by L. R. Wolf
Elohwa left Aya in the tent, closing the door flap behind her so that Aya wouldn’t be interrupted by the loud noises that were starting to permeate the city as the barbarians knocked over ruined structures so they could haul away salvaged materials or clear away what was too destroyed to salvage. Elohwa looked across the city, buildings were crumbling all over as they were demolished for their materials. Though sadness lingered in her heart to see her city in shambles, hope had blossomed within her once Aya had claimed the city. Elohwa watched as some of the spirits of her people watched the barbarians work. She could see both pain and hope intermingling on their faces as well. They knew that the city was being rebuilt for them. She noticed that many of the spirits were retreating to the caves and temples that dotted the once great city.
After a few minutes of watching the workers hauling their loads to the stockpiles she had set up, Elohwa decided to go hunting for some fresh game for their meal later. As she left the city, she took one look back at the crumbling city, a smile spreading across her face as she imagined what the city would become in the future.
***
Aya was finishing up the daily calls to her family. It was still hard not being able to hug or cuddle them, but she was thankful she could at least still talk to them even if it was only virtually. Now that she was fully back in Infinity, she took the time to look around her. The tent that Elohwa had led her into over two hours ago was even larger than the first tent they had been in before they had ventured into the Dead Fields. The seat that she had been sitting in was incredibly comfortable. She noticed a new buff in her vision.
Comfortable-You are quite comfortable at the moment. Constitution +5. Duration 2 hours.
As she rose and had a look around, she discovered that Elohwa had already staked a claim to one of the cots and had unfurled her bedroll across it. Aya decided to take the cot opposite Elohwa, pulling her own super bedroll out of her satchel and unrolling it across the new bed. She opened the flap of the tent, her hearing suddenly assaulted by the noises of the city being cleared. The area directly around where the portal had opened was completely clear of debris already. She could see barbarians hauling materials to the stockpiles, a few were milling around and eating rations they had brought with them. She ducked back into the tent letting the flap fall behind her to cut off the sound. Aya wondered if the spell extended to the windows if she were to open them. She undid the knots holding the window flaps closed and let them fall. A thin screen covered the windows preventing the entrance of any unwanted vermin or flying insects and also acted as a conduit for the sound proof spell to cover the windows as well. With the windows now open, a gentle breeze filled the tent bringing with it the scent of smoke, old wood and disturbed earth while keeping the loud noises out. She sat back down at the table and opened the building menu again; she hadn’t really gotten a chance to delve into some of the options earlier. One menu caught her eye.
Equipment Rental
Set of High Quality Tools- 2g per set of tools per day-Sometimes the right tool is needed for the job! Give your workers the appropriate tools to complete their tasks faster and more efficiently! +25% speed and +25% efficiency
Hand Carts- 5g per cart per day-These carts will allow workers to haul more materials to and from where they need to go faster. +25% speed + 25% efficiency +25% carrying capacity
Wagons-15g per Wagon per day-Wagons will allow workers to haul even more materials to and from where they need to go faster +35% speed +50% Efficiency +100% carrying capacity.
Set of Strong Oxen and Trainer-20g per set of oxen and it’s trainer per day-These oxen are able to pull the heavier wagons to and from their destinations. +40% speed +25% Efficiency
With a grin, Aya immediately put in an order for ten wagons and ten sets of oxen with their trainers. This would allow the haulers to be able to carry a lot more and move even faster. She skipped over other options that didn’t appear to be able to assist the workers they currently had. She quickly ducked outside just in time to hear the now familiar whoosh of a portal opening. Two hulking oxen came through the portal pulling giant wagons behind them. The barbarians that were closest to the portal stopped what they were doing to watch the train of oxen and wagons coming through. The realization that these were meant to assist them caused them to shout and cheer. Askar was quick to take control of the situation; he gathered up the foremen of each group of haulers and gave each foreman control of one of the wagons and oxen. The foremen then guided their new charges back to their teams in the different areas of the city. Askar continued to bark orders to his men and at the same time he glanced at Aya through the window of the tent, a smile briefly flitting across his face as he nodded his appreciation. She waved back to him before closing the city’s interface. She had done everything she could do here; now it was time to go find Elohwa and see about retaking the northern area from the gnoll clans.
