NOVEL NEXT Chapter 181: Rain
It takes us around half an hour before we hear some talking in the distance. It seems the bandits aren’t really expecting company as they are talking rather loudly as well.
“Why is this ground so fucking soft!” One of them yells. “It tires out my legs!”
“Stop complaining about it.” The other bandit gruffs. “You have been complaining about that for ages. We are all tired but the boss told us to patrol, so we patrol.”
“But why? Ain’t no one ever going to find us in these woods. Especially not the army.”
“If you keep raising your voice someone just might. So shut it.” The third bandit talks back. “We are almost back so stop it.”
“Can you see them, Sam?” I whisper to my girlfriend.
“Yeah, they are right over there.” She whispers back and points into the forest. I can’t really see them however, but it’s most important that at least Sam can. “Just don’t start talking as loudly as they are and we’ll be fine.”
If anything, now that we heard the bandits, we are even quieter. I can see by the sharp look in their eyes that both Carol and Max are completely focused.
We keep following the bandits for a bit, and no, the loud bandit didn’t, in fact, stop talking, to the chagrin of the other two. I was kind of starting to have a little bit of compassion for them. But as they are bandits, I just shrug that off. They probably had their fair share of violence each.
Another twenty minutes or so later, we finally see some lights in the distance. It seems like the bandit camp has decided that it was about time to light up some torches. To be fair, it is getting rather dark. But it’s still not a good idea to make a lot of light if you want to stay hidden. They must either be really sure they won’t be found, or they just aren’t very smart. A combination of the two is also a possibility. As for the group of bandits we are following. All three of them seem to be very happy they have returned to their camp, although the two of them are presumably happier they are rid of the complaining bandit for now.
“Please, don’t let me ever patrol with that guy again.”
“Yeah… Let’s talk to the boss about that, Mickey and Lansel can deal with that guy next time.”
“Or Fred and Eirdred.”
“As long as it’s not us.”
“Yeah.”
The two then disperse into the camp, which mostly looks to be made out of tents with a very simple wooden palisade and some obstructions surrounding it. Part of it also just looks unfinished.
“What do you think we should do, Sam? Just go in and start up some chaos?”
“I’d rather scout around real fast if that’s okay for you. The clearing doesn’t look too big but I’d rather know how many people we are dealing with first. So if you want to give me five minutes?”
“Good for me, but try not to be out for too long, I can’t see very well in the dark.”
“Five minutes tops.”
“Stay safe, Sam.” I crouch close to her to give her a quick kiss.
“Always.” She gives me a kiss back. “I’ll let my wolf stay with you guys. It will be quicker and easier like that.” She looks at her wolf, points at me. “Stay with Ami. Okay?”
I gesture to the doggie as he looks over to me. “You can stay with me and your sister.” The wolf looks back to Sam and back to me after which he silently walks over and sits next to his sister. “Good boy.” I give him a quick scratch behind the ear.
“Alright, be right back.” Sam winks and then quietly fades into the forest.
We wait within the slowly darkening forest for my girlfriend to return. Sam’s wolf has decided to sleep with his head on top of his sister. It’s a rather wholesome sight to behold. The added advantage of having these wolves is that you can pet the fluffies while you are waiting on one of your party members to return.
I’m just in the middle of giving Sam’s doggo some good scritchies when Sam pops up again.
“I see you are enjoying yourself.”
“Mhmm. Always.” I smile. “Petting the fluffs is important.”
Sam smiles back and gives me a pet on my head.
“How did it go?” Carol asks. “Ran into anyone?”
“There’s a couple of guards keeping watch but they haven’t put anyone on guard from races who can actually see in the dark so it wasn’t really hard to stay hidden.” Sam explains. “As for the camp…” Sam takes an arrow out of her quiver and starts drawing a map of the camp’s layout in the dirt. She then points at a box in the middle of her drawing. “This is where the camp’s commander is situated. Unlike the rest of the camp, this is a wooden cabin they’ve built, it also has more guards than the rest of the camp has. They also seem a bit more competent and experienced than the other guards.”
“Did you see any goblins?”
“No, it seems like this is not one of those mixed camps Crystal talked about. Maybe it’s too small for that. But I suggest we try to capture the commander to ask them a couple of questions.”
“Doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me.” Max nods. “How many bandits are there in total.”
“I’m pretty sure there’s at least 25. And there might be another patrol of 3 out just like the one we followed over her.”
“And what’s our gameplan, captain?”
Sam rolls her eyes. “I think it’s best we just go in together. While it might be easier to take them out stealthily one by one. That job would mostly befall to me and the point of this was more to see how we fight as a team.”
Carol slowly raises her hand. “Am I allowed to try something?”
“Ah, I think I know what you are going to say.” Max grins to which Carol nods with a smile.
Sam and I look at each other as we both tilt our heads.
“What’s your plan?” Sam asks.
“Well, there’s this new skill I learned which doesn’t really affect combat, but it might help me a lot when we get into combat.” Carol starts explaining. “Basically, I can make it rain over a small area, making things rather damp. But I do think that I can cover the entire area the camp is in.”
“Ah, for your electricity?” I comment.
Carol nods. “I was talking to Max about it last time and it’s something I want to try. Especially now that we are still hidden.”
“Will the magic be obvious?”
“In the open and on a clear day it will be because it creates storm clouds. But in this forest while it’s dark like this, I don’t think they’ll really notice.”
“What do you think Ami?” Sam looks back to me.
“I think it’s worth a try.” I nod. “It could be a very valuable tactic in the future too if she gets better at it as well.”
“Alright, then I’d say we go for it.” Sam agrees as well and it was clear that Max didn’t really need any convincing. “So start casting when you are ready, and when everyone is drenched we attack?”
“Yeah.” Carol nods and takes out her staff. “Here we go.”
Carol closes her eyes and sets her staff in the dirt, holding it with her two hands. She then silently starts whispering a spell in a language I do not really understand. At first it appears like nothing is happening when you purely rely on your sight, but I definitely notice the magical energy in the area growing stronger by the second. It’s not nearly as potent as my magic or Nikki’s, but then again, I’m practically a demigoddess and Nikki is a very high-level caster already.
Around thirty seconds after Carol starts casting, I can hear a bit of pattering in the distance. The distinct sound of rain starting to hit the leaves. A bit of cursing arrises from the camp.
“And we had just gotten the food out for dinner too!” One of them yells.
“Great, now we can guard the camp in the bloody rain!” Another one a bit further away calls out.
“It’s just a bit of rain, stop complaining you idiots.” A third replies. “It’ll be probably be over soon anyway.”
That doesn’t really stop anyone in the camp from complaining as the rain in the distance intensifies a bit more.
It’s definitely interesting to see the spell at work, with it being as local as it is, we are still completely dry while just a couple of meters away from us, the ground is getting soaking wet. Mages who specialize in Carol’s kind of magic must be in very high demand in areas that don’t get a lot of rain, or when there’s a risk of a drought. Local lords and ladies would presumably pay a lot of money for a service like that to secure their food reserves.