CoJoGo

CH 64: Openings

Fear threatened to build in Reid's stomach. He pushed it down and hardened his resolve. He could fight this thing alone. He could win if he worked for it. As long as he fought hard enough, he could make an opening. Or, he could get away. But his preference was the fight. The win.

Toby's skill did its work as the creature came straight towards him. Bits of red became visible at the wall breach behind the Titan, and Reid found himself hoping that the things would be too stupid to advance....

CH 63: Last Stand Field

Marlene looked from Toby's smiling face to Reid. There was a sort of pained appreciation in her eyes, as if she were impressed with what he'd just done, and at the same time hated that he'd done it. Reid tried to ignore her look, and the eyes of everyone else around him. They could judge him if everyone lived through this.

Marlene's voice rang out cold and clear. "We won't be able to hold back the other salamanders with just us and Toby. We need more people to fight." She swept her eyes...

CH 62: Broken Defense

. James .

Toby still looked sickly. He drank some powdered electrolyte mix from an opaque bottle, and an unlabeled empty metal can sat at his feet - probably beans. He beamed in Lowell's direction. The idea the man had was just a little crazy, but at least it was an idea. Bone weapons were the most effective against crystal claws and the armor that covered the salamander's heads - but so was the crystal itself. They'd used crystal-tipped spears from the weaker beasts in the pas...

CH 61: Disagreement

. James .

James watched, helplessly, as the splintered attack group approached the wall. His walkie talkie had been a source of excited chatter from one of the drivers that crescendoed into an incredible moment where they all thought the Titan was dead. Stabbing anything through the eye was generally a good way to put it down - or at least to reduce its mobility. And, so far, it had been one of the primary ways the defenders - his defenders - had been trained to put down beasts. It was ...

CH60: Crimson Titan

The pair of manned pickups flew through Sanctuary, over grassy flats and dirt roads. They caught up with Toby and Lowell's looping path in minutes, and the next phase of the plan began.

Toby had the Titan focused on him, and no one was quite certain what would happen if he let the skill go and the beast was allowed to freely make decisions. The first option made sure that didn't happen. They would put the trucks between Toby and the rest, and Reid would try to draw its attention by deal...

CH 59: Picking a Fight

+ Reid +

Reid tamped down the flinch of fear he felt for the approaching beasts. The Titan was just another, bigger salamander. He'd already killed one guardian, even if he'd had to sacrifice an arm to end it.

The guardian that had stayed with the bulk of their forces on the wall seemed to be quelling the little ones' drive to chase after their leader. Reid was thankful for that. What they were trying to do was going to be tough enough without more of the damn lizards to kill. And...

CH 58: Plans and Data

-{///} Finola {///}-

Finola's eyes were inches away from her screens - as if the proximity would make her just a hair more aware of what was going on in Earth's most notable settlement.

She'd spent so long - too long - trying to figure out who was on her planet causing problems. Now - well, she was always good at interpreting data. There were others in the executive team that had similar skill, but Earth was hers. Loz'ar had made sure of that, and none could overrule ...

CH 57: Splinters

Reid watched with horror as the elites, not paralyzed by the Crimson Titan's roar, shot up onto the wall.

The frozen defenders were completely helpless. Locked in a painting of a battle with the smaller creatures as the elites tore through it all. People split into vaguely human pieces as long claws with longer reach sliced through defenders and salamanders alike. Every attack, every flail and flick they made took lives.

Reid shouted and swore. On the left, squads 3, 4, and 5 were...

CH 56: Numbers Advantage

Gunpowder burned in Reid's nostrils. Bowstrings twanged. Explosions and screeches sounded out from the advancing groups of salamanders, as Sanctuary's 200 outer wall defenders lashed out at the 602 advancing beasts with as many arrows, grenades, magic attacks, spears, and bullets as they could. Any thoughts they may have had about preserving ammunition were entirely gone. They shouted encouragement to one another in mental preparation for the coming horde.

The medics were retreating off...

CH 55: Probing Attacks

Reid's vision was still a bit messed up, but that didn't matter much right now. It was tough to miss.

He sat in the lifeguard-style chair Mark had grown for him. It towered above the rest of the wall, and Reid had half a squad dedicated to handing him things to hurl at the enemies.

With his right hand.

Danny was putting his left arm back together. Reid's torso was set, and he was mostly certain Danny had semi-secretly delayed finishing up on his arm to turn what had been a d...

