System Notice
Prepare yourselves! The invasion of Falcon’s Hook will commence in fifteen minutes.
For the duration of the invasion, the area around Falcon’s Hook is now declared a “global event zone.” Any players that die during the event will not be able to respawn until the invasion has ended. Similarly, players and NPCs will not be able to flee the invasion area during the event.
As Jason finished reading the notice, the ground trembled. Glancing around in confusion, he could see that massive semi-translucent blue walls were erupting from the ground around the city and the bay below the cliffs. They continued to rise into the sky until they towered around the city, entirely ringing the town and giving off a faint azure glow.
“This feels like the Hippie’s doing,” Frank grumbled as he eyed the glowing blue barrier.
“The respawn penalty may also be a problem,” Riley added. “We won’t be able to draw this out, and any attrition will be costly.” Her gaze shifted back to the group of players lingering on the docks. “Which makes the decision of those idiots even worse.”
Jason couldn’t help but agree, but they didn’t have any time to make changes at this stage. Another shout sounded from along the cliff, and the group turned to find a soldier pointing out to sea. Following his finger, Jason could detect what appeared to be a small black dot on the horizon through the semi-transparent walls that now ringed the city.
“Riley, can you make that out any better?” he asked.
The dark archer nodded and pulled her bow from her back, sighting along an arrow. Riley’s eyes widened in shock a moment later. “That’s the invasion force,” she said in a quiet voice.
The black dot had already begun to expand into a thin line as the lizardmen advanced toward Falcon’s Hook. Jason couldn’t help but stare. How many of the creatures were they facing if the advancing line was already visible?
“How many do you see?” he asked, already dreading the answer.
Riley glanced at him, biting her lip nervously. “I’m not really sure. Thousands maybe?”
“Thousands?” Frank echoed. “How is that even possible? There were maybe a few hundred at most back on the island, or am I going crazy?”
Eliza looked troubled, and she adjusted her glasses. “What is it?” Jason asked the water mage.
“Well, I was watching the lizardmen carefully when we first entered the temple courtyard. You remember how they were putting out eggs to warm in the sun?” Jason nodded and motioned for her to continue. “Well, they were constantly bringing the eggs back inside the caves and replacing them. If those were just their offspring, we were probably only seeing a fraction of their total population.”
The rest of the group, including Lord Cairn, were staring at the girl. “Does that make sense?” she asked, sounding uncertain.
Jason couldn’t really refute her reasoning. He had managed to see a portion of the cave complex on his map after his minions were captured, but he had just assumed the caves didn’t extend much further. Perhaps that had been a dumb assumption, or there had been more colonies on the island. He was kicking himself now for not investigating the lizardmen more carefully. Of course, they had been in a bit of a hurry at the time.
“That would sort of make sense,” Frank said, scratching at his head and casting a wary glance at the oncoming lizardmen. “That might also be why they were so willing to sacrifice their own kind to that tentacle thing.”
“We also don’t know anything about how they reproduce,” Eliza offered. “We covered reptiles in one of my biology classes. These creatures are a sort of lizard, so they might lay many eggs multiple times per year. They could also have some sort of asexual reproduction.”
“Are you trying to say they could reproduce by themselves?” Lord Cairn asked in a concerned voice.
Eliza shrugged. “Maybe. If so, we’d have to eliminate every last one, or they’d likely set up a new home along the cliffs. They might repopulate pretty quickly.”
Riley held up a hand, sighting along her arrow again. “Theories aside, they’re moving fast. We don’t have long until they enter the bay and are within firing range.”
Jason could indeed see that the black line had thickened and grown while they were talking. He ordered his Death Knights to line up near an unoccupied portion of the cliff, and his Vilewings took to the air, knocking off several tiles from the nearby roofs as they launched themselves airborne. He then positioned his wagons behind the frontlines where he had easy access to his remaining building materials.
