ALL NOVEL Ch. 35 Planning
It was in the early afternoon that they began to organize the counter-attack. There had simply been too much death and chaos for anyone to begin planning any earlier. Santi had taken a quick nap and was perched on the edge of a bench as the small group from earlier, and a few others, gathered to figure out what they wanted to do.
Santi wanted to strike out now with the best fighters he could get his hands on. The victory they had won this morning had been bought with blood, but the losses the goblins had taken would have them reeling. It was much too early for a monster nest to support multiple high end monsters, even with the increase in mana. The death of the troll-kin and its warparty would leave the monster nest vulnerable. They just needed to have the courage to strike now.
The proto-raid team were scattered about the open courtyard, lounging as they waited for the orders to go out. Those who were still alive anyway. All of the college students had made it, aside from Paulie. Tristan was now lying in the medical hall covered in bandages. A large swath of the low level fighters were gone now having been the first to run into danger last night.
The survivors were much stronger now. It was a sick calculus that Santi did as he stared at those around him with his new Identify skill. Almost everyone was over level ten now, with several getting close to level fifteen. Tank was sitting at level sixteen and Chloe was level seventeen. Using their classes had let them advance further than Santi had. Using his original skill and Gust helped a little, but he wasn’t really leaning into being a Mage.
It was one of the reasons the class struggled in the early days of the initiation. Spell slingers lacked the skill slots needed to become truly powerful and not using their classes slowed down their advancement. Warrior or Healer classes had some of the fastest growth in the early days. In a few months when people got to their second class evolution and could start taking crafting classes they’d start seeing an explosion in growth.
Just had to stay alive till then.
“It’s now obvious that we need to eliminate the monster nest,” Marisol spoke softly. Her eyes red and voice hoarse. She had stood and fought with the others and it was telling. Santi felt the beginning edges of respect for the older woman. Her and the older people still weren’t listening as well as they should to him, but he couldn’t blame them.
Afterall, with the geas he couldn’t exactly tell them why he knew things. As if they’d believe him anyways.
“We couldn’t have known that an attack of this magnitude was coming. We had plans in place to deal with their nest,” Eugene said in an attempt to comfort her. The two stood side by side with their individual offspring forming a crescent behind them. The early beginnings of a political bloc. He would have to keep an eye on that to make sure they didn’t grow to overshadow his own bloc made of college students.
While the meeting was filled with older people, the majority of the camp was youth. Rescued people from dorms or apartment buildings around the area. Almost all of them listened to Tank.
“We need to strike now, while they are weak,” Santi said, cutting into the conversation. He had talked to himself a half-dozen times about being more assertive, it was now time to start doing it.
“We are also weak right now. We lost so many,” Marisol whispered, her voice nearly gone.
“We’ve destroyed a powerful warparty. If not now, when? The longer we wait, the stronger they’ll get. We know they’re to the West and have a general idea of where the nest is. We take the raid party and anyone else who wants to go and we stomp it out,” Santi pushed back. He couldn’t allow them to be timid.
“I agree.” Tank stated. With that, the argument ended. Then a new one started about who was leading the raid party and who was going. With the new threat now in their face, the older adults wanted a hand in the raid instead of leaving it to the young and hungry. Abraham said he’d lead the raid, which caused Tank to shut him down.
“No, Abraham. I will be leading the raid with Santi as my second. While we are away I want everyone else to be scouring for survivors. We need to grow as fast as possible. There is safety in numbers,” Tank took control of the meeting and Santi had to fight to keep a smile off of his face as his friend was blossoming right in front of him.
Some buckled when the challenges came, others rose up. It was looking more and more like Tank was going to be someone who rose to shoulder the burden of the challenges facing all of them. Having someone of his caliber in this life made it all easier.
“I agree with, Tank. Teams of five go door to door and find anyone who’s alive and bring them here. Start planning the raid on the distribution center. By the time we finish off the nest we should be strong enough to clear the area,” Santi gave his orders and stood up to leave. It was exhausting being a hand holder.
“Everyone who’s part of the raid team, there are packs made in the building. Grab one, they all have water, food, and some basic medical supplies. Anyone who wants to join needs to be ready within the hour with their own pack. Talk to Marisol about supplies.” Tank was still issuing orders as Santi walked out of earshot.
Daniel, Hana, Chloe, and Rayleigh all followed after him along with the second Bowman, Chad. Two scouts, two front line fighters, and ranged damage. Santi didn’t really have a place to put himself, yet. In the future he’d be a ranged damage fighter, but for right now he was standing in the frontlines with his new spear.
Tank was leading a group of volunteer medics, who Santi hoped would be offered some type of healing class at their next class selection. Having only three healers was a serious roadblock. People didn’t want to venture out without the safety of having a healer there to make sure they didn’t die.
Over the next hour people slowly trickled out in front of their base. The road was covered in sticky blood while off to the side thick black clouds of smoke rose up. They were burning the bodies, heaping goblin corpses into shallow holes dug into yards and dousing them in gasoline and other flammable materials. Their own fallen were also burned, but away from the goblin corpses.
Santi made a note to himself to keep an eye on the burn pits. There were some nasty things that could come from mass graves. He’d see if he could remember the ritual for a cleansing spell. He thought he had all of the necessary ingredients from when he killed the shamans. Last thing he wanted was some type of undead charnel monster emerging to eat them.
“You ready for this?” Chloe asked as she walked up to him. Rayleigh was stuck to her side, holding a long softball bat she had acquired from somewhere. Chloe had upgraded her axe to a double headed blade that looked positively cruel. The two of them were wearing dirty and stained clothes and there was an aura of exhaustion clinging to them. Still, even with all that, they looked powerful and healthy.
“We get it done and it should make this area safe enough for the time being. The nest should have eaten or driven away any nearby monsters. Give us the time we need to grow.”
“We’re going to have to talk about how you know this shit,” Rayleigh piped in. She was watching him with curious eyes, the memories she had buried under the geas Akthyr had put on him. It was a minor miracle they were all taking him for his word, possibly their subconscious fighting back against the spell.
“The minute I can, I will.” Santi promised her.
“We’ll hold you to that,” Rayleigh said. Her and Chloe walked off to greet a few other people they knew while Santi stood in a small isolated space from everyone else. The girls were closer to him than anyone else aside from Tank. He didn’t know Daniel well and he was spending all of his spare time with Hana now. With Paulie’s death, there was really no one he had a strong attachment to.
“I miss you, Cam.” Santi grabbed his pack and strapped it on and checked to make sure all of his knives were sheathed and secured. His new spear had been cleaned and the tip sharpened while he was waiting for everyone else. They started to move out, Daniel slipping into the shadows of the houses and disappearing as he scouted.