“What the? How did? There wasn’t even a prompt!” babbled a confused CJ.
“The warmth is nice, but the light is giving our position away. They’ve sped up. Any chance you can stop doing that?” asked Rubio, now fully turned and facing CJ.
“It… it just happened. I don’t know why or even how. I was just looking at the lights in the courtyard and thinking about the magic inherent in how it changed color. It’s the how that bothers me—” CJ was abruptly cut off by a new slate notification. This one had a golden border and leapt to the forefront of his vision.
New Class Ability Learned: Reverse Enchanting- This ability allows the user to convert any enchantment into a spell with the appropriate amount of stud. The more basic the enchantment, the easier it will be to learn.
CJ looked at the description. It made no mention of a cost associated with reverse engineering an enchantment. He guessed the time invested would have to count instead. Magic items weren’t very prolific until a few days ago. CJ wasn’t sure how much use he’d get out of this but he’s glad he had it. There would be a long conversation between him and Monty in the future. Would he be able to learn that super sharp enchantment that was on his thumb ring? Why hadn’t he learned it already? Maybe it was more about the substance and less about spell empowering it, CJ didn’t know. Once he was back in Leaf’s Bend, he’d spend some more time exploring his magic instead of running around using it by instinct.
New Message from Monty: Why do we know a rainbow flame spell now?
New Message from Party Leader CJ: Long story, we’ll talk about it later.
New Message from Psycho: Ooh I wanna see!
New Message from Party Leader CJ: Then look at the Sconces and Torch lights.
New Message from Rubio: Focus people. We have incoming. Firearms first, this should be good practice for you.
CJ pulled a handgun from his inventory after dismissing the colored flame. The revolver he found in the back office of the hardware store appeared in his hand. It still only had three shots. He sifted through whatever ammunition he had left and found three more bullets that were compatible. CJ spun out the chamber and loaded it up. He flicked it back into place with the snap of his wrist and smiled. That reminded him of some old westerns.
“Point that barrel down until you have a target,” barked Rubio, before turning back to the archway and peering toward the east.
The lines in the snow had indeed sped up. Now Rubio had a better line of sight at the closest digging creature. It looked like a large, curved talon driving into the snow before coming back up and driving back down. It forced its way forward digging as it went. From his vantage point it looked like one thick curve with a point scooping the snow down. His scope finally activated, giving the creature a name as it rose back up for another scoop: Domesticated Dodo/Level 4
“I don’t even know how to describe what I’m seeing. They are white Dodo birds the size of ostriches. No wonder we couldn’t see them, they blend in with the snow. The description says Domesticated Dodo level four,” said Rubio, one eye closed and the other peering through the scope.
“Were they supposed to be that big? I heard they only stood about three feet or so based on the fossil records,” commented CJ.
“Not these. They are much bigger than that. I’ll message the team about it,” said Rubio, before firing off the message.
New Message from Rubio: Enemy assessment, large white Dodo’s. Bigger than reported.
New Message from Psycho: I thought they were extinct.
New Message from Elena: Hey, Monty’s not back yet and yea they were extinct. Doesn’t look like it now.
New Message from Monty: I found something. It didn’t show up until the lights changed. I’m coming back but we need to check on this after the fight.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
No sooner did Monty send that than an ear piercing screech reverberated off the walls of the castle. The group of monsters to the east that had separate lines heading toward the walls began to converge. They all met like the point of an arrow before bounding up atop the snow and charging the walls. Once they got within ten feet of the walls their forms all appeared to glow against the black light. They didn’t appear to expect that as they began pecking at each other skidding to a stop.
New Message from Rubio: They’ll be able to jump the wall no problem with all that snow. Monty get your ass back to the tower.
Rubio quickly checked the north side of the keep finding the rows had gathered into a single point there as well. They were coordinating this attack and the change in light spectrum had surprised them.
