The familiar blue portal opened inside my apartment, and I stepped through, feeling a bit better about it this time. Jeanette’s ability would shield the summoning portal energy signature. I was safe and didn’t have to worry about a cult standing there, ready to snatch me up when I returned. Being part of a group was already paying dividends.
My personal space looked the same as before, and as I suspected, Melvin was practicing away inside the training center. The first summoning portal was already appearing on the wall, so I wouldn’t pull Melvin away from his fun. I only had a few minutes before I would be forced into the summoning,
A look at my loadout showed that the cupboard was bare on consumable figurines, I only had Verdigrim and Melvin’s cube launcher thing left. Back home, I had nothing but my class figurines. Fitzfazzle’s figurine was also still on cooldown. It was supposed to take quite a while, which made sense given that it was a permanent item.
Maybe it was time to shake up my loadout. I’d had the hound, Rupert, and either Marvin Glum or the Ghoul for a while now. My total mana had was up to 90 and I could support a bit more being reserved for figurines while keeping a good supply on hand for spells. It wouldn’t hurt to try out a quantity over quality approach and see how it went.
There wasn’t time to test new loadouts with my higher mana pool, but taking a chance on a summoning shouldn’t be too much of a risk. I dropped Marvin Glum and, in his place, added all three of my tier zero, rank five minions. The zombie, Lillia Farwind, and the Juvenile Cave Spider all had their strengths and weaknesses, and it would be good to see them in action.
My reserved mana was up to 75 from the trio I selected, and when I added Rupert to the mix, I was at 80/90. After deducting my Presence score, my reserved mana was down to 74/90. That left me sixteen mana for summoning or casting spells, but I still had mana potions and mana tabs in my loadout for emergencies. I confirmed my choices and with the loadout completed, I stepped through the summoning portal.
Your summoning parameters are as follows:
1. You are being summoned by the war mage Ix.
2. Summoning tier, 1.
3. Summoning rank, 2.
4. Rewards level, modest.
5. This summons is combat related. The likelihood of combat is considered high. Prepare accordingly.
6. Full compliance is active.
7. Your current armory loadout has been activated.
I stepped through the portal onto the battlements of a stone wall. Smoke filled the late afternoon air, and the sounds of combat were heard all around me. A quick check of the summoning link led to a disheveled young man with a bald head and days of grit coating the bright yellow robes he wore. I didn’t need the summoning link to recognize the pain of an empty mana pool etched on his face.
“You, man this wall, hold them back for as long as you can,” he ordered.
My attention turned to the attackers who were even now charging across an open stretch of ground to reach the walls. The attackers appeared human, huge men wearing just crude leather clothing. None wore armor, and many didn’t even have a shirt. All were proudly displaying various symbols and patterns painted onto their bare flesh.
They were too far away to make out much else in the way of details, but I could see that most held large, round wooden shields that also had patterns painted on them. The weapon of choice seemed to be oversized hand axes, but more than a few swords and spears were in the mix. A low humming sound was heard from the attackers, and with so many out there, the sound was ominous and a bit unnerving.
I pulled out my gnomish hammer in one hand, and my magic missile wand in the other as I took in my fellow defenders. The long wall held only one defender every five or so feet, way too few if the attacking force managed to climb over. This also wasn’t the only wall defending this place, in the distance, I could see another outer wall had been breached, which was where all the attackers were coming from. The smaller inner wall I was on surrounded a large keep.
Between the walls was open ground, piled with rubble where structures had recently been razed. Homes and businesses had once filled the area between the walls, but they had all been destroyed, either during some kind of siege bombardment, or purposely by the defenders to deny their attackers cover as they charged forward.
The open ground didn’t seem to be much of an advantage, as only one in ten of the defenders was armed with a ranged weapon. Those that did have a ranged weapon were firing continuously, but it appeared everyone was low on ammo. A few younger teens were running crossbow bolts and arrows up to the archers, but the bundles they carried were small, and probably would only work out to another five or six shots for each archer.
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I was the only summoned being on the wall, and the other defenders seemed to be residents of this place. Each was armored with a padded hauberk with steel breastplate secured over it. About half had longswords and shields, while the other half was equipped with halberds. Everyone looked exhausted and more than a few were sporting recently bandaged wounds.
