The second group wore black robes, carried staffs, chains, wands, and other various accouterments that were clearly magical. They were dispersed through the line relatively evenly, each of them had one or two highly familiar monsters on chains that granted them control. The latex covered undead snarled and hissed, unseeing eyes fixed on our line.
The plan had originally been to line up along this ridge and encourage the enemy to engage with whatever forces he had from inside the tower Forcing him to focus on keeping the frontal assault at bay. while I, Tol’geth, and a few others went around in the forest's cover through a path marked safe by Alara’s minstrels. Before committing a break in. I meant the frontal attack as nothing more than a diversion and stalling tactic so we could escape with Pina. Then signal the fighters to back off, to get back to the protection of the city walls. But had we done that, we would have marched right down onto what had been the sorcerer’s gardens and into a death trap. Alara’s song, sung in grief, had saved more lives than I cared to think about in that moment.
I sucked in a lung full of air and was about to shout orders to retreat so we could think of a better plan, but Quinn beat me to the punch. “Loose!” he yelled over the quiet and startled forces on both sides of the field. Crossbow bolts and arrows from a dozen different ranged weapons launched into the air in an arch. A handful of them were covered in different colored abilities and minor enhancements or spells activated. The arrows and bolts came crashing down in a rather well-disciplined volley, despite the divergent weaponry.
“What in the?” Alara smiled sadly, patted me on the shoulder, turned and disappeared into the army behind me. Quinn called for the ranged attackers to reload. Then he shouted for the front line to raise shields. I hadn’t noticed before, but all of those in the front rank of his company sized army were equipped with standard, square metal-banded wooden shields. I hope he didn’t steal those, I thought as an anemic return volley from the disorganized enemy impacted lightly on the sturdy defense. The enemy red-leather clad ‘hunters’ as I was calling them in my mind, had been ready to attack at short range. Spears and swords were in their hands, rather than bows and crossbows. The reveal had caught them somewhat unprepared. Their ranged attacks did little but impact on the shield wall. One man screamed as an arrow went through his foot, but he was quickly replaced in line by another who took up his shield.
Then again, I honestly don’t care.
Chapter 22: The Beginning of Restitution
“Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.” ― Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do
Just Outside the Sorcerer's Tower, Outskirts of the City of Sowers Vale, 9th Novos, 2989 AoR
The shield wall received a second anemic volley with virtually no injuries. One man took a bolt to the shoulder. He didn’t lift his shield fully to cover himself. It was an amateur mistake, a common one for people who had never used a shield before. Instinctively you want to watch the arrows as they fall and only lift the shield at the last minute. But you can never truly time that last minute pull well enough to prevent the real possibility of injury. Thankfully, he was pulled back by one of Quinn’s lieutenants, who let loose a barrage of curse words at the man, more foul and hurtful than any arrow.
After my initial shock of seeing decent quality and uniform gear being wielded by the otherwise ramshackle if deadly Pinal Legionnaires, I could count ten. They had ten of the nearly perfectly square, iron banded shields. The rest of the twenty shields that made up the shield wall were of various kinds and qualities. In short, exactly what I expected. Stolen, looted, or hand crafted gear that was far from standardized. Thought it was also clear that Quinn had done his best to make the most of their situation.
I saw Quinn nod to a tall, broad-shouldered man I had met once before. He was a knight, clad in full plate and carrying a sharp two-handed sword. This was the city leader of the Order of the Bleeding Heart. Rodrick I think? I couldn’t quite remember the man’s name. He smiled wickedly and stepped in front of the shield line.
“Charge!” was all the beast of a man got out. Before the entire nearly hundred strong legion, supported by nearly two dozen knights and their guards, screamed at the top of their lunges and charged down the hill straight at the barricade.
“Uh, Dale? This is part of the plan, right?” I asked, and the knight just shrugged.
“Most knightly orders aren’t known for their use of small unit tactics.” He grinned, pulled his sword, and moved to join the charge. Tol’geth put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.
