Elsewhere

Another night, another set of notifications. Duke awoke chuckling to himself as he poured through his notifications. There was nothing significant in the Ability changes and the commentary was nothing new, primarily focused on getting back to the Legion and getting going – something which he had already planned to do.

Breakfast was the mundane deliciousness that the group had grown inured to by now. The discussion, however, was anything but as they discussed the coming fight.

“Remember that Chopie has laid traps for us along the road.” Duke started. “We have to eliminate the traps or find a way around them. This is an area where you would excel, wouldn’t it be, Grat?”

“Depending on the nature of the traps, yes. But you have me escorting the refugees through the forest to get them here safely. Which is probably needed if they don’t have any real means to defend themselves.” Grat responded.

“True. There are some amongst the refugees that could handle the odd monster or three, but the vast majority have little more than what they are wearing.” Duke clarified.

“At least what they are all wearing is nice and new, right, Duke.” Aurelia added.

“Yes, I did RESTORE most everyone’s stuff. That’s my way of shaking hands and kissing babies. I want them the arrive here in better spirits than when they fled and more able to take care of themselves.” Duke smiled his best politician’s cheesy smile.

“Kissing babies?” Elaine asked.

“Yeah, you know how politicians work the crowd when they are on the campaign trail trying to get elected, right?” Duke continued and ground to a halt as he saw the confused looks around the table.

“Fucking idioms!” They all voiced together as soon as Duke caught on to their confusion.

“Anyway, how are we going to get past all the traps and ambushes out there on the road?” Aurelia asked. “I am open to suggestions before I bring my thoughts to the table.”

“Let’s just bypass the entire road.” Duke responded.

“Blaze a trail through the countryside with an entire Legion?” Aurelia asked.

“Not really what I had in mind.” Duke responded. “Here’s what I am thinking…”

An hour later they had the general plan established. It hinged on a number of things going right, but every great plan did. And, of course, Duke was the lynchpin of it all.

When they returned to the Legion, they found that the troops had already started their march up the road. Looks were exchanged and Aurelia mounted her horse and charged towards the front of the Legion. Duke rose into the air and raced to the front of the Legion as well. Baslin summoned his chair and lazily floated over the marching Legion, letting them take the lead in this part.

Aurelia arrived in front of the Legion, glad to see that they hadn’t encountered any traps. She didn’t want to stop the march, but she knew that she needed to be up front in case something occurred. Duke, for his part, continued to climb into the air and accelerate forward. It was a matter of minutes before he left the Legion behind to do something he wanted to do all along – do some scouting of the city’s defenses.

Duke remained at high altitude as he approached the city, not wanting to get in range of any defenses and hopefully far enough up that he was out of sight as well. All his stealth Abilities were up and running to help conceal his presence. He observed that the city had turtled up and catapults and ballistae dotted the walls, ready for action. But that is not what Duke was scouting for. He was looking at the area surrounding the city. Since the road the Legion was traveling was to the southeast of the city, Duke was focusing on the area to the north and northeast.

He focused his attention and spotted what he was looking for. There was a farmer’s field about two kilometers away from the city that was shielded by a small hill. Duke TELEPORTED to the ground behind the hill. Once there, he pushed his DUNGEON SENSE as much as he could. He discovered that it was getting easier to use the Ability as he became more practiced with how the information was presented to him but most of all, standing still made it even easier to keep from getting overwhelmed.

His focus was downward, and it did not take long to find what he was looking for – an underground cavern. He focused on the cavern and began tracing the tunnels in and out of it, finding that they headed out in a number of directions. Two hours later, he had mapped a path that led to the caverns below the city. He TELEPORTED to the furthest of those caverns he could sense.

Expanding his DUNGEON SENSE again, he could see the entire area beneath the city. Whereas the last time he had seen these chambers filled with undead and close to impossible for him to sense clearly with all the movement, they were now barren, not even insect life seemed to be present. He was also able to see that there were hundreds of paths up to the city, many of them relatively newly made. This solidified the plan he had discussed. With a smile on his face, he TELEPORTED back to where the Legion was halted.

The command group had been awaiting his arrival and quickly formed up around him, anticipation in their eyes. Duke did not disappoint. “I have found the chambers beneath the city and there are hundreds of passages up into the city. Most of them are new and may be how the undead horde came up from below to head for us. More evidence that Chopie is beyond redemption. But even better for the plan than trying to conceal the Legion in an area outside the city. The chambers and tunnels are empty and I couldn’t sense any sort of traps. We’ll stage the Legion underneath the city and not even have to breach the walls!”

“So, when do we start moving?” Aurelia asked.

Baslin answered first as Duke looked towards him. “I have created the illusionary array, and it can be deployed whenever you are ready.”

