Dungeon Master (Karma System)

The escort notice promised one day of ordinary road work.

Rod read it twice because ordinary sounded useful after Deepvein.

[Five guards required for merchant caravan traveling from Deepvein to Highforge.]

[Departure: Third morning bell.]

[Six freight wagons, two passenger carriages, nineteen caravan staff.]

[Cargo: Processed crystal, mining tools, household goods, sealed private cases.]

[Route: Western mine road to Highforge eastern freight gate.]

[Threat assessment: Low. Road patrols active.]

The notice paid less than a difficult monster contract and more than the cost of purchasing airship tickets in Highforge after riding there alone. Their ten-day Deepvein cooldown had already begun and the plan was to spend a week in Highforge before heading back to Deepvein. An escort gave them a destination, covered the stable fees, and allowed Dain and Nessa to work with the group on the kind of road duty both understood.

Rod took the notice to the contract clerk.

”The caravan leader is in the lower yard.” The clerk said. ”He requested an established five-person party. Your Deepvein completion posted last night.”

”Any recent trouble on the road?” Dain asked.

”Two thefts at camps south of the main route and one wagon damaged by falling stone. No monster attacks this month. Highforge patrols cover the last third of the journey.”

The party accepted together.

Their employer stood beside the lead wagon while two drivers tightened its canvas cover. Tharic Ruskell was a square-built dwarf with iron-gray hair tied at the back of his neck. His coat used good wool without decorative trim. A ledger case hung from one shoulder, and a narrow sword rested beneath the driver’s bench rather than at his waist.

He inspected the party’s registration before introducing himself.

”You cleared Deepvein without damage penalties.” Tharic said. ”I care about that more than the kill record. A guard who protects the road without destroying the cargo understands the work.”

Dain reviewed the caravan manifest. Rod and Lana walked the wagon line. Dirk checked the draft animals and the tracks around the yard while Nessa asked whether anyone carried a condition she should know about before departure.

The work was familiar enough that nobody needed to make it sound difficult.

Tharic signed their contract against the side of the wagon. A heavy ring on his right hand clicked against the writing board. Gold surrounded a dark green stone cut into a broad oval. The face carried a small dwarven family crest worn smooth along one edge.

”That will catch on a harness.” Dain warned while returning the copy.

Tharic turned the ring once. ”It has caught on worse. My family passed it down long before I had wagons of my own. I stopped removing it after nearly leaving it in an inn twenty years ago.”

He tucked the ledger into its case and called the drivers into position.

The caravan left Deepvein at third bell.

Rod and Dain divided the front and rear of the wagon line. Dirk ranged ahead where the road provided long sight. Lana and Nessa rode near the two passenger carriages in the middle. Midnight spent the first hour on Lana’s saddle before moving into her pack when the wind strengthened.

Traffic confirmed the clerk’s threat assessment.

Ore wagons climbed toward Deepvein. Supply carts descended. Two adventuring parties passed on rented mountain horses. A Highforge courier exchanged road notices with Tharic and reported that the main crossing remained open.

The lower road they had used on the journey to Deepvein had reopened after repairs. It followed the river through a broad cut before climbing toward Highforge. Patrol markers appeared every five miles. Stone shelters held emergency food and signal flares.

By midday, the caravan had lost time only to repair workers fixing a section of road.

They stopped beside one of the road shelters. Nessa checked the stamina of the horses while the drivers watered their animals. Dirk climbed the nearest slope and examined the next mile through his Far Mark ability without fixing any target.

The road curved around a wooded shoulder. A maintenance wagon stood beyond the turn with one wheel removed. Three people in road-worker coats had placed warning markers in the downhill lane.

Dirk studied them longer.

The wheel lay beside the wagon.

There was no jack beneath the axle.

One worker shifted a warning marker three feet after looking toward Dirk’s ridge. Another carried a road hammer without the orange head used by Highforge maintenance crews. No fresh wagon tracks crossed the soft edge of the lane behind them.

Dirk descended without exposing himself above the shoulder.

He reached Rod first.

”The road crew ahead did not arrive in its wagon.” Dirk said. ”Three visible. There will be more.”

Rod did not turn toward the bend.

He passed the warning down the line as he walked beside the wagons. Dain moved from the rear to Tharic’s lead vehicle. Lana dismounted near the passenger carriages and gave her reins to a driver. Nessa placed Held Remedy on Rod, Dain, and Tharic.

”Why me?” Tharic asked when the mark settled beneath his coat.

”Your name is on the contract.” Nessa said. ”If this is theft, they may use you to stop the wagons.”

The caravan did not halt where hidden attackers had chosen.

Tharic ordered the lead teams to slow and keep moving. Drivers closed the gaps until the wagons formed one compact line. Passengers crouched behind cargo. Lana moved beside the fourth wagon, where she could see the road ahead and the slope above them.

Dain walked next to Tharic.

Dirk returned to the trees.

The false workers waited until the lead wagon came within sixty yards.

One raised a hand.

The maintenance wagon rolled sideways.

