Deacon started to slowly backpedal as the wagon passed the boundary of his wall. He received a notification from his slate when he was done with the basic structure. It sort of confused him as he was just trying to create a barrier.

New unique structure created- Weeping Wall: You have created a wall that drips with the tears and sorrow of the Nether Plane. Combining mortar treated with mystically enhanced sand and ice from the Nether Plane to bypass curing, this structure touches the dimensional boundaries between worlds. It is both a physical and an ethereal boundary. Beings that draw power from the Nether will attempt to call this place home. As the creator, you will regenerate double soul energy while in the walls area of effect.

Not only that, but Deacon also increased both his masonry skill and alchemy skill by one level each. An entire level irrespective of his percent growth. If he questioned if he could do this before, the double regeneration boost assures it. That was all the time he had to think about as some of the goblins that couldn’t pass his ghostly protection began to throw rocks at him. The mala beads doubled his aura range, so it covered most of the space leading up to the wall. You’d have to walk around his aura range to tell where you could squeeze by. The goblins began packing the pass with bodies. Some of the originals were screaming as they were pushed closer to his aura by the press of bodies behind them. He was going to have to kill whoever ended up falling passed the protection line. That’s when he had a great idea. Deacon spoke his trigger phrase.

“It can’t rain all the time.”

Black and grey clouds began to fill the diameter of his aura. Small purple shafts of light could be seen travelling through the clouds in brief flashes. In the sky above, a small storm cloud began to form right above Deacon’s position. While the horns made of storm clouds grew from Deacon’s forehead, he ignored all the change effects and focused on the growing throng of goblins before him. While channeling the Tempest plane he could use Banshee’s Wail. After triggering the ability, the first six rows of goblins stiffened up and were trampled by their comrades behind them. All those souls were gobbled up by Deacon and his wall. That surprised him as he watched the souls that had just slipped into the wall.

“What is this? Why are you all just standing there? What the hell is that?” asked a gruff voice from behind the mass of goblins.

Deacon knew this would happen. It was probably that Vat Orc he saw earlier. The wagon was moving down the road and it had only been a few minutes since he was left alone. He needed to buy more time. Maybe he could engage them in conversation. No, he thought, that would only guarantee they rush me. Without warning, a clap of thunder came from the storm building above him and Deacon could feel a bloating sensation within him. As he explored this new impression a rock smacked off of his head.

“Storm Demon, let us pass!” yelled Goran.

“No,” replied Deacon as he started to feel nauseous. He wondered what was happening to him.

“I will come over there and make you move!” Goran said before stepping close enough to trigger Ghastly Defense. He jumped back surprised to see a ghost jump up and howl at him. He furrowed his brows and shoulder charged right through it. Then he chuckled once past the barrier brandishing his cleaver. It began to glow a sickly red-brown color and it dripped energy to the ground like blood mixed with drool.

Deacon thrust his hand forward to encase his head in ice with Nether Beam, but a purple and black colored bolt of lighting shot out. It danced and arced around Goran hitting several goblins behind him. They all shook as smoke plumed from their ears. Goran began laughing even harder before wiping his face with his left hand. Deacon no longer felt bloated as the sky opened up and sheets of rain began falling all over the enclosed pass.

Goran’s patience had run out. He launched himself at the storm demon who used an ability to maintain distance from him. Goran launched into a series of slashing techniques aimed at the demon’s legs. His goal was to prevent the prey from moving. Unfortunately, his target dashed straight up. He left green and purple echoes behind him that the cleaver found purchase in. That slowed his attack long enough for the demon to retaliate but it didn’t throw more lightning, the demon came crashing down toward Goran with his right hand extended in a chopping motion. Goran tried to redirect his blade to counter but the rain was so heavy he couldn’t see straight until a bright flash happened and the world went dark.

