Theft of Decks 4, CH 48

“It is done. I shall keep it handy. Hidden, yet, in the open. Ready for anything, should they try to rebel. Yet another brick in the wall of my eternal palace. At long last, another worry laid to rest. It has been worth every cost.” That’s it. The last hint to whichever item it is, maybe eight years back. I’ve gone over all books twice now, with no proper clues. I’m dropping it. I would rather spend my time on something actionable. (Book 3, Page 81.)

“It will be easy. The progress has already begun and the hopefuls have pulled back from the Prism. We merely expand what we have already done once. Our trusted defenders are already trickling back to Salvation to gain their cards. We merely keep them here, and bring the rest in. Soon, we will have enough people to defend ourselves from the Lightborn. We can always fix the rest of Liberty later, once we are safe.” The voice was strong, reasonable. The speaker looked like the epitome of Liberty. Tall, handsome, bordering on pretty, with the ever-present pointed ears and the gravitas of a man moving from youthful exuberance into well-earned wisdom. His position with his earnest, serious supporters as a backdrop at the bottom floor of the Savior’s tower added to his impressive looks.

“It would not be easy. We are receiving constant reports from most towns and villages within the blissful lands.” Sera’s voice, in contrast, was poignant, appealing to reason. “They are struggling. Fighting. Dying. Yet, they are holding. Holding the ground against an onslaught of Guardians that nobody within Liberty would have been able to foresee. Some of the more intelligent Guardians from outside must have realized that they have an opening, because they are pushing in in large numbers. How do the hopefuls hold? By ingenuity, improved defenses, and sacrifice. Unless they are reinforced soon, however, they will break, and they will break bad. Ordering them to pull back, nation-wide, in the middle of an attack of Guardians will see a slaughter unseen since the cleansing of the Church of Darkness. Would you be responsible for that, Dante?”

The tall Liberator sneered. “If the alternative is letting Salvation fall? Of course, I would. Letting the Lightborn take over would mean the entire downfall of our nation. Letting the villages and towns drop would be much less harmful.”

“Have you ever faced a Guardian, Dante?” A voice called out from among the crowd. The voice was cheerful, laced with irony and challenge.

The Liberator faced the newcomer. “Of course I have. I am – was - a blessed mind. Like every hopeful before me, I have done my duty, taking multiple turns against the enemies of our lands. Now, could we-”

“Those look like caster cards to me.” The voice came again. “Meaning, you’ve taken on Guardians and other enemies weakened and confused by the Prism, using your cards to end them from a safe distance. Yet, you stand there, all self-righteous, asking people who never asked to be put in their position, to face Guardians head-on at their strongest, defending their kin while they flee, across hundreds of miles.”

“Of course I do. I would sacrifice the same for them, were the roles reversed.” Dante crowed. “Show yourself and tell us all why we should even listen to you! What have you done that lets you say what is and isn’t possible?”

The voice grew lower, but more intent. “I have been in an army overrun by Guardians. I have faced a gaborn with nothing but a dagger. I have fought against beasts and Guardians of any aspect there is and lived to tell the tale.” He stepped out from within the crowd, waving his hand and an amputated stump at everybody with a shit-eating grin. “I’m also absolute trash on a lute. My name is Chase. You may have heard of me.”

The crowd parted as the awed whispers spread everywhere.

Dante grimaced and backed down.

“Chase! You ass!” Sera slammed the door to the sitting room behind her and turned around, flinging herself at the dust-covered Darkborn. She hugged him until he groaned, then grasped his ears and pulled him in to kiss him thoroughly.

When they parted for air Chase grinned. “Is this how you greet anybody coming back with reports?”

“Only those who interrupt my carefully planned monologues!” She growled.

“Oh, crap. I didn’t even realize. Did I ruin anything? I just arrived and noticed him being an absolute ass.”

She waved away his apology and hugged him again, resting her head against him. “Honestly? No. Most people realize that this is not about Dante wanting what is best for Liberty, of course, but just about him saving his own behind. The real issue here is that he is making some sense. Our numbers, when looking at the incoming Lightborn, simply do not match up. The difference is that we do not wish to sacrifice ninety percent of Liberty to save ourselves.”

The door opened and closed again. Lucille entered, nodding carefully to Chase before addressing Sera. “All right. That’s them kept busy for the time being. Catching everybody up on the larger plans being enacted right now should give us an hour, at least.”

