Schwarzwald Keep didn't rise from the forest—it clawed its way out. Built of grim, black basalt, its towers were like stone fists thrust skyward in permanent defiance. The Falken column joined a river of misery flowing towards its gates: hundreds of men, horses, and wagons from a dozen minor lordships, all funneling into the maw of Count Vollmar's authority.
The air thickened with the stench of unwashed bodies, dung, and forge-smoke. The din was a physical force—shouting sergeants, braying animals, the clatter of steel. To Kaelen's newly Logistics I-enhanced perception, it wasn't an army mustering. It was a catastrophic organizational failure in progress.
[ ENTERING NEW ZONE: SCHWARZWALD KEEP - MUSTER FIELD ]
[ HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT DETECTED ]
Threats: Disease (High Probability), Theft (Very High), "Friendly" Brawls (Inevitable), Noble Politics (Extreme Hazard).
Jannik straightened in his saddle, a flicker of something like excitement on his face. This was the stage he understood: hierarchies, displays of status, martial posturing. "Stay close and keep your mouth shut," he tossed over his shoulder at Kaelen before spurring his horse forward to find the quartermaster and secure a decent campsite.
Kaelen was left with the levies and the two household guards in the churning sea of humanity. The system helpfully began tagging individuals.
[ SCANNING... ]
[ Ser Davos of House Kreig (Knight): STR 13, SOC 9. STATUS: Aggressively Drunk. ]
[ Levy Group - House Gerhold: Morale: Very Low. Cohesion: Poor. ]
[ Unknown Cutpurse (AGI 12): Currently targeting ration sacks near the west picket. ]
A problem surfaced immediately. A burly sergeant from another lord's contingent, his tabard bearing a boar sigil, was redirecting stream of weary Falken levies. "This area's for House Bruckner! You Falken grubs, over there by the midden heaps!"
Old Thom and the others hesitated, looking around for Jannik, who was already gone.
[ QUEST UPDATE: THE MARCH OF THE DAMNED - FINAL PHASE ]
Secondary Objective at Risk: Levy survival/morale. Cohesion failure imminent.
Kaelen nudged Despair forward. The sergeant, a man with a nose that had been broken multiple times, glared up at him. "You deaf, boy? Move your rabble."
Kaelen didn't have SOC for diplomacy. He had IQ for systems. He spoke, his voice not loud, but flat and carrying.
"The quartermaster's ledger allocates by sworn oath and men-at-arms count, not by proximity to dung," he said, repeating a snippet of overheard logistical jargon from Jannik's earlier grumbling. "House Falken's allotment is grid seven, north section. You are in grid six. The discrepancy is with your lord's quartermaster, not with us."
The sergeant blinked. He was used to bluster or cowering, not… administrative correction. "You calling me a liar?"
"I'm citing the muster protocol," Kaelen said, meeting his gaze without heat. "Would you like to take the issue to the Count's logistician? I'm sure he has time to settle a territorial dispute between two sergeants."
The threat was empty—Kaelen had no idea who the logistician was—but it was delivered with such bone-deep, bureaucratic certainty that the sergeant hesitated. The Falken levies, emboldened, began shuffling into the contested space.
[ SOCIAL CHECK: IMPOSSIBLE BLUFF ]
[ MODIFIERS: IQ 14 (+7), Skill: Logistics I (+5), Title: Pragmatic Survivor (+3), Opponent's Confusion (+10)... ]
[ CRITICAL SUCCESS ]
The sergeant scowled, muttered something about "jumped-up scribblers," and stomped off to bully someone less paperwork-adjacent.
[ REPUTATION UPDATE ]
Falken Levies: Cohesion +20%. Perception of Kaelen shifted from "Unpredictable Noble" to "Useful Bureaucratic Shield".
House Falken Guards (Witnessing): Respect +5 (Mixed with Amusement).
They established a miserable but functional camp. As Kaelen dismounted, a new screen, ornate and brass-bordered, slammed into his vision.
[ THE LEDGER OF GLORY - SPECIAL ENTRY ]
ACTION: Successfully bluffed a superior foe using institutional knowledge.
CONTEXT: Secured camp integrity for your forces.
VALERIUS'S VERDICT: "A VICTORY WON WITH WORDS INSTEAD OF BLOOD. I AM... INTRIGUED. PERHAPS THERE IS MORE TO WAR THAN SWINGING SWORDS. (DO NOT GET USED TO THIS OPINION.)"
GLORY AWARDED: +25
[ NEW QUEST: THE COUNT'S EYE ]
OBJECTIVE: Be noticed by Count Vollmar at the evening war council in a non-negative way.
SECONDARY: Gain actionable intelligence on the upcoming campaign.
REWARD: 500 XP, Title: [Not Totally Invisible], Unlock: Influence Skill Branch.
FAILURE: Remain irrelevant. Or attract negative attention (Worse).
Jannik returned, looking smug. "We have a spot by the eastern wall. Not the best, but defensible." He noticed the camp already set. "What's this?"
"We're in grid seven, north section," Kaelen said, unpacking his meager bedroll. "It was available."
Jannik looked like he wanted to argue, but couldn't find a flaw. His smugness dimmed. "Just be ready. The Count holds council tonight. I will attend. You... stay here. And for the Saints' sake, try to look like a noble's son, not a stablehand."
