Elusive Prey

by Cheek, Jason

  The only thing that settled Mike down was that he knew if everything had gone that wrong, Star would’ve somehow managed to get a message off to him one way or another. It was obvious from the path they were taking across the valley that the Chaos Storm Alliance was headed towards the pass to Telrain for their escape route. Boy were they going to be in a world of hurt once they discovered the plains below the pass were blocked by herds of level 100 monsters. Though, in truth, it might be the only way they could manage to escape from the horde that was chasing after them.

  As he watched the intense action happening far below, Mike started to notice something strange. All throughout the horde of demi-humans there seemed to be odd distortions of shadows. As he watched, he began to get the idea that they were some sort of rips in reality. Wherever the shadows were the thickest, the screaming ranks of monsters seemed to disappear before his eyes as they were dragged into nothingness. Just watching the oddness of it all gave him the heebie-jeebies. Shaking the odd feeling away, Mike refocused on the action that was happening closer to home as the rest of Sub Leader Pevnuth’s Assault Team began blinking in around him.

  On the valley-side of the slope, a thousand players from the Global Brutality and the Syndicate guilds pressed on after them. While Star had been correct that Evil Sandra would chase after him, he’d miscalculated in thinking that she’d be okay with letting them escape unscathed. Although, Mike bet that Evil Sandra now wished that she’d taken the extra help with her to fight against the mess that they were caught up in now. While all that might be true, it didn’t help them in their current predicament. With too many players chasing after them to fight, they’d been forced to go deeper into the mountains to keep from being overwhelmed. That continued push was what had caused their next problem.

  On the mountain trail, the vanguard of their forces had come under brutal assault. No one knew exactly what they were facing. Only that large boulders were pummeling their people and keeping them pegged down behind cover. The ferocity of the attack and the difficult terrain made it nearly impossible for the larger Warriors of their group to get into a position to charge the enemy. A hurried meeting between the Guild Leaders of the raid had resulted in a decent plan that Mike thought would work, which was why he was here. Getting a thumbs up from Sub Leader Pevnuth, he began making his way to the other side of the mountain top.

  Their path would’ve been nearly impossible to traverse without lots of time, pins, climbing gear, and lots of rope if this had been in the real world. With their Shadow Step ability, the line of Dark Elves were able to adroitly follow him. Except for wisps of dark shadows, only a few stones were displaced by their passing to plummet down the side of the mountain. Mostly, this was due to the strong wind whipping past the rocky peak and the icy covered stone that they were using for purchase.

  The height they were at was truly dizzying. If Mike was forced to hazard a guess, he’d say that they were somewhere in the range of thirteen hundred to fifteen hundred feet up from the bottom of the valley. Approximately the same height as the Tail of the Dragon mountain road on the Tennessee and North Carolina border. Only this peak was void of trees, which meant they had a beautiful view of the drop. In a few places, the gorges next to the mountain were much deeper than that. The adrenaline of the dangerous run made his blood beat in his veins.

  Coming to a stop, Mike judged the angle to be right for the plateau they were headed for and signaled to the rest of the raid, before heading down. Descending several hundred feet in less than two minutes had his heart pounding in his chest from the adrenaline rush, when he abruptly came to a stop on the backside of the plateau the enemy was using as a natural bottleneck. At least, Mike hoped this was the right spot or this was going to be a major pain in the ass to find the right one.

  Hearing guttural voices barking in excitement, Mike realized this had to be the correct spot. Easing around the edge of the alcove, he got his first good look at the enemy and the tactical situation. At the far end of the plateau, there was a large group of grotesque demi-humanoids that stood around ten to twelve feet tall. A quick count put their numbers at around nine. It was hard to tell due to their hurried movements as they excitedly chucked boulders down at the intruders below.

  The group was a mixture of grotesque males and female primitives that wore hide-like loincloths wrapped around their thick waists. Though, it was easy enough to see why they didn’t wear more than that. Their skin coloring ranged from mossy green to putrid gray with stone-like rubbery skin that was obviously thick enough to allow them to ignore the adverse weather and probably most weapons. Stringy greasy hair intertwined with white bones limply hung down their backs and their over-long arms hung nearly to the ground which ended in massive claws. Even with those fearsome natural weapons, all but one of the disgusting creatures were armed with spiked clubs as big as a grown man.

