The group stood on top of a roof overseeing the large barracks. In the center was a bonfire, giving light and warmth, surrounding it were the four buildings.
They could see a few guards walking on the barracks walls, patrolling around with pikes and bows. Inside, a large group of soldiers rested together.
Down below on the streets surrounding it, Colton could see groups of soldiers wandering around with their own torches.
The only entrance inside was a metal gate, but it was closed shut.
"Similar to the barracks in our kingdom." Calliope remarked, while looking further, Colton could see the similarities.
They continued looking at the area for a few more minutes, examining patrols and possible areas to go through.
Once done, Calliope turned to them.
"The area is highly secured, an infiltration would prove to be difficult. Our best chance is finding a suitable area on one of the sections of the wall and head down under disguise. We cannot risk being caught, thus when the mission may go wrong, we will escape. For this we only require a team to go inside and a team to wait outside in case of needing an escape." Calliope finished explaining, everyone nodded their heads, understanding the plan.
Once done, she began assigning tasks to the team.
Same as before, Colton and Quill were ordered to follow her while the rest stayed on the rooftop.
"Exercise utmost caution." Calliope reminded them, and with that, the mission began.
Blue clouds of smoke appeared around the 3, once it disappeared, their mission has begun
Quill spotted a part of the wall they could scale, manned by just a small group of soldiers.
Immediately they slowly descended, out of sight of the torch light and patrols.
Once near the wall in a dark blind spot, they hastily began climbing up, hoping the cover of night kept them hidden on the wall.
Colton peeked his head ever so slightly over the top, checking if any guards were close by. His fear immediately spiked as a squad of soldiers walked past in front of him. He pulled his head back down in fear, turning to Calliope, waiting for a signal.
She peeked her head up for a brief moment before pulling it back down. "The patrol is far enough, let's go." At the same time, the 3 pulled themselves up to the wall. They could hear the chatter of soldiers below accompanied by the crackling fire.
"We have four buildings to enter, an armory, a food storage, a sleeping quarters, and the command building. We may need to change disguises from time to time if we are prevented from entering, or have to resort to less favorable ways to enter." She explained.
"We will start with the armory." They walked down from a nearby stone staircase, to the dirt ground. The soldiers near the campfire began singing loudly, providing an opportunity to infiltrate easily.
After a few more steps, they arrived at the armory. The way inside was through a locked door.
"Locked…" Calliope sighed. While thinking of what to do next, Quill walked towards the lock and held it. As the voices of the singing soldiers rose, she yanked it off. To the surprise of Calliope.
"It's now unlocked." She responded with a sly tone. They hastily walked through, shutting the door behind them.
The air felt warmer than the outside, torches and candles were lit around the large room. Racks carrying metal armor, shields, melee weapons, and bows with filled quivers hanging next to them. Stored in an organized manner around the room.
In front of the group was a small desk
"Hopefully those guards won't see the lock. I'd say we have a few minutes to check around." Quill cautioned them.
The team wasted no time searching the area. Trying to find any books or the weapon Myo wanted.
In minutes their search came to an end, finding just five books placed on the desk.
"These ones are not so useful to us, more suitable for blacksmiths or armory keepers." Calliope sent the books to her storage after speaking.
They left once everything had been checked and made their way to the next building. The food storage.
The building was the smallest of the four, with a chimney and a slanted roof.
Calliope slowly opened the door, even through a tiny gap, a powerful scent of food hit their noses.
Once inside they gained a full view of what lay inside and what caused the smell.
Shelves that nearly reached the ceiling were filled to the brim with a mix of vegetables, fruits, meats, containers full of herbs, spices, and sacks with flour and sugar. A small oven and cooking pot sat at the corner
Colton and Calliope immediately went to work, but Quill was stuck in place, her mouth open while staring at the shelves.
They inspected each shelf and container, hopefully finding a book. Quill though began grabbing some of the food admiring them as if stuck in a trance from the smell.
"Quill, search for books, stop inhaling the food." Calliope ordered in a clear harsh voice. The sentence snapped Quill out of her trance.
"I'm sorry, leader, just never seen this much food in a single place." She replied. Soon she joined them in searching the area, although stopping periodically to stare at the food, she went on until they searched everything.
In the end they only found four books.
"These ones may have a possibility to aid us. Half of these are cookbooks while the others are just for food preservation." Calliope explained. After a moment, the books were sent to the storage, disappearing from her hands
On their way out, Quill was again stuck in place. Staring at the shelves.
"Food…" She mumbled to herself. Calliope slowly understood what was wrong.
"Quill, if we manage to complete the mission without any problem nor delay. We can go back to the market for food." Quill suddenly turned around after hearing the last few words.
"Yes leader! Let us begin moving!" Her whole demeanor seemed to change in an instant.
Outside, they moved to the next target, the sleeping quarters.
The sleeping quarters had two floors and nearly the same height as the command building.
"There may be people sleeping so be careful."
The room was filled with individual beds placed near one another on both sides of the room, leaving a path from the doorway towards a stairwell ahead.
They walked forward to the staircase, looking at each bed for a book. But all of it was empty.
They reached the stairs and began walking to the top, with each step they could hear the ear piercing creaks of the wooden boards.
At the top, a circle window on the other end shined moon light into the room, partially illuminating the entire place.
Calliope started collecting a few books she managed to see while the other two wandered the room.
In the end, they only found two. Calliope's face was disappointed, seeing the books to give no value to the team. But held hope it may help the kingdom.
"Just books on cleaning methods, sleeping, and tidying. Maybe I should keep these." With the books now sent to her collection, they began going down. But through the window, Quill saw something. She quietly signaled to the two on what she's looking at.
Upon getting near the window and looking down, he saw the barracks leader. Standing in front of the group of soldiers near the campfire.
He wore shiny and bulkier armor compared to the lesser armored soldiers, who were now standing formation in front of him. Behind the leader were a small group of guards, also wearing more protective armor, resembling knights.
He was talking to the soldiers but Colton couldn't hear what he said. On his waist, they saw the sword Myo wanted, shining from the campfire light and moonlight.
"Well, he is here. That is good." Quill commented.
After a minute, he stopped talking, and began walking to the last building they haven't went to yet. The Command building.
"Since it's the command building. I assume only higher ranked soldiers may enter inside. So we need to be cautious and change disguise if needed. Let's move." Calliope led the two out of the sleeping quarters.
The soldiers outside were smaller in number as the rest began patrolling the roofs.
The two made their way towards the command building. The largest of the four.
It was heavily reinforced with thick wood and smooth stone walls, the entrance was open but protected by four guards.
"Just as expected." She led the two to a darker area of the camp, her hand starting to glow.
While in the dark, a blue cloud covered them, and a second after their outfits changed. Now donning the armor of the guards that escorted the leader.
"Our only problem is stumbling upon the guards we disguised as. Hopefully we do not." The three made their way to the entrance, the guards in the entrance barely turning their heads to look at them as they stepped inside.