Samantha’s practice spear exploded into splinters as it struck hard against Tobias’s chest armor. She’d been aiming for a gap in his shoulder plate, but he had shifted sideways to take the blow onto the thicker metal surrounding his torso instead. To both of their surprise it didn’t protect him from damage as expected. She, along with those watching from the sidelines of the sparring circle, burst into a chorus of horrified gasps as a large wooden shard flew perfectly through an opening in Tobias’s helmet and impaled his right eye.
Overcome with concern, she dropped the remnant of her weapon and rushed over to the older man. “I’m so sorry! Hold–”
He caught her approaching arm–hand already charged with [Flawless Healing Touch]--and laughed. It took her panicked brain a second to comprehend why he would do such a thing… and then she remembered. Now that Tobias was no longer connected to his rift scenario this art would have no effect on him. He’d explained to her that rift constructs like himself could only be affected by healing arts due to the scenario interpreting her intent and applying the approximate effect for her. Once they were extracted from their original scenarios, constructs relied on their remaining qi reserves to repair any damage to their summoned forms. With a shaky sigh she let the energy of the technique dissipate back into her cultivation base and he dropped her arm.
Tobias waved calmly to the worried bystanders and confidently explained, “No need to fret. I'm a construct and don’t feel pain.”
To emphasize his point, he snapped off a large portion of the splinter without hesitation so he could remove his helmet. Gesturing to the injured eye for a moment, he then smoothly pulled the remainder of the shard free. Multiple onlookers visibly paled as the two inch long fragment slid out with a wet ‘pop’ and a mix of viscous fluid and blood spilled out from the now-deflated orb. She felt him pull a small amount of qi from his reserve to repair the damage and observed as the eye healed and reinflated a blink later.
“See? Good as new.” he said grandly. “Oh! Wait…” with a wave of his hand the blood that ran down his face and dripped onto the floor dissolved into motes of light, leaving him spotless. “...Now, good as new.” Many of the soldiers were visibly relieved by this demonstration, but some still stared with wide eyes or gave him sideways glances.
Tobias shrugged as he put his helmet back on. “Shall we go again? I want to be as prepared as I can for–”
“General!” A messenger rushed into the training hall and all eyes were turned towards him. “You’re needed in the war room. Your advisors have new reports that require your attention.”
“Inform them I’ll be there shortly.”
The messenger gave her a quick salute, then rushed back out the way he came. She held out her hand palm up and a soldier nearby tossed a clean towel into it almost immediately. She gave the soldier a smile and a nod as thanks before proceeding to wipe the sweat and grime off of her face and neck. “Let’s call it a night for now, Tobias. Come with me to the meeting and we’ll see if it’s time to put all this practice to use.” When she finished drying off, the same soldier held up an open hand and she tossed the used towel back to him.
“Do you want me to come too?” Silas mentally asked her from his place near the Agility course.
“Yes, if you’re able to.”
She felt a twinge of mild disappointment from him before he replied, “I haven’t gotten to work with Randy yet, but… I’ll come now.”
She rolled her eyes at him, “It’s been almost four months. How long are you going to keep torturing the poor man?”
“Training.” Silas said smugly, throwing her own words back at her, “It’s only torture if–”
“Yeah, yeah! Let’s just get going.” She chuckled as he landed on her shoulder. As much as she was giving him a hard time about it, she couldn’t deny the results. Of the many people using the training hall, Randy had seen some of the greatest improvements in Resilience. Some brave souls had even started seeking Silas out for this ‘special training’ to achieve similar gains.
As they made their way to the war room Samantha reflected on how much her forces had grown over the last months.
The mercenary contracts she’d sent out focused on hiring Low Bronzes or Peak Bronzes. Specifically, Low Bronzes who had their first core skill, and Peak Bronzes who’d obtained a second core skill, though she was open to paying for entire troupes if they had a specialty or could serve as mounted units (if those mounts were spirit beasts, that was all the better). She figured that hiring fighters with core skills was a better deal in terms of cost to CR as opposed to just hiring anyone that was willing to join. Unfortunately, there weren’t nearly as many people meeting these specifications as she’d hoped.
In the end, she gathered 500 Low Bronzes and 100 Peak Bronzes from multiple companies costing a total of 208,000 barres. 50 of these Peak Bronzes were bonded to mountable spirit beasts and capable of traveling over 100 miles a day, which added a premium of 64,000 barres to that expense. She’d brought all the mercenaries into Weyran to train under some of her Silvers, which would serve as their commanding officers.