A hushed silence had descended upon the defenders as they saw the incoming threat. The city’s soldiers eyed the horde nervously, shifting from foot to foot and whispering quietly among themselves. Even the players looked anxious, and their once-arrogant expressions had vanished. This might have been more than they were expecting.
“Lord Cairn, would you mind if I addressed the defenders?” Jason asked politely. The Lord gave him a once over, before nodding curtly.
With that, Jason stepped forward into a clear pocket near the cliffs. “Soldiers and travelers!” he shouted, getting the attention of the men and women around him. “My name is Jason, the ruler of the Twilight Throne and the founding member of Original Sin. I have been granted temporary sovereignty over Falcon’s Hook for the duration of the invasion.”
Jason took a deep breath while he let this sink in. “The lizardmen will reach the cliffs shortly. We can see that they number in the thousands,” Jason began, his voice booming through the air. The murmuring among the players and soldiers grew louder at this revelation.
“The travelers will also be unable to respawn if they die. That means we only have one shot at this. Your lives, whether soldier or traveler, are precious. Do not take unnecessary risks or expose yourself. Stay behind the spear line and aid those that are injured. If necessary, we will retreat behind the interior fortifications,” he added, gesturing at the barricades erected between the roughshod buildings behind them.
“The only way we will end this conflict is by slaying every last creature,” Jason continued. “These lizardmen are tough and strong. I expect they will be able to scale the cliffs. They also seem to regenerate quickly, so make your blows count. Aim for vulnerable areas like the throat and heart.”
Jason looked at the men and women around him. Even the players appeared uncertain and scared. They likely hadn’t been expecting to be trapped here inside Falcon’s Hook. He had witnessed firsthand the effect of morale problems on an army – he had helped cause a few of them when Alexion attacked the Twilight Throne. He needed to offer them hope, despite the forces arrayed against them.
“I know many of you have no reason to trust me but remember this. I destroyed a city single-handedly. Original Sin has also defeated much greater forces with smaller numbers.” He glanced pointedly at the players standing behind the rows of soldiers. “This isn’t like any battle you have faced before. Yet if you stand with us, we will make it through this. If we give in to fear or in-fighting, we will surely lose.”
A heavy silence hung over the cliffs as Jason stopped speaking. Then a single voice shouted from among the line of soldiers. “For Falcon’s Hook!”
This shout was picked up by the other soldiers, quickly spreading through their ranks. Even some of the players gave in, adding their voices to the cacophony of noise. Within moments, a roaring cry cascaded from the cliffs as the travelers and soldiers vented their fear and anxiety into the air. The soldiers began stomping their boots in sequence like the beating of a war drum, the ground shuddering and trembling under their combined weight.
Without further ado, the support groups began casting defensive and offensive enhancement spells on anyone nearby. Flashes of azure and ivory light erupted from among the ranks of soldiers. Meanwhile, Eliza had approached Jason, and she handed him several potions.
“The usual,” the water mage said with a worried smile.
“Thank you,” Jason replied, pulling the stoppers and chug
ging the contents quickly.
“Jason, look,” Riley said, pointing at the incoming lizardmen.
Riley hadn’t lied. The invasion force was moving fast, and Jason could now see why. Dozens of massive rafts had been constructed of rough wooden timbers, their surfaces covered in legions of the hulking lizardmen. Each raft was being pulled by a group of serpents, their bodies twining through the water and pulling the platforms so quickly that a wave had formed at the front of the line of rafts.
Other lizardmen rode the serpents through the waves, and more seemed to be swimming along beside the floating platform, their shadowy green bodies barely visible below the surface. Jason could only assume that there were hundreds more hiding under the water.
Jason could hear the nervous whispers of the soldiers and players around him, and a hollow weight settled in his stomach. He channeled his dark mana forcefully, trying to push back the worry and doubt that threatened to cloud his mind. This battle was going to be on a scale he had never encountered before.
