by Galen Wolf
As I had hoped, the remnants of the mailed Horrabian infantry had followed our archers into the Forest of Nightmares.
I sent a message to both Ajora and Griffin: easy, easy, wait until they're well in and get around them.
As if changing their mind, instead of splitting the Horrabian infantry all went right after Griffin's men. This was even better than I'd hoped. I told Ajora to get her skirmishers and archers out onto the road and shoot into the backs of the Horrabians as they followed Griffin's retreating troops into the trees.
Our spearmen had crossed the ford and the second unit of Horrabian knights was in full retreat. Ajora's archers fired at them, taking many down as they fled in disarray.
Realizing they'd lost, Samwise ordered a retreat of his remaining knights from the bridge. Ahn wanted to follow him but I told him to wait. The spearmen on the bridge were tired. Ajora's skirmishers could deal with the panicking knights.
About five minutes later Griffin told me his skirmishers had slaughtered all the Horrabian infantry who'd entered the Forest of Nightmares. The remaining raptors had fled the skies above Pennred.
A great cheer went up from our troops on the city walls and the units in the field. We had defeated the Horrabians. No one thought we could—especially not Horrabia. But we had done it.
I got a glow of XP, as did the player characters around me. The message on my HUD said, Victory! 5,000 xp awarded. I saw our combat units had leveled up too.
I ordered all the troops to retreat in an orderly fashion back into the village. Before we closed the gate, I ordered a unit of miners from the village to destroy the bridge.
"Oh, that's Captain Krill's work," Birog said.
"I'm sure he'd forgive us. I heard he was no friend of Horrabia. We'll repair it after the war, but for now any enemies coming from Horrabia will have to cross the Great River to get to us."
I summoned my Brown Owl from her tree, stroked her feathery head, and thanked her for her work before letting her go back into the forest.
Ahn, Ajora, Griffin, Elfhair and I held a war council in the Village Hall. We sat around on the wooden benches. Ahn felt we all deserved mead. It was his own mead brewed from honey provided by the bees he kept in the village of Woodheart.
We were almost giddy with our victory.
Ajora said, "Fantastic—one fantastic job you did there Barcud."
I laughed. "I've played so many hours of the Total War franchise. Now it seems the knowledge I gained wasn't the waste of time everyone said it was."
Elfhair looked shyly at me. "You did an amazing job, General Barcud."
I sipped at my mead. It was sweet and thick and tasted of bees and forest flowers. I said, "The Horrabians' overconfidence and inexperience in war helped us. They've been so used to bullying people they thought it would all be as easy as taking candy from a baby."
Griffin said, "This battle will go down in history: The Battle of Pennred."
Ahn's face clouded. "The First Battle of Pennred, anyway."
Ajora turned on him. her fiery temper showing again. "Don't talk it down boss."
I put up a hand for peace. "No, he's right Horrabia, and particularly Attila, won't take this lying down. They'll throw their greatest forces against us."
"They made a big mistake splitting the armies," Griffin said.
"Once again—overconfidence. But still we mustn't underestimate them. Remember we are the Rangers’ Guild, we're not a kingdom. We have these troops here and a few others a day's march away in Woodheart. And that's it."
"We can raise more," Ajora growled.
"Yes, but not as many as a city can. Or as fast."
Ahn said, "Do you want me to bring those troops here?"
"No, we mustn't leave Woodheart undefended. The Horrabian army moving east to Keld could easily strike south to Woodheart, then on to Vinab. As far as we know that might even be their plan."
"I bet it is," said Griffin.
I rubbed my tired eyes. "We must get ready to withstand the siege. We have plenty of food and we have stone and timber to do repairs. Taking the bridge down will make things more difficult for them but only a little. I anticipate Attila will be here with their main army later today or perhaps tomorrow morning."
Ahn said, "We need to get reinforcements from Vinab."
I nodded. "I'll go see Astral Bob to find out how close we are to getting support."
"Sorry to say it," Griffin said. "But given what you said about the urgency, you'd better go now."
15
The Astrologers Tower
The Astrologers Tower in Vinab was where Astral Bob hung out. It stood in the south-west corner of the city of Vinab near the city walls on the edge of the Theatre District. It was also close to the docks and the sound of seagulls filled the air as they wheeled and soared.