“I bet you they are almost invisible in deep snow. Perfect camouflage for this weather. Like big dumb two legged polar bears with beaks. Why would they even want this tablet?” asked CJ, his mind racing to find what was hidden beneath these events.
“Doesn’t matter. I can hit them from here but once they are below the tower, let’s say five yards or so, my angles will be compromised. Go downstairs and help. Remember guns first, conserve magic powers for as long as you can,” ordered Rubio.
CJ didn’t argue he scrambled down the suit of armor and carefully ran down the stairs. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the different lighting of the interior of the tower. He passed by a door that was not there previously. Its outline was obvious under the black light. CJ was almost surprised they missed it on their first pass through. It had a door handle, and an insignia emblazoned on it. It matched the symbol on the Examiners Star. They were currently under attack and CJ pulled his attention away from the hidden door continuing down the stairs.
“Jenn, Rubio wants us to use guns. Are you ready?” asked CJ as he hit the landing at speed.
“I am. I put the boxes of bullets against that wall. Are they really Dodos?” questioned Jenn.
“I mean from what I could tell from all the way up there and when they hit the black light line, yea. We have to kill them; you get that right? I mean you can’t cuddle them or anything,” replied CJ, with one eyebrow raised.
“I know, I know. It’s just I’ve never seen one before,” said Jenn, a hint of sadness in her voice.
“Okay, I’ll let Elena handle this. I’m going to go down and help. Message if something happens,” said CJ, before waiving goodbye to Jenn and continuing down the stairs.
On the ground floor Elena stood patiently by the door waiting for Monty. She had a 9mm pistol in her right hand and her left hand on the door peering out into the courtyard. CJ decided it would be best to announce himself to prevent any accidents.
“I’m here. What do you see?” asked CJ.
“Shhh,” replied Elena.
Deacon crept around her. This ground floor was maybe twenty by twenty feet. Enough to protect a sizeable detachment of Knights. He leaned his head out and noticed eight shapes in the northern section of the courtyard. They stood a good five feet tall. Their beaks were thick protrusions of bone with a razor sharp point at the apex of the downward curve. Their necks were heavily muscled, most likely from swinging around those massive beaks. The feathers across their bodies were fluffy and eggshell white. Every other minute or so they would lift that dangerous scoop into the air and bury it in the snow below them. CJ didn’t know what they were looking for until a familiar head popped out of the snow behind the eight creatures.
Monty had been digging tunnels through the snow the whole time since leaving the keep proper. He was now harassing the monsters that had made it to the courtyard before he got back to the tower. Every plunge of a beak was met with nothing but snow and a collapsing tunnel. All eight creatures were completely preoccupied with finding this annoying rabbit. Monty knew he couldn’t help when it came to gun play. His idea was to keep there attention away from the tower door and provide plenty of targets.
New Message from Monty: You can start shooting at any time now.
Bang! Barked Rubio’s rifle dropping one of the birds to the snow. Its thick pearlescent talons scrabbled at the snow before stilling as it succumbed to its head wound. Blood sprayed and changed the color of the snow to red. The rest of the birds started to panic and run in all directions. As they came into range of the tower door, Elena and CJ opened fire. CJ tried to remember what Rubio taught them, controlling his breath and squeezing the trigger instead of pulling it. The revolver bucked in hands, but he managed to hit a bird center mass. It squawked and flailed around before dying. Elena’s shot was more accurate. She managed to punch a hole through one of their necks. That one flopped to the ground dead.
This was the gory scene for the next minute or so as the panicked birds attacked each other and one managed to jump back over the wall racing off into the distance. Rubio was more methodical. The eight that were coming from the east were only four by the time they crested the wall.
This was not a well-organized assault, and CJ’s gears were turning. If they didn’t have firearms, they’d have to engage each one of them in close combat or at least their bizarre version of close combat. It most likely would have been tougher. As the last dodo bled out into the snow, CJ marveled at how little ammo they spent in the process. He hoped that each wave would be just more of the same, but something was still nagging at him in the back of his mind. The description called them domesticated.