“Perhaps I should be out there myself?” Chase asked. “I’m in dire need of learning what’s going on, and that way, I won’t waste your time.”

“Please. It’s simple, as long as you don’t care about the numbers.” Lucille snorted. “It’s just what you saw in there. We’re scrambling for answers. The capital, as you’d likely expect, is where people go when they’re done fighting. Not when they’re ready to fight. We have plenty of people, but far from enough actual fighters to face off against the tens of thousands that the Lightborn are bringing.”

“Do we know more about their armies by now?” Chase asked.

“Yes. We heard back from a village they will be passing soon, just this morning.” Sera grimaced. “Based on your initial success, a group of veteran fighters marched out to repeat some of your feats – targeting the healers and casters of the groups. They were eradicated to the man.” Shaking her head softly, she continued. “They did well, carved deep into the Lightborn mass. But they simply enfolded our attackers and buried them in numbers. They have taken to keeping all their vulnerable classes well dispersed. There was… there was no way.”

Chase grimaced. “Any actual estimates? Numbers and Tiers?”

Lucille cleared her throat. “Well, that’s where we do have a bit of good news. Judging from the message from the Furyborn Elders, and some of the knowledge Sera here has about Lightborn nobility, we are not faced with the ultimate military powers of the Lightborn empire. Rather, they are weaker nobles, easily bullied by somebody like that Lord Beforant.”

Chase frowned. “Plenty of indebted too, then?”

Lucille nodded.

“Okay. That’s an opening. Something we can use. We…” Chase snapped his fingers. “That loudspeaking cube you borrowed us when we were addressing the crowd. We can have somebody fast trail their army, tell them all we’re ready to take in all indebted. Anybody who decides to join us instead of fighting, will be welcome.”

“Will they?” Lucille looked to Sera for confirmation. “Be welcome, I mean?”

“Most definitely.” She nodded. “There will be actual criminals and troublemakers among their number. Yet, having them run away and join us instead of being part of the attackers would be a wonderful move – if it can be done.”

“But it won’t be enough.” Chase half-asked, half said.

“No. We have sent messages throughout the Blissful Lands, asking for any defenders who can be spared to return, to join our ranks. We have told them about the new decks, the advantages currently waiting for them in Salvation. Yet, at our last estimates, even with every single indebted joining our side, our fighters will form about one in four, compared to their numbers.”

Chase cursed. “Really? I thought we were like a hundred thousand here in Salvation?”

“Yes. But not many are ready to fight. Besides, a great many disagree with us, blame us for everything or prefer to wait and see what will happen. Most will flee. Some may join us in time.” Lucille shrugged. “Some may stab us in the back.”

“Okay. One in four.” Chase mused. “Those are bad odds, obviously, but… we’ve faced worse and lived. Also, didn’t you once tell us that the odds are always in favor of the defenders in large conflicts, Sera?”

“You do listen!” She smiled. “They are. Unfortunately, the usual reasons for this are mostly unapplicable to Salvation.” She started counting on her fingers. “Usually, there are local advantages, such as knowing secret hiding places, being able to arrange ambushes, hide traps and the like. Then we have natural defensive positions – defensive walls, gates and other chokepoints, any geographical or constructed advantages that can be prepared and abused against an attacker. Finally, we have the advantage of storage. Any invading army will be living on what they can carry and have limited equipment, while the locals will have the chance to stockpile anything necessary.” She shot him a sad smile. “Of all these, only the stockpiling truly applies to us – and with the Lightborn armies having recently arrived, they are not likely to run out of provisions any time soon.”

Chase opened his mouth and closed it again. He groaned. “Of course. The city is so wide open, and even the alleys are wide and inviting. It’s perfect for invaders.”

“Just so.” Sera said drily. “I would bring a map, but you already know exactly what it will look like. Everything is straight, open, with large squares and crossing roads or alleys every few hundred feet, for convenience. We are experiencing the same issues out in the villages and towns right now, only on a much smaller scale. At least, out there, the enemies are Guardians, unthinking and likely to fall for obvious traps or being funneled into ambushes. Here, even if we were to build up roadblocks, defensive positions in the squares or the like, they could simply shrug and take the next road over. Even if we were to call all builders back to Salvation right this moment, we would not be able to erect proper defenses in time.”

“Then, what do we do?” Chase asked earnestly.

“We prepare as best we can. Call out for all to help us and join our ranks, to craft items to aid us. Have our fighters practice incessantly with their new cards – because that’s one place where we will have an advantage.” Lucille said. “Apart from that? Pray for a miracle. Because we’ll need it.”

