The next six or seven hours were an exercise in constant grinding. We spent half the time sneaking around, and we were so thorough about it that Benny actually got the stealth skill just from the effort. Sarah dragged some of them away, killing more than a few in the process. Some we got with Sucking Mud, and a few we literally just crushed as a group because there were no others near enough to hear and we couldn't whittle them down anymore. It took ages to get through them all, but finally, after hours of fighting, we made it to the base of the fortress.

I stared up at the sheer black walls, shooting up from the ground like some sort of monument to human suffering, and I felt the need to point out a pretty obvious fact. "So...anyone else notice there isn't a door?" The massive building was imposing and wicked as hell sure, but I saw zero ways to actually enter it, which more than anything just struck me as a design flaw. Make all the cracks about 'no escape' you wanted, but not actually being able to enter or leave a place was just...dumb. It made me think less of the Lich who designed it.

Sarah didn't seem surprised though. "It was built for a Grave Lord. They don't need doors. The Lich probably has some kind of winged undead to carry him up there, and leaving out an entrance lowers the chance of having to deal with intruders. Not the most conventional of choices, but it kind of fits with the spirits only mentality the Grave Lord would be trying to foster. The spectral court wouldn't want a bunch of mindless zombies and skeletons lumbering around their castle."

Which made sense, even if it was annoying. It was also kind of scary because it meant we wouldn't be able to reach Callie if something went wrong. Not that I even knew how she would get up there. I turned to my girlfriend. "Are you sure you want to do this whole infiltration thing? I could use my mistwalking ability instead of relying on stealth. My Leaf on the Wind skill would make getting down from there much easier too. You should really send me. Just give me a list of what I'm looking for I can use Seek Hidden to track it down."

She looked like she was going to dismiss that and insist on going, until she heard my actual reasoning. Then she scowled. "That's...shit. That's actually a really good point. I figured you were just being all sweet and protective and annoying, but your Seek Hidden skill would really cut down on the time needed to search the place. Your stealth isn't as good as mine, but Leaf on the Wind might be needed to get out of there." She worried her lip a bit. "Damn. I need to go because I can use my shadows to get us up there but...you can come with me."

I had to fight the urge to pump my fist. I'd really wanted to go in any case, but even if I hadn't I would have been terrified for her. Stuck in an enemy fortress with zero backup would have been a bad position to be in. At least if we were together we could rely on each other. We were a good team. Plus I didn't want to sit around bored and terrified for the next few hours while my girlfriend took on an evil ghost castle. That sounded like literally the least amusing use of my time that I could possibly imagine.

Of course, Benny would still have to deal with that, but I didn't care if he sat around annoyed and worried for a few hours as long as I was there to do something. Jessie I worried a bit more about, but she had the rest of our team down here to help keep her out of her own head. Still, we hadn't taken as long getting her as I'd hoped so I wasn't up for a new round of wishes yet. Hopefully it reset soon and we could use them inside. I turned to Callie. "Alright, sounds like a plan. Do you want to rest up a bit or should we head up there now?"

She looked up the sheer stone face of the massive castle. "I think give it a minute. I have to figure out the best way to get us up there without being seen. In the meantime are you sure you want to come with me? We have no clue what's up there waiting for us. It could be some horrible hoard of monsters or more ghosts than we could possibly fight. Maybe Jessie's life weaving won't even hide us and we'll get buried in undead the minute we set food in the castle. This could be really dangerous."

I gave her a flat look I knew she couldn't see through my mask, so I made sure my tone was deadpan enough to convey how stupid I thought she was being. "You realize you aren't talking me out of this by describing all the ways your supposedly easy infiltration mission could go horribly wrong right? Because in case you didn't figure this out, I am AGAINST the thought of your gruesome painful death. Telling me how likely it is that you might be horribly murdered isn't going to talk me out of going with you. Pretty much the opposite."

To my surprise that got an actual blush from Callie. "I don't want YOU to die either idiot, that's why I mentioned it. But...I guess we make a pretty good team." She sniffed haughtily, turned her gaze from mine. "Besides, you should be fine with me there watching your back. I'm pretty awesome." Despite the arrogant words her tone was a little embarrassed and the blush was still on her face, which I found pretty adorable. She got shy about the weirdest things.

