“Hey Chaplain, I was wondering if you could help me?”

“What is it, my son?”

“I’m having a hard time reconciling the dictates of the faith and combat. I mean, monsters are easy but fighting sapients are another story. I remember growing up, hearing about constitution and how we should live and let live, you know? I’m not sure I can still be in the army with my thoughts in such disarray.”

“I have counseled many young soldiers through this same issue. I’ll refer you to a psalm from strength’s church, and how it may help with your problem. Read along with me in Conquer, Chapter two, verse eight where it is written…”

“When life closes a door, breach the wall and trample in his name.”

“Does this help?”

“I think it does sir, thank you.”

--Counseling Session, Lenorian Army. From: “Trample and Save: A Chaplain’s Story.” AC 1531.

Everyone circles up, pulling security outward as we take a moment to rest and let our strength recover. I drop the shield and blade, and as they hit the ground, they dissolve back into the constituent earth that made them. For a moment, I'm full of melancholy and then realize it’s just a reaction to no longer having those implements in my claws. The feeling is unfamiliar and as I try to figure it out, the answer comes to me. My class is Squire of the Coast. What little idea I have from the Akasha tells me that the normal progression is to be apprenticed to a Knight, training underneath them. Opening and closing my pincers, I let the sensation fade. While that may be true, it's my class after all. I get to figure out what to make of it. As my health and mana regenerates, I pull up the pending notifications from the battle.

'ding

Congratulations!

Your party has defeated 1267 [Corrupted Thermal Jelly] - Lvl 19

You have gained four levels!

You are now level 38!

You receive +8 to all attributes.

Huh. Even with our party defeating so many enemies, they were almost half our level at the time. I don't think I should have gained that much experience. Looking through the logs, I find the reason why.

You use an improvised trap against 931 [Corrupted Thermal Jelly] – Lvl 19 .

You have made jam!

It is super effective!

Hmm, while I'm thankful for the level gain, I have to make sure not to hog all of the experience. I'm not the only one down here after all. Another window shows my skill increases and after glancing at it, I pull the window closed. I'm too weary to examine the entire thing right now and there are more important things to do.

Like reporting that we made contact.

I pull out the geo-locator and transmit back to the rear.

"This is Specialist Crabby with Mooncrab squad. Reporting that we made contact. Enemy is neutralized. There is no sign that our engagement provoked further enemy response. Our equipment is damaged but serviceable. No casualties."

The box crackles in the water, and a broken voice responds,

"...affirmative. ...continue ...mission."

I look warily at the cube. Are we getting out of range? If we can't call up to higher it could be a real problem. I call back,

"Be advised, you are coming in broken but readable."

"...expected ...underground... interference... continue... mission."

I glare at the box and then stow it away for later. We'll just have to be more careful moving forward, as we move out of comms range. We take a twenty-minute break and eat some rations. I'm still not one hundred percent but I'm recovered enough to continue on, so I pull myself to my feet and motion for the others to get ready to go. Luna pings me on a private channel and I hear her say,

"Are you sure you're ready to move Crabby? That last fight was hard on you."

I reply, "I'm okay. Tired but the sooner we finish this, the sooner we can get back to the rear."

She appears hesitant still, so I give her a reassuring pat and follow up with, "If it gets to the point that any of us needs to take a longer break than I will do so. I won't compromise safety if I can help it."

The unspoken corollary goes unsaid, and I hope she doesn't pick up on it... that there may come a time when safety is the last thing on our minds.

Shaking off the morbid thoughts, we huddle up and then begin descending into the tunnel, the red moss illuminating our descent into the uncharted area.

We keep our awareness tight, scanning constantly for threats, but after fifteen minutes of slowly falling, I'm less worried about what might attack us and more about how far down this goes. Another fifteen minutes pass, and it is only then that I can see the ending below us. I call a halt and Luna moves forward. A minute later she calls it clear, and we descend to join her. We land in a medium sized room, this one artificially made unlike the caves above. There are multiple passages leading into the distance, and off claw I count six of them moving parallel away from this room.

The seventh passage tilts downward and I'm struck with indecision about which to explore. After a moment of deliberation, I take out the geo-locator to report. I try to send a message, but there's no response. We may already be out of range. I think for a moment, and then remember my training. Each armor can serve as a relay for another, so after a few minutes of work I send Wilhelm to swim to the top of the tunnel so that I can get a good signal.

He swims back up and after a few minutes I'm able to send a situation report. Higher up replies,

"...get ...readings ...degree ...tunnels."

It takes me a second to figure out what they're trying to request and then I remember Sergeant Smith showing me the geo-locate function on the cube. It can also display degrees based on geo-magnetics, so after I take the readings and send it up, I get a reply.

"...ignore ...horizontal ...passages ...lead ...alternate ...egress ...descend ...trench-ward."

I eye the passages away from here. Sergeant Smith had earlier said something about several other sites behind the lines opening up. The enemy must have connected them via these tunnels. Then the last part of the message registers and I realize the sole descending passage leads towards the trench. I call Wilhelm back from above and as he joins us, I make sure everyone is on the same page.

"That passage leads towards the trench you guys. We're tasked with figuring out what's going on over there."

Wilhelm speaks up, and I notice a slight quaver in his voice.

"Shouldn't... this job be for... higher ranking?"

Up to this point I've thought Wilhelm to be fearless, the rage overtaking whatever cowardice might surface. But now, I can see he's just as scared as the rest of us. I shrug and say,

"Maybe. But it's the mission we've been given." I take a look at the tunnel leading below and verify the stealth skill is still active. It seemed to work fairly well until we messed up in the cave above. I check the time remaining and see there are two hours left on the buff. Sighing, I get to my feet.

"Alright guys. Let's go check out what corruption is up to."

As we glide into the downward sloping tunnel, I try to quash my own fear. Wilhelm made a good point after all.

We shouldn't be in charge of a mission like this.

Meanwhile, near the front lines.

"What do you mean, there are no forces available? General, I'm telling you that the enemy is planning something with those tunnels. There are seven locations placed along a single line behind our ranks. We need to send additional troops down to secure the area. Yes, there are already teams assigned. Six of them have gone dark, and only one is still reporting. So, you're saying until you get any better intel you won't redeploy. Roger sir. Agent Black out."

Agent Black slams the cube down on the table and the force of the impact breaks it in two. The dispatcher looks askance at his ruined desk and with a mutter, the agent waves a hand, restoring it to its prior configuration. Storming out of the tent, Agent Black lights a pipe, ignoring the regulations against doing so. As smoke fills his air bubble the man tried to quell his anger. The now familiar sight of injured and dying surrounds him, but the venue is different. This is already the third location they've "tactically withdrawn" to in the last hour.

Almost idly, he notes that if he were the general, he probably wouldn't believe the word of a civilian adjunct either. Especially a low ranking one. Agent Smith blocked the memory of how many favors he had to call in just to get on the line with someone who could send people to investigate. The agent looked at the position of the forward lines. They were holding steady now, though a big push from the corrupted had pushed everyone back half a kilometer. The casualties from that engagement were being tended to as he wavered in indecision.

Returning to the small tent, he looked at the battlefield map, where the seven positions were plotted. Something was unnerving him about those, and for the life of him he couldn't figure out why. An inkling of an idea began to form, and he called an old friend.

"Hey Hypno. It's me Black. I need you to pull geometric data for the fault lines along the trench. Yeah, I'll wait. You're telling me it was last surveyed a thousand years ago? You need to go to the archives to pull a hard copy? Alright, I'll standby. And hurry please, I think something's happening with the front."