A day had passed since Silas's return, a period he used to unwind, before he was due once again in Elise's office. Ever since he had begun reporting directly to her, it was where her work found him, and he expected no different from this visit. Knocking firmly once, twice, he entered and saw Elise and Dom look up to him from their seats, both hunched over the desk with a muddle of maps and scrawled-on notes on its surface. The Black Knight rose and clasped hands with Silas in greeting, pulling over a cushioned chair for him, while the Minister smiled faintly and plucked a handful of papers from her clutter.
"We finished questioning the ratman you brought; he called himself Retil Smallfoot. It was confusing as hell to see your owl dumping him on the roof and flapping away - got us wondering if something had happened to you - but I've gotta say now that your call to bring the ratman here was a great idea," Dom said, warmly clapping Silas's shoulder. "In fact, I say that for your entire mission, mate. Ellie told me the details just now - brilliantly done."
Silas shrugged, although his lips tugged upward at their ends from the praise. Leaning back into his seat, he addressed what he figured was to be this session's main topic. "What did you figure out from interrogating him then?"
Elise flicked through the pages in her hand until she came upon the right one. "He still maintains that their base, which is called Station 32 - AF3, although they more casually refer to it as Ratterinks, only has about two thousand citizens. It also has an unknown number of prisoners of various races that the ratkin are keeping there locked up, apparently for safety reasons but we all know that's a load of bullshit. Its name comes from their mayor Talis Ratter, a high-levelled Bravo, who comes from an influential family. It sounds like Ratterinks is actually just meant to be a training ground for him to prove himself, meaning pretty much the entire base is loyal to his family with the only real political tension there being between Talis's legions of loyalists and the few but worryingly powerful sorcerers."
Leaning forward and peering over the pages himself, Silas had the feeling he had heard the name before and knew at once where to look. He opened up his quests and cringed back, hissing softly through clenched teeth.
Class: Duellist - level 11
Quests: Duel Talis Ratter (E-5), Duel Xe'Hekon (E-5), Duel Floyd Godson (F-1)
Activities: Solo kill E-4s, Solo kill E-5s, Solo kill F-1s
Abilities: Weakness Vision, Harrying Blows, Luminous Land (next ability available at level 15)
Of course, he had guessed earlier that Talis was a nearby ratman, but it was still alarming to see the enemy leader was rated E-5, meaning that he was above level 50 or that he could fight and solo kill opponents at that level - either way, it wasn't a comforting thought. To add to this, it was likely that Xe'Hekon was one of the sorcerers at Ratterinks as well, given the familiar format of the name. With his new sword, Silas reckoned he had a chance against Talis - at the very least he had no chance of running into the same issues as in his duel with Krumtor - but a mage at the same level was a far more fearsome opponent given that they likely possessed spells strong enough to break his mana barrier with ease.
Elise turned a blind eye to the dark cloud drifting over his expression and continued. "Ratterinks is a giant underground base made of hollowed-out labyrinths, so our only way in would be through the tunnels that they control and can collapse, if need be."
"So we can't launch an attack?" Silas asked. If so, that would only lead to a dreadful outcome. The ratkin were like an infected wound in that the longer they left them alone, the more they would fester and ooze until finally popping in a vile explosion of pus and blood.
"Not so because the mycelia presence works in our advantage here," Elise answered. She picked another note from the table. "Originally, the ratkin were meant to roll over the mycelia in a week, at a time where they had over three thousand troops, but nearly all their forays into the fungal grounds have been met with failure, the reasons alternating between the mycelia fighting back too fiercely and the mycelia refusing to die out even in defeat. So far, that's not looking great on Talis's record, so the Ratters are sending another two thousand to come sort the issue. They're said to arrive in about two weeks. If that happens, Talis will have failed in proving himself, and so it's now well known in Ratterinks that he'll pounce on any opportunity he gets to wipe out the mycelia before his time's up."
"And we're going to make use of his impatience to bait him, aren't we?" Silas said, nodding as he began imagining possibilities in his mind.
Dom's open palm slapped against the table. "Exactly. Obviously we haven't figured out the plan yet, but it should come easily if the mycelia co-operate with us."
"Wait, we're actually going to ally with them?" Silas asked with open surprise. He hadn't thought they would be so trusting after the Lyfort incident, nor did he fully agree with their decision; his general disgust and distrust of the mycelia made it hard to even imagine them as allies, let alone commit to it.
