“So, what happened out there?” Adam asked.
“We were ambushed…” Ben explained what had happened and the description the system had provided for their enemies.
“This is a big deal. For the first time we are facing sapient enemies. With weapons. That they were called scouts begs the question: for whom were they scouting? Are there other ‘Retskul’ or whatever they may be called?” Allison said. “This will require changes to our approach to watches, etc.”
Before Ben or anybody else could respond, he heard the vibrant and energetic voice of Mesa in his head.
I am afraid this will be your first major challenge. The one point of guidance I can provide is that hesitation will cost you.
Even if you succeed, things will become harder quickly. Grow!
Good luck.
“Anything else you can tell us?” Ben asked into the room, the others looking at him in surprise.
He didn’t get a response from the system and relayed the message he had gotten.
“We need to understand them better. What do they want? Where are they from? But first, and very pragmatically, we should collect the bodies so that we can understand their physiology; that will make future fights, should we face any, easier.”
Ben nodded. “I agree. I can lead a group outside to collect the corpses right after this.”
“As bad as this is, if those creatures also have cores, that gives us a bit of a cash injection we can use to buy additional weapons for the militia,” Adam said.
“I agree. I will double the number of people on watch. Barry, we should discuss whom to introduce into the Protectors from the newcomers—I think there were quite a few who were interested. We might want to think about increasing training for the militia as well.”
“All good, Mom. ‘Hesitation will cost us,’ Mesa said, so let’s mobilize. After Jamal and Anne have had some chance to rest, I think it would be best if we go on a scouting trip. Maybe we take along Damien—Mom, if you want to stay here to coordinate our security?”
Allison agreed, and shortly after they broke up the meeting Ben led a group of five Protectors and ten other citizens to collect the defeated enemies.
Back in the settlement, Ben, his team, and Barry watched as their resident doctor whose name was Ashley conducted an autopsy on the bodies of their new enemies. The major organs were roughly where they would be in humans, except the lungs, which were wider and somehow linked to the ribs—Ben didn’t quite understand that, but he was fine with it.
The good news was that they did indeed have cores, which meant they had 5,000 Credits to spend on new weapons, shields, armor, and healing potions, and, as a minor point, they had also gotten 20 SCs for defeating enemies in their territory.
***
They had packed their bags in preparation for a multi-day hike, not knowing how long it would take to find the source of the Retskul attack—if there was anything to find at all.
Michael was leading them in the direction that he had seen the enemies flee.
Despite the urgency that Ben—that they all—felt, they walked slowly and carefully. They didn’t know how sophisticated these lizardkin were or whether to expect traps or ambushes.
They were fortunate that Michael had picked up a [Tracking] perk over the last few weeks; that way they could follow despite being hours behind.
They wandered southeast through gradually rising terrain until, about five hours in, Michael waved them to a stop and slipped back to them in silence.
“Enemies, coming this way. Saw maybe fifteen; could be more.”
Ben thought rapidly. They could probably take fifteen as long as they were not the ones to be ambushed, but if there were a lot more, it became dicey.
“We”—he pointed to everybody but Michael—“retreat in the direction we came, slowly. Michael, you try to flank them to understand how many there are, then catch up with us. OK?”
Michael nodded and left while the rest of the team turned back, eyes fixed on their rear.
After fifteen minutes, Michael appeared in their midst. Without any words spoken, Ben could tell that the news would not be good. His face was grim.
“Overall, likely seventy or more. I also saw warriors and shamans.”
Ben swallowed hard. Seventy was impossible for them to face head-on. His thoughts raced. How about we flank them, harass them, try to lead them away?
He looked at his teammates. They were in good shape, but only because they had been healed in the settlement. No, he was trying to protect everyone by doing this on his own. But by doing so, he would risk his teammates’ lives, and it was far from guaranteed that they would succeed. Better to use the palisades to their advantage, get help from their fellow Protectors and the militia, and have healers at hand.
“OK, let’s retreat to the settlement. Let’s be fast as the wind so that we can warn the others and set up a proper defense.”
The others agreed wholeheartedly, and they roughly doubled their speed on the way back. It was evening when they saw the golden pyramid on top of the Protectorate Pillar shining through the forest. They had made it back.
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***
The sun was setting as they walked through the gate. His mother and Adam were waiting for them, but Ben didn’t want to discuss in the open, so they all went into his office to debrief.
“So we’ll likely be attacked in the next few hours—or by tomorrow morning—by seventy or more Retskuls, some capable of magic?” Allison asked.
“Correct. On the way back I counted: we have ten experienced Protectors and, at best, thirty militia we can equip who know which end of a spear to use. Of those, fewer than a handful can handle a bow without hurting themselves,” Ben said.
“I think that is correct. Plus maybe five ranged mages on top.”
“We can’t win a ranged or mage duel, so melee it has to be. How about if we have a small group of fighters hiding in the forest? When the enemy attacks, the vast majority of people will be in the settlement to repel them. Then this small group attacks from the back, trying to take out mages and ranged fighters. Depending on momentum and success, the group either retreats to hide again or tries to push through.”
“And I assume you want to be in that group, son?”
“I think I have to.”
Allison was deep in thought. She didn’t seem to reject the idea right away, but also didn’t embrace it. “I don’t want to pretend to be an experienced general, but sending our strongest fighters out there seems risky.”
“I understand and agree. I just couldn’t imagine how the fight goes if we just stay inside. If we don’t man the walls, they’ll kick our gate in. If we do, it becomes a fight of attrition—and they probably have ten times as many bows as we do. I can’t see that going well.”