Chase laughed out loud. Eyes gleaming, he shook his head.

“What? What am I missing?” She said, for the first time genuinely confused.

“Lucille. At this point, We’ve killed clerics of both Light and Dark. Add to that taking down the Savior who was supposed to be a living god… I think the only answer if we start praying is going to come in the shape of lightning and rocks falling from the sky.”

***

“I call to order this meeting of the greatest minds of Salvation. That’s minds as in brains, Liam, not as in those weak-ass Tier fours they have prancing about the place.” Kith stood proudly, looking down the others over his upturned nose. “As the supreme and foremost power of this place-“

“As a representative of ‘those weak-ass Tier fours’, I’m telling you, you’d better shut up, or I’ll do it for you. Besides, you don’t even know what we’re doing here.” Cilia sat with her arms around her knees, glowering up at him.

The others were arrayed on thick blankets on the grass, except Nordon who was solemnly lowering a clinking basket down onto one blanket well apart from the others.

“Panicking?” Kith raised an eyebrow. “I thought we were panicking, and planning to abscond with as much stuff as we could before the army hits us. Or just planning to enjoy one of the last days of our lives fully.” He gestured at the open, sunny park surrounding them.

“Well. That first part’s not wrong.” Chase chuckled. “I recommended the absconding part too, and my shoulder’s still hurting from getting hit.”

“What we are doing, is taking stock and trying to come up with some last-minute ideas that’ll help us survive the days to come. I know we’ve all been working hard the past days – even Kith – but things will be coming to a head in the next few days, and it’s not looking good.” Cilia admitted.

Chase nodded. “Okay. Where do we start? With where we’re at? I mean, the people of Salvation are definitely starting to panic. But what’s our situation actually looking like?”

“That is a logical place to start.” Sera nodded, sitting up straighter. “From the status discussion last evening, we are, numbers-wise, above theirs. Except, of course, if we start counting actual fighters. The vast majority of our numbers consist of regular citizens, with the minimum experience of having fought near the Prism. And the citizens of Salvation are not going to fight. Too much has happened in too little time. They might not have loved their old lives, but they knew that they had at least earned safety. Now, they feel that everything is at risk. In practice, we are likely looking at numbers of around one in four, compared to the Lightborn army – and of those, many will be lower-Tiered than the aggressors.”

“When is the army coming?” Chase asked.

“Two days from now. We do have a few volunteers out, probing, attacking from afar, but they are unlikely to keep them back for long enough to earn us another day of reprieve.” Sera smoothed her robe. “We expect them to show no mercy and aim straight for the Wellspring in order to take our decks for themselves.”

“That’s a whole lot of reasons to not stick around.” Kith murmured. “What’ve we got going for us? Anything?”

Sera smiled. “We have not been idle. First and foremost is the fact that we have come to an agreement about the Liberty decks already present in the city. Apparently, you cannot establish Wellsprings within the reach of another active Wellspring of the same kind – yet, we have been able to erect Wellsprings all around the city, on the outskirts in the four cardinal directions.”

“Both Liberty and Dark Wellsprings, that is.” Chase added. “People haven’t been idle in visiting our new Dark Wellspring to gain cards, and I’ve had four new decks pop up since creating the damn thing in the first place.”

“Thank you, Chase.” Sera smiled. “Yes. Also, we have established the Wellsprings considering the approach of the army. The Wellsprings facing south boost Toughness and Agility respectively, in anticipation of the fighting starting there. On top of that, I decided to re-activate my own Home Defender card down there, granting +3 to all attributes except Potential and making sure the southern area is truly prepared for the fight. Meanwhile, the Wellsprings of the other directions boost the rarity of cards for each their class.”

“Wait. You didn’t-“ Kith started.

“We absolutely did.” Sera beamed. “At the center, Kith’s statue will improve the rarity of cards for summoners and the Wellspring boosts Potential for anybody. West, we have crafters and fighters. North is ranged fighters and rogues, with east being healers and casters.”

“Whoa.” Liam blinked. “No, wait. I don’t get it. Anybody trying to get cards from those Wellsprings aren’t going to get anything but Dark and Liberty cards. Of course, they can go to the plaza later, for the other decks, but then those will be a lower rarity. Or what?“

Sera smiled. “We did not expect this, but it is a wonderful boon. The boosts? All of them? They linger. Meaning, as long as a prospective fighter walks out to gain the buff from the western Wellspring, and hurries up, the boost will still be active when they reach the plaza. On top of that, they will gain the boost to Potential from the central Wellspring, and Kith’s statue for summoners.”

