The fog cleared to reveal our destination.

  Mournwatch Keep wasn't just a fortress. It was a massive, black basalt dam, stretching across the narrowest point of the valley. Behind it, a lake of oily, black water pressed against the stone, weeping through a thousand cracks in the masonry.

  It looked impenetrable.

  It also looked infested.

  "Movement on the ramparts," Gerald Falken called out, squinting through the gloom. "Not men. Drowners."

  Hundreds of them. Bloated, blue-skinned undead that dragged themselves with webbed claws. They were guarding the dam.

  "We need this Keep," Brandan rumbled. "If we control the water, we control the valley. We can flush the Ironvines out."

  "Or we can get eaten by fish-zombies," Alexander Shadowgrove drawled. "I vote for the second option. It seems more efficient."

  "Wilhelm," Brandan turned to me. "Take the vanguard. Clear the gatehouse."

  "Why me?" I protested. "I'm rich! I should be in the back counting money!"

  "Because you glow," Gutrum pointed out. "They hate light."

  "Fine," I sighed, spurring Coin-Biter. "But if I die, bury me with my wallet."

  I rode toward the massive iron gates. The stench of stagnant water hit me like a wall.

  Suddenly, the water in the moat exploded.

  A massive shape erupted. It wasn't a Drowner. It was a Deep-Leviathan Spawn. A serpent made of black water and rotting scales, with a maw full of jagged coral teeth.

  "Big fish!" I yelled, pulling on the reins. Coin-Biter reared, his golden hooves flashing.

  The Sentinel roared and swung its massive tail.

  It was faster by a hair. The tail slammed into Coin-Biter's side.

  CRUNCH.

  My horse screamed, stumbling sideways. I was thrown from the saddle, landing hard on the wet stone.

  My [Blood-Leech Vial] flashed empty instantly, absorbing the bone-shattering impact.

  "Ouch," I groaned, rolling to my feet. "That horse cost a fortune!"

  The Sentinel loomed over me, ready to swallow me whole.

  "I need blood!" I shouted. "Now!"

  I looked around. The Drowners were rushing toward me. Perfect.

  "Glassline Shot!"

  I fired the Aurean Glassbow into the crowd of Drowners. The glass spear pierced three of them in a line.

  SQUELCH.

  The rotten blood of the undead flew through the air, sucked into my empty Vial.

  SLURP.

  "Thanks for the donation!" I laughed.

  The Sentinel lunged. Its [STRENGTH 70] was terrifying. I couldn't block it.

  So I didn't.

  "Spider Web!"

  My [Web-Anchor Talon] fired a web line not at the monster, but at the heavy iron portcullis above its head.

  I yanked the line.

  The rusted chain holding the gate snapped.

  The massive iron gate fell.

  CLANG.

  It slammed onto the Sentinel’s tail, pinning it to the ground. The monster shrieked in fury, thrashing wildy.

  "Stay!" I commanded.

  I charged. Cinderbrand roared with black fire.

  "Unrelenting Force!"

  The shockwave hit the Sentinel’s head, stunning it. Its coral armor cracked.

  I leaped onto its back. I raised my sword with both hands.

  "Thermal Shock!"

  I drove the blade deep into the monster's spine.

  The water inside the creature boiled. The pressure built up instantly inside the tough scales.

  BOOM.

  The Sentinel exploded from the inside out. Black slime and fish guts coated the entire courtyard.

  I stood there, dripping with goo, my sword smoking in the rain.

  Melina Milkwright skipped over to me, holding a glowing umbrella.

  "Eww!" she giggled. "You look like a sushi roll that exploded!"

  "It's called victory, princess," I wiped slime from my goggles.

  I opened my menu. Level 40. A milestone. I needed to be tougher. That hit from the tail had nearly ended me.

  Brandan walked up, looking at the dead Leviathan and the pinned tail.

  "Mournwatch is ours," Brandan declared, planting the Stormsong banner in the corpse. "Now... we open the floodgates."

  I looked up at the massive dam wall, leaking tears of black water.

  "Just don't open them too wide," I muttered. "I just washed my coat."

  We took the Keep. The wettest, darkest fortress in the world. And it was home.

  The massive iron doors of Mournwatch Keep groaned open, rust raining down on our heads like forbidden confetti.

  We stepped inside our new headquarters.

  SPLAT. SQUELCH. DRIP.

  The interior wasn't a castle. It was an indoor swamp with a roof. The floor was covered in three inches of black, oily water. Green algae grew on the tapestries. The chandeliers were made of fish bones.

