Many. The Skrat hadn’t lied. [Clairvoyance]’s extended sight may be purely mundane vision, but it isn’t hard for Vey to imagine the column of soldiers and supplies trailing behind the three dozen or so he can already see. Several hundred, in the dead of winter? Why? I thought they wouldn’t make any moves until spring…
Vey’s position in the treelines is rather safe, both because the white snow masks his form and the darkness of the woods will make him much more difficult to spot. Purely mundane camouflage, but it worked even without the snow all those months ago, why not reuse an old trick?
Still, this is a problem. Perhaps the biggest one he’s ever faced.
Actually, no. Pound for pound, the regular soldiers he’s fought have been so individually weak as to pose no threat at all. The problem is the adventurers and other leveled individuals he’s fought, and he wouldn’t be able to see that from here. And even if he did have a spell to measure relative magical aura-his method of ‘seeing’ level-he knows from experience with Sera’s shroud that such things can be faked if need be.
Even his own [False Aura] can fake his magical aura. It can’t erase it, but lulling an enemy into a false sense of security, it most certainly can. They do have at least one mage, probably more. He can see one at the front, using some sort of heating magic to clear snow out of the soldiers' paths. At the rate the snow is melting, Vey would expect the column of soldiers could move at a full marching speed for 4 hours a day with Vey’s reserve of MP, so his theory of multiple mages being a part of the column to get a reasonable rate of mobility is all but confirmed.
Sera hasn’t joined him yet, but he can feel two-no, five-undead tagging along with her up the cave to the hill. He hasn’t a way to communicate over a long distance beyond [Whispering Wing], and using any more magic before a potential fight would be bad practice, so perhaps he should return and meet her there? Even if individual soldiers are weak beyond measure compared to him, that’s only by comparison. A group of a hundred or more, they could probably wear down his magic and eventually his HP by pure attrition. In such a case, fighting with the full force he and Sera can bring to bear would be advisable.
What is the man at the head of the column doing? Looking through the snow? For what? The Skrat Tunnels!
Return. Now. Scatter in all directions but do not go in any direction close to the dungeon entrances, either of them, until it is known you are not followed!
His mental command sent, Vey looks down at the Skrat he’d used as a guide to get him to this hiding spot and mentally urges it to make dummy tunnels in as many directions as possible. As it tunnels under the snow off to to his left, Vey feels the end of [Clairvoyance] nearing and mentally goes over his spells. Battle strategy can be saved for a discussion with Sera, but while he’s got the enemy in his sights…
Spells Available for Casting: 18(Wzd Lvl + IntMod + 5)
Spell Mana Costs
Mirror Image
4
Shadow Cloak
4
Mage Armor
2+
Greater Evocation
*+
Siphon
12
False Aura
4
Identify
6
Dragonskin
6*
Bestow Curse
12
Stone Shape
12
Greater Alarm
4
Skullwatch
6
Shadow Phase
8
Sprinting
6
Forcewave
8
Resilient Sphere
8
Dispel
6+
Dueling
8
--
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Sera emerges from the cave at the hilltop to see Vey slowly walking up the hill towards her. We really need a better name for the hilltop. Kingshill, maybe? Vey does like being up here for some reason, I’m sure the others would like the name. Would the fountain be Queensfountain then? That seems like a slippery slope of a naming convention. Sera shakes off her thoughts as Vey enters earshot.
“What’s going on?” Sera’s voice is a bit louder than she’d initially thought to be, but the perceived urgency mixed up her nerves. “Is it intruders? Adventurers?”
“Soldiers. At least seventy. A few mages in the ranks, too.” Sera think’s Vey’s tone sounds calmer than he should sound, based on the news.
“Ok… do they know we’re here?”
“Not yet, but I suspect either the mages or their leader will see your structures from the road when they pass by that section. Assuming the snowless hilltop doesn’t alert them.” Vey’s gaze is settled on her eyes, but otherwise he seems unfocused, the same way he looks when he thinks he’s being sneaky about planning.
“What’s the plan?” Sera turns to the five undead at her side and tries to connect some dots. “Are we going to fight them head on, or ambush them? Or…”
“We should bring everything we have. Unlike the night raid on the camp, they’re ready for an ambush, and they probably won’t be making camp in any convenient location for a raid. Fighting them head on is foolish, even if I burned through all my remaining MP for the day, I’d only kill half because of how spread out they are.”
“And they’d wear me down through sheer numbers…” Sera thumbs the side of her face in thought, before she reaches a conclusion. “Do you think we could use the undead? At least an equal number of their soldiers are combat ready, and I think Dragon squad could make good commanders…”
“I was worried you’d be against that idea, actually.” Vey’s voice perked up a bit at her suggestion, something she’s grateful for. Vey’s thoughts are not at all unpredictable though, so she mentally frowns before he even begins continuing. “How many of them will fall to this? Even with all the training we can provide, only Dragon squad and Sheo have levels…”
“We’ll make up for the difference with magic.” Sera directs her attention to the undead she brought with her for a moment. “Vey, I think Dragon, Sheo, Amalgam, Troll, Ogre, and Zombie would suffice, are we fighting them near the village or near the road?”
“Hmm… in the trees by the village, natural cover for opening arrow barrages from the trio and Amalgam’s archers.”
