“George...” Karl took a deep breath. “Run back to the Safe Zone. Get Jo and Tabitha, and as many third level or higher fighters, healers and mages as you can. Leave Letisha home on defense. This is going to be a bad fight. Hurry.” I hate to leave so much on her shoulders, but someone has to stay and she doesn't want to leave the egg. Plus she already showed that she has the best chance against a single large spawn if they come under attack.

“Yes, Sir Karl.” George paused for just a moment, then turned to go.

“No wait!” Karl called out quickly. George stopped for him, and Karl took another deep breath. “Gold won't do us any good if we're dead. Tell Maria that I authorize emergency spending on gear for the reinforcements, so long as they hurry. That includes you. Just hold back...four gold, for an emergency reserve. Warn them what we're fighting.”

“How much gold do you have?” George asked, eyes wide.

“Don't rub it in, I just got it and I'm spending most of it right now,” Karl groaned. “Go.” George went.

Damn it, if these things are supposed to be rare, then why have we encountered three kinds this afternoon!? Karl reminded himself that all the sightings were miles apart. Still, it felt like the Devil's own luck. They moved to a nearby porch to get mostly out of the rain while they waited.

“Do we want to wait that long for backup?” Barbara wondered aloud. Karl nodded.

“If these are rare spawns, we will need everyone we can get to take them down.”

A few minutes later Terry appeared and repeated her mother's question. Karl gave her the same answer, then told her to switch places with Christine so he could hear her firsthand account.

Less than ten minutes later, Christine showed up. “Here, Sir Karl.”

“Okay, good. We're waiting for more people from the Safe Zone. Hopefully it will only be another half an hour. Do you think they can hold out that long?”

Christine nodded. “We're in a stalemate. We were hoping the trolls would get bored and wander off in search of easier prey, but they're pretty stubborn.”

“So how do they fight?”

“Simple, brute force. One of them picks up big rocks and throws them; that's how we lost Ben. But most of the time all three just use these huge clubs and bash at things. A single hit almost killed Doug, although that may have been a critical strike.”

“How fast do they move?”

“Faster than the volunteers can match. Maybe as fast as most of us run if we're dodging through trees. On a straight road like this they're probably faster than everyone but Terry.”

“Their defenses?”

“Shields and healing. Crazy rapid healing. Sir Karl, I don't know how to take them down.”

“That's why I sent for Tabitha.”

“I thought of that, but can she get close enough without getting killed? I don't think even Jo could take more than a couple of hits protecting her.”

“Tabitha has learned to cast fireballs.”

Christine's mouth formed an O. “That would help.”

“We've already more than doubled the firepower, and we'll bring more.”

Christine looked down for several moments. “Sir, I'm not sure how much help third level warriors will be against the trolls. I wasn't all that much use myself.”

“I didn't call for them to fight the trolls. I called for them so they can get the volunteers to safety while we fight the trolls.”

Christine looked up and nodded, relieved. “I like the sound of that a lot better, Sir.”

“And don't worry, you've got better equipment now and are back in the fight. But as soon as we get home, I'm buying you a spare bow. You are dramatically more powerful with it than without, so let's make sure you're never without again.”

“I...thank you, Sir Karl.”

“Don't worry, I came into some gold, and this is about the best possible use of it I can think of.”

“I would prefer it if you got better armor, Sir.”

“I did. And a replacement shield.”

Christine nodded in obvious relief. Karl thought back and realized that two days ago, the group had spent a good fraction of their entire collective wealth to surprise him by buying him his first shield. I guess they think protecting me is important. And speaking of protection...

Karl cast Guardian Angel on Christine and Murray, then waited for his mana to tick back up again. Hopefully he had timed it right and the ones on Terry and Michael would still be up when the fight began. He explained what the spell did and didn't do so that they wouldn't get overconfident.

“All right, time to rough draft a battle plan. Christine, was it only one of the trolls that threw rocks?”

