Chapter 14

Zayne stood off to the north in the cover of the never-ending forest as he watched the start of the bomb drops. The snow cover was light as it was early fall but it never stopped snowing. There was barely a few inches of the continuous stuff so it was easy to treck through. The only place it was heaviest all year was the ice on Argus ocean, where it was always frozen to the shore.

Through his escapades of the tutorial, he had made drastic changes to him self never keeping the same self-image more than a few centuries. This happen to be the lazy one, he wore the same flesh coat that he made but it was trimmed down so it was no longer the same duster. His height fluctuates with his stats making him shorter, Zayne focused more on agility then strength, promising he would work it out every time Foulness brought it up to him. Standing at 6’2, roughly 224 lb. His hair was just as long reaching to the waist but the once grease that stained it was now glossy. He had no undershirt and the once tasteful pants he had now was shredded to shorts after an encounter with a rather unforgettable werewolf named Carnal. Took his boots too.

Through the years the once sparce dead woods covered the land to the north as far to the edge of the valley as it could. The forest today was a never ending one that Patrick and the people of Waterbrook could never manage to cross. The animals that covered it was varied from normal squirrels to creatures of horror. But none could compete with the man in chains.

The sound of more bombs falling through the air caught his attention, forcing him to turn his head to catch sight of harpies free falling, in his opinion, majestically through the air as they race to help direct the explosives to the most desirable targets. The cannons. As they laid their claws upon the things, the harpies gave gentle nudges to and frow than spread their wings wide and disengaged from them at the last second. Most were fast enough to get away unscathed but some here and there weren’t so lucky.

Some would ask how he could manage to see all of this, to the smallest of details with high-speed harpies and bombs free falling through the air, from miles away. Those very same people who asked that question would be killed after posing the absurd thought to the very creature everything stayed away from in the forest. He just had the skills.

“You know big guy; you don’t have to watch what’s going on. You could just go down there and get close and personal. Maybe even make a friend or two?” Jiminy and his free-spiritedness spoke inside Zayne’s head.

Foulness interjected before Zayne could come up with a denial, “Right, just waltz right down there and give em a big friendly hug. Who knows, maybe get another girl, one that isn’t so crazy?”

Sadly, the progress that he had made over the years was nothing of the points Foulness and Jiminy had gain. At some point they had gotten their own character sheets but the only stats they could manage to get was that of the mind and will category. That was to be expected since neither one of them had their own body to control unless one counted the times they were forced out of him when meeting Achlys.

A deep dry voice came to Jiminy and foulness, the sound gave a bone ratting sensation, tearing through them like old paper making even foulness shutter from the words Zayne spoke in his head.

It truly was a horrible sound.

“The sun, it gonna be a problem.” As he stared off at the spectacle playing off in the background. “I’ll have to wait until it tuns to night.”

Zayne pulled a fallen tree over to the clearer spot to see and sat down continuing to watch the war take place. “Besides. I have you and Foulness to keep me company, I don’t need anyone else.”

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Kafue sat with the leaders as the harpies lunched their assault on the wall, making far better progress then he could have anticipated. The first wave that he sent out was completely decimated, but that was the goal so there wasn’t anything to be too mad over he kept reminding himself.

The coordination and leadership that Nepeta had shown him with her flyers was unmistakably masterful, sadly that wasn’t nearly enough to make up for her personality. The bomb drops were terrible in targeting but didn’t lack for power, sadly they needed to be redesigned for better accuracy or they could never go pass as drop and run.

The musings were interrupted as he got a report from one of his shadow goblins that were in the city. The message was through telepathy but it was had to fully understand, which was why he came up with code words for certain objectives. These of course could only be just that, they couldn’t fully undermine the humans and the power they possessed.

Kafue tuned to the best leader, “Carnal, we have eyes on the human tamer. Your time will come soon as it is night.” He turned to Nepeta as he finished, “Your job after the cannons are taken care of is to go to the west and make as much destruction as you can. DO NOT enter the city until we take the wall, the harpies are the only troops we have that are reliable in the air.” He glared at the gremlin engineer as he said the last part.

Nepeta didn’t say any acknowledgment to Kafue but gave a nod instead. The plans didn’t matter as long as he had enough deaths on both sides to activate his ability. Kafue went along with explaining the next part he intended to do, “The next wave will consist of 40,000 and I want 5 of the basilisks to join the fray, I don’t want to keep them in reserve liked we discussed. I need to know if they have any defense to them and if so then we need to take them out as soon as possible. The wave will consist of the orcs and trolls along with the norm, catapults and ramparts are ready to be used so I want them to work around the serpents. Well bring out the rest of the troops as soon as that demon comes out at night, he always makes a nice distraction.”

