Garrett frowned as well. He hadn't expected to find nothing, and if there wasn't a bridge, how were they supposed to cross to the southern district? His eyes narrowing, Garrett clenched his fist and breathed out, releasing a wave of mental energy that tore through the fog in front of them. As his mental energy slammed into the fog, it boiled away, rapidly vanishing, and leaving nothing but the darkness of the dream behind.
Feeling something at the very edge of the wave of energy he had released, Garrett looked to the north. There, faintly visible and wreathed in wisps of fog, was a large bridge, wide enough to drive four carriages across side by side. Around him, the Awakened Dreamer’s were unnerved at the rapidly retreating fog, but before they could begin asking questions Garrett pointed to the bridge revealed in the distance, redirecting their attention.
"It looks like we were too far south," Garrett said. "Let's go."
Excited that they had a way to cross the river, the team pushed north and soon arrived at the massive bridge. It seemed stable enough, and so they began to cross, hoping to pass out of the Burning Pain of Gath's territory as soon as possible.
Garrett remembered all too well the sight of Gath's Chosen, and while he was confident that between Gero, Cynen, and himself, they would be able to beat it, he was hoping to avoid picking a fight with another ruler in the dream world. The same was not true, however, for the territory they were about to step into, as they would have to pass directly across the Rotting Tongue of Wen's territory if they wanted to make it to the palace. Gathering everybody together at the edge of the bridge, Garrett spoke to them again, reinforcing each group's roles before he instructed Pax to lead the way.
"Alright," she said, slamming her mace into her shield. "Let's do this."
Setting an aggressive pace, she led the way forward, and soon they began to encounter their first nightmares. Many of the same nightmares they had already encountered on their side of the river were present here as well, but almost immediately, they ran into creatures they had never seen before.
The first were a group of cackling, goblin creatures, who had bright red hair that stuck up in an almost cone-like shape. They wore rags for clothes and carried strange bone weapons, full of jagged edges, perfect for tearing their prey apart. They swarmed out of an alleyway just as Pax was about to pass it by, and it was only her quick movement that kept Kinsley from being badly mauled.
Dropping her mace, she grabbed him by the back of the cloak and yanked him backwards, tossing him into the formation as she slammed her shield forward, crushing through one of the bone weapons and smashing the goblin creature's face. A swift kick ended its life, and Garrett saw a pop-up that was both gratifying and scary.
You have gained 2 EXP for slaying a Redcap Goblin.
EXP: 182/640
On the one hand, Garrett was happy to get experience for the kill, but the fact that such a small creature was two points didn’t bode well for them. There was no more time to think about it though, as dozens more of the small creatures leapt shrieking onto the awakened dreamers. No sooner had they finished killing off the Redcaps, than there was another shriek and another group raced towards them, running pell-mell down the street, directly into their formation. Both Gero and Cynen sent troops to the front to help Pax and her team block the Redcaps, never letting their guard down as they guarded the formation's flanks.
“On the roof!”
Garrett wasn't sure who had yelled it, but everybody who wasn't busy fighting swarms of Redcaps looked up and saw a chilling sight. A six-legged monster with a long upper torso that looked like a worm perched on the roof of a nearby building, and even as they looked, it let out a shriek, extending a long tongue from its many-toothed maw, whipping at the air. Just as it crouched to try and jump down into the middle of the formation, a blast of fire engulfed it, as Kinsley, who had gotten up and dusted himself off, shook his head.
"No thanks," he said, his eyes reflecting the flame that burned the nightmare to ash.
"Pace yourself," Estelle reminded him, as she infused energy into his shoulder.
"What do you think I'm doing?" he said with a maniacal grin.
The damage had been done, however, and the nightmare's call gathered more and more nightmares to their area. Small goblins swarmed towards them, their red hair making them impossible to miss in the darkness. Behind them, larger goblins began to appear. Unlike the Redcaps who threw themselves against the awakened dreamers with an insane fury, the larger goblins stomped down the streets in a more measured manner. As soon as they got within a dozen feet of the awakened, however, they began to roar, revealing long, mottled tongues. Letting out loud bellows, they charged forward, swinging the heavy wooden clubs they carried. The dreamers met them with steel, quickly carving their bodies to pieces.