Duke grinned. “Excellent. Prepare the array. In two hours, I’ll start moving the Legion into place. Once they are all set, I’ll go and poke the bear so to speak. They’ll focus on me, and they won’t see the Legion coming until it’s too late for them.”

Orders were passed down through the Legion and the Legionnaires adjusted their formations to allow Duke to TELEPORT them one thousand at a time. It took time as Duke had to regain his Mana after every TELEPORT but in a matter of hours, the Twice Blessed Legion was broken into centuries, ready to charge in succession up the 50 tunnels that Aurelia had identified as the best strategic locations to emerge. While waiting for the Legion to prepare, Duke contacted Mandibra to let her know that her Ant soldiers were required.

“Queen Mandibra, we are ready to assault the Deceiver’s master in his city. Are your soldiers ready?” Duke employed the extended-range Jewel of Whispers that Baslin had provided.

“You have arrived several days earlier than I had anticipated. My soldiers have been tunneling towards the city steadily since we met but they will not be there until close to dawn. I had expected for them to arrive days before you.”

“Very well, I will wait for them to arrive before I begin.” Duke ended the conversation there. He growled inwardly at the delay but decided to use the time to make sure everyone was ready for the coming fight. He toured the ranks, inspecting various Legionnaires not necessarily to check their gear or readiness, but more to give them a morale boost knowing that he was there. He reached out to Baslin to see how the illusion array was faring and was informed that the illusionary Legion was bedded down for the night just shy of the first trap.

“Are you going to come pick me up before things get started in the morning?” Baslin asked.

“Will the illusion maintain itself without you there?” Duke asked right back.

“The illusion will maintain itself for about ten hours, maybe as long as twelve, after I leave. That should be sufficient, wouldn’t you say?” Baslin responded, hope in his voice.

“Yeah, I’ll come get you before we get started. There’s no guessing what Chopie has up his sleeve. We likely will need your magic when push comes to shove.”

“I stand ready.” Baslin replied.

Duke continued what he could do for preparations before TELEPORTING to the Inn to check in there. What he found was a bit of a surprise. Grat was waiting for him outside.

“I thought you were escorting the refugees here?” Duke asked trying to keep irritation from his voice.

“I did.” Grat replied with a wry smile.

“I’m not going to play a guessing game. Give me details.” Duke responded sharply.

“OK, ok, ok.” Grat held his hands up in supplication. “I used my Abilities to bring them all in more quickly. Scared a few of them but they all made it safely and quickly. Most importantly, quickly.”

Duke shook his head. “How many decided to stay?”

Grat’s grin grew wider. “All of them. They went inside, took one look at the city waiting for them and the people welcoming them home and they all rushed in. They seem really happy, especially that giant of a blacksmith. I think he ran around his smithy for nearly an hour in wonder at all the things that Sam stocked in there. He even had the man’s name on the marquis. ‘Halgrim’s Smithy’. Not exactly imaginative but the man seemed to love it.”

“So, they all settled in right away, eh?” Duke asked.

“They really did.” Grat responded.

“That tears it. I’m not going into the Inn. Time for me to head back to the Legion.” Duke declared.

“Take me with you.” Grat asked.

The pair disappeared, reappearing in the caverns. Neither noticed that Sam stood in the doorway of the Inn chuckling with a smug smile on his face as they left. It only took another hour of checking things out before Duke decided to get some sleep before the next day’s battle. As he chose the spot to set up, he reached into his INVENTORY for the command tent only to remember that Baslin had it. Rather than retrieve the Archmage early, he just pulled a bed out and collapsed in it, filling a side alcove of the cavern. It wasn’t long before Aurelia joined him.

She, on the other hand, had a tent to set up over the bed and did so. “I want at least a little privacy before we head off to battle in the morning. Are you sure this plan is going to work?”

Duke looked her in the eye with a serious look on his face. “I certainly hope it does but there is no certainty in war other than that people will die. If I can minimalize the loss of life on our side, then I am going to do so.”

“But you are putting yourself in the primary line of fire to start things off. That worries me.” She replied.

“Of all the parts of the plan, that’s the part that I am the least worried about. I’ll be airborne and I am far more maneuverable than they can imagine while FLYING. I’ll know if I need to move or even if I need to TELEPORT. Although, to be honest, I am expecting them to have some sort of defense against TELEPORTATION in place. Likely, they will think they can trap me somehow. But if they focus their efforts on me, they’re done. I’m the distraction in the opening round. And I’m a lot tougher than they could imagine. I can take a bunch of hits even if they somehow manage to surprise me.”

“I know all that. I planned this out with you after all.” She reminded him.

“Good, so put your mind to rest and let’s get some sleep while we still can.” Duke wrapped her up in his arms and pulled her down to the bed for the night.