No one gave any opposition to his choice so Kafue sent messengers to the horde to go forward with the leaders plans. The wave sent with the five basilisks move with a tremendous force as the made way to the humans, tearing large mounds of dirt out of the earth as they moved. The catapults were on wheels suited for most terrain but the ramparts and towers where the arches were station was of a lesser design. They plowed through the ground as horde marched at a sprint getting peppered by the human arches that weren’t occupied by the harpies. Any loose stones or boulders the spotting goblins seen were rapidly put in reserve bins by the trolls with other, more sinister ammo for the catapults.

The serpents were slowly making their way behind the 40,000 creatures as to take the center as soon as the cannons were completely gone. Traveling to the wall required the ramparts to be laid over the many trenches the humans had created outside of the city. The only spots that weren’t necessary for the planks was the southern center wall where the first wave had been structed down. Their bodies filled up to about a third of the way to the wall before they were taken out by the human’s cannons. The trenches were a depth of 15ft and a width of 10ft and covered about a mile outside of the walls surrounding the entire city. (There was a history to trench warfare but now wasn’t the time to get into it. Leave a comment if this should be amended, -Author)

The horde weathered the incoming cannon shots as the harpies took one after another out soon there was all but three giving the horde a moment of reprieve before they hit the wall. The first to hit the wall was the towers that stretched up higher then what the humans had built giving the occupants of them the height advantage they so desperately needed to get a foot hold in.

The spell casters of the goblin’s forces took up arms as they launched a multitude of different spells ranging from flame to ice. One of the senior shamans sent a spell of pestilence at the raging humans causing more then a dozen hit by its spell to fall to their death. Insects swarmed the area as more and more spells were fired. Soon the trade off came with the man things own spells causing a cacophony of colors and magic to be splashed against the horde. Foe and friends on both sides fell to friendly fire at times as they continued their assault on the human city.

The goblin chief that was in charge of this portion of the attack stood behind watching and relaying any needed order to his troops. He was a despicable creature that stood no more than 3ft. with elongated arms and legs. His torso was small, smaller than most goblins making him look like nothing any one has seen before. His pigment was a sickly green and speckled with black dots that ran from his arms and legs to the center of his stomach. The only thing he wore was a loin cloth with small children’s skulls. This signifies that he specialized in poison, with a sharp intellect.

The dead children skull’s he wore along his loin cloth were normally protected by the system by most cases. That all changed when goblins gained a sub species called children snatchers, they were one of the most hated variants to the humans. This made it so that any child that was taken had a 3-day timer before the protection of the system ended, they couldn’t be harmed until after the timer ended and too often then naught it did. If they weren’t recovered then they were done with by the enemy horde for various uses.

“Chief Hos, we are making excellent progress with the taking of the wall. The towers are latched and attach to them on both sides and are already taking the troops up, the only problem is the bloody bard hasn’t made an appearance yet.” The small grotesque thing finished giving its status report, waiting for further orders.

Hos the spiteful turned to the messenger smiling from ear to ear, “Good, I’ll send word to make way for the master’s pets. everything is going as planned.” With a swift motion he lopped of the head of the messenger spilling blood across the tent.

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Jacob was going through the city at a fast clip, weaving though the crowds as more and more soldier marched towards their post or making routine checks in and out of alleys as they patrolled. He had to make as quick time as he could, he could already he the bombs dropping at the wall and he wasn’t there to lead his men or stand beside Gwen. Speeding through the streets he made his way to his brother’s house, he was sure that his mother was already talking to Henry before he could.

The resident housing in the city was stacked on top of one and another making it rise almost as high as the wall, the complexity was mute after all the years the people of Waterbrook had put into making it. It spans a little less then a 5th of the city, and his brother just so happen to be placed at the bottom corner. This was done for more strategic reasons, but the thought of it slipped him when he saw Lisa walking out of the door holding her hands up to hide her face as she ran away crying. That definitely means she was there now, he thought.

Choosing not to following his sister in-law, went to the door and caught it before it could close on him. Swinging the door wide, he rushed through running into his mother Jenifer. He hit hard.