Deacon appeared crouched on the ground in front Goran. His right hand coated in blood and half buried in the mud. A managed to chop all the way through the big Orc with the assistance of a lightning strike from the storm cloud above. To his left and right lay the severed pieces of Goran’s weapon. Deacon looked up to see Goran’s two halves slowly separating to slosh on the wet ground. The wall tried to snag Goran’s soul, but Deacon extended his hand and absorbed it. Turns out the orc’s soul counted as rare and gave Deacon back twenty percent of his soul energy. No other goblins attempted to come any closer, but they all started to chant something in the goblin tongue. It roughly translated to soul eater. Deacon noticed he had a blinking notification.

New Technique Learned- Lightning Crashes: You summon a bolt of holy lightning from a storm of your own rage. This is a hand to hand technique with prerequisites; you need to be airborne and channeling a Tempest Plane storm. Cost is forty percent stamina and level forty…Rule Breaker has activated. Cost is forty percent soul energy.

That was nice addition to his ever growing list of skills. Deacon wondered what it was like for everyone else that had a skill tree. Do they just follow it meeting their prerequisites as they went? A question for another day as he could see the rain was stopping and something was glowing amongst the chanting goblins.

“So it is you. Your appearance has changed from my vision, but it is you. Why do you stand in our way?” asked a rather tall and lanky goblin with a glowing staff.

“I can’t let you pass. You shouldn’t even be up here. I suggest you turn around before you get hurt—” was as far as Deacon got before six or seven beams of black light shot from the head of the staff. Two were aimed at Deacon and the rest at the wall. The wall began to buckle in the middle and Deacon could hear stones crumbling behind him. That was about all the time he had for that because he had two holes in his chest and the pain was worsening. His health was down to ninety percent out of one hundred fifty. The cloud was slowly dissipating and the only thing he could think to do was dive into the rolling storm around his legs.

“Those with too much power always love to hear themselves talk,” said the staff wielding goblin as he reached Deacon’s Ghastly Defense barrier. He didn’t even hesitate at the sight of it and continued walking. This emboldened the goblins who each began testing the defense. The goblin with the staff started poking and prodding at the misty ground until he found what he wanted. He spoke some strange words and the two halves of Goran lifted into the air. They melded back together but the eyes glowed with an eerie black light.

Deacon figured this was a good time to make his escape since he was injured, and that monster looked busy. He used Spectral Dash to launch himself through the original opening in the now ruined wall. Doing this moved the boundary of Ghastly Defense subsequently letting the horde move forward. He hoped he bought enough time for his friends, so he picked a direction and started running.

“Oh I don’t think so,” came the voice of the head goblin in charge.

More beams of black light shot out all now targeting Deacon. He managed to dodge all of them with another activation of Spectral Dash. He needed to get out of range of that staff. Hopefully, they’d be so fixated on chasing him that they’d forget about going to town at all.

Amanda held tight to the reins as the goats were now traveling at a much faster speed. Ralph was hanging on to the top of the cage as they slid around a turn through a slightly wooded area. It wouldn’t be long before they’d be able to see the walls of the village. Tantus was sweating from continuously feeding his mana into the spell.

“Tell Tantus to take a break. There isn’t anyone following us,” Ralph yelled from atop the cage.

“No, let the Kel’Aish work. We need to be further away from those monsters,” said one of the captives.

“Tantus, you’ve done enough. Just try keeping them healthy, okay?” Amanda asked softly.

“What. About. Deacon,” Tantus huffed out.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine. You heard that thunderclap. He’s probably learned a new ability fighting those things,” Amanda responded although she didn’t believe it herself.

“Look, the cloud is breaking up. Do you think he’s done? Should we go back for him?” Ralph asked.

“He would want us to get these people to safety,” Amanda answered.

“Where is Malcore? He could wipe all of those beasts with one spell. He should be here,” said one of the girls in the cage.

“Just relax back there. We are almost to the village,” Amanda replied.

A little over an hour later they came in view of the walls to the town. It was almost dawn and there was no activity on the wall. A halt was called as bowmen popped up over the wall aiming the wagon. Ralph hopped off with his hands raised to explain the situation, but the captives had enough of being in the cage and boiled out like ants from an ant hill. There was screaming and crying. Several archers dropped their bows and out of the safety of the walls to retrieve their children.

“What is going on? Where did this thing come from?” Asked one of the guards.

