The Grand Scheme Of Things

At first, all of them simply froze in place in shock and disbelief, trying to figure out if or how they had been discovered.

It was clear from the fact that our wagon and large armed and dangerous group had stopped in the middle of the highway at all meant there was something going on. Then the sudden blurred appearance of yours truly meant that we knew there was something going on in the area. Now, was I bluffing that there was something here or did I know there was something here?

After a few seconds of wondering if they really thought I was bluffing, I say, "There's about forty fools in the forest who all seem to think I should coming looking for them. About a dozen of you are mages and the rest are the sorriest looking fighters and archers I have ever seen. My level is over a hundred and your times about up."

Suddenly, a few of the more hardened individuals realized the depth of the muddy waters they found themselves in and just gave out loud cries of pure noise or calls to arms while rushing through the citrus grove and surrounding forestry. A split second after them followed the rest of their small company as most of them converged forward into the road and formed crude ranks.

Once the first of these people came within sight, I quickly realized that they were NPC from the lack of names, titles, levels, or clans above their heads. After an intentional inspection, though, I quickly realized that these were not just any NPC but one of my favorite kinds. Above their bodies were the simplistic tags of 'Outlaw' with levels ranging between fifty and sixty.

Calmly taking a slow and deep breath even as skills and spells are cast out in various forms, I simply smile and walk forward with my wings dramatically stretched out to the sides. Fire rained, wind howled, earth trembled, arrows shattered with concussive force, blade auras scythed through the air, and lightning flashed throughout the area.

All of it struck true one attack after another, sliding me back inches at a time at a speed so fast that I was being pushed back more than a yard every half-second. However, nothing else happened. Once the light show and shower of earthen debris was settled, not a single feather in my wings were ruffled and not a single scratch was left on my armor.

The only thing on me was wood dust and dirt from the surrounding area.

However, did not not mean I never suffered any damage. In fact, that entire barrage of level fifty or sixty attacks tore away more than a thousand health. However, my overall health was nearly seven thousand and my true health was almost six thousand. They had merely managed to splash the bucket.

Just as the outlaws were all entering within fifteen yards of me, I simply waved my hand and cast a thousand-MP Spirit Wave that tore through their newly appearing health bars and sent them flying all the way back to the wagon. Only the mages ad actually died from the attack while the fighters and archers were left in critical condition.

Not only were the outlaws cleared away but so were thirty yards of forestry, stripping bushes from the ground and whole branches from trees so that nothing was left but exposed earth and standing tree trunks.

Even though the fight had not actually ended, all of the enemies were beyond their current reach of me and I found myself able to check my information with a quick tapping. Just those few kills alone had netting me thousands of experience point, showing these NPC were worth twice the Winter Wood mobs of the same level. The others who were casually finishing off the outlaws would also be raking in the experience.

"Save one,!" I call out quickly before briefly sprinting back down the road. Then, once I arrived in time to catch the last outlaw who was being dragged to the wagon by a troll, I say, "Go, get into the clan and inform them we encountered a large group of highwaymen at the edge of the forest. Without any signs of actual camp or camping in the area. Lil, bring up the clan map and figure out which area is closest to our position. Oleander, tube him a potion for me."

Only a minute later, the outlaws was bound simply by a single large and meaty hand from Stonewall gripping his hands and feet together while holding the still seriously injured man a few feet above the ground. Surrounding the man were my party in various earthen but comfortable seats while Go and Lil presented their menus on either side of me.

Turning Lil's map around and pointing at our location from behind while the outlaw trembles and releases pained grunts now and then, I stretch out a foot and lightly toe the man's chin up to raise his head high enough back to see the map. Simply waving a finger around the stretched menu window, I ask, "How many of these are correct? How many are missing? How many in each place? Why?"

Not giving him any time to speak as his eyes narrow in defiance, I simply carry on to say, "Any answer you refuse or any time I think you're lying, my beautiful young dryad friend here is going to refill your health and then my big scary friend here is going to punch you into the ground for ten percent of your health until you're down to twenty percent. I don't know what your actual numbers are, but I know you're going to hate living by the time I ask you again."

From how quickly I had switched levels of seriousness while humorously introducing the people involved, I felt like he knew that not only would we do it but some of us would probably enjoy doing it. I could feel that the man's resistance quickly faded by the way he sagged in Stonewall's grip and his head fully rested on the toe of my boot.

"I'll show you… please put me down…" he says quietly with a depressed exhaustion in his voice.

Despite their giving up, though, I could not completely meet the outlaw's demands. "Ten percent and let it lie," I almost sigh with a shrugging wave of my hand toward Stonewall. In response to this, Stonewall swiftly knuckled the man into the ground for more than ten percent before releasing his limbs.

