Orion and Arika stood before the wide-open doors of the northern gate as they watched the clock and waited for the attack to begin.
They were bathed in the light of the spherical lamps surrounding the square, the crisp early morning air robbing the street of the warm feeling the orange lights usually gave Orion.
His anxiety climbed as the countdown reached single digits, peaking as it finally ticked down to zero. His body stiffened, his legs ready to run down the nearest street, but his brain was intent on watching the approach of the monster horde.
The walkways atop the town wall were—except for a single scout—empty of life, the defenders sent to attend the other gates, all of which were closed and adorned with a number of the engineered weapons in order to hold back the eventual attackers.
There was a single giant light atop the wall—apparently one of Dave’s contraptions—that was aimed at and lit the entire area in front of the gate, all the way to the trees beyond.
The northern gate they guarded was the only one left swinging open, inviting the invaders to enter the city. The single scout stood atop the wall, ready to wave a flag and ring the bell at the first sign of attackers.
Orion looked at Arika and saw her body language matched his. She was rapidly tapping one of her feet, burning excess energy in any manner possible. The fierce look in her eye threatened to draw Orion in, so he forced his vision back to the open precipice of the northern gate, watching for any movement.
As discussed with the parties that were set up at each gate, they would only send messages when necessary, which meant that the lack of communication so far meant one of two possibilities; either the approaching creatures hadn’t reached the other gates yet, or they had, but the attacks were being thwarted easily by the defenses along the walls.
Orion’s eyes were drawn to the scout as the young man tensed, his sharp vision able to make out the slight change in the scout’s body language. He realized at the same time that there was a cloud of smoke beginning to rise above the forest in the distance. They were lit by the fires below, giving the white-and-black plumes an ominous appearance, and allowing anyone—even those without Orion’s Dark Vision ability—the means of seeing them.
The scout did something entirely unexpected. He raised the arm that was carrying the flag, waved it about in one rapid flourish, rang the bell three-times in half a second, threw the flag over the wall toward Orion, and ran.
They’d taken the time to organize several patterns for the scout to indicate from which direction and how many enemies approached. In the worst-case scenario, the scout was supposed to wave the flag and ring the bell ten-times before leaving. The hasty departure raised the hair on the back of Orion’s neck and caused his anxiety to reach a new high for the day.
As much as it raised his hackles, Orion felt a bit of panic wash away, as the longer the monsters didn’t attack from this direction, the more he assumed he might have made a terrible call in committing resources towards this gate. There were only three adventurers working the area, but because of their particular skills and assets, he, Arika, and Shadow would be particularly destructive in any area they were sent to defend.
The waving of the flag, the ringing of the bell, and the retreat of the scout confirmed that there was a force about to attack the gate they’d left open, reinforcing that his schemes and plans were—in theory at least—a good idea.
Now we just have to prove their worth in the execution.
“Well, that’s not good,” Arika said, looking up at the scout as he sprinted toward the east. “Anyone would think something spooked him.”
Orion didn’t respond at first, taking an involuntary step back toward the closest street and watching the open gate intently. “Be ready for plan C. His urgency is making me uneasy.”
“If I were a betting woman, I’d say that smoke trail is from the attacking boss.”
“That’s assuming there’s only one boss…”
Arika gave Orion a frank look, chastising him for tempting fate. He smiled sheepishly back at her.
Movement stirred through the gate, and Orion caught his first glimpse of an attacking creature.
A squat, red-and-yellow gecko peaked its head around the side of the open gate, a fiery tongue darting out of its mouth and licking beady, inhuman eyes. It watched them intently, then darted forward, walking inside the town and looking around with jerky head movements.
Orion and Arika took another step back together, ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. The gecko looked at them with what Orion thought was intrigue, tongue licking out and wetting its eyes periodically.
They stared at each other like that for some time, the gecko content to take in the surroundings, and the adventurers waiting for it to make a move.
The gecko continued to hold its position as more of the four-legged creatures entered the town. They moved in similar darting movements, but all came to stand together.
Orion inspected one, seeing it was called a Flame Crested Gecko.
Not your best work, System…
Something past the geckos and at the visible tree-line drew Orion’s attention. The billowing cloud of smoke grew closer, and several more reached over the wall from areas of the forest that could not be seen through the open gate.
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So, there are multiple of whatever is burning the forest. There is more than one boss, then?
“Oh, good.” Arika echoed his thoughts. “There is more than one of them. For the record, I blame you for this.”
A number of creatures broke through the trees, running toward the gate at a terrifying speed. From their distance, all Orion could make out were bipedal forms of red, black, and yellow. When they drew closer, he made out what looked like more geckos, interspersed with other indistinguishable monsters. He noted that none of the creatures were the source of the smoke that was still approaching the city.
They’re not boss monsters, then; their health shouldn’t be too high. We can deal with them.
Before he knew it, the front-runners poured through the gate, and Orion and Arika backed up further.
Giant flaming armadillos called Flamadillos, overgrown spiky-lizards with molten eyes and obsidian pupils called Flame-Horned Lizards, and rabbit-sized rodents that were coated in black, scaly armor named Bomb Bilbys entered the city. Much like the geckos, they paused inside the town, only moving forward to make room as more-and-more of the creatures poured in. There were hundreds standing, all looking around at the blocked paths, and the humans in front of the single open path deeper into the city.
