Louie went to the medics tent and found all the students and the other hopefuls clustered around a table discussing medical procedures. He singled the veterinary couple, the three indentured students together with the midwife out. He told them that they are going with the troops to Worcester. He had his doubts if the midwife would make it because although she looked big and tough, she was in her 60's but if she wanted to be a healer, she must become tougher. He handed each a handful of health potions. "You will only use it if a trooper is seriously injured." They left the tent and found a group of recruits and four soldiers milling around outside. He told them to wait and entered his tent to ensure that there was nobody inside before he went out and channelled mana into the campstone. The tent folded itself into its pouch, and Louie placed it in his inventory. He touched his OCD and send to Joe that they were leaving and that he and Sher can stay in the rooms at the tower if they want to. He looked at the nervous recruits. "We are going to Worcester. I want to be there before dark." A couple looked at the sun and swore. "You will equip your shields, and each will receive a spear." He looked at the four soldiers. "I want the medics in the middle. The medic will not receive a scratch from an attack. Not one scratch. One of you will be on each corner, Me and BOB," He indicated the big monster at his side that was hopping around, showing his excitement, "We will be travelling in the bush around you. Keep your focus on the road and your surroundings. It's a jungle out there, and it's full of monsters, and one second of inattention will cost you your life." When he was sure that the message got through, he started handing out spears. He looked at them again and equipped his armour with his ninjato at his waist and naginata in his hand. The troops stood in wide-eyed wonder at his armour and magical weapons. "Attention!" They snapped to attention. "Let's go." They left for the gate at a fast walk. The midwife already struggling. They set off on the inbound lane of the N1 at a brisk pace. 800 meters down the road, they saw a dirt road branching off to the right. Louie remembered Joe saying that there were people in this direction. He stopped the group to study the dirt road. The midwife bent over and start puking all over the road. Pressing down on his OCD, he sent to Joe, telling him about the dirt road and its possibility leading to the survivors he sensed last night. Louie wanted to go talk to the midwife. When she struggled upright, shook her head and took a push scooter with bubble wheels out of her inventory. While she looked slightly embarrassed, she placed one foot on the running board, ready to push off. Inside Louie, was cracking up. 'What the fuck, hahaha. That's genius.' He called her over and stepping away from the troops. He whispered. "I will allow this, for now. I like your thinking out of the box, but you will have to build up your stamina." She nodded as she went back to the others. 'I will have to make sure she put points into her Con. We can't have a healer that struggles to keep up.' They started off again when barely another five hundred metres down the road. There was a whistle, and something came from the right, streaking through the air. It impacted the shield of a recruit throwing him out of formation and across the road. The rest of the recruits, falling over each other, rushed to his side as it looked like he was trying to fend off a mobile blender. Whatever it was, it was fast. It was only the fact that it was trying to dig through the shield, and the screaming underneath the shield, that told them that the recruit was still alive. Everybody was clustered around him, and stabbing at the blendery thing trying to burrow through his shield. They all stood back and laughing, congratulated each other on the kill when there was a loud sound behind them. *COUGH!* "Congratulations, you have just all died!" They stood and stared in shock as there were 8 thin stone arms of various sizes sticking out of the road, clutching struggling monsters. Louie went in for a closer look and turned back to the recruits. "You were all just killed by a bunch of meter-long mutated squirrels." He made a cage of stone and, keeping them shackled with stone bands, deposited the 8 squirrels in the cage. He had an idea when he caught the first squirrel. They are the same family as rats, so they breed fast. The husband and wife Vets was curious about the squirrels. He sent to Joe, telling him to send some troops with two dollies and come get the cage. He shook his head as he looked at the four soldiers. His voice turned cold. "You four are the senior troops here. I'm making you temporary lance corporals, and believe me, if ever I find all four of you shifting your attention off the road and surroundings to watch a fight, then I will kill you myself." He turned to the rest of the scared looking troops. "If one or more of you are attacked then those to the left and right of that person will assist him or her while the rest of you will watch and ready yourself for more attackers." He shook his head. "Fifty of you stabbing at a squirrel attacking someone, it's a wonder that you didn't kill your own squad member." A loud shriek and a huge squirrel came streaking through the air only to be caught, like a frisbee, by BOB. BOB made short work of the squirrel, and Louie stored it in his inventory. NUTSY: Nest Mother LVL 5 (deceased) Nutsy is the mother of this dray. They are very territorial and will