by Rick Scott
We need to hurry.
I race through the escape tunnel as it reverberates with the boring of the drill somewhere up ahead. Behind me, Val Helena makes a reverberation of her own as she Sprints down the tunnel in her heavy Paladin armor.
We’ve left the others to defend the wall, while we hopefully come up with some kind of plan for getting out of here in short order. I just pray we can think of something with what little time and resources we have left.
“Gilly,” I call again as the drilling rig appears up ahead. “We’re here!”
The huge machine shudders to a stop and Gilly comes running out of the cab. She looks worse than she did before. She’s still covered in soot and looks exhausted, but there’s alarm marring her features now too.
She wipes her hands on the back of her overalls and gives me a quick embrace when we meet. “I’m glad you got back inside safe.”
“Me too,” I say.
She then embraces Val Helena as well.
“We need a way out, Gilly,” the Half-Giant says. “And quick.”
“I know,” she says, wiping her sweaty brow. “Rem filled me in already, but I still got another 80 feet to go.”
I blow out a sigh filled with nerves. “I don’t think we’re going to have enough time to make that, Gilly. What can we do?”
Her big green eyes look frightened and at a loss.
“We’re still 8 feet underground. Solid rock. The slope is shallow so we won’t break through until we hit that 80 feet mark. I can’t do much about it. It’s all trigonometry, guys.”
“You mean you can’t just dig straight up from here?” Val Helena says.
Gilly shakes her head. “Told you we can’t do vertical with this thing.”
I look at the numbers still falling, 12% now. We need to do something.
“Why not exactly, Gilly?” I ask.
“The angle is just too steep,” she says, demonstrating with her forearms. “The rig will start rolling backwards above 15 degrees of incline.”
“Unless someone was behind it, pushing it right?” Val Helena steps forward, rolling her shoulders. “How steep could you go, Gilly, if I was pushing it?”
Her eyes go wide. “This thing is really heavy, Val. And the steeper we go the more weight you’ll have to lift.”
“I don’t care,” she says. “I’ll do it. We need to break through the surface as fast as possible.”
Gilly sighs. “Okay, but we’re not as far as we wanted to be either. We could be breaking out right under that army still.”
I shake my head. “That’s the only good thing about this. We’ve drawn in the perimeter guards. Take a look.”
I link my map of where I marked the campfires I saw. The red dot of the drill is more or less right below them. “There shouldn’t be anywhere there now. They’ve all surrounded the keep.”
“Shouldn’t?” Gilly says with a frown. “Are you 100% sure they all left?”
My stomach sinks a little at that one. “No…not 100% sure.”
“So we could break through right into the middle of a camp?” Val Helena asks.
I shrug. “Maybe…”
We all go quiet, contemplating the risks.
A voice calls out from the cab of the drill. “They’re going to break through this wall soon, Gills.” It’s one of Rembrandt’s clones. “Do you have a solution yet?”
“We’re working on it, Rem!” Gilly calls back. She then looks to me. “You were the one out there, Reece. What do you think? Is it safe?”
Crap…I guess the call is up to me again.
I think back to when I was in that darkened forest. I truly couldn’t see how many soldiers were around those campfires and I have no real way to account for where those soldiers might be right now. But I’m pretty sure a lot of them came towards the keep. Either way, if we don’t make a way of escape by the time that wall falls, we’ll literally be trapped in this tunnel with no way out.
And that thought terrifies me even more.
“We’re going to have to risk it,” I say. “It’s a fifty-fifty chance of being trapped if we break out where we are now. But it’ll be 100% if we don’t have a way out when those walls fall.”
Both Gilly and Val Helena give slow nods.
“Okay what’s the steepest you can make this thing go with me behind it, Gilly?” Val Helena asks.
Gilly shrugs with a peaked frown. “Maybe 25 degrees?”
Val Helena sets her jaw with resolve. “Double it.”
Gilly’s eyes go wide again. “50 degrees? Val, that’s pretty much its full weight on top of you. If you get tired and this thing rolls back…”
“I’ll stay on Paladin then,” she says and casts Second Wind. “We just need to go for it.”
I nod and touch Val Helena on the forearm. “Thanks, Val.”
“Okay,” Gilly says reluctantly. “I’ll go raise the front jacks.”
The way she says it gives me even more anxiety, but Val Helena is right. We need to push it here.
“How long will it take us to break through now, Gilly?” I ask.
She looks back over her shoulder at me and then upwards in thought. Her HUD lights up as she performs some kind of calculation.
“We cut it down from 80 feet to 10 feet. So…15 minutes?”
Heck yeah!
“I’ll take that over 50 minutes any day.” I set a timer on my HUD and give Gilly a quick hug along with Val Helena. “You guys be safe. I’m heading back up top to help defend the wall.”
“We’ll let Rem know as soon we’re through,” Gilly says. “You guys be safe too. Get back down here as fast as you can, okay?”
I nod and then take off back down the tunnel.
Fifteen minutes.
That’s all we need now.
