“How long does that fill magazine spell take to cast?” Drew asked, wondering why he would need so many guns if he never ran out of ammo.
“About ten seconds, not really something I can do mid-combat,” JP answered.
“Alright, any other utility spells other than that illusion wall and the free refills on magazines?” Drew asked. Both JP and Robbi shook their heads. “Okay, I’ve got fireballs and some big area spells that I can use up to half a mile away, a couple of near spread spells that I can use, and the lightning bolt spell you guys saw. Pretty much everything I do will affect an area, so I can’t use it near friendlies. Katie has a wall spell that will give us cover, but the trolls haven’t been using any ranged weapons, and Sarah has a ranged area heal.”
“Jholie has ranged attacks, but I don’t know how useful they will be against trolls. Mostly good for distractions while someone else kills them. Bill has his heal plus two buffs, one that improves everyone’s strength stat and another that improves acid resistance.”
Drew looked at the two men as they considered the abilities they have present. “Sounds like our best bet is going to be to try and lure them out. Katie can make some walls and they’ll be lined up like bowling pins,” JP said after a few minutes.
“Not going to work. The trolls I saw could jump three stories up and about 60 feet horizontally. Our best bet is to kill them in an enclosed area where they can’t jump, but where we can see them coming from far away. Daryl, one of the other survivors we’re going to meet, should be able to get us some intelligence. He can go invisible.” Drew shrugged, “We’ll see when we get back. Maybe they’ll have some better ideas and maps by then.”
They separated again, Drew walking over to where Katie and Sarah were eating with Bill and Jholie. Nodding to everyone, he sat on the concrete, scratching his head, “How many did you say there were in there?” he asked the two former prisoners.
“I think there might have been somewhere upwards of 200. You’ve killed about a quarter of them I imagine. No idea how that will change their operation, though.”
“What about their leadership? Could we take them out and work from there?” Sarah asked.
“Maybe. Not sure I ever saw their actual leader; there were about four or five of the shaman ones that I saw, hard to say because I didn’t exactly see them together often.”
“Side doors?” Katie asked.
Jholie shook her head, “We never got near ’em, they always led us out the main entrance and then down into the basement.”
“So, to sum it all up, we have 100 to 200 trolls in unknown locations with possibly a few boss monsters thrown in, and the only reliable way we have to get in is through the front door?” Drew looked around to grim nods.
“Why do we need to go through a door?” JP and Robbi had come up behind them. “Just blow a hole through the side of the building. Heck if we can find out where they are, we could get everyone out without even fighting any of the trolls.”
Everyone turned to look at the gunslinger and considered his words. “Might work, we’d have to figure out where everyone is…and get through the concrete and glass. Maybe need an explosive or two.” They all turned to Drew.
“I don’t think I can blow a hole in the wall…” Drew trailed off, thinking, “But I might be able to melt one. It would take a while, but I don’t see why we wouldn’t be able to do it. We’d just need to figure out where we want to do it.”
“And figure out a way to get everyone fed and out of there,” Bill offered, “Since I doubt the trolls will just let us walk away.”
“Good point… Bill, was it?” JP said, and when Bill confirmed his name. “That will have to be where the rest of us come in. Robbi can make illusions, Katie can make walls to prevent them from following, and those we can’t confine or confound we’ll just have to kill.”
Murmurs of agreement came from around the circle. “Alright, well, let’s get moving. I want to be back at the auto shop well before dark,” Bill said, and everyone began putting everything back in their bags and getting ready to go.
Drew helped Katie into her pack. All of them had packed heavier than was comfortable, trying to bring as many things down to the larger group as they could. She smiled at him, “Thanks, Drew.” They got back on the road, where Drew pointed a couple of the massive squirrels out to Katie and Sarah.
When they got to the wall they had crossed earlier, they used a similar method to get over. JP went first, then Robbi, the three girls, Bill, with Drew finally jumping over on his own.
“You were either the Easter bunny in a previous life or have more xatherite than you told us about,” JP said as Drew landed.
“Yeah, I have a few more. I mostly just told you the combat relevant ones,” Drew said.
Robbi and JP both exchanged a glance that gave Drew a bad feeling. What exactly was their mission out here? What was the goal of this senator who ran Nat’s park? In his head, he pictured a Tina Turner type running Barter Town with an authoritarian fist. He thought back to what he told JP the first time they talked about it. “It sounds too good to be true.” It probably wasn’t true, but did they really have a choice?
Chapter Twenty-Eight — Sleep
Drew watched the two newcomers out of the corner of his eye. Ever since they’d realized he was holding back on how many xatherite he had, they’d been having a whispered conversation with each other. The group had spread out. Drew, Sarah, and Katie had taken the front, the three coasties only a few feet apart. Jholie and Bill followed a dozen paces behind them, while Robbi and JP were another dozen feet behind the second row.
“What’s wrong?” Katie asked quietly, having picked up on Drew’s soured mode.
“I’m not sure. Something with JP and Robbi,” Drew answered, his voice cast low enough that Sarah, who was on the other side of Katie, had a hard time hearing him.
“You think they’re mana twisted or something?” Sarah asked.
Drew considered this for a moment. There didn’t seem to be any logical reason why a human couldn’t become mana twisted. The wereghouls were evidence that there wasn’t something special about their bodies that made humans immune to the ravages of the sudden increase in ambient mana. But it didn’t quite fit with what he’d heard in the tutorial. Would the human protectorate have created a system that would allow that?
Katie nudged him in the side and he looked up, realizing that he’d gotten lost in thought. “I don’t think so. Everything else we’ve seen that’s mana twisted physically changed.” They were just about to pass the field where they had seen the bashers and Drew frowned while looking around; all the rabbit-like creatures had disappeared. “You guys feel that?” He asked, turning towards Jholie and Bill.
It was Robbi that answered, “It’s a mana storm, we need to move.” The fear in JP’s voice as he answered Drew was evident. JP and Robbi started running to catch up to the rest of the group. They were still a couple hundred feet from the auto shop where they’d left Daryl and the others.
Drew looked out and realized that he could see the storm with mana sight; it looked like a massive ley line floating in the sky miles away. As he watched, he could see it moving closer to their position. Shaking his head, Drew grabbed Katie’s hand and began running towards their haven. “We’ve got to move,” Drew said over his shoulder, but everyone was already running.
Bill was keeping pace with Jholie, and Drew could hear his encouraging shouts. The three coasties in their combat boots moved somewhat slower than JP and Robbi, but as the two of them had no idea where to go, they trailed along behind Drew, who was leading everyone as the fastest person who had been there before. When they rounded the last corner towards the auto shop, Drew’s heart sank. Six trolls were walking around the building with a large creature that had a snakehead and a furry quadruped body, with bands of bright blue fur running in diagonal stripes across its otherwise off-white fur. The creature was sniffing the ground like it was tracking something.