Chapter 29

Chapter 29

As Drew approached the sparring Spock and Robert, he watched the exchange of blows. Robert was still level zero, so he was mostly working with the stats that he had prior to The Descent, but Spock had several levels already. The last time Drew had spoken with Spock, the medium warrior had said that his level was sitting at five. As Spock wasn't involved in the fighting in the wee hours of the morning, Drew doubted that it had leveled since then. Where Spock lunged in and out of combat, using the superior reach of his spear, Robert trudged along while minorly adjusting his spear to deflect Spock's attacks. Honestly, it was fairly impressive that Robert could even handle walking in such heavy armor, as he was completely covered from head to toe in it.

"Hey guys." Drew called out to the two men.

"Greetings, Drew Wright" Spock replied.

"Ah, so you really are Drew. I was wondering where he'd been since I hadn't seen him since I moved here. I see you changed some aspects of yourself." Robert replied.

"Yeah, it's a long story. How are you liking the heavy warrior class? It looks very difficult to move in all that armor."

"It is, but the young man here tells me that it will become easier as I... level up. It's so strange to think about. Luckily, I used to play Dungeons and Dragons back in the 90's, so I still remember bits and pieces of these game-style systems from back then." Robert recalled.

"It will become easier; your strength will reach ridiculous heights over time. Right now, I'm stronger, faster, and have more stamina than any Olympic athlete, and in any sport."

"So, you're a warrior as well then. Would you care to spar?"

"Eh, actually I'm a spellcaster. My skills...they aren't something I'd want to use against another human being unless it was life or death. My physical stats are just high because I got lucky with some titles, and my new race gives me good bonuses to them."

"I see, that's interesting. So, we're not forced into any specific builds?"

"No, not from what I've noticed. Although, I have noticed that you can fall short of keeping up with enemies of a similar level if you're not wise with how you spread your skills and stat points. I had mana point issues last night when fighting off that horde, if I'd put more points into intelligence instead of my physical stats, I likely could have handled the horde myself. That said, I figured having a strong physical body was important with survival on the line."

"That's good to know."

"Yeah. Have ya'll seen my wife or any of the hunting party that went out last night to look for traces of the fleeing goblins?" Drew asked.

"No, I believe they are still out, Drew Wright." Spock replied.

"Fuck. Alright, let me see if my minions are still around them. One sec."

Drew closed his eyes and focused on the mental thread of Scolder. He'd sent Scolder and his pack out with the team several hours ago for protection, and when he focused on the connection of Scolder, he breathed a sigh of relief as he was clearly still alive. He pushed into the connection of his minion until he found himself looking through its eyes. He found himself walking alongside Beefcake, and with some light mental commands he was able to turn his minion’s head to get a clearer picture of the surrounding area.

Mark was on Beefcake's other side, and Amber was next to him, along with Freya. Everyone aside from Beefcake seemed utterly exhausted, as they looked like they were dragging their feet. Behind the group were two of Scolder's packmates, along with... a small group of people? Why were there other people with them, and where were the rest of Scolder's pack? He looked into his mental landscape and found the other floating threads of the pack. Good. They were still alive, but that didn't explain where they were. The group itself seemed to be walking across a pasture somewhere.

Now, how to actually communicate with his allies? He needed finer control over Scolder, than simple mental commands, especially with the slight delay between him sending the command, and his minion acting upon it. He pushed further on his connection, forcing Scolder down as Drew sought for far more direct control of his coyote. He felt a light pressure in front of him, as if he'd walked into a flimsy wall of some kind, Drew pushed past it with ease and found his consciousness sinking into the skeletal body, until he felt a light 'pop'. Scolder stopped moving and stood still. Or, rather it was more apt to say that Scolder's will to move its body forward had disappeared as Drew found himself in control of its body.

It was an... interesting feeling to say the least. His sense of touch was almost non-existent, with only basic feedback given to let him know what his new body was doing. His sense of smell and hearing were amazing though, as he felt like he could almost taste everything and everyone on the missing tongue his body no longer had. Walking was... challenging, not impossible, but it wasn't easy either. He'd need to practice this at some point in the future, but right now he wanted to know what was going on with his friends and wife. He walked uneasily forward and to the side in order to place himself in front of his wife, and then he halted.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked down at his body. The other people noticed her abrupt stop, so they turned to investigate the issue. Now, how should Drew get her attention and communicate with her? He sat down on his haunches, and lifted his right paw and brushed it against her leg.

"What's it doing?" Mark asked.

"I don't know, it's not normal though." Amber replied.

