Riftside 3 - Chapter 5

Alarm bells rang out, and I could tell when it spread from First Steel to the still-in-construction fortress and outwards. It wasn’t the single sombre toll used for funerals, but the frantic overlapping peel of a full-scale alarm.

Sentinel Station was under attack.

“The dinner bell! No. The battle bell! Even better!” Roq said, his voice filled with glee and bloodlust. “Hurry, Ash! Don’t you dare be late and let everyone else have all the fun of…erh… defending the weak! It is time for me to feed!”

He didn’t have to ask me twice, as instincts from dozens of drills and way too many real attacks took over.

“Gearing up!” I yelled, already unbuttoning my pants and stepping out of them to strap on my leg armor.

“Torsten, get Freja and the little ones from next door. Bring them here,” Pa said. The smithy was far sturdier than the Steelwalls’ house. He no longer sounded like a proud craftsman, but a frontier survivor, and he kicked the lever that doused the main forge in a hiss of steam. “I’ll secure the workshop!”

“On it!” Torsten said, rushing for the door.

“Ma’ll know what to do,” I said, just to have something to say, getting my second leg in and pulling the armor up.

“Mhm,” Pa grunted. “She’ll shelter where she is. Likely the Timberline, keeping Lysander away.”

With my legs finished, I started for the door, storing Roq so I could don the rest of my armor on the move. It was a stupid motion and I should have instead taken a minute to get ready, but I wanted to be out of there as soon as possible.

“Be safe, son,” Pa called.

“You too, Pa.”

I burst out into the street, the air alive with the sound of running feet and shouted orders. Dawnwatch didn’t panic. We’d survived enough attacks to know what to do. There was chaos, but within it, also efficiency. Civilians were either heading for the still-under-construction keep or ducking into the ground floors of the most heavily reinforced buildings, while off-duty guards and adventurers all flowed towards First Steel and the Rift.

As I jogged and struggled with my chest armor, my thoughts kept going to Blisterbrand. This would be the perfect chance to test it. A fast, one-handed weapon, leaving my shield arm free. But, I knew what Roq would have to say about that.

After glancing right, looking up the street, past the Guild and the Royal Bank, towards home, not seeing Eryn, Nabeeh, or Knut, I headed beneath the eastern gatehouse and swiped Roq out.

“You will not shame me by wielding that glowing bauble in this first battle of my return to feast,” Roq said. “Now, reassemble my haft and let us face them with my full glory.”

“Or?”

I just couldn’t help myself.

“Or I will assume my Primal Form and stride into combat myself. The consequences to you be damned.”

With a chuckle I swiped out the other half of his shaft.

“Fine,” I said, and clicked the two pieces of the warhammer together, before shouting, “Make way! Adventurer coming through!”

Guards and workers on the bridge stepped aside to let me pass, and with my gear now on and running full tilt, it nearly felt as if I was flying. Especially unencumbered by my shield, I moved with far more grace. The last thing I did before plunging through the shimmering green curtain of the Branchway Rift was to slide my helmet on, and then I was Riftside.

Screams and the sound of battle surrounded me, and I jogged away from the portal, freeing up space for those coming behind me.

“My temperature is elevated, and the only cure is monster blood!” Roq shouted, sounding manic. “Death and destruction in the name of ME!”

It became immediately clear that the four great breaches in the wall, gaping wounds from the last battle, were the focal points of the attack.

In the closest gap, Richard stood with a handful of guards, holding back Gorebeaks and Tunnelhounds. They were managing, but only barely. The other breaches fared similar, so I took a moment to see which one needed me most.  Just then one of the defenders were sent stumbling back out of the line by an Ironjaw Boar’s charge.

It was Garret, his plate mail getting yet another battle scar, and I ran for that breach, a plan already forming in my mind. One I’d been thinking of since the last attack.

Taller than everyone around me by at least a head, I was able to look beyond the line to see the monsters heaving themselves out of the holes and onto the killing field.

