by Ryan Rimmel
Nick opened his mouth to give something that might have been an apology, but I just nodded at them. “Invite away.”
Both Lorraine and Nick sent me an invite within seconds. The
“Army of One requires you to be at rank 3,” I said to the two puzzled commanders. Lorraine swallowed. Jerry had told her, exhaustively, about my battle with him. Lorraine heard him but didn’t realize what it meant.
Nick cast a glance her way, but she shook her head. “We will be happy to have your assistance. Maybe as a friendly army, but I think we will be keeping control over our own forces.”
“Excellent, I’ll just find the biggest thing on the field and smash it then,” I said, smiling at them both. “We can do this easily!”
Chapter 45 - Doomed
“There is no way we can do this,” stated Nick, in a moment of sheer panic. There were hundreds of undead attacking Lorraine’s estate, Maison Fleurie. Her two remaining sisters and the household troops were desperately trying to keep the enemy at bay. Her place looked like some sort of French country estate, minus the horde of undead. Luckily, her family had possessed the good sense to build up some walls to defend the place.
Every outbuilding was destroyed. The defenders inside were shooting out torrents of arrows at the undead. I watched one zombie creature take a chest full of arrows and collapse. If the humans inside could last a day or so, they might be able to break the army on the estate walls. Given the equipment the enemy was bringing up, Lorraine’s sisters probably had about 15 minutes.
Lorraine was glaring at Nick. He had frozen up at the sight of the horde of undead. There were at least a thousand of them, all coordinated and attacking like an army. The living military was only a mob of 700 troopers, who had all just learned the difference between a job and an adventure.
“So, do you want me to go attack the thing that looks like a giant, skeletal ram?” I asked, gesturing toward the construct. “Or should I head over to the Necromancers? They seem to be summoning more undead from your family graveyards.”
“Are you crazy?” asked Robin. His unit, made up of heavy cavalry, looked very much like they were going to bolt at any moment.
“No big deal. I can take out the ram first, if you think that would help. However, that will bring the enemies’ attention this way,” I said with a shrug.
“Do you think we can fight this many?” asked Lorraine, trying to keep her spine straight in front of her soldiers.
I made a show of looking back at her army. “If properly led, I know this army could manage it.”
Merideth caught what I was implying. “You don’t think we can lead our armies into this and win.”
“Honestly?” I asked, looking at Lorraine and Nick. They both nodded. “Not a chance. You have a mob, not an army. You don’t make war. You plan for vacations. I could lead us to victory here, if you give me command. On my own, I can do a lot of damage. However, they are going to overwhelm your forces before I can defeat them myself.”
“What if we just leave?” asked Robin. Nick wisely said nothing, while Lorraine glared.
“Are your estates north of here, by any chance?” I asked.
Both Nick and Robin nodded.
“You realize your own properties will probably be under attack soon. Your smaller forces won’t even be able to deter them, not before they’ve sacked your family homes,” I said, watching the slow advance of the ram. We had just a bit longer.
“So, we either give you command of our armies, or all our people eventually perish,” stated Robin.
“Well,” I said, looking down on him with all the gravitas I could muster, “You could have trained to be an adventurer and been able to defend your people. However, you decided to spend your time fighting pointless play wars and getting captured instead. My patience grows thin. You cannot save your people. I can. Choose.”
Neither Lorraine nor Nick would meet my eyes.
● Lorraine has transferred command of the Armies of Calistoga to you. Do you accept?
● Nick has transferred command of the Armies of Sequoia to you. Do you accept?
● You have gathered sufficient units. Would you like to reactivate the Army of Windfall?
I selected “Yes” on all prompts. Instantly, the organizational chart for both armies merged into my expanded Windfall organizational chart. Unfortunately, the Dashing Dandies were back in Windfall proper, so all I had to work with was the Falconian forces. My Command shot up to 105. I chose ‘merge,’ forming them into one large unit. Then, I placed Lorraine and Nick in charge of their army segments.
“I don’t have enough time,” I hissed at Shart, as I began selecting the most experienced soldiers and promoting them to sergeants.
“Delegate to me,” stated Shart. “I’m not up to full speed out here, but I don’t have to do everything manually, either. What do you want?”
“Promote as many sergeants as you can from the existing experienced troops. Give me as many men under direct command as possible.”
“Done,” stated Shart. It had taken him only a few seconds to do what it would have taken me a quarter of an hour to accomplish. “You had 44 Command in the existing officer infrastructure. I put 440 troops under your control and left you with 61 Command. The remaining 260 troops cost you an additional 52 Command, leaving you with 9 Command.”
“That’s better than I thought,” I said, reviewing Shart’s work. The armies had more sergeants in the reserve forces than I initially believed. That only served to further demonstrate how unqualified these adventurers were at leading. Then, Shart coughed. It was never good when Shart coughed.
“You’ve only run with infantry before,” stated the demon. “To activate a cavalry unit or the hospital unit you have, you are going to need to spend additional Command.”
“What? Do I need to buy horses or something?” I asked. I received no response. Of course, I needed to buy the horses. “How much?”
