose so,” Jake said slowly, turning the thought over in his mind with distaste. The idea of anyone in the Triarchy actually helping seemed outlandish, but Alan made some good points.

  “We’ve seen other events that point to this as well,” Gordon said after a few moments. “Little things, for the most part, a lot of which have been centered around this outpost. For example, the commander of the outpost was killed by one of our people over a year ago and the first two replacements to be sent out both suffered fatal accidents in short order. The current commander was promoted directly to the role from elsewhere, rather than going through the usual process.”

  “Wait, you had the commander killed? Why?” Jake asked, shaking his head as he tried to line up all this new information.

  “It was unrelated to all this. He was responsible for the death of several of our members in a botched operation and the only survivor sacrificed themself for revenge. The fatal accidents that plagued his replacements were not our doing, however.”

  “So we have a mysterious outpost that uses too many supplies, which also has Fatesworne activity and might belong to a renegade faction within the Triarchy?” Jake repeated it all back to Gordon flatly before rubbing his face. “Whatever is going on there, I doubt it’s good.”

  “We can agree on that,” Gordon said with a serious expression. “Unfortunately, we lack the numbers to risk any large movements against it without a clear indication of what they’re doing.”

  “Why not? Surely, what we’ve discussed here is enough to know that something is going on beneath the surface?” Alan asked, his brow furrowing in thought. “Anything that involves the Corrupters, Fatesworne and Triarchy together can only be bad.”

  “I have no doubt of that,” Gordon said with a nod. “The problem is that we have limited numbers, and the outpost is a fortified position. Small sabotages can and will be done, but anything larger risks too much. Our leaders will not send our people to die for what could be little more than a supply depot.”

  Jake wanted to argue, to say that there was definitely something more than that happening, but he couldn’t. They just didn’t know enough, not yet. Maybe not ever.

  Sitting back in his chair, Jake sighed and rubbed his eyes, turning it over in his mind as he considered the problem.

  On the one hand, it was a simple issue. They couldn’t do anything to a full outpost alone, and the resistance couldn’t risk helping without knowing more.

  Jake said as much to the others, only to shrug helplessly when they asked how he intended to go about fixing that particular issue.

  “Perhaps we should simplify things,” Gargan said thoughtfully, drawing the attention of the room. Seeing the expectant looks, the caster nodded to Jake. “Jake needs his final Dungeon. We should decide what Dungeon to do and complete it. If we come up with a plan in the meantime, then all the better.”

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  Aspen nodded sagely. “Somewhat aggressive and lacking in nuance. I like it.”

  “There’s only one problem with that,” Jake said, turning to look over at Nepthys. “Unless you’ve managed to kill a handful of Corrupters without the rest of us knowing?”

  “Sadly, I wasn’t able to squeeze that in between delves,” Nepthys said dryly. “Don’t let that hold you back, though. If needs be, I can stay here while the rest of you move on. Once you’re gone, the activity will likely slow down and I’ll be able to gather information for my family.”

  Jake nodded reluctantly, very much not a fan of that particular plan. He understood that it needed to be something they talked about, but the idea of leaving Nepthys behind sat poorly with him.

  If he was being honest with himself, so did the idea of moving on and leaving all this mess for other people to fix. Not that Jake had any particular idea of how he’d go about fixing all this, or even what the true problem was.

  He just didn’t like running away from a fight.

  “We should get that final Dungeon,” Nepthys said after a few beats of silence. “Once we have that, we can either come up with a new plan, or accept that we’re out of our depth.”

  Jake hesitated as the others agreed, before finally giving a tight nod and committing them to the plan.

  “Alright,” Aspen said, clapping his hands together with forced enthusiasm. “So what Dungeon are we thinking of?”

  “Is there a Dungeon that you’re familiar with that you’d recommend?” Alan asked, glancing between Aspen and Gargan. “Somewhere easy to get to would be ideal.”

  “Somewhere we’ve done before?” Aspen echoed, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully before pausing as he saw Jake reach out to tap the map with a grin. “Jake?”

  “Somewhere familiar, with easy access,” Jake said, tapping the map once more. “I know just the place.”

  Nepthys leaned forward to see where he was pointing before blanching and giving Jake an incredulous look. “You can’t be serious. They’d be on us in minutes!”

  “But that’s the beauty of it,” Jake said, fighting to hold back the slightly manic grin that was spreading across his face. “No one will expect it, after all, we’d have to be mad to go back.”

  “Wait, where are you talking about?” Alan asked, looking confused and concerned in equal measure.

  “Casthorpe,” Jake said, tapping the map a final time for emphasis. “We’re going to go finish what we started.”

  Alan blinked rapidly, seemingly struck for words, while Aspen and Gargan shared a confused expression.

  “What’s so special about Casthorpe?” Aspen asked carefully.

  “It’s the first second tier Dungeon we tried, and it was where the seeker caught Nepthys. It’s also fairly close to Fextran and is a good hub for roads. Not to mention that the resistance has a presence there, right, Gordon?”

  Gordon nodded reluctantly. “We do, but it isn’t as strong as it was. They went through the area pretty hard after you left.”

  “Something is better than nothing,” Jake said firmly, turning back to the others with a questioning look. “I’m not going to force the issue, but I think it’s as good an option as we’re going to find.”

  “You’re thinking of the fire Dungeon, aren’t you?” Alan asked thoughtfully. “I’ve got to admit, it’s tempting to go back there now that I’ve almost reached the third tier. Just to see first hand how much we’ll change, if nothing else.”

  “I think it’s risky, but at this point, perhaps risky is what we need,” Nepthys said next, giving Jake a nod.

  Grinning, Jake turned to Aspen and Gargan, who both nodded without hesitation.

  “There we go, then. Casthorpe it is,” Jake said, getting to his feet and rubbing his hands together. “Let’s head off first thing in the morning.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Aspen said, getting up with a yawn. “I’m going to go make some food.”

  Jake nodded and excused himself, heading out to the front of the safehouse where Ari had gone back to his usual seat.

  “You heard all that?” Jake asked, sitting down next to the older man.

  “Yeah. Casthorpe, eh?” Ari chuckled before taking a long swig of his drink. “A bold choice, and not one that they’ll be expecting.”

  “Are you going to come with us?” Jake asked softly, struggling with the question more than he’d anticipated.

  “I’ll come with you,” Ari said, not turning to meet Jake’s eyes. “I’ll be with you all to the end, however we get there.”

  Jake sat silently for a few long moments, trying to think of the right words, before getting up and heading back inside.

  At least Ari had participated with Gordon, that felt like a victory of some sort. Jake just wished it was enough to help him get through to Ari.

  It would take them several days to reach Casthorpe, hopefully being back on the road would do its part to bring the old Ari back.

  Jake had a feeling that they’d need him if they wanted to do more than immediately flee to another Realm.