fight to the death to defend their area. Mother squirrels are the most vicious when defending their babies. Not worth the loot, the carcass might be more worth for the cookpot. It's a nest mother, so there must be a nest nearby. I will mark the spot on my map. They were just over a kilometre away from the wall and already two attacks. Louie indicated that they should set off while he and BOB will move through the bush. They tried to move as quietly as possible, which was surprisingly easy for a dog made from metal the size of a mini cooper, but most of it was due to his and maybe his skill. BOB had also discovered his ability and used it to reduce his size. It looked like he enjoyed shrinking below branches. He just seems to flow around the bushes and branches while Louie must dodge or dive to avoid running or tripping over them. The recruits held up really well, and as soon as one attention slipped, Louie would throw him or her with a stone, breaking knees or elbows. They never saw what was throwing stones, but they suspected that something was stalking them. This rumour was wildly encouraged by Louie. Whenever somebody went down from a thrown rock, he and BOB would appear from a different direction. Even the Lance Corporals wasn't spared from a rock in the ribs. This kept the troops on edge but also saved them a couple of times from surprise attacks. Again and again, they were attacked by squirrels but not in any big groups. It seems that they did not normally group together. The squirrels' loot was not bad for the troops but for Louie, who got used to the Dungeon, this squirrel loot was crap. The only benefit of looting the squirrels was that the looted hide was already processed and the same with the kilo of meat. Just a block of meat with no bones. Squirrel loot 50B (iron bits) 1 squirrel hide 1 kg squirrel meat 2 teeth 4 claws It worked better for Louie to take the carcasses and just pay the killer with a copper coin, and they were told that the ones with the most coins would receive a weapon when they get back to camp. At the next stop, Louie spoke to the recruits. "There is something following us. We." He indicated BOB and himself. "We have been trying to track it, but it seems to have a high camouflage ability, and it seems to try and injure us in the hope of taking down the stranglers. So from now on, if you can see and block a thrown rock, then you will receive a copper coin." They were eager to receive the coins but were afraid of getting hit; it kept them on their toes. Suddenly. Attention You are now leaving the settlement area of Starter Town. Be advised that the spawn rate of monsters will increase to normal, and the monster's debuffs are removed. What the hell? The attacks increased as well as the ferocity of the attacks the nearer they got to Worcester. They started seeing more vineyards on the right. Still, the system has turned it into huge thickets of twisted vines. The big bunches of grapes looked pretty inviting until one of the LC's threw a rock at one of the clusters, and a massive spider, the size of a rottweiler, came out to investigate the disturbance. Brown Widow lvl 9 Spiders are found in and around grape vineyards. They prey on insect pests that are found associated with grapes. . . Some spiders can escape detection. "One thing I remembered from when I was a kid and went to a vineyard was that there were always spiders in the fresh-picked grapes. Let's move on." Louie looked around and squinting he saw the thin spider silk spun between the vines. The attacks continued, but the recruits were more alert and trying to score coppers. Louie had a bad feeling as they reached the bridge over the Breede River. "Stop." Louie hunkered down and studied the long concrete bridge. The Lance Corporal that pointed the spider out came and crouched next to Louie. "What is the matter, Sir?" "There is something at the bridge. My mask gives me a 50% ability to detect hidden objects and traps. There is something like a heatwave at the second span of the bridge, some kind of trap or something, best if we see if we can bypass the bridge." The worst attack happened as they crossed the Breede River just downriver from the bridge where they lost one recruit when they were attacked by a family of otters Mutated clawless otter LVL 4 (deceased) These otters hunt in both fresh and marine water where prey consists primarily of aquatic species like crabs, fish, frogs and mussels. But will attack any creature next to rivers which they consider their territory. They won't stray far from freshwater since, unlike most marine mammals, they have to drink fresh water to survive. Mutated otters are family orientated and known for their tool-wielding skills. They were big, human-sized big, fast and sleek with high agility and perception. They seemed to know or sense the direction of an attack and avoid it by millimetres. And they were very good at setting ambushes. Only when the troops formed groups of five to take on one otter did they start putting them down. Louie had taken out four when the fight was suddenly over. The medics were busy as nearly everyone was injured. Laying under two otters, one recruit was found dead from a bone knife shoved into the back of his head, where his spine connects to the skull. The same LC that spotted the spiders spoke up. "Bloody intelligent monsters using weapons." Some of the girls and even a couple of guys were crying. Some gave Louie an accusing look. Louie was starting to doubt his decision to cross the river and not the bridge, but there was still that