Xander was awoken by knocking at his door. Both he and Freyja lifted their heads to look at the door, the panther having decided to crawl up into bed with Xander at some point, taking most of the space for herself.
“Xander?” Frazay’s voice came through the door. “We’ve got orders. Well, you’ve got orders, really, and the rest of us are just tagging along.”
Slowly dragging himself from bed and out from under one of Freyja’s paws, Xander asked, “Why just me?”
“Dunno,” was Frazay’s response. “Runner just said that Uril wanted us, but especially you, to meet him at the central keep.”
“Ugh, I hope it’s nothing too bad,” Xander grumbled as he hopped around trying to put on his pants quickly, not remembering that he could have just manifested them onto his body in his still groggy state. Halfway through putting on his boots, he remembered that he could do that, and manifested his top and then armor onto his body. “I’ve got to get better at remembering that…” he muttered to himself.
Opening the door, he saw that Frazay was still waiting for him. “Is everyone else ready to go?” he asked.
“Atrax and Gabrelle are still getting ready,” Frazay responded. “Graffus somehow fell asleep still in his armor, so he didn’t even need to get ready. Runner’s downstairs at the bar.” She thumbed behind her, towards the stairs that led down to the main level of the inn.
“Cool,” Xander said. “Guess I’ll head down and wait.”
“Cool?” Frazay asked quizzically. “It’s not cold out yet.”
“Uhh, good, great? When I say something is ‘cool’ then I’d be implying that it’s good, or neat, or something like that.”
Frazay shook her head, bemused. “You’re weird.”
Xander made his way downstairs with Freyja, finding a fidgety, impatient looking man sitting at the empty bar. He looked like he was built to run. Xander wondered if [Runner] was its own class. Surely there were speed focused classes. After all, he had the [Sprint] ability. Thinking on it, he realized that he should try to utilize that skill more in fights. He’d be able to reposition much more quickly. Xander had thought that he was acclimating to this world somewhat but realizing that there were skills that he never used reinforced the fact to him that he had a long way to go.
The runner didn’t have anything to say to Xander, remaining silent and obviously impatient as the two of them waited for the rest of the team to make their way down. Graffus and Frazay were the next two down, Graffus having taken his time to gather his belongings. Gabrelle was the next down, looking disheveled, he long hair sticking in multiple directions from being slept on. Atrax was the last down, the man hurriedly coming down the stairs still fastening his robe properly.
“All here?” The runner asked, speaking for the first time that Xander had seen the man.
“Yep,” he replied.
“Then let us move to the keep. I will lead you there.” The man stood up and walked right out the door, expecting the mercenaries to follow. It took them a second to collect themselves, but follow they did.
Catching up to the runner, who, despite not actually running, was walking at a pace that almost had the mercs running to keep up with him, they began to head towards the center of Ilbek. There, rising above the rest of the buildings, the central keep stood, like a second, smaller fortified city within the walls of Ilbek. The road that passed through the Southern gate led directly to the keep, and the runner led them down it, speedwalking the entire time. They soon passed beyond the walls of the keep through a small gate. Looking around at the structures surrounding them, Xander saw little but angular, stone buildings. This place was designed purely for function. There were none of the design elements of the shops and building that filled the rest of Ilbek here.
They followed the runner into the central, and largest, building of the keep, where they were taken to a large meeting room, which contained a number of officers and nobles. Xander noticed both humans and dwarves amongst the crowd, as well as captain Uril. Lord Vard and Lord Etras were both present as well, sitting across from each other at the head and foot of a long table.
Entering, the runner announced “Lord Etras, Lord Vard, distinguished guests, the mercenary team you requested.” He swept a deep, but quick, bow, and gestured to the five mercenaries, still followed by Freyja, who managed to squeeze into the room, looking somewhat comical in the process.
“Ahh, excellent. Thank you, Darrio, you are dismissed,” Lord Etras said. Darrio the runner, who had never bothered to introduce himself to the mercenaries, took his leave.
“Now, captain Uril here was telling us that you had some interesting ideas for new siege weaponry, is that correct, Xander?” Lord Etras said, facing the mercenaries. All eyes in the room turned to the mercenaries as well, anticipating Xander’s answer.
“Ah, yes, your lordship,” Xander said. “I am a [Combat Artificer] and a [Runelord], you see, so I had some ideas on creating a new form of weapon that could be placed on the wall. It’s called a mortar. With the correct sequence of runes, it would be able to launch one of my explosive devices quite a long distance.”
“Hmm… Interesting,” Lord Vard said. “Is there perhaps some what you could demonstrate this ‘mortar’ to us? We are low on materials, so I am unsure if the materials for you to create any siege weapons could be procured at this time.”
“Of course, Lord Vard,” Xander said. “I am capable of creating my own materials, though they will only last twenty-four hours once they are taken any significant distance from my person. However, the device itself does not require much material, consisting simply of a metal tube and a base. I can create an un-runed version for you and demonstrate the basics of how it would operate, if you’d like.” Xander was proud of himself for keeping his cool. Being quizzed by two lords, as well as stared down by the multitude of other people in the room was wearing on his nerves.