  Contrary to Mike's expectations, the females were noticeably larger than their male counterparts. He discovered that a moment later, when the largest member of the group turned around to bellow guttural orders to the rest of the tribe. The sight of the immense female’s saggy dugs as they pendulously swung from side to side due to her hunched over stance nearly made him retch in disgust. The tops of the twisted and malformed things were decorated with white bones that pierced the flabby skin, while the immense black teats had what looked to be shrunken humanoid skulls dangling from the tips. While all of that was horrible in its own right, the feathered skulled staff in her hands and the runes it was emblazoned with signified she was some sort of caster.

  Hurriedly, Mike used Identify to get an idea of what they now faced, Zenma Mandula of the Putrid Dugs, level 60 - Elite Mountain Troll Matriarch Shaman. Shaking his head in distress, he ducked back into the alcove gasping for breath while trying not to vomit just as Sub Leader Pevnuth popped out of Shadow Step behind him with a team of five Shadow Assassins at her back. Seeing the nauseated look on his face, the Sub Leader peaked out of the alcove quickly to see what had him so disturbed. A split-second later, she was right next to him trying to control her own nauseated breathing with a look of dread plastered on her face.

  “By the dark,” Sub Leader Pevnuth gritted out through clenched teeth, “why did it have to be Elite Mountain Trolls?”

  At her words, the rest of the team blanched. Obviously, even for Shadow Assassins these creatures were considered awful. Pulling up his Character Sheet, Mike began scrolling through his spells one by one: Shadow Edge, Shadow Blade, Marked for Death, bunch of stealth and armor spells. Sourly, he confirmed that there was nothing in his magic tree for taking out something like a troll. Unless, he was missing something; he looked over at his vassal.

  “Do you need fire or acid to cut down these beasts?” Mike asked, hoping the creatures took after MMO trolls and not the traditional Dungeons and Dragons ones.

  “Not at all,” Sub Leader Pevnuth said in a sarcastically sweet voice, “you only need fire or acid if you want them to stay dead.”

  “Not helping,” Mike replied, rolling his eyes as the rest of the Dark Elves grinned at the exchange. Their quick back and forth had obviously eased some of the tension that the team was feeling at hearing what enemy they were about to face. Pulling the backpack off his back, he began going through the contents looking for anything that might be of use as he began giving orders. “Get everyone down here.”

  Within moments, shadowy wisps began shimmering all around them as the rest of the raid appeared in the alcove while Mike finished up his search. Sub Leader Pevnuth began issuing orders out to the rest of the raid. Within moments, shadowy clouds began appearing in the shadows of rocks or behind outcrops as the rest of the team got into position. Sadly, except for four small vials of acid, there was nothing else in his inventory that might be of use. Even the acid vials were questionable since they could only be used if the monster’s head could be sliced open and the contents poured directly on the monsters’ brain or heart.

  Mike shook his head in frustration
. And what were they going to do about the other five? Ridiculous as it might seem, even with the rest of the raid’s help, he had a feeling this was going to be an ugly fight. As he slipped the four vials into his belt, he faced the rest of the Assault Group. From the drawn looks on their faces, they already knew they had an uphill battle ahead of them.

  “Here’s how we’re going to do this,” Mike said, in a no-nonsense tone. “The command group will take the matriarch.”

  “Matriarch?” One of the Dark Elf Group Leaders asked in confusion.

  “You’ll know her when you see her,” Assault Leader Pevnuth assured the male, “she’s the biggest Mountain Troll out there.”

  “Group Leaders Ghemrah and Vustrai, you’ll be taking on three each. Group Leader Iarviagod, your team will grab the last two. Remember, all that we have to do is keep these disgusting creatures distracted long enough for the rest of the raid to reach us. Keep moving, stay smart, and keep them so confused they don’t know who to attack. We’ll start the fight with synchronized Sneak Attacks.” Getting nods from everyone, he flashed a confident grin. “Then let’s move out.” As the three teams disappeared into the shadows to get into position, the female leaned over to whisper into his ear.

