by Ryan Rimmel
● Ben Jay Hogan Crosby Spence, Expert Farmer
● HP: 17/80
● Stamina: 33/60
● Mana: 20/20
● Injury: Arrow lodged in shoulder; any actions with his arm will cause 1-4 points of Damage, until the arrow is removed.
I activated my Healing skill and pulled out the arrow. Then, I cast Heal Damage on him, restoring much of his Health. Ben was left with an 8 point lingering injury caused by the arrow. I cast Regenerate on him and quickly realized why everyone didn’t just use that spell.
Reviewing my lore, Ben’s stats were straight +0 except for Strength and Endurance which were both +1. Because the Regeneration spell used the target’s stats to determine its effectiveness, it took almost a minute before it healed enough Damage to restore the wound. The spell didn’t have quite enough power left over to recover the rest of Ben’s Hit Points. I cast Heal Damage on him again.
As his arm healed, the man’s eyes bugged out. “Thank you, Grebthar.” He fell to his knees, motioning for his family to do the same.
I groaned inwardly. “My name is Jim.”
“Yes, Grebthar,” replied the man, as all four stood. I decided it wasn’t worth the fight.
“What happened to you?” I asked, looking over their bedraggled state.
“The duke decided he wanted to take our lands,” stated Ben, flexing his hand. The injury had already healed, but I fully understood the desire to test out the repairs. I glanced over at the rest of his family and quietly cast Heal Damage on his wife and his injured children.
“You live on lands affiliated with the duchess?’ I asked. It wasn’t much of a guess, as those two were the only significant factions.
“No,” he said, straightening, “We live on free lands. Both the duke and the duchess are trying to take them for themselves. We paid a charter to the king, may Grebthar protect his soul.” With that last sentence, he timidly looked over at me.
“They are attacking the whole village and will burn it soon,” said his wife. She looked at me imploringly, as if I could save the entire village.
● Save the Village of Aetna. The Village of Aetna is being attacked by forces engaged in the civil war. Will you save it?
I stared at the prompt. For a heartbeat or two, I really considered it. O’Really would have refused. He would have said it was unimportant and against the primary quest, even if people were dying. Shart was yelling about what a bad idea it was. I accepted. O’Really was an asshole, and Shart wasn’t any better.
“Take your family to safety,” I said. Ben nodded and the four departed.
In the waning light, I looked down at the bodies of the men I had just killed. They were the duke’s men, not bandits. They were just rampaging across the countryside. I brought up my remote town management interface.
“Mar, is Zorlando available?” I asked.
“I believe he is in the Barracks,” replied Mar. I considered that for a moment. I could connect to any government building with Remote Administration, so I attempted to connect to the Barracks. I found myself looking at the main briefing room. The map of the valley showed scattered markers, all indicating places where the Dashing Dandies had battled with the trolls.
A combat medic walked by. It took me a long moment to recognize Ashe. She had cut her hair.
“Ashe, I need to speak to Zorlando,” I stated. She spun. Her expression went from confusion to something a bit below anger.
“I will find him, sir,” she stated, turning to leave.
In the meantime, I calmly looted the bodies. None of their equipment was tremendous, but anything helped. I remounted Badgelor, and we headed in the direction of Aetna.
Finally, Zorlando ran into view. His armor was still immaculate, though there were obvious signs of repair on it. “Jim, I, Zorlando, am honored to have you here, even if it must be like this. Of course, I would much rather be conversing with you in person. Speaking of which, how long until you return?”
“Unknown, I have to rescue a princess,” I stated. Zorlando just nodded.
“With you, it is to be expected. Do not fear! Zorlando is here! I will protect the people of our village until you return,” he said confidently, inhaling for a second round.
“I might be fighting against some units in Falcon. Anything I should know?” I asked, cutting Zorlando off. It was always good if you could stop him before he got fully into the swing of things. I noticed Ashe had returned to the room. She was still not quite glaring at me.