  King Brandan waded into the Great Hall, his boots making loud, sucking noises. He looked around for majesty. He found mold.

  "It is..." Brandan paused, trying to find a kingly word. "...moist."

  "Moist?" I shrieked, checking my ledger. "Brandan, it's a sewer! I just paid 150,000 Gold for an army to capture a leaky basement!"

  I kicked a mushroom growing out of the floor.

  "Look at this! This isn't decor! This is a structural violation! If I sell this place, the listing will say: 'Cozy, open-concept, serious risk of drowning while you sleep!'"

  Vasco Vane glided over the water, somehow not getting wet. He inspected a wall that was actively crying black slime.

  "It has... rustic charm," Vasco lied smoothly. "Think of the strategic value, Wilhelm. Who would want to besiege us? The smell alone is a defensive perimeter."

  "It smells like a fishmonger's armpit!" Livia Whitefield wailed from the back, still tied up and covered in mud. "My hair is going to absorb the spores! I will become a moss-person! Kill me now!"

  Ser Erebus Crux, the Commander of the Army of Despair, walked into the room. He took a deep breath of the rotting air.

  "Home," Erebus sighed contentedly.

  He walked over to a corner where the ceiling was leaking a steady stream of water. He stood directly under it, letting the cold water soak his cloak.

  "The architecture weeps," Erebus whispered. "It understands the futility of dryness. Beautiful."

  "He's enjoying the leak," Alexander Shadowgrove noted, leaning against a pillar (and immediately pulling his hand back when he touched slime). "Wilhelm, your General is taking a shower in the roof damage."

  "Can we fix it?" Gutrum Falken asked, looking at the structural integrity with concern.

  "Fix it?" Malachia glitched onto a chandelier. "Uncle Gutrum, this isn't a bug. It's a feature! The whole level is a water-physics tech demo! Look!"

  She jumped into a puddle. SPLASH.

  "Ray-traced reflections! High-fidelity mold textures! 10/10 Graphics, 0/10 livability!"

  Melina Milkwright skipped into the room. She was holding a bucket.

  "I found the kitchen!" Melina beamed. "It's full of... um... vintage seafood!"

  She held up the bucket. Inside was a fish skeleton that was somehow still moving.

  "Dinner is served!" Melina chirped.

  "I am not eating undead sushi," Bastian declared, covering his nose with a perfumed handkerchief. "I refuse. I will eat my own boots first. They are Kaledon leather; they probably taste better."

  Brandan splashed his way to the dais at the end of the hall. There was a throne there.

  It was made of black coral and driftwood. It looked sharp, uncomfortable, and wet.

  Brandan sat down.

  SQUISH.

  "Your Grace," I called out. "How is the throne?"

  Brandan shifted his weight. A small crab scuttled out of the seat cushion and pinched his leg.

  "It is..." Brandan grimaced. "Firm. Commanding. And... I think something just laid eggs in my trousers."

  "Perfect," I threw my hands up. "The King has crabs. The General is showering in a leak. The prisoner is decomposing. And I am paying for all of it."

  Dr. Fenris Vulpine limped in, looked around, and immediately turned back to the door.

  "No," Fenris stated.

  "Doctor, wait!" I yelled. "We need a medical wing!"

  "I am not practicing medicine in a petri dish," Fenris shouted over his shoulder. "I'll be in the courtyard. If anyone gets gangrene, just cut it off yourselves!"

  I looked at Mary Berg. She was standing quietly by a window, watching the black lake press against the glass.

  "What do you think, Mary?" I asked. "Is it defensible?"

  Mary turned. She looked at the water. She looked at the miserable dampness. She looked at the dark, gothic gloom.

  "It's cold," Mary said. A small smile touched her lips. "It feels like the North."

  "Of course the Falken likes it," I muttered.

  Erebus Crux walked up to me, still dripping wet.

  "Master of Coin," Erebus droned. "We have found the barracks."

  "Oh good," I said. "Are they dry?"

  "No," Erebus said, sounding delighted. "The floor is flooded to the ankle. We shall sleep standing up, like waiting corpses. It builds character."

  "You people are impossible," I groaned.

  I walked over to the ledger on a rotting table.

  "Well," I raised my flask of wine. "To Mournwatch Keep. The only castle in the world where you can drown in your living room."

  "Huzzah," Brandan cheered weakly, slapping a mosquito on his neck.

  "I hate you all," Livia sobbed. "I hate you so much."

  "We know, love," I winked. "Welcome to the winning team."

  ———————————————————————————Army power-----------------------------------------------------------