THE ASCENDANCY - The Keep - Day 11

  The next week was filled with all sorts of activity. My new squad leaders worked their squads daily, pushing any of the original kobolds from before the class upgrades to level five within three days. By day four we had thirty-six shieldbearer kobolds. This included two squads of the ranged Velites soldiers and two squads of Principes swordsmen, along with five squads of Legionaries. This didn't count the eight rogues either, bringing the total to forty-four cohorts.

  The barracks inside the den had evolved into officer quarters, but ARi didn't skimp on the amenities in the above-ground barracks. Each squad had its own bunk room with two bunk beds. There was more than enough room to put multiple single beds in the space, but the kobolds insisted on keeping the bunks. Squad leaders would eventually stay with their squads, and higher-ranked captains and above would stay near ARi. Surprisingly, this was not our idea either. The kobolds insisted on it. It was pretty clear at this point that the kobolds saw me as a top tier in the leadership, but they looked to ARi like she was royalty or something.

  For now, until we'd had more captains, the squad leaders rotated, watching over the squads in the barracks. ARi doted on our cohorts and gave them the best weapons and armor that we were capable of producing. The amount of detail, time, and effort she put into this showed her dedication to them as much as they showed their dedication to her. And honestly, I'm okay with this. She made jokes about calling herself the fragile princess stuck in the tower. Her role in the Ascendancy meant that losing her would cost us everything. There is no doubt that the kobolds understood this too.

  Each day I would get up early, and under guard I would go out to the farthest point in a given direction and place another Control-Node down. As long as I did this with full stamina and full reserves I didn't pass out. But the act of placing the node damn near knocked me out every time, and I had to be helped back after performing the task and spend the first half of my day recovering. The sacrifice was worth it though. We gained access to new resources and the area of influence expanded well out past what we considered to be the range of the Nox Reapers' siege equipment. This type of expansion, though, was soon going to become impractical.

  Although Jack was absolutely insistent on leaving for the city of Maelun as soon as possible, after working with his new squad he understood the value in bringing them along. They spent the last three days power-ranking the new Vi?akanyā. The armor ARi had designed for our new poison maidens was practical and comparable to the regular rogue armor. It had the same craftsmanship, engraved leather, and bronze rivet work. The changes were subtle and yet it was easy to tell that they were female. This, too, was an idea that was brought to us by the new rogues. In fact, it only took one night for them to explain the benefits to Jack.

  It turned out these ladies were not actually poisonous to the touch, but their expertise in venom and toxins, mixed with Tanya's knowledge, skills, and abilities, was truly terrifying. They were equipped with the same poison kris knives as the rest of the rogues but didn’t carry the Egyptian khopesh swords. Yumi and ARi had developed miniature crossbow devices that fit on their wrists and were hidden by the long sleeves of their cloaks. They could fit the devices with a variety of darts that allowed them to knock out targets or kill them in seconds. Jack and Sawyer also spent a lot of time practicing with the new chakram. The spinning discs gave the rogues a medium-range attack where before they'd been restricted to only the wrist rockets we originally made for them. They insisted on keeping the wrist rockets because they were good for creating distractions and misdirection.

  The scene around the keep was something to behold, with our walls now intact and the new infrastructure being put in place and expanding every day. Not only were the buildings themselves a sight to see, but colors seemed to splash across the area as flags and banners were draped over the walls.

  Red had not come to me yet to talk about his additional subclass. I had a feeling he was waiting for Charlie to catch up so they could have a better idea of what direction to go. The kobolds patrolled the areas around the keep. We had also found the creatures that had once hunted us now avoided the area for the most part, as now they were the ones being hunted. We didn't exploit the river though. It was decided the river belonged to the water drakes. They'd become a symbol for our forces and we tried to respect their habitat.

  ARi'd become obsessed with trying to level up. She was trying to get to level five as quickly as she could. After her last skill choices I understood why. She joked about it a lot in front of others, but I knew how vulnerable she felt in this place. She would spend the night out with Bishop, hunting and exploring beyond our boundary. She needed as much sleep as the rest of us though, and after I had put a Control-Node down she would lie with me in my quarters. Her excuse was that she was watching over me to make sure I recovered. In truth she cuddled up next to me and slept, and I tried my best to let her rest.

  This early morning was no different until we received a new system announcement.

  [SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT:]

  The siege of Maelun has commenced. Control of the city remains overwhelmingly with the native kobolds; hostile Nox Reapers have established a foothold and now hold 5% of the city.

  This is an Ascendancy Objective.