  “I hope your right that we can trust these new allies of yours,” Sub Leader Pevnuth said, the doubt she felt was clear in her voice. “If not, we will die a truly horrific death.”

  “Sub Leader Pevnuth,” Mike said, the ire clear in his tone. “We’ve been relying on our allies this entire time. The only difference now is that there’s no retreating option for us this time around. The only way we’ll win this is if we keep the monsters attention long enough for the rest of our people to join us.” Ignoring the sour look on her face, Mike called out to the remaining six Dark Elves. “We’ll be taking up a position around the outcrop in the middle of the plateau.”

  It took two separate Shadow Steps to reach his planned sniper spot. The stone pillar rose up behind the Elite Mountain Trolls and offered a perfect spot for his special attack. As he appeared on top of the semi-flat stone near the top, he nocked one of his poisoned arrows while the rest of his group appeared below him. There were no missteps by their team. Everyone made it into position without emerging on top of each other. Partly that was due to how they spaced out their individual Shadow Steps and partly because of how they’d trained together for so long that they knew approximately where their teammates would aim to be.

  “Let’s do this!” Mike said, as everyone’s eyes turned towards him. Holding up a black-gloved hand, Mike signaled the beginning of the countdown, before drawing back his arrow and preparing to trigger his special attack, Headshot. The spell boasted 15x weapon’s damage whether the Shadow Assassin was Stealthed or not. For a humanoid target, it was basically a one-shot kill, especially if you got the drop on a low Stamina target. While it couldn’t be used in conjunction with Sneak Attack, it could be used at any time from any direction. As his mental countdown hit zero, Mike triggered Headshot and released his arrow at the same time five other arrows raced towards the target.

  “Rrraaawwwrrr!” The earsplitting bellow of agony and rage that rang out across the plateau hit Mike in the chest like a palpable blow as he was blasted off his perch. As he flew back through the air, he saw the rest of the raid had been knocked off their feet too. In shocked horror, he stared uncomprehendingly at the system message that said he’d taken two hundred points of damage from the Matriarch’s roar itself. As if that wasn’t enough of a fuck you, there was an Intimidation debuff under his name. Fighting against the overwhelming feeling of dread welling up inside of him, he climbed to his hands and knees gasping for breath. Holding his bow in a white-knuckled grip, he attempted to get to his feet as he saw the nightmarish sight of all nine Elite Mountain Trolls charging across the plateau heading directly for them.

  “Scatter!” Mike barked out in raid chat, as he shook off the effects of the Intimidating Roar. Seeing the Matriarch Shaman scoop up a boulder as thick around as his chest, he drew his next arrow and nocked it into his bow as the twelve foot tall monster chucked the boulder at his head. With a smoothness built up from hours upon hours of practice, he aimed and released in one smooth motion as the large boulder shot directly at him in a straight line. Triggering Multi-Shot with a thought, he Shadow Stepped away a split-second before the boulder plowed through the space he’d been kneeling in as the Multi-Shot sank into the female Troll’s bulbous knee.

  “Ghemrah, flank left! Vustrai, flank right! Iarviagod, stay in front of her!”

  Mike heard Sub Leader Pevnuth issuing commands as he popped out of shadow atop a small rocky shelf. Drawing and releasing, he sent another Headshot at the pissed off Matriarch Shaman as Sub Leader Pevnuth appeared behind the female Troll and opened fire.

  This was an especially good tactic that they’d regularly trained together on. It worked great to confuse an enemy while hitting them with max damage. It was especially effective for handling monsters. Mike’s massive damage would hold aggro while the rest of the team worked on burning down the mob’s hit points. Although, looking at the disturbing speed of these humongous creatures, Mike quickly realized that he and his people were going to be in for a rough fight. Though the Elite Mountain Trolls weren’t running, the amount of ground they could cover in one stride was truly terrifying as they crossed the distance to the raid in a matter of seconds.