Gnarlbacks, the size of bears, shrugged off the few arrows coming from the defenders on the walls.

“I am grateful for the guards’ incompetence,” Roq said. “To simply leave the holes open for our convenience.”

“They filled them. The monsters must have dug through them again, wise-ass.”

“Let me through!” I roared, coming up behind the line just as a Gorebeak’s axe-like head sheared through a guard’s shield.

Richard didn’t turn, just snapped out a command as he cut down a Tunnelhound, and two guards parted, looking relieved as I squeezed past.

The moment I was clear, I channeled my mana and used Roq’s new ability.

“Shockwave Slam!”

A fan-shaped wave of pure force erupted from where I hit the ground. It wasn't an explosion, but a physical ripple in the air that slammed into the monsters, throwing them back, leaving the majority stumbling and dazed, and even knocking some over on their backs and sides.

Of those outside the fan’s cone, Richard struck one on the left while I hammered Roq down in a two-handed overhead hit, driving a monster’s skull straight into its chest.

“Delicious in battle!” Roq yelled and erupted in laughter.”So tasty!”

“The rest of you, reinforce the other breaches! Now!” I commanded, striking and killing another monster.

They all hesitated, unwilling to leave a single adventurer to hold the gap. “Richard, go! Trust me, I got this!”

“Understood,” he said and after one final strike, stepped back. “You heard him!” he shouted. “Move to the next breach!”

As they fell back, I swung Roq in a wide, defensive arc, revelling in my strength and his power as he crushed through three monsters without so much as slowing down.

“Finally! A proper meal!” he roared in my mind. “Experience! Glorious experience!”

The gap was too wide for me to hold alone, but I had a plan.

“Ironburst!”

Mana rushed into Roq and I hit the ground, but instead of lancing into the enemy, I had them appear in a line behind me, forming a bristling, temporary wall of jagged steelhusk that sealed the breach. They didn’t last long before they disintegrated, but it would buy me the necessary time.

“Trap them out here with us? Clever!” Roq said. “Now none shall escape my unquenchable thirst!

A battle roar, deep and familiar, came from behind me.

“Lay off my Golden Bird!”

I grinned in my helmet and killed a Tunnelhound chewing on my leg armor as Knut, a titan in white armor, sailed past me, his new two-handed sword wreathed in flames, to land among the enemies with a ground-shaking thud. With his leap ability, he’d cleared my impromptu spear wall easily.

The concussive force of his landing staggered the nearest monsters, but I was far too strong to be affected.

Knut swept his sword in a fiery arc, cleaving two Gorebeaks in half, before laughing and activating Charge.

With his mass and the ability’s speed, he smashed through the smaller monsters in front of us to slam head-on into a charging Gnarlback. His fire-enchanted blade sliced clean through its bark-like chest, and the giant beast collapsed in a heap of smoldering wood and flesh.

“Fine, Knut,” Roq said. “You may have that one, but if you see anything bigger, I am calling dibs!”

Laughter was Knut’s only response as he set off in search of larger prey, clearly trusting in me to hold the breach, especially with him clearing out monsters out front.

A heavy rock smashed onto the head of a Tunnelhound, knocking it to the ground, and I glanced up between hits to see Enar, half his face still bandaged, nod at me before disappearing, only to be replaced by Finn and Nina carrying their own rocks.

They lobbed them over, slowing monsters, but most of all, they were there, fighting.

Then the real support arrived.

Three Gorebeaks running for my breach dropped, an arrow having split to slay them all. To my left, a Flame Trap triggered, incinerating a Tunnelhound.

Eryn and Nabeeh were on the wall, raining down their own destruction.

“This is not a true assault,” Roq observed as I smashed another monster. “Not that I am complaining. Not truly. But the numbers are too few, the pressure too unfocused. This is a probe, nothing more.”

He was right.

It felt less like an attempted invasion and more like the old style of attacks, those from before we had raided the Twisted Titan. If not for the breaches, it’s unlikely the station commander would even have sounded the alarm.