They experienced a small shake in the ground, followed by a massive boom that echoed in the distance.
As one, all the creatures flew into action. The geckos ran at them; the armadillos leaned back on haunches, preparing to do something; the lizards lobbed fiery globs of magma from their eyes; the rodents launched at them.
Orion and Arika ran.
***
Shadow sprinted through the streets, heading once more for the next mark on his map. There was only a handful left, but he felt an increased sense of urgency leading up to the moment the timer ran out. It had been sitting on zero for a couple minutes by now, and he ran as fast as he could without the use of his Silent Speed ability.
A jolt of energy ran through the ground beneath him, and a boom sounded in the distance shortly after. He almost missed a step, the walls of the building surrounding him causing the sound to come from every direction and disorienting him for a moment. He swapped his metal helmet for the tentacled one; increased hearing might be a burden in the fight to come.
He swore under his breath and checked his map once more for the next mark. He took off running again, determined to get all of them finished and get back to help his friends.
***
Gizmo hummed with glee as he shot bolt-after-bolt from his beautiful, reliable Giz-bow. He perched atop the western wall, able to see the spot where he had been birthed into the world less than two-weeks ago. All along the wall, his creations were lined up. They were manned by townsfolk, adventurers, and in his one case, an extremely smart, metallic, and capable familiar.
Some adventurers and townsfolk on the wall weren’t manning his and his master’s engineered weapons, instead using their own long-range weapons and abilities to attack the advancing force. While he knew that there were other adventurers in the town, there were so many that a lesser being might be surprised by the sheer amount. Gizmo, not being one such lesser being, simply cataloged the information, along with five other things he noticed in the first quarter of that given second.
He released another bolt, watching its arc intently as it soared into the clearing he had been birthed in, and struck an oversized armadillo through the chest.
“Nice shot!” Dave yelled from the Dave-apult stationed next to him, launching a stone the size of himself at an approaching group of geckos. It hit them directly, sending all of them flying, and leaving them unmoving on the cleared ground before the town.
“You have also made a nice shot, Master.”
“All thanks to your improvement, my boy!” Dave got off his weapon, pushing it with all his strength a few meters to the side before remounting and twisting the top forty-five degrees to aim at a different group of rapidly approaching geckos.
“Much easier to hit your target…” He released another self-loading stone. “When you can move it around.”
They watched as the stone flew into the targeted group of enemies, causing a similar scene of destruction as the one before; it left none of the targets alive.
Gizmo smiled at the happiness he felt at seeing the weapons in use. He had helped build them, and now they were unleashing pain and death upon those that threatened him and his party.
This is quite enjoyable.
He hummed in delight as he shot another bolt.
***
Honeypot finished tying the treat to his fishing line, then cast the bait ten-meters away, into the ninety-degree turn of the sewer before them.
“May I inquire as to what the fuck you are doing?” Tallon demanded from behind him.
Honeypot turned to see Fener and the rest of the Bomb Squad glaring at him like he’d just slapped their mothers. The only person who appeared unaffected was Treyu, who looked on, a finger on his chin, and a thoughtful expression on his face.
“I’m fishing.” Honeypot wound the line in a little and jiggled the rod, causing the attached treat to move around in the water ahead of them.
“Are you trying to piss us off?” Seren asked. “We’ve followed you this far, done everything you asked, with no explanation from you as to why. But this… surely you’re just messing with us now.”
“Treyu, what is the point of fishing?” Honeypot asked.
“Well, boss, my dad always said that the point of fishing was to enjoy yourself. That way, if you don’t catch nothing, you wouldn’t be disappointed, but if you did catch something, it would be a pleasant surprise—like a present.”
Honeypot shot an approving look at Treyu. “That’s quite wise of your old man, Treyu. Remind me to give you a gold star later. But, let’s say just for the sake of argument, that I don’t enjoy fishing. I’m simply fishing because I need to provide for my family, who are all back at home, starving to death from lack of fish. In that case, what is the point of fishing?”
“Well, if that be the case, the point of fishing would be to catch fish.”
“Precisely!” Honeypot turned and nodded at Treyu’s words approvingly. “Quite astute, acolyte. And if we are to catch a fish, what do we need?”
Treyu thought for a moment, rubbing his chin. “Bait, a fishing rod, and a place to fish.”
The entire sewer shook for a fraction of a second, causing some of the putrid liquid to splash up on the side of the walkway. They all scrambled, subconsciously wanting to avoid getting any of the liquid on their shoes. A boom followed shortly after.
Tallon looked down at his half-soaked left shoe, then turned an angry glare on Honeypot.
“What the fuck does any of what you just said have to do with us needing to be down here? Valbrand is getting attacked as we speak, and we’re hiding down here in a sewer watching you dick around with a fishing rod!”
Honeypot didn’t respond for a moment, tilting his head as a sound of scuffling and scraping from further into the sewer, in the direction Honeypot had cast his line.
“Well, I’ve got the fishing rod, the bait, and now, here comes the fish. The only problem with this particular fish, though, is that they tend to bite back. It’s a good thing we keep a gun in the boat, just in-case we catch one…”
Honeypot turned and gave them a predatory smile.
“Just to be clear, you’re the gun in this hypothetical, so I’d recommend you go ahead and cock yourself.”