“Have we checked the System Store options? I checked the Settlement Interface—the only marginally useful item is upgrading the wall to stone. This could be helpful if we go in full ‘turtle’ mode, but I’m not sure that’s viable.”
Allison nodded, “Agree regarding the wall, and yes, I have checked the store. There are fire bombs available, but they are very expensive. A thousand credits per. If we follow through with Ben’s plan, we could maybe buy two and use them as distraction when the team attacks our enemy’s rear.”
“I think that’s worth it, even if we’re quickly running out of money. By the way, are we at risk of breaking our dungeons if everybody is fighting or in readiness for the next 24 or 36 hours?” Ben asked.
“We’re fine for twenty-four hours; any longer and we’ll need to detach someone to clear the Mine dungeon. We can send a team into the Rat Attack dungeon now.”
“Ok, so are we agreed?”
Everybody nodded. As they left the HQ, Ben asked a couple of kids who had been hanging out on the plaza to call people together for an assembly.
As people gathered, Ben thought about the tone he wanted to strike with this announcement. It would have to be clear on the danger, but not let people get paralyzed with fear. He hoped that his [Public Speaking] perk would support him.
“Friends, we just returned from a scouting mission and have come across a large number of Energy-born creatures—sapient creatures—armed with weapons and magic, that are on their way to us. They might attack us tonight or tomorrow morning.”
Frightened whispers and scared faces all around.
“I’m not going to lie and say this will be easy. But the reason we are here is to build a safe place—and that’s what we are going to do. Together. If everybody contributes in whatever way they can, I am absolutely certain we can overcome this and come out stronger in the end. We have a plan. We will stand together. We will win.
“My mother will lead the defense and assign roles to all. Please stand by and stay strong.”
The speech wasn’t perfect, but he saw resolve slowly replace anxiety on their faces. He saw the militia members step forward. He saw the Protectorate mobilizing.
Ben tried to catch a couple of hours of sleep, but it didn’t work. Too many thoughts bouncing around in his head. Too much adrenaline pumping through his veins.
Three hours after they had arrived, Ben left the gate to the settlement behind. With him were Jamal, Michael, and Anne. They had debated bringing people like Barry, Simon, and Damien along, but decided against. Damien was a mage who could fight at range, and the defenders on the wall would need some experienced fighters with them as well. Also, the three had been part of the team that did a last-minute Rat Attack run and could use a bit of recovery time as well.
They moved into the forest, then angled southeast—toward where they expected the enemy.
***
The aim was to find the Retskuls, shadow them, and then strike once they were engaged with the settlement. It turned out that the lizardkin had decided to camp about 90 minutes from the clearing. There were quite a few guards placed around the camp, so the team had to stay alert and maintain their distance. They circled around the camp and settled down to wait until morning. Jamal had briefly brought up the idea of raiding the camp at night, but Michael pointed out that most of them wouldn’t get close enough to deal meaningful damage before the camp could rally and beat them back, and then it would be them against the full force without any distractions to help.
Fortunately, there weren’t too many hours left until sunrise, but Ben was tired. It had been a long day with the ambush in the morning and everything since.
The Retskuls hadn’t brought a lot of equipment with them, in essence just their weapons, so breaking camp was done in minutes. The process allowed Ben and team to assess the lizardkin hierarchy in more detail. The majority of the creatures had the warrior tag. They were not necessarily taller than the scouts they had fought on the previous day, but wider with more muscle mass. Their weapons were an eclectic mix of spears, hammers, axes, and short swords.
In the center of the group, there were four shamans, who carried short staffs with them that had runes carved in them.
Three Retskuls had a leader designation. Two of them were ‘uncommon challenges’, they seemed to have the roles of team leaders, and one was a ‘rare challenge’. All were broader and taller than the others.
With their shorter legs, lack of discipline, and larger group, the Retskuls were slow. Fortunately, they seemed unconcerned with stealth, making it easy for Ben and team to stay undetected while following closely enough to stay aware of all that was happening.
It took a while for Ben to notice what had bothered him with the lizardkin: it was their lack of communication. They communicated largely via gestures and grunts, but it didn’t seem like they had complex conversations.
As they neared the clearing, Ben could see the heavily reinforced watch standing on the footboard of the palisades watching the approaching mob.
A couple of scouts directed the Retskuls towards north, the side of the gate.
Once they arrived, the main leader ordered his troops forward with a screech.
There was no subtlety to the attack. The warriors in the front racing towards the gate, the roughly fifteen scouts behind, together with the shamans and leaders.
The few defenders who were capable of using bows, Nils and one newcomer were the only ones truly competent, were shooting at the attackers. However, the moment they showed themselves, the scouts and shamans started to take them under fire. The shamans using an attack similar to Damien’s [Flame Spark].
Ben did see three of the Retskuls get grabbed and crushed by his mother’s [Growth Caller] perk, and other mages getting at least one activation of their spells off, before they had to duck to not get killed by the enemy ranged damage dealers.
Barry and a few others were heavily armed and were using spears to attack the warriors from above, but the angle and the constant need to protect themselves from arrows made this little more than a nuisance to the attackers.
Ben looked at his companions, each one nodding their acknowledgement. He hoped this was not going to be a one-way mission, but the presence of the three leaders close to the scouts and shamans certainly didn’t make things easier.
“Stealth until the signal, then rush them. Let’s do this. For our family!”
