The next morning brings a major change of pace for Cain and the Guild. Some of the deserters decided they would get revenge on the Guild who ruined the good thing they had going in the Exit City, and they have managed to gather a small army of Lizardmen to help them.
According to the Mayor, the Lizardmen are roaming monsters frequently found in the desert north and east of the city, and with a little help from some lizard type Beastkin living in the area they can be hired as mercenaries. How much it would cost to hire enough of them to threaten the city is a question Cain would rather not consider, but the mayor does seem concerned.
They haven't started to recruit guards for the city yet, and the transfers and others with an interface living here are still mostly under geared. Not a great combination for the guy whose job it is to see everyone survives and prospers.
[There is a large band of Lizardmen mercenaries approaching Montauk now, who is up for a fight?] Cain sends in Guild chat.
Most of the higher level members answer in a positive way, but Elmira is a ways from Sunnybrook and would need to fly back, while Cixelcid and Lickity don't answer at all, probably still asleep.
That's close enough for Cain, so he informs his companions to finish up whatever they're doing and meet the Guild by the north gates. He's not overly concerned if they're a bit late, there's plenty of summons available still, and Cain has remained merged with an Oath Breaker and a Primordial Shaman, the extended use of the skill not seeking to have any sort of negative consequences other than an increased appetite and infrequent strange suggestions being whispered into his mind from the merged demons.
If they weren't so strong, Cain definitely would have picked a pair that couldn't speak.
The Oath Breaker is predictable, it keeps suggesting killing anything it finds annoying. But the Primordial Shaman is much more creative. It's fond of highly lethal 'practical jokes' and curvaceous women. Tuning that Demon out is a necessity, or the graphic descriptions it provides to accompany its suggestions just might make him do something he would regret.
But Cain now understands where the negative myths about Demon possessed people came from in his past life. Vala is pretty mellow, but these two should not be left unattended.
The City Council has amassed a small army by the gate before the members of the Darklight Host begin to filter into the area. A quest has been set with a pretty reasonable bounty, and it's drawn enough transfers out to fill at least two Raid Groups. No battle plan has been decided yet, they're waiting on the scouts that have gone out to verify the position of the enemy forces.
It's been quite a while though, and some are starting to suspect that the ones who volunteered as scouts were in fact informants for the deserters. They've sent a number of trusted fighters out to the corners of the city to report back if they see anything approaching, just in case, but nothing has been seen. Su has volunteered to take a look as well, flying out over the desert in search of the elusive Lizardmen force.
If the source wasn't declared as reliable by the mayor, Cain would think they've been pranked, with the continued inability to find any sign of the enemy.
Both teams of companions arrive together, joking about being tied again in their book collection, just before Su reports back that she's found the attackers.
"I found them. Hey, they're throwing stuff at me. Ow, stop that. Fine, take that! How do you like that Dragon Breath you big dumb dumb." Su seems to have grasped the essentials of the chat system, which shows up as being sent by [Kone:Su] but still sees messages as a stream of free flow consciousness, making all the members of her raid team burst into laughter.
"She's a Healer type, and she's starting to take damage, so we should likely go rescue the Dragon." Kone laughs as Su sends another stream of expletives about the ancestry of her targets.
"Your mother was an iguana, you spell tossing bully." Comes up in the chat and Kone leads the party out of the gates towards the location where Su is fighting.
Cain calls all of his Summons, the Lamia grabbing a Guild member each and slithering off through the sand at incredible speed.
Being upgraded to Greater Golems made them much larger, and with the two Legendary Demons merged with Cain, their agility and movement speed have skyrocketed.
"There, just over that rise. I can see Su's wings." Kone announces pointing off in the distance. All of the Dragons surge ahead, the Drakes momentarily vanishing as Laura switches the Woodland Drakes they were using as healers for Ice Drakes.
"They're cold blooded right?" Is the last thing Cain hears her shout as she disappears into the distance. He likely should have caught a ride, but they'll be arriving soon enough at the rate they're moving.
As the raid party approaches the hill they realize it's a trap. The Lizardmen and deserters always intended to lure them out of the city into an ambush. Only the ambush failed when Su simply flew over top of their well laid traps and hidden positions. Instead they were left scrambling to recover as first one, then a whole flight of Dragons appeared in their camp while the raid party carefully made their way through the sand dunes.
From the sounds of the screaming and cursing, it's going well for the Dragons. It's hard to tell what the hissing means though. It could be the Dragons, or it could be the Lizardmen.
"Don't break the popsicle, I'm going to eat that one later." The group hears Laura yell before a large crash.
"Didn't I just say don't break that one? Fine, I'll make another."
The Dragons are winning that battle for certain.
Cain tops the rise first, being the fastest moving of the humans, and not particularly concerned about the traps the Lizardmen laid. The fight isn't as one sided as it sounded, the Dragons are circling a magical barrier that keeps getting broken and remade, trying to kill the occupants but not get caught inside when it goes back up.
They've gotten quite a few that way, clawing their way through the barrier and then coating the area in Dragon Breath. But the Mercenaries are experienced, hiding under shelters to get away from the ice and coming back out to attack when they get the chance.
Looking down at the numbers, the mercenaries might outnumber the entire city's population. However they did it, the deserters have amassed a huge force.
"I feel like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight." Laura sings with her mouth full as she takes a bite out of an unlucky human mage who was caught in the open after his shelter was destroyed. That must have been one of the deserters.
"Take some of the deserters alive. The city will want to hold a nice trial for them." Cain shouts to Laura once he sees that the rest of the raid team is in position. The second team will be holding the city walls in case this isn't the only force they have brought.
"Bastards, where did you get more Dragons?" Someone shouts from down in the mercenary camp.
"Oh, I've got a lot more than Dragons. Oath Breakers, bring me a couple of hostages." Cain calls, loud enough for the camp to hear him.
The six armed demons were hanging back a ways, out of sight of the Lizardmen, and they rush forward at the chance to have some fun.
The Lizardmen are having none of it though, turning on their employers and forcing them to their knees before the demons have even made it through the barrier. With their combined attack power it only takes a moment for the five of them to get through, clearly disappointed at the ease with which they've obtained the prisoners.
"We wish for parlay." Hisses the largest of the Lizardmen, a sandy yellow specimen with green eyes.
"Speak then. What do you propose." Cain calls back as the Oath Breakers secure their prisoners with rope and then chain over the rope, before stuffing them in burlap sacks they found in the camp.
"We will return half the fee and call our contract complete. The mission has failed and we wish to leave." The mercenary leader proposes.
They didn't actually kill anyone, and their employers are captured, so Cain is feeling generous. Laura looks like she'd rather eat them all though.
"Return all the fee to me and leave with any other forces you have sent out. I'll give you Two hours to disappear into the desert." Cain counters and the lizards look at each other, thinking over the offer.
"Four hours and we keep a quarter of the fee." The leader states his terms and a Paladin nods that Cain should accept. He likely knows better than any of the newly arrived members of the Darklight Host how such negotiations usually go, so Cain is ready to accept.
"Four hours to leave, you keep a quarter of the fee and we keep your employers. Agreed?"
The Lizardman gives him a fist to chest salute and steps away from the sacks of prisoner before making a circling gesture overhead and a large number of hidden warriors emerge from the sand to disappear over the dunes headed away from the city.
That's the thing about mercenaries, they've got nothing keeping them around except the money. If you've clearly lost they're not going to remain and die with you.
