Chapter 82
The Attack
There is often a moment of peace right before a terrible storm descends and starts to destroy everything in its path. During these moments, there is often a slight surge of energy, a violent upshift in the amount of energy prevalent in each area. Often these fluctuations go unnoticed, as most of the time there isn’t enough of a contrast between the starting baseline and the point before the storm came for people to really notice anything. Then even if you do manage to notice the energy, most of the time we as individuals are powerless to stop such actions, at least that is what we tell ourselves.
Given that, I could tell something was off, the moment I stepped out of the disembarked passenger car that had been let off in its own little dip in the railways, while the traveling Merit Shop began making its rounds around the world.
From a logistics perspective I should have seen how big of a target such a car was. I would be lying if I didn’t think about stealing a few items there myself, a simple palm of an item. A twist and redirect, I wouldn’t be able to put the item into my inventory while it was stolen, meaning I would have to carry it out on me. Ultimately, I had too much faith in the guards and security measures that would be in place to even attempt to steal something.
Even the gnome shopkeeper all but exuded power, so much so that I didn’t even bother trying anything other than getting the best deal possible with what resources I had available to me. Still, I should have expected that others would both covet the items being made available, while also not being bound by my sense of code of ethics.
I should have expected something, but I didn’t.
Even as my Perception Attribute once again expanded to take in the entirety of the world around me, to take in every moving persona and item. The way I instinctively had my attention drawn to the train car pulling in that didn’t quite look like the others. The way a few members in the crowd looked to the incoming train, with its oddly shaped cars, and then looked to their watches.
The way those watches all said the same thing, rather than stating the actual in game time, they were counting down.
15, 14, 13…
It was at that point when I realized that the watches were counting down, and the people in the gathered crowd all stared forward at the train car. The car I had just left and began hurriedly moving away from, as I forced my small form to push its way through the gathered crowd. Lenny’s guards found me and began going to my sides as well, I noticed that they were both females again, something to do with my awakened bloodline having a particularly grave effect on male dark elves, which is what most of the security force for Crossroads is made up of, despite our influx of people.
By the twelfth second, the train that had been pulling up came to a stop about ten feet away from the Merit shop train car.
By the tenth second the oddly shaped train cars began to shift.
It was hard to say exactly what they were doing, other than vibrating slightly. That wouldn’t be enough normally to warn anyone, which is why I kept moving away. Again, the signs were there, I could all but feel the surge in power as the people who were in the crowd, watching their watches, all began to exert a form of pressure on their own. Not magic, at least not what most people would consider magic, instead this was a different sort of force, one that was brought on by sheer focus on one event, one focal point.
That focal point was clearly the merit shop car.
By the point seven seconds were left, others in the crowd also began to notice the strange shifting being taken by the cars, and this was not the typical rattling of train cars that were coming to a complete stop. No, these were the movements of giant machines and pistons coming to life and all but forcing giant pieces of machinery to come to life and begin moving.
Pfft!
The sound of steam, intense bouts of steam coming to life to cause pistons to turn and pump faster were released. As slowly one by one the three vibrating box cars all began to rise as one.
4, 3…
The box cars began to twist and turn until they more resembled those copyrighted converting vehicles to humanoid killing machines than anything. One second there were three nearly identical metallic box cars that were clunking to life, the next there were three anthropomorphic machines that resembled giant turtles, turtles with hard shells and a shifting smokestack that was more of a weapons silo more than anything.
2, 1…
At exactly one second the three box cars were all standing up on four thick legs that again gave the machines being used the appearance of a turtle more than anything. Then as one, the three turtle shaped mechanoid units turned slightly, showing the first design flaw of the mechanical devices, namely that the machines could seemingly only fire forward.
Thoonk, thoonk, thoonk.
At zero all three machines turned and fired as one. It was the sound of mechanical power, as super compressed air tubes were used to fire perfectly shaped cylinders through the air towards the immobile train car.
All three canisters landed as one, their movement sparking to life a defensive shielding of magnets that set the three canisters back slightly.
It wasn’t much, just enough to make it so the bombardment didn’t hit directly on the shop, but it had been enough. With everything going on, I could see the damage the three canisters caused. While they seemed to converge on the same spot, their angles of approach were slightly different, meaning the angle that they were deflected away from the train car were also slightly different. Then they landed amid the crowd of people who had done nothing more than come out to see the new traveling shop that seemed to be a novelty more than anything. Something that we all expected to see once at most, and then never again.
BOOM!
The canisters fell to the ground, bursting open causing shrapnel pieces to fly out wildly. The crowds of people that had been doing nothing more than idly gathering to watch the spectacle were suddenly mowed down.
