by Cheek, Jason
Whipping his eyes back around, Orion had just enough time to concentrate on keeping his balance as they hit the bubbling pool of sulfur. Here, the poisoned air debuff was much worse as their health started to drop quickly while the air-board left a water-skier’s wake behind them three times the height of his head. As they crossed the halfway point thirty yards in, Orion snorted at whatever idiot in their raid had first called these fucking things pools. Twenty yards to the far bank, his mana dropped below a hundred. At ten yards from the bank, his mana dropped to zero as the air-board began to unravel. If not for Minny screaming constantly in his ears, he would have surely passed out from mana exhaustion alone.
Somehow at the last moment, Orion managed to leap across the remaining five yards to the far shore as he and Minny were sent tumbling across the rocky ground like boneless rag dolls from their built-up momentum. Sharp stones sliced into Orion’s face and gouged his head as he flopped to a bruised and bloody stop atop a particularly large rock. His glazed eyes cleared up a moment later, when he heard Minny’s high-pitched voice complaining as the little Gnomes tiny hands yanked at his arm.
“Get up, Or-re!” Minny urgently shouted, as Orion pawed at the air in a daze. “There’s no way I can carry you out of here on my own!” Running dry on mana made it difficult to think, but Orion was able to sluggishly climb to his knees with the little Gnome’s help while she urgently continued. “We have to get moving or they’re going to catch up to us on this side of the sulfur pool too!”
“Where’s the Dreadstallion herd now?” Orion slurred, as he forced his body to work.
“Probably halfway around the lake by now,” Minny irritably snapped, as she wiped away the trickle of blood running down her cheek from a particularly deep gash. “All that’s left over there now is that big ole monster who’s just standing there watching us.”
“The Dreadmare Matriarch!” Orion exclaimed, as his head whipped around to look back towards the far shore. In all honestly, he still couldn’t believe they’d managed to cross over the poisonous, bubbling mass and survive solely by using his Air magic alone. Shaking the ugly thought away of what could’ve happened to them if he’d misjudged the distance, his eyes surveyed the far shore.
The rolling cloud bank of darkness that was the Dreadherd’s natural camouflage was no longer visible. All traces of it were gone even on the sides of the sulfuric lake. At first, Orion was confused as to what was going on, until his thoughts went back to the last few seconds of their flight and the commanding shriek that had seemed to stop the Dreadherd’s attack. Although he’d used every trick up his sleeves, Orion knew that the monsters had them dead to rights, but that they’d let them go for some reason.
In his heart, Orion knew that it had something to do with the empathetic connection he’d briefly shared with the wicked-looking creature that led the herd. Why she’d chosen him while the rest of the raid were brutally slaughtered, he couldn’t say. Nonetheless, in his heart, he knew this to be true. With those conflicting thoughts running through his mind, Orion’s let his eyes be drawn to the Dreadmare Matriarch’s glowing red eyes as she stood motionless waiting for him.
Once again, the images began flickering through his mind. Not just images, but the feelings of despair and hopelessness of a species on the edge of annihilation. The flashes showed him of a massive Hobgoblin army that was hunting them to extinction. Again and again, Orion saw the Dreadherd fighting against an army of nightmarish fantasy monsters as they tried to get their young to safety. Slowly the truth of the situation penetrated his consciousness. These weren’t mindless monsters, but an intelligent species that were grasping to these sulfuric pools as a last line of defense. Something about the minerals here was important to their survival … not just survival, he realized, but to their evolution.
“Come on, Or-re!” Minny’s urgent voice pulled his thoughts out of the two-way communication. “We have to get out of here!”
Shaking his head clear of the overpowering thoughts, Orion looked down at Minny’s anxious face as he gave her a reassuring grin. No matter what he thought might or might not be going on, his first priority was getting the little Gnome to safety. Once that was done, he could decide how he wanted to handle the situation between him and the Matriarch. Squatting down to look Minny in the eyes, he gave her a quick one-armed hug.