Its missing wheel had never supported it. A concealed release freed the frame from chocks, and the wagon crossed the downhill lane until its reinforced side struck the stone barrier. The road closed ahead of the caravan.

A cable snapped tight behind the final wagon. Iron hooks pulled from the brush and caught the rear axle before its driver could reverse.

Crossbows fired from both slopes.

The first three bolts ignored the guards.

All three flew toward Tharic.

Dain used Intercepting Step before the dwarf understood he was the target. His shield crossed the space between them. Two bolts struck wood and metal. The third passed above the rim.

Rod caught Tharic by the shoulder and drove him behind the lead wagon. The bolt struck the canvas where his chest had been.

”They want you.” Rod said.

Tharic drew the narrow sword from beneath the bench. ”I noticed.”

The false workers abandoned their hammers and produced short blades. None moved toward the cargo. Two circled the lead team while the third threw a clay sphere beneath the wagon.

Dark smoke spread across the road.

Lana saw the first assassin enter the smoke through Midnight’s eyes.

The familiar had climbed onto the roof of the second wagon. His view reached above the smoke while Lana’s own sight disappeared inside it. She froze a low wall between Tharic and the downhill side. It did not seal the road. It forced anyone approaching the dwarf to cross one visible opening beside Dain.

Rod entered the smoke from the other direction.

The first assassin expected a shield. Rod carried an axe.

The blade struck Rod’s side and failed to move him far enough to clear the lane. Unbroken Advance converted the impact into one heavy step. Rod chose where it landed, turned with the movement, and brought the axe haft across the assassin’s arms. The short blade fell.

Rod’s next strike killed the assassin before the man could recover the dropped blade.

An arrow entered the road from the upper slope.

Dirk’s shot struck the crossbow beside its trigger, split the stock, and tore it from the hidden shooter’s hands. Far Mark held the position after the assassin dropped behind the rocks. Dirk moved through the trees rather than firing at cover.

The second volley targeted Tharic from a new angle.

Lana raised ice across the wagon’s outer wheel. The first bolt buried itself in the frozen sheet. The second glanced into the road. A third shattered the upper edge and continued with enough force to cut Tharic’s arm.

His Held Remedy activated.

Nessa reached him before the golden light faded. She checked the wound, found no numbness or discoloration suggesting poison, and closed it with one direct spell.

”Stay below the axle.” She said. ”They are changing positions to keep sight of you.”

The attackers had planned for ordinary caravan guards.

They fired from separated positions, blocked both ends of the road, and used the smoke to divide protection from the target. Two people on the upper slope used mirrors to pass silent signals. A second pair approached through a drainage channel beneath the road.

Dirk saw one mirror flash.

He did not shoot at it. He followed the reflected angle to the person receiving the signal and marked the low entrance to the drainage channel.

”Two beneath the road.” He called.

Dain shifted to the front of Tharic’s cover. Rod moved toward the channel opening.

Lana sent ice along the wet stone inside the drain.

The first assassin emerged before it reached his feet. Rod met him in the narrow opening. The second stayed below and threw another smoke sphere toward the dwarf.

Dirk’s arrow broke the sphere in the air.

Smoke filled the drainage channel instead.

The man inside retreated from his own cover. Midnight tracked the movement through gaps in the roadside brush. Lana froze the far grate before he reached it, leaving him trapped between Rod and the sealed exit.

At the rear of the caravan, three more assassins attacked the hooked axle.

They did not cut the cable to open an escape. They used it to pull the final wagon sideways, attempting to create distance between the guards and Tharic. A driver fell from the bench. One assassin stepped over him without striking and ran along the outside of the wagon line.

Nessa saw the decision.

”They are leaving everyone else alive when they can.” she said.

The warning clarified the attack for the drivers. This was not a robbery that might end when cargo was surrendered.

Tharic ordered the fourth and fifth wagons across the road at angles. Their teams turned slowly but created a second enclosure around the lead vehicle. Passengers moved behind stone barriers. Drivers used crossbows carried for animal attacks and fired only when an assassin crossed the open road.

Dain remained with Tharic.

The assassin running from the rear climbed onto the first angled wagon and jumped toward them. He carried a hooked knife in one hand and a weighted cord in the other.

The cord caught Tharic’s right wrist.

The assassin pulled the dwarf’s arm above the wagon wheel and brought the knife down toward his hand.

Dain’s spear entered the space between them. The shaft struck the assassin’s wrist. The knife changed direction and cut across the gold ring instead of Tharic’s fingers.

The attacker tried again.

Dain drove him backward with the shield. Tharic freed his hand from the cord and closed it against his chest.

”The ring.” He said.

The assassins had passed sealed cases, processed crystal, and an exposed ledger box. They had killed no driver who moved away from Tharic. The hooked knife had been positioned to remove the ring even if the dwarf refused to release it.

Someone had paid professional killers for a family heirloom.

Rod stopped trying to hold the entire road and moved toward Tharic. Dain could protect the dwarf from one direction. Rod cleared the space attackers needed to reach from another.

