by Rick Scott
“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.
[Alert! You have lost possession of a Keep!]
[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 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.”
Becky nods and begins casting spells on the entire party.
Becky casts Favor of the Goddess!
Your max HP, TP and Stamina are moderately increased.
Becky casts Mass Regeneration!
You are slowly regaining HP over time.
Becky casts Mass Haste!
You feel quickened.
“They’re coming!” Rembrandt shouts. He activates his Contract ability, multiplying himself five times.
“Damn,” Aiko says. “Guess my traps didn’t cause much of a cave-in.”
“Can you make them stronger?” I ask.
“If I had time to set more, maybe.”
I glance at the entrance to the escape tunnel. “Okay. Set them there. When it gets too much, we’ll use that as our means of escape.”
Footfalls echo from down the tunnel leading back to the keep. I race to the entrance to peer into the semidarkness. Loud authoritative shouts come from within, General Lyons giving more orders. I see him then, leading a platoon of soldiers dressed in heavier plate armor than the ones I’ve seen before—an elite group.
“Reece!” Lyons calls my name and my mouth goes dry.
He stops midway down the tunnel and smirks at me.
“A clever scheme you devised, boy. I credit you that. But it’s over now. Your keep has fallen and if this escape plan of yours was to work, I likely would not be speaking with you now.”
I swallow involuntarily. He scoped the situation pretty quick, but he still doesn’t know that we only need to stall for time now. I give him a stupid grin. “Hey, if you still want to call this whole thing off, my offer still stands.”
He scoffs out a laugh. “I admit I almost regret doing this. You made this battle far more entertaining than I thought it would be. Destroying our catapult especially came as a surprise. Well done.” He gives me what looks like a genuine smile then. “But my orders are clear.” He then glances to his soldiers behind him. “Prepare to charge.”
My eyes shoot to Maxis, who is now standing out of sight at the edge of the tunnel.
Me: Get ready, man…
“As your kind say,” General Lyons says with a grin. “Good game.”
I chuckle at that. “Yeah, GG.”
He throws his arm forward. “Charge!”
The elite troops rush forward en masse, yelling with battle cries. The ground shakes beneath my feet from their heavy footfalls, the air filling with the clink and clang of their heavy armor.
“Get back and check on Gilly and Val!” Maxis says. “I got this!”
Maxis bursts into a torrent of green and red flames.
Maxis uses Healing Blow!
Your attacks now recover HP for 50% damage done.
Maxis uses Fists of Rage!
Defense and Counter greatly decreased. Area Effect Damage greatly increased.
I use Retreat and skirt away from the tunnel just as Lyons’ men charge forward.
Maxis leaps in front of them, stomping with an AOE. An explosion takes the front line of soldiers down to 50%, before being sucked in towards him with that same vacuum effect. Rembrandt’s clones open fire, and position themselves at the front of the tunnel. The scene goes wild with chaos and I lose track of Lyons.
Maxis’ HP bar yo-yos as he takes damage from the onslaught but is instantly healed when he stomps the ground and spin kicks for more AOEs. Becky keeps him topped up as well, casting both Heals and Second Wind.
It’s working. They’re not pushing through.
“Reece, come on!” Aiko yells and heads towards the exit tunnel.
I follow behind her and when we get to the front of the tunnel she starts laying traps again.
“Wait,” I say, recalling our battle in the forest with that giant salamander and getting stung by one of Aiko’s traps. “Won’t we trigger these too if we run through them?”
“No, I’m setting these to remote trigger,” she says. “I’ll set them off once we’re all through. Now go up ahead and check on Gilly!”
“Right!”
I leave Aiko at the tunnel entrance setting the traps. I run down farther and feel the vibration of the drill again.
“Gilly! Val!” I shout through the chat as their names appear on my HUD, finally coming within communication range. “The army is at the chamber!”
“What?” Gilly calls back. “Already?”
I reach the end of the tunnel and finally see them in the flesh. Val Helena is facing me, her back against the back end of the dri
lling rig. It’s nearly sat on its end at the steep angle, with Val Helena practically crushed underneath it. Her face is a mask of pain, her cheeks flushed and blowing hard as she releases primal grunts of exertion. Her booted feet slip and scrape against the tunnel floor as the spall from the drill shoots between them.
