“Why aren’t they coming?” Bella asked. “If they wanted to make progress they should have acted while Voss was attacking the Swamp, but they didn’t.”
I flicked through the streams on my own tablet, looking at the various floors. Just like Bella said, everything was quiet. “My best guess is, they’re either playing defensively, since they’re down to just the Cliffs and Village, or they’re waiting until we make a move before committing to an attack.”
“If that was true, they should have pushed when Voss attacked, and they still had a buffer,” Bea scoffed. “I think they’re on the defensive.”
“So what do we do? Attack one floor, in order to provoke the other?” Bella asked.
I shook my head, as I swapped my tablet over to the communication channel. “There’s no point, if we want to make this exciting, we need to at least attempt to make a run on the Admiral. Sullivan and his staff are fairly fresh, so they should be able to take one of those floors. I’d like to send Gun’Thur against the final floor, but since I don’t have a way to motivate him, it’ll either have to be us or Kass.” I looked up at my friends, “So… think you’re up for another foray?”
“Do we have enough staff to make an attack?” Bea asked, “We have the anthophilans and pekeketua, but the alarunes aren’t exactly the most mobile troops. If you send Sullivan to the Cliffs, the centaurs are going to have serious problems with the narrow paths.”
“We have the pekeketua blowpipes, and my troops,” Bea reminded her. “Although, I’m not sure if that’ll be enough against Cecillia’s storm magic.”
“The sirens have some ranged weapons,” I said, while typing a quick message out to Sullivan, “Unfortunately, they lost a lot of their pets, but Calliope’s healing is a force multiplier. Combined with the blowpipes, and anthophilan air support, I think we can take the Cliffs.”
“If you think so, I’m willing to give it a try,” Bea replied with a shrug.
“Just make sure you ask Calliope for a touch-up before you begin,” I said, while typing in another message to Kass “Its a long way to the top, so make sure you pace yourselves.”
After Bea gave me a quick nod, before flying off to prepare her troops. I sat back down on a nearby log, and swapped my tablet back over to the streams. Things were winding down, but the match wasn’t over yet.
—
With a single gesture all of Sullivan’s staff formed up into ranks, surrounding the imposing Dullahan. His centaur cavalry, and wraith archers hadn’t seen any action yet, so they were raring to go.
“I want everyone to stay in a loose formation!” Sullivan yelled. “Apparently Soothsayer Kenaya is a little bit of a trickster, she’s capable of slowing magic, and she has a cannon. Stay alert, if there’s an ambush, I want to keep our casualties as low as possible.”
As his troops saluted, Rembrandt pointed at one of the centaurs, a smaller woman who only had leather armour, then gestured towards the village. The woman nodded, then immediately took off down the main street.
Once she was out of sight, the rest of the formation set out. The revenants spread out, in a loose skirmish formation in the front, behind them were the wraiths. Although they had a semi-corporeal form like the revenants, they were a lot quicker, and capable of limited flight, but were way more vulnerable to physical attacks. That’s why they were armed with bows. Finally, the armored centaurs took a flanking formation. Sullivan took a position right in the middle, ready to react to any attacks that might come.
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The advance was slow, but steady. No one asked unnecessary questions, everyone knew what to do. After a couple minutes, the scout reported back. “The road splits up ahead, just beyond an overpass that crosses the road. There were a couple musketeers who took potshots at me there, but no sign of the cannon, or the soothsayer. Both roads are slightly curved, but fairly straight. Considering how far they are from the end of the floor, they'll either spring an ambush there, or try to hold out in the boss arena.” After she finished reporting, the woman saluted, and stepped to the side.
Sullivan adjusted the grip on his head, then lifted it aloft, so he could get a better look at the street, then he turned to two heavily-armored centaurs. “Hevonen, I want you to rush the left fork, Caballo the right. If there’s an ambush, try and spring it and return immediately. If you can’t, blow your horns.” The two centaurs saluted, before taking off at full charge.
As they approached the crossroads, the musketeers popped up and shot at the approaching centaurs. The musket balls pinged harmlessly off their armor as they shot past. Sullivan turned his head towards the wraiths, “Cut those fools down.”
The wraiths shot forward, jumping from the street, bouncing off the sides of buildings, and advancing at a frightening rate. The musketeers panicked, and took a few wild shots, shooting down two of the wraiths, before abandoning their position and fleeing. They didn’t get far. The remaining wraiths jumped above their prey, hung in the air for a moment, and unleashed their arrows. The ethereal arrows cut through the fleeing men, dropping them immediately. Before the wraiths even hit the ground, there was the sound of a horn, followed by a massive explosion down the left road.
“Calvary, full charge down the right path, don’t let anything stop you until you flank that cannon. The rest of us will advance up the left, and attract its attention,” Sullivan declared, marching out in front of the rest of his troops. The revenants and wraiths struggled to catch up to him, as he strode forward. The streets echoed with his metal-plated footfalls as he stepped forward, without fear. As he stepped around the corner, he came face to face with Kenaya, and the cannon, which was being rolled away.
“I didn’t think you’d be so brazen, after the loss of your man,” Kenaya taunted. “Shame, I didn’t think you’d follow, otherwise I’d have left a surprise for you.”
“Unfortunate. If you had, maybe this would have been difficult,” Sullivan retorted. He raised a hand and flicked it forward. “Wraiths, flank!”
The semi-ethereal archers shot forward. Bouncing directly to the rooftops, and rushing forward. They were half way down the street when Kenaya raised her arm, and snapped her fingers. Instantly, the wraiths slowed to an almost standstill.
“I’ll try to do better next time. Follow me into my arena, if you want to find out what I’m capable of.” As the half-troll turned to leave there was another horn blast, followed by hoof beats. Kenaya turned towards the other road, eyes-wide, just as the cavalry charge connected. The armored centaurs rushed through, lance-first, and instantly despawning the soothsayer and cannon crew. The wraiths regained their movement, but just settled upon the rooftops to await orders.
The head centaur saluted. “We bypassed a group of sharkin defending the other road, but were unobstructed otherwise,” The well-armored man reported. He looked down at where Kenaya had been standing and scoffed. “Not much of a strategist, was she?”
“She was a trickster, not a strategist. If she was good with tactics we would have had more problems with the match. She arranged ambushes, and arranged decent matchups, but if she really knew our strategies and weaknesses, she would have expected you lot. She’s no Talia, that’s for sure.”
He stepped forward, “Go back and finish off those sharkin, fast as you can. We don’t have much time left, and Talia wants to try and make a run on the Admiral before we run out of time.”
As the centaurs turned back, and rushed off to deal with the remaining foes, Sullivan headed towards the end of the floor. It was unfortunate that he didn’t get much action during this match, but at least he got some. There was always next time after all.