At first, they had held back, unsure exactly how strong the goblins would be. Garrett was realizing, however, that the nightmares stood little chance against the awakened dreamers, in part due to the sheer discrepancy in numbers. So far, they had not faced more than 20 nightmares at once, while each and every one of the 300-plus awakened dreamers was eager to get into battle.
Realizing that they could probably begin moving forward, Garrett ordered Pax to advance, and with a surge, the entire formation began rolling down the street. According to the map, it was a straight shot from here to the palace. Seeing that they were about to come into a large square, Garrett alerted Gero and Cynen, who wrapped their forces around the group to keep watch just in case they were attacked from all sides.
The fog was thick around them as they continued to move forward, and it didn't take long to notice that the buildings had begun to fall away, until there was nothing but fog outside their reach. Soon, they came to the first of the statues. In the waking world, this was a wide, open square, often filled with merchants hawking their wares, with a series of large statues that ran down the middle of it. The statues were there, but the open area was much less lively.
There were still Redcaps, and the slightly larger drudge goblins that occasionally appeared to attack them, but as they crowded around the first of the statues, an eerie silence wrapped around them. Even with the fog in place, Garrett could feel a faint stinging sensation whenever he tried to explore the area northwest of their position. It was as if there was a certain sharpness to the air that left thousands of tiny cuts on his mental energy.
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Knowing that if he was feeling this way, the others likely were too, Garrett took a deep breath and ordered everyone forward. It was slow going, as the fog was thick, and when they eventually reached the second of the large statues, Maren signaled the alert, causing everyone to gather up.
Garrett's experience points had been rapidly growing in number, and so he quickly planted a few dream flowers, causing the statue that they surrounded to bloom with bright rainbow light. Almost immediately, the flowers began to absorb the fog, sucking it in and chewing it up, transforming it into mental energy that radiated outward in glorious rainbow-colors.
As the fog around them thinned, the awakened dreamers saw what Maren had been referring to. To the south, they saw dozens, and then hundreds, of Redcaps, all crouched silently on the ground, their eyes fixed on the awakened. Behind them lumbered the drudge goblins, along with a dozen of the large multi-legged worms, who hissed quietly. The sight caused the awakened to freeze.
At the same time, to the north of them, the cleared fog began to reveal another group, this one made up of strange metallic creatures with blades on their arms, standing in perfect ranks. Though there were only twenty of these metallic creatures, the feeling that they gave off was no less dangerous than the horde of nightmares, sandwiching the awakened dreamers from the other side.
Glancing between the two sides, Garrett called Cynen and Gero over. The Ebony Association was facing down the goblin horde, and though she looked confident, Garrett could see the faint nervousness hidden in Gero's eyes.
"Cynen, hand your troops over to Gero. That side's going to be the more dangerous fight," Garrett said. "You and I will go deal with whatever those metal nightmares are, and once we're done, we'll come back and help."
"Will the two of you be enough?" Gero asked, her gaze raking over the silent ranks of metal armor.
"Yes," Garrett said. "We'll be fine. It looks like the enemy is about to move though, so let's get ready for a fight."
Turning, Gero saw that the Redcaps were beginning to shift, and with a nod to Garrett and Cynen, she turned and her body blurred, appearing in front of her troops as if she had teleported. The twin blades that had made her so famous were drawn from their sheaths, and without any preamble, she leveled them at the enemy.
"Charge!"
The word was like a whip crack, and every single one of the members of the Ebony Alliance immediately began to move. They were clearly used to her style of command, and they presented a fearsome picture as they raced across the square towards the Goblin Army, who answered with shrieks of their own.
Cynen commanded her troops to back up the Ebony Association, and soon they had rushed into battle as well, not wanting to be left out of the fight and miss out on improving their soul sparks. That left Garrett and Cynen to face the silent suits of metal armor that stood facing them. Seeing green flames beginning to burn on Cynen's fists, Garrett held up his hand.
