The two squads of the forward patrol remained hidden at the far end of the small valley, two miles from Olimpiakena. The Amazons of the main body marched casually into the valley, drawing any watching bandits or the priest's eyes to their approach. While the two flanking companies hid amongst the rocks on the left, and a large olive tree grove on the right.
If anyone from the bandits missed the two patrols, there was no sign from the ambushers of any worry. The wind was blowing from the right and the sun was slipping toward the horizon. Toni asked if smoke would add confusion to the attacking force, and also reduce the vision of observers in the RW.
Daphne, Sophie and their two hundred Amazons set fire to the dry grass and small bushes, which in turn set fire to the olive grove. Daphne led her company at a fast jog to the far end of the valley, meeting up with the forward patrol squads.
The smoke, initially wispy fingers, drifted down from the olive grove as the main body fully entered the valley, not obscuring anyone's vision. The wind gusted as Toni played with her magical skill of wind manipulation. The gusting wind fanned the flames lighting more olive trees, the smoke grew thicker with the olives burning.
Three minutes later the smoke thickened blowing across the ambush site, reducing visibility for everyone in the valley. Cain looked up and prayed the thickening smoke would obscure the system cameras. He didn't want the watching world to see, how comprehensively his Amazons could crush the opposition.
The first line of the ambushing bandits bust from their hiding place. They did not make contact, rather they shouted and goaded the Amazons with crude language. Areto told Cain, "Don't worry my husband, this is typical of rogue troops and bandits which us Amazons, shouting abuse hoping to goad the Amazons to attack them.
They ignored the shouting of the bandits and the Amazons kept marching, the first group of bandits ran ahead deeper into the valley. Repeating the same procedure a larger group of bandits now the first group had joined then, shouted more of the same abuse.
Toni ordered a halt, and the Amazons broke into four squares, shields and Doru to the front and marched at their detractors. Myrina messaged the group with one word,
The mounted bandits, threw their javelins, turned around and headed toward the end of the valley at a canter. Sophie said,
The mounted bandits shouted and cheered followed by the bandits on foot. Their shouting encouraged the remaining bandits to join the thirty-eight hurling abuses at them, leaving twelve archers among the rocks. This was what Cain, Toni and the other wives were waiting for. The twenty Amazons who collapsed silently got to their feet as they were only play-acting and merged back into the formation.
The smoke from the burning olive grove had thickened and was obscuring visibility, just as Cain hoped it would. As the mounted bandits rounded the small bend in the valley aiming to throw their third set of javelins, the Amazons' compact square broke into units of ten.
The broken square's individual parts ran together at a fast jog toward the bandit positions. Some bandits put up more of a fight than others. While the mounted bandits sat watching the attack and deaths of their foot soldiers. As they guided their horses to the end of the valley, they noticed a large group of Amazons blocking the head of the valley, their shields making a mobile wall.
Twenty-three and a half minutes after the first bandits shouted abuse at the Amazons, all the bandits were dead. There was no sign of the priest or his two bodyguards baring a small four-person tent. Cain had Daphne use her fire skill, she threw a small fireball at the tent from thirty feet away.
Toni had those who crowded around the tent move twenty to thirty paces back. As the tent burned down, a small explosion blew the burning tent skyward, revealing a large yard-wide hole in the ground.
"Where are the three people we noticed going into the tent," asked one of the forward patrol.
"If you look at the ground there is a stump of a wooden pole. I would wager they had a travel-post inside the tent. Their presence was a trap for one or more of us," Sophie said. Cain closed the deaths and points pop-up as he listened to Enoch, while Toni listened to Rahab.
[Me thinks somebody is cheating in this game zone, black powder caused that explosion. A somewhat coarse mix of black powder but effective. I think Jason is sick of losing and is trying to level the field,] Rahab said
:Ruth, can you give me the recipe for black powder? I think we can use it since Jason has tried using it against us.: Daphne asked.
[Sure, it is easy if you can find the ingredients. You need saltpetre, which will take around a year to make, you'll need loads of urine and straw; also, a dry place in which to make it. Charcoal and sulphur, finely ground.
[You need to make sugar I think there will be beets in this land. Cut the tops off the beets, boil the beets until the sugar-beet is cooked. Throw the sugar-beet away, keep boiling the water while stirring, as the water evaporates you are left with sugar. To cap the mixture, you need honey and alcohol. I'm sure Cain knows how to mix the ingredients together, ask him or Enoch,] Ruth said.
^B^ Cain, I think we need to make our own black powder explosive. I know it wasn't discovered in this time line, but we can't have Jason get a lead on us. ^
^C^ I agree, do you know what we need or what ingredient will cause us the biggest headache? ^
^T^ Potassium nitrate, or as they called it saltpetre. ^
^C^ Me thinks our AIs have been bending each of our ears. ^
"OK, move on to Olimpiakena. Let's keep the horses with us," The forward patrol headed out at a quick jog holding the horses bridles, forty minutes later the walls of Olimpiakena were in sight. They found a secure location and kept a watch waiting for the main body of their sisters and their lord, Joseph, to arrive.