“I think we’re safe for now,” Orion told her confidently. Seeing the alarmed look in her green eyes, he ruffled her hair and stood back up. “Come on, let’s head back to camp.”
“Safe for now? Are you kidding me?” Minny exclaimed in outrage, while she looked around fearfully. “How can you say we’re safe after losing everyone in the raid? I can’t believe you think we could possibly be safe after…”
Orion let Minny rage to release her fear and frustration as they began threading their way back through the rocky nodes heading back towards camp. Already, he was making plans for his return, but first, Minny had to be safe. He couldn’t risk her life on the crazy plan that was starting to form in his mind. Orion couldn’t explain how he knew that he could get these monsters to listen to him, especially not after they’d savagely slaughtered his friends. If he could make this work out the way he thought it would, the biggest problem that he’d be facing was the revenge of his own people. The Devil Dog raid would be wanting payback once they returned.
Coming to the top of the low rise, Orion turned around to meet the Dreadmare Matriarch’s gaze one last time. As their eyes met, he silently promised he’d return alone to speak further. Getting a flicker of acknowledgment back from the wicked looking monster, Orion turned back around and hurriedly caught up with the still complaining Minny.
Chapter Two
(Terdian Sharidenum, Defensive wall construction near BrokenFang Hold)
“Just a few more feet!” Terdian, the House of Kayden’s master mason, encouragingly shouted to the Plain Centaur warriors who were struggling to get the massive granite block into place on the chest-high wall. “Okay! Stop pulling and prepare to push. Talia, you’re up!”
Immediately, the two Centaurides who were assisting in getting the block in place from the ground-level pulled their ropes free as the House of Kayden’s construction expert began applying a coat of mortar to seal the blocks together. As the two females headed to the end of the wall where the ramp was located for another block, the two Centaurs got their pushing staffs braced as they waited for Talia to signal that she was done. Getting a thumbs up a moment later, both warriors pushed the block solidly together with a noticeable clack. Without waiting to be asked, the two Centaurs hurried towards the end of the wall to help get the next block into position as a group of six Half-Elves were busy dragging the next block into position.
The same scene was being repeated at five other locations up and down the defensive wall that was currently under construction. Incredibly enough, in two weeks’ time they were already months ahead of any similar construction project that he’d ever been a part of. That was partly due to the Plain Centaur tribes’ immense strength, and partly due to the unique building practices that Kyarina had been introducing one after another.
At first, Terdian had thought the newfar woman was insane, but, within a few days, he started to see the merit of the new designs and building methods. Most were deceptively simple, but ended up turning out to be incredibly useful. Things like changing the axle on carts to be curved out in a design that Kyarina called “dished.” Supposedly, it stopped mud, ice, and snow from building up on the inner wheels of the two-wheel carts they were using to haul the granite blocks. That simple change ended up making the wooden wheels better able to handle the heavy loads and less likely to breakdown in the inclement weather of winter.
These carts were further strengthened by the use of flat iron sheaths along the outer edge of their wheels. Not just that, the newfar also introduced what she called a Roman leaf spring made from layers of wood. The ingenious design reduced the jiggling of the heavy loads over the rough terrain, whic
h is what typically killed a cart’s durability. She even redesigned the way the carts were being hauled. Instead of using a yoke or pull-bars, the carts were being fitted with a wooden brace that the Plain Centaurs pushed with their lower chest and shoulders. This change allowed the Plain Centaurs pushing the cart to easily defend themselves if they came under attack by wandering monsters.
Taken altogether, these simple changes made the two-wheel carts much faster and less likely to breakdown from the heavy loads being hauled than before, besides reducing the need for an escort. On top of that, their new four-legged allies were able to decrease the time it took to transport the granite blocks from the quarry to the construction site by a factor of nearly a hundred. This was partly due to her introduction of grading and compacting equipment that could quickly harden the earth into semi-decent roads. While cobblestones would have been better, the earthen roads were a quick fix for the time constraints they were under.
