Elsewhere

Aurelia led Duke to a table in a deep alcove. It was deep enough that it could be considered a separate room. Duke was sure this alcove hadn’t been there earlier, but the Inn was able to change as needed so he didn’t give it much thought. Why the hell am I worrying about the Inn’s layout right now? Does she make me that nervous? Fuck! Square yourself away. Aurelia closed a curtain at the alcove’s entrance and sat down at the table. Duke did the same.

“We’ve both been rather busy, haven’t we?” Aurelia opened up the conversation with something she hoped would be an easy topic to get them talking. “Tell me about what happened in the city.”

Duke relaxed a bit at the gesture, accommodating her request. He told her about the raid on the vault, the family rescue, and how he brought so many gladiators back with him. When he related the story about Tukelstan who had betrayed them, he lightened the story a bit to only say that he killed the orc. The more he talked the less nervous he felt and his confidence began to reassert itself.

Aurelia settled into the conversation as well, relaxing herself as she relayed her adventures in the dungeon. It turned out that Sam was getting far more creative in what he designed and had even accommodated her request for a full-scale mock battle with a massive undead horde. The undead had been set with massive health pools but minimal to no damage capabilities. Everyone that was “injured” by the undead were taken off the battlefield as dead. The exercise had shown them where serious flaws had existed in their tactics and was ultimately a grand morale booster when they handily won the second round.

It was during this conversation that Duke learned that she had developed a large group of soldiers with healing capabilities that were interspersed with the rest of the troops. He loved the idea and found himself more and more enthusiastic about their training than he had been. He also found that their chairs had moved closer together as they moved things on the table as representations of troops in their modeling. They now sat side-by-side.

Duke leaned over across Aurelia to move the salt. She slipped under his arm, and they found themselves gazing into each other’s eyes only a handsbreadth apart. Duke was not sure who initiated it, but their lips found each other’s and all talk of training and combat faded away. At some point, Duke used one last TELEPORTATION that night to get them both to his room uninterrupted.

The following morning found Duke alone in his bed, Aurelia going through a series of stretches that set his mind ablaze again. He slid out of bed and she smiled up at him. His notifications tried to manifest but he forced them away for now, ignoring the insistent sense they gave off. His priorities were very much elsewhere.

When they were finally ready to head out after bodies were CLEANSED and torn clothing was RESTORED, Duke addressed his notifications.

*** Yes! Finally! We’ve been waiting for that. Congratulations, you are now a man!

Stop that already! There’s too much to relay to be wasting our time on such things.

You’re no fun. Go ahead and go through your boring updates then. I’m hitting rewind.

Anyway, you have had quite the adventure robbing a king and rescuing all sorts of people.

You even killed an annoying orc that came back to haunt you after you beat him the first time. Take 1,000 experience for the style you showed taking him down. For rescuing 82 gladiators of varying levels, you receive 93,000 experience. For rescuing Axis’ family in full alignment with your PURPOSE, you gain an additional 20,000 experience. For raiding the entire vault of King Chopie, you gain an additional 50,000 experience.

Congratulations, you have made it to level 84. You now have 12 Characteristic points to spend.

Your Abilities have been affected by your use. Specifically, your TELEPORTATION ability was able to punch through two increasingly difficult suppression barriers and then you used it to kill an enemy is a truly grizzly manner that sent other attackers fleeing in abject terror. That was great! Your Ability changes are as follows:

TELEPORTATION has increased to Adept 46

OVERCHANNEL has increased to Practiced 15

CLEANSE has increased to Initiate 20

RESTORE has increased to Master 23

INVENTORY has increased to Initiate 26

SILENCE has increased to Novice 10

DUNGEON SENSE has increased to Adept 22

Now that you have set things in motion, I really hope you are ready for what’s coming for you. We shall see, won’t we? ***

Duke shook his head at the odd bickering in his notifications. It wasn’t the first time it’d happened, and he was starting to wonder about just who was writing these things. Still, he was happy that he finally got another level and a significant boost to some Abilities. But most of all, he had a night to remember with a strong sense that it would be repeated.

He descended the stairs for the first time in a while, foregoing his usual TELEPORTATION to the common room. The room was positively abuzz. Soldiers and gladiators alike were enjoying a morning meal and his command table had been expanded as he had asked Sam to do at some point during the evening that he couldn’t quite recall. He saw his team at the table and smiled. When he saw Aurelia’s glowing smile, he couldn’t help but allow his smile to grow wider.

Joining his crew at the breakfast table, Duke gave his typical morning greetings as the server placed his breakfast before him. The team seemed to be brimming with a mixture of emotions. There was an undercurrent of anxiety throughout them all and Duke decided to address it right out the gate.

“Good morning everyone. As you are all aware, my mission into the city was largely successful but not without expected dangers coming to fruition. I was able to raid Chopie’s vault and free the majority of the gladiators I knew from the arena. I did encounter some form of warding magic that tried to block my TELEPORTATION. I was able to punch through the warding but that is a bit of a concern for the future. We are already aware that they know our location and are likely to move to strike at us soon. It is highly unlikely that they are aware of the number and composition of our troops so let’s keep that hidden. For all they know, I am the only one who survived the assault on Baslin’s tower, but I don’t expect a rational response in the least.”

Baslin interrupted. “I have set up anti-scrying wardstones all around our area. They are not foolproof, but they will, at a minimum, give a false reading if they cannot block the scrying completely.” He nodded in Grat’s direction. “Grat has some rather clever defensive emplacements as well as ideas like the wardstones.”

