"Well that's pretty fucked," Anthony said looking down at the scene. "Sonya, you're up."
Right as they got closer to the forest, several dozen undead made their appearance. They arrived in pairs and squads. They marched with a purpose.
Between them, the field went up and down so the zombies would be going down into the valley first before they could approach them at the top of their small hill. It was a good place to defend or at least pretend to defend. The hope was that it would slow them down before they got to the first trench. All the zombies needed to do was to play their part.
Monks were on both sides of their formation, piles of rocks at the ready as they loaded up sling after sling. Their job was just to keep the zombies from wheeling around them and attacking from the flank. Sonya might have overdid it a bit, shaping the earth around the hill, but she hadn't fully encircled them. The project was about to begin in earnest. Sonya had told him that she would definitely have the mana needed to pull out an ace.
"Sonya?"
"It would be my pleasure," She said, before turning to kiss him. "Wish me luck!"
Sonya had created what had to be her Magnum Opus. Anthony swelled with pride. For as put together and intimidating and intelligent enemy force could be, gravity was still a bitch. Sonya was going to be a badder bitch.
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Zan and Bob took turns firing magic missiles on some of the larger targets.
She, having studied the skill extensively, had added it as a magic spell to her own arsenal. Hers didn't have the same range as him but as they were closing in, it mattered, less and less.
From a few dozen, the dwarf zombies began to mass into nearly a hundred or more. They continue to pound the enemy, picking off more of them as they got closer. Even as they picked more off and got better, the horde continued to pour out of the trees.
Anthony checked out the fortifications as he got the caravan turned around. It would do no good to not have an exit plan. Then he heard the lilting melody of two guitars. He looks to see two lutes being played by the orcs. They held their lutes like they were in a rock concert. Anthony was very interested by this development as everything went into sharp focus.
He checked his active deck, pleased to see that his cleric card had finally reached level three. The control that the bards gave made him feel like he could really finely apply his skills.
Rare Class Card: Cleric Level 3
Skills:
Divine Spellcasting Level 2
Divine Rituals Level 1
Heal Level 2
Survival Level 4
Medicine Level 4
This is a soul card and cannot be removed. This card grants mana. As a cleric, you must have a patron deity.
He was pretty happy with the changes. He went back to check on Sonya. In the short time that they had been there, she had designed an entire series of trenches and walls that would give the zombies endless problems. She had moved earth around so that there were three walls next to three trenches so the trenches were twice as deep as they would otherwise be. What she had done next was add a bit of flair, making parts of the trenches closer to a pit trap.
The walls were also twice as high where they were adjacent to the trenches. At the same time, she expanded the walls to both sides so the zombie horde couldn't just run around it. If they were the tower, it was well defended.
When she finally took a knee, the zombies were nearly at their figurative front gates. That was when Sophie began her work in earnest. Sophie and Stella took turns. From the very first of the walls they rained down ice and lightning. The ice luge that they created began to pull zombies as they climbed. Those that would have otherwise made it did not, falling backwards to trip others.
Anthony looked around counting his people one by one. Then he looked down. Of the hundred zombies that had charged them, running up the hill, several dozen had already fallen prey to their problems. A few had made it into the first trench and were stuck there.
It would have been a nice time for him to have an overview of the map. If there was a drone card, one where he could have an overhead flying picture of the battle, he would have chosen that card. It would have shown his battle plan in a way that he could really dig into. He had to trust the process and his people.
"I can't see the death knight anywhere. I'm going to make it their problem," he whispered.
The big question on Anthony's mind was this: was a death knight was tougher than a regular zombie?
He supposed that it probably was. He also knew how laser focused Bob had been on defeating the death knights before. Bob was not going to let them have the chance to escape.
There was a lull in the horde's charge. Glints of gold revealed a small black cat sorting through bodies. Two ladders extended from the first wall up to the second. Sophie headed up the ladder to the second level as the horde threatened to pile up onto the wall. Behind her, two of the monks ran up the ladders and then removed them.
Zombie dwarves swarmed up over the wall, their hands scrambling for purchase. Sophie spent her mana like water. Next to her, the monks used slings to launch rocks over and over again.
Brandon scored a hit.
For a long moment, Anthony held his breath. Finley was in the back line waiting to use refresh on whoever needed it.
"Sophie looks like she is flagging," Anthony said.
Stolen story; please report.
"On it," Finley said. The elf ran over to tag her with a refresh.
"Thanks!" She said, "Can you check on Stella? She's pushing as hard as she can as well."
Finley ran over and tagged her with a refresh. The jolt of the mana leaving his body made him shiver. He just needed some time to reset himself. He wasn't going to get it here though. Any more and he was going to lose more than he wanted to. The green nearly overcame him in that moment. He pushed it back.
A white firework fizzled over the horde. Instantly, Finley lay down to scope out what had happened. The music stopped as an orc appeared from the trees. Its large frame was a grayish green. His first thought was that it was a dreadful change to a terrible day. The fizzle had to have been one of the casters spotting the target.
"Orcs are coming!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. He tapped into the green, massing mana where he would need it. More wouldn't destroy him.
The flow of dwarves zombies halted as orcs began to filter in behind them. Either there were no more left or the orcs had been held back.
The mass of orcs smashed through the lines, moving through the dwarves like a teacher pushing aside a tour group of rowdy children. The dwarves went everywhere, pushed or kicked aside.
Of course it was orcs. Even in his wildest dreams, Finley knew that it was going to end with orcs. If it had to have been an accountant, he would have been found out in the capital. He didn't even know what crime he would have committed but the accountants would have found something. Then they would have pinned it on him and his whole facade would have dropped. Something about their accounting practices would have revealed the truth about him.