Lana used the water released by her broken ice wall. It ran beneath the smoke and across the road in a thin sheet. She froze it only when two assassins committed to the approach. Both lost their footing. Dirk’s arrows struck their weapons and shoulders before they could recover.

Nessa kept the caravan staff behind cover while maintaining Shelter Thread on Dain. When his health dropped beneath the shield, she knew an assassin in the smoke had reached him before she saw the blade. Her barrier formed against his exposed side. The strike broke through, but it lost enough force for Dain’s armor to stop the rest.

The fake maintenance wagon blocked the road ahead.

One assassin used it as a firing position until Dirk reached the upper slope. Far Mark held the man’s location through the wagon boards. Threading Shot found a path through the open wheel well. The arrow struck his forearm and pinned his sleeve to the frame.

Dirk descended behind him.

The assassin tore free before Dirk reached the road, leaving cloth and blood beneath the arrow. He abandoned the crossbow and ran toward the trees.

Dirk followed long enough to see the escape route.

A second assassin waited there with a horse.

The horse had been tied beyond the road noise and trained to remain still. The wounded man reached for its reins. Dirk’s next arrow cut the line attached to the bridle, and the startled animal moved away before either assassin could mount.

The unwounded man turned toward Dirk.

He carried a narrow sword and no shield. Dirk gave ground between the trees, keeping the bow between them. He did not attempt to become a swordsman because the range had collapsed.

Midnight crossed the branch above the assassin.

Lana saw the position from the road. Ice closed around the man’s rear boot. The restraint lasted one step. That step gave Dirk room to fire.

His arrow entered the assassin’s thigh.

The wounded crossbowman fled alone. Rod intercepted him when he emerged below the slope.

The attack ended in sections rather than all at once.

Dain disarmed the man who had tried to cut Tharic’s hand. The assassin reached for a second blade beneath his collar and died when a caravan guard stopped him. The attacker trapped in the drain refused to surrender and fell attempting to pass Rod in the narrow opening. Two others had already died where Lana’s ice exposed their approach.

Dirk secured the upper slope and found no remaining signal mirrors. No attacker still held a weapon.

The only survivor lay beside the fake maintenance wagon with Dirk’s arrow through his thigh. He was the crossbowman who had nearly reached the horse.

He allowed Nessa to stop the bleeding.

”Who hired you?” Tharic asked.

The assassin looked at the dwarf’s closed right hand.

”The contract does not end with us.” He said. ”Another crew will take it when we fail to report.”

”Who issued the contract?”

”Someone who can afford more than one crew.”

He offered no name.

Dain and Dirk searched him together. They removed three knives, a wire saw, two lock picks, a waxed packet of powder, a needle sewn into his belt, and a blade concealed beneath the sole of one boot. Nessa checked every injury and made certain he could survive the trip to Highforge.

They bound his wrists behind a reinforced wagon rail and tied his ankles separately. A driver sat across from him with a loaded crossbow. Tharic placed the family ring inside an inner pocket rather than returning it to his hand.

”Highforge has investigators who can identify the dead.” Tharic said. ”The city watch will take him at the eastern gate.”

The party cleared the road before resuming travel.

Rod and three drivers shifted the false maintenance wagon enough to open one lane. Dirk recovered the signal mirrors and marked the hidden firing positions for the patrol report. Lana released the rear axle from the hooked cable. Nessa checked every caravan worker before returning to the prisoner.

He remained conscious and silent.

The caravan moved at a reduced pace. One wagon had a damaged axle. Two draft animals carried shallow cuts from flying wood. None of the passengers had died.

They traveled for forty minutes before the prisoner began coughing.

The guard across from him called Nessa immediately.

She climbed into the wagon while it stopped. The assassin’s jaw was clenched. A bitter chemical smell came from his mouth. Dark blood stained his teeth.

Nessa forced his jaw open and found a broken cap over a rear molar. The poison capsule had been built into the tooth rather than hidden in anything the search could remove.

She began Clear Pulse.

The spell searched for an effect it could isolate. The poison had already crossed his blood and stopped his breathing before the identification completed. Nessa followed with direct healing, then with a second attempt to clear what remained.

His heart did not resume.

The assassin had killed himself before Highforge could question him.

They wrapped the body and kept every object recovered during the search. Tharic added the broken tooth cap to a sealed evidence jar. No one attempted further questioning because no other attacker remained alive.

Highforge’s patrol met the caravan within sight of the eastern freight gate.

Dirk led two officers back to the ambush positions while the wagons entered the inspection yard. Rod, Lana, Dain, and Nessa delivered the bodies, weapons, signal mirrors, poison needle, and written account to the city watch. Tharic gave the investigator the family name attached to the ring and stated that he knew no reason anyone outside his relatives would want it.

The investigator recorded the warning that other assassins would come.

The escort contract ended only after the sixth wagon entered Tharic’s assigned yard. He paid the full amount, added a hazard bonus, and requested a way to contact the party before he continued his journey.

The party remained in Highforge that night to complete separate witness statements while the city watch began tracing the false maintenance wagon, the hired horse, and the equipment carried by the dead assassins.