Cat With a Raygun

Joe knew he could take out the entire group of bandits at once with a well-placed Cold Snap, but Ferric had pulled the plug on that idea. Cold Snap was devastating not only to people, but also to the area. They didn't want any dead zones near the town, so Joe would have to fight more creatively, which was probably just as well, it would force him to practice other spells more.

Ferric turned back to the eaglin teen, “Kleo, any indication that they could see you from that distance?”

Kleo shook her head, “No, but that might change if I start attacking them.”

The orc mayor turned to Joe. “Before we start anything, go get Gymmie, Ziko, and my sister from outside the walls.” Ferric finally turned to the other Mage on the wall, “Kerras, practice your new spell and go around town warning everyone that the bandits are a couple hours out. Anyone not involved with the town defense should hole up in the tavern.”

Ferric took the steps back down from the wall and headed to the tavern himself. Once there he sent a message to Trenos about the imminent attack through the communicator station, further informing them that they would send word when it was resolved.

By the time Ferric got back to the wall Joe had already returned and he was conferring with Kleo about what the two of them could see of the approaching group. “I see the one who got away from the other group, so this is definitely who we're waiting for,” Joe confirmed as Ferric approached.

“Even so, I'd feel bad if we just attack them without warning first. Joe, go to them and give them a chance to turn away and leave Rust's Edge alone. If they decline, raise your fist in the air and Kleo will take the first shot, then you come back here.”

Joe nodded at Ferric's plan and teleported down to the area the bandits were in. The group of men and women immediately stopped their march and the one Joe recognized from his last encounter spoke up.

“That's him, Boss, that's the Mage we were trying to kill.”

The Boss was an older elven man wearing a suit of plate mail with a greatsword across his back. His black hair was graying at the temples and his armor had a symbol that Joe had only read about, the symbol for the Impatur Empire, the cause of the Imperial War sixteen years ago.

“Turn back from your path, this will be your only warning. We will defend ourselves and you will fall,” Joe informed them.

“My brother will have this kingdom, the crystals under your town will be the second key to our success. A backwoods town like yours can't even begin to understand the value of what you have,” the elf haughtily declared.

Joe shook he head and said, “Oh, I think we have a fair idea of what to do with them,” while he raised his left fist into the air. Immediately the chest of one of the other bandits burst open from Kleo's sniper shot. Before they could react Joe was already back on the wall. “Nice shot, Kleo.”

Casting Telescopic Sight Joe looked to see how they were reacting. The Imperial was yelling at the others and suddenly all of them began to move much faster.

“Ferric, the leader of the group was wearing Imperial armor, and from the way he was talking, it wasn't just salvage from the war. I think he's the emperor's brother. Everyone else looked too young to have been involved much in the war, but he was definitely old enough to have been a part of it. It makes me worried about what his level is.”

Ferric nodded, “If he is the emperor's brother Livato then we will have a hard time defeating him. He was the general during the Imperial War. That makes both his class and profession very high. I'm going to go inform Trenos about the news. Stay safe while I'm gone, take out as many as you can before they get to the walls.”

Joe wanted to test their ranged capabilities, so he cast Smoke and Mirrors to make an illusion of himself flying in the air in front of the walls while he and Kleo attacked from relative safety. There were no retaliations. Either Livato was prioritizing speed to get to Rust's Edge faster, or their group lacked the ability to attack from that distance, but likely it was a mix of both.

The bandits, or soldiers was probably more accurate, were harder to kill now that Livato cast something on them, but he and Kleo were damaging them at least. Joe was using his raygun with the fire beams so he would blind targets. Kerras soon joined them up on the wall and began Launching slivers of stone shards towards the Imperial soldiers.

Ferric returned with the three archers from town as well as his sister. “How close are they to the walls?”

“Close enough for the archers, but not close enough for Ferrite,” Kleo answered. She was taking a break from firing her Sniper Launcher Rifle because of the Stamina requirements.

Eleanor, Sally, and Slivka took positions by the edges of the cover positions built onto the top of the wall and began shooting at the approaching soldiers. Eleanor drank one of Joe's Intelligence Boost potions and then cast Compress Time and fired off three arrows at every single soldier still marching in what appeared to be only a moment.

Even with all of these arrows and stones, the remaining dozen or so soldiers were extremely tough. No sign of them receiving any healing, yet they didn't seem too damaged from the attacks being rained on them from the town walls. Livato didn't even have a scratch even though their attacks had been hitting him.