“I believe so.”

“Can you identify which one it was? I'd like to take him down first.”

“I'm...not sure, Sir. And I actually think that one is less dangerous overall. With the rocks, all you have to do is dodge and you're fine. Going toe to toe with those things is brutal. We need better gear and more levels.” Karl mentally noted that Christine had a high agility and might be overestimating that of others.

“The better gear is coming.” Karl sighed. All that gold...half an expansion! “So, what do you think would happen if Terry leads off the fight by backstabbing one of them and taunting them as she runs away?”

Christine thought. “They don't seem overly bright. The smart move would be to throw rocks at her and stay on our people, but...either one or two would chase her, I think.”

“And she's fast enough to get away...”

“Karl, you can't be seriously suggesting that our daughter take on one or two of those alone!?”

“Barbara, since it's not a suicidal move she's likely to do it regardless, so I might as well build the plan around what she's going to do anyway. All I can do is suggest a target and timing. Your daughter is not stupid, she is the highest level and very possibly the most powerful person in Endurance, and I've learned to trust in her abilities.” Karl chewed his lip for a moment, thinking.

“Divide and conquer, clearly. But this is vital: we have to focus all of our attacks on killing one of them. Rapid regeneration is as bad as having two dedicated healers per foe. Worse. Distract the other, sure, but maximize our damage dealing on one until it's dead.” Everyone nodded as if that were simple common sense, so Karl guessed he hadn't screwed anything up yet. How can we deal extra damage? I hope Jake advises people on gear, or comes up with something himself to help.

Is that what fights are going to turn into? Gear specialized to take out specific foes? I don't know where we can possibly get enough money to keep doing this. It's a miracle I got the money to do it once.

After a while Terry came back and commented, “I could tie these guys' shoelaces into knots if they wore them. Just say when, and I start shish-kebab-ing.”

Karl got more practice with the vital command skill of sitting around waiting for troops to get into position. Finally, after what felt like far too long a time, they spotted movement to the south. George was leading the reinforcements. As they got close enough to be seen better, several jaws dropped.

George was in dressed head to toe in dark leather. Tabitha wore a red robe. Jo was in an improvement over her old plate armor, and had a larger shield and better sword. Jake was there, looking the same as usual but wearing a backpack stuffed to the gills, which given the inventory space everyone had was really saying something. Four people had matching gray robes. Five other people wore chain mail.

Karl nodded, feeling a lot better about the upcoming fight. He felt better still when they started handing out the presents. George gave a set of brown leather armor and a couple of dozen knives to Terry. She immediately dropped into stealth to change clothes. Jake offered a spare bow. Christine compared it to her borrowed one and swapped. Then he handed out several quivers full of color coded arrows to Michael and Christine, and started explaining how to ignite or otherwise arm them. Michael whistled softly when he saw the vicious barbs on some of them. Christine swallowed, stared for a moment, then nodded and accepted her share. One of the fighters handed Duncan a set of chain and a shield.

Karl felt the pangs of the spent gold but let it go. It was done. And, once he thought about it, he realized that a lot of this gear was simply a good long-lasting investment. It would always be good for the common and uncommon spawn, and there would always be people of the appropriate levels and classes to wear them. The only gold being burned up in a single fight was probably the trick arrows.

Once they'd had several minutes to get their equipment together and inspected, Karl held up his arms.

“All right. Thank you all for coming. The mission here is to rescue our trapped comrades. Five of them are unclassed volunteers who were along to carry food supplies. One part of the mission is to get those five out of the basement they are trapped in, and escort them immediately back to the Safe Zone. That will be the job of you six in chain mail, and...who's a healer?” Two hands went up. Karl picked one at random. “You go with them.”