Riley’s hand landed on Jason’s shoulder, and he flinched. He turned to look at the archer and noticed that her irises were now a solid obsidian. “It will be okay,” she said with a grin. “Just do your thing. We’re with you.”
“Always,” Frank said, wrapping his arm around Eliza’s shoulder despite the uncomfortable look on the water mage’s face. “Even if we’re all about to die horribly.”
“Thanks for that,” Jason muttered.
“Riley, do you want to handle the archers? Frank, you can lead the spearman. Eliza, maybe you should stay back here near me and lend support as needed.”
His friends all nodded and moved off to take up their positions. Jason made certain to leave a couple Death Knights with each of them for protection. He still didn’t trust the players.
“Archers prepare to fire,” Riley cried a moment later, her voice carrying over the noise reverberating across the cliff face. Hundreds of men and women, players and NPCs alike, nocked their arrows and pointed their bows toward the sky.
The lizardmen horde was just barely beginning to enter the bay, their scaly green bodies passing unharmed through the glowing blue wall that ringed the bay. The line of rafts was so long that they were forced to clump up to funnel into the semi-circle created by the cliffs. At a gesture from Riley, the archers released. A cloud of arrows raced through the air, creating a humming sound like a legion of locusts as they sped toward the lizardmen.
The first wave of projectiles slammed against the rafts, embedding themselves into scaly green flesh as the lizardmen roared in pain and rage. Yet Jason could already see many of the beasts ripping the arrows from their bodies and hurling the offending shafts into the waves as their wounds quickly closed. Only a few dozens of the creatures lay unmoving on the rafts or fell into the water of the bay.
Riley kept up her barrage as the rafts drifted toward the cliffs, black shafts whistling through the air. The occasional overzealous mage would sometimes launch a bolt of ice or fire toward the oncoming horde, the missile dissipating harmlessly at this range. In contrast, Jason waited patiently, keeping his Vilewings in reserve where they circled the cliffs high overhead. His new minions were difficult to re-build, and his lightning crystal supply was limited. He needed the lizardmen to reach the cliffs first where they would be more vulnerable.
As the first of the rafts neared the docks, Riley glanced over at Jason. He gave her a curt nod. Turning back to her archers, the Fury shouted her new orders, “Fire mages assist! Ready flame arrows and aim for the docked ships.”
The group of archers standing around Riley immediately pulled a new set of arrows from their quivers, the tips wrapped in oil-soaked rags. A fire mage walked down each line, lighting the arrows rapidly. Then the group pointed their bows toward the sky.
“Steady!” Riley shouted. The lizardmen were now piling onto the wooden piers, their heavy footsteps cracking the wooden boards as they poured toward the ramparts leading up the side of the cliffs. The front line of spearman clutched their weapons in a white-knuckled grip, their faces grim as they watched the oncoming horde.
“Steady!” she repeated.
The lizardmen had finally reached the bottom of the cliff. They moved at an incredible speed, their tails lashing at the air behind them as they sped forward. By Jason’s estimate, hundreds of the creatures already lined the docks.
“Fire!” Riley screamed. Suddenly, the archers released, and a wave of glowing orange arrows streaked through the sky. Instead of aiming for the lizardmen or the docks – their surface still shiny with oil – the arrows landed primarily on the ships rocking gently against the docks far below.
For a long, painful second, nothing happened. Then flames rippled and curled across the decks of the vacant ships before spreading quickly below decks. The reptilian creatures glanced at the flames in surprised confusion, slowing and hesitating, but they didn’t have time to react.
The ships exploded in a torrential wave of flames as the fires ignited the oil barrels below deck. The blasts instantly incinerated the beasts standing too close and threw dozens more across the dock. Spreading aggressively to the rafts and the docks, the flames were like a living thing. They consumed the oil coating the wooden piers hungrily and raced toward the ramparts leading up the cliffs. Not sparing the lizardmen, the fire engulfed the creatures, and their cries echoed through the bay as they were burned alive.
