Warband

Chapter 7. Homeward Bound.

“Damn, human, you look as rough as a stone elemental’s dinner,” Gritvart said as Silas returned to the portal room in the marketplace.

“I don’t know what a stone elemental is, or what it eats for dinner, but I admit that I’m more than a bit banged up. At least I completed the first stage of this tutorial. Not to cut you short, Gritvart, I think the portal home just opened. Buster and I are getting out of this place,” Silas said.

“Woah, there, hold on a bit. You said you had more of the tutorial to finish, why not do some shopping while you wait?” Gritvart offered. Silas could see that he’d tried to repair the stall he worked out of, but the thing was wobbly, and looked like it would fall over if he breathed on it hard enough.

“I don’t have any money on me, and something tells me that you wouldn’t take American dollars even if I had them,” Silas said.

“Oh, I figured the System would dish out some coins for completing the first stage of your tutorial. It’s being stingy with you, but don’t worry, when you finish the second stage, you’ll be rolling in coins. For now, maybe we can work out some barter? How much do you want for that firearm, or maybe you can trade in that dog for some decent armor?” Gritvart offered.

“I’ll only say this once, Gritvart, Buster is not for sale. As for trading my rifle, not a chance. Hell, if the portal home is open, I don’t plan on ever coming back here again,” Silas told the rather dejected looking gnome merchant.

“Fine, fine, I respect your boundaries. I forgot how much you humans can get attached to animals. As for not coming back, I understand, but I don’t think the System will. It’s got its sights on you, and it’ll find some way to rope you back in. Don’t worry, when you’re forced to return, your buddy Gritvart will be waiting with even more inventory for you to purchase,” the goblin said.

“We’ll see, Gritvart. Thanks for all the information earlier,” Silas said, giving the odd goblin a wave goodbye as he and Buster headed down the passageway. As expected, the portal back home was swirling with the odd blue energy.

“Here we go,” Silas said to Buster as he stepped through.

You are returning to your point of origin and may now choose to activate the portal whenever you are in the immediate vicinity of it. Please note that failure to return and suppress the dangers inside the Pit of Bhalkur will likely result in Bhalkur gaining complete control of the pit and leading his army of powerful creatures into your world.

Current access to the portal is limited to the 2 initial participants. Grow in Tier and Rank to increase the number of supporting warriors that can join you inside the pit.

The System information was more than a bit concerning. From what it claimed, Silas couldn’t just ignore the portal or more freaks like those rabid gnomes would escape into his world. There was also this Bhalkur guy and an entire army of whatever nightmare creatures he controlled. The gnomes would be no trouble for anyone with a firearm, but Silas was certain that they were far from the most dangerous things waiting inside the pit.

“Shit, Buster. We’re going to have to back in, aren’t we,” Silas cursed, realizing that if wanted to keep any harm from happening to his neighbors, he was going to have to deal with this on his own. It looked like only Buster could go with him, though he was happy to have his best friend with him if he had to go back into that jungle again.

“Whoof,” Buster huffed.

“Fine, you’re right. I’m sorry Lisa, I promised you that I’d take care of myself and watch my language. I just…wish you were still here with us,” Silas said, his eyes glistening as he fought back tears. A few moments passed, and the portal opened. This time it didn’t drop him on the floor, and instead, he was able to walk out of it like he was stepping through a doorway.

He stood there in his garage, the morning light still streaming through the small windows at the top of the garage doors. Even those reminded him of his wife. She had insisted on a few touches on “his” garage. One of those was the color of the doors, and some decorative windows on the doors, despite them costing a whole bunch more.

“She’s gone, Buster, but I see her everywhere in this place. I hate to say it, but we got to go back into that portal. Not right now, of course, but I won’t have those things spilling out into my garage and causing havoc. I don’t think I could live with myself if I let that happen when I could have stopped it,” Silas said as much to himself as to Buster.

The dog ignored his comments, instead scratching at the side door of the garage. Silas opened the door for Buster, who whined, looked at Silas then trotted over to the front porch. That was right, Silas hadn’t fed him today, and while they had been oddly sustained inside the jungle, back home, Silas was starting to feel hungry.

He filled up the dog’s dish, giving him fresh water before rummaging through the fridge and pantry for his own breakfast. He didn’t feel like cooking, so a protein bar and an apple would have to suffice. As he sat at the table and ate, Silas considered his next moves.

Something was going on in this Pit of Bhalkur, something he didn’t quite understand. The System had mentioned some kind of contest, but it also mentioned things inside there getting out of hand and invading his world. For some reason, only he and Buster could enter, but what could the two of them do against some guy powerful enough that they had to seal him in a pit?

Finishing up his meager breakfast, Silas tried to plan out what he needed to do next. First off was scouring the house and Doc’s footlocker for any more weapons and ammo. Hopefully there’d be enough for another venture into the pit. It was getting close to the end of the month, and the money from his Army disability payments, and the pension from Ford were just about used up. Shopping at the sporting goods store for more ammo was out until next month.