"Hehe, it's probably your husband trying to get your attention, he's likely taken possession of the minion." Beefcake chuckled.

Drew pointed his left paw at Beefcake and nodded his head enthusiastically. Beefcake swooped in to save the day, and managed to prevent a bunch of miscommunications or any extremely awkward situations. That demon was paying off big time.

"Ah, it's nodding its head. I guess you were right man." Mark said.

"Yes, but why did he try to communicate in such a roundabout way, when he could just speak through his minion?" Beefcake asked sarcastically.

"Fuck." Drew said unconsciously through Scolder.

What followed was several minutes of uncontrolled laughter throughout the group, and the people behind them had caught up to figure out what the cause of the laughter was. Amber spelled it out for them through wheezing and choking down breaths of air, while Mark was practically on the ground and unable to move. Damnit Beefcake! Why couldn't someone tell him before that this was even an option? Now he looked like a complete moron in front of everyone, and these new people just made it worse.

"How the fuck would I know I could speak through something with no fucking throat or tongue?"

"Ha...I know! That's...the...best part!" Amber laughed.

"Truly, why haven't you asked Spock or myself about your skills? We're an invaluable resource considering the lack of knowledge right now." Beefcake asked.

"Why would I even think to ask if I could speak through an undead minion? It makes no physical sense at all."

"Magic, of course, changes things. You need to learn to rely on other's knowledge, it'll save you time, and grief." He chuckled.

"Ugh, whatever. I woke up, got some shit done, and noticed ya'll weren't around anywhere..." Drew said.

"Sooooo, you were worried, lonely, and sad, and wanted to see where I was?" Amber said with a sly smile.

"The worried part yeah, you've been gone for a long time. What's going on, and who are all these people?"

"Survivors." Mark said grimly.

"Mark started tracking where the goblins that attacked came from. He's still new to using his tracking skills so we ended up losing the path they'd taken a couple of times, but with his skills, and Freya's nose we managed to find the location. It looks like they just spawned right into the world, appearing from nowhere, and then they split up. The majority of the group came and hit our property, but there were several much smaller groups that branched off." Amber answered.

"Scouts?" Drew inquired.

"Yes, but also no. It looks like they were raiding parties. We managed to find all the parties and kill them off, but unfortunately...they did some serious damage."

"How bad?"

"Bad. They spread out over a large area nearby, with each raiding party going in a different direction. That's what has taken us so long. The parties themselves were small and easily killed, but not before they'd found other people's homes. A lot... a lot of people didn't make it. Several homes were burning when we arrived, and many others were ransacked. The only thing in common was the monsters slaughter of the people they found. Many of our neighbors are dead, their throats ripped out, the women... it looks like they were raped...after they died. We found several kids too, it... wasn't pretty."

"Fuck, that's awful. I'm glad you managed to kill all those sadistic fucking things then. So, these are some of our neighbors then?"

"Yeah, the ones that we either managed to save in time by killing off the goblins, and a few others sought us out when they saw us walking near their homes. We tried to check on every house we could find, but you know what it's like out here. Some were abandoned for a long time; others were falling apart with no signs of life. We did run into a few other people when we were going from property to property... but they either told us they were fine, or told us to get off their property."

"Ah. So, they either didn't believe what was going on, or decided they were better off by themselves. That's not entirely unsurprising. A lot of folks this far out are stubborn as fuck, and most are fairly self-sufficient. I hope they remain okay."

"I doubt it. It hasn't even been a full day since The Descent, and these monsters are extremely low leveled. We've run into some beasts as well, but we either killed them quickly, or they ran when they saw the number of people we had in our group. It's going to get much, much worse for your people." Beefcake inserted into the conversation.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it, if they don't want your help, then they're on their own. So, the neighbors that are here, what exactly are they doing following ya'll?"

"They lost their homes, and many lost family members. They wanted somewhere safe to go." Amber replied.

"Okay, and what? They're coming back to our property now?" Drew asked.

"Why not? We have defenses built."

"Yes, but we also don't have unlimited supplies, nor unlimited food."

"Dear... these people need help."

"Yes, Boo Bear, they did need help, and you helped them by killing off the monsters that were going to slaughter them all. But I won't put my family and friends in danger by stretching our supplies or defenses thin. I want to help them, I do, but these are people, not pets. They will be a huge drain on our supplies. Supplies that are no longer being made, food that is no longer being grown. We may have land, but we don't have housing for all these folks. Plus, who the hell is going to manage all these people, teach them the ropes, and get them to be productive? We have our hands full." Drew retorted.

"Just... talk to them, please, for me?" Amber asked in a low voice.