“Hilda, fetch Dragon, Sam, Sheo, Hoji, Amalgam, Naje, Troll, Loko, Ogre. Aran, put everyone else in charge of guarding the subjects and the dungeon.”
--
Vey is still amazed that the nominally unintelligent undead, who can only communicate to him in the form of concepts and vague understandings, listen to Sera so diligently. Dragon, Sheo, Amalgam, Troll, Ogre, and Zombie squads indeed managed to successfully get the order even without Vey transmitting it to any undead via the command bond. Granted, it seems to be more a matter of the members of Dragon willingly dispersing themselves as intelligent leaders of each other squad except Sheo’s, with the trio leading Amalgam, Jyu leading Troll, Woi leading Ogre, Ter leading Zombie. Sheo obviously leads Sheo squad.
“Everyone here? Good.” Sera spoke first, which is fine by him, he’s been busy mentally preparing his battle plans. “Enemy soldiers march through the old village towards us. The plan is to attack from the treeline, first with arrow fire, then with a charge backed by Vey’s magic. The enemy is known to have at least two mages. No other information is known. Dragon squad and Sheo, please relay information to Vey as the battle progresses. If you spot an enemy with high combat prowess or an obviously leveled individual, do not engage, instead defer them to me and Vey.”
When did she become so articulate when addressing them? Vey’s mind races for the answer, as for a moment, her tone and phrasing made him feel a little bit inadequate in how he’s been addressing them with his own commands and the command bond. I suppose… maybe that’s how she gets the unminded ones to listen so strongly, she’s truly become the queen…
“If the enemy attacks you with magic, scatter. The most dangerous thing about magical attacks is the ability to damage multiple of you at once, spreading yourselves thin will mean that magic with large areas of effect will deal proportionally less damage than mundane combat would.” Vey’s addition to the preparing minded undead earns him a nod of approval from Dragon squad and Sheo, and he could swear that for a moment, Amalgam himself nodded slightly. Another on the verge of joining us in sapience… Good.
Vey lets the world fall away for a moment. He’s been having a nagging feeling in the back of his mind since he saw the man looking for the Skrat tunnels earlier, but can’t quite put a claw on it. Something doesn't feel right. He’s beginning to understand a bit more of the ‘intuition’ Sera claims to have about things she has no way of actually knowing. If anything, he’s worried that he’s missed some crucial information that he could have had, but doesn’t. It might be that he could’ve been evolved for this, or that something he saw earlier didn’t click properly.
“Sera, does anything feel off to you?” Vey gestures vaguely at the air around him as the undead begin slowly marching towards the site he and Sera chose to begin shooting from.
“I don’t think so? I’m a little nervous, and a little excited, but nothing different from things I’ve felt before.” Sera’s response is accompanied by her arm around his robed chest, a welcome change, if momentary.
Vey wonders if it’s just him. Maybe things are totally fine, and he’s going a little paranoid. He’s over prepared and over-reacted for a lot of things before, maybe this is just that but… worse, somehow.
“Wait… Hold on, I’m going to try something…” Sera stops walking and closes her eyes for a moment, then opens them again and turns her head up at Vey. “Actually, I’ll tell you before I do it. I’m going to disable the shroud for a moment, as see if that changes anything.”
“Why would tha-” Vey stops. The instant Sera closed her eyes, he felt it. He didn’t even need to look. He still did, though. Regular vision falling away to pure arcane sight, it was there. Like a star bleeding through a sea of blackness. In the center of the village. An eye. Instant recognition prompts a reaction of pure instinct, [Soul Tendrils] coiling up in front of him like a knotted wall to block the gaze. “Turn it back on!”
And the next instant, gone. The only thing remaining is that unsettling feeling in the back of his mind, now given context. A hate stronger than any other burning in the back of his skull, if he had to give it a feeling.
“What was that?” Sera’s voice sounds shaky, and Vey knows he’ll owe her a dozen apologies for so forcefully raising his voice at her, but nothing else matters to him right now.
“[Scrying]. The shroud was blocking it because they were specifically looking for you. Probably used the negative energy from the site of gods know which kill happened around there as the trace. And now they know we’re coming.” Vey points straight towards the direction the eye had been in, then directs his command bond at the small army of undead, and singles out every archer in the mix. “Change of plan. I will attempt a parley as bait to lure the mage away from the main column. Shoot him the moment he’s in range.”
--
“What the fuck did you just say?”
“An elf. Supernaturally beautiful, had magic too, I couldn't tell how much though! I sensed others with her, at least one of them is a high level mage an evil one, at my level or higher. But… more than that… She resisted the scrying, at least, at first. Then she just… let it happen, and then, as if to mock me, just shut me out again!” The sorcerer they’d hired for miscellaneous magical labor’s expression worries Kole greatly. As does the breathy and panicked way he way speaking. A level eight sorcerer, a mage stronger than Kole will ever be, showing so much concern.
Not good.
“What are they doing?” Captain Nils points at the two figures slowly wading through the snow. Kole quickly retrieves his looking glass and attempts to get a better view, but the Captain shakes his head and pushes the glass down. “Rhetorical, Lieutenant. I know what they’re here for. If there’s a mage capable of rivaling our mercenary here and we just tried to spy on them with magic… Situations like that usually end in hellfire and slaughter. Because we're soldiers, that mage will probably want to try diplomacy first, at least..."