by Andrew Lynch
‘My fault, really. I saw you stuck and thought I could help you.’ Some of the excitement left his voice as he realised what he was saying. ‘Call it a leftover paternal instinct. Of course, I forgot that your shadow defence was up, and so nullified the arcane.’
‘Yeah, well. It was rude of Arthur, nonetheless.’
‘Arthur?’
‘Oh. I named that Moonbeast Arthur, yeah.’
‘Mmm, yes. A fitting name.’
‘Anyway, what have I missed so far?’
‘Not much. Their vanguard hit first and tested our defences. Not much magic involved there, and so our melee and ranged managed to push them back from the gate. Since then, they’ve been lining up their forces out of range of our walls. Not having any proper siege weaponry, it means they’re… close.’
‘Numbers?’
‘It appears they received reinforcements since Muadshai’s count. They are now two thousand strong, give or take.’
My jaw dropped. ‘They’ve doubled in size?. What about ours? I assume someone did a headcount at some point?’
‘It was hard to get some of your cultists to stop tallying things up, actually. Yes, we’ve got about four hundred regular troops, plus a small fifty man horde unit.’
I sucked on my teeth. ‘That’s… actually not terrible. We have the fortification, so maybe–’
‘The Child of Light has been seen.’
Somehow, I’d forgotten. The raw numbers weren’t that terrible, but them having a burrowing, light spewing, seemingly invincible hydra, was a bit of an issue. It could wipe us out single handedly.
‘What about their artillery? Big machines?’
‘No machines. Just casters with artillery mods.’
I looked back to one of the craters in the ground. Just casters.
I snapped my fingers, finally remembering what I’d just woken up from. ‘Is Hursh here?’
‘Hursh?’ He thought for a moment. ‘Ahh, no. His council of mages arrived. Twelve in total. Powerful, but nothing that can get through their light magic.’
‘They’re not all protected by light, right? Magic still works.’
Ixly nodded. ‘Against the rank and file, yes. Except there’s a problem with that.’
‘More problems? Super. Hit me with it.’
‘You’re right that, considering we have the defensive position, the number disparity between our armies isn’t too bad. They need to advance on our walls while we have free rein to attack at range. Except, we don’t have free rein.’
‘Of course we don’t. Why not?’
He pointed up to the walls and I agreed. Time to see what I was facing with my own eyes.
I grabbed the closest wall vine and clambered my way to the top.
A horde of goblins were pressed up against the parapet. None came higher than my waist, but all had sharp claws and vicious teeth. They were every shade of green and brown possible, and there were at least fifty of them. The top of this section of wall was covered in loose rocks, which I was about to scold someone for, but I saw the leather slings every goblin held. The rocks were stockpiled ammunition.
Seeing my confusion, Ixly explained, ‘Horde units are the most effective to use aura buffs on. That’s why I was with them. They’re good fighters, just a bit flighty.’
I walked forward to the edge of the wall and surveyed The Eastern Shadow. Much like my own army, they looked disparate and unorganised. They had converted any mob they could find, and that left them looking like ragtag bandits. Part of me hoped they would attack like that, but I knew it wouldn’t be the case. They were separated into even blocks of two hundred troops, arrayed far back into the woods and surrounding us on all sides. They had the numbers, all right.
The entire army had a faint shimmering gold field around it. A light shield. No magic could touch the enemy while the mages were focusing on keeping that up. Obviously it required a certain amount of resources dedicated to keeping it up, which meant less artillery fire, but I didn’t know if they could advance and keep it in position or not. It completely nullified all my magical followers.
I took a moment to find the commander, and sure enough, in a little block of his own honour guard, was Koif. He and his men were dressed in the white and gold of the pristine guard from the tutorial level. Only ten of them. They seemed odd somehow. They were standing between two large boulders that created a corridor. Hiding? I wondered if killing him would affect the rest of the army. Demoralise them? Sever their connection to the light, perhaps?