bad feeling he had when thinking of the bridge. "He is the first of us, sadly but true, he won't be the last of us." They looked at him as if he was an unfeeling monster. "You can look at me like that, but we don't know what is out there. Hell, I might trip and break my bloody neck." He pointed at the fallen soldier. "Him? I don't know his name, but I will find out, and I won't forget. He fought well. He didn't run when things got tough. He would have made a good soldier. We will take him with us and bury him when we are secure." Louie shook his head as he and one of the lance corporals lifted the fallen soldier on his shield. He remembered a poem by Frederick Forsyth and spoke the first verse aloud with a couple of changes. "Sleep in peace, fallen soldier, While your kinsfolk here will carry you, while we who are left tread so softly on the earth. We will take you home from the fight, from the glamour, from the danger, we will lay you in the breast of the land that you loved." Some of them looked strangely at him. "Blessings and peace, rest well." Louie stored him in his inventory. "We are still in the field, enemy territory, keep sharp, let's move out its still about two hours to the Shell Garage." There was a couple of groans and complaints, but everybody moved out. They moved away from the bridge while watching the trees for any sudden movement. There was a lot of birds flying around. Still, even they were not safe as Louie saw something shot up from the canopy and catch a bird on the wing and dropped back into the trees. It happened so fast it was little more than a blur. Only a group of slowly falling feathers were a sign that it really happened. Louie was at the riverside of the road when there was a loud growl. A giant leopard nearly one and a half meter at the shoulder jumped out of the rocks and into the group of recruits, bowling half of them over. It started swatting recruits left and right when it was struck in the side and thrown halfway back to the rocks. BOB looked pissed as his spines stood up straight and vibrated while the medics rushed around, pouring potions down throats. The recovering recruits were facing the jungle while the rest faced off against the leopard, who realised that it might have bitten off more than it could kill. BOB rushed the cat, who jumped straight up in the air and, coming down, was faced with a bunch of spines that no dog should have. It twisted while in the air and tried to claw BOB but only scratched his side with an awful sound like a car being keyed. BOB, though, backed away from the cat, hopping up and down. Some of the recruits wanted to attack but looked uncertain about what to do. Half were trying to circle the leopard but were out of position, and they looked terrified. The cat was sputtering and obviously in pain from BOB's bite and a couple of spines stuck in its face. It crouched again, ready to launch itself at someone but not able to decide which of them to target. A sharp air blade impacted the cat in the side, cutting it open from shoulder to hip. It let out an almost human-sounding scream as it hit the ground and slid to the side. The leopard looked angry but struggled to get to its feet. Before the cat could get up, BOB rushed in and took another bite out of its back leg before jumping back. One of the LC jumped forwards and, with a thrust, planted his spear in one of its eyes, which made it gave another scream. It tried to back away when another air blade hit it, severing its front left paw. As it hit the ground, it was all over as the recruits rushed in and stabbed it to death. Louie stared at the tired and bloody recruits. He took out a handful of coins and started handing them out, one for each. There were many cars on the road, but no bodies, here and there were movements. It turned out to be ordinary animal scavengers that took flight soon as the group of people came near. 'Why did some animals change and some didn't? I must ask Sher. She might know. It's eerie to see the road so quiet, nobody driving around, nobody going to work, no tourists: just us, the birds and the monsters.' The sun was nearing the horizon when they spotted the Garage. It has been destroyed since the troops were there a couple of days ago. They spread out and searched the shattered buildings to make sure nobody, monsters or survivors were hiding inside. Louie searched the destroyed buildings for anything useful before he sank all the rubble into the ground, moving the metal to one side. He walked around the perimeter, creating a spike filled ditch, moving the excess stone into a rough berm on the inside of the ditch. The second time around, he reached underground, solidifying the earth up to 5 meters down to make sure that he had a solid foundation and that no monster would be able to easily dig under the wall. He liquified the berm as he walked and formed it into a solid 3x3 meter high stone base on which he planned to build his wall. He noticed that the troops were just standing around staring at him. Seeing that there was still enough light, he told the LC's to each pick ten troops and start going through the neighbourhood next to the garage looking for any survivors. One of the medics went with each squad leaving only the midwife and one student behind. Louie walked to the midwife. "I can't keep thinking of you as the midwife. My name is Lewis." He held out his hand. She stood up from the three-legged stool she was sitting on and took his hand. "Susara Morkel, call me Aunt Sally, or just Sally." "Sally, you look like a no-nonsense kind of person that could handle a bunch of young people." He saw the sorrow flash across her face before it was replaced with determination. 