by Adam Elliott
"So you're saying that victory has defeated us?" Michael chuckled.
Cayden snorted. "I'm saying that we need to take a few days and secure our gains, even though we'd be better off going on the offense if we could."
"Then there won't be any defense of the bridges?" Silver asked.
"Not unless we come up with some grand plan in the next few days," Asch replied before Cayden could. "As soon as the turn starts tomorrow morning, we'll be smashing the northernmost bridge. After that, we'll be taking stock to see if we can put up a meaningful defense of the southern bridge. Ideally, we can hold it for a day or two before smashing it as well."
Silver arched a fine black eyebrow at the repeated mention of we but rather than comment on that; she considered the strategy. "Can't the Warden troops just swim across? Or... I dunno, zombie walk across the bottom? It isn't like they need to breath."
"I'm actually kind of proud of this one," Cayden replied with a wide grin. "Valserys?"
"Yes, Field Marshall." The elder Elan replied. With a gesture, he swept away the current image on the War Frame, and with a few more he drew up an image of the Ryks that stretched south of bastion and north all the way to Sunè. The Warden troops were much closer in the image, their army pressed against the bank of the river, while the Elan forces opposing them were stretched over ten hexes to the north and six to the south.
"While it is indeed possible for Warden troops to swim, I believe that this Temujin will find it tactically inadvisable," Valserys explained. "The current of the Ryks is strong and swift. Even a Warden soldier will be swept some distance downstream if they enter the water. Though the specific distance is quite variable."
As the Elan general spoke, banners indicating various Warden units took to the river. The moment they did so, however, the individual banners split and fragmented, a single unit producing up to twenty miniature banners that traveled downstream, coming up in ones and twos on the Bastion side of the river before being quickly dispatched.
"You can see what happens when they do so. Their formations are broken, the individual soldiers scattered. They all make it across the river, which would not be true for our soldiers, but they do so in such a scattered and fragmented way as to be functionally useless as an armed force."
Silver's head bobbed as the demonstration came to a close. "So long as we guard our side of the river..."
"They shall not pass." Cayden finished for her. "It stretches our line quite a bit, which is worrisome if they have some other surprise, but so long as we keep units across from them, down enough of the river bank, they can't ford it. And even if a few do breach, they can't bring their siege equipment across either."
"Which makes Sunè our next battleground." Michael pointed to Islo's northern sister city. "Are we going to burn that one to the ground as well?"
Silver gave a disapproving gesture before any of the others could. "Even a stupid opponent wouldn't let that work twice."
"A defense of the city then."
"We won't have the manpower to do that either," Cayden replied. "If we pile enough troops into the city to make a difference there is the very real possibility that the Wardens leave the city and try to ford the river instead. If we don't put enough in, then they take it and kill our defenders in the bargain."
Michael seemed aghast. "It sounds like you are suggesting we just let the city fall."
Cayden and Asch exchanged glances before the latter leaned back on her heels. "The city will start it's evacuation as soon as we demolish the second bridge. That should space out the refugees well enough that they don't further exacerbate our problems."
"And remove the last stumbling block between Bastion and their army." Michael persisted. "I get that we want to keep Elan casualties at a minimum, but at some point, we need to make a stand. Sunè sits astride the Ryks, if they capture the city, then they have their river crossing."
"Just forcing them up that far buys us over a week," Cayden replied. "And we're already working on plans for what happens once they are on our side of the river. Have a little faith."
"Care to fill us in?"
"I said working on," Cayden said, to table-wide laughter.
"What about the shackles?" Silver asked once the mirth had died down.
"I've instructed the garrison to conduct an exhaustive search, as you requested," Valserys replied. "A magical search might turn up more, but at this point, I am confident that the only shackles in Bastion are the ones chained to the wall in the dungeon."
"He did seem very convinced that we'd handled them," Cayden said, expressing a similar concern as Silver. "It is possible that we've come into contact with the owner and didn't realize it."
"Which begs the question of what sort of player steals an artifact that causes this sort of havoc without returning it," Michael added. "Assuming of course, that it is a physical object with any power and not just some trinket that triggers the event."
"We do need more info." Cayden agreed. "Which is one of the short term goals I've been discussing with Dinah." For once the Toy Soldier's face did not twist into a mask of annoyance at her first name being used. "The second upgrade to the Keep was, as Valserys helpfully pointed out, a dungeon. As of yet, we haven't had much use for it, but I refuse to believe that the Developer put something like that into this event without intending for us to use it as part of the event." Cayden smiled grimly as he regarded his allies.
"I think our next goal must be to capture a Warden officer if we want to have any hope of getting to the cause of all of this."
Epilogue
Day 12 - Midday
Resources – F – 640 -20, Z – 790 +10, M – 280 +5, I – 700 +20, P +40, R +20
Research Complete (Warfare) - Barracks
"The books you requested."