“Oh. Hoho. That is amazing! I’m guessing almost everybody gets better cards than we did? Excepting Chase, of course, that freak.” Liam grinned.

“Not a Common card in sight. Uncommons are the most, well, common ones. However, there are plenty of Rares and even the occasional Epic. In time, they will absolutely outmatch us.”

Chase grimaced. “If they survive that long.”

“There is that.” Sera agreed. “To make it that far, we have been working on a lot of different plans. I have primarily toiled to ensure that Liberty as a whole actually has some sort of cohesion instead of imploding. What little energy remained outside of that, has been used to carve out some sort of plan we can use for the invasion. I would like your eyes on it later – but for now, let us focus on what you have all managed.”

Liam started. “I’ve been taking care of the indebted. They are, like you’d imagine, pretty shaken by the whole thing. But most of them are starting to come around, and I’d say the rest will join in once I introduce them to the Wellspring and show them what they’ll have. We’ve located most of those who managed to run away in the first place, and… well, I like them. Most are going to help us fight. A lot of those who don’t, because they’re hurt or messed up or just plain afraid are still hoping to help others among the indebted to get away.”

Kith snorted. “Looks like, if we manage this, Liberty’s gonna have a new Lightborn ghetto.”

“If we do survive, I intend to have the survivors installed in palaces for their aid!” Sera smiled. “What about you, Cilia?”

“Droplets.” Cilia said simply. “I started investigating all sorts of new, miraculous crafted items, but then I changed my mind. It took too long! Instead of spending my time hoping for a miracle, I went with what I know. I know how to create efficient droplets, and I know how to make them well. With the high-quality material I’ve been able to scrounge, the effects will be beyond anything I’ve managed before. Now, I’m not going to be able to outfit a full army or anything – I think my arms would fall off first – but I can deliver a full complement of droplets to at least ten veteran groups.”

Kith whistled. “We’re still far behind them on numbers. But those ten groups, if they’re high-Tier to begin with, could likely do some real damage with fire, shadow and blinding droplets in their hands. Well done, Cil!”

She grimaced, then spoke up rapidly, words falling over each other to get out. “I’ve also been talking to Emilia. I didn’t like what happened, at all, and she’s been through a lot of crap.”

Liam snorted. “She also attacked you.”

“Yeah. But she was brainwashed. And... I beat her and her friends pretty horrible, I’ll admit. But I actually managed to get through to her. She’ll be helping defend the city. And… she helped me with another thing. I’m not sure it works, though, so… yeah. Nordon?”

Nordon spoke up, eyes still lingering on his basket. “I’ll start by saying that this very much is not what I signed up for.” His glower devolved into a tiny smirk. “But since I’ve already visited the plaza and have a full set of cards, I’m very much not complaining. On top of that, I’ve learned so much in here, both concerning crafting and Liberty in general.” He beamed before noticing the glances aimed at him. With a soft chuckle, he continued. “Of course, you’re likely more interested in what I’ve done for the war. For that, I can only say one thing: The Savior was a genius. He might not have been any fun at parties, but his works on expanding on crafting to make it more of a communal task than something single crafters have to take on… it’s impressive!”

“Impending invasion, man. Get to the point, please!” Kith groaned.

“Oh. Well. I’ve sort of helped open the entire stores for crafters throughout Salvation and taken over the official crafting channels.”

Cilia was the only one who didn’t look surprised. Chase just said “What?”

“Well, with the Savior out of the picture, nobody was really giving them any work. So, when I started pulling some strings, most were pleased to get back to doing something useful.” He shrugged.” It took a bit of work to hunt down the people loitering in their homes, but we’re at around seventy percent normal capacity, and I’ve got it all geared at the war effort. Anybody who’s ready to lift a finger to defend us will be outfitted in time.” He leaned forward, pointing at Liam’s armor. “Of course, it’s not going to be at the level of Cilia’s craftsmanship, but… it’s not bad. I’m pretty sure we’ll be, on the whole, better equipped than the Lightborn.”

“Very well done.” Cilia said. “How did you manage on your other experiments?” For the benefit of the others, she added. “He was planning to mass produce some of our droplets with local materials.”

