Elusive Prey

by Cheek, Jason

  “Don’t worry, we’ve got you,” a somewhat familiar voice hoarsely said in Dangas’ ear, as a Health potion was pressed into his numb hands. “Hurry up and drink this.”

  “Th-thanks,” Dangas stuttered, reeling from the sudden change in his fortunes as he glanced back to see that Star’s friend Mike had a hold of him. Giving the halfling a nod of thanks, the Aussie downed the potion in one gulp as his eyes took in the situation around them.

  The horde of players that had been hounding him were all dead. The majority with black, fletched arrows pin cushioning them, while the enemy players that had been pummeling him to death just a few seconds earlier had all been cut down by blades. Not that they weren’t still surrounded by enemies. Everywhere he looked, literally hundreds of enemy players were beginning to faze into the graveyard. As a warm glow began to infuse his body from the increased healing effects of the potion, the Aussie guild leader took in the worn and beaten down group of forty Dark Elf Assassins surrounding them.

  “What in the hell is going on?” Dangas asked in a tone harsher than he’d intended. “I thought the plan was for you to have control over the graveyard?” Before the Half-Elf could answer, the World around them twisted inside out and went dark, before they reappeared a second later ten yards further back. Dropping to his knees, Dangas began vomiting uncontrollably as a wave of nausea crashed over him.

  “Whoever was leading those PKers knew we were coming,” Mike tiredly said, as the bows of his people began going off around them in unison. Still gasping for air, Dangas lifted his head to see swaths of newly spawned players dropping dead from the volleys a short distance away. As the Dark Elves’ arrows continued to slaughter everyone within the vicinity, Star’s friend explained nonplussed. “They set up an ambush for us at the main graveyard in advance of the attack.” As soon as the last word left his lips, the entire group blinked into the shadows again.

  “Ggghhhaaa!” Dangas wordlessly groaned, as he dropped his head and vomited again. This time, only green bile came from his lips.

  “Sorry about that,” Mike humorlessly said, nodding towards the puddle in front of the Aussie guild leader. “While I can take you with me in Shadow Step, that always happens if you don’t meet the Agility requirement.”

  “Can we not do that again,” Dangas gasped out unhappily, as Mike’s strong hands roughly pulled him back to his feet. Looking around the graveyard, the hair on the nape of the Warrior’s neck stood on end at the mass of enemy players that were rushing towards them heedless of death. Even as the volleys mercilessly slaughtered them like lemmings running to their deaths, enough of the enemy players lived long enough to get off an offensive spell before dying that it was taking its toll on the Dark Elves as several of them keeled over dead.

  “Gather them up!” Mike’s angry voice snapped out in command. Even though the extra time it took to gather up the NPC corpses meant more incoming damage, the Assassins stoically weathered the storm until a “Ready” rang out behind them. Instantly, the entire group Shadow Stepped again.

  This time, Dangas was mostly able to control the overwhelming feeling of nausea that washed over him, which allowed him to see that they’d caught up to the rest of his people. The Aussie guild leader was somewhat confused at that since they’d only been fifteen yards away midway through his end run, until he realized that the entire group had been busy retreating from the graveyard. Before he could get a hand on the situation, the Warrior was surprised to see James Ross-Munroe, one of his Queensland guildmates, had taken command of the survivors.

  “Get your asses moving you bloody bludgers and gather up the dead!” James Ross-Munroe roared at the handful of empty handed Aussies standing around.

  “Why are you helping us?” a bald-headed female Dark Elf angrily demanded as an Aussie took the dead Assassin from her arms.

  “Because we’re allies, duh!” James Ross-Munroe snorted out in indignation. Turning away from the confused Assassin, the bogan let out a loud laugh as soon as he saw who was with Mike. “Dangas! It’s about time you made it to the bloody party!” As the two Aussies shoulder clapped each other in greeting, they were interrupted by a perturbed Mike.

  “Before you two start making out, is there anyone else dead, or were you the last?” Mike demanded, as he joined his Dark Elves in laying down covering fire. “Because if you’re the last, we need to get moving now!”