“The wine drinkers,” stated Zorlando, laughing sharply. “Their army is not much to speak of. The King’s Guard is pretty impressive, but most of the rabble is not fit to hold a spear.”
“Excellent! Badgelor and I have to go save a village. I was concerned that they would be tough customers,” I explained.
Zorlando’s eyebrows rose. “Badgelor is already there? That is one speedy badger.”
I nodded. Badgelor had joined me very quickly, and I wasn’t sure his cover story held up well. On the other hand, I didn’t need Badgelor’s cover story to hold up at all. He’d tell me when he wanted to, or he’d keep his secrets.
“Well,” continued Zorlando, “My magnificent person hasn’t fought them in years, but I do remember our battles. Generally, they try to have at least one adventurer leading any sizable group of soldiers. I remember a duel I had to fight with a Man-at-Arms that was quite dangerous.”
I mentally translated that to ‘I got my ass kicked.’ Zorlando was still alive, though, which brought up some strange possibilities. “What happens when you defeat an enemy officer?”
“There is a ransom paid. You can collect it in the field, or, if you can hold them in comfort, you can charge their families more to recover them,” he stated.
“What about the armies?” I asked.
“Mostly window dressing, so that the adventurers can play war,” stated Zorlando scornfully. I was facing a bunch of adventurers playing war with decently trained armies. Well, that seemed normal.
I nodded and glanced over to Ashe. “Spill it.”
She harrumphed, stepping closer to Zorlando. “My father sent us a letter about the war.”
“He had orders to go, no matter what happened,” I replied coolly. Ashe’s face twisted up at that.
“I know that! I mean, my father’s letter mentioned that...that woman, and it is entirely your fault,” she explained.
“SueLeeta?” I asked. I knew she was trying to win over Dalton but having confirmation she was winning him over was nice. Maybe she could find a touch of happiness in that massive dolt’s arms. “She is a good woman.”
“She is trying to be my stepmother,” hissed Ashe. All of Dalton’s wards seemed terrified of evil stepmothers, for some reason. SueLeeta would qualify as more of a horny stepmother than an evil one. Still, I had dealt with a friend’s daughters who were unhappy about their father dating. Looking at Ashe, I realized the level of jealousy that she was dripping with over the situation. She was at that age of wishing to be seen as an independent adult while still wanting to be Daddy’s girl.
Trying to explain to daughters that they had to let their fathers date wasn’t something I could handle well. I had to approach this carefully, with as much fatherly empathy as I could manage. “Maybe she’ll die in the war?”
Ashe stopped her mini tantrum, looking horrifyingly hopeful. “You think so?”
“Who knows? She nearly got killed several times in the dungeon,” I stated, as cheerily as I could. “I had to save her, and I’m not with her to help her now.”
Ashe smiled for a moment, then her face sagged. “Daddy is with her. That woman is decent, but my daddy is the best.”
Zorlando gave me a completely deadpan expression. There was no way I was going to remind Ashe that her father was in the dungeon, as well, when I was saving SueLeeta. I just shrugged and broke the connection. I wasn’t the one sleeping with her. I didn’t need to figure her out.
“Alright, Badgelor, let's go sav
e a town,” I commanded. We continued marching northward into the sunset.
Chapter 41 – The Battle for Aetna
Fortunately, armies on Ordinal didn’t typically fight at night and almost never did in Falcon. One might assume such a tactic was for the soldiers' benefit. There were certainly a number of valid military reasons that made fighting in the dark less than ideal. In reality, the Falconian commanders all started drinking after sundown. They followed their evenings by sleeping in and having a nice brunch the next day. Then, and only then, would they resume their fighting.
That gave me time to rest, so we camped out overnight. It had been a long day of getting my ass kicked, being buried alive, kicking ass, and riding a badger for hours. I needed a break. We continued moving at sunrise.
“Two more days,” stated Shart.
“We didn’t expect to find the temple on the first day. We are now in the general area, at least” I replied.