Each enemy unit had the same formation. A double row of pikemen, one of ranged, five rows of swordsmen, and then a final row of mages. They may have all looked different, but they held those rows with an iron discipline. They almost seemed unreal. The goblins next to me chattered and giggled and shrieked, bobbing up and down, fidgeting and fighting. But The Eastern Shadow were unmoving. Mixed with their aversion to casting shadows, they looked like a facade of an army, nothing more. It was eerie.
This was the first time since I’d created Akuma Severo in Armies of Tulgatha, that I felt like I was in a game. It all seemed off, somehow.
‘You should check the overseer mode,’ Ixly said.
I agreed and left him to keep the horde of goblins in line.
Another light siege explosion sounded from the southern wall. The mages must have locked in their aim and were now going to work on breaking Thanis down.
I knelt before my skull-adorned alter, and before I had time to straighten out my robes, I was viewing Thanis from the skies.
It loaded me straight into the real time strategy version of my overseer mode instead of the base building mode.
And it was a mess. I had almost a hundred different units with no organisation. I swept over the battlefield to try and figure things out. There were random melee units at the base of the walls, unable to do much of anything. There were those resting in Ixly’s swamp and the centre of my half of Thanis.
Half of all my units were clustered around the gate, yet only the first two lines were actually able to do anything in a fight.
On top of that, I had my hero characters. There was Ixly on the north wall. Horace was at the gate. Muadshi I saw outside the walls to the south. Hursh’s mage council counted as a hero unit as well, and they were showing as being hidden in the lumber mill – the only part of the village that was outside the walls due to my early placement of it. I’d only been thinking of keeping the trade side of my village separate from my military side, having no idea that defensibility would ever be an issue. That wasn’t where I’d have placed them. I’d have to talk to Ixly or Horace to figure out what the plan there was.
No, no, no. This was all wrong. The mage council was too close to the enemy lines for me to call them back in, but I selected every other unit outside the walls – Muadshai’s hunters – and ordered them back inside. They all acted instantly, apart from Muadshai, who gave a stern glance toward the sky before following orders.
I watched the hunters start to trickle in from their positions around the walls and woods.
Muadshai was the last to return, making sure all of his followers were safe before he entered. He still had a gourd in one hand and was riding his sandworm low like an amateur on an unsteady surfboard.
All the hunters trickled in one by one, obviously all being used to working alone on a regular basis, unlike any of the other followers I’d seen who had always worked as a duo or trio.
Before Muadshai entered, he looked up to the sky and said something I couldn’t hear. I selected just him and zoomed in.
‘What’s up?’
‘Why ya pullin’ us in?’
‘It didn’t make sense to have you guys out there. You’d just get steam rolled as soon as they advanced.’
‘Check again. We were giving you da range.’
Not sure what he meant, I pulled back out and now that he’d mentioned it, I noticed that the surrounding fog of war had encroached to just within the tree line. The trees were blocking my
regular units view, of course. The only enemy unit I could see now were the front row by the mage council.
I went back to Muadshai who had fallen off his sandworm and was lying face down in the dirt.
‘Umm, you were right about the scouting, but maybe you should put the gourd away for the rest of this battle?’
He looked up at me, his face a mask of confusion and anger. ‘I ain’t drunk. It’s me worm!’
I looked at his sandworm, and sure enough his worm had lost some Life and had a debuff applied to it. A large glowing spear of light had pierced through its tail and was pinning it in place.
Row by row, The Eastern Shadow emerged from the tree line.
Chapter 42: Skirmish
I selected some of the melee units that were sat around the base of the walls. They weren’t doing anything. I ordered them to Muadshai’s position. Made sense.
When they encountered the gate guard, they could only trickle through one by one, and a quick bit of mental maths told me that the first light units would arrive before I had any notable defence in place.
I didn’t want to move the gate guard, as that was the one, painfully obvious weakness in my defences, but I wasn’t under attack, so… I swapped orders. The previously resting guys were set to guard at the gate, and the huge block of my army that had already been in place, were ordered to move up to Muadshai.
