The beginning

The two finally reach their destination, a large cliff that overlooks the gap. Gerand gets to work on setting up a shelter while Carlos makes a prototype "carpet bomber" out of wood. A bow with some runes of reinforcement and flexibility, nothing too fancy. The arrow is the real star of the show. He takes the bow over the edge and picks a spot to shoot at. With so many pests, you'd have to aim to miss. He gets the arrow ready and aims up. He doesn't put any real power on the bow, wanting to see how destructive the arrow itself can be. He fires, and up goes the arrow.

It splits one to two to four and so on. It makes so many copies of itself that it looks like a swarm of bees. It reaches its apex and begins falling down. The pests, barely cognizant, look up, and then immediately get hit in the face. Then the arrows light up almost in unison, and all of them explode into a massive fireball. The prototype works spectacularly.

But the number of the pests proves itself. Within seconds, the large blast area was retaken by the pests. Though that does not matter.

Carlos then imagines more possibilities to make this design better. More strength, more speed, more....more! But especially how small he can make these arrows before they become useless. The smaller the arrow, the less explosive power, and vice versa. For now though the design works and is quick and easy to make.

Gerand approaches Carlos from behind . "I see a path to victory with this new weapon of yours." Carlos looks to his right and sees Gerand deep in thought. Not wanting to interrupt, he waits for Gerand to finish thinking. "...over there." Gerand points to an area next to the gap. An area where surprisingly, no pest dares touch, even though all around it is overrun. "See that, that's a safety spring. No monster can go through it; they get destroyed immediately if they try." Carlos then looks closer and notices how pest after pest die touching the safety spring. "We can set up an encampment there and have archers shooting through the gap non-stop. From there, we set up a defensive line to keep more pests from flooding in, but we also have to protect our rear since we'll be surrounded. It’s still wishful thinking, but it’s a start." Carlos nods and adds. "The archers will give a clearing, and then we head in to close the gap. But my Sentinels can't hold out for too long; they will get overwhelmed. So we send archers in-between the formation to set up a destructive line in the gap and behind the line. Then the Sentinels take on any that get through." 

Gerand: "Yes, a very sound strategy but with another step missing. The arrows." Gerand points toward the safety spring. "There are no trees in that area. That means we need to set up a supply line from here to there, and that’s a long walk with many pests in-between."

Carlos: "You're right..." Carlos looks around to see any potential solution and spots one. "Then that means I need to head into the middle of the fight as well." He stands up and points at the mountains. "We bring in some miners and make arrows with the stone. From there I infuse them, and we can resupply for as long as we need to."

Gerand nods. "Dangerous, but it clears that problem. Though there is still the problem of getting to the safety spring." Carlos rubs his chin and looks around at this near-desolate wasteland for a solution, when he spots a boulder and is reminded of something. "...I may have an idea, but it will require your daughter." Gerand gives Carlos a death stare but gives him a chance to explain. "There's no danger for her, I assure you. But you and I will head out near the gap, and I need someone with your level of precision and speed, which your daughter has." Gerand softens up and nods. "As long as she is safe...I'll allow it." Carlos breathes a sigh of relief. "Well, all our plans rely on the Sentinels getting here first. I need to create a proof of concept in order to see if my idea will work." Gerand slowly nods, not understanding what Carlos said. "You go do that...proof...thingy. I'll make us a place to sleep and eat." Carlos nods and finds himself a round stone and a bit of wood.

Hours pass. Night is nearly here. Gerand is finished making a decent shelter and is making dinner. While Carlos is making failure after failure. The sound of footsteps grabs the attention of both men, and look to see in the distance Rey and Sharin with a massive army of Sentinels behind them. Rey, energetic as always, runs forward and hugs her dad. She then hugs Carlos as well. Sharin then catches up and sits next to Gerand. They both kiss and are happy that everything went well. "I see you decided to cook. Oh xin please let us survive this meal." Prays Sharin. Gerand lightly smacks her on the back of the head, and they both laugh.

Carlos finds a secluded spot and keeps working on his proof of concept. He takes a while, but he finally makes it work. A rune that can activate and deactivate other runes from a distance. He's already imagining many more different applications for this, but for now a glorified on and off switch will suffice. He grabs his small, roundish stone and his wooden "controller" and asks Rey if she can help him with something. Rey nods excitedly, happy to see what weird creation Carlos has this time.

Carlos hands her the controller and puts the stone on the floor and asks her to tap any rune. She looks at the wood. On it are 6 runes, all the same. Four are in the cardinal directions (up, down, left, and right) the other two are on the top left corner and bottom right. She taps the one on the top, and the stone makes a jet of fire blow out on top. She finds it really cool and accidentally lets go, and the stone stops shooting a jet of flame. She taps it again. It shoots and lets go; it stops, she gets it. "Now...make it go in a circle." Rey looks at Carlos and is confused about how to do it. "How?" asks Rey. "Press the bottom one." Says Carlos and Rey pushes the bottom rune. The rock then moves up slowly and flips onto its side. Rey now gets very intrigued and pushes other runes to see the same effect but on each side of the stone. She innocently thought it was a cool toy or something, but in reality its an instrumental part to fighting off the pests. Rey then tries to do what Carlos asked before, to make it move in a circle. Gerand and Sharin get interested in what the two are doing and watch from a distance.

Rey then has issues with the stone. For one, every time it moves, the orientation gets messed up. Up is down, left is right, and then right is up; it’s a mess. Rey doesn't let this get her down; in fact, it excites her. The challenge of mastering this stone. To make it move the way she wants it to, and then it clicks. She sees how best to remember which is which, no matter the orientation, and with a little more effort she makes it go into circle. "YES, perfect!" screams Carlos. Rey then shows off, making it go in different patterns. Then, for fun, grabs some stones and sets up a goal and makes the moving stone go through it. Each time making it smaller and adding more goals in different spots. Carlos is in disbelief at just how fast she has mastered this contraption of his.

"well that is impressive. As expected from my daughter." Gerand says with pride in his voice. "But...how will this take care of the pests?" Carlos doesn't say a word; he simply looks in a direction. Gerand then looks in the same direction, and it doesn't take him long to spot what Carlos is looking at. The massive boulder. They both get an evil grin and nod at each other. "It will probably take me and the Sentinels a while to finish. I’m probably going to work in the dead of night, but I'm certain we can get it done by tomorrow." 

With no time to waste, Carlos calls the Sentinels to help him. The other three sleep, or at least try to. With all the clanging it's difficult to sleep well.