While those upgrades were game changers, Kyarina’s touch could be seen in every aspect of the defensive wall’s construction. The first change she’d introduced was the use of ramps for completing the lower sections of the wall. These were evenly spaced across the length of the construction site and enabled the Plain Centaurs to deliver the large granite blocks quickly into place. Once the walls began to get higher, Kyarina had already prepared another innocuous invention constructed out of plain wood called a block and tackle. This seemingly simple device along with the ramps she’d implemented allowed just a handful of humanoids to easily haul the heavy carts to the upper levels under construction without any issue.
Kyarina’s changes didn’t stop there. She already had massive wooden constructions being built on the inside of the wall. She called them Roman Treadmill Cranes and promised that they would increase the building speed of the upper levels of the defensive wall’s construction by a factor of ten, if not more. Supposedly, each device could easily lift one of the massive granite blocks and drop it into place with only the strength of one or two people working the device. When put altogether, the numerous changes being introduced were making their small workforce into a building powerhouse.
Even though his workers swore there was no magic being enchanted into the devices, Terdian swore this all had to be some new form of magic. Normally, the construction project they were undertaking would’ve taken six months or longer to finish with three to four times the number of workers than they currently had available. On top of that, the work would have been dangerous, back-breaking labor for everyone involved with many being buried on-site due to peasants not being considered worth the effort to heal, let alone resurrect.
The changes went beyond even that. In the past, Terdian would have lost a number of workers to monsters on the hunt for an easy meal. Not that a peasant’s life was particularly safe if there were guards on-site keeping the monsters at bay. It just changed the cause of death to a vicious trooper instead of a savage monster. In some ways, it was almost preferable to be slaughtered by a monster, since they didn’t usually torture their victims like humanoids would do most oftentimes.
Unlike all of those other projects Terdian had managed, everyone took their turn at guarding and building. Well, everyone but master masons like him and construction experts like Talia. On this job site, it was crafters that took priority over troopers. Not only that, anyone that was hurt or killed due to a freak accident was healed up or even resurrected as needed. Truthfully, Terdian had never seen anything like it before. He mused thoughtfully while waiting for the next granite block to be moved into position, when a shout from behind caught his attention.
“Ho Terdian! How goes the construction?”
“Hail, Lady Kyarina,” Terdian replied, after a momentary start. He’d been so focused on supervising the work that he’d completely missed the newfar’s approach. Turning around, he was surprised to see that Kyarina wasn’t alone. Walking along beside her was Pevral Dubrankm, the old Plain Centaur’s Clan Leader, and Theric Farestrider, the Half-Elf Assault Commander, both of whom had been essential in making the newfar woman’s concepts into a reality.
Pevral had taken the lead in working with Drenall Iloxoeis, the young Plain Centaur’s Clan Leader, in mobilizing the entire Plain Centaur’s Tribe in constructing the needed defenses. Together, they’d approached the situation as true comrades in arms. Drenall took the lead on building the roads with a team of muscular warriors to each of the job sites, while Pevral worked with the crafters to assist with the heavy, physical labor needed to dig out the base of the wall. The monsters could really move some earth when they put their minds to it.
Terdian mentally shook his head to clear the derogatory thought that had momentarily popped into his head. Sometimes, it was hard to believe that the scourge of the Plains of Atoll was working together with them instead of raiding their lands. He was so used to thinking of them as enemies that it was hard to give them a fair shake. Nonetheless, he had to admit that having the Plain Centaurs be part of the House of Kayden was an incredible boon. Their tribe’s strength and speed had enabled them to surpass all building expectations. How Lord Ironwolf had managed to pull off that feat was still a major topic of discussion in the main hall at night. Realizing that he’d been contemplating too long, he shook off the stray thoughts and addressed the trio warmly.
“How might I be of service?”
