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CH 58: Plans and Data
🕑 Added 2024-12-18 15:00:00 +0000 UTC-{///} 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 his decisions. Which meant no one else would go snooping around the live-data-feeds she was routing to herself. The live data was expensive, but she'd liquified one of her shadow savings funds to acquire it. For the first time since observing Earth, she could 'see' the self-affixer.
It wasn't perfect. Finola had to use a combination of near-real-time beast location and level data, experience point gain information for the actual Sanctuary and Calderwall Empire residents, and then put that together over a rough map of the area she'd been able to get from the system, too. It created a black hole on the battlefield where beasts died and no one earned the experience - one that she could watch. The being was versatile and deadly. They killed beasts from range, and also took the fighting in close. They'd fought two single beasts in some sort of honorific ritual, which itself was very, very odd. And then they'd torn through the attacking force with vigor before they were seemingly forced into a retreat.
Finola hoped they weren't too badly injured. The beasts would soon attack the settlement again, and the people were already starting to run. She found a part of herself hoping for their victory - however unlikely that might be. The fingers on her right hand rapped rhythmically against her desk, inches away from the screen locked to the fire controls that would obliterate their planet.
+ Reid +
Reid came to in the back of an old RV that smelled musty, with notes of stale beer. His body was still sore, but he could move his arms and legs without sending shooting pains throughout his limbs. His head, though, was clearer than it had been since the start of the fight. Reid didn't pay close attention to his mental state during combat, but it was clear he'd once again overdone things in a way that could've caused him to shift into poor decision making. The plan he'd come up with before he passed out was still in his mind - and it didn't seem bad.
Muffled slamming footsteps, shouts, and honking horns made their way through the RV's walls to Reid's ears. His battle-scarred armor clacked and scraped against itself as he stood. The bone was stained with blood in most of the gouges and dents. Reid didn't even know bone could dent, but the damage was there. He ran a finger along a scrape that went just over his heart. That one had come awfully close to breaking through.
Images of Marysa's and Warren's deaths flashed through his mind and he heard the ghost of a song ring in his ears. Reid tepidly brought the quest's objectives counter into focus.
Quest Sub-Objectives:
* Prevent Losses: 112
* Defeat the Crimson Titan: ( 0 / 1 )
* Defeat the Crimson Titan's Guardians: ( 1 / 3 )
* Defeat the Crimson Titan's Elites: ( 7 / 10 )
* Defeat the Crimson Titan's Minions: ( 496 / 2,106 )
* (Optional) Sue for peace.
* (Optional) Negotiate with the enemy.
The deaths of the people he knew were notable. The rest - they were tragic. People had lost their lives, but so many of their faces and ends blended together in Reid's mind that he could only find the mental strength to focus on Warren and Marysa. Others he knew - whose names were on Requiem's handle - had also come perilously close to dying. Reid cracked his neck and rolled the stiffness out of his shoulders. The door squeaked as it opened on poorly-maintained hinges and revealed a base in chaos.
Reid and the camper he'd just left were part of the growing formation in last stand field. A line of impatient vehicles were queued up to get out of the back gate, but whatever route they were all following, the column moved entirely too slowly. Reid caught a glimpse of the path, and realized why. It wasn't a road, or even a proper dirt path. The RVs, trucks, and every other vehicle that could drive were going over rocky, uneven terrain. Half their convoy would flip over if they tried to speed up. The others would probably rattle apart.
Wounded defenders moaned and bled in an open-air medical site set up close to the vehicle column. Medics wrapped and stitched wounds together while the people waited for magical healing to bring them back to full. Reid knew Danny and Susan's reserves were supposed to be saved for their strongest fighters - so the wounded would be waiting for a while.
He followed the second loudest shouts to an RV with an awning that had been curtained off from the rest of the camp. The cloth did little to stop the noise from carrying.
"Why would they change tactics? It worked the first time for them, so we should assume they'll wait for the paralyze cooldown to end before they attack again." Marlene's voice was strained.
"But if I can distract the big one, we can buy more time for everyone else to get away." Reid was surprised to hear Toby was the one arguing with Marlene.
Reid pulled open the curtain and stepped into the small, cramped space. Sara pushed her way through the gathered crowd and slammed into Reid with a silent hug. He wrapped a hand around her and squeezed - happy to see that she wasn't in the same stupor that had consumed her earlier.
But Marlene had been right - there was still something wrong. She pulled away from him, smiled, and turned back towards the now-quiet group that were staring at them both. Reid pulled her back and whispered a question.
"Are you feeling alright, Sara?"
His daughter turned to face him, and swallowed. She was far too calm - too cool and collected. Her voice was light, and hollow.
"I'm fine." She lowered her head and turned back towards the group. If his perception were any lower, Reid wouldn't have heard her next whisper. "Everything will be fine as long as I don't run."
