The Wandering Inn_Volume 1

by Pirateaba

  He did not understand.

  —-

  Miles from where Yellow Spatters lay, far higher and aboveground, a young Gnoll was awake. Mrsha had not slept, though Lyonette was already wrapped up in her blankets in the room the two shared. No, Mrsha had been awake. Her nose twitched as she padded past Lyonette’s head, tail tucked between her legs. How could she sleep when there were monsters, killers, murderers in the same building?

  She crept around in her room, her nose full of the smells of the Goblins slumbering below. She could smell them throughout the inn now, no matter how much she buried her face in the comforting smells of Lyonette’s pillow or opened the windows to let the cold air in.

  Killers. Tribe murderers. Monsters. Mrsha could remember them streaming through the snow, cutting down her friends, family. The Stone Spears tribe, everyone—

  Urksh.

  The memories tore at Mrsha. Mrsha, the [Lone Survivor]. That knowledge weighed on her hardest of all. She sniffed, and knew the Goblins were sleeping. They were right below her, right below.

  She prowled, and her teeth ground together as her claws clicked across the floor. The wand she’d stolen from Pisces was grasped awkwardly in her paw. Mrsha swung it again, but it didn’t do any magic.

  They were here. And they would be in the inn, eating, laughing, living, while her tribe was dead. Not right. It was not right. Mrsha growled, and Lyonette stirred. The Gnoll quieted, but the feeling remained in the silence. She sat up as the night grew longer, her paw gripping the wand tightly, smelling the Goblins.

  Hating, hating, hating.

  4.41 L

  Yellow Splatters woke up a few hours after dawn for his shift. He got up, ate the pinkish-brown paste he was served, and marched at the head of his unit of Soldiers to the front. Pawn was not there. Neither was Twin Stripes.

  It felt wrong. And yet, this is what Yellow Splatters had wanted, wasn’t it? The thought threw the [Sergeant] as he set a quick pace down the tunnels. Yes. No. It was…different from what he’d wanted.

  He hadn’t wanted Twin Stripes to become an Aberration, obviously. That was simply an anomaly, something Yellow Splatters couldn’t explain. Weakness, perhaps. As for Pawn, he just wanted the Worker to know his place. And that place was helping Soldiers, not—not running off!

  “Ah. Yellow Splatters. You’re here.”

  The Soldiers stopped and the thirty Soldiers he’d brought paused behind him. Anand, Belgrade, and Pawn were all standing around the command ‘table’, which was really just a folding table made of wood they could put a map on. Pawn met Yellow Splatters’ eyes as the Soldier approached, but said nothing. Yellow Splatters did his best to pretend he didn’t exist.

  If Anand was aware of the situation he didn’t show it. The [Tactician] was rapidly giving out orders to Soldiers and Workers around him. The dungeon’s attacks weren’t exactly like clockwork—not that the Antinium were familiar with that concept anyways—but they could be predicted with a good deal of accuracy. And right now it was about to get dangerous.

  “I’m already receiving reports of movement around two of the dungeon entrances. I want to be ready when they hit. Yellow Splatters, divide your command into three equal groups for today. I will be using them to strike targets of opportunity while you engage the most dangerous foes that appear.”

  Yellow Splatters snapped to attention and turned. He gestured, and the Soldiers moved with mechanical precision. Gone was his indecisiveness of earlier, his worries. This was what he was made to do. War. It was so simple.

  Anand nodded in approval and immediately sent Yellow Splatters towards the nearest signs of monster activity. The other two groups were assigned to Pawn and a Soldier as Yellow Splatters left. He didn’t like Pawn being in charge, but there was no time to dwell on it.

  The monsters were coming.

  —-

  Trivipers, a group of armed Raskghar and Cave Goblins, a small horde of Shield Spiders and worst of all, a Bagrhaven. The monsters seemed unusually agitated today, or perhaps there were just more of them than usual. Yellow Splatters didn’t care. His group of ten Painted Soldiers smashed into each new threat, sometimes accompanied by other Soldiers, sometimes not.

  It didn’t matter. They won each time. Yellow Splatters fought as hard as he could, relishing the simple brutality of it. He didn’t have to think when he was in combat. Actually, he did—but it wasn’t about difficult things.

