5.59 - Bombardment

The distance between Broken Tusk and Qavell was something like a hundred to two-hundred miles. If Theo had to guess. He remembered a time on Earth when making firing solutions was easy. They could poke a screen a few times and send a shot from orbit. The alchemist would have dismissed Zan’kir’s idea right away if it wasn’t possible. Without computers, the shot was difficult. But with a spotter and a lumbering target?

“That’s possible,” Theo said with a nod, putting a smile on the man’s face. “Any idea how you’re going to do it?”

“Shoot and pray?” Zan’kir asked.

“Just about. Work with Aarok to get a scout from Gronro up on the mountains. They can use the communication feature of the alliance to coordinate shots. You’ll have at least a few days to get it rolling.”

“Exciting. I’ll need a ship. Of course. Can’t get a good angle behind the mountains.”

Theo wrote it up in the administrative panel, giving everything he needed to get the job going. So long as it didn’t screw up his job of moving the guns to the northeast side of Broken Tusk, it was worth a shot. The Captain of the Sandscourge company scurried off to get it done. At least he seemed excited about it, even if it didn’t work. Everyone was tense with the approach of the city. A few fun shots might help them blow off steam. At least they could feel as though they were doing something.

With that sorted, Theo headed back to the lab. Salire was practicing with something he didn’t expect. She had commissioned Throk to create a small version of the pressure vessel he had used to create second tier potions. Like him, she didn’t want to glide to the higher tiers without understanding why they were doing things. She seemed shy about it, blushing when he entered the room. But there was nowhere to hide the tabletop pressure vessel, and she couldn’t avoid an alchemist’s keen eye.

“Not a bad idea,” Theo said, crossing the room to inspect the free stills. Only three were occupied. “Add that to the book.”

“Already have,” Salire said, laughing nervously. “Do you think we’ll ever produce books? For distribution?”

They would need equipment to do that. Specialized artifices or maybe a class core. “Keep an eye out for the gear we need to do it. From the traders that come into the docks.”

“Got it.”

Theo pulled one tube from the ceiling, filling several large glass flasks with various essences. He sorted them into crates, making room for his large batch of alcohol. That caught the attention of Salire, who watched him work but didn’t say anything.

“A thousand units of zee liquor,” Theo said, leaving the booze within the building’s storage. “Good, but not enough for what we need to do.”

“Want to do a batch of Spit Juice again?” Salire asked.

“Spit Juice?” he asked.

“That’s what Bilgrob calls it. He’s been buying some from me.”

Theo laughed. “Of course the ogre priest would buy zee-shine. Yeah, I’m thinking about five-thousand units.”

Theo explained all the things he wanted to make. Salire grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote, nodding along. They agreed there was an order to make these things, starting with the restoration potions. If things got bad, they would need a lot of those. The budding alchemist ran off to grab some zee from the farm, leaving Theo to organize the batch in his mind. He needed to save his daily trip to Tero’gal to allow the potions to brew. He instead organized his stock of Spiny Swamp Thistle Root, Moss Nettle, and Mana Shrooms, intending to do full runs of those. Once he had those reagents from his Plant Golem, he checked Salire’s expanding book while he waited.

Salire had a way with words Theo could never hope to achieve. Her writings were informative, but not overly so. Instead of stuffing the text with written information, she relied heavily on diagrams. The alchemist’s favorite figure was the one concerning alchemist advancement, which was a simple flowchart. Each part was labeled with the corresponding information below. She must have written the page several times to get it just write. The corners of the pages were filled with nuggets of information. Notes on where she should move a section, or a revision that required a complete re-drawing of the page.

“I had a thought,” Salire said as she entered the room again. She transferred the zee into a crate, turning to smile at Theo. “I was researching cores that use willpower... You know, since you took the Earth Sorcerer’s Core?”

“I remember,” Theo said, leaning against the table. He watched as she withdrew single zee kernels from the storage, measuring them by eye before placing them in a still.

Zan’kir had taken over every boat available to him and had fitted them with Throk’s rail guns. He’d be taking random shots soon enough, although Theo doubted he would deplete the warded rounds he was provided. Those would expire soon, so perhaps it was a good idea to dump their stock. Instead of waiting for Grot in Gronro to get his butt in gear, Tresk had volunteered to ride Alex and spot the city. But the goose was tired from their adventure, and they barely made it out of the town before Alex gave up. To cover such a distance in so little time seemed like an amazing feat. Until Theo realized they took the train to Gronro before flying to the east, over the mountains. It sounded like cheating, but he wouldn’t complain.