“Remember, you are here to help us now. We have another task to do.”
My hand gripped the small bundle of control rods in my pocket, observing the line of rouges, rascals, pirates, cutthroats, knights, squires, and guards charge down the hill in what I knew had to be a nearly suicidal frontal attack. The enemy was far fewer, but they had a defensive position and as I watched, their large hunting ballista thumped bolts out rhythmically, pausing only for one of the three crew to pull a lever and rearm the weapon while the third man put a fresh metal shaft in place. The first bolt went clean through a man, pinning him to the ground. The second cut through two, and ripped one mans hand off at the wrist as it passed.
I started raising power to retaliate when Quinn’s voice shouted over the field. “Hook’em boys!” Two of the new members of the legion who Quinn had designated as his new lieutenants stopped charging and pulled out massive chains. They both had wicked looking hooks on the end of each chain. The Lieutenants whirled them overhead before launching them at the offending mini-siege engines. The first hook landed on the bolt loader’s shoulder, digging in deep with its sharp claws. As the new legionnaire pulled, those barbs, designed to bite into thick hardwood, wormed their way between muscle and bone. The man screamed and was pulled off his feat.
The second hook landed on the far right scorpion's bolt-run and dug deep furrows into the wood. As the scorpion’s string thumped forward half a heartbeat later, it severed itself against the metal barbs that covered the surface of the hook. One down, one slowed, I thought, and I began shaping the power I still held into a fireball to hurl at the third scorpion. A massive hand gripped my shoulder.
“We must go. We have a job to do, friend Rayid. Let us not forget our part in this fight.” I sighed and nodded. Reabsorbing the mana into my staff as I turned and followed Tol’geth and the assembled rescue party.
“Hold on, one minute.” I turned and for the next few minutes, while the initial battle raged, I laid plans for our retreat. I directed the three big carts that had followed us out of the city to where I thought they would best serve the rest of the plan. Then, I double checked and made sure that Zed’s initial task, the one I had sent him out here to do, which was not to pick a fight with the sorcerer, had been done. There they were, my trump card. Smiling, I turned to my friends.
“Let's go.”
---
By the time we reached the tree line and began our trek through the marked path, the Legion had assaulted the barricade three separate times. Each time they were rebuffed, but not before tearing down or stripping part of the defenses. Nearly a quarter of the men Quinn had begun the fight with either lay dead on the ground, or were badly wounded. The defenders I could see barely rose above a dozen. I smirked as I realized my under-equipped, under-trained, highly motivated, and underhanded fighters had the upper hand. Until I realized two things that nearly made my heart stop before Tol’geth pulled me along.
First, the enemy dead and those we had left on the barricade were being dragged behind the rampart by the strange cultists. Second, that the handful of latex creatures I had seen before were now out of sight. As the third charge on the barricades began, this one primarily made up of armored knights, nearly a dozen of the creatures launched themselves into our ranks.
“We gotta go. Or what they’re doing right now won’t matter.” Ailsa said softly from my shoulder. I shuddered as the knights began fighting the wave of undeath. I tu
rned and followed Tol’geth further into the forest of dead trees. We jogged, and our movement kicked up ash and dirt mixed with a light dusting of snow all around us. We weren’t deep into the woods, just far enough to make it difficult for the Jekkel to see us from his tower windows. The western side of the tower was pretty close to the remnants of the forest. As we began circling back around, we heard a horn call for retreat.
“Quick, while they’re distracted,” Dale said. We picked up our pace. A few moments later, the sky overhead was clear of dead tree limbs. I looked around and found myself in the open space behind the fighting and the tower. I instinctively looked up and found several empty windows blocked off by thick blackout curtains. “I don’t see another entrance.”
