Elsewhere

Duke stood in Baslin’s laboratory looking at the entire adjoining storeroom filled with what they had come to call firebombs. He had not bothered to count them but just chuckled along with the Archmage as he started to load them into his INVENTORY. Today was going to be a good day for a bombing run. He knew he had to spend more time in the dungeon so Sam could get as much Mana as possible but destroying as much of the approaching army as he could before they arrived was also a high priority.

“So, the firebombs are actually alchemical successes then?” Duke asked.

“In essence, yes. They do what they are intended to do so I would consider them a success. When they impact, they will explode, sending a flaming gel spraying over an area of about twenty meters across. The gel will burn for at least ten minutes before it burns itself out. Pretty nasty stuff.” Baslin grinned.

“You made napalm. This is perfect. It is a shame that we didn’t have more time to develop some different payloads because this is an amazing start. What I wouldn’t do for a fuel-air explosive. That would wipe out whole swaths of the undead.”

“What is this fuel-air explosive?” Baslin asked, intrigued.

“Let’s see if I can remember enough to explain it. Short of a MOAB, it was probably the nastiest non-nuclear bomb I’ve seen. It basically is a fuel canister that gets dropped on the enemy. On the way down, it has a pre-explosive charge that spreads the fuel all through the air. Then the secondary charge sets that fuel-air mixture off in a massive explosion. It is a terrible weapon of war, but since they have decided to start a war, I really don’t care what we do to destroy them.” Duke responded, relaying everything he knew about the weapon’s construction.

Baslin looked past Duke with a contemplative look. Duke waited for a response but quickly realized he had lost the Archmage for a while. He finished putting the firebombs into his INVENTORY and headed out. “Goodbye Baslin. Don’t blow yourself up while I’m gone.” He received an absent wave in response. He wasn’t entirely confident that Baslin wouldn’t do just that.

Duke spent the next several hours checking in on everyone from inside the dungeon. He even spent time watching the groups go through the dungeon. They generally went through in groups of ten with healing and magical support making up four of the ten slots. What Duke noted most often was that the groups worked extremely well together in the dungeon. They seemed to know the movement of the undead before they even moved. As he watched, he was concerned that the undead in the dungeon were stuck in set patterns which would be a terrible thing.

He watched several more runs but was relieved to see that it wasn’t set patterns, but somewhat unimaginative attacks from the undead. He called out to Sam. “Hey, Sam, can you make these undead a bit more free-thinking? They are pretty set in the things they can do.”

Sam appeared next to Duke and smiled. “Not at their current level, no. If you allow us to push the level gap a bit higher, say to fifteen or even twenty above the soldiers, I could really ramp up the challenge.”

Duke considered for a few seconds before responding. “Start increasing the level by one at a time with an upper level of 20 above the group’s average level. If they start really struggling, step the level down by one again. I want my troops to be able to fight above their level consistently. They need to be at least as deadly as a well-formed adventuring party.”

“I shall do so, Duke. Do you wish me to inform Aurelia?” Sam asked.

“No, don’t let her know unless she asks. If she seems upset about it, have her contact me to discuss. You can tell her this was my decision and my order.” Duke responded. “Now, I have a few bombing runs to do.” Duke’s smile as he departed was too wide and somewhat frightening when combined with the glint in his eye. People instinctively stepped out of his path before he simply TELEPORTED to where he had blasted the giant undead yesterday.

When he arrived, the dark cloud had moved on, following the army. He could see it in the distance but what struck him the most was the devastation of the area below him. Everything living had been obliterated by the combination of the passage of the army and his bombing yesterday. The path of destruction was easy to follow and was kilometers wide on either side. Duke growled as he knew the unnaturalness of the scene and the man responsible for it all. He vowed again that he would have Chopie’s head before it was all over.

Duke pursued the army from behind, keeping high in the sky to reduce the chance of him being detected. When he finally caught up with the army, he could see there were about half as many giant undead in the rear as there had been before his last bombing run. He wasn’t sure whether it was because he had destroyed them or if it was because they had been dispersed throughout the army.

Doesn’t matter where they are. I’m gonna blast them all as many times as it takes. With that thought, he began his first bombing run, using DUNGEON SENSE to spot the undead advancing below him. He flew at high speed, dropping the bombs across a large area in a series of runs. The resulting explosions lit up the darkness below the cloud, fires spreading across the undead.

Ecstatic that they still didn’t seem to have either figured out what was happening or just were unable to counter it, Duke dropped his final run of bombs right along the front line of the advancing army. He smiled at the resulting devastation before TELEPORTING back to the Inn.