Jenifer was the first to get on her feet swinging her soul bonded lute bow at Jacob catching him on the chin, he twisted with the hit but that didn’t mitigate it as well as he had hoped. “Stop, it me Jacob.” He sputtered before she could take another hit. But sadly he was a little late on that as the second blow took him in the arm making Jacob grateful that he never went any where without his armor.

The third blow caught him between the legs.

“Why do you think I hit you a second time?” Jenifer asked huffing in great heaps of breath. She had stopped hitting Jacob after scoring a critical between his legs, but still kept her hostile attitude.

Jacob looked to his mother in confusion, “What about the third?!” The tone to his voice as an octave too high for him to convey his anguish.

“For being here.”

Jacob could understand that, after all he wouldn’t be here if by choice but that was never an option. “Dad needs him, it’s bad.”

“How bad, bad enough to do this stunt all over again?”

“No, its even worst than that.” He pushed his way paster her getting ready to open the handle, as he reached for it the door started to open as Henry stepped out.

“It’s fine, lets get this over with.” Henry was thin. Far thinner then he was before this whole mess started, dressed in only a white robe he strutted out to the street as Jacob moved to walk with him. Jenifer could do nothing but follow as her two boys went out to meet the horde

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Achlys, Maglubiyet, and Odin sat as they continued to watch the battle play out. In Odin’s view, his people were doing the best that they could with their current development in weapon warfare. The only downside was he couldn’t see a way his followers could win this war. The thought of being stuck here for another hundred years was sickening to say for the least. How long must I wait for us to leave, another two or three thousand years before something changes. He thought as another basilisk was felled on the scrying Achlys was preforming.

He didn’t have any options left to him, not with the choices he had. Odin went through all the possibilities that he could with no interference but came up empty handed. The choice was clear to him then, if his people couldn’t get him out then he would get them out.

A plan started to for in his mind with what to do next, a rush came to him with how his choice could work and he found himself with newfound vigor. Getting up, he left the other two gods staring at the spell, never taking their eyes off of it. The first to speak was of course Achlys herself.

“And where do you think your going? Hmm. Remember Odin, we can’t take part in this. Those are the rules.” She sounded smug as he kept his pace to the doors of her hall.

“What I’m doing, there will be no rules.” He said, and then clapped once disappearing in a flash of colors.

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The lead engineer and the very same one that Patrick was impatiently waiting on was currently making the finishing touches on the things he was working on. He was just getting ready to leave when a loud pop sounded from behind him. Terrill turned around and came face to face with the very god his people had been worshipping for a millennium. Odin. The stutters started to come out as he had no idea on how to interact with his god, all the teachings said Odin was benevolent but to come face to face with his creator (too long ago for Patrick to keep correcting on how it had started so he just left it alone letting the mortals make the faith without him standing over them).

“Shh, don’t say a word. Just follow my lead and start smelting this mythrill I have here. Doesn’t need to be precise but get it in to a sword shape the best you can, then once your done carve the ruins that I’m about to show you.” Odin’s voice was level as he spoke to the smith, keeping as quiet as he could that way no one else could see him.

“Yes oh mighty one, I will do as you say. But may I ask what this has to do with? I want to know when they ask me when the bards wright about this.” His tone soft and his words were quick and fearful.

“Tell them that this will be a blade for a hero, but I must bestow it on them myself.” The words flooded to Terrill with a warmth that he couldn’t describe even if he tried to.

“Yes, right away my creator.” And with that he went to work making the best blade that he could with the little time he had, the sooner he was done the sooner Patrick could get the weapon.

As the little man began to work, Odin placed his hand on the back of his head. The runes he wanted him to engrave was complex but simple enough for him to do. Then he would finish the rest before he gave the blade away, ensuring that this time there will be no failure.

The light left Odin’s hand and drained into Terrill’s mind, drowning him with the exact words and carving to preform as he worked with the epic material before him. The last ruin he seen was one that was odd to him, one that called to him making the work he was preforming seem distant and less important as his hands and mouth carried on with their task. The words that left his gods lips next made him confused but that was all he could think of as his mind went numb and white light filled his senses.

“I’m sorry”

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The southern wall was at it all day wearing down the defenders as they tried to push the enemy troops back, taking heavy casualties along the way. Most of that was came from the greener troops making it a little more the 5400 total along with other deaths from the falling debris on to the city.

Patrick stood front and center taking the brunt of the goblin horde, he was one of the remaining few in the area as he sent the rest to help along the other sides of the wall, covering as much as he could as his country men died.

