Ep. 400 Captain's War Part 10 (Patreon)

At this point I don't really have any hope of convincing people I am not the hero they think I am. Not that I should try, it helps with morale and that will be important if we face a siege. Now that my armor is fixed I realize I really don't have anything else I need to do.

Since I can't think of anything else I start wandering around town to get an idea of how things are going. Morale seems pretty good from what I can see and the people I stop and talk to all seem hopeful. After I have been walking around for a couple of hours a runner finds me and tells me Zimmy is looking for me.

Following the directions I was given leads me into the inner castle where I find Zimmy looking at a map of the kingdom. The map is the size of a table and very detailed, this is probably the king's map. When I walk in, Zimmy is alone and she looks fairly worried.

"What happened?"

Zimmy says "Roland stopped, around here. According to the report he sent, the enemy has stopped attacking him. But our scouts have found forces moving to get behind him."

"What kind of forces?"

Zimmy says "The force moving to his left are basic undead, skeletons and zombies. The force on the right is goblins, lots of them. The scout reported that he couldn't get close enough for an accurate count but they are moving strangely."

"Strange how?"

Zimmy says "Moving day and night, no stops."

"They are probably undead then."

Zimmy says "What should we do?"

"Is Nived around? Can you summon him?"

Zimmy says "Sure."

I study the map while waiting for Nived to arrive, learning the terrain between the town and Roland's force. Mainly I am looking for good ambush points and terrain we can use to our advantage.

Nived says "What do you need, boss?"

"Do you have enough mana to burn say ten thousand goblins?"

Nived says "Not all at once, no. But given a few days I could do it."

Zimmy says "Where did you get that number?"

"Just a guess based on how many goblins we should have killed by this point."

Zimmy says "Oh, I guess that makes sense."

"If the goblins were in woods that you had time to prepare beforehand could you do it then?"

Nived says "If the woods were set to burn, then yeah, maybe."

"Okay, Zimmy, order Roland to fall back to about here. Give Nived what people you can spare. Go to this wood here and set the trap for the goblins."

Zimmy says "I can spare twenty good men and a wagon load of oil."

Nived says "Oil won't work, they will smell it and avoid the trap."

"Undead won't."

Nived says "Oh, right!"

Zimmy says "Raindrop isn't going to like us burning down a bunch of trees."

"Where is she? I will explain it to her."

Zimmy says "She went out scouting. She doesn't like staying in the town."

"I don't blame her. When she gets back, send her to talk to me."

Zimmy says "Okay. What about the second force?"

"I will take care of them."

Zimmy says "Alone?"

"Yeah, alone."

Zimmy says "Not that I'm doubting you, but is that a good idea?"

"It will be fine. I will join up with Roland once I take care of them."

Nived says "How long do I have to set up the trap?"

Zimmy says "Based on their reported speed, about a day."

Nived says "I better get moving then!"

"Go ahead, I will stay here a bit longer."

Zimmy leaves with Nived, she has to arrange for people and supplies he will need. Meanwhile, I study the map and try to figure out what the enemy is likely to do next. I am still there, working on simulations in my mind, when Zimmy returns with Raindrop.

Raindrop says "Zimmy told me about the woods, I don't like it but I can see the necessity of it."

"Do you have the ability to communicate with animals?"

Raindrop says "I don't, but my unicorn does."

"Good, go convince all the animals to vacate the woods. You should be able to get there before Nived easily."

Raindrop says "I can do that. But why do you care?"

"Because you do."

Zimmy says "Well, that was unexpected!"

"Once you have cleared the woods, join up with the army. They will probably need you."

Zimmy says "Why? What do you think is going to happen?"

"The fact that the army stopped has me worried."

Raindrop says "Isn’t them stopping a good thing?"

Zimmy says "What are you worried about?"

"The most likely reason for them to stop is for them to be converted to undead."

Zimmy says "So? The army won't lose to some undead!"

"To convert a large number to undead is a simple ritual, it just takes time. What worries me is there are higher level rituals that also summon other things."

Zimmy says "So, you think whatever is leading the invasion is going to use a higher ritual?"

"It is what I would do if I was leading the invasion."

Zimmy says "But the army is being led by a monster surely?"

"Is it? I wonder."

Raindrop says "If not a monster, what else could it be?"

"A human."

Zimmy says "No way! There are no humans that powerful!"

"Actually, it wouldn't take much power. Just a necromancer willing to put a lot of time into it. The highest undead I have seen is a death knight, with enough work a necromancer could create and control a death knight. Raising undead is easy, but controlling them is not. If the death knight is used to control the undead a single necromancer could do the rest."

Raindrop says "So, you think a single human necromancer could be responsible for all of this?"

"Yes. It is possible. And it fits some of the facts."

Zimmy says "Like what?"

"The first undead attack sent at the town. That only makes sense if someone had knowledge about the town but didn't know it was recently repaired."

Zimmy says "True, if the walls hadn't been repaired that attack would have worked. But couldn't a monster know that as well?"

"Yes, in fact a monster would be more likely to check before attacking. A human who knows how cheap and lazy the king was would just assume nothing had been repaired."

Raindrop says "That makes a weird sort of sense."