It took the outlaw a while to recover from the ordeal since he was already at half health and completely disarmed, but eventually he finally pulled himself into a sitting position before pointing to one side of the closest circle to our point on the map. "This... is about where our camp is, closer to the river…" he says carefully, only glancing at me once while talking before trailing off and following the river for a third of the way through the forestry toward Sierra.

"We have a water camp, here, who pretend to be fishers from these two villages and supply our outer camps," he explains while pointing to a 'blank' space on the map. We have three more here on the other side of Sierra… and two here and… here… by Weyerhauser. The rest of our camps are pretty much where you marked them except for here. Here was disbanded to the other camps because their scouts had a skirmish with people from the Guild."

This guy was clearly trying to impress us. He had seen that we were at least agreeable to an extent and he probably believed that he might actually be able to survive this. Sadly, he did not know just how much experience he was worth.

"I guess this explains the missing persons," I muse aloud to seem like I had been appeased or distracted. "How many civilians are captive and how many have been killed. Do not lie to me."

The man was silent while giving the map a hopeless look for a long time before finally saying, "Every camp has at least ten people and… most of them… are missing a hand. W-wait!" He cries out suddenly when Stonewall reaches for the man of his own accord.

After I stop Stonewall with a dismissive wage, he hurriedly says, "W-When they w-were taken form hunting parties and the like when we first got here… we had to do it to keep them under control. All they have left of their sword hands are their thumbs. It's not impossible to have their hands back… they just have to… survive. We only even have them for if we get caught."

"Get caught?" I ask while projecting curiosity. "Reports from the area say the wildlife is going crazy and the hunting is good, you guys have some kind of plan behind that?"

Nodding quickly and continuously for more than a second, the man then goes on to say, "We've spent most of the year gathering and herding wildlife from the mountains and then we did the same thing here for a week. All we needed was for the animals and monsters to scare all the villagers into the couple of towns around the city and then used the kobolds and goblins to force the towns into retreating to the cities.

"After that, we can send half of our people to fake a siege while the other half loots everything before we use the rest of the beasts to escape. The only people who would die are guards and adventurers, but that's their jobs to begin with and not all of us have made it this far, either!"

By the end of his explanation, he was outright indignant as if venting his frustration at his previous treatment. Personally, I thought the suspension tactics were fairly basic and the punishment punching was downright lenient. We both understood that the only reason he was still alive was because we had questions.

"Alright, enough about this," I say quickly while forcing a small frown, looking off toward Stonewall to remind the outlaw that punishment still existed. "Numbers, how many of you are there in every camp? Who are you leaders? How strong are they?"

Looking down as the outlaw realizes that he is steadily running out of time, he faintly says, "There's about fifty people in all but the water camps, the water camps only have about twenty apiece. Except, the water camps are were the top brass stay with their strongest men and they're either close to or at level seventy. They're in position to lay the siege."

Nodding my head slowly and thoughtfully, I look at Go and ask, "How far along their plan do we think things have gone? What do the recent reports say?"

Skimming briefly through his own menu screen, Go quickly replies, "Not long after we started putting our focus on the missing persons cases the villages started retreating into the towns. Essentially, yesterday. Soon enough they'll start pushing the towns before they can fortify and force them to retreat within the after another day or two at this rate. If they take too long, they'll have to openly attack a town to keep a good timeline."

"That's not too bad, we'll have plenty of time to organize and prepare," I decide with a satisfied smile. Looking to the outlaw, I say, "You've been a great help to us so I won't kill you. Stonewall," I add quickly, giving the half-giant a cheerful smile and nod. Stonewall quickly responds with a savage punch to the side of the unarmed and unprepared outlaw's head, caving in one entire side of his face while the other ruptures outwards.

Now that the outlaw was out of the way, I look around at my party and ask, "Here's the fun part. Do we snatch everything for ourselves right now by sending out our clan with one of us as a chaperon to tackle the camps all at once or do we let them do their thing?

"If we take them now, we will basically power level our fodder up to Winter Wood levels. The downside to this is that we'll only get current benefits However, if we wait until they siege, we can let the other clans of Sierra break their siege while we wait outside the forest to catch the looters. The downside to this, though, si that innocent people will keep getting hurt and a lot of people might die.

"We'll vote," I say at last, leisurely meeting the gaze of everyone present once again. "All in favor of ending things now, raise your hand." Go, Lil, Stonewall, and I all raised our hands but we were the only ones. "I see…" I say slowly, wondering what the repercussions of this may be.

Moving on quickly now that the party had come to a decision, I say, "Relay the information to the people you like and have everybody return to Sierra and reorganize into larger traveling parties. Everyone below level thirty-five will stay in Sierra to upset the siege by camping out and attacking from behind while the rest of us go outside the forest to lie in wait for the looters. Since we're coming in from this road we can use this road for transport after we clear any outlaws in hiding."

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