  ARi and I sat up immediately in bed. As I dismissed the window I pulled the covers off, stood, and offered her my hand. "ARi, I need you to recall as many people as you can. I’ll send runners out for the others. It's probably a good idea to recall all your constructs too. We might need the control points."

  "I'm already on it," she said, hopping up and trying to pull her pants on.

  We ran out into the common area and found Kyle and two of the squad leaders already sitting at the table. "Well, good morning," Kyle said with a grin. "I take it you guys aren't rushing out here for lunch."

  "I assume you got the system announcement."

  "Yeah, I saw it." Kyle said. "I was already inside working with Boone and Desmond on their English."

  "Boone, can you run back to the barracks and retrieve the squad leaders? Also, put the squads on alert. We need them fully equipped and ready to march within the hour." I said.

  Boone tapped his chest and bolted out the door. Before the door had a chance to swing closed all the way it flung open.

  "One day, just one damned day! That's all I wanted," Yumi complained as she strode into the den and toward the table. "We were almost to the river."

  Behind Yumi came the three new rogue Vi?akanyā: Erica, Tony, and Maddie.

  "You guys couldn't give us one day to take Lilly down to the river?" Yumi demanded.

  Lilly hopped off Tanya's shoulder, ran across the den, and jumped onto the table. Sitting back on her rear legs, she folded her arms in protest, mimicking Yumi.

  Kyle quickly threw his hands up in surrender. "Hey, it wasn't me. I didn't do it."

  "Yumi. I know you saw the message, too." I said.

  "Yeah, Gav, I saw the message. They saw the message. The whole world saw the damn message," Yumi quipped.

  She sighed in exasperation and made her way to her seat. The three rogues sat at the table across from her.

  A couple of minutes later the door swung open again, and Red and Charlie entered the den. Behind them I heard Tanya arguing with Tim.

  "You said that the toxin wouldn't hurt humans," Tim complained as he walked through the door.

  "I also told you not to play with those things, and that you’d cut yourself," Tanya snapped.

  "I'm a blademaster, Tanya, and I'm Indian. I've done nothing but play with swords and knives since I've been here. The last thing I expected was to get cut by my own damn culture," Tim said.

  "Ouch!" Tim complained as Tanya reached up and plucked a piece of hair from the back of his head.

  "Hey, what did you do that for?" he said.

  "Because, you dumb ass. If you don't stop moving and let me heal that wound, you could end up in cardiac arrest," Tanya replied.

  "The poison isn't instantly deadly to humans or kobolds. That doesn't mean it isn't harmful," she added. Tanya placed her hand over Tim's forearm and her hand began to glow. "That’s why the rogues still carry an anti-venom."

  "Oh, knock it off, you big baby," she said. "There, see? That wasn't even that bad, was it? Thanks, Mom," he added, half-mocking, as they moved over and took their places at the table.

  "I should've made some popcorn or something," Kyle said, grinning.

  Tanya gave him a look that could cut through steel.

  "Okay, I think we're waiting for the other squad leaders," Tanya said, looking around. "Wait, where are Sawyer and Jack?"

  Seemingly out of nowhere, the two kobolds appeared on either side of her. She jumped and smacked Jack in the back of the head. Sawyer tried to hide his face, but I could see his little shoulders bouncing up and down as he tried to hide his laughter.

  I had to do the same. "Tanya, how goes the training with the rogues?"

  "Painful," Jack interjected, rubbing the back of his head.

  The last of the squad leaders showed up soon after. I stood up at the end of the table and waited for everybody to quiet down.

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  "Well, first off, ladies and gentlemen, I have to say that this table gets longer every time we have to have one of these little meetings. Don't take me the wrong way; that's not a complaint. For some of the new faces who aren't used to this, I'd like to ask everybody to hold comments and questions until we get through some housekeeping."

  "First, Red and Charlie: I know that if both of you haven't reached level ten, at least Red has, and you're probably waiting for the other before we go over potential subclasses. I think were going to have to do this sooner than later though, and before we leave.

  "We understand, Architect," Red chimed in.

  Charlie added, in broken English, "Architect, our forces are preparing to march and will be ready to take on provisions."

  "Good. Great work you guys."

  " Jack, I know you wanted your squad leveled up, before we sent you to the city, but I'm afraid the mission has changed. We no longer have the luxury of time. We won't be able to sit here and wait for you to return with news or representatives from the native kobolds. ARi, how are the mounts coming along?"

  "They're pretty crude, Gav. They won't take up any of my control points because they're directly controlled by the rider, and I can't promise any kind of reliability. But they're fast and the rogues have had a chance to practice on them."