“That would be helpful, yes, if you are capable of doing so in a short period of time. There are still other planning considerations to be had after this discussion.”
Xander nodded, and quickly began creating a steel tube with [Improved Creation] and [Improved Manipulation]. He attached it to a base with a small crank that would allow him to change the elevation of the tube, giving him the ability to fire at multiple angles. In all, it took him roughly ten minutes to create, as the various officers watched with interest.
Placing the device on the table for easier viewing, Xander began to give a presentation on how it would operate. “Now, this device currently does not have any runes, but the inside of the barrel would be lined with runes that, when activated, would propel an object at speed out of it. This crank here allows the angle of the tube to be set, allowing one to vary the distance that the fired projectile will land. That’s really about it. With this, I should be able to launch explosives at any Thraskian forces that come too close to the city. Ideally, it should fire even further than the catapults or ballistae that are currently available to you.”
Lord Vard nodded thoughtfully, considering what Xander had told him. Finally, he asked, “Would the average soldier be able to operate this device, or are they limited to you even if we provide you materials so that they last longer than twenty-four hours?”
Xander thought for a moment, before asking, “I believe captain Uril mentioned to me that there were some highly leveled [Mason]s in the city, is that correct? If so, you could have them carve out a large number of tone projectiles that would fit within the tubes, and then begin carving them with runes that would cause them to explode when they strike the ground. I could also create the mortars in such a way that the sequence of runes would only be completed once a button is pressed, or a trigger is pulled, which would allow anyone to operate it. They wouldn’t be able to fire as quickly as if they were being directly fed mana, though, requiring some time for the gathering arrays to collect enough mana again to power the sequence.”
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“Mmm… yes. Yes, I think that would work nicely,” Lord Vard said, almost to himself. Xander noticed Lord Etras and the rest of the officers nodding to themselves, too. Any way to force the Thraskian army further from the walls was desirable. “I shall make the materials available to you immediately. I will have an aide take you to a warehouse containing raw materials that would otherwise be used for siege weaponry. Take whatever you need to create enough of these devices to cover as much of the wall as possible. Once you have completed them, I shall have the [Mason]s tasked with creating ammunition for you to work your artifices on.” Vard paused for a moment, about to dismiss them. “Is there anything additional that you need for this task?”
“Ah, not for this task, Lord Vard,” Xander began, nervous to ask the man what he’d intended to ask captain Uril, “But, I have a rather exotic mount with me here. A loravian panther. She requires a large amount of fresh meat, which I have come to realize is not something that will be easily had within the city walls. I am capable of making it past the Thraskian army with my created set of wings… would you be willing to allow me permission to hunt the nearby land to provide meat for her? I’d be willing to also do my best to bring back extra that could be distributed amongst the foodstuffs already stored, of course.”
Lord Vard pondered the question for a moment. “Yes.” The man said. “Yes, I believe that will be acceptable, however,” the man said, “I want you to create the mortars and at least a small stockpile of ammunition first. I may also take advantage of your abilities and have you operate as a messenger to inform the rest of our forces of our success, once we have established ourselves.”
Xander nodded in agreement. If it allowed him to feed Freyja, then he’d agree to whatever tasks were needed. If he’d been disallowed, he likely would have enacted his plan anyway, just in secret. “Of course, your lordship. Whatever you need, I am at your disposal,” he said, as formally as he could manage.
“Excellent!” Lord Vard said happily. “Then, if there is nothing else, I shall have you begin work on these ‘mortars’ as soon as possible. Vantelle, please escort Xander and his team to the warehouse where he can procure his supplies,” Lord Vard spoke to a woman who had been standing near the table, taking down notes. “When he is done, have the [Mason]s informed of their new task, as well.”
“Of course, my lord,” Vantelle said.
Vantelle quickly ushered the mercenaries out of the room as the various officers began to discuss other matters related to the siege. They followed her as she hastily led them out of the central building of the keep and over to a smaller, though still large, squat stone building. Informing the guard stationed at the door of the building of her orders, she led the mercenaries inside.
In the warehouse, Xander was confronted with piles of lumber, thousands of feet worth of coiled ropes, stacks of iron and steel ingots, everything that would be needed to create or repair medieval siege weaponry. “This should be plenty,” He said. “More than enough.” He made his way over to the ingots of steel, hefting one and looking it over. He placed as many of them as he could in his inventory before it filled up. Lord Vard’s aide, Vantelle, watched with interest as the bars disappeared into thin air once Xander hefted them into his hands. “Alright,” Xander said after taking the steel. “That should be plenty to get some of these up on the walls. I figure eight of them spaced equally will give full coverage.”
Vantelle nodded at him, saying “Then I shall inform the [Mason]s of their task, and have them inspect one of these devices once you are complete. What location do you intend to install one at first?”