She spots me and a wave of relief washes over her face. “Reece, help me!”
Help her? “How?”
She nods towards a pile of lumber stacked against the side of the tunnel. “Chuck the bottom of the drill with one of those!”
“Okay!”
I grab hold of one of the sturdy beams, which is a good six inches thick. Geez this is heavy! I use all my strength to lift just one end of it and then I drag it towards the drill. I notice four pieces have been laid on the tunnel floor already, forming a square with a base on the bottom and one at the top.
“Brace it against the top beam!” Val Helena yells above the roar of the drill. “Long ways.”
I nod and endure the bite of the debris as it flies out of the drill and stings me in the face. I then wedge the five-foot-long piece of wood below the drill and top beam, forming an upside down T.
“Gilly! Brake!” Val Helena shouts and the drill whines to a stop as the giantess eases the huge machine onto the thick piece of timber. Her legs bend deep like she’s performing a squat or a power lift and finally she eases out from under the massive piece of hissing iron.
She all but collapses against the tunnel wall, gulping air like she’d just run a marathon. Gilly pops out of the cab next and rushes to me.
“What’s happening? We’re not finished yet!”
I blow out a few breaths from my own recent exertion. Those beams are darn heavy.
“We lost the keep,” I say. “General Lyons is leading a group of elite soldiers through the tunnels after us. Max is holding them back, but I don’t know how long he can hold out till we need to retreat.”
Val Helena’s eyes go wide. “He’s holding them back? How?”
“They all are, Rembrandt and Becky too. Aiko is planting some bombs at the entrance to this tunnel as a means of escape.” I look up at the drill. “Please, tell me you guys are nearly finished.”
Val Helena and Gilly flash each other a look of hopeless desperation.
“It was hard going, Reece,” Val Helena says, grimacing. “This stupid rig was a lot harder to push than I thought.”
Crap… “But you’ve made progress right?”
Gilly nods and thankfully responds with something a bit more hopeful. “Maybe just six more feet to go?”
That doesn’t sound too bad.
“What can I do to help?”
Val Helena stands upright and casts Second Wind.
Val Helena regains +150 Stamina.
“Help me build another tier of lumber to brace against,” the giantess says. “Quickly. If I can get my feet under me on something solid, I can push this thing the rest of way.”
“Okay,” I say. “Let’s do it!”
Val Helena lifts two more beams by herself, placing them parallel to the one I just laid. She then grabs a last one and places across the top of the others.
“Hold this here and slide it in place when I lift the drill,” Val Helena says. “Gilly, get ready to start again.”
“Got it,” Gilly says and climbs back into the cab.
The giantess places her palms against the drill and releases a cry as she pushes against it like a linebacker, her feet slipping and scraping against the steep incline.
The rig moves.
“Now!” she yells.
I push with all my might and slide the huge piece of timber in between the drill and the three vertical sections of wood. “It’s in!”
Val Helena then releases the drill and the huge iron contraption comes slamming down on the top beam with a bang.
“Good work!” she says. “Gilly, get it going!”
The drill rumbles to life and Val Helena gets underneath it again, but facing me in a squatting position. Her back and shoulders press against the machine as she places her feet firmly against the top beam.
She releases an enormous cry and pushes upwards in a herculean leg press.
The timbers creak and groan under the massive strain as torrents of rocks shoot from out of the machine like a geyser.
“Holy crap!” Gilly yells from the cab. “You’re doing awesome, Val! We’ll be through this in no time! Five minutes tops.”
Yes!
“Go help your brother!” Val Helena says between clenched teeth. “We’ve got this from here! Go! Go!”
I waste no time and take off back down the tunnel, shielding myself from the hurling rocks and debris. Five minutes more. We can really pull this off! I get about halfway when an explosion rocks the tunnel from ahead of me.
The heck?
“Aiko!”
I dash forward to the sounds of battle. Smoke and debris cloud the air and within it I see my friends embattled with several of the elite soldiers. The tunnel entrance is partially collapsed, but there’s still plenty of room for them to fit through, even if only a couple at a time.
I check the party list.
Aiko is still in the green, as is Rembrandt, but Maxis is in the red along with Becky!
