An hour or so later, in a meadow some distance from the manor, a [Lord] was waiting. This [Lord] was rather different from [Lord] Castella. Lean, muscular, military, face rife with anticipation and ambition.

A plot long in the making was finally being unveiled, and he was ready to bring things to a clean finish. The horse under him was as restless as he was, tired from the long ride and wait. The [Lord] kept waiting for word to come, for an all-clear, so that the operation could begin.

Rustling sounded out from the other side of the meadow, and a [Knight] rode into the clearing. Elated, the [Lord] rode forward, but the words brought were not the ones he had been expecting.

“My [Lord]! There’s trouble! The manor, it’s burning down!” The [Knight] shouted out, words just barely audible midst the clanking of his armour.

The [Lord] pulled at his reins and brought his horse to a stop before it could get properly started. He looked at the [Knight], confused. “Wait, what? What did you just say?”

“I said, the manor is burning down! Something’s gone wrong!”

The [Lord’s] face fell into a deep frown. “What? Why the hell is the mansion burning down?”

The [Knight] brought his horse to a stop and sighed deeply. He would have liked to know too, to be honest. Things were just really not going according to plan. “[Lord], I’m not sure. Somehow the kobolds broke through, and there seems to have been a massacre. There was nobody alive in the vicinity, man or kobold.”

The [Lord] closed his eyes and let the truth sink in. Things were going to get very complicated, weren’t they?

It was supposed to have been a simple plot. A horde of kobolds would be led to the manor, depleting its defences of energy. Once the exhausted defenders went to rest, a strike team could easily break through the remaining wards and secure the target. After all, there’s no way a mansion with proper defences and competent defenders would fall to a simple kobold horde, right?

“It just doesn’t make sense.” The [Lord] muttered. “These types of defences should easily be able to handle such a number of kobolds.”

The [Knight] breathed in—this next part would be troublesome. “My [Lord]... there may have been foul play afoot. Our plot might have been compromised.”

The [Lord] narrowed his eyes. “Go on.”

“Sir, we actually found the remains of [Lord] Castella near the site... As well as our target.”

The [Lord’s] face brightened up. “But that’s great news! If the old bastard has kicked the bucket and we have the target, things should be fine.” He stopped, face furrowed. “Though... You said there were complications?”

“Yes, that’s the tricky part. The [Lord] was not killed by kobolds, but by man. His face had been melted down using some vicious acid mixture, and...” The [Knight] took a breath in. “The command seal was taken from him. The artifact itself was found, locked securely in a nearby chest, but the command seal was nowhere to be seen.”

The [Lord] was silent for a good while, taking in the news. His face grew shaken as he finally comprehended what was going on. “What? Only the command seal? But that would mean... No, it doesn’t make sense. Why take only the—unless? No, who would bother to... Are there any other clues?”

The [Knight] nodded. “Sir, we surveyed the outside of the manor, and the power gem in the ward core seemed to have been completely out of energy. One that size shouldn’t have been drained so much, so we suspect something was done to sabotage it. The acid, the sabotage, these are signs of a professional at work.”

“That’s not all, we just finished our survey and new clues were found.” A new voice said. The [Lord] and [Knight] turned as another horse rode into the meadow, this one carrying a [Mage]. His long sleeves swished in the wind, revealing the barest hints of the expansive tattoos covering his body.

“What have you found?” The [Knight] asked.

The [Mage] brought his horse to a stop, then searched through the many pockets in his robe, until he eventually found a test tube. It contained a liquid with some fine grains of metal in it. He held it out proudly, but only two confused looks answered him. He scoffed.

“I investigated the area for mana residue and found indicators that a major alchemical reaction took place earlier today. The expenditure was not insignificant—some major ingredients were used.” He tucked the test tube back in and looked the [Lord] in the eyes. “It is highly likely that a [Mage] was involved. There's ignis residue in the air.”

The [Lord] furrowed his brow. “[Lord] Castella is not known to employ people with such talents, this might be our perpetrator at work. Troublesome, but not surprising. For someone to have found out and set up such a thing, they would have to have major backing. Some major faction is setting themselves against us.”

The [Mage] nodded, then continued. “That’s not all, I just got the results for our fingerprint scan. The [Lord’s] corpse and the power gem had the same fingerprints all over them.”

The [Lord] bristled and narrowed his eyes. “That settles it—this is definitely no accident. We’ll have to find where the leak was, I’ll not allow us to be taken advantage of.”

“Should we send out a search party? The town is quite nearby.” The [Knight] asked.

The [Lord] thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No, our assailant is too prepared. They wouldn’t choose someone under level 30 for something like this, catching them after a headstart of hours... it would be futile. Showing up in towns so soon after an event like this, it would only serve to implicate us. A needless risk.” He turned to the [Mage]. “Can you locate the command seal? If we can do that, we’ll be fine.”

The [Mage] nodded. “It can be done, though I will have to return to my lab to perform the ritual. The seal is intrinsically linked to the artefact, and that link won’t be undone easily. If we make haste, I can have the divination done in a week, and we’ll get the general location of it.”

“Doesn’t this seem strange?” The [Knight] asked, worried by the news. “If the link is so easy to trace, they have to know it too, right? It seems like they want us to seek them out.”

The [Lord] nodded. “An invitation.”

He started to turn his horse around, and the other two rode to follow. The [Lord’s] face was dark, but also calm. He was no inexperienced level 20 newbie anymore—he had experience, and honour. If he was given an invitation, he would accept it.

“We ride back immediately. It is an obvious trap or provocation of some sort, but the only way to deal with such things is to jump right in. A slap to the face like this—it cannot go unanswered. Whichever [Lord] thinks they can poke at me, I'll show them. They'll learn. They all will.”