Chapter 309: Of course there’s a Plan B

Chapter 309: Of course there’s a Plan B

"Are ya sure we need to leave someone at the temple, Mason?" Becky frowned and went a little pink. “Seems we could, you know, use 'em. Against the army of corpses, and all."

She had a point, of course, but Mason just couldn't shake the feeling that sooner or later the dragon was coming for this temple. He shook his head.

"I won't leave it undefended. I want Carl roaming for leaders. You, me, Phuong and Streak are enough, and Alex is too exposed out there. He'll stick with Seamus on the temple. If there's trouble, launch a big blast of fire towards the..."

"Towards the gate," Seamus said, "I gotcha boss, don't you worry."

Mason continued worrying. But there was no time to waste. Undead were still rising up all over the city, but the ape and bird men were pretty much handling it now.

Anyway, Mason decided it was just a distraction. He'd expected some kind of magic was going to bring down the walls, but it turned out the undead were going old school.Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com

After the huge army had brought itself forward, they started moving up battering rams and ladders. Already there was zombies and skeletons filling in the ditches with dirt and climbing up the walls, others methodically pounding jungle trees into the gates.

The king and his soldiers were defending the ramparts, and zombies weren't exactly great climbers. But it was only a matter of time before gates started exhausting and breaking, and that endless tide of the dead poured in.

"Time to go," Mason said, looking at the other players. "If the dragon shows up, we fall back. We don't get heroic and try and take it alone. Agreed?"

"Look who's talking, kid." Carl grinned, then rolled his eyes. "Yes, sir, we fall back."

"Becky—whenever Carl’s in range, you keep that aegis on him. Otherwise, just protect Phuong. Also I'm thinking if a gate breaks you toss up a wall if we can get to it. Anyone have questions?"

Phuong frowned. "What will we do if no matter how many 'leaders' we kill, the dragon doesn't arrive, and the numbers don't reduce enough to keep the assault from becoming...unmanageable?"

Mason shook his head. "Beats the shit out of me." He took a minute to think, trying not to curse Blake again.

His brother's constructs would be making an absolute bloody mess of the undead out there, pretty much without risk or stopping. And his magic and little orb might help figure out the dragon's powers. He eventually sighed.

"Maybe we ask the king to send out scouts to look for the dragon. It might be in the air, or maybe just somewhere in the trees. Can you handle that, Alex?"

The Belarusian nodded, and Mason glanced at the mid-afternoon sun. He wasn't sure what was going to happen when it got dark, but he had a feeling the undead wouldn't be taking a break from their assault. Time was not on the side of the living.

"OK. Drink your Rosa juice, and follow me."

Carl winced at the name, then the players all popped their stat-boosting flasks and drank the rather foul liquid down. It didn’t taste good, but it had a hell of a pep. Carl actually made a ‘whoo’ sound and shook his head like he’d shot back a double whiskey. Phuong coated his sword in some kind of acid, too.

This time they walked to a gate, more and more soldiers staring at them as they did their best to ignore the eyes.

Some of the animalistic soldiers nodded or gave some kind of salute, others making gestures like the Nephus priest once did.

"Open the gate," Mason said, standing at the entrance. "Then close it behind us."

"There's a flare, ya'll!" she called, pointing at a flash of Carl's disorienting color spell in the sky.

"I see it," Mason said, stepping out from the oval. "Stay with me. Don't get bogged down killing. We're moving fast."

Fortunately it wasn't far. The players cut a path of flesh and bone towards their scout, Mason now in the lead.

He cut or smashed anything that got in his way, but didn't stray from a direct line to the flare he'd seen. He trusted the others to handle themselves, to help him in a kind of cavalry-like spear formation. Or so he hoped.

"Still with me?" he shouted, not willing to look away and possibly lose his visual reminder of exactly where that flare was.

Phuong and Becky called back, and Streak didn't need to. Mason could feel him through their bond. Surrounded by so much unnatural death, the animal wasn't exactly enjoying himself. But as long as he was with Mason his fear would be kept at bay.

Mason winced when he saw a cluster of undead ahead. They weren't in the same shambolic ranks like the rest, as if they were closing in and surrounding something.

"Shit. Hold on, Carl," Mason muttered, realizing the flare might not have been a scouted target but a problem. "Keep moving!" he shouted, "We need to hurry."

He stopped trying to defend himself entirely. He ran forward slicing, usually just using a Sleeve to knock creatures out of his way. Carl was harder to kill than he looked, but his defensive powers relied almost entirely on speed and movement. If he was trapped in there with nowhere to go...

When they were almost there Mason activated Aspect of the Cheetah, ran and jumped towards the cluster. He came down like the worst crowd surfer ever, bashing both legs into different zombies before ripping off one's head and tossing the body away just to see.

"There you are," Carl said, lying on the ground with some kind of hideous demonic creature held in his arms on the ground. It was grotesquely thin and long-limbed, with a humanoid head save for the reptilian jaw.

The thing was snarling but its eyes were large with what looked like fear. It stared at Mason and the others, not moving much. The undead around had cleared a small circle and obviously were ordered not to come any closer.

"I heard it talking, so I figured...well. Why not ask it a few questions? Go on and tell Mason what you told me, friend," Carl said, his dagger held firmly across the thing's throat.

"Dragon..." it hissed. "Under ground. Buried."

Mason blinked, mind still not quite catching up to Carl hugging a demon between his arms and legs.

"Very good," Carl said. "Now tell me where, and I just might let you up with that head of yours still attached."

The demon looked into Mason's eyes, and apparently saw something it didn't like.

It twisted and tried to grab Carl as he grabbed at his knife arm, but the 'Glassassin' was too quick. The thing's neck sliced off from the back with hardly a trace of effort, and black blood flooded over Carl.

"Gross. But a got some kind of ‘aura’ boost, so that’s neat." He stood up as the undead all around them dropped lifeless to the ground. "Well. That's one. But the dracolich might not be coming. Was there a Plan B?"

Mason nodded. "Course."

He hoped he'd gotten slightly better at lying.