“Or how Carver is going to react to this feed going live and he realizes he’s been betrayed,” she added, pausing for a few seconds afterward to let the words sink in. “But even past that, we also don’t know how all of the other players in the region and beyond are going to react either. So far, we’ve managed to stay off everyone’s radar by being farther out of the way and because events at Coldscar combined with the Ascendancy have been more interesting for people to play through. At least until now. With this feed adding onto our own success so far, people are going to find it hard to ignore us any longer. Especially as our own feed continues to air.”
“Which means not only do we have the physical threat of this giant monster they’re building, but we might very well find ourselves swarmed with even more players coming here,” Berwyn stated, voicing the most obvious consequence of the chain of events. “That is even more players over and above the guilds we’ve recruited and those who end up following them.”
“Which I don’t really see as being a bad thing, given what we’re dealing with,” Constantine said. “I mean, if given the choice, I’d rather run herd on a horde of adventurers than a horde of orcs and lizard people.”
“Absolutely,” I replied with a nod. “For better…or for worse. We’re in the spotlight now, even more than we’ve been before.”
“It was bound to happen eventually,” Caius said tiredly, speaking up for the first time since the meeting began, the warlock shrugging his shoulders as he spoke. “And I’m doubly with Constantine here; the more bodies we have up here, the better.”
“Why don’t we go for broke then?” I asked, inclining my head towards Freya, who had come up with the idea while we’d dissected the Dread Crew feed, waiting for our rest cycle to end and for us to be able to log in again. “Our original plan was to just invite a handful of guilds to come and help us quietly, but it doesn’t look like things are going to play out that way anymore. So instead of playing it quietly, we release a statement describing the situation here and purposefully direct the attention that we’re going to get. Because just in the couple hours since the Dread Crew’s feed hit we’ve already started getting emails asking for a comment on what’s going on up here. That’s likely only going get worse as time goes on and more people watch the feed.”
“And what exactly do you want to tell them?” Constantine asked, shifting the pitch of his voice as he mockingly answered a question. “‘Yep, there’s a ton of orcs here and they’re super angry, but don’t let that deter you from coming, it’s a perfect vacation spot. Great weather, nice scenery. Just be sure to bring a sword and a thousand of your closest friends, if possible.’”
“Actually, I’d be okay with that statement,” Cassius replied with a dry snort. “With a thousand adventurers behind us, we could probably wrap up this war in a week, if not less.”
“I’d sure hope so,” I said, doing my best not to imagine a scenario involving the orcs that a thousand adventurers couldn’t solve. “Anyway, though, all of that is big picture stuff and really hinges on us surviving until said help arrives, which based on our current updates…won’t be until Tuesday, most likely. So with that in mind, I think it’s time that we did something drastic to buy ourselves that time and put the orcs back on their heels. Not to mention try and get a better idea of what we’re dealing with when it comes to that thing.”
“And what exactly did you have in mind to do that?” Cassius asked in a curious tone. “You’ve been right here with us as we’ve been grinding away at them. What could we possibly do that we aren’t doing already?”
“Well,” I replied, glancing around the tent as I saw everyone’s eyes shift over towards me expectantly. “I was thinking we could send a team to raid Khudazal.”
There was a long moment of silence as my words hovered in the air, everyone staring back at me without any reaction, the exceptionally late hour delaying their response. But once my words had a chance to sink in, I saw their eyes begin to widen in both shock and surprise.
“You want to raid what?!” Halcyon exclaimed, the mage the first to find his voice.
“The orcs’ city,” I answered as the others too caught up to my suggestion, the tent erupting with a chorus of murmurs and similar sentiments.
“I know it’s the orc city, Lyr!” he replied forcefully, his demeanor suddenly alert, any traces of his earlier exhaustion having vanished. “It’s just that the very idea of doing that is—”
“Is what, crazy?” I interrupted, having full well expected the incredulous response. “I know it is. But think about what you and Cassius just both said. What is the one thing we could possibly do that we aren’t doing already? Attack. Like you said, right now we’re fixed hard on the defensive as the orcs lick their wounds from the last battle, reacting to every move their scouts make as we try to keep them at bay. Sure, we’re bleeding them as we do that, but we’re doing that on their terms, not ours.”
“We sure are at that,” Cassius agreed, giving me an approving nod as he spoke.
“And you think the solution to fixing that is to try and raid their city?” Halcyon countered. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, that is ballsy and will definitely get their attention, but how exactly do you even plan to do that? First off, we have an army of orcs between us and any route going north. It would be suicide to try and sneak past them.”
“If we were going to sneak past them, I would absolutely agree,” I replied, inclining my head at the man’s point. “But I was thinking more of going around them.”
“Around them?” Halcyon asked, his face narrowing in confusion before a sudden realization hit him. “Shit, wait! You mean you want to cut through the Hartwyld.”
“That is where the city is, isn’t it?” I answered, holding up a hand to stall the next point that I knew was going to follow. “And I know, I don’t exactly expect it to be a safe route either, but I think if we pick the right team, we stand a much better chance of blazing a path through the forest than we would over the plains while trying to dodge both orcs and Dread Crew along the way.”
