"Can you hit the goblins in the center tower from the entrance?" Barbara asked.

"Yes, the range of my bolt is 30 meters," James answered.

"That is pretty good. My Magic Dart is the same." Connie added.

"The bow we have is good for half that. Any more, take some disadvantages to the shot." Barbara said.

"Bah, my axe is good for no more than 10 meters," Doris added.

"Then we keep you on defence," Connie said to her sister. "If you have your shield in place, we can hide behind you, and your shield will stop their bolts."

Doris and I looked at each other, we had both had their bolts penetrate our shields, but that was at point-blank range. At more than 10 meters, their bolts should lose some of their force. Or at least James hoped that it would be enough not to penetrate a shield.

"They would be able to do the same thing with their Goblin Fighters." Barbara pointed out.

"Rocko," James asked, "If we start shooting arrows from the entrance, will they mound an assault on our position or just stay there until we kill them?"

"They are not stupid, but they will probably leave the chamber. If it makes sense for them to retreat to the center mound, then that is what they will do." Rocko stated.

"Why are they set up this way to start with?" James asked. The smaller mounds shouldn't have goblins on them, but they should have obstacles like barbed wire, ditches and spiked berms. Nothing to hide behind, but things that would slow an assault down.'

"Don't give the dungeon ideas, James. Besides, this is to your advantage. You have three strong ranged attackers in your Party, and if you can hold this position, you can eliminate the first mound and then use it to attack the tower in the middle. If they try to bring their Goblin Fighters to bear on you, you can turn their defence into yours and kill them before they get to you." Rocko said from the side.

"There are twenty goblins in the room. Some of them a higher level than the previous room. That means this will be tough, but I don't think we should attack head-on. The attack method of shoot and scoot would best work here."

The three women and Rocko laughed at James' choice of words.

"It doesn't mean the same thing in my world as yours, but potty humour aside, it should work."

"If you were in charge of defending the room, how would you adapt?" Barbara asked James.

James thought about it for a minute and then started to draw some lines in the dirt of the cave floor. "First, I would move the 4 Goblin Fighters from the small mounds to the entrance's flank, but out of sight. I would move the Shaman up to the first mound. I would pull one of the Goblin Crossbowmen from the furthest mound and bring it to the bailey. Once there was contact with the assaulting force, I would hope to use the Stinking Cloud Spell. This should force the attackers to retreat but give the flanking force a chance to move in the attack. That should allow the two Crossbowmen to continue to attack the enemy in the Stinking Cloud, and the Shaman can follow up with any other Spells they may have."

"That might work if they didn't have someone like you in the attacking force. You would ignore the Stinking Cloud and kill the flankers. Or blink to the first mound and kill the Shaman." Connie stated.

"I wouldn't go after the Shaman yet. There are too many other goblins around. I may target him with a few Bolts, but anything else would too dangerous and I would have a risk of getting trapped alone." James countered.

"Do you have any area of effect Spells that might help?" Barbara asked, but James shook his head. "Other than my one attack Spell, everything else I have only affected me." James wasn't going to tell them about Mind Scan.

"I have my Stinking Cloud Spell," Connie stated. "I can't reach the first mound from the entrance. So, we will have to move in a little."

"The cloud is only a meter or two across, isn't it?" Doris asked.

Connie smiled, "Six meters across."

"That is more than enough to cover any of the mounds. You may have to cast it several times, though." Barbara added.

"I can also use the Barrier Spell to protect me from crossbow bolts, but I am not sure how long it would last," Connie said.

"Actually," Barbara said, "We can still shoot and scoot with a laugh. But instead of Connie using the bow, she can cast her Spell. Doris and James can cover her with their shields, and I can use my bow to pick off stragglers. We exit until the poison clears. Then doing again."

Both Doris and Connie agreed with a laugh of their own., "Shoot and scoot!"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

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James moved up alongside Connie as they reached the entrance. Barbara kept back a bit and prepared to lay down cover fire when the three others moved forward. Connie moved up, flanked by Doris and James until she was halfway to the mound. Fortunately, the Spell didn't have a long casting time, as the three of them started taking fire from the fortification as soon as they appeared. James didn't need to have his hands free to cast his PSI Bolts, which he did as soon as he saw a target. Doris had her Throwing Axe in her main hand and launched it when she could but focused more on defence.

Once the mound started to get covered with the Stinking Cloud Spell, the three retreated, keeping their shields at the ready. The Spell duration was only fifteen seconds, and they found that no crossbow bolts were coming from the mound during that time. A few bolts arched over from the tower, but they could easily avoid those bolts by moving a few feet to one side or the other.

