Chapter 97: The Final Plan
Golden Axe did not enter the Dread Fort again until Matthew believed they could reach Kildra with energy left to spare.
For three weeks, the party practiced pieces of the attempt.
They fought the throne-room encounter in the arena until each member understood what the others would do when Kildra’s fire moved. They rented a stone yard near the Undercity and built a wooden frame matching the inner portcullis measurements. They carried their full supplies through the Sanctuary hills to discover which bags slowed them and which tools could be reached while someone was shooting at them.
Most importantly, they stopped treating the journey to Kildra as a collection of fights.
It was a problem of time and strength.
Kesh spread his map across a private room in the tavern. Tessa stood beside him while Min placed a second sheet over the section showing the underground gatehouse.
The mage’s drawing showed the portcullis groove from above and from the tunnel side. She had added the depth of the trench, the thickness of the repaired mortar, and the height she had lifted the corner during Five Knots’ attempt.
"The old wall will resist you." Min told Golden Axe’s mage. "Do not waste power on it. The gray repair line is newer stone. Separate that from the original blocks and the groove loses support."
"How much room do we need?" Matthew asked.
The shield-bearer lay flat on the tavern floor with his shield resting on his back. A serving woman opened the door, looked at him, and quietly closed it again.
"Three feet." he said.
"Two and a half if you remove the supply frame." The tracker said.
"I am not taking my armor off to crawl beneath a gate."
Kesh marked three feet.
The wedges and pry bars from the first attempt had been useful. They had also required three people to remain within arm’s reach of the gate while the mage spent one of her strongest spells lifting it.
The replacement waited in the yard outside.
Two dwarven lift-builders had constructed a folding screw jack meant for collapsed mine supports. Its base separated into three pieces for transport. A narrow iron tongue fit into a gap barely wider than a hand. Once assembled, two people could turn the side cranks and raise far more weight than they could lift with bars.
It was not fast.
The first version also did not work.
Golden Axe assembled it beneath the wooden portcullis frame, applied pressure, and watched the entire base slide backward across the yard. The gate rose less than an inch. Matthew and the tracker fell over the cranks, while the dwarven builders began arguing about friction.
Min ended the argument by pointing at her drawing.
"The real trench is stone." She said. "The base will slide there too."
The builders added two folding teeth that bit into shallow holes in the floor. Golden Axe could not drill those holes while under fire, so the mage practiced creating them with two precise pulses of stone magic. The next test lifted the frame but bent the jack’s narrow tongue.
That failure produced a thicker tongue made from layered dwarven steel. It weighed twice as much.
The party removed two spare weapons, a cooking kit, and half its ordinary camping supplies to make room. Dread Fort contained no long rests, so those items weren’t necessary. Carrying equipment meant for one would only make the gate harder to reach.
The third version raised the replica three feet and held it there.
No one called the problem solved. The real portcullis was heavier, undead would be firing through it, and the party would have only one attempt to assemble the device correctly.
That was why the party also brought wedges, a mallet, and a portable mantlet (Large portable movable shield normally used during a siege). The mantlet folded against a carrying frame during the run. At the gate, its iron-bound panels opened into an angled wall large enough to protect the jack team from the firing slits.
"It will stop bolts." One of the builders said when Matthew inspected it. "It will slow magic. If you expect it to stop everything, bring a coffin instead."
"The dungeon has plenty." Kesh joked when Matthew told him what the builder said.
Golden Axe rehearsed the gate crossing until every member could perform it without discussion.
The tracker and Matthew assembled the jack. The mage weakened the false repair blocks and raised a low stone lip beneath the iron tongue. The shield-bearer anchored the mantlet. The healer watched the entire line rather than waiting for someone to call her.
Once the gate reached the mark, the shield-bearer crossed first.
Matthew followed to secure the inner side. The healer went third, the tracker fourth, and the mage last. A release cord connected to the jack’s retaining pin. The mage would pull it after crossing, sacrificing the mechanism and allowing the portcullis to fall between the party and anything approaching from behind.
The order mattered. They practiced until nobody had to remember it.
They practiced the failures as well.