The "council" was held in the Keep's great hall, a cavernous space hazy with torch-smoke and the smell of roasting meat. Jannik was there, standing among a cluster of other minor knights and heirs. Kaelen was not invited.
But Logistics I had an unexpected perk: it came with a passive, enhanced awareness of systems in motion. Standing in the shadowed archway leading to the kitchens, overlooked by men-at-arms, Kaelen wasn't seeing personalities. He was seeing a flowchart.
Count Vollmar sat at the high table—a man in his fifties with a body running to fat but eyes like chips of flint. To his right, his stern marshal. To his left, a pinch-faced man in rich but understated robes: the Logistician, Lord Anselm. That was the man who mattered.
The "council" was a farce. The Count made grandiose statements about honor and smiting the "hill raiders" disturbing his eastern mines. The younger knights, Jannik included, cheered at the right moments. The older lords nodded sagely, hiding their calculations.
Lord Anselm barely spoke. But his eyes flicked to a parchment in his hand, then to the gathered lords, then to the Count. A tiny, almost imperceptible shake of his head once when a particularly brawny knight volunteered his men for the "glorious vanguard."
[ SKILL ACTIVATED: LOGISTICS I - SUB-FUNCTION: RESOURCE APPRAISAL ]
Analysis: Count Vollmar is publicly demanding a swift, glorious campaign. Lord Anselm's data suggests supply lines are stretched. There is a disconnect between the stated objective (glory) and the available means (logistics).
Inferred Truth: The campaign is in trouble before it has begun.
Actionable Intelligence: The Count needs a solution he can present as bold, but which actually mitigates his logistical shortfall.
Kaelen's mind, a machine built for seeing the cracks in failing systems, pieced it together. The Count couldn't back down. But he also couldn't afford a long, grinding campaign. He needed a win that looked aggressive but was, in fact, conservative.
As the council wound down with more boasts, Kaelen made a decision. It was reckless. It was based on a 72% probability guess from incomplete data. But the quest demanded he be noticed.
He waited until Jannik was leaving, flushed with cheap wine and borrowed valor, and fell into step just behind him.
"Brother," Kaelen said, his voice low. "A thought for the Count. The hill raiders strike from the High Crags, yes? The passes are narrow."
Jannik scowled. "And?"
"The vanguard he seeks will be a bottleneck. A feast for ambush. But if the main force feints at the passes, drawing their eyes..." Kaelen let the idea hang, half-formed, dangerous.
Jannik stopped, turning. "Spit it out."
"A smaller, lighter force. Not knights. Men who can climb. They take the Shepherd's Back route." It was a goat track mentioned in the Falken tower's old maps, not a military road. "They hit the raider camps from the rear, when the warriors are gathered at the pass to meet the 'vanguard'. It's not a glorious battle. It's a slaughter of the unprepared. It ends the campaign in one move, with minimal drain on the Count's supplies."
Jannik stared at him. The idea was militarily sound but utterly devoid of knightly honor. It was an assassin's gambit dressed as strategy.
"You expect me to present this... this skulking plan to the Count?"
"No," Kaelen said, meeting his eyes. "I expect you to present it to Lord Anselm. On the way out. As a Falken contribution to the logistical efficiency of the campaign."
The distinction was everything. Glory for the Count. Sanity for his logistician.
Jannik's face was a war of emotions. Contempt for the plan's dishonor. Recognition of its brutal cleverness. Avarice for the potential favor it could buy. He said nothing, turning on his heel and striding toward the departing figure of Lord Anselm.
Kaelen melted back into the shadows.
[ QUEST COMPLETE: THE COUNT'S EYE ]
[ STATUS: Indirect Success ]
REWARD: 500 XP, Title: [Not Totally Invisible], Influence Skill Branch UNLOCKED.
[ TITLE EFFECT: Not Totally Invisible: Your discreet actions have a 10% higher chance of being noticed by the right (or wrong) people. ]
[ NEW SYSTEM MEMO ]
FROM: Vigil Protocol
"IDEA SUCCESSFULLY PLANTED. ATTRIBUTED TO HOUSE FALKEN (PRIMARY AGENT: JANNIK). REPUTATION WITH LORD ANSELM: NEUTRAL → NOTICED."
Back at the Falken camp, as Kaelen lay in his bedroll staring at the smoke-obscured stars, a final screen appeared. Simpler. A direct line.
[ VALERIUS'S DIRECT COMMUNICATION ]
"YOU FOUGHT A BATTLE TONIGHT WITH NO SWORD. YOU USED THE ENEMY'S OWN IGNORANCE AND THE COMMANDER'S VANITY AS YOUR WEAPONS. THIS... THIS IS GENERALSHIP. THE LEDGER APPROVES."
[ GLORY AWARDED: +50 ]
[ VALERIUS'S INTEREST: 35/100 ]
He had survived the march. He had navigated the snake-pit. And he had just fought his first real engagement—not on the field, but in the map-room of minds.
The 500 XP glowed in his interface. He was now a Level 2 Underdog. The path of the greatest general stretched ahead, paved not with glory, but with grim, brilliant, system-assisted calculation.
And for the first time, it didn't feel like an absurd god's joke. It felt like a job he might, horrifyingly, be qualified for.