She’d also invested heavily in as much equipment as she could obtain for her soldiers. Just as with her supply of potential combatants, her selection was limited. Even if she could afford thousands of the highest quality weapons and armor, it didn’t matter if there weren’t enough experienced smiths to craft them.
She managed to gather together 12,000 casters of various quality–along with the spirit pearls to power them both during training and the actual battle–for 150,000 barres. If equipped with a suitably powerful caster and spirit pearls, a mortal could match the CR of a Low or Mid Copper so long as they stayed at range. She also purchased 5,000 sets of enchanted armor and robes with various effects (costing 75,000 barres), and 15,000 sets of the best mundane armor she could find (costing 30,000 barres). This ensured that the entirety of her starting army would have the best protection while keeping a small supply of reserve equipment. The greatest expense by far, however, were the alchemicals.
She wanted each soldier to own a health-kit, as well as for cultivators to be given an allotment for training enhancement powders. Beyond the basic bandages and disinfectant, mortals were given two high-quality, low-potency healing elixirs. These were only to be used for emergencies, as mortals didn’t tolerate draff toxicity well. Cultivators were given two healing pills of varying potency depending on their rank. All the alchemicals cost an eye-watering 500,000 barres, but she believed the expense was justified. By her reasoning, there just weren’t enough quality cultivators available for hire to make up the difference in CR between her army and the enemy’s. However, if she could keep her soldiers from being out of the fight due to injuries or death, it would act as a multiplier to her existing forces.
All together she spent 1,027,000 barres on strengthening her fighting forces, but spent another 400,000 barres on all of the other preparations for the enemy’s arrival. This included the relocation stipend for families displaced from the mountain-pass towns, costs for the development of temporary housing around Weyran, and her planned security measures. This left her with 1,377,548 in her treasury.
She cleared her mind as she stepped up to the familiar doors of the war room. Upon pushing them open and stepping inside a chorus of voices greeted her in unison. In addition to her four usual advisors, all 13 of her Silvers were in attendance tonight. She nodded to acknowledge the greeting, then took her usual seat while Tobias stood directly to the right of her. All the Silvers filled in the remaining gaps between the five chairs somewhat haphazardly so they could clearly see the Envisor.
“I can make a good guess on what you have to report, but why don’t you start, Donovan.” Samantha instructed.
Donovan brought up a large map on the Envisor with multiple markers on it. It was similar to ones he’d shown her in the past, but on a much larger scale.
“I just received confirmation from my scouts that Xiomavat’s army has started marching. We–”
Leander–her singular High Silver–clapped his hands once in delight, “Ha! About time. I’ve been waiting months for this!” The man lacked much courtesy for others due to his high rank and wasn’t much for strategizing, but he took and passed along her orders well enough. He was also a highly competent Strength-focused combatant who could bend thick steel bars with nothing but his bare hands, which was a party-trick that had scared more than one soldier into line.
“Leander, if you can’t remain silent until the appropriate time, you can’t remain present.” Samantha warned.
He lowered his head slightly to her in apology, but he didn’t look chastened in the slightest. His happy smile was still plastered to his face.
“Thank you, General. As I was saying,” Donovan continued, “we haven’t yet spotted Xiomavat, which leads me to believe that it will not appear until the cult has carved a path to the World Spire. The cult marches throughout the night and rests during the day. The mortals set the pace since they lead the column, and they are on track to reach Feld in 30 days time. Due to their shadow-based arts we are having difficulty determining exact numbers or combat rating. The scouts have described watching them as ‘staring into a mirage’, with soldiers' forms warping, blurring, or seeming to disappear and reappear at night. During the day most of the cult rests in tents which also obscure our counts, but we are relatively confident our initial estimates are close.”
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“This is where I come in,” Brienne interjected. “To refresh your memory, we’re looking at about a 450,000 CR army. Ours–taking their exceptional outfitting and advanced training into account–could possibly be as high as 128,000. With the mercenaries and their bonded beasts, perhaps 155,000 CR total.”
Samantha couldn’t help but let out a sigh. Just looking at the raw values, her chances weren’t great.
Brienne gave her a sympathetic smile. “It’s not so bad as it seems, though I know that your decision to go for quality rather than quantity is weighing on you.”
“If I choose to send the mercenaries on a separate mission instead of using them in the main force, and we factor in the advantage we receive as residents and defenders… how do you estimate our chances?” Samantha asked.