"Fine. I'll talk to them. No promises on anything past that."

Drew approached his neighbors while in Scolder's body. They were about thirty yards behind his group of allies, as they'd given them space to talk after the laughter had died down. His neighbors’ backs straightened as they watched him approach, obviously a walking coyote skeleton was jarring for many reasons, and even more so when it was walking towards you. They'd lost their homes, and likely family and friends in just the last few hours from horrible monsters, so, seeing Scolder's body approach left many of them pale. A man and woman stepped in front of the group of people, the same couple that had checked in with his allies about the laughter.

"Greetings, uh...Mr. Skeleton sir." The man said when Drew was within ten feet.

Drew sat down on his haunches to help show he didn't mean the people any harm. Hopefully acting more like a dog in body language would keep them calm.

"My name is Drew Wright, I'm not actually this undead coyote, I'm just borrowing it's body to speak with you. I own some property close by, and those people that rescued you are my friends and family. Do you speak for everyone here?"

That got everyone's attention. He had made sure his voice was even and composed, but also at a sufficient volume to be heard by everyone present. They all began whispering and talking amongst themselves for a minute, before nodding to the lead man.

"Nice to meet you Drew, my name is Raymond. I suppose I'm speaking for the folks here." He turned his head back and everyone nodded to him again.

Drew looked at the man. He was an older gentleman, not quite at retirement age yet, but he was likely getting close. He wore typical southern country apparel, but the clothing was torn in several places, and scraps of other clothing were wrapped around his left arm as a bandage. The group looked to have a little over thirty people in it, and it was a diverse gathering. Several were older folks like Raymond, but there were some middle-aged people as well, a couple of teenagers, and three children. They all looked like they'd been through hell. Their faces were pale, with dark bags under their eyes, many had ripped or torn clothing on. Many of them had bloodshot eyes as well, clearly some folks were dealing with their losses and grieving.

"My people tell me that ya'll are wanting somewhere safe to stay?" Drew asked.

"Yessir, that's the idea. The young lady over there with the bow told us that ya'll have defensive walls, and stockpiles of food. We'd be mighty obliged if you'd be willing to let us stay on your property."

"Look, Raymond, I'll shoot straight with ya. We knew this crap was coming a week ahead of time, so we've had time to prepare. That said, supplies are still limited, and food is as well. We never planned to have thirty-odd people coming to stay with us on top of everyone else. We don't have housing for you, and while I don't mind helping you out with a tiny bit of food, I'm concerned about our long-term supplies."

"We'd appreciate any help you can give; I understand if ya can't help us out long-term."

"If your people want to stay, they'd need to build their own housing, and they'd need to farm and hunt to help sustain our supplies. Not to be rude, or to assume anything about anyone, but we have no room for slackers. If folks won't work, they aren't welcome. If they're not willing to help keep the property safe, and work on our food supplies, and maintain our current infrastructure, then they won't be welcome."

"So, the only thing you're asking for in return for safety is that we all work hard?"

"Yes. Food production and defenses are vital to survival now. Folks will need to learn how to work with and use The System to survive as well. There are hordes of monsters now, as ya'll well know. Just this morning we were hit by a horde of well over two hundred of those monsters. It's extremely dangerous right now."

"I can't speak for everyone regarding using swords and magic or whatever, but I think I speak with everyone when I say that we're prepared to defend our homes and push back these invaders. We don't mind hard work at all."

"Fine then, if ya'll are willing to pull your own weight, then you can stay on the property. Just... try not to be dicks, okay? I really don't want to have to kick people out."

Why did he feel like this was going to be a huge pain in the ass?  Oh well, fuck it. If he needed to kick people out down the road, he'd deal with it then. He moved out to the country to get the hell away from people, well that was part of the reason, and now they were going to be living on his property? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, they would have more people to help defend the property, and some folks would probably prefer to farm than go out killing things. Maybe once everything was a little more settled, they could expand their defenses so he could give the other folks their own areas. That would be nice.

Why was he being so antagonistic towards his neighbors though? They'd never done anything to him. Maybe he was just stressed with having so many strangers nearby his home, or maybe it was his lack of faith in the human race? He wasn't sure, but he needed to spend some time reflecting on it down the road. For the moment though, he found himself back in front of Amber and the rest of his group.

"They'll be coming with ya'll. They will need to build their own dwellings, and contribute food and security for the property as a whole though. I'm going to head back to my body now, how long until ya'll get back?" Drew asked.

"Eh...maybe an hour or two at our current speed. Glad you're letting them come, everything will work out, you’ll see. See you at home dear, love you!" Amber replied.

"Love you too."