“The problem is that we could still be ten leagues away in any direction,” stated Badgelor. A competent army, with the right talents, could move at least four leagues a day, at a league an hour. Badgelor could move much faster, if I wanted to feed him Stamina over the distance. I could reliably say that the temple was north of our current position, which meant we ‘only’ had about 400 square leagues to search. That wasn’t feasible, so I needed someone to point us in a less vague direction.
We stopped by the springs that fed the local fields. I imagined that, under normal circumstances, these fields would have been a bountiful resource, able to provide for the larger, nearby towns. Presently, the fields that were still intact were in disastrous shape. I didn’t see any capacity for them to produce a harvest.
A wall surrounded the village of Aetna, a failed attempt at protecting it. The inner portion of the city was a bit less on fire, at least. Everything outside the wall was burning. The few buildings inside the courtyard were in a mixed process of either being lit on fire by the attacking armies or put out by desperate citizens. Those that called Aetna home were frantically flinging buckets of water from their meager wall. It was a hopeless endeavor.
Two armies had both decided to attack the village. The army from the east had a large falcon embroidered on a purple banner. Falcons did not exist on Ordinal, so that made about as much sense as putting a Griffin on a flag. They were wearing purple tabards, so I decided they must be more of the duke's troops. They were not an impressive sight. They had broken into two formations, each about fifty strong. One group was pounding on the eastern gate, and the other group was trying to climb over the ten-foot wall. Neither formation seemed to be accomplishing much. Behind the wall, a young woman was screaming and waving a sword at them.
The other army had a blue falcon on their banner and were wearing green tabards. They were, perhaps, a hair more competent at their siege work than the purple shirts, having constructed a ram out of local materials. The ram was allowing them to batter at the gate on the western side of the village. Their second group of troops was equally unsuccessful in trying to climb over the town’s wall. Behind them, a young man was waving a mace and screaming at the top of his lungs.
It looked very much like two children playing war; neither seemed to be very good at it. Both the commanders were exposed, and, for a brief moment, I considered just smashing them. Due to the Rules of War on Ordinal, I couldn’t make a sniper shot at an enemy commander. I could, however, use my Army of One Warleader perk to charge an exposed unit. There was a problem, though. Both commander targets were highly ineffective. I was confident their loss wouldn’t immediately stop their soldiers from ransacking the town. Unfortunate, because stopping their soldiers from ransacking the town was my ultimate objective.
“How are they getting fifty-man units?” I asked Shart, considering my options. Windfall typically had adventurers leading larger units, which allowed us to cheat on unit sizes. A sergeant could lead a ten-man team, but I didn’t see any sergeants on either side. These units all seemed well-trained and competently led, despite the actual commander not knowing what the hell they were doing.
“Lieutenants,” stated Shart, glancing through the
“Why?” I asked, bringing up the remote town interface. The Windfall militia had earned even more War Points since the last time I’d checked. As I scanned, I did find a lieutenants’ quarters.
“They can use the army’s War Talents on their squads, instead of everything having to come from the army’s commander,” stated Shart. I nodded, selecting the building. That was handy. I had some War Leader talents that allowed my men to battle on, despite horrific wounds. It would be convenient for the rank and file to manage that. Plus, Zorlando was the only adventurer still fighting with the soldiers.
It looked like a lieutenant was much more capable than a sergeant, but then I realized that it also put a single point of failure into the unit. Typically, if a company lost a sergeant, it was part of a regular battle. Battles meant that more people had also died. However, the remaining sergeants could absorb the fallen into their squads. On the other hand, if you lost all lieutenants, the entire unit would probably collapse.
I decided that the Dashing Dandies would need a mixture of the two to function efficiently. I had to imagine that more powerful leaders would help Zorlando. I flicked a lieutenants’ quarters onto the town’s priority build list and looked over at the attackers.
The ram was about to break through the gate, so I gestured to Badgelor. “Wanna test out your Laser Vision?”