When he walked back into the Inn, he saw a beautiful woman clad in gold armor make a beeline right for him. Duke didn’t need his XENOGLOSSIA to tell that she was angry. She stormed right up to him.

“You changed the dungeon parameters!” Her accusation rang loudly throughout the common room.

He looked her right in the eye. “Is that how you bring up an issue to your commander.”

The turn in her eyes told Duke that he had read her right. She paused as her face went through a number of emotions, finally resting on disappointment. “Why didn’t you tell me you were changing things? I could have warned them.”

“What warning will we have of our enemy changing tactics or slipping in elite troops in with the fodder?” Duke replied steadily. He knew that she was a general by nature, but was less prepared for this fight than she thought she was. He was the only one who had actually seen the coming army and the devastation they left behind.

Aurelia’s mind raced as she shifted from being angry about being left out of the loop to completely understanding why Duke had done it. “That was downright dirty and probably entirely called for. Sorry for my outburst, Your Grace.”

“You can make it up to me later.” Duke replied which set her to blushing, her redness increasing more as she realized that she was blushing.

She decided to quickly change the topic. “Were your bombing runs successful?”

“I would say so. I won’t know how many I killed until I can get to my notifications in the morning, but I feel pretty solid about the effect even if they are adapting. The army is changing its marching pattern and anything we can do to make the leaders change their plans is a win for us.”

“Are the undead intelligent? I thought they were mostly mindless?” She asked.

“From what I can see, there are skeletons and zombies making up the bulk of their forces and those are truly mindless. But, beyond that, other undead have some level of intelligence. And they are all being controlled to some extent by whatever is leading this monstrosity. I still haven’t seen the leaders yet, though. I have assumptions as to who might be leading this, but until they revel themselves, that’s it, just assumptions. And I hate working from an assumption because that usually comes around to bite you in the ass.”

Aurelia leaned forward and whispered in Duke’s ear. “I’ll bite you in the ass if you like.” Duke’s body reacted as his mind stumbled. She intertwined her arm in his and led him towards the stairs. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Duke didn’t consider not continuing with her.

Morning found the pair still in bed. Duke awoke first, finding himself wrapped in a tight cuddle. He decided to go through his notifications as he enjoyed her warmth.

*** Well, you’re really mixing worlds now. Be careful what you bring from your world to Teldin. You have no idea what the consequences will be.

You killed a quite a few undead with your new techniques. More than 1,500 in all for an experience boost of 341,825 which has jumped you all the way up to level 89. You now have 48 Characteristic Points to spend.

You had minimal gains in your Abilities and I’m not even going to go into it here. You-

***

Duke once again was perplexed by the seemingly interrupted message but applied his 48 points straight to Psyche, boosting his maximum Mana closer and closer to 500k. That should help things along for us, Sam. Eventually, he extricated himself from Aurelia, firing off a CLEANSE for good measure. He was dressed and on his way before long.

Duke headed out of the Inn, not stopping for his usual breakfast on his way to check in on the villagers. As he arrived he was greeted by a beaming Grandma Ruth.

“Good morning to you, Duke. This place is nothing like what we had expected. Our homes, even our clothes, have been restored as if they were newly made. It’s nothing short of amazing.”

Duke smiled. “It is, isn’t it? I have a few questions for you, if you don’t mind?”

“By all means, ask your questions.” She replied still smiling.

“OK. First off, why do you completely change your speech patterns when you speak with the villagers than when you speak with me?”

“Oh, that’s simple. You’re a Duke. I’ll use the high speech with you, but the villagers are uneducated and rather simple so low speech is appropriate.” She smiled mischievously as she answered.

“And that provides more questions than answers, like how would you even know that?” Duke asked.

“Oh, that’s another simple one to answer. I originally come from a noble family.” She gazed off into the distance briefly. “But that is all in the past now.”

“What do you mean?” Duke asked, intrigued.

“My family was once a noble house of the Kingdom of Eternia. I know, Ironic name since the kingdom doesn’t exist anymore. But when the twins split the kingdom, Chopie made some rather drastic changes to the laws of the kingdom. My family objected publicly. It didn’t turn out well for us. I am the only survivor of my house.”

Duke didn’t quite know how to respond but he tried anyway. “That’s awful. I’m sorry to hear that about your family. If it’s any consolation, Chopie’s days as king are numbered.”

She shrugged. “It’s not like I could take our house and nobility back at this point. I am an old woman and I’m happy with my villagers here. I don’t really need much more than this.”

Duke nodded, his other questions forgotten. “Thank you for sharing that. If there is something that you, or any of the other villagers need, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“We’re fine. More than fine, actually. Thank you.”

Duke headed back into the Inn to find Baslin – he really needed to go blow something up right now.