  Like Twin Stripes. Or Pawn. Yellow Splatters couldn’t get his mind off them, no matter how hard he tried. It wasn’t his fault that Twin Stripes had become an Aberration! No. No it wasn’t. Twin Stripes had…done something wrong. Or maybe he was wrong from the start. But Yellow Splatters had shown him what to do, what was right and he’d become an Aberration on his own. That was all there was to it.

  The Soldiers under Yellow Splatters’ command retreated after slaying the Bagrhaven, their carapaces damaged by her long claws. Personally, Yellow Splatters thought they could fight longer, but Anand had given them the order to pull back.

  The [Tactician] was leading the fighting around all three dungeon entrances today. Belgrade was giving no orders, which both puzzled and relieved Yellow Splatters. He would have been happy if the Workers had left everything to Anand, but distressingly, they were still holding the ground around all three entrances, far closer to the dungeon than made sense. Anand’s mobile strategy was far more difficult to employ in the few tunnels they were holding.

  The [Sergeant] marched his unit back behind the lines of Soldiers and Workers flooding ahead to hold the breach and clear away monster and Antinium bodies, thinking hard. Was it because Anand was worried monsters might slip through into the rest of the Hive? Or was it Belgrade’s stupid ideas taking hold in him as well? He wasn’t sure, but he was angry. And he got angrier when he saw the stone.

  In the tunnels where his unit had been pulled back to rest in was a sea of Workers, far more than usual for the front. Workers were poor combatants compared to Soldiers and usually only repaired tunnels or hauled away dead bodies. But these ones were here for a different reason. They were hauling blocks and chunks of stone towards the dirt tunnels, deconstructing walls, opening the area up. Yellow Splatters stared in disbelief.

  What were they doing? They were removing the tunnels he normally fought in with his Soldiers—the area in which monsters would begin to attack each other if given the chance. And worse, they were using stones! Stones? Who used stones?

  In the Hive, construction began and ended with dirt for the most part. The Antinium could pack dirt so tightly together and create support beams out of the stuff. Only rarely did they need to use wood, and stone they left alone unless they had to dig through it. It was too cumbersome to use and unnecessary since a group of Workers could excavate a tunnel or rebuild one in less than an hour.

  But for some reason, stone had been ordered and here it was. And of course, one [Tactician] was supervising it all. Belgrade was overseeing whatever construction was going on here. Yellow Splatters stared at him with distrust and suspicion until he was ordered back to the front.

  This time it was to stop a group of Crypt Lords that were rampaging forwards with a small army of zombies. It was a huge push, and Yellow Splatters arrived at a run to find that one group of the Colored Antinium was already fighting the undead with every Soldier and Worker in the area.

  Purple Smile led a group of ten Painted Soldiers, smashing zombies down and stomping the corpses to bits. Yellow Splatters froze when he saw the other Antinium. Anand had put him in charge of the other soldiers? His soldiers? Why?

  But there was no time to wonder. A Crypt Lord charged into a group of regular Soldiers, a gaping mouth spewing black poisonous blood everywhere. Yellow Splatters ran at the hulking monster and began tearing it apart with his Soldiers.

  Advance, tear, punch, rend. Rip. The way Yellow Splatters fought was simple. He trusted to his [Tough Carapace] Skill and used his other abilities to inflict as much damage as possible. The Crypt Lor
d went down after knocking one of the Painted Soldiers into a wall and spitting black blood over the second.

  Yellow Splatters immediately sent the Painted Soldier running back towards the command area for an antidote potion and turned to see how Purple Smile was doing. He was a Soldier, after all. That meant he had to be good at fighting, right?

  To his outrage, Yellow Splatters saw that across the wide tunnel, Purple Smile was running away. The Colored Antinium had all of his Soldiers in full retreat as two Crypt Lords lurched towards them. Why was he running? They had to hold this place! Yellow Splatters ran forwards as the Antinium withdrew. He only froze when he heard a voice shouting at him.

  “Sergeant! Hold!”

  It was Anand’s voice. The [Tactician] had come to the front himself. The Antinium had fallen back as the Crypt Lords moved further into the tunnel. The zombies were nearly all destroyed, and as Yellow Splatters watched, he saw Purple Smile and his Soldiers moving around the Crypt Lords, flanking them from behind. Anand raised his hand and bellowed an order.