  “I’m the last,” Dangas confirmed, after a quick scan of the raid interface.

  “Great, then how about getting your people moving out so we don’t all die here!” Mike growled in a strained voice. Neither man took Mike’s tone personally. Obviously, he’d gone above and beyond to get them out of the shitstorm which the graveyard battle had become. On top of that, it looked like he’d lost over half of his people doing it.

  “Whose corpse is close enough to pick up at the mouth of the gauntlet?” Dangas shouted in raid chat, as he shouldered the remaining Dark Elf corpses. Seeing half of his people raise their hand, he continued. “If the raid is still holding their position, we’ll gather up our gear and fall back as planned. Now get moving!” As everyone began running across the valley, Dangas looked back at Mike.

  “Are you guys staying here?”

  “Just long enough to keep these nutjobs at bay,” Mike confirmed, as he continued laying down covering fire. “If they get within their offensive spell range, they’ll wipe us out.” Glancing back to see the concern on the Aussie guild leader’s face, Mike did his best to reassure him. “Just go. We’ll catch up in a moment with Shadow Step.”

  “Gotcha,” Dangas said, nodding to himself as turned away and called out over his shoulder. “I have a feeling this is going to get much worse before it gets better.”

  Chapter Nine

  (Evil Sandra, the mouth of the Gauntlet)

  “I thought you said you had the graveyard covered, Jacob!” Evil Sandra railed at the Fatal Midnight guild leader.

  “It’s not my fault!” Jacob, aka Mister-Griefer, shouted back, angrily getting into the Chaos Storm woman’s face. “Those motherfucking Dark Elves knew exactly where we were! As soon as we began camping the respawns, they began picking us off with Sneak Attacks!”

  “Are you all a bunch of fucking idiots?” Evil Sandra demanded, throwing her arms up in the air as she paced back and forth in frustration. “Shouldn’t your people know how to pull off a stealther ambush by now?”

  “Fuck you!” Jacob spat back in outrage. “They hit us while we were still in stealth!”

  “What,” Evil Sandra sarcastically screamed right back, “all five hundred of you at once?”

  “They could see us while we were stealthed!”

  “Look, we can’t re-enter stealth if we’re in sight of the enemy,” Jacob said, as his voice took on an ugly tone. “Nor can we attack what we can’t see.” Pointing in the direction the enemy had retreated in, he continued as if he were explaining the basics to a simpleton that didn’t understand the first thing about gaming. “Those Dark Elf Assassins can re-enter stealth at will. Not only that,” he continued in a growl, “they can see us in stealth. Trust me, that’s a whole hell of a lot harder than fighting against a bunch of mindless zombies from the top of a wall any day!”

  “Gah, you’re such a simp!” Evil Sandra roared, ignoring the murderous intent in Jacob’s eyes as she pressed her fingers against her forehead to think.

  The lot of them were a bunch of useless fucking idiots, Evil Sandra silently swore, trying to figure out how she was going to stop this from falling apart. These incompetent jackasses were going to make her lose both targets if she wasn’t careful. Jacob thought he was so smart, but so far, she was the only one out of their entire alliance that had survived one of Starfairy’s zombie horde assaults. It didn’t matter if she’d accomplished it with cheesy tactics, it only mattered that she’d won.

  Domenic was basically out of the fight. From what Shapo had reported, the NPCs guarding the walls had basically been wiped out from the waves of a
ttacks they’d been sending in all morning. Right now, there was maybe nine or ten players left holding the walls with a handful of surviving NPCs. One solid push and the fortress would be theirs. Obviously, Starfairy was out of zombies and on the run. Evil Sandra didn’t dare ease up the pressure on the little prick or he’d wiggle out of this and escape. Above all else, that was something she couldn’t allow, which was why she’d sent the majority of her forces to chase him down. Coming to a decision, she got up into Jacob’s personal space.

  “You want to make good on losing control over the graveyard,” Evil Sandra said, as her lips curled into a sneer.

  “We didn’t lose control of the graveyard,” Jacob snarled back.