Badgelor grinned, and I activated my War Leader talent, Army of One. It allowed me to enter a mass battle as a unit. I could rush in without it, but I would have been at a huge disadvantage. Companies in an army enjoyed significant reinforcing buffs granted by their War Leader. Defeating ten ordinary people by myself was child’s play. However, if those ten were fighting as part of an army being led by a competent officer, I’d be in trouble.
● Jim, the Curious Puppy (Army of One)
● Shelly Ellis, Ducal Army, 2 Units Infantry (101 troops)
● Jerry Senna, Duchall Army, 2 Units Infantry (101 troops)
“Shouldn’t that be the Duchess’s Army?” I asked.
“Dukes get a special word and duchesses don’t? That sounds stupid,” stated Badgelor. Not sexist, stupid. Ordinal was progressive like that.
Both army’s leaders turned to face me, as Badgelor and I strolled onto the field. If the rank and file noticed me, I didn’t see it. Badgelor and I picked the battlefield's western side, where the battering ram was doing its best to shatter the gate. We headed directly for the ram. Even with our increased power, Laser Vision had a limited range. Fortunately, neither army had any archers. I moved Badgelor into position, while Jerry screamed at his men about our presence. He, at least, noticed I was coming.
Jerry was a walking slab of bright steel. The only thing I could see at this pace was the heraldry on his armor. Instead of a falcon, his protection had a large hawk emblazoned upon it. I interpreted that to mean he wasn’t significant enough to put a falcon on his armor.
Badgelor lined up his Laser Vision. I found myself working as a loader, pouring Mana into the attack. Once I had given Badgelor three-fourths of my Mana, I slapped him on his furry back. Looking past his head, all I could see were two glowing, purple auras. From behind Badgelor’s head, the light was more potent than the noonday sun. It reminded me of that one nightlight my wife used to insist on using. I’d called it ‘Midday on Tatooine.’ I gestured toward the ram and shrugged. It was the most valuable target on the field. It was so large that it took fifty soldiers to push it forward, and its thick wooden logs stopped any attacks from the town.
● Destructive Gaze: Disintegration: 180 Damage. Secondary Effect: Burning Gaze (spend more than 50 Mana), Penetrating Shot (spend more than 100 Ma
na) Scattering Shot (spend more than 150 Mana)
When Badgelor fired the blast, I didn’t know what to expect. I was hoping for something dramatic. I underestimated the effect. The twin purple beams struck the side of the solid wood ram, blasting through the logs. Everything seemed to stall for a moment. Then, the blasts continued, blowing out the other side in a shotgun blast of purple rays. The ram stopped moving abruptly, flames shooting from the two large holes in its sides.
We continued moving closer. I waited for some screaming. I thought there might be some troops left alive that would try to escape the increasingly violent flames that were shooting out of every crack in the ram. I didn’t have to wait long. Within moments, people began screaming and running in groups from the wagon.
“I’m surprised that many were left alive,” I said, watching the front of the ram collapse in on itself. Some of the troops were rolling around on the grass, trying to put themselves out. It seemed that things like stop, drop, and roll still impacted a Burning effect.
“Did you want me to kill them?” asked Badgelor. “I thought we were trying to capture an army.”
“I guess,” I said unconvincingly, as the last few troops ran out. Most of them were at less than half Health. That was enough to get the entire group running for the hills. I guessed their leader could collect them later.
The Duchall Army did not react well to half of its number being routed in one strike. The remaining troops started breaking, giving up on their ill-fated campaign to climb the walls. They rushed back toward their officer.
“Well, shit, I don’t know if we need soldiers who are that green,” I said, looking toward the Ducal Army. It was not much more impressive. Badgelor shrugged, and we started moving toward the duke’s soldiers. Through the simple lack of eyes on the ram, they had not yet realized what had happened. Had their commander been somewhat competent, a scout would have seen what Badgelor had done, and they would have adjusted their tactics. I watched the commander for a moment. She was another individual wearing an impressive suit of armor, who was now ignoring me. We were allowed to walk far too closely to the unit, before Badgelor stopped and began pawing the earth.