The Tower's NPC guards allowed me entry with Ahn and Ajora. Astral Bob himself came down to greet us and escorted us upstairs to his study on the top floor. From Astral Bob's office, there was a fantastic view of the city of Vinab's narrow bustling streets, and houses bunched together with their red tiled roofs. Just below to the north was the city Burial Ground, location of many undead quests. South of us, past the huge city walls the waves of the Oceans of Bones glittered. Multicolored sails of merchant ships filled the harbor and I could hear the calling of stevedores through the open window. It was warm. Trade bustled everywhere. The sounds of children playing and dogs barking filled the air; the smells of spices, cooking and exotic flowers.
Kings Park lay lush and green to the east, filled with hibiscus and purple wisteria tunnels laid out just below the tower.
In contrast to the brightness and color outside, the astrologer's study collected gloom and dust. The furniture was of dark wood intricately carved with mythological scenes. A human skull lay on Astral Bob's desk alongside a large quartz crystal ball and a pack of tarot cards. He motioned for us to sit on the long leather sofa. Ahn was his usual even-tempered self, but Ajora sat quietly brooding.
I said, "I don't know much about your Guild. Are you diviners?"
Astral Bob nodded. "I guess that's why I got the job of city spymaster. Our function as a Guild is to see things; to uncover what our enemies seek to hide."
Before he could say more, if he planned to say more, a rap echoed on the study door and Astral Bob got up to open it. Parzifal of the Knights’ Guild stood there, his steel helmet under his armored arm. He greeted us, but I sensed a certain reticence. Parzifal cleared his throat and the first thing he did on entering the study was to shake my hand warmly and congratulate me. "I hear it was a fantastic victory." He gave a nervous twist of his blond moustache.
I thanked him. "The arrogance of the Horrabians delivered us the victory. Samwise leading the vanguard was overconfident. He should have waited for the main army. And, he lacks experience. I was glad we won, but this isn't the end of the war."
Parzifal frowned more deeply. "I am ashamed of the men of my city. To let the Rangers’ Guild withstand the worst of Horrabian aggression when everyone knows the prize that Horrabia is seeking is the conquest of the city of Vinab. This is all a pretext for them to attack us. And that's why our city council wouldn't agree to support you."
I shook my head. "The city council wouldn't agree? I thought they'd agreed in principle, and it was just a matter of details?"
Astral Bob studied his hands. "I'm still working on them. But their view is that it isn't our fight."
Ajora, who clearly had struggled to remain silent, suddenly snapped. “You expect us to defeat Horrabia on our own?"
Astral Bob sighed. "Believe me it's the last thing Parzifal and I want. We haven't given up yet."
Ahn put his hand gently on Ajora's arm to quiet her. "What about the other cities?"
Astral Bob looked at him bleary eyed. "Keld? Salonika? The news I have is that Salonika is actually considering throwing in their lot with Horrabia. No doubt they would expect a deal for their support – they'd hope that Horrabia would cede
them the eastern part of the continent. And Keld – Keld has always been an ally of Vinab but our dithering isn't giving them confidence. No doubt they don't think they can defeat Horrabia on their own and if Vinab doesn't fight, they won't fight either. The Horrabian wizard Gandalph is leading the Horrabian eastern army towards Keld."
Parzifal scowled. "It could be a move to intimidate them into staying neutral."
Astral Bob put his velvet hat on the desk and rubbed his forehead. "My source tells me that the plan is to strike East and take Keld, then drive south through Woodheart and to Vinab. They plan that the southern army led by Attila will drive south-east along Ermine Street and through the Old Forest, and the eastern army under Gandalph will turn driving south through Woodheart. They will both join up and assault Vinab."
I was interested. "Your source?"
"Don't ask me who it is."
I was quiet for a while. Astral Bob had a highly-placed source in the government of Horrabia. That at least was something in our favor.
Parzifal broke the silence. "In a funny way, it might have been easier to persuade the elders of Vinab to fight if Pennred had fallen. Then they would have seen that there was nothing in the way of the Horrabian army before they got to Vinab."
Ajora jumped up. "Don't you ever say that!" She lapsed into a torrent of bad tempered German. Parzifal stuttered, trying to calm her down and failing. He was a good guy but words weren't his strong point.
