Epilogue - 006

Turns since TBfGK: 1

Parson looked around for a place to sit, but had to settle for leaning with his back against the tower wall. Sizemore and Maggie stood and looked at him blankly as he slumped there.

"I haven't tried to 'invent' anything from my world here yet," he said. "But I might have to start with folding chairs."

He gave up on leaning, and walked to the edge of the parapet again, looking down at the grounded dwagons and the troops assembled below. Sizemore and Maggie followed suit.

What were they talking about for so long down there? Was Wanda taking over? Was Stanley giving her orders?

"If I took a brick and threw it," Parson said, still looking over the edge, "and I hit Stanley smack in the middle of his forehead from here, what would happen?"

There was silence. A chilly little breeze picked up. He glanced at Maggie, who kind of looked like she was choking on a piece of fish but didn't want to bother anyone with her problems. In other words, her usual expression, only more so. Sizemore only looked fascinated at the implications of the question. "Would he croak?" Parson asked.

Sizemore cleared his throat. "You wouldn't be able to throw it. He's your Overlord."

"Correct," added Maggie, finally able to speak.

Parson rolled his eyes. "Okay, then at the dwagon. Or...assume he's an invading enemy unit and I throw the brick. Could I hit him? Could I croak him?"

Sizemore looked back down over the edge. "You could. It'd be a million to one shot, though."

Parson frowned, and played with his bracer. With some basic touch commands and subvocalizations, he was able to build a scenario. This city, this tower, a unit like me attempts a missile attack on a unit like Stanley, on ground in courtyard. Odds.

"One in about 5400, it says. So, what, I'd be acting like a defending archery unit then? Even though I don't have archery as a special? Any of us could throw a brick and hit an enemy down there, even though we aren't archers?"

Sizemore shrugged. "If we had bricks."

So anyone with something to throw or shoot could be an archery unit. They'd just have to have the archery special to have any real chance of hitting a target. But maybe something like Luckamancy could be used to change those odds? Parson leaned forward and squinted at the tiny figure of Stanley, still mounted on his dwagon. "Good to know."

And at that moment, the fireworks started.