Chapter 68 (1/2)

Daniel raised his hands helpless, a smug Nul standing behind him. “I didn’t know! How was I supposed to know? Nul wouldn’t say-”

“You had a theory, however.” Regina Northwind said, folding her arms across her chest. “That something would change if you upgraded the village. And you did it, without consulting any of us.”

“I…. yes….” Daniel visibly deflated in front of the older woman, looking frazzled.

“At any rate…” Donny said slowly, glancing around at them all. Decklan was out handling a recently spawned Tier I Raid Boss, but the rest of the important people were here. Dozer, and Annie, who had become head of the Archers; Regina and Sam’s furious form, standing behind her in support; Mrs. Hamilton and her assistant; Ptolemy  and Glendel, the representatives of their mages; and finally Donny himself. “Glendel, it has only been a half hour… but what can you tell me about the situation.”

Glendel closed his eyes and felt the whispers of his bound ghosts. Although the Spirit Caller could only manage a finite amount, it did not seem like Glendel had that restrictions. The spirits floated everywhere, giving them an almost perfect picture of what was happening in the surrounding 20 miles.

After a few seconds, his eyes opened. “Looks like incidence of Raid Bosses has tripled… there is already one directly between us and Turtletown, and it looks like another is forming to the south, along the route between us and Franksburg. Both the dungeons have exploded like volcanos; the monsters are numerous, but they are still only Lvl 12 or 13. We will take the monster horde from one, and looks like most will be soaked up by Turtle Keep, and their infinite bullets.”

Donny rubbed his head. Even in the best case, it likely wouldn’t be for a few days more before the caravan to Franksburg returned. But still… “I move that Dozer and Annie head to the south to remove the Raid Boss from the route to Franksburg. Immediately.”

“Seconded,” Said Mrs. Hamilton.

“Thirded and Passed,” Said Daniel with a sigh.

Dozer nodded and immediately stood, Annie sighing theatrically and following him.

“Monster incidence is also up, generally, both in level, a little, and quantity, a lot,” Glendel added.

Donny just rubbed his forehead.

Regina frowned, and then spoke. “Samuel, what is our perimeter like?”

“Well, Ms. Northwind,” Sam said with an uncharacteristic bow. “Likely quite secure… The monsters have never had much success coming up over the mountains, and we have small teams on rotation to watch out for such incursions. The Arena built up the valley to the North converted very well into a small fort. Really, the only weakness is the road that leads directly through the Mountains to the NCC village, and the new farming expansion down to the South, following the valley.”

“Thank you for you analysis Samuel,” Regina said with a smile.

“Anytime,” He replied, his smiled widening.

Mrs. Hamilton rolled her eyes, and then said. “I move for Sam’s men and 4 Numeral squads to move to the Southern Farming expansion and clear the area of trees as quickly as possible. Extending the area double as far as the expansion was planned, and clearing ground for a fort.”

“Seconded,” Ptolemy said, after a small hesitation.

The rest of the table was silent. Every few days they held short bouts between the squads. If the lower won, they switched places. If they lost, they stayed the same. Excluding the irregulars, they now had 30 full time squads on call, who lived, ate, trained, and fought together. 4 single digit squads were 40 of their best men, with an average level of just short of 20.

“....I’m not sure if I get a vote, but I think it should happen, and immediately. That’s the direction of the dungeon that will hit us hardest. They will arrive in a little over 6 hours.” Glendel gave Regina a nervous look.

After a sigh, she just smiled and shook your head. “Yes, you get a vote. And that’s three, and the resolution passes. I move that we send the Heavy Mages to set up a roadblock a little ahead of the NCC village, in case something nasty comes down that direction.”

Their mage squads were divided into two teams, The Heavy Squad, which was effectively leaderless without Clarissa. They focused on pure power, breaking through heavy lines of monsters with fire, thunder, ice, or poison.

Meanwhile, the Light team was lead by Ptolemy, although Glendel featured heavily in their operations. They were primarily their healers, support spell casters, and hexers. The communication abilities afforded to them by Glendel and the other Spirit Caller were a nice bonus.

“Seconded.”

“Seconded.”