image [https://i.imgur.com/oNaRYqJ.jpg]

The militia’s mood confirmed my decision to withdraw to the castle. Guards snapped salutes quicker than before. People held their chins higher, and the light of competency radiated in their expressions. If fear played into their emotions, no one showed it.

I envied them in a way. Hawkhurst Castle inspired confidence and established a city-wide identity, yet I hadn’t envisioned, designed, or witnessed its construction.

Waiting didn’t feel like a winning strategy. I tried to be more proactive with this last relic, but everything depended on NPCs. Fabulosa and I had set everything into motion by looting the ward worm’s lair, but recent events had been only reactive. Goblins attacked Hawkhurst only after Rezan detected Greenie as a governor. Baiting Uproar to draw the emperor into Hawkhurst felt just as passive, even though I’d set it into motion.

I’d scored a few hits in our one-on-one battle, but only enough to teach him not to duel me again. The next time we faced, I expected bugbear involvement. Even without his healers, it would have been a close call. He might risk Reverb and cast a primal spell if I made him desperate. Aside from direct damage, the emperor matched my battle prowess between Ignite Weapon and Discharge, and I hadn’t seen all of his cooldowns.

He wouldn’t take part in the siege in person. No matter what he threw at us, he’d hang back with a couple hundred allies to watch the battle from afar. With him nestled in the motte and bailey, I’d have to burn a Slipstream to engage—assuming I could even get that close.

Morale counted as his only vulnerability. With the Heady Headband, personnel losses, and his recent withdrawal from Arweald, Veegor needed wins to sustain optimism.

At least Hawkhurst fought in high spirits.

The great hall served as the town’s improvised barracks—a ward of makeshift bunk beds. Holding a war council surrounded by babies and noncombatants seemed odd, but the manor gave us a place to strategize without dwarves kibitzing, boasting, and cracking jokes.

Quilts, bundles of belongings, and supplies filled the manor’s floor space. Someone cleared the desks and converted the offices into beds. Noncombatants set up their sleep rolls inside the cramped space.

Everyone stood when I entered the manor—an unnecessary formality during peacetime, but appropriate for the occasion. After taking the conspicuously empty seat at the head of the conference table, the town officers sat down. The three corporals stood in attendance along the wall. Ida sat on the opposite end, and even she looked ready to take orders—the crisis had softened her usual irritability.

When I settled into my seat, I turned to Yula. “Where are we with preparedness? Have we tested reaction times to a ladder rush?”

Yula looked to Captain Jourdain, who gestured to Maggie as he spoke. “The quarry crew made a moat deep and wide enough where ladders won’t be a problem.”

Maggie suppressed a smile as everyone in the room nodded to her.

“But to answer your question, we’ll see them coming a mile away. We’ve practiced multiple reaction forces. One concentrates on missile fire, two to help repulse enemies from the parapets, and, of course, the gatehouse crew. I anticipate no complications with readiness.”

Yula turned to me. “Een mountains, emperor focuses on wall. But ours are mighty—defiant to all war machines. We laugh at sappers—deeging like little moles.” Her rigid posture registered anything but mirth, but everyone else grinned at her assessment.

I surveyed the parchment on the table Ida used to assign land parcels. On it, a dozen rectangular wooden blocks represented the centuries. “The commander isn’t wrong. Charitybelle chose the site because of Hawkhurst Rock. Our difficulties with quarrying are now paying off. We stand immune from undermining.”

Again, the table looked at Maggie, who smirked in remembrance of our frustration with the slate-blue stone. If the enemy doesn’t have the equivalent of a magical siege hammer, I’d wager our walls are impenetrable.

“Zat leaves siege tower. A great reesk on flat ground.” The orc wiped her palm over the parchment map for emphasis.

Captain Jourdain crossed his arms uncomfortably. “I’m afraid I concur. We may be safe from sapping and, hopefully, trebuchets, but we’re prone to siege towers.”

Surprisingly, Ida spoke up. Usually, she deferred to others over military matters. “Wouldn’t mud be a factor? If our liability with stone became an asset, it would be nice to know that the mud might work in our favor.”

Yula shook her head, dispelling everyone’s hopes. “All siege towers need gravel. Leetle stones from Orga will make road for towers. Mud ees not problem for army.”

I shrugged. “Is there a counter to siege towers?”

Yula palmed the map. “Not on flat ground.”

Captain Jourdain leaned back in his chair. “Time could be a counter. It’ll take a while to build a tower and construct a road. The emperor will need to feed his people too, so part of his force won’t be able to work.”

That didn’t sound correct to me. “Isn’t time on the side of the attacker during sieges? We’ve got food in storage, but starvation is an issue in the long run.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Ally spoke up. “Nay, guv. We’ll bide our time through the water gate. We can sail hunters or fishers to any lip of the loch, yon the army’s reach.”

Captain Jordain added to the thought. “And orc canoes won’t be a factor. Waterborne combat favors a population with Amphibious powers. We trained for it during your absence.”

Yula shook her head. “Emperor will not starve us. Fighting een canoes ees not enough. He needs conquest with force. Must have glorious veectory and great bloodletting.”

I settled back in my chair. “I suppose that’s encouraging. What about battering rams?”

It became Yula’s turn to sit back in her seat. She mulled over the issue. “No. Ees too difficult. Redbone army must fill moat with stone and dirt. Many orcs die before attack. No—not good for emperor at all.”

Captain Jourdain echoed Yula’s sentiment. “We feel redundant attacks are a likelihood. Frontier history reported outposts taking trebuchets, battering rams, and sapping attacks all at once. And they have the personnel to fight on multiple fronts.”

“Are trebuchets an issue?”

