Joe did not imbue the arrow with any mana of any kind. He was quite certain it would notice his intent. Instead, he stilled and raised his bow up. It would be a very long shot, quite far from the wall and mostly useless when it reached the giant, losing much of its force. It would, however, hopefully give him a hint at the kind of defense the giant had. He loosed his arrow and returned to clearing his line once again. The arrow flew true, but slipped over the head of the giant into the forest beyond. Joe ignored the arrow when he realized it had gone too far and cleared his line a bit more before trying again. His arrow flew again, aimed well and this time struck just short. Joe grimaced. Right… gotta Goldilocks this!

He fired a couple more arrows into the line of monsters, clearing out the beasts again to help protect the guards before once again loosing an arrow. Even as the arrow slipped the bow, he knew he’d done it. The feeling of utter certainty had him smile. He lowered the bow and followed the flight of the arrow, basking in watching the perfect shot. The arrow arced through the air, peaked, and plummeted back, directly into the giant’s chest. Joe’s smiled at seeing the arrow sink into the chest of the giant. The giant roared, ripping the small arrow out of its skin, the arrow looking like a tiny toothpick, the blood already not flowing. Joe frowned. OK. Why are they so feared, then? The arrow went in just fine.

Joe returned to maintaining the line, although kept the giant in his peripheral view. The giant continued to watch the field, then actually started to turn away. Huh… is that normal? I thought they were all… whelp! Never mind. Something seemed to slap the giant; something massive and overwhelming. The giant raged, its fists and feet stomping and swinging wildly all around it. The movements seemed slightly ponderous, but not near as slow as they should have been given its massive size. Not only that, the strikes that hit the ground exploded dirt into the sky leaving massive craters and caused the ground to rumble. The shaking was powerful enough that Joe was able to see actual waves rolling through the ground. The waves, however, stopped preternaturally short, somehow dying out much quicker than it should have. Despite that, the vibration from the strikes still rumbled onward, and Joe was actually able to feel the quivering city wall through his feet. Right… city killers. Understood! And that power… that’s… really … OK. Fear understood.

Joe returned to clear out his line again, keeping the beasts back before returning to watch the giant some more. It didn’t look like the giant was going to get away peacefully. Joe watched as another something hit the giant, enraging it once again and the giant created more massive craters around it. Joe watched on in awe as the giant terraformed the earth around it, massive trunks of trees flinging into the air like splinters and toothpicks. The giant dropped a fist down, punching into the earth right next to a tree, and it swayed under the force of the ripples running through the ground.

Joe turned back to his line, clearing more beasts and reforming the nice crisp edge of his line. He fired rapidly, and quickly cleared his line before turning his attention back to the giant, not wishing to miss much. The giant’s rage had only grown, and it still slapped the ground around it, creating a small inlet in the tree line at the forest edge. The trunks and trees it struck directly thundered through the air hundreds of meters, covering entire football fields of height and distance. The forces the giant was displaying was in equal measure terrifying and exhilarating.

Soon, the giant was surrounded by an almost perfect circle of beautiful trees and he’d dug a massive hole the size of a small pond. The trees outside the reach of the giant remained almost completely undamaged, only those it struck exploded into sawdust and leaves. It was during one of these moments of tree destruction that a thought piqued, driving a wedge into his musing.

What… something’s… Joe’s thoughts cut off as a yell below brought his attention back to his line and he cursed, quickly bringing up an arrow and downing a fast wolf like creature just short of the guard line. His line had grown remarkably ragged once again and he pushed his beasts back again, reforming his defense. Toular had been doing decently with his section as well, but Joe decided to offer him quick relief as well and cleared his section before turning to look back at the giant, remembering what had felt off.

Why… what… Joe focused even closer on the giant. Something with his fists? No… feet, too… what’s wrong… He’s… Joe’s thoughts froze a bit as the giant stretched back, raising both hands above his head into an absolute haymaker, drawing both hands together into a massive double fist and hammering it to the ground in his greatest strike yet. Again, moving with just a bit of ponderousness, the fists hit the ground with overwhelming force, the waves generated through the ground spreading outward almost double the distance as the other waves generated. The forest waved slightly from rolling earth, a few leaves falling to the ground. A few leaves…?

Joe’s eyes flickered back quickly to the clearing. Leaves! The leaves! The leaves on the edge of the new pond clearing the giant had made were still clinging gamely to their trees. How… why are the leaves still… unless they are like super glue? Joe quickly turned to Toular beside him.

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“Toular, how hard is it to pluck a leaf from the trees of the forest?”

Toular seemed shocked, looking at Joe with confusion. Joe grimaced and turned to clear his line of monsters once again, returning his line to good order before he turned back to Toular.

“This is important. The trees around where the giant is now, how hard is it to pluck a leaf from those trees? Are they incredibly strong? Could they resist you? A commoner? What?”