Chapter 23: Retaking the North
∆∆∆
Aya found Elohwa behind a crumbling wall near a line of fires about fifty feet from the tent they shared. She had seen the smoke from the tent when she had stepped outside, but the portal and the cargo coming through had drawn her full attention. Elohwa had managed to bag some rather large game and had them roasting on spits over the multiple fires. A few of the barbarians, who were on break, were helping to keep the carcasses turning so that one side didn’t burn knowing they would be getting a share of the fresh meat once it was cooked. Aya hadn’t smelled the cooking meat earlier as the breeze was forcing the mouthwatering smell away from the tent, but as she got closer she could smell the meat cooking. She recognized a few of the animal carcasses as deer and some rather large wild boars. Some of the smaller game including rabbit, quail and other local animals Aya didn’t recognize were already done and sitting on a makeshift table some of the barbarians had cobbled together. Further beyond the fires were rows of racks laden with fur pelts and leather left to stretch and dry downwind from the workers. Elohwa had certainly been busy while Aya had been talking to her family.
Elohwa grabbed a few skewers from the table before approaching Aya and handing her one. Aya took it, gently poking it with a finger to test its temperature. The skewer was still warm but had cooled down somewhat on the table. The two women took their meals back to the tent so they could sit at a real table for a few minutes. Once back inside the tent they grabbed the plates from their satchels before they dove into the succulent meat before them. Aya closed her eyes savoring the taste of freshly cooked meat. Memories of medieval faires and festivals swirled around in Aya’s head. The two women devoured the skewers in silence, occasionally dropping a bone onto the plate. Aya pulled the last piece of meat clinging to one of the smaller bones and popped it into her mouth.
“That was soooo good! Thank you for going hunting while I was distracted.” Aya felt a bit bad that she had been too busy to help Elohwa with the hunting, gutting, skinning and cooking, but her family came first, after all, this was still a game.
“It was no problem. I figured the haulers would be more than happy to get their hands on some fresh meat.” Elohwa finished up her own skewer putting the last clean bones down onto the plate. “I noticed you rented some oxen and wagons for the haulers. I am sure they will appreciate the gesture.”
“They’re hard working, I just thought I’d give them a hand.” Aya sat back in the chair raising her arms over head in a stretch. “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to go gnoll hunting.” A grin slowly played its way across her face at the thought of going back into battle.
Elohwa nodded in agreement. “Let us take back the rest of the city, but first we should perhaps get your armor fixed?”
Aya had completed forgotten that her cloth armor had been damaged. She looked down to see where the blood had soaked into the cloth. She looked up to Elohwa noticing that her Companion’s armor was fixed. Upon further inspection, the armor was actually different than what she had been wearing before. “Did you get new armor?”
The leather was still black, but there were dull black studs that covered the armor that was supposed to give a bit more protection. A strap ran across the front of her chest holding three daggers, the handles the same dull black so as not to glint in light and angled down for quick and easy removal. Aya frowned at the condition of her own armor.
Elohwa, seeing the look on Aya’s face smiled softly. “Tell you what, I will fix your clothes while you do the dishes?”
“I can do that, thank you!” Aya removed the Fire Cloth shirt which had taken the brunt of the attacks the night before and handed it to Elohwa who immediately pulled her crafting kit from her satchel and got to work. She looked down and noticed that her underclothes, what amounted to a sports bra in the real world was still red from the dried blood from the wound she had sustained in her side and arms. “Really going to need to wash these at some point.”
“I have an extra set if you would like, we can clean them later. As for the rest of your armor, nothing else appears to be as damaged as your shirt, so you should be fine to do battle again.”