The mission was, of course, not approved by anyone. But that didn’t stop them. Theo’s mind was soon filled with Tresk’s reports, which he was expected to enter into the town’s administrative panel. Zan’kir used some questionable notation to record. ‘About one thumb to the right of that big rock’ didn’t seem like an accurate range-finding technique.

Theo had all six stills working to brew the final third tier potions as he took a break. He watched the action from Tresk’s point of view, swallowing hard as she dodged attacks from the floating city. Alex was more nimble than he expected, but they used the mountains for cover, only poking out to see if shots hit. A round whistled through the air, striking against a barrier without doing damage. After a few more shots, Zan’kir getting their aim dialed in, an enchanted shot slammed into the shield. It flickered before vanishing. Two more rounds followed, hitting the stones of the outerwall and flashing with red-blue energy. The city tilted to one side, barely maintaining altitude.

“That’s actually working?” Theo asked, laughing to himself. “Why is that working?”

“What?”

Theo explained the situation to Salire, who was confused as though he was babbling to himself. As he did, he watched through Tresk’s eyes. Enough shots landed on the city to bring it into the water, sending a tidal wave radiating in all directions. The alchemist could only imagine how angry King Hanan was within those walls. He giggled to himself as he thought about it. A few minutes later, and more relentless attacks, and he was summoned to the harbor to enchant more shots.

“Gotta go,” Theo said, waving at Salire. “Can you handle this?”

Each produced potion would be sucked into the internal storage, meaning Salire didn’t have to touch it. “Got it, boss. We’re working on the heavy stuff tomorrow. Right?”

“Yeah, we’ll do the fun stuff tomorrow.”

Zan’kir had assembled four ships in the harbor. Theo knew they were working on a few boats, but hadn’t expected them to be fit to sail. Each was fitted with one rail gun on the deck, and all were firing into the sky. The angle was impressive, but not as entertaining as the ear-shattering sound they produced. The alchemist saw why it was easy for them to zero in on the target. With a spotter and enough rounds, they had closed the distance with ease. Rail guns on Earth could achieve that range, but not without computers.

Theo found a place behind the harbor wall to enchant rounds. He chugged mana potions as he applied wards to each one, not stopping his chanting until each was ready to fire. Zan’kir commanded the guns, but Tresk and Alex were pulling out by the time he was done. The alchemist watched as they retreated, seeing a sad-looking Qavell among the surf. He almost felt bad for it. They must have expected the plan to work, or at least get them closer to Broken Tusk. But that’s why people don’t invest their efforts into airship fleets. He had been warned about this when he had the idea. Anything that could fly would be knocked out of the sky by magical interference. And they had developed a weapon targeting one flying city in particular.

The firing died. Theo’s ears were still ringing, but a Health Potion sorted that out. Zan’kir was soon with him, smiling that bright white smile.

“How’s that for results?”

“Absurdly impressive. They didn’t have counter-measures.”

“Just like Throk said. Anything that’s gonna fly is gonna die.”

“Wise words. What’s your plan?”

“Tresk agreed to be my eyes, along with Grot in Gronro,” Zan’kir said, shielding his eyes to look at the fading sun. “We’ll resume bombardment until the thing doesn’t move anymore. If I had to guess, they’ll fix whatever we broke by morning.”

What a brutal approach to the problem. An old part of Theo appreciated it. They would make whatever god that pulled Hanan’s strings pay for every inch of that coastline. And the nuclear option wasn’t off the table. If this didn’t work, he was ready to see the city stopped forever. If Fenian didn’t arrive in time, that might be the only option.

“Make sure someone gives you a bonus for this idea,” Theo said, wrapping his arm around Zan’kir’s shoulder. “Go get Zan’sal. We’re gonna have a feast at my mansion.”

“Oh, fancy boy,” Zan’kir said, freeing himself from Theo’s grasp. He performed a dramatic bow. “I’ll bring my finest attire, my lord.”

“Only the finest, Lord Zan’kir,” Theo said, matching the absurdity of the bow with one of his own.