Which left us staring up at the giant ass sheer walls of a black stone keep populated by ghosts. Her earlier comments, meant to scare me or not, weren't exactly bullshit, this could be risky, but I'd been telling her the truth when I said I would be more worried seeing her go alone. Besides, I trusted Sarah's advice on this. The issue of how to get up there was the main problem now. "So...can we like...throw a rope up or something? I mean zombies aren't likely to spot us climbing and try to kill us, plus how would they reach us up there?"

Sarah, who was listening nearby, was the one to shut that down sadly, pointing up into the darkness to a barely visible series of shapes. "There are gargoyles up there. They'll be the ones who monitor the airspace. Gargoyles, contrary to popular belief ARE a form of undead. Stone statues animated by ghosts. Yes they can fly, don't ask me how, some combination of Fantasy and Might but the point is they actually can tell whats happening and they'll be watching. Not sure how you'll get up there but however you manage try to stick close to the wall."

Callie looked concerned, but not deterred. I knew she would come up with something, and sure enough, she did. "I have an idea. What if I make us a series of steps up the side of the castle out of shadow, and box them in so they have a roof. Looking down it would just look like darkness, assuming they even look down. When we get to the top you can use mistwalking to get us past the Gargoyles. That kind of fog makes plenty of sense outside, so I doubt it'll tip them off, and we can use our stealth skills alongside it so they don't see us slipping in."

That sounded like a perfect way to get up there, but it also sounded...exhausting. I didn't know exactly how her power worked in terms of power, I assumed it was fueled by Vitality. My Wish power didn't exactly work like a standard ability so I couldn't be certain, but what I was certain of was that it was fueled by SOMETHING, and it was a LONG was up the side of the castle. "Can you hold make that many constructs in a row? It'll have to be at least two at a time and those will need to hold our weight."

Despite the challenge though my girlfriend seemed confident. "It'll be tough, but I can manage. Once we get up there we can find a spot to hole up so I can recover a bit. Assuming the Gargoyles can see us at all with the life force running through us?" She looked to Sarah who nodded. "Anyway once we're past them we can relax a bit since the other specters will have a harder time. Once we're rested up we can resume sneaking. Agria, what's the longest we can hold a charge if you juice us up as much as possible?"

Jessie had wandered over to stand next to us. "I have no clue. I've never really used my ability like this. I usually pour in life force to repair damage or fill up someone's energy. I've never overcharged a person. I do it to the ravens because thats how I control them, but they're much smaller and have less energy. If it works the same or similar at least I'd say probably a few hours. You'll need to be careful not to get hurt or exhaust yourself. Actually, getting up there will probably drain a decent chunk of the power I'll be giving Nightstrike."

That wasn't something I'd considered, but it made sense. "Ok, lets just slow down a bit. We aren't in a rush here. We can do some testing to see how Agria's ability works on people and feel things out a bit before we go. The important thing is to make sure we're as safe as possible up there. So rushing is going to be a bad idea long term. Right?" I could see Callie psyching herself up to charge ahead, probably my influence honestly, but at my comment she seemed to come to her senses and slump a bit.

Her sigh was long and a bit exhausted. "That's...a good point. We'll see any undead coming well before they reach us. We have time to sit down and strategize a bit before going up there. Maybe the raven can even get a birds eye view of the top of the castle from far enough out to avoid the Gargoyles. No reason to rush." She flicked her fingers, conjuring herself a chair to sit down in, which made me grin a little. Her constant power use was a form of training but it was also really cool.

I walked over to sit with her and she conjured one for me too, which wasn't actually super comfortable, though I wouldn't tell her that. Then Jessie joined us and we all sat together, letting our friend try out her ability on us at varying intensities and through various activities. It felt great getting turbo charged like that over and over again, but eventually we figured out the timing and the exact drain Callie's ability would put on our reserves and we were ready to go. The raven got us a bit of intel, though sadly not very much, to help with our ingress.

Once we made sure everyone was ok and told them all the plan again to make sure they knew where to wait and we started out journey up to the top. Callie created a platform off the wall with a roof to cover the view of us from above and we started out slow climb. One construct under us and one ahead, we began the trek. I had to admit it was pretty cool, but I was also a bit worried about what it would be like near the top. I guess I was about to find out.