Captain Wager ordered, “Guards and tanks to the front!”

Jen moved back and to the side to let the pass-wall guards take the front-edge of the battlements. There were essentially two lines of defenders. The front line was made up of the guards and the tanks, and the second line consisted of support fighters. The front line kept just enough space between themselves to allow support fighters to plug in wherever needed. The second line was also fluid, allowing the support fighters to move laterally along the wall wherever needed.

Jen looked over at Sam staring off in thought, and she hollered, “Hey Boomer! Get your head in the game!” As he threw her a thumbs up and moved behind one of the guards, Jen turned her focus back to the battle in front of her.

From Jen’s position and angle she couldn’t see down the front of the wall, but fortunately, she also had a bird’s-eye perspective. She could see the goblins had multiple waves of fighters advancing. The first and largest wave were so numerous, their dead and fallen couldn’t even be seen as they swarmed over themselves. This group carried simple looking weapons and armor, but there were also clumps of goblins within this wave, that were preparing siege equipment for deployment. The goblin’s second wave appeared more organized, and Jen thought they looked to be carrying specialized armor and weapons. The third and last wave she thought must contain goblin mages or shamans, based on the way they were dressed. Jen also noticed that major sections of the third wave appeared to be protected by mana shields.

Jen felt the tempo and heat of the battle escalate as the wall-climbing goblins finally started to breach the top of the wall. Even though the combat was frenzied, the defenders were effectively keeping the goblins from overtaking them. Jen noticed that the majority of the guards and tanks were using their shields or blunt weapons to simply smash the goblins back over the edge. What most already knew, or learned very quickly, was not to use any type of weapon that would bind you up with a goblin. A spear or sword pierced through a goblin, required the wielder to dislodge the goblin before kicking them off the wall.

The supporting fighters used a plethora of different skills, spells, and weapons as needed. One support fighter moved along the wall like an acrobat, and if he touched you, the weak point in the fighter, weapon, siege ladder, grappling hook, or whatever… would glow. When Jen felt his touch, a goblin at the base of a siege ladder glowed in her vision. The siege ladders were generally covered in goblins being raised towards the wall. As the particular ladder she was looking at neared its precipice, Jen threw a spear at the glowing goblin. As the goblin jerked away from the approaching spear, it lost its hold on the ladder, and without its added strength, the entire ladder went tumbling backwards, smashing into the ground and the surrounding goblins. Several other support fighters used minor healing and rejuvenation spells on the front line. Another, under the protection of a guard’s shield, would lean over and pour acid out of his palm. The acid would flow down the wall burning all the goblins in its path, causing them to lose their grips and fall to the ground below. However, Jen noticed the acid mage was quickly becoming exhausted, and she needed to wait longer and longer between the castings of her acid spell.

Jen thought the battle for the defenders was going well, but she was worried their stamina would run out before the goblins tired of throwing bodies at them. At that the moment, even though she was far away, and up at the top of the wall, Jen sensed a massive gathering of mana coalesce on a ring of goblins out in their third wave of attack. Before she could yell a warning, the spell exploded out from the goblins, but instead of striking the defenders, the spell was targeted at the attacking goblins in their front wave. As the attacking goblins speed and strength appeared to double in power, it was instantly clear to Jen and the other defenders, that the attacking goblins had received a powerful buff.

There were no longer two lines of defense. Every defender was fully engaged in keeping the buffed goblins from overrunning the wall. Jen was contemplating whether she should order Tamako and Sam to activate their lightning tattoos on the goblins. They had previously discussed the possibility of using their lightning tattoos, but they really didn’t want to show all their cards, and draw even more attention on them. As it was, even with their anonymous masks, they were considering moving on to another city after the battle.

There were only a few support fighters available to pull the injured and dead defenders out of the way. Through Jen’s AI, she knew that Sam was one of these support fighters healing or partially healing the wounded as quickly as he was able. Jen caught Sam’s eye while he was pulling a tank off the line, and was about to call for a lightning strike, when she heard Captain Wager announce, “Hold strong! Lady Domino is coming through the gate!”