* * *
I hit Sprint and deplete my full Stamina bar by the time I reach the main chamber. I trot through catching my breath and then hit Sprint again. I wall run up the shaft leading to the main structure and head back out into the cold of night, exiting through the common hall.
“Guys!” I say through the party chat as I reconnect. “We have a plan—”
My words trail off as a scene of carnage unfolds before me.
The trebuchet is in pieces and all around it are giants.
Above on the ramparts, Rembrandt is firing away but towards the inside of the keep now. My brother and Aiko have jumped below and are tackling the giants as well as a few soldiers who have somehow slipped past the wall. Becky is closer to me and is casting Healing spells from afar, desperately keeping both Maxis and Aiko alive as their HP bars bob up and down.
This is crazy!
“Becky!” I shout, running to her. “What the heck just happened?”
The Halfling glances behind her, her face creased with intense focus and distress. “The outer wall just fell!”
My heart freezes.
I look toward the inner wall and see there is merely a ten-foot-high section left in the center and giants are leaping right over it. This can’t be. The outer wall was above 10% just a moment ago.
“Did we run out of nano?” I ask.
Becky shakes her head. “It just went down all of a sudden.”
I check the western walls on my HUD to confirm it.
(1) Stone Perimeter Wall
West (0%) [Breached: Unable to repair.]
(1) Reinforced Stone Wall
West (11%) [Auto-Repair]
Resources:
Wood: 154 units
Stone: 433 units
Iron: 4 units
11% left? No way. How did these walls take so much damage so quickly?
The ground shakes as a huge log comes barreling through the last 10 feet of the inner wall, blasting it apart like pins struck by a bowling ball.
[WARNING: All perimeter defenses breached!]
(1) Stone Perimeter Wall
West (0%) [Breached: Unable to repair.]
(1) Reinforced Stone Wall
West (0
%) [Breached: Unable to repair.]
My heart thunders in my chest.
Soldiers and giants pour in like water through the gap. I’m beside myself.
How? How did it fail so quickly?
My answer comes in the form of a huge giant that steps through what’s left of the wall. His skin is charred and blackened with third-degree burns and within his hands is a huge hammer made of ice.
“Oh crap…Witgar.”
Chapter 49: Last Stand
I buff myself with Shadow Haste and Shadow Copy, my heart pounding like a bass drum. The air fills with the wild hollers of battle cries as the army surges in behind Witgar, running through the giant’s legs.
General Lyons leads the charge on horseback, vaulting over the remnants of the inner wall on his armor-clad steed. I stiffen as he spots me, our eyes meeting across the distance. This is bad. I glance above and see Rembrandt trapped atop the wall, the army flanking him on both sides now. My brother and Aiko are in a much worse position, caught out in the open courtyard with the army charging towards them.
“Reece, what do we do?!” Becky yells up at me, her eyes wide with terror. “Rem’s stuck up there. I can’t reach him to heal!”
I have no answer for her, but I’ve got to do something.
“Guys!” I shout through the chat. “Run to us quick!”
I take off sprinting towards the surging army, my heart in my throat. Aiko and Maxis are running toward me and I see the incomprehension on both their faces.
“What are you doing?” Maxis yells at me. “You’re going the wrong way!”
“Just run past me!” I shout. “I’m clearing a path for Rem!”
The entire army is about to come surging through that hole in the wall and Witgar looks ready to make it even bigger. I can’t let that happen. Not while Gilly still has yet to make our way of escape.
I access my inventory and materialize the Lakota’s Horn in my palm.
Please let this work.
I stop short just as Maxis and Aiko go sprinting past me, a couple dozen feet ahead of General Lyons and his charging steed. I press the horn to my lips and aim for the gap in the wall.
Reece uses Lakota’s Horn!
Reece summons Great Stampede!
Lyons veers his horse to the side, sensing what’s coming next. The thunder of a thousand hooves adds to the din of chaos as the stampede of illusionary buffalo appears before me. The rampaging herd meets the surging army with a devastating crash of flesh and steel. Experience point notifications scroll up my HUD as the buffalo carve a path through the soldiers and giants, literally plugging the hole as they push through it.
Yes!
Witgar loses his footing and falls within the stampeding buffalo with an almighty scream and crash.
A flash of light goes off behind me and I turn to see Becky leveling up several times.
Becky has gained a Level!
Becky has gained a Level!
Becky is now Level 67!
A flash of light surrounds me as well.
You have gained a Veteran Point!
“Holy crap, bro…” Maxis trots up next to me, surveying the carnage. “Nice call.”
The buffalo have dispersed, leaving behind a sea of bodies in their wake, soldiers and giants both.
I look to the wall. “Rem! Get down now while you can!”
The half dozen or so Rembrandt clones leap from the wall in unison. They hit the ground and burst into nano-dust, all save one who Becky heals up to full from the fall damage. He dusts himself off, replacing his fedora as he runs to us.
“That won’t stop them for long, mates,” he says. “Plenty more on the other side of that wall!”
The troops are already regrouping, being rounded up by Lyons, who seems to have lost his horse in the fray. Witgar is still lying prone, and looks to have lost a good chunk of his HP.
“We need to get out of here,” Aiko says. “Get to the tunnel!”