“You are not to engage the trolls if there is any other option. Until the volunteers are freed, your job is to be the last line of defense for the casters. As soon as the volunteers are freed, protect them and get them home. If you run into an uncommon spawn or something you don't think you can handle on the way back, break into the nearest house, kill the common spawn inside, and hunker down until reinforcements come for you. You should have one scout with you who can go for help if needed...”

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At that point Kat McPhee dropped out of stealth near her people. “That'll be my job.”

Karl raised eyebrows for a moment, then nodded. “Perfect. I know you'll get them home, Sheriff.”

He looked around at the others. “How the rest of this plays out depends on how many trolls Terry lures away.

“If she pulls all of them away, we get our people out and start a retreat. If we have the option of fighting them from atop our wall, we should take it. Terry, if you draw all three away your sole job is survival. We can always try again if they all return quickly.” He glanced around.

“Yeah, I'm listening, Sir Karl, keep going.” Karl couldn't spot her, so just nodded.

“Likewise for you if you draw two of them. If you draw only one, your mission is to keep luring them as far away as possible, and then eventually back once we've killed the other two. If you don't draw any away, I'll be very surprised, but you can clear out and come back in to try again if that happens.”

Karl looked around. “Now for the rest of us. Fighters, our job is to keep the trolls away from the bows and casters. Keep the trolls mad at us and not them. Annoy them constantly. Any damage we do them is a bonus. Anyone who can attack from range does so; stick together unless the trolls throw rocks. If they do throw, spread out just enough so that they can't target more than one of you at a time. Michael, pick the target and fire the first shot, then Tabitha fireballs, then everybody with range attacks on that same one. Scouts, rogues, take your choice of attacks, but be aware there will be a few fireballs so you might want to stay back and throw damage if you can. Healers, do what you do best, focus on the lowest level people first. I want all of us alive at the end of this, understand?”

He drew himself up. “That's the plan. Any objections?” No one answered. “Anything to add?”

Jake spoke up. “The arrow types are barbed, fire and acid. Try not to get any on you.”

“'Important safety tip, thank you, Egon',” somebody muttered and Jake grinned.

“All right, is everyone ready?”

“Just...unh...one...nnngh...second...yeah!” Terry dropped out of stealth, all decked out in her new gear. Karl wasn't sure how System gear could be hard to get into, but he wasn't about to get drawn into discussing the intricacies of stealth gear or female anatomy. He held out his hand to her. She took it, and he cast Guardian Angel on her again.

Karl looked around. Then he summoned his sword and gripped it, point downward. “God and System, please bless us as we fight for our worthy cause. We are strong, we are many, and we are united in our humanity. May we all do what is right, may we all live to see tomorrow, and may we all truly live today. Amen.”

There was a murmur among the group. At first Karl thought it was some muttered replies of 'Amen', but he thought he heard quiet casting from Valerie too. Then he realized people were opening notifications, and saw that he had a few as well.

System notification: Your skill in Righteous Presence has increased (3—>4)

You have learned the prayer spell Blessing of Courage (1)

Blessing of Courage: +2 to willpower

Affects all nearby allies of caster

Duration: fifteen minutes

Cost: 40 Mana

You have received Blessing of Courage. +2 to willpower

You have received Blessing of Life.

Blessing of Life: health points regeneration rate increased 50%

Affects all nearby targets selected by caster

Duration: thirty minutes

Karl closed the window with a small smile. “Terry, start the party.”

“Aye Aye, Sir Karl!” She vanished into stealth.

“George, lead the approach, pick our spot to stop.”

“Okay, slow walk,” George said quietly. “We'll pause out of line of sight, then I'll beckon you forward when the trolls move.” They walked forward with as little noise as possible, which was still plenty with people marching in armor. They paused when George held up his hands, then he vanished for a couple of minutes.

Then they heard a very loud, deep roar of anger, followed by pounding footsteps. A few seconds later, George reappeared, beckoning. The group surged forward into a clearing containing the wreckage of a house, and two very large yellow trolls. A flaming arrow shot through the air to land in the arm of one of the trolls, who roared in annoyance. The fight was on.

