Hirrus was shocked. The trio of fools led Hirrus right to a building that was reminiscent of Last of the Strong’s guildhall. It wasn’t surrounded by a high wall, however, but a wrought iron fence.

Through it, he saw a huge mansion.

It was larger than Last of the Strong’s, but was much more reasonably sized than what he’d just seen from Intricacy. Three stories tall, with a sizable addition on the east side, surrounded by neatly trimmed topiaries in the shapes of fearsome monsters.

The front door to the mansion had a wide stone walkway stretching to the gate in the fenced perimeter. Hirrus felt like he knew what guild this would be as he approached, and when the three adventurers he was trailing led him to the gate, his suspicions were confirmed. At the top of the gate the iron bars were artfully arranged to form letters, proudly announcing the guild’s identity: Battle Orders.

In between the two words was a delicately carved iron figure of a muscular man holding a disproportionately large greataxe over his head.

At that confirmation, Hirrus had to adjust his estimation of the three adventurers who had blundered their way into revealing their guild’s location. This guild held the stronger combatants of the three he would be seeking out. This entire guild was supposed to be on the same order of coordination and organization as the team that had cornered him in Orlina’s home and nearly brought his rampage to an end. But in terms of raw power, these were supposed to be the cream of the crop. So powerful that they had no fear of broadcasting their identity and location right on the front gate of their guild hall.

In his estimation, as much stronger as Last of the Strong was compared to Intricacy, Battle Orders would be that much more formidable than Last of the Strong had been. It was possible that despite their foolish behavior, the three adventurers he was following could put up a serious fight if they had stood their ground instead of “cheesing it” at the sight of him.

Behind the gate was an additional familiar sight. A pair of sentries flanked the gate from the inside, and Hirrus knew he wasn’t going to be following any farther than the edge of the estate grounds. They were not adventurers, but they were mercenary guards, with armor in an insect-like style he’d seen before.

His authority as a town guard was not going to get him past these mercenaries, and he suspected there would be plenty more, either within the manor or patrolling the grounds yet-unseen. His stealth would likely be short-lived if he blundered into the area under their watch.

Without a way to evade the guards, Hirrus was forced to lurk outside of the estate grounds, watching the adventurers he’d followed hurry to the front door and disappear inside.

Hirrus’s options were greatly limited. He could certainly attempt a frontal assault, but his confidence in such an attack was very low. Approaching head-on and giving them all the warning their guards and alarms could give would put his foes at the advantage. Considering that he was already worried about how powerful these foes would be, it seemed wise to seek even footing at worst.

It seemed wiser to follow the attack pattern that he had laid out for himself against Last of the Strong. He surely would have fallen against Orlina’s raiders if he had faced them at full force, but Orlina was not present, the man who had borne the icy greataxe was already felled, and the greatsword-wielding woman had stumbled into his ambush. The thinned numbers had weakened them just enough to allow Hirrus’s victory. Similarly, before Hirrus had confronted the officers, he had already killed Juri, Clive, and Orlina. While the officers had not been a challenging encounter, that may have been due to the earlier deaths of their more competent allies.

Intricacy’s strength had been in numbers, and Hirrus had overcome that with pure statistical superiority. If Battle Orders was strong statistically, he had to strike where they were weaker: in numbers. Pick off members of their group before they could bring their power to bear, and when things could not be drawn out any longer, the inevitable final battle would be within his reach.

He only wished he had more time.

The mystical reset that would signal the end of his freedom from his Decision Tree was looming closer and closer. He didn’t have days to stake out the manor, watch the adventurers coming and going, and pick them off one by one like he wanted.

He needed to move fast.

Unfortunately, the guild didn’t appear to be eager to give him what he wanted. The curtains were drawn in every window, and no one was coming or going. He was going to have to trail and pounce on the first group of targets who left the building, without any investigation to ensure if it was safe or wise to do so.

It was nearly half an hour before the front door opened again. Hirrus was slightly disheartened to see the same three adventurers being bodily shoved out the door by a fourth man in a voluminous red cape. Hirrus was hoping to pick off a group who represented more competence among the guild. In the absence of time, though, they would have to be his next targets.

“How many times do I have to tell you idiots?” the fourth man yelled. He was tall with an almost unnaturally square jaw, making the movements of his mouth look like those of a wooden puppet. He pointed out at the city angrily. “Get back out there and do your damned job!”

The trio didn’t object or protest. It seemed for a moment that the woman in blue might, but when the other two immediately ran to obey, she turned tail and followed suit. They scuttled through the iron gate and picked up the pace immediately, running at a speed Hirrus hadn’t seen the group manage when he had been pursuing them.

