A chorus of hearty cheers erupted from within the assembly of defenders. Anya grinned at Theo, then swung her hammer down. Every monster within four yards launched into the air, and the Sormer defense surged forward to hack them apart with axes, shovels, picks, and other improvised weapons. Anya charged deeper into the enemy ranks, leaving the stunned monsters in her wake. Theo grit his teeth, wait! I only have 30 mana...

  He couldn't wrestle down his anxiety that the encampment would be destroyed if they left it to the monsters, so he strategically positioned a barricade turret to overlap with his arrow machines. They were already on the verge of running out of time, but at least they could gather up some stragglers and get them within taunt range. The timing would be tight, but Anya was already disappearing into the chaos.

  He lashed out with his axe to quickly reclaim 4 mana, then dashed in behind Anya, doing his best to keep her from accumulating too many opponents. She was like a human magnet for twisted shades. Well, a Sormer magnet, but still. She had only progressed forward by a dozen yards, at best, and she already was already struggling to wade through the attacking shadows. Theo and her recruited Sormer guards were making short work of the monsters, but Theo's worry was spiking as he watched her Health steadily grind downwards.

  Should I just... heal her? She won't know it was me, will she?

  Theo had been sitting on a healing node upgrade ever since he hit level 4. His contracts had pushed him to level 6, but he rarely needed to heal, so he didn't commit to a Basic Skill for his Maintaining ability tree. Now he was faced with a clear use-case. He had read over the choices several times already, so he didn't need to digest them as they popped up before him amid the chaos of battle. He already knew which one would help the most here.

  Basic Skills were meant to be used often, according to Theo's AI assistant, but this one, Serial Coding, was a little different. Theo guessed that it made the healing nodes he could summon into something more like a Basic Skill, with the idea being that he could now benefit directly from summoning multiple nodes. The other two skill options seemed good too. One caused a tick of healing to immediately take effect whenever Theo attacked, and the other let Theo detonate the nodes to cause damage, but stacking heals was the best choice for his unique skill combinations. It would make his barricades much harder to kill, and... his new friend could use some healing as well.

  Unfortunately, Theo didn't have enough mana to really make the most of the upgrade. He sneakily dropped one node behind himself as he dove in to attack the horde surrounding Anya, and it began to heal her as it normally would. His attacks refunded him a point of mana, and he regained another through natural regeneration, but he was three mana short of summoning a second node. Anya's health was still plummeting, but it should be okay, right? No... she's going to die.

  Theo glanced over his shoulder. The path back to the camp was still mostly clear. Anya was distracted, so Theo vaulted a shadowy wolf and got within range of his barricade and arrow turrets. He got in a few swift blows on a massive black jellyfish, then triggered his next Scavenging Blow to get back 4 mana. Perfect! A second healing node popped into his hand and he hurled it with all of his might. It soared over the battle and locked on to Anya. Slowly but surely her health stopped dropping, started to ping-pong, and then stabilized near 20%.

  A wave of orange light pulsed beneath Anya and the monsters were flung away from her. She didn't waste a second of the distraction in rushing towards the event boss. The moment she could see him, a glimmering afterimage of her hammer whipped through the air and crashed into his chest. He staggered to one knee within the ragged opening his assault had created before letting out a ghostly howl and lunging forward with both arms raised.

  Anya ducked under its grasping hug, swung her hammer into his side, then turned back to the dwarves embroiled in the melee behind her, "I've got him! Fall back and defend the camp!"

  "I've got a special delivery for those towers of yours!" She said with an impish laugh in party chat.

  Theo skidded to a halt and did an about-face. Anya was sprinting as fast as her heavy armor would allow, making a beeline towards the heart of the encampment. The giant shadowy form fell to all fours and awkwardly, grotesquely, scuttled behind her. Although it was vaguely shaped like a robed man, its body contorted and warped to help it chase Anya down. It reached forward with seven sharp fingers and wrapped its hand around her waist. She exhaled a surprised, "Oop!" as she was pulled backwards.

  A trio of arrows punched through its arm, followed closely by Theo's rime-crusted axe. A moment later, Anya's hammer cracked it on the elbow, and the monster's arm splattered like ink across the floor. Anya fell into a three-point landing and then rolled forward into the turrets' sphere of influence.

  The boss monster didn't have many abilities beyond summoning monsters and performing a grapple attack, but its normal attacks each did moderate damage. Theo only managed to restore one arrow turret after they expired, luckily getting back another 16 mana from Scavenging as he hacked away at the shadow, then switched entirely to keeping up the healing nodes supporting his party member.

  Their slow and steady damage, combined with the attention of twenty furious dwarves, toppled the shadow boss after three more minutes.

  With a whoop, Anya held her hand out for a high five. Theo slapped her palm with a grin as he shouted every thought that came to his mind, "Wow! An attack by the Spirit Tide! I wonder if anything has changed in the ruins!"

  Anya laughed, "Yeah! Maybe! There's only one way to find out. Plus, didn't you want to do some Expeditions? I want to try one too!"

  Theo nodded, then took a seat on the floor to recover. They watched as the dwarves went back to organizing the, thankfully, untouched tents and supplies. He scanned over them until he saw an open tent that was becoming crowded with wooden tables. Wooden tables covered in maps. Bingo!

  He hurried over with Anya in tow. A frail looking elderly dwarf, a Sormer, stopped unrolling an absurdly massive map of the region to take Theo in. He nodded once, "I know you. The one that's been clearing out Wintercrown, aren't you? Ah, and you've brought along Liotka's helper too."