“No! Becky!”
I strain my senses against the billowing dust to make sense of what’s going on. Maxis has three of the elite soldiers on him. Aiko is hemmed in by two as well. To the rear of the tunnel Becky is leaning wounded against the tunnel wall down to just 10% of her health bar.
Crap!
Just in front of her are three more soldiers. Two have their backs to her, shields raised against Rembrandt, who is down to just one clone. The other soldier is facing her, weapon raised high, about to cleave her with a heavy claymore.
“Stay the bloody hell away from her!” Rembrandt yells as he fires rapidly, but his rounds bounce mostly ineffectively off their shields.
I Sprint forward while casting Shadow Cloak, Wall Running up the side of the tunnel. I clear the two soldiers who have trapped Becky and fly over their heads with a Charge Strike. I land my kunai at the base of the third soldier’s back and feel the satisfying thud of a massive critical attack.
You Backstab the Elite Reserve Soldier for 1231 (523) damage.
The Elite Reserve Soldier is stunned!
I slash into him with a full round of attacks, depleting the rest of his HP.
You defeated the Elite Reserve Soldier!
You gain 4200 experience points!
“Behind you!” I shout at the other two with a War Cry causing them to turn about. “Get ‘em, Rem!”
With their shield gone, Rembrandt lets loose from behind, steadily dropping their HP. I bounce on my toes as I evade their attacks and then wipe out their rest of their health bars with lightning-fast strikes.
You defeated the Elite Reserve Soldier!
You gain 4200 experience points!
You defeated the Elite Reserve Soldier!
You gain 4200 experience points!
Rembrandt rushes in to Becky. “You okay, Becks?”
The Halfling nods, winded. “I am now. Good timing, Reece.”
I look for my brother next. He’s still holding his own, but he could definitely use a hand. I raise my palm and cast Shadow Mist. The purple cloud engulfs them and all three soldiers freeze with paralysis. Aiko appears from nowhere and Backstabs one to death. Rembrandt’s clone opens fire on the other and between the three of them, the last soldier hits the ground.
I spy General Lyons through the gap in the debris at the tunnel entrance.
“Get this rubble cleared!” he shouts authoritatively. “There are good men dying in there!”
The words cause a chill to touch my soul. I look at the bodies at my feet and realize that I just took the lives of men only trying to do their jobs. I had no choice of course, but it again reminds me that Braxus is the true villain here, not the army he commands.
“We need to go!” M
axis says, running up the tunnel. “Go! Go!”
We take off as a group after him, Rembrandt helping Becky along.
“I’m sorry, everyone,” Becky says. “I couldn’t keep up with the healing. I ran out of TP.”
I confirm her TP meter is bone-dry on my HUD. That was a close one. We’ve got to remember she’s still only level 67 and is still wearing mostly noob gear thanks to her good stuff all being level 85.
“Don’t worry about that, love,” Rembrandt says, reassuring her. “We’re good to go now, aren’t we, Reece?”
My heart beat quickens.
“We’ll see in a second.”
We reach the end of the tunnel and I see Val Helena still struggling under the drill.
“Gilly, we’re here!” I yell through the chat. “We need to go now!”
“Just a couple feet left!” she calls back.
“Everyone help her!” Maxis says and slams his shoulder into the bottom of the drill next to Val Helena. I rush to her other side and press against the hot iron of the drill, nearly burning my hands in the process.
“They’re coming!” Rembrandt yells, and starts firing down the tunnel.
Crap!
“Gilly, how close?”
“I don’t know!” she says. “We should be nearly through by now.”
Val Helena keeps grunting, her boots slipping against the incline. Mine too have trouble gripping the surface as rocks and pebbles bounce from under the drill. I feel the huge contraption lurch backwards as one of Val Helena’s feet flies outwards.
The Half-Giant releases a scream and the drill rolls back and hits the top of the wooden beam below, cracking the center one in two. Gilly cries out as well and the drill shifts to one side, grinding to a halt.
“Damn it!” Val Helena curses.
Gilly jumps from out of the cab. “What happened?”
“I slipped!” Val Helena shouts and curses again. “I can’t reach any further. We need to build another tier of timbers for me to push off of.”