“And then what would you be looking to do when you got there?” Kilgore asked, causing everyone’s head to shift over towards the elf. “This orc city…it sounds huge from what you’ve described. Not to mention packed completely full of both orcs and arakissi. Any team we send would be wickedly outnumbered.”
“They certainly would be,” I agreed. “But maybe not as much as we would expect. With as many orcs as we have on our doorstep here, the city is likely going to be less defended than it otherwise would be. Or at least that’s my hope.
“As for what our goal would be for the city itself…” I continued, my voice trailing off as I offered the assembled group a shrug, “I’m afraid I don’t know yet. At least not past collecting as much intel as we can once we’re there and making a decision accordingly. One idea I already have, both based on what we saw in the feed and what the Eberian woman we rescued from the construct said, is that the city is completely packed with slaves in addition to our missing settlers. We could potentially look to stage a jailbreak and escape or see if we could cause an open rebellion in the city. But that in itself could very well backfire and see a lot of them killed with little gain.”
“Or see the team we send captured,” Kilgore pointed out, despite nodding in sync with everything I’d said.
“There are a ton of risks,” I acknowledged, having full well considered the scope of the plan that I was proposing and the risks that it entailed. “But it is the best idea that Freya and I have been able to come up with to have us regain some sort of initiative in this overall war, plus to try and get a better sense of what we’re dealing with. If nothing else, finding and laying eyes on the construct we saw them building in the feed would be worth the trip itself. At least then we’ll know where and what it is.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” Cassius stated eagerly as he glanced over towards both Berwyn and Kilgore before continuing. “But if we’re going to have a
chance at doing this, we’d need to send a team that can move fast and quietly through the Hartwyld, else the creatures in there will tear them apart. After all, there is a reason why neither we nor the Dread Crew has tried to blaze a path through the place yet. It’s a damned dangerous place.”
“That it certainly is,” I agreed. “Which is why I was going to suggest that the team that we send is the eight of us here, save for Freya, who will stay behind to lead the defense and guilds in our absence.”
“And not slow you guys down in my heavy armor,” the woman added, her gauntleted hand coming up to tap once on her breastplate, causing a loud metallic sound to echo out. “I am many things, but in this stuff, fast and quiet isn’t one them. Plus, out of everyone here, I’m best suited to keep things organized from a logistical and planning point of view.”
“Wait, wait, wait, you want us to go too?” Halcyon said, his hand moving to indicate both him and Caius. “The rest of you all, I get—you’re stealthy and quick on your feet. The two of us aren’t quite those things.”
“Hey, speak for yourself there, Hal. I’ve been working hard on improving on that front,” Caius replied, straightening as he spoke. “I like to think that I’ll be able to keep up.”
“We need you both because of your ability to blow shit up with magic if the need arises,” I said, watching the exchange between the two spellcasters. “And also because we’ll more than likely need your magical expertise once we actually get to the city. We don’t know what we’ll find there with regards to the corruption that we’ve seen the orcs wield or the spirits that they seem to be able to call. We’d be counting on you both to spot something out of the ordinary.”
“We can definitely do that, Lyr,” Caius affirmed with a nod. “You can count on us.”
“H-h-hold on,” Halcyon said, his voice breaking as he spoke. “Is…is that it? We’ve just decided that this is going to happen? No one else has anything to say? Come on, Constantine, you have to an opinion on this!”
“Sorry, Hal,” the rogue replied with a shake of his head. “I was on the fence at the beginning too, but Lyr and Freya make a good point. We’re really just biding time, waiting for help to arrive and hoping that the orcs don’t get any reinforcements to push us over the edge before they get here. By doing this, we can at least have some sort of active role in our future, even if it just ends up with us getting eaten by a giant nasty critter in the Hartwyld. We’ll have at least tried something.”
“That’s maybe not quite the vote of confidence that I was looking for, but I suppose I’ll take it,” I said grimly, seeing a flash of resignation pass across Halcyon’s face as he realized his best shot at escaping the trip had failed. “In either case, though, that does give us a good opportunity to open the floor to everyone here. Does anyone have any concerns about us doing this?”
The tent fell silent as we all glanced between one another, everyone looking to see if anyone had something else to say or add about the mission that I’d proposed. But after nearly half a minute of staring at one another without anyone letting out so much as a squeak, I knew that I had my answer.
“All right, then,” I said, breaking the silence. “It seems that we’re all on board with this, which means that we have to iron out some next steps because I was hoping to leave tonight soon as we’re done here to take advantage of the darkness. We’ll also need to bring Aldwin and Veronia into the loop about what we’re planning…and figure out a way to explain how we came up with this idea. Then after that…”
And just like that, we started to plan our raid on Khudazal.
Chapter 32
The Hartwyld
“Ah, shit! It’s turning this way!” I shouted as I ran towards a large fallen tree trunk, the image of both Halcyon and Amaranth on either side me flashing in the corner of my eyes. “Quick get behind—”
A trilling roar interrupted me before I could finish speaking, the violent, bestial cry causing the forest around us to tremble and shake as it sliced through the air, sending anything with an ounce of sense running in the opposite direction.