“I know how to deal with high Toughness opponents, one moment,” Joe said before teleporting behind the approaching soliders. Once there he chose one as the initial target, then 5 more secondary targets to cast a negative Karmic Bond on. Once that was done he appeared back on the top of the wall. “Okay, everyone, target the one I do.”

With that Joe used his raygun to fire a beam of lightning covered in flames at one of the soldiers. A large spear of stone followed along with several arrows. After several more rounds of attacks the solider they were attacking looked little worse for the wear, however the five linked soldiers finally fell.

Joe cast Invisibility on himself and immediately the remaining soldiers turned behind them to attack a Joe who never showed up. While they were distracted he used Levitation to fly above them and cast his Karmic Bond on more of them, with the same original target, then teleported back to the walls yet again.

“Again, everyone,” Joe called. The soldiers, after seeing how effective it was the last time surrounded the bonded target to reduce the amount of damage able to get through to him, and by extension to the others. Joe raised his raygun and aimed it towards the target. Before he activated the beam he used Backtrack to move behind the group so he had a clear shot on the bonded target.

While the soldiers were regrouping to cover from Joe's new angle, Slivka and Eleanor took off flying into the air in different directions, firing arrows at the intended target. Kerras used Backtrack to get onto the road a fair distance away from the soldiers and started Launching more shards at the target, moving around as needed.

The soldiers on the negative end of the Karmic Bond weren't holding up too well. Several things happened in quick succession. Joe appeared next to the original bonded target, one of his dragon horn knives stabbed into the man's head. Joe then teleported back to the top of the wall and all 6 soldiers fell dead on the ground. That left 3 regular soldiers plus the General remaining, and they were less than 100 meters from the wall.

Joe cast In Plain Sight again and got close enough to cast a negative Karmic Bond on himself then the remaining soldiers and the general. Next he quickly contained the general in a box of the Force Field spell, then he stabbed one of the soldiers with his knife to get their attention and break the In Plain Sight spell.

The 3 soldiers came at him and started attacking, not relenting even as they hurt themselves. Joe would cast Healing Burst in himself between every third attack or so. They hit tough, but not too tough. He was afraid the general would be a lot stronger, though, so was trying to thing of another way to deal with him.

Meanwhile Melanie came rushing towards the remaining soldiers, likely she came from one of the other gates in the wall using Speed Boost to travel so quickly. She ran each of the three through with her sword in turn, flames burning them from her sword at the same time. The whole time the general kept pounding against the invisible force field trying to shatter it, but unlike the other versions of the spell, this one seemed impervious to being overpowered.

Melanie and Joe finally killed the rest of the regular soldiers when Joe told Melanie to get back inside the city, that he would defeat the general on his own. Joe released the elf from his magical box and started running towards the river. The general ignored Joe and ran to the town's gate. He went to pound on the gate but instead of hitting and cracking the massive wooden door his fists instead once again came up against the magical barrier of Joe's Force Field.

“You won't touch that town as long as I'm still alive,” Joe called out.

Finally he had the general's attention who came closer, sword drawn. “You've done well, I have to hand it to you, but my men weren't even close to as strong as I am. I think you'll find your tricks don't work on me,” the Imperial taunted.

He stabbed Joe through the heart with his massive sword, but found no resistance. The illusion created by Smoke and Mirrors ended and when Livato tried to back up he found he was once again contained within a box created by the Force Field spell. A large tube of water began to rise out of the river and traveled above the box, connecting to an opening in the top and it began to empty itself into the magically contained space.

Livato kept pounding on the unyielding wall as the water level inside began to rise. He tried jumping out, but of course Joe hadn't left enough of an opening for escape. Before long the water was over his head and his pounding became more frantic. Joe had to give the emperor's brother credit, he was able to hold his breath for quite a long time. Joe had to create a new box on the outside of the existing one just before the fifteen minute limit was reached in order to keep him submerged underwater. Finally, however, he got the notification from the CGS that the General was defeated.

One of the soldiers had been carrying a special chest on his back. It had an odd lock on it, clearly radiating magic. Livato had been wearing the key on a chain around his neck, hidden under his armor. Inside Joe found something completely unexpected, the egg of a stone dragon. It must be the first key to success that Livato had hinted at earlier.