  "Okay, Spawn two of the mounts. Jack, at the end of the meeting I want you to take your squad and make your best speed toward Maelun. I'll be sending Bishop with you, but he won't join you inside the city. Once you get close enough, hide the mounts outside, in case you need to make a hasty retreat. Bishop will follow you up to that point. You'll be able to relay information to ARi in real time about the city and what kind of welcome we'll receive when our forces arrive."

  "I want everybody to understand I don't want to engage the native kobolds. If they outright refuse our help and want nothing to do with us, fine. But we'll still be engaging the Reaper forces. I'd rather do that without getting shot in the back."

  "We understand, Architect. We'll deliver Earth's terms and relay the information back to Bishop."

  "ARi, how long will it take our scouts to make it to the city?"

  "Twelve hours, Gav. Even if they travel a straight path to the city they'll have to navigate some pretty rough terrain. It's nothing the mounts can't handle, but it'll slow them down."

  "How long will it take the rest of us to get there?"

  "If we don't run into trouble, the fastest we could march there will be seventy-two hours."

  "Three days?" Kyle interrupted.

  "It might be even longer than that, Kyle. The new constructs we plan to bring aren't as fast as the mounts. Worse yet, with Bishop going with the rogues, those constructs will be operating under preprogrammed instructions. We can make them stop and start, but we're not going to have much say in the speed they move or in getting them to change direction until Bishop's back with us and ARi can alter their programming or directly take control.

  "I don't like this one bit, Gav," Yumi said. "I don't like the idea of leaving ARi behind. We can't leave her here by herself."

  "Nor will we. Sawyer and his squad will stay back with ARi. The keep will go into lockdown as soon as we leave and ARi will be sealing it from the outside world until we return."

  "Gavin," Tim said, "I know you've put a lot of thought into this, but you can recover on one of the constructs. Three days is a long time. I think you need to see what the additional subclass were gonna get with Red's level ten upgrade. I know you were hoping to use extra control points for potential reinforcements when we assault the Reapers. But we can help Charlie reach level ten along the way. I'm not comfortable only leaving the rouges here to watch ARi."

  "This is wise counsel, Architect," Sawyer said. "Summon two Rakshaka Guardians along with other warriors as royal guards."

  "God damn it, you guys, I'm not a princess," ARi snapped.

  Tanya got up, walked over, and hugged ARi, who was visibly upset.

  "Honey, we know you're not a princess, but to them you are. You're royalty. Queen of the kobolds," Tanya said.

  "Empress of the Shield bearers," she added in jest.

  "Tanya, you're not funny," ARi said.

  Tanya continued to hug ARi. "I'm a little funny," she said. ARi sighed, took a deep breath, and sat back down. She looked up to find Sawyer at her side.

  "It isn't that we see you as a princess or royalty. Please forgive my ignorance when it comes to your speech. However, you are our ward. It's the primary objective that every kobold who's been brought to this place and who's born of this place is told upon their existence. Every kobold here would give their life for you. It's our purpose. But it isn't only duty that compels us. It's your grace and your kindness. It's your respect and our shared kinship. Because of these things, Ward, whether compelled or not, you have our affection."

  "And our blades," Jack said, stepping up behind Sawyer as they both knelt.

  Every kobold at the table tapped their chest.

  ARi finally looked up as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Ignorance with our speech, my ass," she said, before pulling her fist to her chest in acknowledgment.

  I threw my hand up and the system window projection appeared on the far wall at the end of the table as everybody retook their seats.

  [SYSTEM WINDOW] CLASS SELECTION

  Congratulations, Architect. Your Shield bearers have followed the path of the Roman-Empire. Your first Captain has earned a new Class by reaching level 10. Choose a new class for this cohort. Each class choice, grants you access to three new spawnable Cohort options in your UI inspired by the Roman military.

  Class: Praetorian Legionary

  Praetorian Bladeguard: Heavily armored close-combat infantry trained for disciplined, aggressive attacks.

  Class Skill: Imperial-Line-Strike. When they press the line they gain increased damage output and reduced stagger.

  Praetorian Spearman: Elite spearmen optimized for fighting in confined urban approaches and chokepoints.

  Class Skill: Gatebreaker-Thrust. Their coordinated thrusts deal bonus damage to targets attempting to hold tight formations and briefly lower the target's ability to counterattack.

  Praetorian-Shock-Legionnaire: Lightly more mobile elite infantry who excel at short, violent local counterattacks.

  Class Skill: Rapid-Reformation. After performing a decisive strike they immediately regain a portion of stamina, allowing follow-up maneuvers.

  Class: Praefectus fabrum

  Sapper-Assault-Team: Combat sappers trained to fight in the rubble and ruins of breached walls. Class Skill: Breach-Specialist. Their attacks against fortifications and static emplacements do bonus structural and personnel damage and temporarily degrade nearby defensive modifiers.