If one crank jammed, Matthew would turn alone while the tracker cleared it. If the mantlet lost a panel, the shield-bearer would angle his own defense across the opening and the healer would move closer. If the jack stopped below three feet, they would add the pry bars and preserve every fraction with wedges.
If the breach failed, they would keep working with bars and wedges until they opened the gate or the attempt ended around them. Their contingencies existed to keep that ending from arriving while another useful option remained.
Tessa timed every rehearsal. Kesh changed the order of the practice attacks so Golden Axe could not rely on knowing which problem came next. Min sometimes declared one block of the replica unresponsive, forcing the mage to adjust without weakening the wrong support. With both the Golden Axe and Five Knots working and planning together, they were determined to succeed.
The final test took less than half the time of the first successful one.
The burial road required the same discipline.
The sentinels repaired themselves if left within the alcove light. The preparation-room guardian needed only one hand on the bell rope to wake the tunnel. Golden Axe assigned the tracker to the rope, the shield-bearer to the guardian, and Matthew to anything that tried to reach either of them. The mage would save her largest spells. The healer would not repair an injury that a potion or bandage could manage while they moved.
"The first bell is our responsibility." Matthew said. "The gatehouse alarm is not. Once it rings, we assume every defender in the keep is moving."
Kesh traced the route above the gate.
His map still ended near the inner stairs, but Golden Axe had added what they learned from their own first attempt. The central stair was shortest. Two western intersections could be sealed. The gallery above the old armory offered a narrow route that prevented larger groups from surrounding them.
They would not enter side rooms. They would not search for another secret. They would not pursue injured undead or stop to collect anything that was not part of Kildra’s reward.
"You are planning to run past most of the fortress." Tessa said.
"Yes."
"That is pretty risky, and has potential to end horribly."
"Only until we close the next door. We will act quick and cut off their chase route."
The grave knights outside the throne room could not be avoided. Golden Axe practiced against the arena versions, then practiced bracing the throne-room doors immediately after defeating them. The tracker carried two iron clamps sized for the door handles. The mage prepared stone anchors that could be fixed to the floor without consuming the power of a full wall.
The barrier did not need to last forever.
Nothing in the plan did.
On the night before the attempt, Matthew met the same four members who had entered with him before: the shield-bearer, healer, mage, and tracker. He offered each of them one last chance to reconsider.
Other members of the Golden Axe guild had volunteered. Some possessed stronger individual skills. One mage had more raw power than the woman Matthew selected, and two defenders carried shields with better enchantments.
Matthew refused to replace anyone for a number on a status screen.
The five people at the table had already discovered how Kildra moved them apart. They had failed together, practiced together, and learned the gate-crossing order until each could continue if Matthew was the first person injured. Bringing a stronger stranger into the formation would exchange known weaknesses for unknown ones.
That was not preparation. It was gambling.
The healer looked at him across the tavern table. "You asked that before the first attempt."
"The first attempt proved how bad this can become."
"It also proved we can reach him."
The mage placed both hands around her cup. "I used almost everything at the gate because we were improvising. Tomorrow I will not be."
The tracker tapped the folded map inside his coat. "We are so close to beating the level and securing some loot. I am not backing out now."
The shield-bearer said nothing. He set his newly reinforced shield against the table. A strip of dark metal covered the edge Kildra had broken during the first attempt.
Matthew accepted that answer.
They slept.
The following morning, Five Knots waited near the Level Four arch. Kesh handed the tracker one final copy of the route. Min gave the mage a small chisel marked with the depth of the repaired mortar.
"Do not cut beyond that line." she said. "If the old block breaks inward, it may pin the jack instead of freeing it."
Tessa looked at Matthew. "Bring back a better map."
"We plan to bring back the clear."
Golden Axe checked every strap, tool, potion, and release cord. Matthew placed his hand against the arch.
Elsewhere in the Sanctuary, Max’s dungeon menu dinged with a quiet notification.
[Party Golden Axe has entered Dread Fort.]
Anna’s clipboard displayed the same record. Like Max she had set a notice for the Dungeon Core to alert her when this group took action since they were the most likely clear level 4.