Meanwhile, the front wave of lizardmen had nearly reached the top of the cliffs but was immediately met with a hail of spells and arrows that blunted their assault. The flames soon caught them from behind, igniting reptile and wood alike. Many of the beasts leaped for the water as a last resort, falling hundreds of feet to the rocks below where their bodies landed with a sickening crunch. Others fared better, landing in the waters of the bay, and immediately diving under the crashing waves to avoid the flames that were spreading across the water.
Jason stared in shock, watching as hundreds of the lizardmen were burned alive. Yet with a sickening weight in his stomach, he saw that thousands more still waited on the rafts hovering through the bay, their beady eyes watching the docks and ramparts blaze. Oil now coated the surface of the water around the docks and spread outward slowly – making it appear that the bay itself was on fire.
The lizardmen stopped their assault, and Jason wondered for a moment whether they planned to delay their attack until the fires died down. Then a harsh cry rose from the ranks of lizardmen, and thousands of scaly heads turned to a massive square raft near the back of the group. Even at this distance, Jason could just barely make out the form of the lizardmen priestess – her telltale headdress and armor making her easy to spot. A group of creatures stood around her in a circle, kneeling on the rough wooden beams.
Azure lines of energy began to form between the lizardmen and the priestess. A ball of blue energy formed in the air before her and grew in size at an alarming rate. Jason tried to urge his Vilewings to attack, but it was already too late. The spell finished, and a beam of sapphire light shot toward the sky – eerily reminiscent of the light Jason and his group had witnessed as they were fleeing Anguine Isle.
The clouds above Falcon’s Hook immediately began to seethe and boil, spinning in a slow vortex around the beam of light. They started to thicken and grow a dark gray, blotting out the sun. A moment later, a raindrop splattered against Jason’s cheek and he rubbed at the droplet, his eyes on the sky. Thunder peeled through the bay, and then a veritable deluge began to fall.
It was as though the lizardmen had turned on a faucet. Water cascaded down from the sky, hammering the cliffs and the still-burning docks and ramparts. The rainfall quickly began to wash away the oil and quench the fires. Steam filtered through the air and was accompanied by the triumphant cries of the lizardmen still standing on the rafts lining the bay.
Despite the dark mana that pulsed through his veins, Jason could feel his own fear mounting. This was large-scale magic at work, not the spells of a single mage.
He hadn’t even realized that mages could combine their spellcasting… Which raised the question, what more did the lizardmen have in store for them?
As the last of the flames dissipated, the lizardmen began moving their rafts through the wreckage that was now the docks. Dozens of the creatures jumped overboard and scaled the rocks at the bottom of the cliffs. Their clawed hands slammed into the rocky wall, allowing them to climb the uneven surface with surprising agility.
“This is not going to be easy,” Eliza murmured from beside Jason, her eyes fixed on the swarm of creatures climbing the cliff toward their position.
“No. No, it isn’t,” Jason replied quietly.
Chapter 33 - Thunderous
Ash and smoke spiraled up from the keep’s courtyard in the Crystal Reach, blotting out the sun and casting the area in artificial darkness. Alexion’s gaze rested on the pentagram inscribed in the center of the courtyard. The lines of energy blazed with crimson energy, and a dark miasma had begun to form in the epicenter of the diagram, twisting and pulsing like a living thing.
As the last of the slaves perished, and the cries of pain finally stopped, a hushed silence descended upon the courtyard – all eyes focused on the glowing pentagram. Alexion let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding and his knuckles were white where he clutched at the hilt of his sword. The soldiers and nephilim on the walls were shifting restlessly, their hands gripping their weapons and hovering over the release levers for the ballistae that were still pointed at the center of the courtyard.
The miasma in front of Alexion pulsed one last time and then abruptly vanished. There was no catastrophic display of power nor any ominous music. Instead, an old man now stood calmly in the center of the pentagram. He wore a plain robe, his hands tucked into the large sleeves. From what Alexion could tell, he was unarmed.
Evolution Page 49