Brienne looked around the room to gauge a couple reactions before answering. Taking a quick glance up herself, Samantha thought that most everyone seemed… pleased with how things were shaping up.
“They're not bad, actually,” Brienne eventually said. “Your preparations will go a long way towards weakening them. If I were in their position and knew all the things you set up in advance, I would certainly reconsider a direct assault. As it stands, if they attack with full force we’ll likely lose Feld but you’d planned for that possibility already. Even if they do make it past Feld, more than enough cultivators and citizens remain in Weyran to prevent them from maintaining a strong foothold around the tower… though the losses on our side would be terrible.”
“Is there any chance of treachery due to discontent in the city?”
“The chance of betrayal is never zero, no matter how peaceful or rich the kingdom,” Donovan said gravely. “We followed your recommendations and did find a few who had been corrupted by the ideals of the cult, but there could be more hidden away.”
Roland spoke up, “I believe your forethought into the housing of refugees has minimized a lot of the risk that such uncertain times usually present. Though morale was low after the evacuation, the city’s economy actually started booming due to the influx of people and funds from your stipend. Not to mention all the work and commissions you locally sourced from crafters and laborers. Though not overjoyed at being asked to leave their homes, your obvious consideration for the well-being of your citizens and having a common enemy to rise up against has arguably made morale higher than it was before the evacuation. In the face of this crisis, many have chosen to set aside grudges and band together in defense of the spire and our great city.”
Though no one said anything in response to Roland’s words, Samantha could see many pairs of eyes around the table gleaming with patriotism.
Donovan broke the short silence. “With all that being said, I’ll do another sweep for insurrectionists before Xiomavat’s forces arrive. It likely won’t be as thorough now that we need to track the army’s movements carefully, but I’ll let you know of any new developments.”
“Thank you Donovan. Did anyone have anything else to add before I start finalizing my orders?” Samantha asked, looking at Natalie.
“Minor updates, mostly. As you requested, we’ve hunted every animal and foraged every useful plant we could find near the towns. Our storehouses are overfull with preserved meats, grains, and other supplies due to this, and the enemy will be hard-pressed to find anything to sustain them if they lay siege to Feld. The downside, of course, is that it will likely take years for the wildlife to return and stabilize after the war. That is a fair price for preserving the spire and our home, though. We’ve also established a few new temporary fields with the quickest growing crops, and have drafted emergency measures around the slaughter and breeding of livestock should it look like our food supply is in danger of dipping below a certain threshold.” Natalie explained.
Seeing that the woman didn’t have more to say, Samantha felt comfortable announcing her decisions. Looking at the Silvers around the table she said, “Very well, in that case I have orders for you all. Leander, you will act as my right hand, relaying my orders to the highest ranked officers in our army. Natalie will equip you with a communication artifact so that we can stay in touch regardless of distance…”
Her instructions to everyone were relatively broad for the time being. Though the war room was warded against scrying arts, it didn’t protect against rumors and other gossip that could occur once her army was sent out. For all that she trusted these Silvers to be a menace on the battlefield, she didn’t believe they could collectively keep from letting confidential information slip in conversation. It was safer to reveal her full plans closer to the actual battle when the enemy had less time to prepare countermeasures.
Leander and the 10 Low Silvers would gather her main forces and occupy Feld. Once at the reinforced town, they would also send two small, stealthy groups who could keep watch over the paths to Killik and Rast and report enemy sightings. It was unlikely that the enemy would try to push through the blocked roads, but it was foolish to leave the paths completely unguarded based on that assumption.
Her two Mid Silvers were in charge of the mercenaries she hired. One of them would take the 50 Peak Bronze mercenaries with bonded mounts and create an elite unit whose only goal was to disrupt the enemy supply lines. She didn’t expect the small group to be able to completely cut them all off, but forcing the enemy to be continuously hungry could make a large difference in both their morale and CR. The other Mid Silver would take the remaining 50 Peak Bronzes and 500 Low Bronze mercenaries and act as a guerilla unit. Their main goal was to take advantage of any opportunity to pick off straggling soldiers, sabotage goods, or steal from the enemy. Again, the focus was more on keeping the opposing army anxious and off-balance than eliminating potential fighters–though it was certainly a bonus if they could manage to inflict heavy losses.