“We’re here to collect the last of my people still at work on the wall,” Pevral announced good-naturedly. “The carpenters were able to get the last handful of carts finished up over the night.” Seeing the sudden look of concern on Terdian’s face, the old Centaur’s face clouded over in suspicion. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“Not at all, Sir Iloxoeis,” Terdian worriedly stuttered, using the first honorific that came to mind. “Having your warriors on the wall has been a huge help. I’ll be sad to see them go.”
“Well, that’s more than understandable,” Pevral said, instantly mollified by Terdian’s explanation. “Kyarina assures me that my people will be able to better assist by transporting the granite blocks from the quarries.”
“Does that mean the Roman Treadmill Cranes are near completion?” Terdian asked, giving the small newfar woman a curious look.
“They should be fully operational by late morning,” Kyarina said, as an excited grin came to her face. “Then all of you can witness the power of a fully armed and operational battle station!” Seeing the confused looks on the people of The World’s faces, the pretty newfar suddenly looked around at them in embarrassment. “Sorry about that, I was just channeling one of my favorite newfar sayings.”
“Theric has promised to pull away some of the troopers setting traps to give you a hand, until the cranes are operational,” Kyarina explained, nodding to the Half-Elf standing next to her and acting like she hadn’t said anything strange.
“I’ve already sent a messenger to have a group of twenty soldiers report to you as soon as possible,” Theric said, automatically using the newfar vernacular that had recently become so popular of late. “Kyarina has promised that you’ll only need half of your current personnel once the cranes are operational.”
“It’ll be fine, Terdian,” Kyarina quickly said, before Terdian could express his panicked concern. They were already below any believable level of workers needed for a construction project like this. To hear she wanted to reduce his workforce, even more, didn’t allay his fears in the least. As if reading his thoughts, the beautiful newfar reassuringly gripped his shoulder as she looked him in the eyes. “If not, we can always move personnel around as needed.”
“As you say, Lady Kyarina,” Terdian neutrally agreed, not willing to argue with the highly capable woman. He’d just have to trust that she knew what she was doing, he silently thought, when a commotion from the planned gateway in the defensive wall interrupted their conversation.
Chapter Three
(Devil Dogs & Valkyrie, BrokenFang Hold: Ashley Duchenson, graveyard, outside of BrokenFang Hol
d.)
While Ashley hadn’t been consciously focused on where she was going when they’d respawned at the graveyard, her feet had automatically started heading in the direction of the silhouette of BrokenFang Hold off in the distance. This was the first time she’d ever experienced a situation in the game where her corpse wasn’t within a five minute run of the nearest graveyard. Though a part of her wanted to rush back to the sulfuric springs as fast as possible, in her heart, she knew that wasn’t the right call to make.
“Hell if I know where Orion is?” Buck snarled angrily at Killtet. “He must have managed to somehow survive.”
“I swear,” Killtet snarled back at the Ranger in an ugly tone. “I’ll fucking kill the little bastard myself if he left us all to die to save that NPC!”
“Calm the fuck down, Killtet. Orion’s mission was to make sure Minny survived no matter what,” Marina said, chastising the angry Rogue as she worked on adjusting the straps to the back-up armor she’d pulled from her rucksack. “Not to babysit your whiny ass in case you died.”
“That’s not what I mean-” Killtet began to openly rage, when Ashley’s sharp voice cut him off.
“That’s enough, Danny!” Coming to a stop, Ashley whirled around as her blue eyes swept the entire group, before meaningfully coming to rest on her husband. The lot of them had been going around in circles for the half-hour it had taken them to trek up to the top of the pass and she was through with everyone’s bitching. “You’re just worked up like everyone else about being taken out like a bunch of Gomers.”
Ashley words cut them to the core as they looked away uncomfortably at the truth of her words. No one liked to feel like a noob. Especially not blooded soldiers that had made it through the sandpit with their lives intact, if not their bodies. As it was, they were tired of being razzed by their guildmates about not being in on the big fight to defend Delonshire against the goblin hordes like the rest of the guild had been. Knowing the source of their discomfort, Ashley continued without hesitation.