Smirking at his reaction, Dom shook his head slowly. "Not a chance. It's one thing for Kore to call the prophet untrustworthy, but it's another thing when even the ratkin acknowledge him as their most wanted enemy. He's far too dangerous and wily to ever faithfully deal with us."
Confusion flashed across Silas's face as he recalled the prophet and how he hadn't felt notable danger from fungal satyr. It made no sense that the ratkin would consider such a person their most wanted when there were people like Foltrus and Dahlia out there in the wild. Fortunately, Elise patiently answered all of his unvoiced questions.
"From what Retil was able to tell us, the mycelia faction as a whole is just composed of the Rooted Prophet and his creations and zombies. That's a faction comparable to the Order of Tyr or even humanity, so you can begin to see why he's such a dangerous creature when you realise he's the only proper sentient one in his faction. The base near us is just one of the many that he controls, but that's not to say he values it any less for that. On all the corners of Idroa, he's fiercely expansionist and aggressive."
"What about the time I saw him, though? I felt like I could have taken him by myself, so he can't be all that, surely," Silas said.
"Likely just a clone," Dom answered, "Honestly speaking, when I was interrogating Retil, the worst things he said weren't about Talis or Ratterinks or whatever, but rather about this prophet. No one knows where his real body is - only that he executes perfect control through his clones and loose control over the rest of his creations. He's regarded as the number 1 from Caen, topping even the Avatars - in fact, apparently there are rumours that he boasts several previous Avatars as zombies, so you can start to guess at what we're working with."
"If he's that strong, he shouldn't be dealing with us," Silas said. Although disbelief still coloured his voice, he knew at heart that they spoke truly from their grim tones and bleak expressions. A chill ran down his spine, and all of a sudden he felt grateful that he hadn't attacked the fungal satyr on sight - the prophet didn't sound like someone he wanted to get on the bad side of.
"Sure he should, just not fairly," Elise clarified. "He'll definitely be looking to wipe out the ratkin here, and then us with their raised bodies. But we're looking to do the same thing, which he no doubt knows. What we imagine will happen is that we'll both have an uneasy alliance dealing with the ratkin, and the second it's over, we'll both turn on each other. Which is why I want you to be our contact there - you're our strongest and sharpest, so the best-suited to dealing with whatever he throws our way."
Frowning to himself, Silas spun the prospect in his mind for a long moment before it came out thoroughly faded. He dragged his hand down the length of his face, stretching it out of shape. "I can't."
She raised a curious eyebrow. "Don't worry, you won't be alone. You'll be leading a group who we're placing there to inspire superficial trust in the prophet."
"It's not that. Remember what I said about the first time I saw the mycelia fighting, the way one of the zombies exploded and the stench from that - my perception will only work against me if I break into a coughing fit at a snap of their fingers. Besides that, I can't even sneak around them; I've done some thinking, and I'm pretty much certain all the mycelia I passed were aware of my presence. No clue how they did it, but there's that."
Elise chewed at her lower lip while her eyes flitted in thought. "I see. You're right - it would be no good if they can disable you in a second. But if not you…" She sighed and exchanged a pointed look with Dom.
The Black Knight shrugged and inclined his head somewhat. "I can do it if you want."
She grimaced and clicked her tongue. "No, we need you leading the army when the time comes - you're the best suited, and it's too important a role to disregard." Suddenly her eyes flashed with light and the lines smoothed from her face. "Ah, Josh."
Both of the men nodded at her name drop. Josh was amongst the strongest in the village, possessed a rare class, and was a frontline fighter who could take punishment and dish it back unlike the vulnerable mages, Mia being the only exception but she was too new a Riverside citizen to have everyone's trust.
"Well, that should be good then," Elise said, turning her attention back to Silas. "How about another recon mission into ratkin territory then? We'll need intel on their base and information about their forces if we're to survive an eventual attack on them."
"Sure, but they would spot me the second I try and sneak in," Silas answered. Even if there were alternate ways in other than the guarded burrows, there was no way he could stay hidden from two thousand ratkin in their base and gather intelligence in addition to that. Perhaps if he had some stealth ability like Ish or Dimas, but that wasn't what his Duellist class was about, so that avenue was closed off too.
"You won't need to hide," Elise said, smiling confidently and leaning back into her seat. "You'll just need some makeup, that's all."