=====

Tamako whipped her flail into another goblin as it breached the edge of the wall. She’d started out with a simple mace, but decided to switch to her flail with the short chain. She could constantly spin it, knocking back goblins at an incredible speed. She hollered to the giant of a man next to her, “You would be too big to be of help in a dungeon! By the way, I’m catching up to you!”

Massivo Suerte was over seven feet tall, close to 4 foot wide, covered in muscles from head to toe, and most notably, had two left arms and one right arm. Massivo, or “Mass” as his friends called him, was using a mace in his lower left hand, a hammer in his upper left hand, and carried a massive shield in his right hand. Massivo used his hammer to crush the head of a gobblin in front of him, and then used his mace to bat the goblin off the wall, and replied, “Nina Pequena (Tiny Girl), why would anyone go into those useless mouse holes, when they can conquer the System Caverns, where everyone knows the best loot drops can be found. That’s 120 for me! Have you even hit 100 yet?”

“This one is 104!” Tamako grunted as she knocked the next goblin off the wall with a little extra power, causing it to fly backwards for almost 20 feet before it started its fall to the ground. Tamako heard Massivo’s laugh as he continued to fight. The goblins didn’t have very many arrows, or many bows to fire them with, but the big man was a popular target for what they did have. The only armor he wore was a solid metal helmet over his head. It was obvious to Tamako, without eye-slits in his helmet, there was some type of enchantment that allowed him to see through the metal. However, he didn’t wear any other armor. Tamako marveled at how the arrows just bounced off his skin, or when they did break through his skin, they penetrated at most maybe an inch. His body, all on its own, would then push the arrows out and close up the wound. The streaks of poison some of the arrows held, simply stopped before they ran more than a few inches across his body.

The two were an odd site to behold, a giant of a man next to a tiny woman. However, there was no denying the two could keep 10 feet of the wall cleared all by themselves even after the goblins were buffed with extra power.

Tamako and the other fighters cheered when Captain Wager announced Lady Domino and the reinforcements had arrived, and were coming through the back gate, but mid-chear, Tamako yelled, “Spears!” as Jen’s AI suddenly warned her of the danger. Jen’s bird was able to see as hundreds in the goblin’s second line of attack, almost simultaneously, launched spears towards the wall. Just as she brought her shield in front of her body for protection, a spear punched through the back of the goblin in front of her, exiting out of its’ chest continuing on course for Tamako’s chest. The spear killed the goblin, however, with Jen’s warning, Tamako was able to block and catch it with her shield without injury.

Tamako looked over to Massivo, and noticed that the deceptively fast man-giant had dodged the spear, only receiving a minor scratch on his shield shoulder. Tamako said, “Damn that was sneaky!”

Massivo’s helmeted head turned towards her as his body collapsed to the ground. Tamako noticed about a third of the defenders were falling to the ground, and her AI told her that Jen and Sam both were also lying on the ground. She started to run towards Jen and Sam, when Slim messaged her, “I’m with them. They’re safe. They’re just sleeping. If you don’t hold off the goblins, the wall will be overrun before Lady Domino and her reinforcements get up here, and we will have to get out of here without any of the loot!”

The wall was mostly cleared by the fratricide of the spear-throwing goblins, but the pause in fighting it created only lasted a couple of seconds. Tamako wasn’t going to let them regain the momentum, and she cut loose on them like a demon god of lightning.

====

Lady Domino was working in her alchemy lab preparing some last minute goodies for the goblins, when she heard someone knock at the door. No one interrupted her in her lab, unless it was very important. She called out, “Come in!”

Spy Chief, Bluff Face, walked in and said, “My Lady, I hate to bother you, but the goblin attack is not our only problem.”

Lady Domino let out a loud sigh, and asked, “Bluff, when can I just kill them all!”

The Spy Chief gave Lady Domino an apologetic smile, and gave her the same answer for the thousandth time, “Never, My Lady.”

Lady Domino went back to preparing potions and powders, and while continuing her work, asked, “Do you have any names yet?”