Chapter 35
Priest Hunting
As Cain, his DreamBabes and Amazons approached the gates of Olimpiakena, the large gates began to close before grinding to a halt. Unbeknown to the town's elders, the forward patrol had slipped into the town twenty minutes prior to the eight hundred Amazons marched into sight of the walls; and now held the gates. Cain sent a company with Toni in charge to help secure the entrance, they ran toward the ajar gates. Inside they found the forward patrol fighting six men wearing militia uniforms.
One of the men noticed a hundred Amazons entering through the gates and he threw up his arms in surrender, the five other men followed his lead. Toni had two squads open the large gates full, to make room for Cain and the remainder of the Amazons to enter.
Once all the Amazons and mounts were inside the walls of Olimpiakena, they questioned the six men who tried to close the gates. Cain, Toni, Daphne and Violetta went to see the idiot who had the six men try and lock them out. Sophie took charge of the Amazons and sent a company following behind Cain as a backup force, should it be needed.
Upon reaching the villa of the person who tried having the gates closed, Violetta said she could feel the dark cloying magic of Erebus. Cain signalled, and the company encircled the villa, nobody was leaving until Cain spoke to them.
None of them were in the mood to knock and Toni kicked the door open, brushing past the male servant who tried keeping the door closed. As she looked at the servant his eyes looked upstairs, Toni nodded and took the stairs two at a time; Cain on her shoulder, Daphne and Violetta a step behind.
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Of the five doors on the landing only one was closed, Toni would have gone ahead and barged through but Cain pulled her to the side. A large bolt from an arbalest punched through the door and shattered against the opposite marble-clad wall.
Nodding her thanks to Cain, Toni pushed the door open with her foot as another bolt punched through the door, closing it again. This time Toni kicked the door open as a third bolt passed the doorway and smashed into the wall. and joined the other two in pieces on the floor. Toni charged into the room, her gladius chopping the left hand off the man who was picking another loaded arbalest up from the bed, three empty arbalests laid around him.
His hand among the arbalests the man slumped to the floor screaming, as he tried to stem the blood loss. Toni kicked him in the face breaking his nose, forcing the man onto his back, she then stood on the stump eliciting a large howl from the man. Violetta entered the room and cast a small healing spell on the man's stump, sealing all the veins and numbing the pain. Free of pain the man spoke,
"The priest of Erebus told me you would die, if I shot bolts through the door. He said I would receive a reward, and they would return my family safely once I killed you," the man blubbered.
"Where is the priest?" Toni asked.
"In my cellar. That is where they built their foul altar and hid it behind the large casks of wine, they brought the altar in two days ago and took my family away."
Using party chat, Cain ordered everyone out of the building, before pushing Toni and Violetta ahead of him Cain asked Violetta to cast sleep on the man. They ran down the stairs and Cain snagged the male servant who still stood by the front door and whispered to him.
Cain tasked the Amazons and they brought the Olimpiakena leaders, and families to the town square. Violetta checked each leader, of the four another had traces of Erebus' magic on them. His family especially his wife looked subdued. Sophie took her to one side while Myrina questioned her husband, as she returned Sophie used a knife and pinned the man's right hand to the table where he was sitting.
"This man," said Sophie pointing at the pinned man, "He has been conspiring with Erebus, the god of shadows and lies. He would hand not only his wife, children and servants but you all over to the night, you and your families in servitude to darkness for all time.
"The goddesses Cybele and Athena, have joined in opposing not only Erebus, also any god who would hand their worshippers over to darkness. We are here to remind those of you who have forgotten, the gods are watching, always.
"Tomorrow is a day where you can all worship at your temple of choice, nobody has an opt out. Now you will all join in judging this man who has followed Erebus."
The man who lost his hand and was asleep in his villa they placed under watch, since his family was missing and he was being coerced. The man who Sophie stabbed in the hand, a Trireme took him out to a small rocky outcrop twelve miles at sea. They gave him two days of supplies and left him alone on the exposed barren rock. The man's wife told Sophie of how her husband abused her and tortured their nine-year-old son, forcing her to worship Erebus to stop the torture.
Bethany gave Cain an enchanted pendant which produced a force field around its wearer. Cain tested it and once he was sure it worked he dropped it into his inventory and returned to the first leader's home. As he arrived he met the servant who tried keeping them out the first time they went to the house, standing outside.
The servant told Cain, "There is a small trapdoor which leads into the basement. It was hidden where the priest and his two men did not know about it. We always brought casks of wine through the house from the villa's side door, which they used to bring the altar. Even the lord's chief servant, nor do I believe the master of the house knows about the trapdoor, it is seldom used."
Cain thanked the servant and handed him a gold drachma then he silently climbed up the side wall of the villa and he entered through an open window on the second floor. He could hear no noises on this floor as he silently moved from room to room. Using the stairs the servant told him about, Cain moved to the first floor and headed to the small room where the trapdoor was located.
Once inside a small room, Cain closed the door then poured olive oil over the trapdoor hinges. Waiting ten minutes he slowly lifted the trapdoor, risking heat and a strong smell of alcohol wafted past his head. Once lifted, Cain could hear three distinctive voices, one of which was complaining about them not having a travel-post ready for their use.