  Seeing Zenma Mandula of the Putrid Dugs barreling up to him with her raged-filled eyes, Mike Shadow Stepped again ten yards to the opposite side of the Troll’s path. The strategy he was using was for a Gator and not a Troll, but it felt like a decent tactic to be using in his current situation. Maybe it was a “being born in Florida” thing, Mike’s mom had always told to him while growing up that if he were ever being chased by a Gator that he should dodge from side to side as he ran instead of heading in a straight line.

  Talk about some weird advice to give a child, Mike thought, with a mental shake of his head as he hammered the Matriarch Shaman in the face with another Headshot. It was something his mom’s horse trainer had always told her whenever she went out for a ride in the Florida wilds. While that might have been great advice if you were on horseback, Mike wasn’t so sure how useful it was if you were on your own two feet trying to outrun a Gator. At that point, it seemed like you were basically shit out of luck if that was what you were trying to implement to survive the encounter.

  Shaking his head at his musings, Mike hurriedly disappeared in a swirl of shadows as Zenma Mandula swung her two-handed staff at the pile of rocks he had just been perched on. Each of these jumps were making it harder and harder to dodge her attacks since she was within range in just a matter of seconds. Appearing on top of the stone spiral he’d initially sniped the Matriarch Shaman from, Mike’s brow wrinkled in consternation as he realized that their high-damaged attacks were barely keeping the female Troll’s hit points down by a third.

  A cold lump began to form in the pit of his stomach as Mike watched in shock as Zenma Mandula of the Putrid Dugs’ health began rising before his eyes. Her regeneration speed was completely unreal! Crossing his fingers that they could hold out, he began reaching for another arrow, when there was a loud ruckus from the Elite Mountain Trolls behind him. Immediately, he saw five of his Dark Elves’ hit point bars turn orange in his raid interface.

  Glancing worriedly over his shoulder, Mike saw the Shadow Assassins trying to crawl away as their teammates struggled to pull aggro. The remains of several shattered boulders near their bleeding bodies told the story of what must have happened. While they weren’t dead, their Shadow Shields had been completely blown away along with a good portion of their Shadow Armor. Looking at their battered and bleeding bodies, it was doubtful that they would be rejoining the fight anytime soon, Mike discouragingly thought, as he turned back towards the enraged Matriarch Shaman who was charging the base of the stone spiral.

  With a snarl Mike released another Headshot as several Multi-Shots from his
team peppered Zenma Mandula’s back and legs. While the other shots didn’t seem to do much but make the ugly hag look like a living pincushion, his high-damaged shot rocked her back momentarily on her heels. Shaking away the pain, the Elite Matriarch Shaman bellowed in outrage again as she changed the grip on her staff to that of a baseball bat. Curious as to what Zenma Mandula thought she could possibly do against him on top of his perch, Mike reached for another arrow as the female Troll lunged forward and swung like a Pro Ball Player knocking a pitch out of the park. Instead of bouncing off the stone like he’d expected, the small tree pulverized the lower portion of the spiral from the force of the impact.

  Unconcerned, Mike did a backflip from the top of the collapsing spiral, targeting an outcrop within the distance of his Shadow Step as he took aim and released another Headshot, before slipping into the shadows one more. Appearing eight yards away a split-second later, he reached for another arrow as his team appeared in a spread out circle around the female Troll. As their bows twanged, Zenma Mandula of the Putrid Dugs raised her skull headed staff into the air with both hands, before thrusting the base into the ground and bellowing.

  “Ole Tao!”

  Immediately, the skull eyes glowed red as stone spears shot out from the tip in every direction. The effect reminded Mike of a shot-gun blast only instead of small pellets these were javelin-sized stones. There was no time to think or dodge. One second he was standing unharmed and fully shielded on top of a rocky outcrop and the next, he was being blasted off his feet as his Shadow Shield was utterly destroyed along with most of his Shadow Armor.

  Screaming in agony, Mike clawed at the shredded skin of his face as he tried to understand what had just happened. Thinking back to the magic attack, he realized the remaining pieces of the stone shaft that shattered against his Shadow Shield had hit his face with the force of an explosion. It honestly felt like he’d stopped a shotgun round of rock salt with his face. Scrabbling for purchase as his hearing faded in and out, he grimaced at the cries of his raid mates coming from all around him as he rolled onto his stomach.