I shook my head. "No, I don't believe that would have changed their minds. An appeaser is always an appeaser."
Ahn looked at Ajora and Parzifal. Our fierce ranger lady was giving the knight a tongue lashing in their native language. Ahn glanced at Astral Bob to make sure he was listening, then turned to me and said, "Do you want to come with me to Keld? If we can't get support from Vinab, we should look to the other cities. And Salonika is out of the question."
Astral Bob studied his hands. He was blushing.
I shrugged. "If you think it would help, we can go to Keld."
Ahn stroked his black beard. "Sure," he said. "Anyone think of anyone else who might be up for a just war on our behalf?"
Ajora finished her spat with Parzifal, who looked suitably admonished. She said, "What about the centaurs? They're good in alignment and they've always allied with the druids when the druids needed help."
Ahn said, "I don't think the centaurs will get involved. They don't usually involve themselves in the affairs of men."
Astral Bob gave a bitter laugh. "You could even try the goblins. Goblin Town borders Horrabia and even though they are evil in alignment, the Horrabians have been at war with them on and off for centuries. Though I think technically at peace now..."
"Maybe, maybe," I mused. "But I agree with Ahn. First, we should go to Keld."
16
The Burning of Avalon
Ahn and I flew high above the Midland Hills side-by-side on our Eagles. We saw the Fishy River glittering below and to the east the Blue Lake glinted in the sun. Ahead were the Iron Mountains and underneath us, we saw the walled city of Keld, its jetties lining the Fishy River. The broad Shallow Marshes spread out flat, their pools of water sparkling like handfuls of diamonds on the opposite bank of the river from Keld.
Ahn leaned forward on the back of his eagle, his black curly hair streaming in the wind. "Is that smoke coming from Keld?" He pointed.
I shielded my eyes from the sun with my hand. It was true. As we got closer, we saw the swarming ant sized battalions of an army attacking the city walls of Keld. This must be the second Horrabian army under Gandalph. They had siege equipment and shoved ladders against the walls of Keld allowing their troops to swarm up and onto the walls. A full-scale battle was going on and the city was on fire.
The Horrabian horde looked immense.
Ahn said, "I think the Horrabians have done our job for us. I don't think we'll have to persuade Keld too hard to join the war against Horrabia." He laughed grimly.
"I hope there's something left of Keld when they've finished."
"Looks messy down there."
"Do you want to go and inspect?"
Ahn pursed his lips. "No, I think we should go back to Pennred. The army under Attila will be getting close. And if it's a strong as this one I don't think we stand much of a chance.
"Then we need to take up Ajora's suggestion of seeking allies among the centaurs."
Ahn gave a sour look. "... And the goblins, maybe?"
"Remember what they say: my enemy's enemy is my friend."
It was then that we saw a white dove fluttering and flapping towards us.
"Someone's got a message." I guessed it would be for Ahn, but instead the dove flew to me. Through a commendable display of aerial grace, it landed on the neck of Aquila. Once again, my eagle was unhappy the dove was using her as a perching post. Having despatched the letter, the dove flew off. One hand holding the crisp white envelope against Aquila's neck, I opened the letter and saw it was from Birog. I read it with mounting horror. It said: Avalon is under attack. Come quickly.
I gave Ahn the gist of the message and we banked the eagles away from Keld and west.
We flew as fast as we could over the Old Forest toward Avalon.
After around twenty minutes I saw Pennred ahead and to the right. I'd half expected that the Horrabian horde would be there in full force. I could see further off, Horrabian troops marched south on Ermine Street. Far more than the vanguard that attacked us before, but they had not yet reached Pennred. Heavy siege weapons rolled along in their train. I felt sick though this is what I'd expected. I knew Pennred would not give the Horrabian army more than a day or two's trouble. But the plan had been that by that time the forces of Vinab would come to rescue us. It now seemed that wouldn't happen. I'd expected Horrabia to attack Pennred but not to go through Avalon. That was out of their way - hatred of the do-gooder druids had got the better of Attila.
As we completed our aerial reconnaissance, I saw two thirds of the Horrabian army had diverted south from Ermine Street and were crossing into Avalon. They had to cut a new road through the trees, but already they'd reached the borders of the druid realm.
