A 6-foot-tall knight, an avian ranger, a troll priest with a giant tome, a shark-themed living armor, and a twitchy elf covered in knives walk out of a dungeon. God, that sounds like a terrible joke, but that’s exactly what just happened, and I’m amazed that diplomacy actually worked here.
I don’t know how but I could feel how outmatched I was, which only added credence to my theory of levels being different between sentients and monsters. That ranger alone could likely blast apart my golems and walk away unscathed.
Speaking of rangers, I now realise I desperately need archer golems too. I mean, I have all these slits in the walls for a reason, not to mention the battlements on top. That also reminds me that I haven’t checked how many golems can be on each floor of the gatehouse without collapsing the wood under the weight.
I suppose I should be grateful in some sense, though. From the looks of their camp, they won’t be leaving quite yet, so they be the first thing to get ambushed by the Tide and any of its beasts.
Back to the ranged golem issue, I would need to have wood collected to make the bows and plant fiber for ropes, which means the expedition I was planning needs to happen. Thankfully I now have those Ironclad guys to take the hit if a Tide ambush is coming, so it was a lot easier to get my fox-kin onboard. So, with a small team out to gather wood I decided to see if my floors hold my golems.
As much as I trusted my fox-kin and my [Superior Materials], I still felt somewhat nervous, but sure enough, all the floors were able to easily hold all 13 golems with ease. With that out of the way I went back to sculpting for the rest of the day, slowly getting better at it, and soon having 4 more statues ready to form into golems. Rather than turning them now however, I decided to try examining the camp of the Ironclads outside my radius until I had some wood for bows.
I obviously can’t get crystal clear views of their camp cause of the weird warping outside my perimeter and the distance, but I do get the general shapes, especially with the fire highlighting certain edges. Its pretty simple affairs, looking to be 3 blobs I take to being tents around a fire pit all surrounded by a few wooden protections of some sort.
I have a sneaking suspicion that those won’t hold up against hellhounds.
As if on cue, three hellhounds release their cackling screeches and charge their camp, only to spontaneously sprout two arrows in each of their skulls, sending them crashing to the ground. a blue and orange blob that I recognize as their ranger shifts as she presumably lowers her bow, collects the arrows and tosses the bodies into the woods as if they weighed as little as an insect.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Sigh.
Sometimes I forget how weird this system-based world is.
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***Chirii***
Well, that confirms the rumors we heard. I kind of feel disappointed these things are so weak, but of course, that’s mostly because of our party’s levels.
Either way, there is another wave of beasties coming this way, I can hear them with [Whispering Winds] all the way from here. I’m not entirely convinced our clients back in the Newmont duchy knows what he’s gotten us into, but I won’t be complaining about practically free experience.
Thrasher and Mathias both look letdown when the see where I tossed the bodies, but a disapproving glare at the lunatic duo seems to get rid of whatever ideas the were forming.
Speaking of those two, I still get goosebumps when they get into their groove. Mathias is what you’d expect from a deranged psychopathic knife wielding ex-assassin, but Thrasher is terrifying for a whole host of other reasons!
For one, the guy is an animated shark suit made of enchanted mithril-reinforced steel. I mean, some nights I get up for camp watch and he’ll just be standing there with his toothy grin and hollow glowing eyes, the mithril shimmering under the sea-green light of his soul, I-its just creepy, alright? And for two, the guy fights like a normal person, besides the occasional decapitation via jaws. Seriously, who just bites someone like that?
Mako and Grudge are nice enough though, so I guess it balances out? I’ve been hanging out with them for so long that I frankly don’t know if they’re considered normal either…
What was I doing? Oh right, Tide. Sounds like there is about fifty of the small ones, and two big guys on the way. I suppose the big one is going to get beaten up by grudge and mako, since they always like the challenge. Speaking of those two, I should get them up to speed.
I stroll over to Grudge’s tent just as I hear his snoring start and give him a poke with the tip of my longbow. Another bear-like snore emerges from his tent, so I poke him a few more times until he’s awake enough to complain. I tell him to wake up mako before our friends from the tide show up, since mako could sleep through getting struck by lightning, and I grab my gear before heading to the northern part of our small camp to prepare.
Early on in my adventuring career, I’d been rather biased towards using leather and hide armor, since I didn’t believe steel to even be possible for an archer to wear, what with the mobility and such. That all changed when I witnessed what Grudge could do with his bulky suit, how he surged through an army of undead using his shield to crush them while slashing away with what anybody else would call a great sword as if it didn’t weigh more than me.
To this day, I’m grateful for his rescue of my village, and as I don my helmet, I can’t help but smile as he mutters curses at the leather straps under his breath. He may be my idol, but sometimes it doesn’t hurt to know he’s still as normal as the rest of us.