The explosions were so powerful that even being a few feet away, they were able to burst a hole into the side of the car.
That was when all pandemonium broke out.
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At this moment there were three types of people in the crowd. The people that could move and did begin to move away from the explosions and the likely continued violence. Those crowd members that had been staring at their watches, watching the precision count down for timing also began moving, but moving towards the train car, rather than away.
Then there were the third group, the people like me who stood still for a moment, letting the two groups surge past me.
Thoonk, thoonk, thoonk.
The three weaponized train cars fired again, this time sending their volleys a little further forward. Once again, the magnetic deflective shielding kicked in, sending the metallic canisters further away, but the positioning of these shots had been designed to take the magnetic defenses into account. This time when the bombs were repelled, they were thrown forward, towards the main entrance, closer to me.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
This time I was close enough to see and feel all three bombs going off. I wanted to run, in fact I should have run, but something forced me to stay. No, it was not due to the want to steal from the Merit shop box car that was being cracked open like a giant can of caviar. No, in this case, I could see the dead and dying people, those who were little more than innocent bystanders in this whole thing. Seeing them in their dead and dying states, I began to move as well.
Running forward, I began trying to heal those who had fallen almost immediately. I began using both sets of healing magic, both from my Omni-Heal pool of energy, and from my standard magical pool of energy. Both came to life and began healing many of the fallen.
My two bodyguards were also with me, though they tried to pull me away.
“We must go!”
“No, we must stay.” I demanded and then using my smaller childlike size and quick reflexes moved with a speed that many wouldn’t have attributed to me, or at least someone who looked as young as I did.
“Huh, what?” One of the people I just healed shouted.
Thuunk, thuunk, thuunk.
Once again three more canisters were fired, though this time I was prepared. When the magnetic shields caught and repelled the bombs, I Telekinetically grabbed them, at least I tried to. I grabbed the one that would have hit me directly and hurled it back. There was another that was nearby, and that one was also thrown back towards the attackers. The third one, well that landed, but it was on the far side of the train car, effectively making it so I had the train car in between myself and the explosion.
BOOM!
“AHH!”
More and more people cried out in pain, as I could tell that even now there were still crowds of people trying to flee the area but were caught up in the maelstrom of activity.
Ratta-tatta-tat.
The distinct sound of automatic weapons firing could be heard coming from inside the train car. Mentally I could all but imagine that poor gnome shopkeeper being mowed down due to people’s greed.
Still, I didn’t have time to think about that, instead, I just focused on healing those around me.
“Thank you.” One of the less injured people said, as I sealed their minor lacerations. They were about to run and flee the area, but I stopped them.
“Don’t you dare run without grabbing an injured person and bringing them back to the Mage’s Guild.” I say.
“The what?”
At that, I pointed to the Mage’s Guild Hall building. Logically that was where I should be going myself, but I knew if I went there that people would die. Also, I would be lying if I didn’t feel the rush of combat healing intoxicating. I felt more alive in these moments of healing than I likely ever had in my life.
At this point I knew a few things, first I might have a problem that will one day get me killed. Second, I realized I didn’t care, that if I somehow died here, at least I could die with a clear conscience.
I also have to admit that my actions are causing a scene, as my bodyguards have apparently called for more armed guards to come from Lenny’s. That or us being here at the heart of Lenny’s seat of power, and the fact that he is supposed to provide protection details for the city, his guards are just activating. Regardless of the reasons, a high-powered response force is already being moved into place.
I do allow myself to be carried away a bit from the action. My guards are nearby, while other guards go out and pull the injured right towards us.
For whatever reason the group of warriors stops firing at me, mainly because the twenty or so warriors that had charged into the merit shop were already coming out with their pockets and sacs they were carrying clearly indicating that they were in possession of stolen goods. Again, so long as the crime was going on, those items would not be allowed to be put into a storage satchel. Then even after leaving there was often a timer for valuable items that didn’t have a quest related to them.
Just being this close to the action allowed me to receive the good citizen quest that often comes from these high-profile robberies that are violent.
Local Quest Generated: Good Samaritan: You have stumbled upon a burglary of the traveling Merit Shop. Help stop the fleeing burglars. Rewards: Experience, a portion of the value of the recovered goods.
It was that last comment that caused every one of the citizens that had been fleeing a moment ago to turn around and try to stop the well-organized mob of people that conducted such a well-coordinated attack.
“We can get a portion of the value, in merits?” One person asked the very question that everyone else was thinking.