"If Sir Hardy had thought we needed two, he would have sent a second with us. I think he expected to kill Joseph and maybe one of his wives with the tent trap. They must be going to come here soon and they should have broken the gates open by now, we made sure they would be closed as they approached the town.
"Once they get inside the walls and find the idiot lord above, who we made give the order to close the gates, they will come here and expose this altar we set-up. The sooner they come the sooner we get to respawn," the voice said. "I'm sure they must have entered the town by now, what is keeping them?"
^C^ Ladies, can I have somebody make a loud noisy entrance, shout for the villa's owner. I don't think these idiots hiding down here realise we've been and gone. From, the smell of it I think they passed out from drinking too much of the wine. ^
Five minutes later, Cain heard banging on the front door with Toni's voice shouting for the lord of the house. What surprised Cain was Toni as she had come inside and woken the handless lord. He was loudly shouting, "You will not take me alive, I will kill you all, you Daemons, you Succubae."
One of the men in the basement laughed as he said, "The man is such a douche, he'll piss himself when they go to his rooms." Another said, "I hope he fires those arbalests we gave him, death by bolt sounds a good way to kill Joseph or one of his wives, maybe even Natasha. I think Jason will give us a reward if we kill that bitch."
As they were talking and listening to the noise and shouting from Toni and the wounded lord, Cain could hear some of the Amazons she brought with her stamping their feet. Cain lowered himself into the basement. Timing his ten-foot drop to the bangs and crashes, he had forgotten about his legs; they absorbed the noise of his landing. He ignored the players' Gamer Tags, since he was focused on killing the men down here before they could light the fuse. One of the three men moved to the basement door which led upstairs, he whispered and said,
"I'm going to listen to whatever is going on upstairs, I can't hear much over there in the corner. I will be able to hear when they reach the idiot, maybe he will do what we hope for. He has to give it a try we do hold his family and he must know he's not getting them back." One of the other two in the corner near Cain said, "When we've respawned, I will have his wife and eldest daughter. Did you notice I stripped them both before we left for here? I think it was a smart idea of Sir Hardy's, binding our respawn points deep in the sacred grove, three miles outside the town walls.
"Who would have thought some sacred grottos had a natural source of potassium nitrate? Speedy Pete couldn't have made the black powder without that. I didn't think he was that smart to be honest, not like Giant Dick or Sir Hardy."
They could hear a large bang from upstairs and a woman's scream as it shouted, "Joseph, no." The man near the door said, "Come listen to this, I think the pissant lord has shot Joseph, maybe even killed him." One of the two men left their hiding place and crept over to the doorway.
^C^ Make another scream and carry on, pretend I am dead, xx. ^
Toni screamed again and the two near the door laughed, one said, "I bet she'll kill that lord now." As they were speaking Cain slipped behind the priest who sat next to the two fuses. Cain's left hand covered the priest's mouth, as his right hand slipped his Ari B'Lilah into the nape of the player's head, severed the spinal cord which killed him instantly.
Cain quietly laid the man down, he pulled the two fuses out of the nearest casks of explosives. More noise came from upstairs covering Cain's movements. He crept toward to the two men who were holding their
laughter in, while he could hear Toni as she wailed. One thrust, one slash of his blade, both men died joining the priest awaiting their respawns.
Grotto Mistake
Cain burst out of the basement shouting for Toni, "We have twenty hours to find the local sacred grotto, those three idiots under Sir Hardy's orders have bound their respawn points there. That is where they are holding Lord Handless' family," Cain said. Toni spoke to the lord who said to them,
"There is only one sacred grotto near here and it is easy to find. You will need to head west of the city and travel toward the place where hills seem to congregate. As you approach the hill you will see a pile of large boulders and rocks gathered in one place. The entrance to the grotto is hidden inside of the hill. Approach the jumbled pile of rock, look for the two largest which lean together making the capital letter for Lambda.
"There are several small hills in the area located as they are halfway between Olimpiakena and Vamvakena. From a distance the one you want is where a herd of wild horses are usually on the slopes of the hill. Make sure you approach in a large party as the horses often chase individuals or small groups of people away." Toni asked how large was the wild herd, it surprised her when the lord said, "I've never counted but easily in the thousands."
Taking a local militia captain as a guide, Cain, Lesley, Daphne, Myrina and Areto ran with two companies of Amazons, they also took Violetta to check for traces of Erebus' magic. They covered the three miles in forty-five minutes, running at the slow speed of the militia captain. They spent the last ten minutes running through a large herd of wild horses grazing.
The entrance to the sacred grotto was as the lord said, hidden amongst a fallen tumble of large boulders and exposed rock at the side of a small tor, jutting out of the flat ground. Entering the grotto, their eyes picked out the potassium nitrate. Its transparent mainly white crystalline structure covered the ground, crunching underfoot as they walked deeper inside, while larger pieces of solid crystals covered the walls. Cain ran his finger through the gritty powder and put some on his tongue, the salty taste confirmed to him this was potassium nitrate.
Forsaken 337 BC Page 44