'I guess that at her age, she must have had some family that she lost since she ended up staying in the tower rooms I built.' When she assured him that she could handle them and have grown up on a farm, he left all the squirrels' carcasses and the otters with her to process. He gathered some stone and shaped two barbeque pits and a couple of stone tables to work with the meat. BOB came over and sniffed at the carcasses before walking over to the corner where Louie had deposited all the building reinforcing, before sinking the rubble. Seeing that Sally had everything under control, he created a couple of long benches around the fire pits and went back to constructing his walls. He started by raising the 3 metre high walls and building them up with every circuit he made till they were 15 meters high. He placed battlements that consisted of a parapet, behind which was a wall walk from where the defenders could fight or move from one place to the next without getting hit. The parapet was crenellated with merlons to protect the troops. It had embrasures that allowed them to use their spears from behind the cover. He also places an uncovered Lightstone every 10 meters on the outsides of the merlons keeping the light out of the defenders' eyes. He gathered all the extra stone and brought it to the centre of the fort he was creating. He started by shaping a pilar with a 10meter diameter, then making a simple spiral staircase around the outside and raised it the higher he went. He had to go outside the fort a couple of times to get more stone. Still, he ended up with a 30-metre high spire with a spiral staircase on the outside, and he placed a Lightstone on the top so that people would be able to see it from far away. He went down to the barbeque area as the patrols started to come back. One of them had found 9 survivors held out in the bell tower of the Dutch Reformed Church. They had endured by scavenging for food during the day and barricading themselves in the belltower during the night. Sally had sent her group out to gather wood from around the walls to start a cookfire. They had also found a couple of vegetable gardens in the plots of some of the houses in sight of the walls. She had also braved BOB to look through the pile of scrap metal for long straight rods that she had scrubbed clean and used as meat skewers. She took the survivors in hand and fed them from the barbeque meat's first cuts, Louie had also made her two stone 3 legged pots to cook a stew in. There was a water problem, but after thinking for a while, Louie went to the back corner and sunk a ten-meter deep hole. Creating handholds in the wall, he went down to the bottom and sent his earth sense down to the ground. He discovered that the stone under him was a sandstone layer, so he shaped the stone away from the bottom of the hole, and water started to percolate through the stone. Slowly the water level rose in the well. The sun had gone down while he was at the bottom of the well. It was now quite dark outside. The stars were very bright as there was no light pollution. To him, even the moon looked a bit different. He paced off fifty meters next to the one wall and erected five human-shaped targets on one end and a long table at the other. He placed a bunch of slingshots that he had made from golem parts and a couple of boxes with ball bearings. The squads were ordered to stand four-hour guard shifts, of which five will walk the wall, and five would practice with the slingshots for one hour and then switch over. The squads on patrol the next day will be back to take their shifts. He made four big rooms with their hobbit-like entrances and stone lattice windows around the spire's base the same as the ones at his tower, but these were more like barracks with 5 stone bunkbeds against each wall. He sank another well against the back of the spire so if things go shits-shape, the troops can retreat to the barracks and still have water to survive. While making the second well, he noticed the fuel tanks of the garage. 'This won't do.' He reached down into the ground and, finding the fuel tanks, liquefied the earth around them and started moving them to the other side of the road. Leaving them 10meters deep underground. 'The last thing I need is for someone to find a way to ignite the petrol, and I'm sitting with a couple of huge petrol bombs under the fort.' The survivors stood looking at him as he slowly walked out of the fort with the ground rippling all around him. Things were looking up as the LC's were training their troops in formations, which wasn't bad, but the moment they had to face off against somebody one on one, it was chaos. The spears were too long for close combat. "Stab, with your right, shove your shield forward while pulling your spear back. Put your back and shoulder behind your shield. Don't overextend. Keep your balance. Pull back, and repeat. Keep your breathing even!" Louie was impressed with the LC. 