Hirrus wanted to be offended that these adventurers were more afraid of their own commander than they were of him, but it was possible that they didn’t know who he was. Their speed meant they would be a safe distance away from the guild manor sooner, though. As Hirrus picked up his own pace to follow them once more, he tried to imagine how far would be too far for help to be called.

Despite the words of their boss, the trio didn’t head back towards where they had dropped the bakers and hawker. They didn’t even head back to the bakery. They cut north, towards the city walls, before passing through the large gate between the enclosed Upper Town district and into the Rock district north of the city proper. Hirrus almost balked at continuing to follow. The Rock district was where he had faced down Intricacy. It was possible that their mobs were still roaming the streets looking for him after GM Dave had forcibly removed him and his Echoes from the area.

Fortunately, instead of heading deeper into the district, they cut west, traveling the wide avenue that ran along the side of the city wall. They still had a pace set that forced Hirrus to work to keep up with them, which meant that when they ducked into an alleyway, he was moving at nearly a full run when he turned the corner.

A blast of water filled the space before him right as he came around the corner. It was only his preparation to cover the distance quickly that saved him. He had anticipated this might be his time to strike, and so he had been ready to use Split Second to get him in range for his first attack. Instead of that, though, he activated it to become briefly invulnerable to avoid the blast of water.

“Shit,” the woman in blue cursed, quickly darting back. “I-frames.”

“What d-d-do you m-mean if-frames?” the short man in red snapped. “He’s a f-f-f-f-god-d-damn NPC, r-right?”

“Where is he?” the large man demanded. He was waving a halberd around in a warding motion, squinting vaguely in Hirrus’s direction. “Am I getting him?” Despite the foolish manner of the halberd’s blind sweeps, the man was clearly skilled. His grip was proper and the motions were smooth, even, and powerful. Hirrus had definitely underestimated them the first time.

“There,” the woman said from her new position behind her fellows. The discs on her headband twitched on their own as she pointed right at Hirrus, making direct eye contact with him. “A little farther out.”

Hirrus dismissed Fire’s stealth ability with a gesture. The two men immediately oriented on him, the large man’s halberd locking in position directly towards him, and the shorter one taking a ready stance with a thick metal baton in hand.

“This is a trap,” Hirrus said.

“And we got you with it. Hook, line, and stinker,” the woman said with a grin, gesturing first at the big man, then herself, and then the small man.

“Good. I imagine I don’t need to introduce myself in turn,” Hirrus said, drawing his blade and ax.

“That wasn’t-” she began, but then her grin got wider. “Yup. Yes. That… Those are our names.”

“Wh-what?” the short man said, though he refused to take his eyes off of Hirrus. Slowly he adjusted his grip on his baton, his rear foot shifting slightly to change his stance.

Hirrus got the impression that she was lying, but their names didn’t exactly matter. They were trapped in a standoff now. If he tried to power up with Arcana, the large man could reach Hirrus with his polearm with only a single step forward. But if he moved before Hirrus committed to a cast time, Hirrus could step in too close for the long weapon to be brought to bear, giving him access to attack one of his smaller friends.

“What’s the plan?” the large man - Hook, Hirrus supposed he should be called - asked.

“Same as it’s always been,” the woman - Line - snapped. “And we’ve already succeeded. He’s here with us. I sent the boss a tell so now he knows exactly where.”

“You intend to ambush me?” Hirrus asked, slightly incredulous. “You three will be dead long before your friends arrive.”

“I’m s-s-sure that’s t-true,” the smaller man - Stinker - said with obvious sarcasm.

“They’re not coming here,” Line cut in. Her grin turned wicked. “Now that they know exactly where the Merciless One is, they can relocate Cerberus safely, and you’ll never find her.”

“And they can set up-” Hook began, but grunted as Line elbowed him in the ribs.

There was more to this plan, then.

Deception layered on deception.

The trio had known the whole time where he was - by virtue of whatever properties the woman’s headband possessed - and had brought him directly to the guild hall. They’d fed him the information he needed to see to be enticed to follow them again. Purposefully led him around by the nose by feigning incompetence, which let them do whatever they wanted to ensure their leader’s safety.

The second part of the plan was fairly obvious. Something was wrong with their manor to render it more difficult to protect. Some vulnerability he had not seen at first glance, or that would only reveal itself to a more thorough search. Cerberus was not fleeing the manor to avoid Hirrus, but to find a more favorable battleground. One that she believed was without vulnerabilities, where a proper defense could be mounted - if he could find it in the first place.

The obvious answer to that was to turn to his friends - Nidra and her army of helpers - for a more thorough investigation. If this whole plan had revolved around only Hirrus, they might think he was working alone.

But he had a task before him now.

Hook, Line, and Stinker had caught him fair and square.

It seemed he owed them an opportunity to understand just how futile their resistance truly was.