As soon as my troops started to leave the gate, I got pinged. I swept around to who had done it, and found myself facing an astonished Ixly.
‘Why are you abandoning the gate?’
‘Muadshai got trapped outside the walls. I’m moving to defend him.’
‘You just moved one hundred troops into open ground to defend one person? Send fast skirmishers if you have to, not an entire block. They won’t survive. Look!’
I swept back to the advancing gate guard. No problems there, in fact they’d almost reached Muadshai. However, a quick bit of maths ran through my head. I had sent one hundred men into the field. Each block of The Eastern Shadow was two hundred men. And two other blocks had just emerged from the trees as they saw the incredibly vulnerable quarter of my army.
I’d fucked up. At least, that’s what I wanted them to think. Come on, Koif. I’m an idiot that’s never done this before. Charge me.
More pings. Muadshai and Horace.
Muadshai first. ‘What da fuck are ya doin’?!’
Horace shared the sentiment, apparently. ‘Not the most strategic move, master. Might I suggest…’
I swung back to the action before he could finish. Timing was everything. I needed the enemy committed.
I selected Ixly and his horde of goblins and moved them to above the gate. They started moving immediately, and I could hear the Steggar’s horn blowing even from my high vantage point. I took every troop I could find that was resting in Ixly’s swamp, and the one or two of Bri’s followers that were still there and guarding her territory, and ordered them up to the gate.
The first lines of enemy were closing in on Muadshai, but that brought them in range of my mages. A group of them cast a hail of ice on the first wave of attackers… which crashed harmlessly against the light shield. The enemy mages were keeping themselves wrapped tightly in those bubbles, making all my magic useless until my casters were in melee.
The first arrow from The Eastern Shadow fired at Muadshai. It went wide as they were shooting at maximum range, but it meant everything was about twenty seconds from kicking off. The two blocks of enemy that were acting as a pincer weren’t stopping to shoot, and had broken into a jog to catch up with the first unit to advance. That would have to do. I couldn’t risk cutting it any closer.
I selected the first line of shield bearers from the gate guard, and had them continue to Muadshai. Everyone else, I ordered a retreat. Not just a return to the gate, but a retreat. They turned and they sprinted as fast as they could back inside the walls. Their stamina depleted almost instantly, the downside of making your unit break, but they were safe. They’d be useless in a fight until they’d rested though, so I sent them to Ixly’s swamp.
My shield bearers arrived and surrounded Muadshai – just in time as the arrows started to land within a few metres.
I spoke to Muadshai. ‘It would be really good if you could escape, like, ten seconds ago.’
‘No shit. Bad news den. Dis root spell lasts another twenty seconds.’
Twenty seconds. The enemy was two hundred strong, with another four hundred thirty seconds behind them. I had ten dudes with shields, and a drunk hunter. Oh, and a big worm. Thing is, I remembered what that worm could do.
The shield bearers were all humans, wearing full iron plate. They couldn’t move fast, but they were perfect for defence. I spoke to the leader.
‘Twenty five seconds. That’s all we need. Can you do it?’
He lifted his visor with a clank to show an old, grey face unmarred by signs of war. He looked at the incoming enemy. ‘Only twenty five? And I thought this was going to be hard.’
He smacked his visor down and slammed his sword against his shield, shouting to his men. They all stepped backwards, tightening the circle around Muadshai’s worm until they were almost stepping on it. As one, the bearers slammed their shields into the ground and leaned their shoulders against them.
Back to Muadshai. He had nocked an arrow and was sighting his first kill. ‘The second you’re free, cast Churn. Pull the bearers under with you.’
The light shield dropped as the enemy units turned to the offensive, their job becoming a sprint. Muadshai grinned and whispered a barely audible, ‘Ya ain’t as dumb as ya look.’ and split the closest enemy’s head in half. Holy shit, there was some power in that shot. It hadn’t even been a spell or a special arrow.