With me holding the gap and more and more adventurers arriving, we had no problem cutting down the monsters. It almost felt nice, getting to feel so strong. As if we were winning. But I knew it was only a temporary illusion.

Once the last monster fell, I headed back into Sentinel Station and spotted Edwin coming from the furthest breach, his helmet underneath his arm.

I took off my own helmet and called out, loudly, “Too easy!” for the sake of morale.

“You know it!” he called back and waved me over.

“What do you think the point of that was?” I asked in a low voice when I was next to him.

“To stop us from repairing,” Edwin said, his voice flat. “They ripped down what little we’d managed to put up, and the collapsed tunnels were about as much of an obstacle to them as a scavenger is to a level twenty. This cost them almost nothing, but it cost us time and resources we don’t have.” He sighed and ran a hand through his matted hair. “I need to get the repair crews back to work. Or if only we had an earth magician around. They could reshape the ground and close off the exits.”

“It feels wasteful, but it isn’t,” Roq said as Edwin strode off, giving orders. “Aside from feeding me, this is intelligent. It cost the Hive Mind some minions, but this was just some dredges from the previous assault. Nothing new, nothing innovative, just an effort to delay us. I do not like it. It shows learning.”

I looked around. My friends were safe, but I saw three guards being carried towards the medical tents. The ground outside was carpeted with fresh monster carcasses.

Roq was right. This was a message from the Hive Mind letting us know there would be no respite until one side was destroyed.

Two scavengers lined up to speak to Edwin and their faces were so pale I stopped and nodded to them.

“You guys alright? You look like you’ve been running for your lives.”

“Thanks, sir,” the taller one started. “And yeah, we’re alright, but we barely made it back in time.”

Eryn, Knut, and Nabeeh joined us, my brother clapping a hand on my shoulder before holding out his gore-stained two-handed sword.

“Now look,” he said and made it light up, making the scouts step back. Knut grunted and smiled, extinguishing the flames, showing spotless steel. “Burned clean of stench. Also, fight was fun. Missed swinging big sword,” he said, patting the flat side.

Nabeeh swatted his arm.

“Don’t say it like that, you big oaf. People will get the wrong idea.”

Eryn and I rolled our eyes, but Knut just looked at the two scouts.

“You look like kittens newly born,” Knut said, frowning. “Legs shaking and fur standing straight. What’s wrong?”

“We were on a long-range patrol,” the shorter scout said and his voice shook with adrenaline, though he glanced at the massive sword with a healthy amount of skepticism. “Out towards the Twisted Titan and we saw--” He swallowed hard.

“It was huge,” the first said, taking over. “We thought it was just a boulder at first. Bigger than a damn house it was. But then it moved.” He shook his head. “It was as if someone had pumped a Steel Scuttler full of giant’s blood.”

“It had six massive legs,” the other said, “And a shell like polished steel.”

“You sure you seen Steel Scuttler?” Knut asked. “You look…green.”

“Of course we’ve seen one,” the taller said. “The Timberline’s got one mounted over the bar, don’t it?”

“True,” Knut said. “That it does. One I killed,.” he said and winked at them.

“Well, I got my second level glyph, so I checked it out, and it was red rated. Called a Steel Scrambler. Once I saw that we took off and ran all the way back.”

“Excellent,” Roq said and gave a hungry rumble as I exchanged glances with my party. “A worthy challenge. A true test for my new form. We must hunt it. Removing a red threat from the board is an opportunity we cannot ignore. It is the only thing I will accept.”

I thanked the shaken scouts for their bravery and their report, then led my party away.

“I think it’s time we visit the Guild,” I said. “Make a report and then a request.

“A hunt,” Arclight said. “Excellent. The prey sounds… delectable.”

“And mine,” Roq said. “The killing blow will be mine. It must.”

While they kept quarrelling, I took Eryn’s hand and led my party back through the portal.