"You're too quick Ainsworth," Cayden said without looking up from the text he was studying. "I haven't even puzzled out all of these quite yet."
"Might I suggest you begin puzzling faster then, Sir Cayden?"
That bit of prim and proper snark was at last enough to draw Cayden's attention away from the page. His eyes flickered up just as the head librarian carefully deposited a stack of books heavy enough to make the table groan slightly under their weight.
Bastion's Librarian was, to Cayden at least, the perfect example of a man who fit his name to perfection. Some people were Kevins, or Davids, or Steves. Ainsworth, he was absolutely an Ainsworth.
Just a tad over five feet tall, the diminutive Elan was among the oldest of his kind that Cayden had ever met. At least, he thought so. When Cayden had tried to pry on the subject, the librarian had replied only that he was "older than most and younger than some," which was of course, supremely helpful. Even an attempt to order the information out of him had proven a failure when the Elan had helpfully reminded him that he was a librarian, not a soldier.
But he was old, that much was clear from his hunched back and scraggly grey beard. Unlike many of his kind, Ainsworth looked almost human. It was only his eyes with their unnatural crimson hue that gave him away as anything less than an octogenarian who had somehow stumbled into the tower by mistake.
For all he knew, he could just be an old human in contact lenses.
As far as Cayden could tell, Ainsworth just came with the place. The library had finished construction while they'd been out on campaign, and just as with the jail, it came with an employee to keep it running. Valserys didn't hire him, nor did anyone he'd interrogated on the subject. Even now, Cayden wasn't sure whether the Elan had been drawn to the library by some compulsion, or whether he'd come into being fully formed when the library was finished.
How cruel would that be, to come into existence in old age, with the sole purpose of acting as a librarian? The very thought made him shudder.
"Are there any other subject you'll be requesting? Or shall I leave you to your work?" The old man asked, dutifully separating the stack of book into three distinct piles.
"No, I think this should d
o." He replied with a smile.
The library had been one of his first destinations once things had settled down upon his return. Unlike the dungeon, the library did have a practical effect on the war effort, in that it significantly increased their overall research points. Still, Cayden hadn't been convinced that was it's only purpose, a conviction that had rewarded him with enough new runes to bring his total vocabulary to 1837/2000, on the very cusp of his next leap in power.
Even that knowledge hadn't been enough, however. It wasn't like the Developer to give them something as detailed as the library, without hiding some sort of Easter Egg within its shelves.
So far, however, that search had proven fruitless.
"Very well Marshall," Ainsworth said curtly, indicating each stack of books in turn. "As requested, these three are every bit of knowledge the library contains on the Liar King. These four deal with constructs in general, or the Wardens in particular and these last five are the tomes most related to Elan magic." The librarian tapped the final stack with a fingertip as he added. "I took the liberty of marking all relevant passages that I could locate, seeing as you appeared somewhat overwhelmed."
Cayden blinked in surprise. "That... in two hours?"
"Sir. You've been here for six." Ainsworth said with just the slightest hint of bemusement.
"What?!" Cayden shouted, lowering his voice only after a steady glare from the Elan. "I'd set an alarm... and... oh" He rolled his eyes as he realized his mistake. Even a high tech smart device powered by literal magic could still screw up when he selected PM instead of AM. "These are going to have to wait; our turn is going to be starting soon."
"Of course, sir," Ainsworth replied dutifully. "But before you go, I had one more thing to call to your attention."
"Hmm?"
"It will take not but a moment." The elder man smiled thinly beneath his well-kept beard. "You had initially gathered all our books on the language and runic characters of the Great Emperor."
"Yeah," Cayden replied. It had put them off on the wrong foot to start off with. Ainsworth didn't appreciate the fact that Cayden's Find Rune ability had allowed him to gather every book he'd desired without even stopping to inquire about the filing system.
"You missed one." The librarian said, clearly relishing the words as he extended a thin volume.
"It must not have been important," Cayden replied. Most likely it was a book that contained only runes that he had already added to his lexicon. "Put it on the pile and I'll-"
Any further words caught in Cayden's throat as he caught sight of the leather bound cover. It was bland, a brown leather book no more than a few dozen pages at best. But it wasn't the size or quality of the book that drew his breath, but the symbol stamped into the leather on its surface. A symbol he'd seen only once before.
The rune of The White Knight.
From the Author
Thank you so much for reading Tower of Babel: Speedrunner. I've been a writer in one form or another for much of my adult life, but this is actually the first time I've been proud enough of my work to publish it under my own name. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I stressed out and panicked about meeting my deadlines.
If you liked the story and want to support me as I continue to release additional books in this and other series’, there are a couple of ways you can do so. The simplest is to just leave a review. It takes as little as a minute, and good reviews are the life blood of a self-published author. You can also recommend my work to others via any of the myriad LitRPG platforms that are out there on Facebook and elsewhere.