Aya, self conscious as she was, was torn between getting on some clean underclothes and changing in front of someone. Elohwa seemed to sense her discomfort and reached into her bag removing the bundle that held new underclothes, tossing it to Aya without even looking up from working on Aya’s damaged shirt.
Aya caught the bundle in midair. “Thanks!” She turned away from Elohwa and quickly changed out of her bloodied underclothes and into the fresh clean ones. Once that was done she started to clear the table, grabbing the two plates and throwing the bones into a cloth and wrapping them up to dispose of away from their camp. With a few wipes from the magical cloths they carried, the plates were cleaned and returned to their respective satchels. No sooner than Aya finished ‘washing’ the dishes than Elohwa handed her back the Fire Cloth shirt.
“That should hold for a while. I will still need to go over your clothes after this next battle to mend them so that they stay at full strength.” Elohwa placed her needle and thread back into the crafting box before placing it within her satchel.
The two women left the tent and followed a small path that led them to the main road running down the center of the city that would take them straight to the gnoll camps within the Keep grounds. The barbarians along the road nodded towards them and shouted their thanks for the fresh meals and the wagons. Soon, as they realized what the women were up to, they began shouting their encouragements. After a half hour of walking down the pockmarked road, they came to a high broken down wall marking the start of the gnolls territory. Darkness was starting to fall as they were within the shadow of the mountain even though the sun wouldn’t actually set for another few hours. The area around the Keep was dark, the only light coming from a few fires that some of the gnoll scouts were using to try and ward off the cold of the coming night.
Elohwa summoned Thorn to assist with loot and keeping the women supplied.
“Oh, you can give Thorn one of your empty bags. You’ll be able to access whatever he puts into it.” Aya had just about forgotten to give Elohwa that tidbit of information.
Elohwa took one of the empty pouches from her satchel and handed it to Thorn. He placed the new bag on the hip opposite of the one Aya had given him. A small vine wound its way through the small strip of cloth meant for a belt.
“You should now see the pouch in your inventory even though you gave it to him right?” Aya had a sudden thought and she turned towards Thorn. With a quick thought she opened her inventory and opened the bag attached to him. She placed one of the two handed weapons that had come from a skeleton into the bag. “Thorn, can you take that weapon out?”
Thorn reached down towards the bag Aya had given him, two small tendrils extended from his hand opening the small strings holding the bag closed before he reached into the bag and pulled out the weapon she had placed within it.
Elohwa looked impressed with both Aya and Thorn. “That will be a tremendous help when trying to keep you supplied with potions, I can just dump them all in the bag he has access to. Speaking of potions, I am quite sure the potion ability of the satchels has reset.” Elohwa had already checked her potions and came up with a new one.
Architect’s Potion of Dexterity-Increases user’s Dexterity by 100 for 2 hours. Effects are cumulative with similar effects.
Aya dove into her own satchel in search of the potion of the day.
Architect’s Potion of Clarity-Increases users mana regeneration by 200% for 2 hours. Works for both in combat and out of combat. Effects are cumulative with similar effects.
Both women slid their new potions into the quick slots on their belt. Elohwa reached back into her satchel and handed Aya some new large mana potions that she had stocked up from leveling her skill so long ago, she placed an additional ten potions each with twenty charges into the bag that Thorn had access to so he could resupply Aya’s belt mid combat. Once they had the potions sorted out, they were just about ready. Aya was about to cast her Fire Shield on Elohwa when the Companion raised a hand to halt the Dreamer’s spell cast.
“Need to be careful with flames around here, it might draw their attention. I would recommend the use of any other magic. We are going to set up camp here behind the wall. I will pull them through the hole in the wall there.” Elohwa pointed to a section of wall that had crumbled away about twenty feet from where they were making their camp for the night. It would make the perfect site to funnel the gnolls. Elohwa pulled out her bow, quickly checking its condition, before she headed for the opening, with the intent to pull from the Keep grounds.