“We do not need one. I shall make one.” Tol’geth pulled his massive sword, and it morphed into a new shape. From a long double handed blade into a thick headed heavy hammer. He pulled back, activated an ability that made him glow slightly brown and made him give off the feeling of a bear, and hurled his massive hammer against the black stone of the tower. The tower thrummed lightly in response to the crack of the hammer against stone. I lifted my staff and prepared several spells, all ready for nearly instant casting, stored in both my newly upgraded staff and ring. Most of them were Force Bolts with various augmentations, but I added a few fiery and other elemental surprises in the mix.
The second hammer blow came, and a small hole appeared in the tower wall. What is this stuff made of? I did not know how any normal stone could stand up to my friend’s prodigious level and strength. But I realized whatever mundane material the stone had once been? Somewhere along the line, it was altered either through alchemical or magical means into something far denser and more durable.
I glanced over at the battle, the familiar sounds of snarling undead grabbing my attention. The legion had retreated up the hill again and had formed a defensive ring just behind the ridge. I could see most of them from the shoulders up as they raised shields and prepared to meet the charging undead I was too familiar with. I thought we destroyed all of those knives; I thought as I watched the snarling, black covered undead. The creatures lost steam as they ran up the hill and quickly returned to their cultist masters, who stood huddling behind the barricade.
Tol’geth hit the tower a third time, sending another thrum of magic through the thing. Jekkel’s head and shoulders appeared out of one window and I sent a trio of Force Bolts with the Hammerhead augmentation hurtling after him. The sorcerer growled and pulled himself back into the tower as Tol’geth laughed. The bear of a man pushed over the remaining stones in his way with a lazy shove. I gave one final look back at the legion as they fought desperately against a handful of the undead who had gone wild instead of heeding their master’s commands.
The legionaries used chains and ropes to tie the powerful creatures down. They used spears, long swords, javelins, and whatever else they could get their hands on to skewer them from a safe distance. The eclectic, non-standard gear that my legionaries carried had proven to be the undead’s undoing. As I watched a knight took off one creature’s head, as four arrow shafts pin cushioned another until it bleed black ichor on the ground. Another was weighed down by heavy chains and pinned to the ground with long javelins, only to have its head caved in by hammers and maces. On it went down the line. Creative deaths abounded for the deadly monsters.
Then, with one last step, I was in the tower. My attention was returned to the path ahead of me as it swallowed my senses in darkness.
Chapter 23: Storming the Tower
"Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire." - Jennifer Lee
The Sorcerer's Tower, Outskirts of the City of Sowers Vale, 9th Novos, 2989 AoR
As I entered, Tol’geth moved in behind me. When he let go of the stone he was holding in place, it crumbled. The earth shivered as the outer stonework of the tower, which it surprised me to learn was not the actual tower itself but a facade, blocked us in from the outside.
The room was dark, and smelled of mold and rusting metal. With a flex of will I cast Ball of Light 1 through my staff. Light appeared at the tip of my staff. The room swiftly filled with something akin to daylight. We found ourselves in what looked like a rather well put together jail cell. “You’re kidding. We broke down the wall only to walk into a prison cell.” I laughed, I couldn’t help it. Tol’geth, Ailsa, and Dale gave out little chuckles of their own. A moment later Tol’geth took one step towards the bars and gripped them in his massive hands. He pulled with everything he had. Several spells activated, and I could tell they were directly resisting his efforts. Tol’geth’s health bar in my HUD dipped slightly before filling back to full.
While I was thinking about it, I added Dale to the party. Dale grinned. “I was wondering when you were going to do that.” I shrugged as we readied ourselves for whatever we might find outside of our cell.
Tol’geth ripped the entire wall of bars clear from their riggings in the stone before leaning it back in place and pulling two bars far enough apart for us to walk through. “A bit overkill, don’t you think?” I teased my friend. I looked up and down at the set of three cells he had just opened.
“No such thing wizard.” He gave me a smile filled with mischief. I could tell he was happy, happy we were finally making actual progress, happy he might very well be able to rescue Pina. And happy that he might just be able to win her heart in the process. “You should know this with your pyromancy.”