We swooped down. I orientated myself as we descended and I spotted the druid glade where Rohan had his birthday only days before.
Avalon was awash with Horrabian soldiers. Horrabian player characters were gleefully destroying everything the druids had built or grown. They cut down the Mallorn trees. They set fires in the forest and the beautiful trees smoked and burned. The Horrabians slaughtered the druid NPCs wherever they caught them and, as we landed in the glade, I saw the corpses of dryads and the splintered trunks of Tree Kin.
I slipped from Aquila's back and sent her skyward so she'd be safe. Ahn did the same with his eagle. I drew my Bow of Stone from my back.
I hit my defense macro — I'd made a macro of my normal defenses and when I hit it, I looked like a blur, smoking pipes, applying herbs, drinking potions, but when it was done I was protected against fire, acid, electricity and cold by 10 each, I had an anti-spitting aura and I'd smoked Black Cohosh—which I couldn't yet pick—to give me an aura of weapon returning. Anyone who attacked me with a physical weapon would have the attack turned back on themselves. If I made an offensive action, the aura would dissipate. I also had my Ring of the Werewolf that gave me a damage reduction of 4 from any weapon that wasn't silver. I made sure my curing pipes were lit: I had three now - Black Cohosh for weapon aura, Liquorice Root, and Lion's Mane, which between them cured many afflictions. Finally, I dosed myself with Catnip to hasten my movements and attacks.
Ahn looked at me smiling. Via HUD he said: You look funny doing all that speeded up by macro. I still do my defenses manually.
- You want me to send you the macro?
- No, I'm good. Let's go.
I saw an unknown Horrabian warlock dancing rituals in the adjoining glade. He conjured up the acid mist and the earthquake ritual. I felt the familiar tendrils of gravity snaking around my
ankles and start to drag me to the pit. Instead, I used my Flip skill and flipped backwards out of range of his ritual. By me Ahn, transformed into a huge grizzly bear. He turned and engaged a Horrabian cavalier who emerged snarling from the undergrowth, his sword red with druid blood.
As Ahn slashed his claws at the cavalier, closing to get him in a bear hug, I turned my attention to the warlock. The warlock attempted to fire a web spell at me but I cartwheeled right. I strung three arrows to my bow and fired back with Rapid Shot. I accidentally got too close to his acid mist, and I saw my health tick down by around 5hp a second. I also felt the pull of the Gravity ritual again but it was not strong enough at this distance to drag me into the pit. I flipped backwards landing neatly on my feet out of range.
My three arrows hit the warlock, the second of them proccing the stone prison effect, encasing him in stone. The stone skin spell gave him damage reduction, but it also gave me an auto-crit. He could save the stone effect with a toughness save, but warlocks have poor toughness saves.
My Rapid Shot was on cool down, but I fired another arrow and as he couldn't move, I got the expected automatic critical hit. The acid on my arrow hissed as it struck him with a loud thump.
I fired again, and he was dead. He shimmered into a ghost and within seconds disappeared to resurrect wherever he had bound.
Ahn had slaughtered his opponent and his dark fur was slick with blood.
"We have to find Birog and Rohan at least—and as many of the druids as we can save."
I nodded. "Lead the way, boss."
Fire ripped through the forest of Avalon destroying its holy trees. The atmosphere of peace and tranquility was now replaced by dread and horror.
We sprinted through the glades, the huge grizzly bear making short work of any Horrabian NPCs he came across. I filled enemies full of arrows. The encasing effect did not work on NPCs. When we came to the druids' tree houses, built elaborately and beautifully in the graceful trees, we clambered up the rope ladders. I came across an Horrabian thief greedily helping himself to the druid’s treasure store. He tried to spit poison at me but couldn't penetrate my Fool's Cherry anti-spitting aura. He spun to attack me with his daggers and hit my Black Cohosh weapon returning aura. He therefore hit himself with the poisons he'd intended for me and began to vomit and cough with asthma. Before he stabbed again, Ahn slashed him across his chest. As the thief reeled backwards, I finished him with an acid arrow. That dropped my Cohosh aura, so I took a puff of my pipe and watched the golden globe form around me again.