The gate on this wall was just about fifty yards from where I was positioned. A thicker knot of defenders was placed in that vulnerable area. On the ground behind the gate, a small phalanx of halberdiers stood ready to defend the gateway if it was breached. My summoner looked over the wall at the attackers, then back toward the village and small keep that were protected by the wall.
A mass of civilians and wounded soldiers were slowly filing through the main street and into the keep. The keep wasn’t anywhere near large enough to hold all those people, so there must have been a portal or escape tunnel inside. Whatever they were using to escape, the process was slow and if the enemy got over the walls it would be a massacre.
“Hold here, I must see to the evacuation,” the mage who summoned me ordered. He climbed down a nearby ladder, flanked by two defenders who looked to be his bodyguards. They joined the throng of evacuees, and he was hopefully safe, as his death would end my summoning, and it looked like these people could use all the help they could get.
With the wave of attackers drawing near, I began to summon my team. First out was Lillia, who stood ready with spear and shield. Next out was the spider, who I hid behind a crenelation where it could get the bite on anyone that tried to climb over the wall. I could see that many of the attackers held ladders and the wall wasn’t all that high and would be easily scaled.
The zombie was placed to the other side of me, downwind where his stench wouldn’t distract me. I could see many of the defenders were not happy with the stench emanating from the undead creature, but they seemed to know the rotting zombie was on their side, so they didn’t complain too much. Last out was Rupert who I was able to scrounge up a sword for.
While the defenders might be down to the dregs of their ammo, weapons and armor were plentiful after the losses they had sustained during what must have been a protracted siege. With the last of my team summoned and ready to fight, the attackers had neared the wall and were now within range of my wand. Using a crenelation for cover, I popped out and fired each time the wand was off its cooldown.
No return fire hit, the attackers were solely a melee force, but I didn’t take any chances. I didn’t know these people I was defending, but the attackers didn’t seem like the type to spare women and children once they forced their way through. One after another my wand fired out magic missiles. Each shot was a hit, but the attackers were sturdy folk and could often absorb one hit without falling.
Now that they were close, I could see the attackers all looked like bodybuilders turned into extras for a sword and sorcery film. I fired off my last missile and pulled back out of sight, waiting for the ladders to hit the wall. A quick check behind me showed the crowd was still massing outside the keep, but the queue was slowly thinning as more and more made it inside.
A ladder clacked against the wall, and I had the zombie move up to push it over. At first, he tried to just push it away from the wall, which only caused the ladder to move a few inches then thump back into place. I had to yell at him to push it to the side. It was easier to knock over that way and it also might hit another ladder as it fell.
The ladder slid to the side, but before it fell, a large hand grabbed onto the wall and an enemy warrior started to haul himself up. My zombie didn’t need any urging and lurched forward battering the lone warrior’s hands and sinking his teeth into the top of the man’s head. With a grunt of pain, the man slipped from the wall, shouting curses as he fell. The ladder didn’t reappear, but it didn’t have to, at least a half dozen other ladders were in place and hordes of attackers were climbing onto the walls.
At first, our forces seemed to do okay, but the sheer number of attackers gained a foothold on the wall after only a short time. Once on the wall, the enemy easily hacked their way through the defenders. The wall a lost cause, the only thing I could think of was defending the nearby ladder that led down to the courtyard. My summoner had demanded that I defend the wall, so I couldn’t climb down myself and join the growing line of soldiers forming up behind the people evacuating into the keep.
A horn sounded and the last of the defenders fled, moving to join their fellows at the final defensive live. That left me alone with my minions and a horde of berserk attackers charging toward us. I contemplated using one of my consumables, but even Verdigrim or the gelatinous cube launcher would hardly slow this mass of attackers down.
All of my minions fought hard, but we were overwhelmed in seconds. I managed to get one swing of my hammer in, crushing the chest of an attacker. The next attacker landed an axe hit that split my chest open. In the moment before the news that I was dead reached my brain, I watched as Riposte activated and my hammer swung out to smash my killer in the face with gnomish steel.
Your heart has been cleaved by an axe and you have died. Your summoning is now complete.
Your performance rating is calculated as Average.
Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 1, rank 2, and your performance rating of Average.
You have earned 4 experience points.
Congratulations, you have reached tier 1, rank 3.
You have earned 3 summoning points.
You have gained 1 point in Presence.
You have unlocked a class feature.