Chapter 23 - Tryouts

“You’re enjoying this too much,” Bella said to me, disapprovingly. “Shouldn’t you go easier on everyone? It’s their first time trying something like this.”

The two of us were sitting in the stands above the Training Grounds, while Kassandra and Calliope tried to lead a force of sirens in an assault against Sullivan and his staff. They weren’t doing terribly, but I noticed they had developed a lot of habits from their time defending that would work against them during a confrontation match.

Since the staff was used to relying on superior numbers, and wearing down their opponents, they didn’t place enough emphasis on survival. More than once I saw a siren, or one of their centaur cavalier opponents, take an unnecessary hit in order to try and secure damage on an opponent. That was fine when you vastly outnumbered the opponents, like during a typical adventurer run, but when there were even odds? That would probably result in a loss, after a slow, grinding fight.

We also had the tendency to completely forget about support and healing magic. Most viewers didn’t like to see drawn out encounters, outside the boss encounters, so even if the staff had those capabilities, they typically didn’t use them against adventurers. Calliope, to her credit, was trying. The girl had some sort of healing and protection skills, although I wasn’t quite sure what sort of class she had, but it was obvious she was a little rusty. Toto, her giant crab, was doing his best to defend her, but the girl was still struggling a little.

As I watched the battle I could see Kassandra continuously summoning minor elementals to harass the Centaurs from the back row. It was working, but I could already see her energy flagging. She, and the other floor bosses were used to giving a hundred and ten percent as soon as they engaged adventuring groups, but that wouldn’t work in extended engagements. At this rate, Kass wouldn’t have the strength to engage Sullivan when they got to the end.

There was a moment of excitement as one of the centaurs attempted to charge the sirens' lines, only to be intercepted by a massive otter. The impact knocked the centaur off balance, causing him to fall to his knees, and before he recovered the remaining pets swarmed his location. None of them was much of a threat solo, but as a swarm they were highly effective. It took a minute, but the magnitude of bites and scratches finally caused the cavalier to despawn.

Pets and summons could be a force multiplier, at least the team was using them effectively. I made a few extra notes then put my tablet down. “So, how well do you think they’re going to do?" I asked Bella.

The banshee bit her lower lip, eyes flicking across the entire battlefield before answering. “They’re doing… ok, but they’ll probably fail right before Sullivan,” she replied.

I nodded, “And why do you say that?”

“The sirens are good, they’d probably manage a positive kill-to-death ratio by themselves, and with Kass’s help they’re making good progress, but she’s tiring herself out too quickly. Without the elementals to tie up enemies the sirens are slowly going to lose sirens, leaving Kassandra to get overwhelmed.”

“That’s an excellent analysis,” I replied. “I see you’ve developed an eye for these things. Maybe it’s from watching all those dungeon runs?”

Bella smirked a little, “Maybe, or maybe I’m just getting used to your way of thinking.”

I returned her little smile before once again concentrating on the skirmish. “That’s what I’m expecting too. What I really want to know, is if Kass is smart enough to retreat before then.” Down below Kassandra was taking a break, using her elementals as shields in an attempt to recover. “I know I didn’t actually SAY they could retreat, but I didn’t tell them they couldn’t either. Right now the sirens have managed to take down twice their number, which is a win for them in the long term, but losing Kassandra would be a major setback.”

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Down below the last centaur fell, held down by Toto’s claw while Calliope stabbed down into his flank with a trident. At first I thought she was using it for show, because it was a stereotypical weapon for aquatic races, but now that I’d seen her wield it from Toto’s back, I could see she was skilled with it.

The final tally was five defeated centaurs in exchange for two sirens. They were technically winning, for now. Kass probably could have waited a few minutes, taken the time to recover, instead she pushed her team on and rushed into the next encounter.

“Once these practice matches are over I’ll need to gather everyone up and emphasize safety over progress,” I said to Bella, over my shoulder. “Especially to the other floor bosses. One rule that was left out of the abridged version was that floors can be conquered by either defeating the resident floor boss, or simply passing through the floor, if the boss was previously defeated. I’d rather not give our opponents that opening, if possible.” Bella nodded, while taking down notes on her own tablet. “Do you know how everyone else is faring?”

Bella hummed for a second, tapped a few controls on her tablet, then turned it my way. “Chelsea and Bea are doing about as well as Kass’s group. The Anthophilans have a lot more ways to mitigate damage, like the shieldwall skill, but none of them are casters or healers. They’ll be worn down in most extended engagements.” She shot me a dirty glance, “It wasn’t very nice having them run up against Voss, and his ailment-heavy staff, first.”

I shrugged, “It wasn’t my decision, I randomized the matchups, that’s just how things worked out.” On the tablet I could see the Anthophilans using aerial hit and run tactics to stay out of the range of the Mycelium warriors they were fighting, but from what I could tell they were down one or two members already. Chelsea, in the meantime, was right in the middle of everything, brawling her heart out. She was using her impressive durability, and strength, to make short work of the mushrooms, in exchange for taking an occasional jab. “You think she’s aware that the Mycelium poison their weapons?” I asked.

“I’m pretty sure she is… maybe she thinks her natural resilience is enough to struggle through?” Bella replied, squinting at the tablet.

As we watched, Chelsea finished the skirmish by pouncing on the remaining pair of Mycelium people, crushing one with a paw, and using her flame breath on the other. One of them must have managed to find a way past her defenses, and managed to plunge a blade into her paw, because she limped away when it was over. I frowned, “We need to put together a list of everyone that’s capable of healing magic, support skills, and area of effect attacks. Even though Chelsea could be playing this a little more cautiously, I think the number one takeaway I have is, we need to give all the bosses support, and we need a balanced attack force.”

I passed the tablet back to Bella, then leaned back, thinking. “Both Kass and Chelsea are making decent progress and will make good offensive units, but with the proper support it could be both faster and safer. Kass and the sirens need some front line support to keep their enemies tied up, and Chelsea really needs a healer to keep her going. I think Luther’s staff are going to be better on defense, and Gun’Thur is unreliable, so he’ll be staying in the Observatory.”

While I was talking I flicked on my tablet to take notes, “I’ll probably stay behind and try to direct people, keeping in touch with everyone via tablet, and we’ll keep you and the spectres on standby in case we want to try and sneak an objective through stealth.”

Bella nodded, taking notes of her own, “That just leaves Voss,” she said.

“Yeah, and that completely depends on our opponent. If it’s a cramped, interior location, he’ll have to stay on defence, but if we do come up against an exterior dungeon he’d be good for line breaking. There are very few creatures that could go up against him one on one.”

“Anything else?”

I glanced at the now empty arena, thinking. “I’m hungry,” I replied. “And I should really go check on George. Even though Jenkins volunteered to watch him, he’ll start to get antsy and start poking and prodding things soon. Considering he’s down in the lab, that’d probably be a bad thing.”

Bella sighed, “I meant about the skirmishes.”

“Not really. It was good for a first attempt, but we could do better. I’ll set up a meeting with everyone later this week, we’ll start tweaking things then. It might take a month, but I’ll make sure we’re ready. Trust me.”