  Mantlet-Vanguard: Shield-equipped assault crews that can advance under improvised mantlets while maintaining offensive pressure.

  Class Skill: Cover-Advance. Their emplacement reduces incoming missile damage for the advance and improves the squad's close-range breakthrough chance.

  Enginehouse-Volleymen: Missile infantry trained to neutralize enemy war machines and artillery units and siege equipment.

  Class Skill: Targeted-Suppression. Their concentrated volleys impose accuracy and reload penalties on targeted siege constructs and reduce the functionality of those emplacements for a short duration.

  Class: Praefectus alae

  Equites-Auxilia: Light cavalry focused on rapid engagement, flank harassment, and fast pursuit formations.

  Class Skill: Mounted-Skirmish. They excel at catching withdrawing units and applying pressure to the enemy rear, increasing enemy movement disruption and lowering their recovery rate.

  Javelin-Auxilia: Seasoned reserve that trade sustained formation strength for flexible ranged harassment.

  Class Skill: Dispersed-Volley. Their dispersed volleys lower enemy formation recovery and can create local openings for heavier cohorts to exploit.

  Triarii-Auxilia: Seasoned reserve infantry trained to stabilize broken lines and execute decisive counterstrikes.

  Class Skill: Anchor-Counterstrike. When deployed against a disordered enemy they gain increased damage and stability on their opening coordinated attack.

  Architect control notes: Control points are only consumed for the leaders you field directly. Subordinate cohorts nested beneath a leader do not consume additional control points.

  "See? I told you, Tim," Kyle proclaimed from across the room. "I told you as soon as we started trying to mount the cohorts it was going to start giving us options for cavalry."

  "That would be sweet, Gav, but I think we should probably avoid that option for the moment," Tim said. "Although you might be able to bring cavalry riders in, as ARi said, the mounts are still prototypes."

  "Gavin," Yumi said softly from across the table. "I don't usually put my two cents in, but…"

  I could see that she was struggling with leaving ARi behind. "Yumi, you want me to choose the Praetorians, don't you?"

  "I do," she said.

  "Gavin, she isn’t the only one who thinks that," Tim added.

  As I looked around the table a lot of people nodded in agreement.

  "Gavin, I promise you I will personally sit down with ARi and we can come up with all sorts of different siege engines and such, like we did with the constructs we are bringing," Yumi pleaded.

  I looked back to ARi, who smiled softly. Red nodded in agreement as well.

  I selected the Praetorian option and watched as Red began to glow. I was surprised after selecting Praetorian that my interface now gave me the option to allow Red to choose his own path. This was different from last time when it assigned them the new role.

  I threw my interface up on the wall for all to see. Red had chosen to be a Praetorian Shock Cohort. His new rank displayed as Captain of the Guard.

  "Architect, I would like your permission to stay behind and protect the Ward," Red said. "Soon Charlie will also be a captain and can take over my existing squad of legionaries."

  "Are the rest of you okay with this? That will leave nineteen of our cohorts behind, although I will be able to summon an additional twelve. Those reinforcements will be summoned in our territory and must join us later."

  The room seemed in agreement.

  "All right, you guys, I’ll start spawning Praetorians as soon as the meeting is over. ARi, we are going to need provisions for everybody, and I am hoping our new constructs can carry extra supplies, weapons, and of course food and water for the trip."

  "The smaller constructs can easily carry the extra supplies, Gav, but I recommend that we dump the supplies before we put them into combat; otherwise they're going to be weighed down," ARi said. "The larger construct is the reason we are going to be moving so slow. It has to carry all of its bolts and those things are heavy."

  "All right, everybody, get your things together and let's meet outside in about two hours," I said. "Sawyer, I will have to do the Rakshaka warriors as soon as I replace Red’s squad leader position. Sorry, ARi, I won't have time to stay behind and help you sort out their gear."

  "I’ve got it, Gavin. I’ll sort it out. Thank you, everybody," ARi said.

  Everyone got up and moved off to prepare. I followed ARi down the hall and into her quarters. I closed the door behind me and turned as she started to protest with what I was sure was going to be ten excellent reasons why she should be going. I leaned forward, pulled her close, and kissed her. She pushed me away, slamming her hands on my chest, angry, before grabbing my shirt and pulling me close for another kiss. She spun me around and pushed me again, this time hard enough to knock me back onto her bed.

  She looked pissed and frustrated that she could not find the words to express how she felt about being left behind. To my surprise, instead of letting me have it, she pulled her top off, waved her hand, and put out the lights.

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