“Heavy cavalry normally costs 50 Command to activate. The hospital unit will require another 60, because it includes multiple Acolytes.”
“And if I don’t have the Command to spend?” I asked, already guessing the answer.
“They won’t be able to receive any of your War Leader buffs. That will drastically reduce their effectiveness,” stated Shart. It was true; at rank 5, I granted an impressive +25% bonus to attacks and defense for my army. That, coupled with my ability to use talents like Rallying Cry, meant that the army would be at a significant disadvantage, right when I needed them to be at their most potent.
“So, I need an additional 110 Command, and I only have 9,” I said, grumbling. On Ordinal, it was always something. I could manage, though. I always did.
The problem with Command was that it didn’t really increase very much through ranking up. Every two ranks, your Command increased by 10, while also allowing you to appoint an additional officer. If you wanted more than that, you needed to buy talents to improve your Command Limit. Those got progressively more expensive. The main problem was that you could only buy one Command talent per tier, and I had already bought Increased Command up to Rank 2. The Rank 3 talent cost virtually all my remaining War Points.
It didn’t make sense. The higher your level, the harder it was to increase the size of your army. Early ranks of the War Leader talent let you function as an improved sergeant, but higher ranks didn’t work the same way. Then, it hit me. The higher ranks of War Leader were for generals. Most of the talents I could choose would improve the quality of the officers that served under me, rather than further enhancing myself.
“I get what you are thinking,” stated Badgelor. “There should be an option to add in another officer. Add in Nick. He has the War Leader talent.”
“What’s the point of that? He’s only got a Command of 10, and I already had his Command included in my overall limit,” I responded.
“How does that help me?” I asked. I’d had officers before, but, because the Dashing Dandies were competently commanded, I never paid too much attention to them. Fenris and Zorlando had been the officers in charge. The only exception was when Sir Dalton had been available and Zorlando had taken a back seat. SueLeeta was the only one of my close allies that had never been an officer in Windfall’s army. That was mainly due to her role as the scout leader.
“Your officers improve, based on your War Leader rank,” stated Badgelor.
● Teaching General: Your ability to show your officers how to fight increases their War Leader Talent Points by 50% per battle.
● Officers: Officers function as both leaders and followers. At Rank 1, you can appoint a Second in Command. At Rank 3, you can utilize your officer’s active commands. At Rank 5, your officers in command of units are treated as independent leaders, gaining use of any army leadership perks they possess.
I glanced at my officer list. Presently, it only showed Zorlando, Lorraine, and Nick. Because of his injury, Fenris was no longer actively serving. However, I could add him back in when he recovered. I found Zorlando’s “Form Up” Battle Cry listed in my available options.
“Why is Zorlando still listed?” I asked.
“That’s an army table of organization. At Rank 5, you can be in charge of an army significantly larger than your Command Limit. You are just limited to your Command in the field,” stated Shart. “Zorlando can lead the Dashing Dandies on his own and still gain the benefits of your War Leader talent, even with you all the way out here.”
“Well, that’s better,” I said. Zorlando was currently listed as a Rank 3 War Leader, so I had just given the Dashing Dandies a nice boost. “It leaves a weak point concerning the quality of my other officers, though.”
“Yes,” replied Badgelor, “But don’t you think it's time to teach these morons how to fight?”
I was about to refuse. We didn’t have time, but something in the way he said it caused me to review my options. There was a teaching path in the War Leader talent tree, and I couldn’t see most people investing the War Points into it.
● Teaching General: Your ability to show your officers how to fight increases their War Leader Talent Points by 50% per battle.
● Teach Through Example: Your War Leader rank - 2 is the minimum effective rank of your officers.
“Oh,” I grinned, selecting both. Teaching General was simply the lowest rung on the ladder. I had to choose Teaching General to get to the talent I really needed, Teach Through Example. I was positive there were more effective ways to gear up for this battle, but, with several adventurers in the group, this strategy cost the fewest of my War Leader points.
With my War Leader at 5, Teach Through Example granted all my officers a minimum rank of 3. The issue wasn’t so much that they were treated as having Rank 3, but they were also affected by my Demonical Infused Warlord perk. That instantly increased their command by 50%.
Nick and Lorraine had been Rank 1 War Leaders, which granted me a total of 30 Command between the two of them. Now that they were considered Rank 3, they both saw an increase in Command of +10, bringing us up to 50. With Nick as an officer, his talent activated. That further increased his Command by +15, bringing the total to 65. Finally, Shart’s Demonically enhanced Warlord perk granted my War Leader talent a 50% increase in Command, so that 65 became 97, a 67 point increase over the base value.
I now had 76 Command Limit free. I only needed 34 more. Checking the unit Command menus, I found the rest of what I needed and used my last few War Points to buy them.
● Cavalry Commander 1: You are skilled in commanding cavalry. Reduces the cost of activating a cavalry unit by 20.
● Special Forces Commander 1: You are skilled at commanding special units. You may reduce the Command cost of 1 special unit by 50%.