Then as if a greed switch had been flipped, the people that had been cowering in fear a moment ago, were now ready to risk their lives once again for a portion of the value of the returned product. Even one percent at this rate would be a lot, as that would likely mean a one-point Merit that could be redeemed for a basic skill scroll or more.
Honestly, I too was tempted to stop the culprits, but by the time I recognized the quest I was already too late as the mass of people surged and swelled towards both the train, trying to disable the train itself, along with our train tracks, and the people that had the stolen goods.
Mayhem.
Ratta-tat-tat.
Small arms fire erupted, stray bullets flew everywhere as the fleeing adversaries tried to create some space between themselves and their now mob of would-be pursuers.
It was chaos, bloody, and violent, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t love every moment of it. Every fire of a gun, every dispersal bomb that was fired by the three mechanical turtle attack bots. It seemed I wasn’t the only one to notice the glaring weakness in the train’s design, namely that they could seemingly only fire straight forward. Likely a way to cut back on costs, while also increasing productivity, thus the three cars that were clearly designed for warfare. Honestly the price reduction feature wouldn’t have been so bad, had they kept to the initial size of their attack, but by the quest being generated and the citizens being emboldened by the fact that a healer was right there, the well-armed crew didn’t stand a chance.
People were brought to me in rapid succession. I would use Omni-Heal to heal the minor wounds, as that was mostly me just healing a stray bullet or stab wound. The rest was me spending time doing extensive reconstruction on bones, tissues, and muscles. Everything was going well.
Despite Lenny’s elite shock troops being generally a higher level than the mob of civilians, Lenny’s troops only seemed concerned with keeping me safe and pulling more injured towards me.
This was good, as it meant I didn’t have to run out and find the bodies and then bring them back, but rather I could just focus on healing.
During this time I even used Telekinesis as an improvised pressure device, adding pressure to spots, right before Omni-Healing magic could be applied to the wound at a fraction of the healing cost.
With this, I managed to try to use as many of my different pools of mana as possible, in a way to save as many lives as possible. It was quite simply put, amazing. I felt alive, truly alive, and most importantly I felt important.
I didn’t even notice the moment when the fighting ceased.
“Who do I turn the stolen goods into?” One person asked, holding up a sac of stolen items that they clearly wished to turn in.
“I don’t know, I think the shopkeeper?”
“Where is he?”
Just hearing the people speak, I remember the violence that I heard from outside the train car. So many bullets for such a small body, that had to be terrible.
Turning to one of my guards that had been part of the process. Without a word, my guards had been working by my side, the guard on my right would bring in a new patient. Then I would heal, then they would go left, to another waiting guard who would make sure the healed patient was okay before being allowed to leave. I did note that she made people that had already been healed once before sit down and wait until everything was over, that was an action I was extremely grateful for, as those people that were already injured twice should not try to tempt fate a third time, at least not in the same day.
Still, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the gnome who had only been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Turning to the guard on my left, I said “get him.” Then with my head I gestured to the nearly completely destroyed train car that had multiple blast and burn marks on it.
The guard looked like she wanted to argue for a moment, but then seemed to realize it was either she goes, or I would. At least that was the intention that I tried to give with my look.
Sighing.
The guard sighed for a moment, before rising up and jogging to the car. It looked like some of the people wanted to stop her, but she just turned and pointed to me. At that I waved, the one small healer covered in blood, surrounded by a sea of bodies, most of which were being healed.
Seeing me and then my bodyguard, the people who had taken up protection around the shop, let the guard through. Then a few minutes later the small limp form of the gnome was pulled out.
Watching his small form, a protective streak came out in me. I know the being was old, likely supposed to be older than I was with both my lifetimes, but I couldn’t help but assume a childlike innocent to the tiny being, especially with how helpful he had been.
Seeing him, I rose, and immediately felt a rush to my head as I didn’t realize just how exhausted I was from nearly constant healing. Feeling my state, I shook my head, trying to regain balance. Then realizing this would be a very tough heal, and one that should not be performed out in the street. I gestured towards the Mage’s Guild Hall.
“Take everyone else that needs to be healed directly to the Mage’s Guild Hall.” I said, as I turned and ran towards the Mage’s Guild.
I know, I could have used this moment to Teleport, but that would have divulged a capability of mine. Also, there was the fact that at this point I needed to move, as my legs were stiff form having to bend over so much, as such, the stretching of my legs felt good, and was a good reminder of how much longer I had to go.
The people might have survived the battle, but now I had to see how many people I could bring back from the brink of death.
Smiling, I realized that despite the blood and gore, I was well and truly enjoying this moment. We were safe, and things were only going to get better from here on out. At least, that is what I told myself.