Which, of course, at the moment very much included us.
“Lyrrrr!” Halcyon called out breathlessly as he ran, his panic and exertion drawing out my name in the process. “It’s looking to do that thing again! I’m starting to hate it when it does that thing!”
“I know! I see it!” I shouted back at the mage as I looked over my shoulder, catching an all-too-familiar scent of ozone that began to fill the air. “Now move faster! We’re almost there!”
Not needing to be told a second time, the mage instantly put on a burst of speed as the three of us closed the final distance between us and our chosen cover, diving behind it the instant that we were close enough to do so. Landing practically on top of one another as we threw ourselves behind the fallen tree, we barely had time to slide to a stop before a flash of blue-white light filled the air, followed a hail of splinters showering us as our cover rapidly began to disintegrate.
“Crap! We’re going to need a shield, Hal!” I called out as I covered my face from the spray of debris, only to hiss loudly as an arcing bolt of electricity leapt out from a growing crack in the wood and connected with my chest. “A-and q-quickly!”
“Just a second!” the mage replied, still out of breath from our run. “I’m casting it now! But it won’t last forever!”
“All we need are five seconds and we’ll be back in there,” I shot back at the man as I twisted my body into a kneeling crouch and reached into my belt pouch, pulling out a pair of healing potions. “If you don’t mind giving us some cover magic along the way, that’d be great!”
“I’ll do my best, Lyr,” Halcyon said as he finished his conjuring and a shield of force appeared just behind our cover, catching the stray sprays of electricity that arced over the now burning tree. “But it just tanked my best nuke like it was a firecracker and didn’t even flinch!”
“The same happened to me! It completely absorbed my Shocking Touch without flinching,” I replied as I finished drinking down my healing potion and moved to offer the second one in my hand to Amaranth, the massive cat tilting his head to the side so I could easily pour it into his mouth. “It’s just a guess, but I think it has spell resistance and elemental immunity to electricity! Try hitting it with a physical damage spell and see if that works any better!”
“Shit, that makes sense! I’ll try that!” he exclaimed, his voice gaining a sudden urgency as the cover separating us from the lightning began to crack and break apart. “Okay! We’re nearly out of time here! Are you two ready yet?”
“Almost!” I called back to the mage as I reached into my belt pouch a second time, this time pulling out a pair of green-hued Battle Potions of Agility. “Three more seconds!”
Thumbing the stoppers off the vials as I spoke, I wasted no time in repeating the same process I’d just completed, drinking down one potion for myself while feeding the other to my familiar.
Trusting that the mage would handle his end of things, Amaranth and I wasted no time in moving, the cat going one way and me the other as we made to rejoin the ongoing battle.
Which, in this case, was embodied by the massive, emerald-scaled lizard that came into view as I rounded Halcyon’s shield, a column of living lightning pouring free from its mouth.
Having emerged from the d
epths of the forest with a bone-chilling roar to herald its arrival, the creature was the newest trial of the many that we’d been forced to endure in our trek through the Hartwyld thus far. Measuring well over twenty feet long and half that wide, the twelve-legged serpentine creature had erupted from the forest at near point-blank range, causing us all to freeze in sudden terror as we all saw what looked like a multi-legged, yet wingless dragon bear down on us. Charging into our ranks with the force of a hurricane, the creature ruthlessly took advantage of our open-mouthed shock, sending both Cassius and Theia flying into the forest with a flick of its massive body, a muffled yelp signaling their surprise.
From there, now directly in the middle of our group, the serpentine creature proceeded to send us all scrambling in every direction as it lashed out towards us in a storm of teeth and claws. Rallying as best as we could from the surprise assault, we did our best to retaliate in kind, sending what magic and ranged attacks we could towards it and hoping that it would buy us time to regroup. Unfortunately, our efforts proved to do the exact opposite, instead prompting the rampaging monster to unleash its most potent weapon in the form of lightning breath that seared everything it touched, sending us running for cover.
At least it’s not an actual dragon, I thought wistfully as I activated Alacrity and rushed out at an angle from behind Halcyon’s shield, my eye shifting towards the floating tag that pointed to the creature, identifying it as a [Jadestone Behir – Rare Boss – Level 27]. But I’m not completely sure if that distinction matters much right now. It’s still a big, angry, lightning-breathing lizard, whether it has wings or—ah, shit!
Forced to suddenly cut my train of thought short as I saw the behir’s head slowly begin to twist in my direction, I instinctively threw myself into a forward roll across the hard forest ground, narrowly evading a stream of lightning passing overhead. Completing my tumble, I pushed myself back up onto my feet without losing so much as a step off my stride, my temporarily enhanced agility combined with Alacrity giving me a level of control over my movements that I couldn’t help but envy. But no sooner did I find myself on my feet, I was dodging a second time, this time leaping directly over the stream of lightning as the behir brought its head back for another pass.
Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4) Page 41