“Uhh, I hadn’t really thought about it. I guess the Southern gate? Yeah, I’ll do that one first, so you can send them there. And I’ll do one at the North gate, and on the East and West points, and then there will be one in the middle of each of those points as well.”
The woman nodded as he spoke, and Xander realized that she was writing down everything he said, somehow managing to write as fast as he was speaking. Must be a skill, he thought to himself. “Very well,” she said. “I shall direct them there so that they can determine the size of the projectiles they’ll be creating.”
“Sounds good. Uh, a simple ball should work fine, no need for anything too fancy.”
“I will let them know.”
Xander and Freyja made their way to the Southern gate. His teammates had split off from them once they’d passed back by the inn that they’d been staying at.
“Sorry, Xander,” Gabrelle had said. “But I’d rather take a nap and catch up on sleep then follow along and watch you make tubes on the wall, no offense.”
“None taken,” Xander had replied, as the rest of the team made their way into the inn, leaving him and Freyja in the mostly empty street.
The two of them headed to the Southern gate, passing runners going in both directions as information constantly flowed between the outer walls and the inner keep. Soldiers made their way to their assigned stations or were coming back from shifts, giving the city a slight appearance of life despite the almost complete lack of civilians. Xander had noticed a few, who had been unwilling or unable to leave the city before the siege. They mostly stayed inside, looking suspiciously out their windows.
Reaching the gatehouse, Xander began climbing the steps set into the wall outside it that led to the top. There, several soldiers were stationed. Some were watching the enemy forces for any movement, while the rest stood ready by a large ballista that faced out towards the Thraskian forces. Xander noticed inquisitive looks from the soldiers as he sat down near the edge of the gatehouse, but no one questioned him. He wondered if they had already been informed of his project by a runner, or if the fact that he was wearing skull faced jet black carbon fiber armor and was followed by a giant panther simply intimidated the soldiers into not asking any questions. He suspected that it was the latter, as he had not informed anyone but Vantelle of his intention to start at the South gate.
Drawing forth some of the steel he’d taken from the storehouse, he flattened a portion of it into a sheet. He quickly began etching movement runes, all leading to one end of the sheet. Once finished, he flipped the sheet over and covered it in gathering runes. Using his material manipulation skills, he then rolled the sheet of steel into a tube, seamlessly melding the two edges together, and capping one end of it to serve as the bottom. The easy part done he pondered how best to manufacture the base.
He settled on a base that could be cranked to circle left or right with a toothed gear mechanism, while the tube would sit in a stand that could also be cranked with a separate handle to change its elevation. That would give it a full three-hundred-sixty-degree firing arc, though he hoped no one made the idiotic decision to fire it into the city. The trigger mechanism ended up being a button that, when pressed, connected the gathering runes to the movement runes inside the tube.
Now the whole apparatus just needed testing. He’d sized the tube for projectiles that were a little larger than his own grenades, thinking that slightly weightier projectile might be better. Since round stones would be the ammunition that he’d be runing for the siege engineers to use, he decided that would be the best munition to test. He created a nice smooth orb of stone that would fit perfectly within the tube and then began to engrave runes upon it. The entire ball would be covered with runes of explosion, except for a portion that housed the gathering runes required for it and a set of intelligence runes that would trigger and flow mana into the explosion runes only when the ball struck the ground.
Hefting the stone, he rolled it into the tube, and cranked it to a forty-five-degree elevation, facing out towards the Thraskian forces that kept the Southern gate locked down. He wasn’t much of a mathematician, so he had no idea what the best angle was for the most distance, forty-five just seemed an easy one to pick. He depressed the button set into the base, and the stone shot out of the tube with a small fwoomph of displaced air. Xander watched as it sailed over the Thraskian army, unnoticed by them for the moment, and continued on, finally plummeting to the ground and detonating far beyond their lines. As it hit the ground, Xander saw a spray of dirt rise into the air as it detonated, and the faint sound of the explosion reached his ears, far enough away that there was a slight mismatch between the two. Using his [Measure] skill, he saw that the projectile had landed just over a mile away. He was impressed, and considered the runic launching tube a success.
Xander finally noticed that the soldiers that were stationed on the gate were watching with interest and awe as he had created and then tested the weapon, and excitement vibrated through them as they saw just how far the Thraskian army might be pushed back. It wouldn’t break the siege of the city, but it would force them to spread thin to encircle the city at a much larger distance, and there was no way that any siege weapons they constructed would be able to reach the city walls from that distance.
Xander went around the wall, installing seven more mortars just as he had on the Southern gatehouse. The process went much faster than the first one that he’d installed, now that he was no longer having to test them as he went, his design having proved itself to work well enough. It was after noon when he finished, and he made his way back to the inn he and his teammates were staying in. As he entered, he found another runner waiting for him, though this one seemed less impatient. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying the break, and was idly chatting with Atrax about how things were going in the city.