“We need to meet with the town regent immediately. We have a large problem not far behind us and we have to work fast,” Ralph explained as he urged everyone to enter the village. He looked back to see Amanda releasing the goats and lingering around the wagon.

A short time later the town regent and most of the decision makers were roused from their sleep and brought to the common room of the inn. There were sour faces all around, so Ralph decided to rip the band aid off right away.

“Somehow the goblins have returned. They are no longer hindered by daylight and had a camp set up in the valley mere hours ride from here. Last count was over a hundred with at least one Orc amongst them. We may have damaged their total number, but I doubt it will stop them,” Ralph said pausing to meet everyone’s gaze.

“They are just goblins. We should be able to break their resolve with some arrows from our walls. There is no need to scare our people unduly. Let the town guard earn their money and maybe get a few levels,” said the one man they all had to wait for before getting started.

“You don’t understand remember those flying goblins from the yesterday, they are part of this force. Now they are too well coordinated for goblins. There must be a leader caste. I recommend the regent names a general to lead the forces here in the event that I’m right. This village is part of the Griffin Kingdom is it not? That will give access to the Farmageddon working. I assume you all are aware of the ware declaration,” Ralph explained hoping common sense and maybe a little glory might make for swift decision making.

“That is correct. I name myself temporary general of the village forces. We have a scant hundred guardsmen and maybe some ex-soldiers who have decided to settle here. This will be a story we can all tell our children,” declared the regent with gleam in his followed by mumblings of “quite right” and “here, here.”

Ralph almost facepalmed himself before he saw Tantus at the top of the stairs with Sophie. Tantus gave him a tight nod and Ralph new it was time to move on to the other topic.

“The Adventurer’s guild had authorized the use of a magical emergency shelter. We can use this to hide the civilians away from the fighting and still keep tabs on the battle outside. We would just need cellar to set it up. Then we could usher the non-combatants to safety. Would that be to your liking, general?” that last part asked through Ralph’s clenched teeth.

“Seems a bit over the top if you ask me. What will this cost the village coffers?” asked the combination general and regent.

“This is a free service provided by the guild in an emergency,” answered Ralph as Hani appeared at the top of the stairs rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“I’ll hold you to that young man. Yes, you have my permission to begin those preparations. I doubt that we’ll need it. Goblins, bah,” proclaimed the general while receiving a commensurate round of harrumphs. That is when a guardsman rushed through the door.

“There are goblins coming from the woods. At the front is a patchwork of many goblins mashed together. I’ve never seen anything like it,” said the guardsman.

“Tantus, you get the people into that shelter now. Vice-Guild master and Hani you’re with me,” Ralph ordered as he rushed out of the door. The inn keeper showed Tantus to the root cellar while everyone else filed out of the building.

“Are you sure this will keep us safe?” asked the inn keep.

“I don’t think you could be anywhere safer honestly,” Tantus said as he placed Alfred on the dirt floor.

“Is that it?” asked the inn keeper.

“You should probably help get the others down here. I’ve got this handled,” Tantus said as he watched Alfred slowly begin to spread out. It wasn’t long after the inn keeper left that the basement was covered in Alfred’s material. When Tantus arrived in town he ran straight to the dungeon. Alfred immediately knew something was wrong and Tantus managed to wheeze out order sixty-nine.

Order sixty-nine was Deacon’s code to create the bunker for refugees or fleeing civilians. Alfred, Tantus, and Deacon had game planned several scenarios and styles that would hide Alfred’s true nature while making a space large enough to house several thousand people. The final decision about the shape ended up being a large warehouse structure with an office and row after row of beds. Track lighting on the ceiling and rest room facilities every hundred feet. Deacon even planned to have pleasant scenery displayed through the windows. Hopefully, the people would be happy with an explanation like its just a magical emergency shelter. It was only a half truth, but civilians didn’t need all the details.

“How did you do this so quickly?” The inn keeper asked from the door as he waved a long stream of people down the four steps and into the spacious warehouse.

“Magic. Of course,” was the only answer Tantus gave as he headed up the stairs on the west wall toward the office which doubled as a war room. Once inside Alfred erected the conference room table with the sand map already displaying the whole area.