  “Charge! [Decisive Blows]! [Evasive Tactics]!”

  The two Skills immediately took effect and Yellow Splatters charged into the first Crypt Lord. Every time he swung into the rotting undead’s flesh he felt like he was punching as hard as he could. And when the giant monster swiped at him, Yellow Splatters and the Antinium around him were forewarned and already moving out of the way.

  The battle ended with both undead torn to pieces. Not a single Soldier or Worker had been hurt or even wounded. Yellow Splatters looked at Anand with appreciation. This was real tactics! The Worker nodded at him and pointed back down the tunnel.

  “Pull back your Soldiers for now, Yellow Splatters. I think the worst of it is over. We will discuss the after battle reports with Belgrade and Pawn.”

  Yellow Splatters nodded and raised a hand. All twenty Soldiers in the tunnels fell in behind him. He felt proud, tired, but exhilarated with the combat. This was right! And none of his Soldiers had fallen in battle today. That proved he was doing the correct thing! His satisfaction lasted all of two seconds, until Anand turned to Purple Smile.

  “Good work, Purple Smile. Your tactical decisions were most astute.”

  The other Soldier nodded as Anand turned. Yellow Splatters turned to stare at him. His heart began to beat faster and his mandibles snapped together angrily. Purple Smile had done a good job?

  What?

  —-

  “Work is proceeding smoothly. Today should be the end of it, unless I run into an unexpected situation.”

  Belgrade was addressing the other two Workers at the table while Yellow Splatters stood at attention, fuming. Partly because he was being ignored, and partly because he had company. Purple Smile stood more or less at attention; he was slouching and rubbing at a cut in his armor with one hand. Yellow Splatters stared at him and clicked his mandibles together sharply and quickly until Purple Smile reluctantly straightened.

  The other three Workers always discussed casualties, unexpected monsters and so on after each attack when they were together. It was sensible, but today Yellow Splatters didn’t want to be here, especially since no one would ask him his opinion. He was impatient and determined not to show it. Anand nodded to Belgrade as the first [Tactician] bent over the map.

  “In that case, we will plan for the worst and assume another day of fighting. We are certainly able to keep the containment for another day at least. Casualties were higher, again, than usual, but thanks to the Colored Antinium we were never in any danger of being overrun.”

  “Is that so?”

  Pawn glanced at Yellow Splatters as the Soldier stood straighter. Anand nodded, glancing over to him. Then he looked at Purple Smile and lifted his mandibles.

  “Yes. Actually, I was delighted to see how Purple Smile reacted today when the Crypt Lords attacked. Your group was efficient, Pawn, and Yellow Splatters subdued more threats than any other, but Purple Smile retreated when the Crypt Lords first attacked, choosing only to fight zombies and buying time for me to send reinforcements. Indeed, his defensive strategy may have saved more lives than if he’d attacked blindly.”

  It felt as though Anand had taken a stick and jabbed Yellow Splatters in the insides. He stared at Purple Smile as the other Soldier lifted his own mandibles and waved with two hands at the Workers. Anand bowed slightly towards him, and Belgrade looked approving as well.

  “That is fortunate. Indeed. No wonder you suggested he become a [Sergeant] as well, Pawn. I have witnessed Purple Smile’s efficiency in combat as well. He is not as powerful as Yellow Splatters of course, but his lateral thinking is very impressive. If I may compare it to chess…when I command Yellow Splatters I am reminded of a Rook. Direct, powerful, but limited in that sense. Whereas Purple Smile might be more like a Knight. Less useful in all situations, but able to maneuver around the enemy in many useful ways. In many ways, he fights like you, Anand.”

  That last remark threw the [Sergeant] terribly. He had been getting angrier and angrier at Belgrade’s praise, until he’d heard that. Purple Smile? Like Anand?

  Inconceivable. And yet—a part of Yellow Splatters pointed out that pulling back to strike a decisive blow later was a classic move Anand liked to use. Was he really as good as a [Tactician]? Purple Smile?

  Yellow Splatters turned to look at the other Soldier. Purple Smile was trying to wipe a bit of liquid off his carapace with his hands. He didn’t even appear to be listening! Yellow Splatters’ mandibles ground together angrily.