Before she made it to the opening Aya spoke quietly. “Elohwa,” Aya hesitated a moment. “Please be careful.”
Elohwa turned back to her waiting Dreamer, a brief smile flickering across her face before she nodded to let her Dreamer know she had heard her before she jumped through the hole in search of something to pull.
While Elohwa was out searching for targets, Aya reached into her satchel pulling out and equipping the Foci that channeled and amplified her fire magic. She could always hotkey the bands so that they would appear when she wanted to, just like any clothing or armor, but there was something about the act of pulling things from her satchel and actually equipping them herself that was almost therapeutic bringing a sense of normalcy to an otherwise abnormal situation.
Thorn was shuffling back and forth on his feet restlessly, which gave Aya an idea. “Thorn, do you think you can stretch vines across the opening right before the gnolls come through to trip them up a bit? Maybe use thorns on them too, to tear up their legs?” Thorn looked up at her, his eyes sparkling with excitement at being asked to help with their coming battles. He shuffled closer to the opening and began channeling the vines through his feet since they were already in contact with the ground. Aya could see vines snaking along underground, travelling across the gap to the other side. Once Elohwa came through, he’d raise them up to ankle height and unleash the thorns.
Once Thorn was set, Aya took her knowledge of the Fire Shield and modified it from Fire to Ice now that she had access to the element through the Glacial Spike spell. Now, instead of a blazing inferno, her targets would now be covered in a white and blue aura of cold and ice that would slow any pursuers.
Group chat Elohwa ”INCOMING! At least 3!!”
Aya cast the new Ice Shield on Thorn, who quickly nodded in appreciation, before turning his now blue eyes back towards the hole in the wall.
Elohwa burst through the opening in the wall, turning abruptly towards Aya. As soon as she had passed through, Thorn activated his trap. Thin tendrils of vine, almost imperceptible in the shadows, spran
g up stretching across the opening. Aya cast the new Ice Shield spell on Elohwa as she came into view. Because the vines and thorns that were being used to trip their foes were actually apart of Thorn, the effect of the Ice Shield travelled along the vines turning them into freezing trip wires.
The Gnolls charged through the hole in the wall, their legs hitting the vines, the icy thorns tearing into the flesh on their unprotected legs and causing both a bleed and a frostbite effect as they flew through the air landing on their faces. The third one saw what was happening, but as he was directly behind the other two, there was no way to avoid the vines. He attempted to jump, but his feet caught the bottom of the vine forcing him head over tail and causing him to land on his two friends who had been trying to get to their bleeding feet; the frost quickly moving across their bodies and slowing their movements as it began to freeze them. Aya examined them while they were sprawled out on the ground before quickly glancing over her own stats. Her fire skill was capped, but the rest of her skills were still able to rise. The gnolls would be a challenge, but shouldn’t be an impossible opponent.
Gnoll Guard-This Gnoll wears a black armband denoting the position of Guard within his clan.
Skill Level 80
Gnoll Guard-This Gnoll wears a black armband denoting the position of Guard within his clan.
Skill Level 78
Gnoll Guard-This Gnoll wears a black armband denoting the position of Guard within his clan.
Skill Level 81
Aya raised her hands and quickly modified her Fire Dome to add the ice component creating an Ice Wall around the pack, surrounding them in a sheet of pure ice they couldn’t see. They barked in pain as the two dots from the trip wires and the frostbite of the wall started to drop their hit points drastically. Two of them got to their feet, the fur between the knee and ankle had been torn away by the thorns; blood had begun to streak down their legs before it froze. They yelped in pain and anger at the two women before leaping towards them, but they slammed into the Ice Wall which froze them in place. The more they struggled, the faster their bodies froze. A few seconds later, stone markers hit the ground. Vines slithered along the ground towards the markers from Thorn’s foot. The vines wrapped themselves around the markers before returning to Thorn, dropping the markers at his feet. His arms stretched down and brushed the markers to loot them, the items divided between the two bags at his waist, splitting the loot evenly amongst the two women.