  "Liotka?" Theo asked.

  "That's the camp's provisioner," Anya answered, "She trained me in Excavation. An important skill for Dwarves, wouldn't you say?"

  "Oh! Yes, very," Theo stammered. I should get that too...

  The older Sormer cleared his throat, "Did you have an interest in our exploratory efforts beyond slaying monsters?"

  Theo stepped forward and bumped into a table, "Yes! I'd love to start doing some real exploring!"

  The old fellow chuckled, "That's what I like to hear. I'm Dulvan, by the by. I've studied many of the original plans for Wintercrown in preparation for this effort."

  Theo's eyes went wide, "I'm Urist. You must know a lot about this place!"

  His mind started to churn. He knew the Sormer people had lost contact with the settlement around 400 years ago, and that it was a prosperous 'hall-city' for a prolonged era before it was wiped out. He had spent most of his time exploring the sprawling residential area around a deep cavern, but he knew there were several wings leading off the main hall that weren't open. What should I ask about first? Wouldn't it be cool to re-open a forge... or maybe an armory will make expeditions easier... Oh! If there's a civic engineering quarter then we could build some real defenses and buildings...

  "I'm, uh, Talie," Anya said as she leaned over a nearby map and pointed at a long rectangle, "Is this where we are now?"

  "Aye, this is the Grand Hall. This was once where all trade was conducted and many merchants from different nations would gather," Dulvan responded.

  "What are these rooms up by the entrance?" Anya asked as she walked her hands towards the edge of the blueprint.

  "Old guard towers. You may not have noticed that the rock formations surrounding the main gate were notched with windows and embrasures. Clever design, that. Approaching enemies wouldn't know where they were being attack from," Dulvan said.

  "Ooh! That's fun, but I suppose that didn't stop those monsters from the Tide..." Anya trailed off.

  "As you say, and now we've need of a defense against what remains below," Dulvan agreed in a somber tone.

  Theo perked up, "Maybe there is something useful in those towers! That seems like a simple introduction into Expeditions!"

  "I hadn't planned on slotting them in, but it is true that they may have something of value. Even if not, they ought to be swept clean in case anything malevolent lingers within them..." Dulvan said with a glance towards a plain door that was a couple dozen yards off from the huge slabs of the main gate, "If you do go up there, see if you can find the gate winch too. We'll be a lot less exposed to the elements if we can close the entryway up."

  "Sounds like we should check it out, huh?" Anya mused as she nudged Theo.

  Yes, we should. Theo accepted the quest, and a wry smile spread over Dulvan's face, "Well then, aren't you two reliable. Good, I'm glad we bothered to bring some capable Sormer along with us. Let me orient you to our Expeditions then."

  He hobbled over to one of the bigger tables, which had a mostly blank map of the fortress laid out across it. The map was held down with a variety of black iron weights of varying shaped and sizes. Dulvan lifted two of them and put them down on the only part of the map that was filled on, The Grand Hall, "As you may know, our goal is to reclaim this once great city in its entirety. It will be a long and difficult task, but I have labored to break down our progress into achievable steps. We've already completed the first by reclaiming this hall. While we create a stable foothold here, I need adventurous types to confirm the accuracy of these ancient maps, clear out the tide's rot, assess the state of the fortress, and prepare the space for use by our people. A daunting task, is it not?"

  Theo nodded, but Anya crossed her arms, "I think we could handle most of that. I'm not so sure about preparing the space, though."

  "You're right to be wary," Dulvan said with a grunt towards her, "One misjudged step leads to a hundred days of hobbling, as they say. We must be careful to approach this task with due caution. I've no doubt you can fight off the beasties hiding in these uncharted spaces, but you must be thorough. Should one escape your notice and kill one of our craftsmen, the cost will be difficult to recoup. Likewise, structural instability, pockets of dead air, and perhaps even traps and sabotage left by these malicious spirits... well, I won't go on and on, but I shall not sign off on occupying these spaces until I am convinced they are safe."

  Theo stroked his beard, "Preparing the space and assessing the safety of it... I'm guessing we're not going to be qualified for those jobs any time soon. Is this where hiring an Expedition Team comes in?"

  Dulvan's eyes flashed, "Know about that, do you? Have you been on Expeditions before? I'd be glad to have someone with a touch of experience under their belt."

  Theo flushed, and held up an apologetic hand, "No, I'm afraid not. Just something I've read about."

  "Ah, well, in that case..." Dulvan directed them towards a pile of unused metal pieces, "We've long used these icons to organize Expeditions. You can freely browse through the specialists available with a touch of the pieces here. I've also had many sleepless nights to consider what we'll have need for on these Expeditions, or as best I could given the outdated reports on the city. I won't let you carry these tasks out without the appropriate team. Worry not about the costs for these mandatory team members, however, as the Crown has already covered their costs. Any additional help will come from your pocket. I'm sure you'll find the compensation more than adequate to cover personnel costs, so don't be too miserly. A failed Expedition yields nothing."

  Theo tapped the end of his rounded nose, "What about for the guard towers then?"

  "You'll certainly need at least one Engineer to assess the supplies and the gate winch, but beyond that I see no need for others to come along. Besides, you'll be a stone's throw away, so come back to me if you encounter something unexpected that needs a trained eye."

  Theo was eager to pore over every detail of the team members and missions available, but he wanted to be considerate of Anya's time. He turned back to her, "Let's start with those towers."

  She nodded, "Might as well get that bonus!"

  Theo reached out to the map and touched the space where the towers would be.

  Yes!