That was different - and Reid didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. Sara had been adamant before about getting everyone out of Sanctuary alive. Now she was certain everything would work out as long as she didn't run. Something about the idea made Reid's skin crawl. He donned a halfhearted smile as Walt, Mark, and others thanked him for what he'd done on the outer wall - and realized Susan, Danny, and Lowell were all missing from this meeting. Marlene pressed them on time. If the salamander's pattern held, they only had another 35 minutes before they'd attack again.
Reid couldn't solve every problem right now, but that was okay - because he could work on the biggest one. He focused on the man holding a bone warhammer.
"Toby, how were you going to distract the Crimson Titan?" Reid asked.
Marlene started to speak, but Toby jumped in over her. "I have a skill called aggressive taunt. It lets me single out a living being and gets it to focus on me and only me. Works on anything within 50 levels of mine, and sends them into a rage that lasts until they kill me, or the skill ends. There's another effect that makes me less visible to other beasts while it's active, too. My plan is to get on a dirt bike and lead that thing as far from here as I can. Then, I deactivate the skill and come back."
Reid found himself quite impressed. Toby's skill was good - and shed some light on how he'd taken on so many people when he freed the survivors at Margaret. More than that, he'd come up with a plan that was similar to Reid's own - and solved the biggest issue Reid had.
"Toby, I've got a better idea..."
With Toby's skill - and ignoring some disagreement from Marlene - the plan developed. They'd make a run at pulling the Crimson Titan away from its forces. The hope was they'd at least get the Titan and guardians away long enough to challenge them in a fight. Reid had already killed a guardian by himself. Now that he knew their tricks, he felt confident in doing that again. And - with Sara and other strong defenders there, they should be able to do enough damage to the Crimson Titan that they could put it down with a killing blow.
Every time an elite had been killed, salamanders under their influence were sent into a frenzy - focused on the people that had killed the elites. It stood to reason that the same thing would happen when they killed the Crimson Titan. If they could frenzy and pull even some of the other beasts away from the main force, they could use that to lead the salamanders away from Sanctuary's group - or fight the things on their own time as they ran. As long as they could turn an overwhelming problem into a manageable one, it would all work out.
They'd seen the smaller salamanders and the larger ones running at what seemed like a full sprint - so they reasoned one of the larger dirtbikes would actually be fast enough to kite the Titan around the battlefield while keeping Toby safe.
The major downside to the plan was, of course, that while Toby's skill was active, the Titan would be trying to kill him. Toby noted that people - or beasts - didn't outright ignore other threats or their surroundings, but were strongly pushed to cause him violence. That meant they needed to dedicate some manpower to keep Toby safe.
Reid did have some reservations about bringing Sara into the fight, but he knew that he needed her help to get this done - and that she wouldn't take no for an answer if he tried to stop her. Instead, he made her promise to follow his lead during the fight, and to only engage if she saw clear openings, or when he signaled her to attack.
Once everything was set, Reid spared a few minutes to see Susan while everyone else got the vehicles and personnel ready, and over the second wall. Hugs and 'I love you's were exchanged - after Reid convinced his wife that yes, it was a bad idea for her to be in the thick of things, even if they expected to have a good plan that would keep the beasts under some sort of control. She agreed to stay on standby at the wall instead - ready for anyone that needed to drop out of the fight due to injury.
#
When they'd gotten everything ready, there were only 20 minutes left before the Titan would be able to use its next roar. The escape column continued its slow progress into the woods out the rear gate.
Reid surveyed the group. Lowell was at the controls of a dirtbike, with Toby on the backseat. Despite how the last battle had impacted him, Lowell refused to let anyone else be responsible for keeping his beau alive. He and Sara were both in the bed of a lifted square-bodied chevy that sported a two-tone paintjob, along with a handful of other volunteers. The 454 big block sputtered and growled like a caged animal ready to pounce. It was the fastest and most capable of the four trucks they'd taken for this venture, and also the one with the most capable fighters. Each had warriors and ranged attackers - and ideally, they'd be able to swap between vehicles if any became damaged.
Marlene and James were on the second wall, doing their best to coordinate the defenders to be ready for everything to go sideways - and for a swarm of Salamanders to attack. Mark made large pointed wooden stars modeled after the anti-tank Czech hedgehog - and was filling as much of the space in front of the second wall with them as he could. When he was done there, he was ordered to do the same leading all the way back to the rear gate. They'd missed an opportunity in not laying down more traps, and they'd fix that mistake as much as they could in the time they had left before the next push from the beasts.
Reid hoped his plan would eliminate the need for a second defense. Their attack group sped forward, though grass and terrain, dirt roads and empty campsites. They soon came into view of the outer wall, coated in a layer of red. It reminded him of the clover mites that would swarm around rocks and onto stone in his backyard. The Titan, flanked by its guardians, towered above the rest.
Reid signaled Toby. The Crimson Titan let out a threatening roar - and sprinted forward. Each step thundered and shook their vehicles, even this far away. One of the guardians followed the Titan, screeching. The other stayed with the main group and let out a long series of popping noises. The two salamanders crashed through brush and stationary camper trailers as they bee-lined for Toby.
The fight was on, and it was coming to them.
