Walking back into the guild building to let the cleanup happen, Tom was taken to the security center where the other leaders in the guild were gathering. He explained what he had seen while in the enemy base and outside the walls when he briefly caught a glimpse of the person he thought to be The Master.
"So he's a necromancer too. That complicates things." Brian pondered their new predicament with a hand on his chin.
"Lily didn't mention any zombies before. I wonder if they were hidden?" Herbert asked no one in particular, Bohdan, now at his side seeming to have taken a role as his permanent assistant.
"We can just kill zombies, no?" Bohdan offered.
"The issue is that if he is a necromancer and can raise the dead, there sure are an awful lot of dead now to choose from," Tom replied, growing worried at the possibilities with so many monsters and people lying dead in the city.
"I want double watches put at every access point and some towers built to see over the wall with at least two people on watch in the towers at any given time," Derek began. "We will at least begin watching for more attackers. That way we can be prepared if they come and at least defend ourselves while we figure out how we will deal with this new problem."
"Sorry for getting us in this mess," Tom apologized feeling bad for bringing this on the guild.
"It's okay, Tom. It's actually a good thing after all that you did. If we had never gone and found out, his army would grow unchecked. Now we at least know what we are up against and won't be caught off guard when he does decide to expand." Derek consoled Tom. "It would have been really bad for this to grow under our noses and not know until it was too late to do anything about it."
"Derek's right. If we had just gone on unaware they would eventually strike and we might not be ready or able to handle it. So best that we know so we can work on a strategy." Brian added.
"We can't let him go unchecked. Not only is he enslaving people, but now we know he has the ability to make an army of the undead. So what do we do about it?" Tom asked, leaning against a table at the edge of the room near the door.
"I think we only have one option, and I really hate even to suggest it," Brian said finally.
"What's that?" Tom asked concerned about what Brian was going to say.
"War..." Brian spoke the word gravelly. "But I would feel more comfortable if we let everyone know and had a vote about it to get a sense of how those fighting that war would feel."
"I'm not sure I'm ready to drag everyone else into this mess," Tom said, worried about the consequences of this course of action.
"Tom, I truly have come to consider you a friend, and beyond that, someone I respect. So I say this out of a place of love...don't be a fucking moron." Brian said the last part with near anger. "You aren't the only one here who is trying to make a better world for us to live in."
Tom was stunned by the sudden outburst. He had never seen Brian be so violently opposed to something that he would go straight to war as the answer. Brian had always been a level-headed individual who thought things all the way through. To see him in a state where he was about to lose his cool over something someone was doing was a side of him Tom had never imagined seeing.
"You really feel strongly enough to go to war over this?" Tom asked through his shock.
"Yes. The idea that this man is enslaving people is enough to make me want to commit atrocities. Then to find out he can command a second army is enough to scare me into action before this gets completely out of control." Brian said firmly with a determination in his eyes that blazed like a forest fire. "I know what it's like to be bound by someone and feel like you have to obey their every command and no human should have to live that way."
"Alright. Then gather everyone together so we can talk to them. I'll get ready to meet you there." Tom said looking around suddenly. "Has anyone seen James?"
"Last I saw him, he was taking Squirrel down to the infirmary. He seemed to be carrying him." TJ said.
"I hope everything is okay. I'm going to check on him before meeting in the gym." Tom informed them and turned, leaving the room.
Walking through the building, Tom made his way to the infirmary to check on James and Squirrel. When he entered the infirmary, there were people busy moving in many directions. The beds that normally sat empty were almost full of patients with varying degrees of injuries. Clerics went from bed to bed healing people and helping to make them feel comfortable while they rested.
Since the Grand System had been introduced and healing magic was introduced, the rate of recovery went from days, weeks, or even months, to minutes. The only thing that slowed the process was spell cooldowns and mana pools. Tom was happy to see that most of the people in the medical area were smiling or chatting with each other. As he entered the room, Tom heard TJ making an announcement.
"All members of the Vanguard Guild are requested to meet in the gym for a guild meeting. I repeat, all members of the Vanguard Guild are requested to meet in the gym in thirty minutes for a guild meeting."
In the corner, though, was one person who wasn't smiling and sitting on the floor next to a cot holding a wolf. Squirrel was lying on the bed with Rebecca standing next to him. She was looking him over, not using magic. Tom moved over to where they were at.
"What's going on? Is everything alright with Squirrel?" Tom asked as he got closer.
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"We aren't sure. Everything I can see tells me there's nothing wrong with him." Rebecca stated as she looked down at him. "But he's burning up and doesn't seem to want to move. So we are just going to monitor him, keep him hydrated, and hope for the best for now. That's really all we can do."
Tom reached down and stroked Squirrel's fur. Squirrel looked up at him and began panting and wagging his tail slightly, appearing happy to see him.
"Hey there, bud. You just rest and get well. We will take care of the rest and you'll be back with us before you know it. You did good, Squirrel." Tom spoke softly to him.
James was nearly in pieces with worry about Squirrel. He sat cross-legged with his elbows resting on his knees and his chin in his hands as he stared at the wolf lying on the cot.