"Wait a moment," he said.
Dutifully, Cynen extinguished the flames as Garrett began to walk forward, the sound of his feet drowned out by the roars of the two forces fighting behind him. When he arrived within twenty feet of the ranks of armor, one of them stepped forward, lifting a hand. A voice that sounded like a rusty piece of steel echoed in Garrett's head.
"Halt! None may approach the gate."
Pausing, Garrett looked at the armor, and then at the fog-covered buildings behind it. According to the map, this whole area surrounded the city's primary gate. And the closer he looked at these suits of armor, the more obvious it became that they were the same sorts of suits that could be found lining the halls of the palace, suits that had once been worn by knights who died in service to the city.
"Why can't I approach the gate?" Garrett asked, sending his voice directly to the suit of armor.
"It is forbidden," came the heavy reply.
"So long as I don't approach the gate, will you attack?" Instead of speaking, the suit of armor shook its head ponderously, causing a grating sound as the rusty metal rubbed together.
"Good enough for me," Garrett said.
Though he was intensely curious about what the armor was actually guarding, so long as the guardians were content to remain around the gate and not get in his way, Garrett was more than happy to explore that mystery another time.
"Cynen, let's go join the others."
Nodding, Cynen turned around, flame erupting from her body as she kicked off. Like a blazing fireball, she raced across the square, leaping over the awakened dreamers' lines and slamming down among the massed drudge goblins. Thrusting her fists out to either side, Cynen let out a shout as a ring of pale green flame mushroomed around her.
The large goblins shrieked in pain, thrashing this way and that, as she followed up her attack with fierce punches, dodging past their wild swings. Her every movement crushed bone, and the flames she left behind quickly began to spread.
Not to be outdone, Gero was battling with the worm monsters, her blades tearing through their skin, leaving long gashes that spurted black blood along their bodies and lopping limbs like they were thin branches. The awakened, armored, armed, and unified, tore into the goblin army, with a ferocity that caught even Garrett off guard.
A veritable torrent of experience began to roll in, as the 300-strong army chewed through their opponents. The din of battle was almost overwhelming, as Garrett strolled across the empty town square toward the fight. The closer he got, the more attention he paid to the dense forest of mushrooms and buildings that lay behind the Goblin Army, and the more he realized the gravity of the situation. It would have been simple enough for him to join in, but instead, he focused his attention on guarding against whatever forces the Great Ruler who ruled this territory wanted to throw at them. It was entirely possible that nothing would happen, but the fact that an army had been gathered in the first place told Garrett that they were likely facing an enemy who wouldn't be content to let them walk out of here alive.
Activating Observe the Dream, Garrett scanned the edge of the town square, looking for any sign of another force. It wasn't too long before he saw half a dozen hulking creatures creeping through the dense fog. Immediately he recognized them as trolls, though slightly fatter and diseased-looking. Each had a massive slimy tongue lolling from their open mouths, and Garrett decided then and there that he was going to eradicate every last trace of this Great Ruler from the city, as frankly, it was disgusting.
"Cynen, Gero, enemies on the left."
As soon as she heard his voice, Cynen slapped one of the drudge goblins aside and took off, burning a wide swath through the enemy lines as she headed towards the left side of the battlefield. Gero, who was closer, flicked her blades, sending a spray of black blood into the air, and her body blurred. A moment later, all of the enemies, in a line drawn to the left flank, exploded into pieces, chopped into dozens of bits as Gero flashed past them.
She arrived a few steps before Cynen and spotted the trolls, her eyes narrowing when she noticed their long tongues. The trolls, realizing they had been seen, let out loud roars and pounced forward. The one in the lead brought both of its hands down, trying to squash Gero, but she slipped past it, her swords cutting deep into its leg. With a roar, the troll tried to turn, tearing the wound on its leg open even further, but it didn't care, and a moment later its flesh began to heal at a rapid rate.