  No, he wasn’t like Anand at all. It was…different. Yes, it wasn’t right because Purple Smile was neither a [Sergeant] nor a [Tactician]! What right did he have to give orders like that, or make decisions on his own?

  “Yes, it is useful to have different types of units at your disposal. Our Hive is sadly uniform, so it is difficult to respond to individual threats with specialized counters, as the other Hives seem to possess. Had I some Antinium in armor—or better, one of the Silent Antinium, I would feel far better able to eliminate threats with less casualties.”

  The other Workers had kept chattering away as Yellow Splatters stewed. Anand sighed as he stood over the map, playing with one of the chess pieces he and Belgrade were using as markers. He lifted a rook and showed it to the others.

  “The problem is that when we speak of units with self-preservation instincts, the autonomy to make their own decisions and so on…the chess analogy falls apart. While I appreciate the game, it really does not reflect the battle I have been through, Belgrade.”

  The other Worker nodded hesitantly.

  “And yet, Anand, it is still important because it teaches strategic thinking. Why else would so many [Tacticians] and [Strategists] play the game?”

  “Because it makes one level. That is self-evident. My issue is that I do not understand why [Strategists] level because of the game.”

  Anand frowned, the Antinium equivalent of lowering his mandibles and drawing them together slightly.

  “I could understand a low-level [Tactician] benefitting from the game, but earning more than five or six levels seems incredibly suspect. That a high-level [Strategist] could level up by playing a game with set, finite rules that is so far removed from a real battle or war is…odd. I would almost suspect an error in the way we level.”

  “An error in the way we level? That means an error in the world.”

  Belgrade stared at Anand. The other [Tactician] merely shrugged.

  “I only state what is apparent. Regardless, exploiting this benefit is useful to us and the Hive as a whole. Shall we play a game once you are done with your duties?”

  “Yes. Pawn, would you like to join in?”

  “Hm. I do not know. I have things I should be doing…but chess is a tempting offer.”

  Pawn glanced hesitantly at Yellow Splatters. He tried not to shift from leg to leg in impatience. He wasn’t interested in chess at all. Why was he still here?

  Someone apparently agreed with him. Purple Smil
e raised a hand and all four Antinium stared at him. When he was sure he had their attention, Purple Smile faced the Workers and pointed with two of his arms down the tunnel. With his other two arms, he mimed walking with his two spade-like hands. It was clumsy, but it got the message across.

  “Oh, I apologize. We did not mean to keep you, Yellow Splatters, Purple Smile. You may go of course.”

  Anand straightened, twitching his antennae apologetically at the two. Yellow Splatters stared in disbelief. He didn’t feel relieved to be dismissed. He was angry. Again.

  Purple Smile had no right to—the effrontery of—why hadn’t Yellow Splatters—he stomped after Purple Smile as the other Soldier wandered off. Yellow Splatters pointed, and the other Soldiers hastily fell into a line behind him as he marched back to the barracks. All the while his mind was racing.

  Purple Smile. Pawn. The Workers. They were all so, so…shortsighted! They didn’t appreciate Yellow Splatter’s opinions, didn’t care, didn’t ask—and Purple Smile was inferior to Yellow Splatters! He was the [Sergeant]! He knew what was best! He had done everything right. Soldiers had to fight. They didn’t retreat, they didn’t run—and yet, Purple Smile had been praised. He was being considered for [Sergeant] as well, as an equal to Yellow Splatters!

  Unacceptable. Why? And why had Twin Stripes become Aberration? Why was he locked up? Was it his fault? Why did Pawn look at him like that? Why were they fighting near the entrance? Why did he feel like he was losing control? Yellow Splatters’ mind was confused. He marched, not seeing the Workers he nearly ran over, or the way his Soldiers hesitated as they followed him—the wrong way—through the Hive. He was too preoccupied, too caught up in his anger and frustration.

  He did not understand.

  —-

  It was all going wrong. Lyonette had felt everything going south the last few days, but the final confirmation was seeing the Goblins smuggling some of their breakfast into the basement. That meant one thing. They were planning on leaving soon. And meanwhile, the tension in the inn was so thick that even a knife could bounce off it. She had to talk to Erin. Unfortunately, after an incident in the morning, that meant doing it as she slowly poured a healing potion over Erin’s feet.