Tabitha launched a fireball at the targeted troll, followed by another, and another. Each seemed to make the troll angrier more than anything else. After the third fireball, a few Mana Darts followed, then a barrage of arrows from Michael and Christine. Both trolls charged towards the casters. Jo ran to meet the one targeted and get in its way.

Karl met the charge of the uninjured one on the left, using a Shield Bash on the leg in the air, making the troll hop on one leg awkwardly. Karl stabbed it in that leg, which it didn't seem to notice. “Here I am, you big idiot!” Karl yelled at it, grabbing the leg in the air and pushing forward with all his strength.

He felt the troll's hand on him, and then it lifted him bodily several feet into the air. Karl summoned a rock and threw it in its face. The troll only had a one handed grip on him, so its first attempt to crush him in its fist was mostly ineffectual. He was able to twist free and fell to the grass, landing on his feet. He summoned his new bastard sword, gripped it two handed, and spun around in a circle to build power in his swing before slamming it into the troll's left leg with a satisfying thunk. It cut fairly deep, but didn't stop the troll at all.

Annoyed now, Karl left the sword sticking out of its leg, dove at the troll's foot, and proceeded to summon all the biggest rocks in his inventory on top of it. Resummoning his shield and his orcish short sword, Karl did his best to bash the troll's shin and more importantly to stop its controlled forward movement.

The troll tripped. Finally. Karl ended up under its leg, losing some health in the impact, but it was worth it to stop the advance. He summoned a long knife into each hand and stabbed the leg on top of him repeatedly. More of the troll's weight bore down on him as the beast rolled. Finally it lifted off him and he staggered to his feet.

Karl could hear the other troll bellowing in pain and rage. He spared it a quick glance to show that it now sported half a dozen flaming arrows, and a few spots on its skin sizzled. It was also looking a little crispy around the edges. He could see at least one rogue stabbing it in the leg. And Barbara Williams was screaming and whaling on the other leg with a club.

Meanwhile his troll appeared to have remembered that it also had this big club, got to its feet despite Karl's best efforts and swung at him. He was caught flat-footed and the impact knocked him from half health down to 15/282, as well as sending him a dozen feet off to one side and landing on his back, gasping for breath. Abruptly he heard a yell from his left, and Doug charged past him to slam into the troll before it could recover from its swing. Then Karl glowed golden and could breathe much more easily.

Chenelle.

There she was, climbing up some stairs out of the wreckage of the house, and waving others past her. A moment later she gestured and Doug glowed golden, having just gotten hit by another swing. Kat McPhee ran past him going towards the ruins, shouting to the volunteers to follow her to safety. Good. People were doing their jobs. Time to get back to his own.

He was surprised to see Jim come out of stealth, not on the target troll but on this one, and not on its back but riding its club arm. Jim did something and black goop abruptly spilled all over the troll's hand, forearm, and club. The rogue fell to the ground and tried to roll away but slipped. Karl saw the troll's foot coming down and charged forward, aborting his shield bash when he saw that he would only end up centering the troll's foot to do more damage. Instead he dove for Jim, casting healing hands on him just as the foot came down.

The spell sputtered, which was terrifying, but took. Karl immediately cast it again, and again, while the troll raised its club up high and swung down at him. He braced himself and held his shield at an angle hoping to redirect the blow...which never landed.

There was a very loud THUD next to him and the troll's club slammed into the ground a few feet away, covered in motor oil. The troll had lost its grip partway through the swing. Jim, you crafty, crafty rogue you.

Then everyone heard the FWOOSH of Tabitha's flamethrower spell and the scream of the targeted troll, followed by the enormous sound of its body hitting the ground. A cheer went up from the massed humans. The troll Karl and Jim were fighting wasted several moments trying and failing to pick up its club, while a hail of arrows started descending on it, some of which it blocked with its shield.