They moved back up before the Spell duration expired, and Connie cast the Stinking Cloud Spell again. The second ticked by, and no crossbow bolts came from the first mound. James checked the second mound and noticed that the Goblin Fighters were standing with their shields at the ready, but their eyes were watching something behind the first mound. Cursing, James focused on the ceiling and activated the Shadow Sense Power. As soon as his perception changed, he spotted three goblins trudging through the mud and the mire toward the tower. As the Party was using the Stinking Cloud Spell to block the line of sight from the tower, the goblins were using it to block their line of sight of their retreat.

"They're retreating to the tower. Move up. Barbara, can you take some shots at the tower, get them to hunker down," James called behind him.

The trio moved up and across the narrow land bridge that connected the landing to the first mound, not waiting for a response. Using the barricade on the first mound as cover, they took potshots at the goblins in the mire. Once the mist from the Stinking Cloud disappeared, a few crossbow bolts flew from the tower. The goblins on the second mound were also barking warnings to the goblins caught in the mire. When the trio arrived at the first mound, they noticed that one of the goblins was dead. A lucky arrow from Barbara and the effects of the poison were a deadly combination.

They were too far away for Connie to get off her Spell, but she cast it anyway, just twenty feet in the air. This didn't block the line of sight for them to see the goblins in the mire, but it did block the line of sight for the goblins in the tower to see them.

"Good call. Save your magic; we should be able to kill them." James said to her.

Barbara had moved to the side of the landing to see past the mound. She didn't have a great shot on the goblins in the mire, but she could shoot either the goblins on the second mound or the goblins in the tower. She just had to dance around and make sure that she didn't present herself as a target to the goblins in the tower.

James uses his PSI Bolts to kill the goblin with the shield. Doris used her throwing axe to get the straggler, who was at the limit of her axe. And Connie used her bow to kill the last one. The goblin in the lead with its bow tried to return fire, but it didn't stand a chance between Connie and Barbara.

Once they were dead, Barbara and Connie focused on the two goblins on the second mound. James was still confused as to why they were there: their location provided no tactical advantage. They weren't even a speed bump but more like cannon fodder. After a few arrows, the goblins broke and ran for the tower. With the first and second mounds clear, James leaned his back on the barricade and started to Meditate along with Connie. Barbara and Doris kept watch on the tower and waited.

It was almost an hour later before James was ready to go. After pulling Connie from her Meditation, the Party sat down to plan their next objective.

"We can't approach the tower without drawing their attention. They have four Crossbowmen, a Shaman, 6 fighters and a warrior." James pointed out.

"Six, I thought there were two originally and then the two from the second mound?" Connie asked.

James pointed at the fourth mound on the other side of the tower, "They pulled the two goblins from that mound when the two from the second mound broke."

"Not too worrying so long as they don't have crossbows," Barbara added.

"I have not seen them swap weapons with anything other than what they carry," Connie stated.

James raises an eyebrow, "Is that a limitation of the dungeon and not the creatures?"

The women looked at each other before looking back at James. It was very eerie to see the three of them shrug simultaneously.

"Any idea how we can approach the tower without getting killed?" Doris asked.

"I may," Connie offered.

Everyone turned to look at Connie and waited, "I can use the Stinking Cloud Spell to lay down a cover for us." When she saw the questioning looks, she expanded, "I can put a Stinking Cloud up, and then we move towards the other mound. Before the Spell expires, I put up a second one, but it would be following us but concealing us. When we move towards the tower, I keep putting up the Stinking Cloud, then we move up. When it expires, I put up the next one, moving forward. Eventually, the tower will be in range."

"Why not just put up the next Stinking Cloud before the first one expires? That way, they can't see you?" Barbara asked.

"I have to be able to see the target," Connie explained.

"Do you have to see it to start the Spell or finish it?" James asked.

Connie thought about that for a moment before nodding, "At the end. So I can start casting the new Spell before the old one expires. That should only give them a second or two to respond."

"Let's hope that is not enough for them to target us," Doris grunted.

"We will need to keep mobile. I recommend Barbara stays here. She may be able to hit a few by flanking them. Doris and I will offer our shields, and Connie will bombard with her Stinking Cloud Spell." James stated. Everyone nodded.

"There will also be the two crossbowmen on the last mound. They will be doing what Barbara is doing and firing on our flank." Doris pointed out.

"Shit forgot about them," James swore.

"Can you blink over to them and kill them? There should only be four of them." Connie asked.

"Only four of them," James mimicked her, "Piece of cake." The women stared at him before deciding to ignore his strange idiom.

"Alternate!" Barbara said excitedly.

"What do you mean," Connie asked.

"Cast one spell to move you towards the tower and a second spell to block the line of sight from the last mound."

"That is a lot of Mana. I have enough Mana for twenty-seven Spells. But I have used a lot of Mana today, and I am well below half." Connie said with a frown.

"Drink a Potions of Mana," James stated, looking around to see if anyone disagreed.

Connie frowned and dug out one of her three Potions of Mana, "Okay."

"Any other thoughts before we execute?" James asked. Again, the women looked at each other before Doris just shrugged.