  “Yes … you … did!” Evil Sandra exclaimed, pausing to emphasize each word. “All the respawns escaped and your people were taken out by a bunch of NPCs that you outnumbered five to one.” She poked him hard in the chest to underscore her point. “NPCs! If that’s not the essence of losing control of the situation, than I don’t know what is.”

  That little bit of truth immediately shut him up as his face twisted in hate. Amongst professional players, there was nothing worse than losing to a bunch of NPCs. That, more than anything else, took the wind out of the Fatal Midnight guild leader’s sails and made him pliable for what she really wanted from him.

  “Look, I’m not going to hold that against you,” Evil Sandra said, visibly calming herself down while extending the proverbial olive branch. While she was pissed as hell, she needed someone to take over the siege so she could go after Starfairy to get the real win here. “Hell, it can even remain our little secret for all I care.”

  “What are you proposing?” Jacob brusquely asked, folding his arms across his broad chest.

  “You still have five hundred Rogues in your raid that are still mostly around level 35, right?” Evil Sandra asked, already knowing the answer to her question. Seeing the man’s grunt of acknowledgement, she continued sweetly. “All that I need you to do is agree to take over the assault on the fortress while I hunt down the real quarry.”

  “What do I get for saying yes?” Jacob grudgingly asked, after exchanging a brief glance with his guild officer, Ortiz V. Both men knew she had them bent over a barrel.

  “You get my promise not to tell everyone that you lost to a bunch of damn NPCs,” Evil Sandra menacingly snapped, making both men visibly jump at her sudden transformation. Letting the mask of hate leave her face, she continued nonchalantly while delicately adjusting her hair as she spoke.

  “Look guys, there’s nothing for you to worry your pretty little heads over. Shapo already scouted everything out,” Evil Sandra nodded to her right-hand woman. “The last NPC was killed hours ago. All that’s left is maybe ten players guarding the walls and whatever elementals they can summon.” She didn’t even bat an eye at the outright lies coming from her lips. “Hell, you’ll still have the siege engines and I’ll even send Shapo with you.” She paused to look both men in the eyes as Shapo stifled a laugh behind her. “Do this and we’ll call it quits.”

  For a long moment, no one said a word as the two Fatal Midnight players glared at them angrily. Evil Sandra really wasn’t too concerned about their decision one way or another. They knew as well as she did that Jacob couldn’t say no or he’d be the laughing stock of the Alliance. Besides that, the unspoken point in the discussion was the simple fact that if they didn’t do as she said, they’d be ostracized by everyone.

  “So what,” Ortiz V grumbled, “you want to take the credit for both taking down the fortress and spawn camping Startum?”

  “Really, Dude?” Shapo said, shaking her head in disgust. “We’ve already beaten the defenders down to nothing. If anything, we’re letting you have a chance to get in on the win.”

  “Yeah, but Evil Sandra will be the one that gets credited for the takedown and the siege,” Ortiz V argued, glaring at Jacob to say back him up.

  “We’ll take the deal,” Jacob unhappily grunted, slashing a hand for his first officer to shut his fucking mouth. Ortiz V’s pride was going to screw up their gravy train if he wasn’t careful. Unlike his First Officer, Jacob well understood this was the only way for the guild to save face and stay in the Alliance. As it was, Fatal Midnight had been mostly relegated to a support role due to their crappy buff/debuff Nightmare tree. Jacob’s sour thoughts were interrupted by a loud explosion and a brilliant flash of light off to the west as the brown-haired bitch before him suddenly beamed happily.

  “That’s my signal to head out,” Evil Sandra explained, as she immediately turned to her girlfriend. “Shapo dear, I’m heading out with everyone but your team. If something goes wrong,” she meaningfully looked back at the two Fatal Midnight players, “you know what to do.” With that, Evil Sandra began striding towards the waiting group of fifty players standing off to the side busy talking to each other in groups as the sounds of fighting coming from the west noticeably increased.