CH 54: Disarmed

The salamander's skill-empowered strike slammed into Reid like a freight train. Two claws split straight through his bone armor gauntlet, and the third carved into his lower torso. Everything parted in their wake.

The claws bit into Reid's skin, then muscles, and through his bones. The force of the blow spun Reid in a circle, and he watched his hand and forearm fly off in different directions. They'd been separated by impossibly clean cuts, and left Reid with only a few inches of his ar...

CH 53: Single Combat

The barrier shimmered and disappeared. For a moment, all was quiet. Reid's pulse quickened, and the sound of his own breathing echoed in his helmet. The salamander eyed the spot where the wall once was, and took a cautious step forward.

Reid had to raise his head to look up at it. Its eyes burned with ferocity, but it continued a slow advance until it was only a few yards away. It stilled, then lowered its arms to its sides.

Movement shuffled in the smaller salamander groups, then...

CH 52: Hourglass

-{///} Finola {///}-

Finola bit her nails. The report on her desk was impossible to misinterpret.

Sanctuary's pending quest had finally been assigned. They'd had another, impossible difficulty increase. They had a prodigy that hadn't yet gone to the damn beacon to awaken themselves. They had a Lord Candidate that was a potential progenitor in her own right.

Finola was happy about the Lord Candidate, at least. This Sara Calderwall had been either bright or skille...

CH 51: Enemy at the Gates

Reid's armor softly clacked against itself as he shifted Requiem to his left hand. Dew hadn't yet burned off the grass, and it glimmered in the early light.

This morning had already been difficult. Sara and Susan were together up in the field, at the command center - a square of large RVs that made up a lookout tower and HQ. Reid wouldn't have been able to separate himself from them if he hadn't been convinced the enemy would appear at the front gate. He wanted his wife and daughter to ...

CH 50: Ready for Battle

Sanctuary's people couldn't leave. They couldn't run. But they could prepare.

The 'ports - Reid was not a fan of the nickname that had already spread throughout Sanctuary - from the other beacons were sorted into groups within the first two hours. Those groups were either rolled into the reserve defenders, put to work on general chores and labor, or had been deemed as 'sideliners' that would need to stay out of the fighting as much as possible. The only things that allowed the ...

CH 49: Quest Assigned

Reid, Sara, Susan, Marlene, and James walked atop the battlements while they chatted and ate. Reid was deeply focused on the most important part of the morning - the food. Today's breakfast was luxurious. Scrambled eggs, seasoned with salt and pepper, were stuffed between two pieces of freshly baked bread. The bread had been lightly oiled and toasted, and it crunched with every bite. Reid would've killed for cheese and sausage - possibly literally. Variety in food was something he'd ...

CH 48: Quest Pending

The rest of Sanctuary was far from idle while Reid regrew his arm, experimented, and then recovered from making Requiem.

The captured healer, Danny, was still under near-constant supervision, but he'd been helping everyone out more and more. He healed fatigue out of defenders while they drilled. He assisted Susan with her skill-based and more mundane experiments, and compared notes with her on how each of their skills worked. His healing skill was of an inferior rarity to hers, but they...

CH 47: Rest

It was time to make a growth weapon.

Reid pushed himself back into the mace. It was much, much larger than Queen's Edge, which meant the level of work inside the weapon would be far greater. There was simply a need for more pathways, more nodes, and more waste flow. He also needed to make everything work without compromising the integrity of the head and flanges that he would need to smash through his enemies. Reid made a mental map of what he wanted to do.

Unlike Sara's weapon, R...

CH 46: Reid's Weapon

After their... rather heartfelt exchange at Warren's, Reid and James had quickly fallen back into their normal joking conversations. Reid loved having his friend back - and brought the topic of weapons up to him in anticipation of the next day's work.

James had many opinions. His first thoughts were about reach. According to James, Reid should avoid anything that required infighting. While Reid was capable of overpowering almost everything, he wasn't exactly skilled at dodging blows. So...

CH 45: Recovery

After the talk and quiet moments with Susan, Reid had realized something. When he had the headaches that led up to his cancer diagnosis, Susan had implored him to get things checked out. It was only his stubborn idiocy that prevented him from catching things much, much earlier on. It was one of those dumb, preventable mistakes that seemed obvious in hindsight. So, Reid's first fix to himself was on his own poor mentality.

Reid had shared multiple conversations with Susan about what happ...