Part of me wanted to get out of my Altar and run to their aid. But I knew I couldn’t make it in time. That shield bearer captain had been cocky, but from my bird’s eye view, I was not liking what I was seeing.
Arrows were bouncing off shields, yes, but still, it was only ten men. Against six hundred. What the hell was I thinking with this? I’d seen Muadshai and I’d thought “bait”.
Ten seconds until the clash, and Ixly pinged me. ‘What am I doing up here?’
‘When Muadshai is clear, let your little terrors rain down hell, okay? Everyone else too. Get them psyched up!’
He nodded and started slamming his drums to a rhythm that riled up all of the gate guard below him, and all of the mages and archers on the walls around him.
With five seconds left until the sandworm was free, The Eastern Shadow’s archers stopped firing, and the melee lines hit the shield bearers.
There was no way to form a cohesive defence, and tactics went out the window against this enemy. They brought everything to bear from swords and spears to tooth, claw, and tail. They had well armed humanoids, through to barely still-standing animals.
On one side, a shield bearer’s mace swung and killed five in a single swing. On the other side, a prodigal duo worked together to slam the shield out of position, and then the killing blow was struck. Or would have been struck, if the shield bearer next to the outclassed one had been any slower with his blade. He managed to block where the other was weak. The shield wall held.
The Eastern Shadow army ground to a halt for a few seconds. Six hundred troops brought to a stand still by a few metal planks and a drunken dude with some pointy sticks! Ridiculous. And then the paralysis wore off. The sandworm rose up, ready to bring its vengeance down on anyone stupid enough to be in its range. But Muadshai slapped the sandworm with his bow, grabbing one of its spiralling mandibles and yanking its head back down to him. He shouted in its face, and the cast bar started. Five seconds.
The majority of the troops realised they weren’t going to get any action from the trapped shield bearers, and spilled off from the mass, charging the gate guard instead. The enemy artillery saw what was happening, and laid down covering fire for their charging troops, the massive balls of light, slamming in
to the ground around the gate.
The shield bearer captain screamed at his men, and his enemy screamed back in his face. The lack of shadows didn’t make its face any less gruesome as acidic spit ate away at the captain’s armour.
“Muadshai’s sandworm casts Churn.”
The sandworm wriggled, and a small cavern opened beneath it. Muadshai yanked on each shield bearer in turn, making them all fall backwards into the hole. The captain was the last to get pulled down, and although his visor had been torn off, and his helmet raked by claws and dented by blows, as he fell I could see his face, still pristine.
‘Give them everything you’ve got,’ I said to Ixly.
Now, six hundred is a big number. But we weren’t fighting in an infinite area. We were fighting in a small area, focused on where Muadshai had been, and pinned in by my village’s walls, and bottlenecked by the only opening being where my gate should have been.
When you compare stones to arrows, you don’t get a good feeling about your results. But these goblins flung their stones with their plus to Luck from Ixly’s wardrums, and it was embarrassing to watch. A charge doesn’t get far if you break all of the charging enemy’s shins. Armoured enemies? Rocks are heavy and dent armour. Fifty goblins in a target rich environment brought all three of the advancing enemy units to a standstill. Once the first few lines went down, the ones behind were left stumbling over their downed comrades, and they became easy pickings for the rest of the archers on the walls.
Once my mages joined in, and AoE magic started exploding through their lines, Koif thought better of the attack and withdrew – his mages swapping back to their light shield to allow for an unharried retreat, of course. Once the opening skirmish of the fight had ended, and Muadshai had managed to come out of hiding and bring the shield bearers back to safety, the whole of Thanis was positively jubilant.
We had lost a grand total of zero. And the enemy? Over one hundred dead melee troops covered the ground in front of my gates.
And to think I’d had doubts! A few more exchanges like that, and we’d have the whole thing sorted within a few days.