A Bigger Issue Than They Realize

Gavin had discovered a cavern being used as a lair by thieves, hopefully, the very thieves his so-called mentor had been sent to deal with. Rogues like this really needed to be dealt with quickly and thoroughly. Chances were Sir Gelthias and his other squires would showboat their way through everything, making obvious mistakes that they would call Gavin out on and be blissfully ignorant of having done themselves. Gavin had done the lion’s share of the work but Sir Gelthias was taking all the credit, per usual, and Gavin was fine with that, he never liked the idea of being praised by egotistical narcissists and the like.

As usual, Gavin did most of the work while his so-called companions slacked off and his supposed mentor/supervisor was actually joining them and encouraging the behavior while chastising Gavin every few minutes when he saw him. Gavin only had a standard arming sword for a weapon, which seemed to be made of crappy steel, and cheap gambeson for armor. He was going about checking the tunnels for the most signs of activity, those would say which routes were most used. Determining all that would at least tell him where the bandits mostly frequented, which would mean those would be the most likely points of concentration for their group.

After a few minutes of investigation, while the rest of his “party” lounged around near the cave’s entrance, Gavin returned to Sir Galthias and gave his report, per usual interaction. “Sir,” said Gavin with a salute used by soldiers in reference to higher-ranking officers, just as the slothful knight was about to bark another canned command to keep at his assigned task, “I believe I have found the 3 most commonly used tunnels. What would you prefer to be the following steps?”

“Ah, yes, very good,” said Sir Galthias, “We will split into groups, I will take the route that is most likely the way to bandit leader’s office, along with the two most capable squires,” Gavin almost gagged and laughed in disgust at this statement, Sir Galthias’s so-called most capable squires could barely find their equipment with a hint, a prayer, and a detailed map, even when they were wearing it, “the other three will make their way to sleeping quarters, and you,” he turned to Gavin in disgust, “will secure their supply chamber.” Gavin had no objections to this, and if these 5 idiots, and Sir Galthias, got themselves mortally wounded he would have a legitimate excuse as to why he wasn’t responsible, they had blamed him for such things before.

Gavin led them to the intersection and pointed to each of the three confirmed most used tunnels, “I believe the centermost one is used as the command,” Gavin then pointed to a tunnel on the left, closest to the cave entrance, “I believe those are the sleeping quarters, it makes sense they would want to have that closest to the entrance in the case of an attack on this location,” he then pointed to a passageway near the back of the cave and sad, “I think that might passageway to their supplies.”

“You think? You believe?” Said Sir Galthias with annoyance

“Would you rather I confirm out of your sight and be the first one to ‘get the glory’ while I investigated,” Gavin shot back in mock respect to veil his annoyance.

“I can see your point,” said Sir Galthias, “how did you come to those conclusions?”

“It stands to reason the leader would want to be in the centermost tunnel, it would mean he is literally at the center of all operation; with operations like this, it’s best to have the sleeping quarters closest to the entrance so as to allow the troops to head out to raids faster and have reinforcements respond to attacks from outside parties faster; it also stands to reason that they would want to keep their provisions as far back as possible since that would mean less chance of invaders pilfering their supplies and it usually tends to be cooler so as to keep perishables longer the deeper down you go.”

“Ah, yes,” said Sir Galthias, “all excellent points. Now, let us perform our duty.”

“The only thing that has me concerned,” said Gavin, “is a lack of presence here now, maybe they all went out for a new raid.”

“If that is the case,” said Sir Galthias, “then that means we can secure the enemy stronghold and use it for our purposes. We will more deeply inspect the tunnels to see if the place is devoid of ruffians, take out any potential hostels on sight, then arrange for a special welcome to our quarry. Everyone, move into position.”

Gavin had a bad feeling about all this, where were all the people that were supposed to be here? The bandits should have at least left a few guards near the way they came in, even if the fight would be less than worthwhile for a trained knight, but there the place was devoid of anything resembling a guard or alert system.