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Finally, by reader request I now have a Patreon page. Readers will get the earliest access to rough drafts, cover art and other fun goodies.
If you like LitRPG, but somehow simultaneously have been living beneath a rock and don't know about it, I recommend the LitRPG Podcast by the Amazing Ramon Mejia. While you are there I also recommend you look into purchasing his amazing book Adventures on Terra: Beginnings and Adventures on Terra: Escape. Ramon runs an incredible show and he is probably the person single most responsible for making me believe this book could succeed. So, if you like this book, give him some love while you are at it.
If you don't like it, it is his fault.
While I'm at it, I'm also going to recommend the amazing works of Life Reset: A LitRPG Novel (New Era Online Book 1) by Shermer Kuznits and the amazing Delvers LLC Series by Blaise Corvin
And of course, I want to plug all the amazing LitRPG communities:
LitRPG Society
GameLit Society
LitRPG Facebook Group
LitRPG Books
LitRPG Forum
I'd also like to thank Tomas Muir for the amazing cover art. He helped me short notice this time, which is always nice.
Thanks to Podium Publishing, who've picked up Tower of Babel for an Audiobook series, with the first book releasing this December.
Thank you to my readers, the next one will be coming much faster this time, I promise.
And as always, thanks to my beloved Maea for putting up with my usual meltdown as deadlines grown near.
Want to read more? Please enjoy this teaser for another of my upcoming LitRPG novels:
Blue Hills
Chapter One
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Alexander mashed his face helplessly into the pillow beneath him, groaning in frustration as even the plush weight of it pressed over his ears was unable to fully silence the shrill mechanical noise.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
What even was that noise?
Alex tried to place it within his sleep fogged mind without opening his eyes. Even though the closed lids he could feel the radiance of the sun beating down on him from the nearby window. He must have forgotten to draw his blackout drapes before he went to bed.
Today was not starting out well.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
“Okay, let's cut that crap out right now!” Alex grumbled as he rolled onto his side and at last opened sleep crusted eyes.
It was an old mechanical alarm clock, the type he'd last seen in a motel on his drive through the deep south. Probably thrice or more his age, it's crimson numbers blinked with each infuriating beep. It even sounded old, now that he was listening like the clock was struggling its best to produce every beep.
The table beneath it looked just as ancient; a hand carved wooden thing that made up in charm what it lacked in sophistication. This wasn't some thrown together Ikea end table, it the sort of relic that got passed from family member to family member, held onto even though if anyone was honest, it was kind of ugly.
Of course, the big concern was that neither table nor alarm clock belonged to him.
This wasn't his bedroom.
In a panic, he rolled onto his right side, reaching out across the enormous king sized bed to give the bunched up covers a quick tug. They moved freely, but that only filled him with mixed emotions. The bed was empty, and he was alone. It was a small blessing that he hadn't stumbled home blackout drunk with a stranger from the bar, but it did nothing to answer his immediate question. Where the hell was he?
Beep! Beep! Beep!
“Oh for...!” Alexander growled, reaching for the alarm clock. Deactivating the alarm proved harder than expected in his exhausted state, but he restrained himself from throwing it at the wall just long enough to locate the switch on its rear facing. It wasn't until the clock had been well and truly silenced that he read the numbers on the old timey LCD. Six O'clock.
For a night owl like him, Six O'clock in the morning was a near mythical time, one that only ever came around when tabletop gaming stretched so far into the e
vening that it rolled around into early morning. He hadn't set the alarm for six in the morning in, well, ever.
Despite that, he felt surprisingly rested. Alexander was by no stretch of the imagination a morning person, even getting up at his mid-afternoon wake up time on the weekend typically left him a shambling zombie of a man until he'd finished downing a cup or two of the pure powdered sugar and caffeine he called 'iced tea.'
This morning though? Now that he'd pushed through that initial fog of half consciousness, he was quite lucid.
Score one for adrenaline. Alex thought to himself. Even as it crossed his mind, however, he knew that wasn't right. Apart from that initial fear that he'd drunk his way into a one night stand, nothing about the situation he'd found himself in had prompted much of an actual fear response, which was odd in and of itself. He'd just woken up in a strange bed, in a place he didn't recognize. Shouldn't he be more frightened?
Chirp-chirp!
The sudden noise in the still air of the bedroom did send a jolt through him as if to accent just how odd the calm he felt was. It was nothing, of course, just a Blue Jay sitting on the windowsill, babbling away with a number of other birds just out of sight. The bird was beautiful. In truth, Alex couldn't recall the last time he'd seen a bird like that in the city.
Maybe a pigeon that was particularly fearless of the subway that rumbled past his flat on the third floor?
This place was nothing like his flat. No cheap drywall or 'apartment beige' on these walls. These were hardwood, massive logs cut and paneled along the wall to give the feel of a log cabin. No, that wasn't right. He could see part of the outer frame of the building through the room's sole window, and it looked no different on the outside than it did on the inside.