While she’d planned on integrating the mercenaries with her main army to defend Feld, meeting the disparate fighters herself had changed that. It wasn’t so much that they were unruly or wouldn’t obey the orders from one of her Silvers, but there was a divide between them and her native troops that she didn’t believe she could overcome in this short timeframe. The mercenaries–motivated solely by money–lacked the same mindset and camaraderie that her army generally possessed. She included the mercenaries in her standard training exercises for the purposes of familiarizing them with the army structure, formations, and commands, but concluded it was better to treat them as a separate entity. This also lessened any risk of them being bought off by cultist spies and turning on her. It was much harder for them to have a negative impact on the outcome of the war when they were deployed outside the bounds of her kingdom, though they could still wreak just as much havoc on the approaching enemy. She was a bit frustrated by the need to send two of her most powerful warriors off with them to maintain a semblance of order and ensure they did their jobs, but she knew leaving the mercenaries purely to their own devices was almost asking for trouble.
After she adjourned the meeting and only she, Silas, and Tobias remained in the war room, she allowed her head to sink into her hands. It felt surreal that the time had finally come.
Tobias patted her shoulder. “Everything will turn out fine. You’re doing great, and everyone will be giving you their full support.”
Samantha rubbed at her face tiredly before looking up to him. “You can only say that because you don’t have to make the decisions.”
“Correct!” he said with a wide, shameless grin. “But I also believe it to be true. And, I’m more than happy to tilt the scales in your favor by playing my part.”
“Are you sure you’re okay with doing what I asked? It’s… it’ll be pretty miserable, I imagine.”
“It’s a role only I can fulfill well, isn’t it?”
Samantha nodded.
“Then I’ll do it.” Tobias shrugged, brushing off her concern. “Besides, I’m uniquely suited for this job. I don’t think it’ll be nearly as bad as you fear. Are we starting now?”
She stood and grabbed Tobias’s statue from her pocket. “That’s the plan.”
He gave her a mock salute and a wink. “Then I’ll see you soon, General! You can count on me.”
With those words he de-summoned himself, allowing his form to dissipate as he was returned to an inactive state.
----------------------------------------
“Their camp is just up ahead,” Silas informed her as he activated [Translucence]. “Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll get in position.”
Samantha put a point of qi into [Telekinesis], grabbing Tobias’s statue from an open pocket of Silas’s specially crafted armor. “Got him, I’ll signal you with the timing.”
With a hard flap of his wings Silas gained speed and pulled away from her. At the same time, Samantha’s spectral form flew down towards the campsite. It’d taken her a couple hours to refill the construct’s qi reserves and top off her qi pool, then another few hours to fly directly here, but that actually worked in their favor. Now in the early hours of the morning, the Xiomavat cultists were sleeping.
Samantha maneuvered into the crowd of tents while avoiding notice of the soldiers on guard duty. It wasn’t hard to do, seeing as Tobias’s small statue could easily be mistaken for a flying bug of some sort at distance. Guessing that the mortals would be housed in the least impressive, most crowded tents, she picked one she felt matched the description and discreetly used [Inspect] on a few people sleeping inside. Sure enough, none of them were cultivators.
“Silas, on three. One… two…” Samantha activated the construct, willing Tobias’s form to manifest in the center of the tent. Ready for her summons, Tobias appeared and unquestioningly sliced downwards with his glaive. “...three!”
The struck mortal was near-silently beheaded as Silas dropped the first payload down from the heavens. Another downward slash of Tobias’s glaive claimed the lives of four more enemies, and those nearest began to stir with the sounds of sliding metal armor and sensation of blood splatter. Tobias mercilessly raised his glaive for another strike, but Samantha did not stay to watch the slaughter. She was needed elsewhere.
Turning her attention to the speck rapidly descending from the sky, she flew to meet it mid-air and grabbed ahold of it. Making a few adjustments to its flight path, she ensured the fragile glass vial shattered beside a clustered group of three unsuspecting guards. Activating [Desert Breeze], she willed the gaseous poison to encompass the trio with frightening speed. One gasped in surprise at the sound, another took in a breath to shout an alarm, and the third looked around for the source of the bombardment…but all three realized too late they’d breathed in the noxious fumes. In moments their lungs seized and their mouths foamed as they collapsed to the ground. They died quickly, unable to warn their comrades of the impending attack.
With [Prey’s Awareness] she could see Tobias exiting the first tent and running into the next nearest one. Red liquid dripped down his glaive and spotted his gleaming metal armor, but he himself was uninjured. She knew the task she’d assigned him was grim, but his face showed no trace of hesitation or remorse. There was only determination to do what must be done.
“Ready above the next target.” Silas informed her.
“On three,” Samantha acknowledged gravely. “One… two…”