'Somebody seemed to have an idea of how to use a shield wall.' When they took a breather, Louie called everybody over and explained to them about and the that Sher uses to power her slingshot. He gave a demonstration of channelling his mana into his naginata and ninjato and explained how to use . They look thoughtful, and he heard a couple of whispers as he walked away. He had ordered them trained hard for two hours, and then they could go take a rest. He created a primitive shower near the outside well with a drainpipe out through the fort's wall, where he could wash off the days sweat and told the LC that everybody should go shower before bed. There was a lot of complaints about cold water, but everybody took a shower. Louie wasn't very happy with the spears. They were good for something like the bulwark, but they were just too long for close-quarter fighting for the mobile unit that he had with him. He decided to go with the way of the Zulu and take the last couple of spears and turned them into stabbing assegais. He had a lot of respect for the Zulu's short stabbing spear since he has seen some in action during his time in the army. When the LC took a break, he called them together and told them that one squad will stay at the fort the next day while the other three will go through the neighbourhood's street by street and look for survivors. They must also look for any doctors offices and gather any medical books or anything with medical information. Also, be on the lookout for libraries and anything with DIY and crafting books. If they find any groups that have built a base, they must ask if they needed help. If they do, then move them back to the fort, and if they don't, then mark the direction of the base and move on. He will take the last squad and look for specific targets where he heard there were groups of survivors. They agreed to rotate the four squads so that there is always one squad in the fort manning the walls. He handed both the LC and Sally the empty bags of tricks (BOT) that held the loot from the golems distributed to the recruits. It was only a 10 sq bag of holding, but it was better than nothing. He got the medics together and ordered them to train and and also every spare moment that they have. He told them how he believed it to be very helpful like it is for Sheralee. Satisfied, he took his workbench out of his inventory and started working on the spears when there was a cough behind him. He turned around, and there was one of the survivors. The man looked dishevelled and dirty, his oversized suit was torn and stained in a couple of places as if he had pissed himself at some time in the past. "Are you in charge here?" Louie saw the rest of his group a couple of steps behind him. "Yes, can I help you with something?" "Yes, you took your time getting here. We were starving. What are you going to do about all this? My secretary was outside in her car, she is missing, you must send somebody to look for her. Some of us need to get to our families. When are you going to take us home?" Louie put his tools down and raised a seat out of the ground to sit on. The guy flinched as he saw the stone shaped itself in the form of a seat. "And who might you be?" Louie crossed his ankles and leaned back in his chair. The recruits slowed down what they were doing to watch what was going to happen. The guy, totally oblivious to the shift in the mood around him, continued. "I am the Deputy Councilman of Somerset park." He saw the confused look on Louie's face. "The neighbourhood across the N1. I was at a meeting with this neighbourhood's representative about road safety in this community when all this happened. And who might you be?" "Well, Mr Deputy Councilman, who has no name. I don't care who you were, I'm not here for you, I don't even know you, and I don't want to know you." "You dare to talk like that to me, I'm..." He sputtered to a stop as Louie jumped up from his chair. Louie held his hand out to the side, and a silk pouch appeared in it. He opened the bag and placed his other arm inside up to the shoulder, and it looked as if he was feeling around searching for something. The survivors stared at this bag, the size of a small purse that swallowed his arm to his shoulder. He looked puzzled for a moment, then took his hand out of the purse. "Sorry, this bag is empty." This time it was the Deputy's turn to look confused. "This is the bag that I keep my fucks in, and since it's empty, I have no fucks to give you." The Deputy still looked confused. Louie sighed and shook his head. "I. Don't. Give. A. Fuck. About who you are and what you want! For all I care, you can go back to your bell tower and go fuck yourself." "You will not talk to me like this. I'm the Deputy..." Before he could finish, Louie had grabbed him by the neck of his oversized suit jacket and, with one hand, was carrying him to the gate. "Stop, unhand me, I'm the ...." He was still struggling and trying to stand on his position as Louie reached the gate and hurled him at the stone disk. He squealed like a stuck pig as he was about to hit the gate, but the disk rippled like water. He passed through it only to became solid again as he hit the ground on the outside of the gate, nearly falling off the bridge over the spike filled ditch. Louie turned around and walked back to his workbench, where the rest of the group stood in shocked silence. "Any of you also want to demand something from me?" "Nope, not me. He was an asshole." One of the others quickly said. "Good, we are leaving here Friday, so you got two days to learn how to defend yourself, so I would suggest you go talk to one of the Lance Corporals." Louie had just stated on another spear. "That was a bit rough, don't you think?" Sally leaned against the bench. "What, they got to learn to defend themselves eventually." "I'm not talking about them, and you know it." Louie stopped working on the spear. "I won't allow a leech in my town or my fort. If he wants to be a counsellor in a town, then let him go build his own."