It roared, and jumped in the air, freeing Jim, but Karl saw what was coming and dove forward, dumping nearly all his remaining mana into Guardian Angel. The troll's foot came down with all of his weight on top of Jim, and Karl sensed the 'pop' of the spell expiring, but Jim was still alive. “I'm out!” he shouted in warning, hurrying over to where his sword had fallen when the troll's regeneration had ejected it from its knee. He found himself wishing for more weapons again, but did his best with his new sword.

You have learned the skill Bastard Sword (1). Learning is best done by doing.

His grip steadied and he swung and swung again. A moment later Jo and Barbara had joined him and he grew more cautious with his strikes so as not to hit allies. It became a blur of action and Karl yanked Jim out from under the troll at the first opportunity and staggered backwards, making room for the other melee fighters.

A fireball engulfed the top half of the troll, and the motor oil burst into green flames, making the monster howl. It swung with its shield, bashing both Barbara and Jo to one side, and started towards the casters, but Doug was there, and then the troll tripped, revealing George who shimmered out of stealth as he was kicked several feet in the air and a couple of dozen feet away.

Karl started forward again, but stopped when he saw the flaming arrows embedding themselves in the troll's back. Jake stepped forward and threw...something. Somehow it unfolded into a bedsheet, wrapped around the troll's head, and then tightened around its neck. It was only blinded for a moment as it reached up and ripped the sheet away by sheer strength, but it wasted the troll's effort. Everything helped.

Mana darts flew in from two directions. More arrows hit the troll, these not flaming but smoking a sort of purple haze. Daggers flew. Karl had no mana but instinctively was still looking around for anyone who needed healing, and wasn't in melee, which is how he spotted it first.

The other troll was starting to get back up.

Yell for the others? No! If they split their attention back and forth it'll be disorganized and we'll never get any of them to stay down. Shield, or just sword? Damage. Even as he had these thoughts he was charging, picking up speed, racing past one combat and back towards the other one which was frighteningly close to the casters. Cut or stab? Stab. We'll never win with small hits.

His top speed startled him and he didn't feel fully in control of his movement. Concepts flashed through his mind without time to be formed fully into thoughts. A flicker of motion to the side told him that others were becoming aware of the danger and saw him race by. God and System, let me strike true.

Karl was a missile. The tip of his sword wavered, steadied. With every bit of his momentum, he stabbed into the troll's side.

Critical Strike: Damage X4.

Karl had the wind completely knocked out of him and his right shoulder wrenched out of its socket as the impact took most of his remaining health. But the troll fell. A moment later, so did Karl. He sat there, hissing in pain, and watched the troll's body. His eyes roved from wound to wound, checking for any sign of healing. Sure enough, one of the small cuts was closing. It still wasn't dead.

Karl got up, holding his sword left handed, and staggered over. He hesitated for the barest moment, but felt his own Blessing of Courage sustaining him. Taking a deep breath, he spun himself around and slammed his bad shoulder against the troll just as a weak golden glow enveloped him. His shoulder popped back into space, prompting a brief involuntary scream that he cut off as soon as he could. Panting, he turned and nodded to the low level healer in robes who had just helped him.

He moved over to the troll's neck, lifted his sword high overhead in his left hand, and then slowly forced his right arm to rise shakily and take hold of the hilt as well. He swung downward, and knew he wasn't going to do even normal amounts of one-handed damage, but the sword bit into its neck, and he began laboriously sawing back and forth, using just his left arm.

Even if I don't manage to kill it, if I can just keep doing damage until the others are free, keep up with its regeneration...

“JO!” Karl heard Tabitha scream from nearby. Then he heard sizzling, and a thunder of footsteps, and then he was gently being pushed aside. Karl took several steps back and fell on his rump. “Rematch,” Tabitha called in a more normal tone.

And Karl watched, too tired to laugh, as Tabitha and Jo competed to see who could sever more of a troll's neck first.