Nordon drew a leather item from the basket next to him. It was oval, unornamented and reeked of recently treated leather. It was also, quite clearly, a copy of the droplets on Cilia’s belts. “Good news and bad. We did manage to create a low-quality version of those shadow droplets of yours. By the day after tomorrow, almost every front-line fighter will have one of those.”

“That’s… okay, that’s actually really impressive. If we’re able to, at any time, drown their forces in darkness, we can do a lot to shape the battlefield as we want it.” Chase mused. “Of course, with their numbers and the bastards all having Light cards, they’ll have a lot of counters. Still. Well done, man. What was the bad news?”

“I failed at everything else. Whether it’s due to Cilia having a ridiculously high Mental Power or some specific process or mindset, we’ve been unable to recreate any of your other creations. Also, I have spent way too long on another project which, I’m sad to say, is looking like an abject failure.” He softly reached into the basket, extracting a wine bottle filled with a murky liquid. “This is a local byproduct of their soap. Shaper oil, they call it. It’s usually used for deeper cleaning or for, ahem, blowing up rocks, unsafe buildings and the like.”

Very carefully, Kith spoke. “You’re telling me that the bottle you’re fumbling with right there could blow us all to the Pits?”

“Oh yes. Definitely. If I were clumsy. Which I’m not.” Nordon rolled his eyes as he put down the bottle again. He ignored their shocked stares. “I was hoping to be able to reduce the volatility of the oil before mass producing it for the army, grant them a few hundred gallons of an explosive substance they could toss at the enemy from the rooftops. Alas, I have failed. I should’ve spent my time on something better.”

Sera stood up. She stared wide-eyed at the seated brewer. “Please be very precise here, Nordon. Are you telling me that you have a hundred gallons of an explosive liquid that you intend to ignore because it is too volatile?”

He shook his head. “Oh no.”

Sera deflated with a grimace.

“It’s more like a thousand gallons.”

She perked up again, blinking. Then she took a deep breath. “Nordon. Dear Nordon. Let me ask you something. Our one main issue with the upcoming battle is the fact that the city is wide open and we cannot rearrange our streets in time to form even impromptu defenses and blockades. Are you truly telling me that this is powerful enough to, say, demolish a two-story building and make it block a street?”

“Oh. Oh.” Nordon rubbed his face. ”I… guess that would be a possibility. As long as you took care in transporting it there and placing it properly. Do you intend to use it in the city?”

“If need be.” Sera’s voice was cold and dangerous. She strode over to where she sat and rummaged around a backpack, before emerging with a large vellum map which she unfolded on top of the blanket. “I was going to use this time to try to come up with some sort of cohesive plan, we could use for our defense. I was expecting that we would have to pick some streets to secure, or maybe cordon off parts of the inner city. Only, with this shaper oil, we have options. Look!” She waved them all over, then leapt to a nearby gravel path and picked up a handful of gravel.

Shooting glances at her, they slowly gathered around the map. There was nothing new to see, except for the fact that a bunch of new structures – the Wellsprings – had been painted onto the map. The rest of the map still portrayed the streets of Salvation going in a pattern that, to Chase, was unnaturally regular and straight. There were no unexpected cul-de-sacs, no weird expansions or small pockets of architectural insanity. Everything was straight-forward, easily approachable, with equidistant streets running both north to south and east to west.

“This?” Sera said, eyes gleaming with exciting as she knelt down next to the map. “Is a tactical nightmare for a defender.” She took her handful of gravel and started pouring small piles of gravel onto a handful of the streets, seemingly at random. However, before long, the straight and open streets turned into something else. “This, on the other hand, is an opportunity.”

“It’s a maze!” Chase breathed.

“That is exactly what it is. If this oil can produce the needed effects, with some proper planning, we can block entire streets and turn Salvation into a maze where we can slowly grind the Lightborn army into the soil as they follow the course we set.”

Liam cleared his throat. “Just checking here. Because to me, it sounds a lot like you’re planning to blow half of Salvation up.”

“Not in the least.” She shook her head, not letting her eyes leave the map for a moment. “At most five percent. But you should not worry. When the Lightborn do enter the city, anybody within the houses will be long gone. They have already been warned, and know what is coming. Those who do not intend to stay and fight are already starting to leave the city.”

They spent a few hours coming up with plans on how to turn Salvation into a hellish nightmare for the invaders. Then they split up, each going their own way. They didn’t expect to see each other until the day of the battle.