I check the timer on my HUD. We still have over 10 minutes of digging left. “No. Gilly still needs more time.”
The soldiers burst through the wall again, war horns blaring.
“We need to fall back,” Maxis says, looking at me. “Unless you got more toots in that trumpet, we’re as good as dead out here!”
I know he’s right, but will we just be sealing our fate even further?
“Once we go down there, there’s only going to be one way out.”
“We’ll stand a better chance of choking them in the tunnel than trying to fight them out in the open,” Rembrandt says. “It’s the only chance we’ll have of buying Gilly more time.”
“Yeah, but once they see that tunnel the jig’s gonna be up,” Maxis says. “They’ll be searching for the other end then.”
I grimace as Lyons shouts orders to his troops, transforming them from a mass of confused rabble, to ranks of disciplined soldiers once more, ready to take us out.
“It’s a chance we’ll have to take,” I say. “Let’s go!”
Rembrandt uses his Contract ability and clones himself several times. “You all go ahead. I’ll defend the camp and keep the tunnel opening out of sight for as long as possible.”
“Rem, no!” Becky says, grabbing his arm.
The cyberpunker gives her a wink. “Oh, don’t get me wrong, love. It’s my clones I’m speaking of. The real me is coming with you, don’t worry.”
She gives him a smile at that, still clutching his arm.
“I can use something to slow them down too,” Aiko says. “Come on…”
* * *
Aiko stops near the entrance to the tunnel and kneels to the ground. Her eyes light up with her HUD as she searches for something. She then touches the edge of the tunnel with her palm, releasing several puffs of nano-dust.
Aiko sets an Explosive Trap.
Aiko sets an Explosive Trap.
She stands looking down at her handiwork. “With luck it might even cause a cave-in.”
I honestly can’t see anything at all, but I suppose it wouldn’t be much of a trap it you could see it so easily.
Pops of sporadic gunfire sound from outside, accompanied by the thunder of footfalls.
Rembrandt glances towards the door to the common hall. “They’re engaging. Time to go, mates.”
We leap down the tunnel, one by one. Aiko takes the lead, followed by Becky and Maxis, with Rembrandt and myself bringing up the rear. We get about thirty feet in when a huge crash comes from above.
“What was that?” I say.
“The giants are bulldozing the structures,” Rembrandt says. “I’ve lost two of my clones already.”
Crap…!
My HUD flashes with new updates.
Name: Camp Star Fall
Level: 1
Population: 7/0
Growth: 0
Food: 5/0
Income: 0 gold per day [no trade routes established]
Morale: -170%
Security: -100%
Production: 27 Labor units/day
Trade Routes: 0
Structures:
(4) Stone Perimeter Wall
North (91%)
South (68%)
East (87%)
West (0%) [Breached: Unable to repair.]
(4) Reinforced Stone Wall
North (100%)
South (100%)
East (100%)
West (0%) [Breached: Unable to repair.]
(1) Wayfaring Stone: [NULL]
(1) Common Hall (51%)
(1) Dining Hall (53%)
(1) Baths (67%)
(1) Ballista 1 (0%)
(1) Ballista 2 (0%)
(1) Trebuchet (0%)
Resources:
Gold: 0 units
Food: 5 units
Wood: 154 units
Stone: 433 units
Iron: 4 units
The numbers flash a few more times, growing lower as the bangs and crashes continue from above. Then my HUD flashes red.
[You have lost possession of: Camp Star Fall!]
The numbers on my HUD all drop to zero and become grayed out. A few seconds later a system-wide message appears.
[General Lyons has claimed a Keep]
[General Lyons has claimed: Camp Star Fall]
“Damn it!” Maxis curses.
“They’re through!” Rembrandt calls. “The tunnel is wide open!”
Crap…it’s all over now.
We reach the main chamber and the tunnel behind us shudders with two muted bangs.
“That’s my traps gone off,” Aiko says, glancing over her shoulder. “They’re closing in fast.”
“Okay, screw this!” Maxis says, stopping in the center of the cavern. “We need to make a stand here.”
“What?” Aiko slides to a halt next to him. “Max, are you crazy?”
“No…” He shakes his head. “We need more time. We’ll choke them in the tunnel just like Rem said.” He looks to the cyberpunker. “I’ll tank the horde. You blast ‘em with suppressive fire.”
“What do you mean you’ll tank them?” I say.
“Dude, trust me. There’s more than one way to tank.” He gives me a wink. “You of all people should know that.”
“I agree,” Becky says. “It’s our best chance. Once they get into this chamber they can swarm us again. But no matter many how many troops they have up there, only about a dozen of them can attack at any one time, so long as we keep them trapped in that tunnel.”
Maxis smirks confidently. “A dozen mobs? I can tank that easy.”
Aiko shakes her head. “You need a Paladin to tank multiple adds like that. We should go get Val.”
“No, she’s helping Gilly,” I say. “Without her, we’ll never break through to the surface.”
“Hey, I got this,” Maxis says flexing his neck from side to side. “Becky, just keep me healed and topped up on stamina. A haste would be good too.”