Toular blinked and shook his head, “I am uncertain but I do not believe I have heard of any leaf of most trees being difficult to pluck. Certainly not from any trees here around Coushar.”

“So even a child could grasp a leaf from one of those trees and pluck them?”

Toular nodded, “I believe so, but… I… this is not something that I have regularly tried.”

Joe waved it off, “The leaves and trees are not that important, do not worry. I only need to know the strength with which leaves cling to the tree branches. Thank you.”

Right… that makes things much easier. The force, for whatever screwed up reason, is only… somehow… only in the thing actually struck and the ground. There is no shockwave! How that is possible with the force of the things attack is insane, but… No looking gift horses in the mouth. Joe returned to clearing his line once again, but no longer really looked at the giant. He kept it in his peripheral view, but focused on keeping his line and going over his plan rather roughly. His mind spun with options, uncertain of what he could do, exactly, but going through option after option. While he was thinking carefully, his mind still firing arrow after arrow at his line, he heard a small voice pleading for him.

“Joe? Joe!” Gwenvair called.

Joe recognized her voice and replied, “Yeah. What is it, Gwenvair?”

“My mother… could you speak with her?”

Joe stared at Gwenvair dumbly for a bit before glancing quickly over at her mother. The Matriarch as leader was back in full force. A couple others had taken over the defense of the wall and she was now back at the divide between the upper and lower wall. Dozens surrounded her, some on the upper wall and some on the lower wall, speaking animatedly or listening attentively as she spoke. She seemed calm and in control, but every member of her staff was tense, and qui… they’re all terrified! This… ok… not a good thing! Joe looked back at the giant as it thundered the ground around it, then back at his line. He ground his teeth before nodding quickly to Gwenvair.

“Should I just yell out to her? Or… what is a polite way to do this.”

Gwenvair’s eyes widened, her whole face relaxing just that fraction that Joe hadn’t noticed until it did relax, peace and hope flooding her face so subtly that Joe barely noticed, “You would be willing… if she asked?”

Joe cocked his head, then leaned forward, “Willing to what? Please speak plainly. I’m not playing games here. I truly do not understand. I’m not… just tell me.”

Kilniara popped in really quick, putting a hand on Gwenvair’s, “They want your help.”

Joe smiled at that, then laughed, “I’m already helping. Why would they need to ask again?”

Kilniara smiled brightly at that and looked at Gwenvair with a smug look, obviously winning a point in a private game Joe did not know, but she did answer, “You would help fight the giant.”

Joe’s smile turned a bit to annoyance, “I promised to help. Why would I stop now?”

Kilniara just laughed at that, “His promise is.”

"His promise is," Gwenvair replied, a bit more relieved, and a tiny bit reverent which caused a bit of discomfort to Joe.

“So, how should I do this?”

Gwenvair quickly shook herself from her moment, “I will call her to you.”

Joe nodded, “Thanks. I really need to get back to clearing the line.”

Joe jogged back to the edge of the wall and began reforming his line once more. The monsters had pushed over the top of the wall of corpses he’d formed, the wall being tall enough that the beasts struggled to breach it, being so unstable. It didn’t help that Joe made sure any shots he took, once he’d cleared any breaches, were made in such a way as to force the dying beasts to tumble back down the outside of the wall and tangle with any other climbing monsters. He’d cleared his line just shy of twice when he heard the Matriarch call out behind him.

“Eccentric. May I speak?”

Joe quickly nodded, “Please give me just a moment to reconstitute my line. I mean no offense, just a few seconds.”

Joe fired another three arrows before glancing quickly over the line, satisfied that it would hold for a bit and he turned, bowing.

“Please forgive me for causing you to wait, but I did not wish to allow any beasts through to the guards.”

The Matriarch smiled politely at that, bowing herself in return, “My daughter spoke to me.”

Joe smiled, “She did to me as well. You seek my help.”

The Matriarch paused at that, eyes searching his face carefully, obviously seeking something… some hidden motivation… is she worried I have something like that? I thought… His thoughts cut off as she nodded slowly, “You are willing?”

Joe laughed at that, shaking his head, “I already promised help. I would be the greatest of all scum if I retracted it now. How could we be friends if I did such a thing?”

Her response was measured, and perfectly hidden as she was the consummate politician, but Kilniara’s smile and Gwenvair’s soft gasp from behind the Matriarch told of some deep import hidden to Joe behind this exchange. This allowed Joe to notice, quite subtly, the relaxing of the tension in the corner of the Matriarch’s eyes and the subtle loss of tension in her shoulders and stance. She bowed, quite deeply.

“I am very grateful.”

Joe shook his head, then bowed as deeply as her, “Friends do not count favors. This is what my people attempt to live as much as possible. There is no need to be grateful.”

“Yet, I must be.”