I fought from laughing and looked around. The cells were set up in a row with a single entrance and exit from the area. We walked out of the room with the cells and found ourselves faced with a large empty room, with stone steps leading to a higher level. There were some storage barrels and crates, but we didn’t take the time to search them. This was a smash and grab, not a seek and destroy mission.
Dale was the first one up the stairs, shield forward and sword drawn. I was in the middle, followed by Tol’geth. I found Dale had a heavy crossbow slung across his back; it looked very similar to the thick hunting crossbows carried by the enemy slayers down at the barricade.
As we emerged onto the second floor, we found the main dining hall. It was two stories tall internally, with cobwebs and dust everywhere. “I guess our sorcerer doesn’t get many guests,” I said as we fanned out in the circular room. I cast Ball of Light a few more times and gave each of my three companions their own light source. The room had been dark a moment ago, but now it filled with light. We quickly cleared each of the side rooms and found only more storage. When I opened the last of the single doors, it surprised me to find a bedroom. It had a comfortable bed, dressers, cloths hanging from a line on one side, and a tiny fire whose smoke seemed to just disappear in the fireplace.
Ailsa flickered into the room and inspected everything before letting out a sad board sigh and shooting back to sit on my shoulder. “It is what it looks like, just a boring old room.”
“Servant’s quarters, perhaps?” Dale asked as he examined the way up the stairs.
“That would make sense to me,” Tol’geth said from beside me.
We left the little well lived-in room behind us as we ascended the next set of stairs. These felt more like those in a small mansion than in some magi’s tower. At the top of the switchback on the stairs, we found a set of double doors. Dale listened closely at the keyhole for a moment before nodding and trying the handle. It didn’t budge. He threw his shoulder into the door and it nearly shattered into splinters. He looked back at us and shrugged. “Old dry wood.”
The third floor was lit by a few well-used candles that cast haunting shadows through the hall. It was a single large open space filled with what looked like research instruments, equipment, small notebooks, and storage boxes. Near the center, we found several cages taller than Tol’geth. This room too was large, about four stories tall, as far as I could tell.
“I think this tower might be enchanted like the City Mages tower is. Somewhat bigger on the inside and all.”
I whispered into the gloom. Tol’geth grunted his agreement. It grew more obvious to me that this was from magic and not some sort of clever architecture. I took in just how large the storage space was. It was nearly twice the size of the the previous floor, including the separate rooms.
The cages were in rows, from smaller ones closer to the center where the light was, too much larger cages that loomed nearly halfway to the ceiling and were shrouded in darkness. I cast two more Balls of Light, the mana cost negligible, and tossed them out in several directions. The first three to the north, south, and east of the room found their mark and cast light on row after row of cages, crates, boxes, and supplies. The cages were all empty of living things, though there were several animal skeletons in some of the larger ones. Including one that looked remarkably like the great ape golem Jekkel had created and whose corpse I had repurposed.
The fourth ball of light nearly reached its destination before a long, black tentacle of darkness reached out and consumed it. “What in the—” A shrieking noise filled the air. Rattling the dust from the ceiling stones and forcing me to grimace as I covered my ears.
Your spell “Ball of Light 1” has been consumed by ‘Unnamed Abomination’.
You are affected by ‘Screech of Rage’ ability used by ‘Unnamed Abomination’. Effect: You are partially deafened for 30 seconds. All skill checks involving hearing will receive a -10 penalty. Current Time Remaining: 29 seconds.
The Abomination, enraged by the light I had unknowingly tried to burn it with, broke through the roof of its cage. Partially deafened I could feel its shrieks of pain and anger more than hear them. It tore itself free from the wreckage and began crushing smaller cages on its way towards us.
“Okay, meathead. How did you piss another one of these things off?!” Ailsa yelled as she rose as high into the air as she could.
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