  “Dingleberry! Starfairy’s just hit the western graveyard ambush.” Evil Sandra shrieked at the top of her lungs. “Get your people together, we’re moving out!” As the entire group raced away towards the western end of the valley, Shapo walked past the two Fatal Midnight players as the rest of her team fell in behind her.

  “Come on, Fatal Losers,” Shapo arrogantly called over her shoulder, as the two men silently glowered after the Ranger. “We’ve got a fortress to take over!”

  Chapter Ten

  (Second Assault Group: Startum and friends heading for the gauntlet)

  “I still can’t believe you’re going to keep spawn camping those players like that,” Rani yelled at my back in self-righteous outrage as I led the raid towards the mouth of the gauntlet at a fast trot. That I could hear her as clearly as I could over the thudding footfalls of over eleven hundred booted feet crossing a field of frozen-topped snow was impressive in and of itself, but not in a good way. Instead of responding to the annoying woman, I called out to my companion.

  “Neristhana!” The sharp shout briefly echoed off the rock face of the gauntlet towering ahead of me, as I continued nonplussed. “If she doesn’t stop yelling, you have my permission to send her back to the graveyard as a respawn.”

  “You wouldn’t dare-” Rani’s voice cut off with a choking “hurgiggergal” sound as I heard a body hit the frozen snow. Not that I bothered to watch the show as I kept an eye out for any additional stealthed Rogues that might be still guarding the mouth of the gauntlet.

  “One more word and we’ll see how many hits it takes to cut down a Nordic Guardian,” Neristhana said in a tone as cold as ice, while the rest of my companions fell back to surround the V-MMORG Admin with their blades drawn. Why the rest of my companions had taken to Neristhana’s leadership so naturally was still beyond me, but I wasn’t about to raise the question to my ladies. I’d learned long ago not to look a gift horse in the mouth by asking dumb questions. Still, I couldn’t help the smirk that came to my mouth at Rani’s placating tone.

  “Okay … okay … okay, I promise I’ll keep my opinions to myself!”

  I didn’t dare look back to spoil the effect, even though I really wanted to see the pain in the ass Admin being put in her place. After ten minutes of constant bitching, the V-MMORG Admin was really starting to get on my nerves. Besides sounding like a self-righteous prick, I swear it was like she’d never spent any time playing on anything but a PVE server. The stuff I was doing was normal PVP tactics. Hell, it wasn’t like I had troopers stationed at every graveyard in the area preparing to spawn camp the enemy as they tried to regroup, which was quite the valid tactic if I might say so myself, I thought with a smile. At least for games that didn’t have graveyards as no-combat zones.

  On our approach to the mouth of the gauntlet, it was obvious that there’d been a major battle here. Everywhere I looked the frozen snow within a fifty yard area around the entrance had been completely melted away. Even more telling to the intensity of the battle that had occurred here was the disturbed gr
ound. In many places, the earth had been noticeably scorched and even turned to glass from the extreme heat. All of this only served to emphasize the hellish battle my new allies had endured to carry out their part of the plan. We were still fifty yards from the gauntlet’s opening, when I felt Neysa and Helgath’s mental presence brush my consciousness as they returned from scouting the southern graveyard.

  ‘We saw no stealth units in the area,’ Neysa’s mental voice almost sounded like a growl in my head, as she came to a stop at the extreme range of our link.

  ‘There are a handful of newfar respawning at the graveyard,’ Helgath added in an almost mezzo-soprano tone that seemed to naturally settle my nerves. That quick thought was pushed to the side as she explained what she meant in detail. ‘But, they’re heading directly to the western graveyard as soon as they respawn in.’ There was a brief pause as she mentally checked with Neysa before continuing, ‘We believe they’re only the support classes.’

  ‘Makes sense,’ I said, trying to picture Mike’s current tactical situation as they tried to retreat. ‘My warning message to him that the western graveyard probably had an enemy ambush group waiting for them must have been right on. That meant the first group was having to fight through that mess while the main enemy assault was snapping at their heels.’ I silently swore, shaking my head unhappily. ‘This is turning into a complete clusterfuck if I ever saw one.’