Duke grinned. “Glad to see that you all are proving as capable as I had expected. Aurelia, what is the status of our Legion?””

“The Legion has come together rather quickly now that we have been able to work with less-restrictive levels of foes in the training constructs. The troops have gained an average level of around twenty. I know it’s not the tier two that you were hoping for but our growth is accelerating. I expect we can increase that average by at least six levels a day. So, if you can give us a week, We can get to that tier two level you were looking for. The mages are now integrated into our squads as well as the healers. Each squad has ranged, front-line, healing, and magic in their loadouts. They all operate well in their small-squad format but I am concerned that we are not prepared for a large-scale fight.”

Grat jumped in. “Unless they find some way to bypass our defensive structures, it is highly unlikely that we will have such a situation. Our walls are heavily reinforced and organic so they can regrow and even heal from damage. Baslin has provided countless natural healing talismans for just that purpose. We have enough defensive platforms that we can provide massive overlapping fields of fire from our siege weapons and ranged defenders alike.”

“Excellent. I will continue to take the aerial surveillance role and see if I can locate the enemy. They may not have even started marching our way yet but if they have, I want to know where they are and who they are.” Duke added.

“You’re not going to try and take on their entire army by yourself, are you?” Aurelia asked.

Duke chuckled. “As tempting as that might be, I think it would be smarter to let the walking bags of experience points come to us so that we all can get the level-boost from them.”

“Walking bags of experience points?” Elaine asked.

“That’s what I’m calling them, yes.” Duke replied. “There will be some in the army that will be a true threat, but the vast majority will be trash. That is one of the reasons I keep pushing to get our troops tiered. Once they tier, they will retain their power, but their levels will drop back to the beginning and will get tons more experience out of the fight.”

Aurelia nodded along. “That is what I figured was your goal. I will push the Legion as hard as I can without casualties, but I will need at least four days to get them there. Can you get us that time?”

“Once we know the composition, location, and pace of the coming troops, I’ll better be able to make that determination. At worst, we may have to find a way to delay their approach.”

“I have some ideas on that.” Baslin interjected. “Since we suspect that it is the undead army coming for us, they will likely be moving mostly at night. Their vampires can’t travel effectively during the day as sunlight is harmful to them. I expect that will work in our favor. We can set up traps and delaying zones in their path if need be.”

“Then we have a plan forward. I’m heading over to address our new…citizens?” Duke wasn’t quite sure what to call the gladiators but citizens seemed the best option for now. “Anyone care to join me?” The entire table stood up with him. He smiled, his body tingling at Aurelia’s brief touch as she came to stand close by his side.

Duke found the gladiators, as expected, all gathered at a group of tables. “Good morning everyone and welcome to the Lake Front Inn. As you may have guessed, this place is a rather unique magical construction. You are all welcome here as long as you like but there are a few things you should know before you make any decisions.”

Duke waited for the group to settle down and focus fully on him. “Firstly, this area is my domain. My word here is final. Secondly, any who wish to leave are welcome to do so. Any who wish to stay are likewise welcome. I broke you out of the arena not to generate any obligation, but because that is what drives me – freedom for myself and others. I will not tolerate servitude or slavery in any form or fashion. My biggest regret right now is that I was not able to get everyone out of there.”

Duke paused, allowing them to process what he was saying before continuing. “I am sure you know how much this move has pissed off Chopie. I have taken one of his favorite entertainments away. Maybe not completely, but enough that it hurt him. He has been gathering an army and I expect that he will be sending it my way soon. We have made preparations for this army and are not all that worried. There is opportunity for you all here. The Legion is open for any who would want to join, crafters will find crafting facilities, and we can accommodate most other needs. I don’t expect you to make any decisions today, but in a few days, we will talk again and see where things stand. Any questions before I get to war preparations?”

“I would like a word with you, yes, Duke.” Axis answered.

Duke waited to see if there were any others before gesturing the man aside. “I’m all ears, Axis. What’s on your mind?”

“How bad is the army that is coming our way?” Axis asked.

“I honestly don’t know yet. I’ll be going on a recon mission this morning to see if I can locate them, assuming they have even left the city. I can see you are concerned about something. Go ahead and ask it.”

“I am concerned for the safety of my family. We have been separated for years now and I have barely been a father or husband during that whole time. I have missed most of my youngest daughter’s life. I do not want to miss more.”

Duke read the unspoken question in Axis’ body language and addressed it. “Axis, your rescue as well as the other gladiators was not a recruitment drive for my army. I have professional soldiers for that. None of you are obligated to join my army or fight on my behalf. If you want to, great. We’ll welcome any who want to join but that’s not why I brought you all here. It was my obligation to rescue as many as I could simply because I could. It’s part of who I am. I brought you all here because it is the safest place that I know. Our defenses are ridiculously strong, and our army grows stronger by the day. Chopie will send whatever he sends after us, and he will receive no word from them again. Have no concern for your family’s safety.”

Axis visibly relaxed. “Thank you, Duke. My wife will wish me to stay back where it’s safe, but when the fighting starts, I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep from joining in.”

“Speak with Aurelia. She is the general of the army and is in charge of deployment, strategy, and tactics. Let her know what you can do, and she’ll reserve a space for you should you need to join in. But for now, spend time with your family and don’t hesitate to ask for anything you or your family may need.” Axis thanked Duke again before Duke headed out on his own mission.