You know you’re in deep when an Outrider shows up. You’re in over your head when three show up. And you’re really sunk when they are trying to be incognito to surprise the hellspawn.
Wizard Corpus has a map to truly epic treasure deep in the dungeon of Del’Cron. He’s a spellcaster of the researcher variety and realizes he needs protection.
Captain Urn is a disgraced officer of the guard in New Donna. Disgraced because he was honorable, loyal to his men, and trying to keep order in New Donna, despite the corrupt council that set policy. New Donna is more like a battlefield than a city, so Captain Urn’s guards were trained like soldiers, not policemen.
Urn’s guards were the best. He made sure. They knew he looked out for them. Solid orders, the best equipment, even if the Captain had to pay for it out of his own pocked. Loyalty flowed both ways. They would follow him to hell and back.
Wizard Corpus needs guards. Captain Urn needs his name cleared. They make a deal, Corpus gets his magic item, Urn gets information that will clear his name, and the treasure goes to the soldiers Urn is bringing with him. It sounded good when they started.
Then three Outriders came along and the adventure got deeper, deeper than even the Outriders suspected. Go Deeper or Don’t Go is another chapter in the Outrider Chronicles.