The Spy Chief nodded, and said, “Yes, I noticed three possible deck droppers heading towards the pass wall, and we caught a city employee trying to sneak into the building archives.”

“Which deck droppers were they?” asked Lady Domino.

“I don’t know My Lady, all the deck droppers that are here for the quest, that we know of, are accounted for. To clarify, I only think they are possible deck droppers. Captain Wager’s report of their speed and agility make me think they are at least level 25. As they left the City Gate, I sent Captain Wager to follow them.”

Lady Domino turned from her work to look at Bluff Face in confusion, and asked, “No one recognized them?”

“No, My Lady. For some reason they were intentionally letting us know they were wearing gnome anonymity masks by leaving them on the default setting.”

Lady Domino furrowed her brow in thought, but then said, “If needed, I’ll just deal with them when we get to the wall. What about the employee?”

The Spy Chief, replied with venom, “I interrogated her with a truth potion. She’d sold the schematics to the pass-wall and several other buildings to the Loaded Dice caravan, and she was hoping to use the distraction of the goblin attack to sneak into the enchanted archives and steal the schematics of your weapons depot.”

Lady Domino replied, “Another idiot trying to use a phase enchantment to get past the guards and doors?”

The Spy Chief nodded, “Yes, but she didn’t get far enough to die from your poison traps. After seeing the deck droppers heading out to the pass-wall, I’d doubled the number of guard stations around all our secured buildings. She ran out of mana before getting half way there.”

“What was her level? Did the truth potion kill her?”

The Spy Chief scowled at the thought of the woman betraying Lady Domino, and replied, “She was only level 12, and her death was way too quick if you ask me!”

Lady Domino started placing different vials and potions into her storage ring and into different pockets in her cloak, and ordered, “The timing is very inconvenient, tell Captain Crane Claw it’ll be two hours before we can go. Send all the independent volunteers ahead. I’ve got to go take care of the Loaded Dice caravan.”

====

Less than two hours later, Lady Domino said, “Let’s go Captain Crane.”

“Yes, Lady Domino,” replied Captain Crane, as he ordered for the reinforcement force, made up of City Guards and the remaining slower volunteers, to move out.

Back in Domino Hill, Spy Chief Bluff Face coordinated the seizing of the Loaded Dice Caravan’s assets, and for the disposal of all the bodies by his shadow soldiers. Every man, woman, and child of the caravan were lying dead, except for three of their caravan leaders. These leaders were chained up in Domino Hill’s central park, under the effects of a truth potion. The potion would ultimately kill them in 24 hours, but for now, any person passing by could ask them a question, and they couldn’t resist the urge to tell the truth. They told all that asked, the reason for their caravan’s destruction and their treachery. Some savvy business people would also ask them details about their business dealings and trade routes, but that did not matter to Lady Domino.

====

Lady Domino was tired of the slow pace. She would have rather just went ahead and poisoned the entire lot of goblins without any help, but over the years, she’d learned that communities of people tended to prosper better when solving their own problems, and being a part of their own defense.

When Lady Domino learned of the Loaded Dice caravan’s gambling quests to supply City defense information to the goblins, she was resigned and pessimistic of the odds that the pass-wall would hold off the goblins before her arrival with the reinforcements. To her great surprise, they made it to the pass-wall without running into goblins. As they approached the pass-wall they could here the frenzied sounds of battle. Lady Domino couldn’t find Captain Bingo with her soundwave, but did get a response from Captain Wager. She could almost taste the relief and joy he felt when she heard him announce to his guards the reinforcements arrived. Lady Domino signaled Captain Crane Claw, and except for the boom dust cannon teams, he ordered all the forces to surge to the top of the wall and reinforce the guards.

In the middle of Captain Wager's situation report to Lady Domino, he hollered, “By The Seven Decks! They’ve taken out half the guards! We’re going to be overrun!”

“I’ll be there!” is all that Lady Domino said to Captain Wager before dropping the soundwave call. She then downed a potion and was about to leap to the top of the wall, when she witnessed a lightning assault that reminded her of the battles on the Sixth Deck, when she and Joan were still naïve about The System “gods” on the Seventh Deck.