That was enough. By activating both of those talents, I reduced my army's cost to below my available Command Limit. I considered for a moment. It may have been a better choice to spend those points on improving my ability to command the men with active abilities. Windfall didn’t even have a cavalry, and I was spending points on it.
“Oh, well, Badgelor did want a horse,” I sighed, finalizing my choices.
● Medium Infantry: 250, Army of Calistoga
● Medium Infantry: 250, Army of Sequoia
● Heavy Cavalry: 50, Robin’s Grizzly Bears
● Medical Corp: 50, Merideth’s General Hospital
● Light Infantry: 100, Woodleaf Brigade
“Prepare yourselves,” I stated, as the army behind me formed into actual ranks. Nick inhaled sharply. I hadn’t managed my old menu time speed, but I did transform the mob into an army.
Chapter 46 – Battle for the Four Sisters
When hundreds of people march in unison, the ground shakes; the more precise the step, the more pronounced the shaking. As we marched toward the undead, the early afternoon sun overhead, the creatures on the outskirts were the first to notice. They were the newly undead, the least controlled by whoever controlled this army. Assuming anyone controls this army at all.
A horde of undead surrounded the estate. They looked like insects, as they attempted to scurry over the sides of the structure and into the manor. It was quite apparent that, if not for the strong dissuasion that Lorraine’s two sisters and their troops were putting up, the zombies would have already invited themselves in for tea.
Without much time to get the full measure of the terrain, I selected the angle of approach. There was a short wall running down a nearby road, but it was angled incorrectly for our purposes. The only suitable terrain I could see was a dry creek bed between us and the manor, just outside the estate’s bow range. That meant I could get some support from the estate without having to worry about friendly fire.
Just as we started crossing the field, the inner undead noticed us. Dozens of them broke off, all feral and ghoul-like, and began the long run toward our front line. Our shields formed and spears readied, as the handful of undead closed. Before they even reached our line, Merideth blasted several with a Holy Blast. A few collapsed, but the rest continued charging right into the spear wall.
Against a few scattered men, they might have accomplished something. However, they found a wall. Our spears pierced their soft flesh, pressing them down. Men formed around them, hacking the undead apart with their short swords.
“Finish cleaning that up. Then, get your line back into position,” I sent to Jerry, using Battlefield Communication. None of them had any ranged communication abilities, nor had they expected them. Jerry’s eyes widened at the realization of what that level of command and control meant.
“Yes, sir,” he responded promptly, redressing his line and double marching it to catch up. I examined the Battle Map and decided he would be close enough to the front when we engaged the larger group of enemies.
“They seem to be ignoring us,” commented Nick.
“Not for much longer,” I replied, comparing the top-down map with where I wanted our soldiers. I selected the areas and sent the commands to Nick and Lorraine. She had already been attempting to get her forces lined up, based on my earlier projections. It seemed she hadn’t fully considered the terrain, though, despite it being her property.
The Army of Calistoga moved quickly, finding the slight depression of the creek and setting themselves on the bank's close side. That slight depression would cause the undead a bit more trouble closing with us. Anything I could manage to help us or hinder them was worthwhile.
Meanwhile, I was at the head of the army, riding Badgelor. I was in plain view of God and everyone, including zombies. The forces inside the manner could see me, as well. That, combined with the army at my back, was bound to stiffen up their spines a little.
In real life, a general leading from the front was an idiot. The enemy would pepper such a general with ranged attacks, and that moron wou
ld be the primary target of the enemy’s first charge. On Ordinal, I was, at least, safe from ranged attacks.
I glanced at our forces and noticed that Robin and his heavy cavalry, the Grizzly Bears, were too far forward. He was growing impatient. I opened up a link to him.
“Robin, I don’t like these feral ghouls,” I said without preamble. “Watch for them and ensure they do not get to our flanks.”
“What if they don’t engage?” he responded, his earlier acidity somewhat mollified.
“If they don’t, then they aren’t being commanded at all. If these ghouls don’t present themselves, feel free to swing around and hit one of the flanks. Just don’t get mired in. I need you mobile if there are problems or targets of opportunity,” I stated.
He would get mired down at some point, but his unit was entirely heavy cavalry. I wasn’t overly concerned about them. They could give a fair accounting of themselves.
“The ram is almost in position,” stated Lorraine, watching furtively as her sisters attempted to stop the massive thing from getting to their front gate. Everything from crossbow bolts to Holy energy was raining down on that ram, with little effect.
“Range,” growled Badgelor, his eyes glowing purple.
“Let's see how Damage Resistant that ram is,” I said, as I started pouring Mana into Badgelor. In truth, I was curious how much Damage the ram could withstand. While there were undead of various sizes all over the battlefield, the ram was the largest undead out here. It was clearly an undead construct of some sort.
● Skeletal Ram:
● HP: 537/600
● Stamina: 113/180
As Badgelor’s eyes glowed brighter, more and more of the undead seemed to realize we were a relief force. They started forming their own ranks. Their large formations seemed adequate, though they were less dressed than my own. I caught sight of at least two spellcasters in their ranks. They were trying to hold off the Holy Blasts.