After sticking around to aid in construction, I shot back through the woods early, aiming to return before Tobias woke up.

I returned with time to spare, examining the perimeter of the town.

It was not ideal.

Wide, open, flat lands surrounded the town. At least we could see them coming. It offered no advantage to height, however. The buildings inside of the town would offer attackers cover in a siege. I would be more confident of our chances if OFF02 was present. I needed to improvise.

For starters… we needed a wall. We likely didn’t have time to produce one by logging or out of metal. Ideally, we just needed some way to funnel the group of enemies towards us. My Nova-3 would be most effective on the first shot, before the enemy had engaged defenses. If the coming wave of Templars boasted abilities like the last, my Nova-3 would stop being useful after.

For that, fire could likely be effective, though it would consume most of the village. We would have to move after. But we’ve needed to move, anyway. The enemy knew where we were.

If we built a pile of rubble and ignited it, we could force the enemies to a single chokepoint.

But that was all we could do. There was no river to redirect, not that it would stop or slow System enhance humans. Nor could we implement any gun batteries in such a limited time. I checked the top of the church, scaling the outside. When I rose above the edge, the acolyte at the top jumped backwards. There was sigil work here, too. Could Tobias or Mathias prepare additional defenses?

The top of the church was unfortified. If we were to deploy gunners here, we would need to install turrets. Something to discuss with OFF03. I would have to bring him here before the fight. But we had days. I could let 03 continue bootstrapping production — it would be more efficient in the long run.

I headed into the church — the ladder to the ceiling barely accommodate me, so I pressed my limbs against the wall, descending head first and landing in a side room before righting to my feet and ducking into the room.

Mathias and Tobias both slept, so I waited for one of them to wake. Tobias slept until late in the afternoon, when he finally woke. I entered his room, causing him to stumble. He was changing clothes. His hair clung to his scalp, sweat and grease holding it together. Dried blood flaked under his nose.

“Offo.” He said, his voice congested, before moving to a corner of the room. He dumped a bowl of water over his head, taking a rag and wiping his face clean. Then he pushed by me, making his way out of the room. I followed. After only a few days, the church’s floor was rapidly getting dirty. Dragged bodies had painted blood trails, staining the floor in wretched streaks. Muddy foot prints chased circles through the room. Tobias wiped a hand down his face, stopping to rub his nose.

“Food.” Tobias croaked, waving at a random acolyte, who got up, dashing out of the room and towards the wagon out back. “Meeting.” He waved at another.

“Meeting!” the second acolyte shouted, voice breaking, before cupping his hands around his mouth. “Meeting!” He yelled, louder.

Acolytes ran around the room in a flurry. Tobias found a seat on a pew, sitting back. The first acolyte returned, bringing the tiny pack of jerky from the wagon, which Tobias bit into greedily. While chewing, he looked down at the bag, eyes haunted.

The room slowly filled up, pews overflowing. When seats ran out, they sat on the top of pews turned sideways. The bell rung, and acolytes came in from the street. All in one room, there were 22 of them remaining.

There was a long silence as Tobias chewed, eating.

“We only have a few days of food left — a week if we smoke what’s left of the meat from the dungeon. We need to move on soon.” Tobias started speaking, his voice less choked.

“We should run now.” Mathias said. “The only water here is the well. There’s no cemetery — no more bodies. And the next village will be out of the White Templar’s jurisdiction.”

“There also won’t be any Glory farther West.” Tobias said. “No, we have to circle around North… find more before we leave.” He leaned back, pew creaking, staring at the ceiling.

“That’s not what’s important right now, Tobias! We leave, before they send reinforcements. They haven’t sent a fresh wave yet, we could leave now, and — “there was a sound like a metal clashing on metal. Tobias and Mathias both whipped their heads around to the office, suddenly awake and alert. Mathias looked towards Tobias, face paling, then towards the office, then back to Tobias, an unspoken conversation moving between them.

Tobias nearly ran to the office, falling against the wall before righting himself, as Mathias moved to the floor, wiping away runes with his sleeve and replacing them with chalk. Mathias directed a few more acolytes to assist him, redrawing the magic circle in minutes.

Tobias came back out with the scrying bowl of silver metal, pouring it into the center of the circle. It stopped at the edge of the sigils, the image on it deforming as it spread before righting. It now moved slowly, following a group of men and women walking down the road — directly towards the town.

The room was quiet.

“So much for running…” One of the acolytes said.

//QUERY: TEMPLARS?

“No they’re not Templars. They hired mercenaries.” Mathias said.

A motley mix of weapons and armor adorned them, patchwork leathers covered in alien furs and hair. 2 of them wore robes, carrying staffs not unlike the one that had struck me down in a dungeon. 3 carried swords, some of those carried shields. Daggers wrapped around 2 more; belts and black leather pressed against their skin.

//QUERY: WHAT ARE THE MERCENARIES CAPABILITIES

“Pound for pound, each one is likely to be much stronger than a Templar. Mercenaries or Adventurers probably would have leveled in smaller groups, sometimes even clearing dungeons on their own. Their abilities are much more erratic.” Tobias half replied, half continued thinking out loud. “The two rogues will likely try to close in and assassinate me. That would drop half of our undead. Including all the bone golems. Maybe we should flee.”

//QUERY: TIME UNTIL ARRIVAL

“They should get here in 1 day — 2 at most at their current rate, assuming they stop to camp.” Tobias said.

“They could move slow intentionally, assuming we’re scrying, and plan to speed up overnight, arriving in the dark.” Mathias said.

//SUGGESTION: DEPLOY BONE GOLEMS AND RETREAT.

“If they can move faster, they will catch up with us if we leave. It might be better to hold a defensive position.” Tobias replied. “Something is wrong though… why wouldn’t they send Templars? It’s been long enough, the Templars shouldn’t be busy anymore.”

//ACK. SUGGESTION: SUPPLEMENT UNDEAD FORCES

“If they do speed up and we’re at a dungeon, we’ll be sitting ducks outside. Or besieged inside.” Tobias said. Mathias tapped his foot on the floor.

The enemy could strike tonight, even. I needed to pull 03 off of production and accelerate our timetables. We needed defenses ready.

The acolytes in the room were quiet and pale, observing with fear visible on their faces. Some of them shook. My display automatically switched to a field of flowers at their discomfort.

//SUGGESTION: STAY WITH IN THE VILLAGE. I WILL RETURN WITH REINFORCEMENTS.

“What the hell do you mean, reinforcements?” Mathias asked, but I was already moving at full speed through the door.

There was no time to waste on a reply.