Ammo was getting to be expensive, and with years of combat experience, Silas knew just how much of it you could burn up even in a short fight. He started in the house and looked through his old safe to see what he had left in there. Silas hadn’t gone shooting in a long time, but he still had a few things lying around. Ammo didn’t go bad if you stored it correctly.

All that was left in his little gun safe were a couple of cleaning kits, which he’d put to good use shortly, and another partially empty box of ammo for his .45. After reloading the pistol magazines, he had a total of 13 loose rounds to work with. A folding knife, a good Spyderco blade, went into the front pocket of his jeans.

Silas wasn’t happy with himself, remembering that he had sold most of his firearms to raise some cash when Lisa’s illness got worse, and the insurance wouldn’t quite cover all the costs. Still, he couldn’t have imagined that he’d ever need to go to war again, and having the pistol around had seemed like it would be more than sufficient.

“Buster, I’m going to go dig through that footlocker, you coming?” Silas asked his dog who was contentedly curled up in his pet bed that Silas kept near the couch. Buster just lowered his head and continued with his nap. He was too tired, and his belly was too full to join Silas. Leaving the front door open a crack in case Buster changed his mind, Silas headed back into the garage.

Inside the garage, the sight of his battered Mustang caused Silas’ anger to rise. Those gnomes were going to pay for that. Rabies or not, they should know better than to trash a man’s car. He put a temporary cork on his anger and pulled up his rolling shop stool to sit on while he opened the footlocker that he’d left on the ground near where it fell earlier.

After the fall, the contents of the large footlocker were a jumbled mess, but he had time to kill and going through the gear was comforting in a way. It was something he was familiar with and helped him to feel less like an old useless man and more like the young Green Beret he had once been. That was odd, he should have been in pain to the point he couldn’t do anything after all he had been through, but Silas was feeling better than usual.

The old pains were still there, but they weren’t preventing him from sifting through the gear. Maybe that pit and its mana stuff were doing something to him? His thoughts on the pit were put aside as he found something interesting. The familiar wooden stock and stubby wide barrel of the M79 grenade launcher greeted Silas as he pulled it from the footlocker. Seeing the weapon like this was like seeing an old friend.

Further digging turned up a false panel had been covering the bottom of the footlocker. The panel had shifted aside when the footlocker fell, unveiling Silas’ new toy. Old Doc had hidden away most of the good stuff beneath the false bottom. Silas wasn’t going to complain about more firepower.

Breaking open the weapon, he could see a frag round was loaded. A worn, OD green bandoleer held six more of the deadly 40mm grenades the launcher used. A quick check showed that all the grenades were in good condition and should function as advertised. Four of the reloads were more frag grenades, and the other two were Beehive rounds that fired a blast of small, steel flechettes that would tear apart anything that wanted to get up close and personal.

Another bandoleer held seven of the smaller 20-round magazines for his M16. He would have rather had the 30-round mags that were common now and at the end of the war, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. Each mag was loaded, and with the mag in the rifle, it gave him 160 rounds of 5.56. In addition to the grenade launcher, there were two regular frag grenades that Silas set aside.

“Damn, Doc, how did you not get caught with this stuff,” Silas said. He was more than pleased that Doc had squirreled this gear away. Maybe Doc could sense there was going to be trouble with the idol and had tried to prepare. Whatever the reason, Silas was glad that his friend had been diligent in keeping everything in top shape.

Further into the footlocker, Silas found a Ka-Bar knife in a sheath, and several sets of uniforms. The uniforms were in the old tiger stripe camo he had used back in Vietnam. Thankfully, the uniforms were modern takes on the old style and were much more comfortable than the gear that Silas had worn back in the day. There were several different sizes, but only the largest set would fit him. Even then it would be a tight, but not overly uncomfortable fit.

An old steel helmet, and a slouch hat completed the clothing selections. He was going into the jungle, so the steel helmet wasn’t going to be something he wanted to wear. Silas was much more comfortable wearing the soft, slouch hat. There was also an old, but still in good shape, rucksack and Load Bearing Vest (LBV). That would give him a proper place to store all the gear he planned on bringing.

At the bottom of the footlocker, under the uniforms and false bottom, was another pleasant surprise. He had an entire case of 5.56 ammo. A few of the boxes inside the case were empty, probably the ones that were loaded into the magazines. Still, he had 840 extra rounds now, more than enough for another short jungle excursion.

The crowning piece of the whole collection was underneath the ammo case. Silas gently removed two Claymore mines, and a quick inspection showed they were both functional. Placed correctly, these would shred rabid gnomes by the score.

Silas had everything he needed, and more, to head back into the pit. This Bhalkur wanted to send an army of rabid gnomes to invade Silas’ world. He might be old and broken, but Silas was determined to show this Bhalkur what a properly armed Green Beret and his dog could accomplish.