After several days of feverish work, on all sides. The palisade was up, A channel with a lock ready to flood the pit with holy water if needed. The healing house was set up inside the blessing zone for full benefit stacking. I’d turned the gate off, and set up the best protections I could think of.

I set the gem precisely in place, activated it, and climbed out of the hole. The sounds of construction and something else I couldn’t identify roared out of the pit. I turned around expecting a giant circle of flowing water. But all I got was a big stone arch, wide enough for two wagons to barely pass.

I sent a Prayer to Denu, even though we weren’t officially talking yet and nodded to Thorbjorn. Yamina jumped up to high overwatch, and everyone stood ready. At each location, there were buckets of water and buckets of crossbow bolts, because we’d forgotten to build quivers (ARGH!). Each archer had a spear leaning next to them, crossbows ready.

We had a few cities with gates, we’d uncovered in the stories and tales, but we couldn’t map those to specific gates yet.

We’d decided to be unsubtle to try to locate one.

Starting at the first gate location, we opened access to it for 10 seconds. Then waited a bit, and moved to the next. One after the other, regular as clockwork. About halfway through the list, an Imp got bodily tossed through the gate, through the safe area and out, bursting into flame and disintegrating before it hit the ground.

“Okay, mark that one provisionally as Hell. And move on.”

We finished the list without incident in about 20 minutes. We started at the top and did it again.

This time about 10 gates in, a deamon leapt out of the gate and rushed us. It burst into flame but kept coming, scrabbling at the wall of the pit. Everyone froze for a second, in shock at its sheer ferocity.

Sgt. Plum Shouted, “ANYONE WHO DOESN’T PLANT A BOLT IN HIM NOW IS GOING TO SPEND A WEEK PRYING MY BOOT OUT OF THEIR ASS! FIRE” A spray of bolts shot out hitting the deamon and the wall around him. It was ragged but most of them hit.

“LOAD!”

I started fast casting darts at the deamons face, and Yamina started casting heal, wounding its eyes. Even completely coverd in flame, roaring wordlessly, it was still trying to climb the walls to get to us. Clearly, we needed a better system to keep them in.

“FIRE!”

This time the volley came out much better, all together, except for 1 bolt the shot several seconds late.

“Jackson! Don’t make me come over there, get your shit straight! LOAD.” Roared Plum.

A trio of new priestesses of Danu plus Granny dumped a big bucket of blessed water onto the daemon, and it started burning so fast you could watch it disintegrate. A second immensely fat daemon came through, and I realized I’d forgotten to close the gate. I jerked into motion and was able to close the gate fast enough to cut part of the fat daemons calf and below off the back leg, and it fell to the ground rolled half out of the safe area and began burning,still trying to crawl to the wall. “My call of “CLOSED!” overlapped Sgt. Plums next command.

“Target 1, FIRE!”

I tried something new, and used the water in my inventory to hose the beast down, trying to squirt it through a narrow orifice. It wasn’t a fire hose, but water poured out like a pitcher on the beast below me. Team Granny cast another bucket of water, on the second demon this time. Yamina popped one of the first daemons eyes, its shoulders burned away down to the bone, one arm hanging limply at its side.

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Its other hand rose shaped like a cup fingers up and started to gather a ball of fire. The ball of fire was smokey and trying to flicker out, but the ball continued to build.

“LOAD! Team four, Ready!

Fire, Team four Go” Sgt Plum was running the guard like a clock. It was beautiful thank the gods for sergeants.

This time a steady volley of bolts struck into the daemon, and Olaf and a team of his apprentices ran up with an open topped barrel of blessed water, running to dump it.

I cast a pair of darts directly into the hand casting the spell. One dart hit the hand dead center, the other took the daemons thumb clean off disrupting the spell. Note to self, I need an instant cast silence spell.

The barrel of water poured out crumbling the first daemon and washing up onto the second daemon. The water flowed up against the second deamon beginning to eat into it where it was touching the ground like flaming smoking acid. The deamon began to bellow shrilly rolling around, coating itself in blessed water in its agony. In a matter of moments, it too fell still.

I checked the combat log

Okay, that’s like 12kcp to the goddess for use on this planet. I was pissed at how she went about it, but I fully understand her end goals.

“Archers stand at ease, Specialists, reload all water sources!”

On the officer’s channel, I spoke [Other than getting way too close it how did we do?]

Yamina predicably spoke first [We did great!] Thorbjorn roared his agreement.

Jimni grumbled “Aside from fucking ourselves in the ass with a second daemon…”

Sgt. Plum spoke [For troops with a week of training and green as new grass? We sucked, but we could have sucked a lot worse. Give me 5 to get them all a drink of water and we can start up again]

“Everyone take 5, get a drink, and change your pants! Then everyone get set to go again” Roared the Seargent.

There was a general laugh at that.

Yamina spoke up, more serious this time [Am I clear to loot?]

I called out “Anyone have a reason to not loot?” Waited 10 seconds and said [Yamina, go ahead loot, but do it at speed.]

Yamina zipped down in her tiniest form and looted the bodies, and then put the bodies into her inventory, clearing the area. She wants back and sucked up the water choked with daemon ash. Apparently, it was a valuable alchemical ingredient. Olaf had a fresh barrel lined with copper, ready to transfer it to, before restoring in the shop.

“Okay, lets mark that gate as also probably hell. And start up.”

“Ready arms! Load! Prepare for combat.”

Everyone got ready again, simultaneously more relaxed, and taking everything more seriously. There was a lot of quiet joking, but everyone checked their weapons a gear carefully.

“Beginning next gate now!” I called out, and we started down the list.”

When we were about to hit the gate, the imp came out of last time, Sgt. Plum Called “TAKE AIM!”

When that gate opened, a floating ball like a Beholder, but with 2 eyes on its body and tentacles around it’s perimeter floated out of the Gate. Instead of charging us, it began to float Lazily straight up, in the cleared zone. I closed the gate as soon as it was through.

“Fire!”

“Load!”

The Sargent’s cadence was clearly faster this time, his voice loud, but at a sustainable pace. He kept pace with the guards ability, the calmer they got, the faster he made them go through their drill. We were still about half the speed they could do at practice, but steady would win the day.

On a whim, I shot my now level 5 fireball at the monster, curious about the deamons lazy flight. My guess was correct. When the ball hit and burst, so did the floating monster. Going up like the Hindenburg. POOF! Flames everywhere.

When we rested again, we started up. About halfway to the bottom, of the list, when the gate opened, a clearly human hand poked through, covered in rich robes above the wrist, dropped a large scroll, then jerked back out of the gate.

Once we closed the gate and recovered the scroll, we continued the process to the bottom of the list, then stopped.

“Jimni, have everyone take 15 and get some grub, then let’s read this scroll.”

“Ya, Bill.” Jimni turned and nonchalantly nodded to Sgt Plum who as usual took care of the details.