CH 44: Repercussions

In grade school, one of Reid's science teachers had put out classroom decorations for Halloween. They included spooky chalkboard drawings, and a table full of gadgets and fun tools. Reid had loved the plasma balls. They were clear, and purple bits of electricity danced inside them, then arced out to touch your fingers if you pressed them to the surface of the ball.

One ball in particular had caught his attention. It was at the back of the table, larger than the rest, and it was cloudy i...

CH 43: Mistakes were Made

Reid was almost shaking.

He'd made the greave solid. Almost entirely solid, just like the weapons. But armor and weapons had two different purposes. They never needed to be the same. They couldn't be.

Reid thought back to the moment he first strengthened his bones. At the time, he'd considered all the spongey areas, and even the marrow-producing centers to be major weaknesses. The changes he'd made had seemed to work, but if he'd messed things up, that meant Reid had spen...

CH 42: Mundane Inspirations

Despite his best attempts to dissuade her, Sara was still trying to rename the sword a day later. She was adamant that she wasn't a queen, and every few hours, she'd send in another request for him to deny. Reid started to suspect that she was using the naming requests as a way to check in on him, rather than actually trying to rename the sword.

Sara Calderwall has requested to rename [Queen's Edge] to [Ivory Falchion]
You have rejected this request....

CH 41: Osteal Journeyman

Reid eyed the scabbard with the clip point radius. Sara and Susan were both giving Reid questioning looks.

"I don't mean I want it back. Here, just - take out the sword, and hold it like you're in a fight."

Her eyebrow arched, but Sara grabbed the scabbard and drew the blade. Reid looked at her for a few moments. He wasn't an expert, by any means - but his hunch was right. In Sara's hands, the sword looked... wrong. The handle was too large, and the blade itself seemed clumsy - li...

CH 40: Tools and Resistance

Marlene had quietly excused herself for a few minutes at Sara's request. As soon as the door closed, Reid grabbed Sara by the shoulders and pulled her into a hug, then grabbed Susan so the three of them were embracing each other. Reid could feel her breathing deeply.

"Lord Sara. I'm so proud of you." He looked to his wife. "We both are. Some of that definitely felt like it came out of left field, but I'm not going to complain about it. You were really something there, kiddo." 2024-11-22 15:23:05 +0000 UTC View Post

CH 39: Tactical Faceplant

Reid did not want to be doing whatever the hell it was that they were doing right now. His head still ached and his body complained, even though Susan had healed him multiple times. Apparently, there were major consequences to fighting off an army, self-healing, self-empowerment, fighting off salamanders, followed by more power experimentation. Especially if you did all of those in sequence, without rest and without properly refueling yourself. The alcohol Reid drank did very little to get hi...

CH 38: Miscalculations

Marlene sent another glance to the truck's backseat. Despite her planning, things had very quickly gone awry. Susan, the strongheaded woman, had stood in the middle of the path and forced the truck to stop, then wouldn't let them through until they agreed to take her in with the first group to Sanctuary. Apparently, she'd been entirely out of sorts the entire march through the woods, and 'needed' to see Reid with her own two eyes. No, she wouldn't wait. No, she wouldn't listen to reason about...

CH 37: Secret Unlock

+ Reid +

Reid distinctly heard and felt cracking bone - he wasn't sure whether it was the knife, or another one of his teeth. He made himself spit out the knife just in case.

Reid was full of shrill, burning pain - even with Danny healing. And Reid could tell he was being healed. The issue was that every increase he was wringing out of himself felt like it was miles more advanced and difficult than the earlier points had been. The process was longer and more painful - but Reid kne...

CH 36: Aspirations

+ Reid +

A few hundred feet from a dirt road littered with corpses, a man wearing tattered, bloodstained rags and a single boot tapped down dirt on a freshly filled-in grave. With his strength - and the creation of a bone shovel - Reid had managed to dig the hole in a handful of minutes. He'd spent more time trying to find the right sheet to wrap Louis's body than he had digging the hole. Then he spent even more time than that standing wordless over the open grave. He'd questioned himse...

CH 35: Shrimp

\.,., Bertrand ,.,./

Bertrand stood next to Sanctuary's beacon, and shook in his shoes.

Today had started so wonderful.

The scouting mission to find Sanctuary's beacon had gone flawlessly, and the capture of the two buffoons on the wall was laughably easy. But then his skill - his divine gift - had glitched.

Bertrand rubbed his face and his eye where his own knife had wounded him. It was healed now, but the pain and shock were still fresh. That kid - that stup...