Chapter 7-205: Old Gods (1/2)
I effectively partnered up with the Knights’ efforts, and my team focused all their efforts on the incorps as much as we could.
Naturally said incorps became aware of this, but directed as they were to kill the living, and not individually realizing there was no coming back, they still attacked in droves, and died in droves.
Other than that, random hate lightning, cinderclouds, and the occasional Swarms of undead creatures were the only major threats, and could be dealt with in their own ways and times.
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Dawn arrived, Natural Renewal swept across the landscape, and the Shroudcloud was now fully a mile shorter in radius than it had been. All the undead outside its radius burned away, not to reform until night came.
Deep in the caldera, under a Hellcloud so thick it totally defied the sun, and with the walls of the caldera oozing darkness like ink, there was little reaction, although the incorporeals fled for cover, their insubstantial forms particularly sensitive to the rays of the sun.
The infantry elements warily pressed in to the open areas, and cautiously probed into the Firelands beyond. The terrain itself was actually far more dangerous to them than the undead they came across, who would die to withering barrages of guncold at safe distances, paint the ground white, and no longer be a threat.
Nobody wanted to die to a sudden fumarole going off underneath them, and the Druids among them were constantly wary about it.
Traveler solved this by setting down at the heart of their advance, mandating everyone stay within a mile of her, directing all their movements to avoid terrain problems, and also pointing out where to go to find things to shoot.
She had already proven the effectiveness of this tactic before, and the teams fanned out, came together, fanned out, and came together time after time, wiping smaller targets, and cooperating to bring down larger targets or numbers, splitting apart before the land could overreact to their presence, and staying away from volatile surprises coming from below.
The Druids were green with envy that she could Commune with the Land so easily, and likely would have fallen over if they knew how she was marking mineral veins to dig out in the hardened lavafields as she walked along, an Infusing Pattern on a Disk next to her she was keeping active while recasting her Commune repeatedly, with only an occasional Shard spell sent out to recharge or help a team.
The Mick and Master Fred had likewise withdrawn to get in their daily Infusing, not needed, and not quite able to Cast and Infuse at the same time.
Like waves of firecrackers popping whiteness, the various gathered armed forces rolled over the landscape, rooting around threats, shooting them en masse, and collecting themselves a lot of potential Undead Baneskulls for the future from the most powerful of the undead.
Any enemies within a thousand meters of Traveler were viable targets for her, so her range of covering fire was impressive, especially against incorps. Nominally touching the ground to take advantage of the Commune, rising into the air for altitude was anything but difficult, and her Eagle’s Vantage gave her a viewpoint from a thousand feet up, meaning she didn’t even need to have her own line of sight to a target to shoot it.
Backed up by such tremendously powerful spellcasting cover fire, knowing where the enemy was, the tricks and traps of the terrain, and armed with the right Weapons to face the enemy, the soldiers of the country, Heavenbound Hall, and quite a few mercenary adventurers advanced with greater and greater confidence... but equally great alertness and care, remaining careful not to overstep themselves.
The undead left basically nothing to be salvaged except their Skulls, so looting wasn’t an issue. This whole thrust was for Karma and for Glory.
Over the course of the day, the area of the Shroudcloud shrank more and more as foot-slogging Burning Undead were blown to burning ice, and even the eruptions of the landscape began to slow down noticeably...
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There were two hours to go until dusk when I ordered the men unceremoniously back out of the lethal landscape. Their protests after the active and productive day, with remarkably light casualties, were half-hearted, and suddenly everyone wanted to live long enough to enjoy their Karmic haul.
Mass Disk Trains assembled and vacated the area as rapidly as possible, and they were all well out of easy fly range of any evening incorps before the sun went down.
I spent most of those two hours in Meditation to get back Valences, of which I had very few to actually fill, courtesy of the giving nature of the burning undead. Nobody dared bug me during my down time, as Don’t Disturb the Caster was a well-known rule among anybody who did this sort of stuff for a reason.
There were only three deaths, the speed and availability of healing magic a powerful thing, although there were a lot of men coming out wounded and with burns.
A Healing Trap, a Guitar of Mercy, some use of Reserve Healing, and spending Valences or Wand Charges on the worst cases, and basically all the men would be ready to go again at dawn.
They swallowed when I took out three Life Diamonds, and brought the dead men back to life.
It wasn’t the first time I’d done this for them, of course, and if there were limits in how many times I could do it a day, that was also a thing. But it wasn’t hard to keep Energizing up Life Diamonds when the Fireborn and Burning Dead were being so generous to me, and to say I had gathered quite a stockpile of them by now was not inaccurate in the slightest.
The men I’d Quickened had literally gone through a life-and-death experience, something people who had not simply could not relate to. Just seeing that the magic of the gods was actually powerful enough to bring someone back from the Shroud was a religious moment for even the most hardened of the men watching, feeling that profound force in the air of things beyond mortal ken brushing up against you...
My Allegiance was growing. So were Sama’s Marked. Her Hagsister Lily, green-haired and leading a contingent from Heavenbound Hall, was making Marked and recruiting them among the Forsaken, with my direct approval.
This was very useful, because Sama and Briggs could help Warlord from the other side of the planet if they had to. I was info-dumping to them, and they were actually giving me the deployment and engagement orders for the whole fight. As the Marked and my Vassals grew in number, that meant ever-quicker response times and reactions, better coordination... and Sama and Tremble thrumming that Song of theirs for constant Heartsong Buffs to everyone who could hear it.
Everything on the stack. With Tremble’s Courageous effect, that Morale bonus was a colossal +4 at least, and the difference it made in fighting effectiveness and morale was apparent to anyone, let alone these experienced troops.
Commander Briggs giving orders, Sama Rantha giving motivation, me supplying information and spell support at that level... no armed force of soldiers had ever had such a direct line to the higher end of magically-supported combat.
Recruitment sped up accordingly.