“Where is that damn engineer at. The sun is getting ready to set and there has been no sign of him or my ice mages.” The thoughts of what he would do to that man was just as numerous as what he was doing to the creatures scaling his walls. He had sent runner after runner to the industrial side of the city but the only response he got back was that they were almost done and it would devastate the battle ground. A pitch screech shook the night bringing the horde and his men to their knees, Patrick stumbled as it went reaching out to grab the broken side of the wall and lean over to see where it was coming from.

The last serpent of the five was throwing death throws as it blead out, the amount that gushed out seeped into the battle filed filling the trenches as the substance continued to pour. The ice knights had taken their fair share of casualties, with a little more than 9,000 it was truly a horrendous day for Waterbrook.

Patrick took action and quickly cut his way through to the leading commander of his knights for a status report, all while taking as many lives as he could. “What’s the state of our forces?” he asked quickly.

Tree bark splintered against commander O’ Brian’s shield knocking him to Patrick’s side. The log he blocked was halved from the attack as the troll marched its way to him in long strides. Patrick, taking a defensive stance, pushed O’ Brian behind him as he focused on the monster before him. The troll sensed a new predator on the field and began to rush forward throwing the remainder of its club at Patrick, pulling a new weapon out entirely. The broken club flew through the air at him but Patrick bashed it aside with his free hand knocking it over the wall. The troll was on him now swinging a lengthen chain at his head; This was as comical to Patrick as it was to the rest of the knights as they have been battling the man in chains for as longs as they have.

Patrick caught the chain with one hand pulling the brute to him in one fluid motion, the pull on the chain made the troll stumble as it was wrapped several times around it’s closed fist. In one blow, Patrick severed the head from the troll’s body.

The knight commander O’ Brian kept busy keeping the various creator off from his lords back, though he wasn’t as powerful as Patrick he made up for it with grace and speed.

“The engineer and the mages have been spotted getting ready to leave through the east gate, there at the docks.” An orc threw a hatchet at the commander, forcing him to bring up his shield to block the attack. Patrick took the severed head of the troll and whipped it at the orc knocking him off his feet and over the wall. More and more of the horde was slowly making their way past the trenches and up on the wall.

The Goblins horde no longer was sending waves at this point and began to usher the rest of the troops to join the fray making Patrick have to choose bad options. “Is there any sighting of my sons? What about Jennifer, we could go to the offensive but I didn’t want to start till the mages were back.” The point of his spear danced between one enemy’s ribcage to another cutting them down before they could gain purchase on the wall.

“We have the bards ready all that’s needed is you to give the order my lord.”

Patrick took a few more out before he made his decision. “Make it so” swinging out wildly, he threw his resending spear to the east activating his skill. The spear took on an enormous size that filled the walls path, going out as far as he wanted to clear the top off knock the goblins and orcs as the spear continued on its path. At the end of the skill throw the spear stopped abruptly and was sent back to his hand shrinking as it did.

“Right away my lord” the knight commander threw his shield down and pointed his fist up to the air sending a bright blue light soaring out above the city. The sound of more troops could be heard as Gwen and her archers reappeared along the wall cutting everything in sight clearing off the wall in one fell swoop.

“Send the signal for the bards. Jen will get her soon enough.” Patrick took his bloody spear and stated to clean it as the archers took up position and activated skills sending out arrow barrages over the goblin horde. No sooner that he said those words troops in multicolored robes started to make it along the wall taking up behind the archers as they waited for orders to start.

“Their ready, my lord.” O’ Brian said waiting for him to start.

Patrick looked to Gwen as she watched her troops rain down hell along the wall, the smell of death wouldn’t leave his city till restart but that wouldn’t be a problem. “Make it so.” He gave his order and went to the stairs to take a breather before it got fully dark out.

The sound of the bards singing could be heard all across the valley as they gave the human archers buffs making there quick shots and large bombardments more effective. Patrick heard this as he made is way down the stairs searching a room that wasn’t occupied with hurt or dying men and women. The night would be far worse then what he had seen today. These kinds of battles didn’t happen often, the population of both sides would take a massive hit but it was nothing new to him.

Finding an empty room, Patrick pulled a chair over leaving the door open and sat there waiting for one of three people to find him. He had a little time before he was need back up top but that wouldn’t be for a while. The bards would empower the ice knights and arches for hours before they began to lose too much mana. That was why there was level requirements to join the forces.

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The battle is under way, the human forces are slowly crumbling and there has still been no sighting of the man in chains, tune in for more wordy words.