Tinkers weren't known to be violent. Inside the community, violence was not only unheard of but beyond a last resort. No one ever killed anyone. Though it might have been rumored to be otherwise and people tended to stay away because of unfounded stories. So when he was brought in and joined the Tinker community, it was something that he hadn't even considered.
Despite how he was, they took him in. Despite the green.
Finley watched in horror as another group of orcs ran around their right flank trying to overrun Sonya's walls.
Zan and Sonya began firing off spells rapidly. They might be glass cannons, but they were definitely cannons. Attacks flew with a ferocity that he had never seen before.
He was proud of the human for growing so fast in such a short amount of time and hoped that she wouldn't burn out before he was able to refresh her again. She had been one of the kindest ones.
Sophia and Stella had been worked to the bone, their mana depleted. They had been slumped over on the highest wall when the orcs broke out. When the orcs showed up in the battlefield they got themselves back up. In short order.
Finley wished that he had a bow to give them. And some arrows.
They got up and began throwing rocks with the monks. Every so often one of them would loose an ice or electric bolt. Sonya even stopped attacking to raise a two meter tall wall to stop the attack. The tall orcs were nearly large enough to get over the walls without having to work for it. Once one of them went down though they would climb on the back of the next stepping up.
They shouldn't be this fast was what he thought as he tapped into the green. Five orcs charged him as he pulsed magic. If they had been any other creatures he might have fallen back, but they were orcs. Finley knew how to deal with orcs.
Behind him, the bardic tunes reached a crescendo as he extended himself. The green flowed as he tapped into his Spore powers. He stood on both feet facing the flanking horde, both hands extended.
He let it free.
Mama poured out of him. He was the green, nothing more and nothing less. He said a silent prayer to the Goat Lord. If there ever was a time for the Goat Lord to show up, this will be the time. He just hoped it wasn't too little too late. His entire body turned green. Skin hardened, turned into a hard mossy covering. The Orcs slowed to a crawl and then miraculously, stopped.
Finley took a knee, his entire flesh a distinctly different color than he remembered.
"Thank you, Finley," he said.
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The dozens of undead orcs that had charged, flanking from the right had all been consumed by a wall of green plant life. Most of them were now covered in mushrooms. Anthony wasn't sure if they were going to continue moving or not.
Finley's push into the green had to have activated some magic that he'd never seen before for the briefest moment. Anthony remembered that he'd never taken a good look at the druids card. Sure, Finley had complained about it, but with how strong it was, he had expected less.
Anthony was more than happy to start casting a healing spell on Finley. When he directed his healing touch towards him though everything felt off and jumbled. Finley didn't look like he was entirely healing so Anthony broke it off.
"Finley, are you okay?"
Anthony didn't notice the aperture opening behind him. He didn't see the death knight walking out, sword at the ready. He didn't notice a bloody fast death coming towards him. What he did notice was Finley looking beyond him in shock horror.
Before Anthony could turn around, Finley's arm shot past him. The long green arm extended at least two or three times his body length to catch a sword.
The death knight cleaved Finley's arm into two pieces. Green ooze dripped out of the vine like inhuman arm.
Anthony turned to face the death knight. Half of Finley's severed arm, more plant than muscle, lay their quivering on the ground beyond it. The rest of it had extended and tried to wrap around the death knight's sword holding it to the ground. Finley looked like he was losing a considerable amount of the green blood.
Anthony was going to have to make this time count.
"I'll kill you!" Anthony said, getting his first view of the death knight. A tall woman with a bastard sword greeted him by pulling the sword up and out of Finley's grip. She looked him dead in the eyes. Aside from some of her grating skin, she looked like a model. Her red eyes bore into him, and Anthony realized that he was going to have to fight for his life.
Anthony pulled out the only weapons he had. A hammer and a short sword made their appearance as he dodged a savage blow. This time the death knight wasn't going to wait for anything.
She was full on trying to get Anthony off of the wall.
Finley looked like he was moving further away, Anthony knew that he was going to have to protect their best chance of survival.
Blade met blade as he stopped the bastard sword with his short sword and hammer together. The cross block that he made illustrated the point that the death knight was far stronger than he was. He gritted his teeth and took one step back. He was going to have to inch his way back and give his party a chance to take her down.
"Bob! Stella! Some help here!" He said, taking another step further back. He took a glancing blow to the shoulder and black Mist poured out of the spot.
The death knight didn't even have the decency to be an ugly person. In another life he could see himself getting with her. He nearly dropped his weapons until he realized that she was trying to distract him.
"Oh you're going to get it now. Daddy's here and he is going to protect all of his kids," Anthony said.
The death knight missed and Anthony tried to take a stab at it. Because the bastard sword was long, he got within her guard and then smashed its right hand with his hammer while keeping his sword arm unencumbered to block. The immediate effect of the smashing was that it now held the bastard sword in one hand. He stepped back, putting some more distance between them. If it was truly so easy, then he might be able to live through this.
Of course! The death knight might have some sort of magic but Anthony suspected that it was gate aligned magic based on how it arrived here. That was when he saw Sonya, Stella, and Bob closing in on his location. Bob fired up a Magic Missile destroying the death knight's right hand.
Sonya and Bob looked determined to be the first one to kill it. Anthony wanted to risk a glance at Finley as he knew that the elf was behind him. He couldn't risk it. Finley was a big elf and he would be able to take care of himself. Anthony ducked underneath a bastard sword swing. The death knight, it seemed, was not accustomed to fighting with only one of its arms working. Then his heel touched the edge of the wall.
It charged at him.