"Hey, James, can we talk for a few minutes? There is something happening you need to know about." Tom said to him placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Can it wait? I'd rather stay here with Squirrel." James asked.
"Unfortunately, no. We need to talk now. Walk with me for a bit." Tom said, feeling bad for pulling him away from his familiar.
"We will monitor him and let you know if anything changes. I promise he's in the best hands here." Rebecca assured him.
James stood up reluctantly and moved to pet Squirrel.
"I'll be back, I promise. You just rest and get better." James soothed him as he stroked the fur on his neck.
"What exactly happened to Squirrel?" Tom asked as they walked out of the room, not wanting to talk about the other issue until they weren't around so many people.
"We were fighting out in the zombie battle and Squirrel was killing zombies left and right. When it finished he had this deranged look in his eye like he was about to go feral. Suddenly he just dropped to the ground and started heating up. I brought him here as quickly as I could." James explained.
"I'm sure Rebecca and the other healers will be able to figure it out," Tom said trying to ease James' fears.
Walking back down the hall toward the main lobby, Tom spoke quietly to James.
"It looks like we are probably going to war with The Master. We are going to be gathering the whole guild in the gym to tell them about the options and vote on what we do next." Tom explained.
"I'd be happy to go kick that guy's ass. But are we sure we are ready for that?" James asked concerned and still slightly distracted by Squirrel's condition.
"After what I saw today, I think so. Everyone came to my aid. And they fought for this guild. We should do the same for those who are being held captive by that asshole." Tom replied.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense....wait. Do you hear that noise?" James asked suddenly when they had walked into the lobby.
Almost no one was around right now, likely headed for the gym after the announcement. There was a soft but steady rhythmic ping, ping, ping of a hammer being banged on something metal coming from the stairs leading to the basement of the building. Looking at each other for a moment, the silent bond between James and Tom showed when they both moved for the stairs at the same time to check out what was going on.
As they came to the bottom of the stairs, the air in the room was much warmer than up in the lobby. They could see the glow of a fire reflecting on the walls and the steady rhythm of the hammer falls was growing louder. Across the now much-expanded basement, sat a forge, and a large man wearing nothing but a tank top, jeans, and boots was standing over the anvil hammering on a glowing piece of metal. He stopped, inspected it through a pair of goggles he was wearing, and stuck it back into the fire.
"Hello? I'm sorry, but did you miss the announcement? All guild members to the gym?" Tom called from across the basement.
The man turned to look at them and lifted his goggles from his head.
"Sorry, I missed it. It's just a bit loud down here in ze basement when I am doing ze hammering on ze metal." The man said with a thick German accent and a deep bassy voice.
When Tom and James got closer, they also realized that this was a mountain of a man. Standing at least six-and-a-half feet tall, hair covering his arms up to the shoulder and clearly going down his back. It even stuck out of the top of his shirt, looking as though he was trying to smuggle Bob Ross somewhere.
"I don't think we've been properly introduced, I'm Tom and this is James," Tom said reaching out to shake the giant man's hand.
"I'm Roland. I've been a smith for mein entire adult career, and now it seems it is finally paying off. Sorry about not coming when ze call came out, but I was down here making rüstung for ze guild." Roland said as he shook Tom's hand.
His hand nearly swallowed Tom's and if Tom hadn't had as high of a Strength as he did, it likely would have crushed it. Moving to James next to shake, James whined and bent slightly at the knees when he took his hand.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow..." James complained.
"Oh, sorry about zat. Sometimes I forget mein strength." Roland replied letting go of his hand.
"That's alright, but what is rüstung?" Tom asked.
"Oh, it is...how you say...um, armor I think?" Roland said trying to find the English word for it.
"Ahhh! That's excellent! Do you make other things too?" Tom asked interested in what he was working on.
"Rüstung more like rüstunk," James mumbled under his breath as he held his nose.
"Vat? I'm not sure I understand what you are meaning." Roland said to James.
"What? Oh, nothing. Just a joke." James tried to backpedal, realizing the size difference again.
"Ahh, I see. Sorry, I do not get jokes normally. Just somezing I am working on for now." Roland replied, looking back at Tom.
"It's ok. It sounds like English is your second language so that is understandable." Tom tried to ease the tension a little.
"I work on whatever is needed by ze guild. I have made armor, weapons, parts for little machines zat Herbert builds. I can make many sings." Roland said.
"Making people sing, I thought only my old elementary school teacher did that," James tried again with the joke.
Roland just stared at him with a confused expression.
"Your music teacher made people sings? Like toys?" He asked.
"No sense of humor, already forgot. This is going to be fun." James said exasperated.
"Sorry, Roland, but we do need everyone up in the gym for a meeting. Can you come back to your work?" Tom asked.
"Sure. I just need to take ze metal out of ze fire so it does not veaken." Roland explained as he pulled his gloves back on and used tongs to take the piece of metal out of the forge.
He sat it on the anvil to cool and took his gloves back off.
"Well, I am off to ze meeting. See you both zere." Roland said as he waved and moved toward the stairs.
"Fun guy," James said sarcastically when Roland was out of earshot.
"Come on, we should get there too. We need to get everyone's feelings on the new plan. It may get messy before this is over." Tom said to him, pushing James back toward the stairs.