The captain nodded. “Enough of them, maybe. Even against our walls. We won’t know until they try.”

“Can’t our engineers repair damaged walls?”

The captain shook his head. “Not during an active campaign. The only way to address fissures is by replacing the weakened blocks. My concern with trebuchets tactics is that we cannot inflict casualties while they attack. It’s the same with siege towers. Conducting a siege isn’t easy, but they can attack us at full strength. We won’t be able to repel projectiles.”

I grunted and considered ways to attack the war machines. Even if I managed to Earthquake them, they’d build others and eventually learn how to defend their construction sites. “And you’re saying the emperor’s recent losses will make him shy away from taking risks?”

The captain nodded. “Their plans won’t be a mystery for long, sir. I’m confident in our scouts—we’ll know how he’s attacking before it happens. We’ll have time to prepare.”

The meeting adjourned after the captain reviewed assignment rotations for wall duty. I followed the military personnel out the door.

Yula pensively thumbed arrows while she walked. She seemed impatient and unhappy that our only course of action involved waiting for the emperor’s next move. As a child, she’d been in the situation before, and it hadn’t gone well for her clan.

As much as she hated letting her nemesis make the next move, it irritated me how little I knew about Uproar’s status. It reminded me to check the group chat.

Toadkiller Does anyone know if California taxes apply to the contest?

Flagboi Seriously, T. Are you already counting your quarter million?

Duchess That’s a bit early.

Toadkiller No, but I’ve got enough bounties that taxes might be a thing. I’ve never paid taxes before. Does anyone know how they work?

Duchess You don’t live in CA?

Toadkiller No. I’m in Michigan.

Duchess Technically, we’re still in SoCal, so I imagine that means you’re going to be double-taxed.

Bircht It’s hilarious you guys are talking about this. How many bounties do you have, Toad?

Duchess He claims he killed 16.

Bircht Bounties only apply to knockouts between 48 and 16.

Duchess Oh, that’s right.

Toadkiller The game didn’t give me credit for most of them.

Kidviscious You’d have a wicked stack waiting for you If you didn’t let your demon do all the dirty work. I don’t know how taxes work either, but Crimson should let us keep it all.

Toadkiller’s mention that he hadn’t gotten credit for most of his bounties reminded me I hadn’t gotten credit for killing Winterbyte. As hard as I played this game, I haven’t earned a single knockout.

I hadn’t considered how many payouts Crimson gave between those 32 knockouts. It didn’t seem right that they weren’t giving bounties for every contestant.

The group discussion petered until Uproar rekindled it.

Uproar I might have been wrong about Fabulosa. I haven’t seen her in Hawkhurst, and there’s been plenty of fighting. Apache has a gaseous form ability that stops people from killing him. It’s so overpowered.

Bircht He could be a vampire. Do you know what it’s called?

Uproar I doubt he’s a vampire because it’s called Holy Smoke. It’s a blessing, so you can’t even counterspell it.

Duchess Hah. That’s a good name for a blessing. Do you know which deity he follows?

Flagboi No kidding! That’s very OP. I’d like it too. What’s his deity?

Uproar No clue. Hawkhurst is a castle! You guys gotta see it. It’s blue and sits right on the edge of the water.

Duchess Oh! It sounds pretty.

Uproar I guess. Anyway, if anyone has anti-siege mechanics. We sure could use your help. I know an NPC that would pay handsomely for it.

Kidviscious Gold has no value anymore. I was all set to buy a magic item after saving my gold, and the last time I checked the store, they had only parlor tricks left.

Toadkiller Which magic shop was that, K?

Kidviscious Nice try.

Bircht Do you have flying abilities, Uproar?

Uproar Maybe. But I need something to knock down walls. I got an army here that needs a way in.

Duchess Uproar, are you seriously working with orcs?

Flagboi I’ve dealt with orcs before. I tricked them into doing things I wanted done.

Kidviscious I bet they were ugly things, knowing orcs.

Flagboi It wasn’t my proudest moment, but at least I’m not aligned with them like some people.

Duchess Uproar, don’t you do any fighting yourself? You must be like level 10 for all the political jockeying you do.

Uproar Do I take it you don’t want to know more about Apache’s broken character build?

Bircht I’m sure that Duchess is very sorry for making fun of you.

Duchess I am.

Flagboi I am too—for all the many times I’ve disparaged your character.

Duchess For the many, many times.

Uproar He used Anticipate twice.

Duchess No way!

Bircht That’s very hard to believe. How? Was it called something else?

Uproar Nope. I checked the combat logs. He triggered it twice.

Kidviscious I think Toad’s got a rival for first place.

Flagboi I think it’s a three-way tie. Fab’s racked up some kills, too. Skullcaps sent me an email about her. She turns into a ghost whenever she wants. Your weapons slice through her, and she can fly away indefinitely, and arrows go right through her.

Duchess No wonder they’re a power couple. I don’t know, Toad. It sounds like you might want to help Uproar. One Anticipate is annoying enough, but two? Forget it. I’m just a little helpless kitten in the game—hoping no one else will hurt me.

Kidviscious Yeah, right.

I closed the window in disgust. Reading Uproar’s reports on my powers rankled me. The chat channel acted as such a double-edged sword. Fabulosa either hadn’t seen the discussion or showed good sense not to engage since our secrets were the topic.

Unless someone misinformed their intentions, Uproar had enlisted no one. Without open takers, the conversation died.

I picked a centralized spot on the parapet to hang the Dark Room and invited guards to crash inside. Everyone else had already established sleeping areas in the buildings behind the castle. No one wanted to look like they were currying favor with the governor, so I spent the night alone.