by Troy Osgood
“The patrol has to have a forward camp somewhere,” the older Ranger continued.
“They came from the west,” Ganner supplied.
Which really didn’t tell them anything. Were they heading away from the camp? Heading back to it? Did their patrol go in a circle? A straight line from one camp to another? The Expedition soldiers didn’t seem that attentive. They weren’t forward scouts for the army, just a patrol for the camp. Which would seem to indicate it was close.
Hall closed his eyes, activating Shared Vision.
His view of looking at the trees, the trunks and the ground changed. Now he was looking down at the sea of green, the details greater, clearer. Pike screeched a welcome. The dragonhawk flapped his wings, flying higher into the sky. He circled, eyes searching. Hall could make out the type of tree, even this high up. The leaves were in detail, the shape, number of points. He could see his group, forms visible through the gaps. Using that as their center point, Pike spread out from there, starting to the west.
Hall could see the waters of Graymalkin Lake in the distance, shining in the sun. Beyond, many miles, was a gray line that had to be the Frost Tips. Looking to the north, through Pike’s eyes, Hall saw the northern edge of the mountains, even smaller. He could see where the lake’s waters ended, a line against the trees.
Between the water’s edge and the mountains, Hall thought he saw something. Sensed something, more accurately. His eyes were drawn there. He thought he could see a hill, feel a dark power spreading out.
It had to be his imagination. He knew the general location of Warfang Hill. Knew they suspected it as being the source of the demonic corruption. It seemed logical that he would think he could see it.
There was no way he truly could.
Turning away from there, focusing on finding the camp, Hall couldn’t shake the feeling that he had sensed the demonic energy coming from the hill.
It didn’t take long before Pike found what they were searching for. The clearing was small, maybe an hour’s walk to the northwest. Flying over, staying high, the dragonhawk’s sharp eyes could pick out details that Hall never would have been able to. Hall wasn’t sure from this height if he could have seen anything at all.
The clearing was just a gap in the trees, maybe only twenty feet. Pike could see where a couple of trees had fallen over, possibly from disease or a storm, creating the gap in the canopy. Arrayed around the edge, under the branches, were tents, a firepit in the middle of the clearing. Maybe a dozen people could be seen. Their uniforms matched those of the patrol. Even with Pike’s vision, it was hard to pick out the details that would mark each soldier’s class or function. There was a mix of the three human races, even what could have been a couple of Half-Elves.
Pike flew over, circling around to the south.
Hall wanted to take another pass over, flying lower, but decided not to. Not that he suspected any of the Expedition soldiers would be watching the sky, but if they were, the same bird flying over their location twice might be suspicious.
Disconnecting from Pike’s mind, Hall opened his eyes. The world was fuzzy, taking a couple of seconds to come back into focus. It was always that way after ending Shared Vision, Hall having to orientate himself to the world around him. Everyone was watching.
“It’s that way,” he said, pointing to the northwest. “Maybe an hour from here.”
Hall explained the layout that he could see, the clearing and the tents, the dozen soldiers. They all assumed there would be more.
“Nothing of value,” Roxhard muttered. “Just this.”
He held the wand that the Witch had had through his belt. It was about a foot long, a smooth dark wood shaft with a small green jewel at the top. He handed it to Sharra. The Shaman looked at it, holding it before Tulla.
“I can only Scry once a day,” she said in her tiny voice.
Sharra nodded, putting the wand in her inventory pouch.
“Not even any money,” Roxhard continued. “We could take the weapons and armor to melt down?”
“No. We’re weeks from anywhere that could use it, and don’t need it taking up the space,” Hall answered.
The magical inventory pouches ignored weight, so that wouldn’t be a concern, but they didn’t have infinite capacity. That was another thing from the old game, pre-Glitch Sky Realms Online, that Hall had started to learn to ignore. His pouch could carry twenty items. In the old game, he would have upgraded to a larger one by now. Would have gone through a couple of upgrades. Probably have a forty-item pouch. In the early levels, he was always at maximum capacity, filling the pouches with everything that he could possibly sell to earn gold. Post-Glitch, starting out at level one, he had the same philosophy until he discovered how hard it was to gain the items. Now he didn’t bother.
They did tend to take all the weapons and armor they could find, the crafters in Skara Brae smelting it down or taking it apart for usable material. But that was more of needing material then collecting to sell. He did want to take the metal, but there was no telling what else they would encounter in the Northern Territories. Inventory space was more important.
“Let’s get moving,” Dain ordered.
There were more than twelve soldiers. It looked to be a dozen.
Hall had a hard time counting them. The trees and movement got in the way. He could see the clearing, see a fire just getting started. There were ten or so soldiers around it. The ring of tents around the perimeter were easy to count. It was when they spread out in the trees that he started having issues. They kept close together, not spreading out that much, but the circle pattern was lost. Sometimes there were two tents between trees, sometimes the spacing only allowing one. The men and women weren’t making it easy either, going about the camp. Barely any sat around the tents.
He could see a couple of officers walking around, the reason the soldiers tried to look busy.
There were guards spaced throughout the trees in a way that they had line of sight on each other. Watch in a forest was a difficult thing. There were trees in the way, odd shadows that could play tricks as the soldiers moved to avoid the trees.
Hall and the others couldn’t get too close because of the guards, who looked to be about a dozen feet from the tents. They would make any attack difficult. The space between the guards didn’t help.
At least the soldiers weren’t paying much attention.
Dain had explained that the Rangers and their allies, the few militia the towns had, were pulled back. There was nothing up here for the Expedition forces to worry about. They weren’t moving either, just waiting for the bulk of their main army to arrive.
Hall figured there were at least another two, maybe three, camps like this one spread from the shores of Graymalkin to the shores of Loch Hedn.
He had raised the number of soldiers to two dozen, outnumbering his group but not by much. It gave the Expedition forces enough of an advantage that he didn’t just want to charge blindly into the fight.
Skill Gain!
Strategy Rank Two +.1
Hall looked at the skill notification. He hadn’t really done anything, just thought about the plan of action, and it appeared. He still had no idea what the skill really did. He got gains when he thought of or made a good tactical decision. Which made sense, it was called Strategy. But he didn’t know what it did, what effect it had on his actions. Every skill made a quantifiable change to his abilities, body, defense or attacks. But neither he nor Seo could figure out what Strategy did.
It didn’t help that no one had heard of the skill before.
He pushed it out of his mind. Not the time or place. Focusing on the camp, he again tried to get a more accurate count. He was on his fifth tent when a figure emerged. Tall and lean, not dressed like the Expedition soldiers. Wearing a white robe in blue trim, the figure had long hair that was mostly white but with a blue tint. Turning, heading away from the fire, Hall could see the figure’s white skin.
A Norn.
What was a No
rn doing here?
He thought back to the battles on Huntley. Iron, another player, had gathered an army and started conquering the island. Hall and his friends had been brought unwillingly into the conflict between Iron’s Army and a tribe of Storvgarde called the Svertleim. That tribe had Norn allies. Norns who had somehow summoned a demon. Norns who were allied with the Svertleim because they were hunting for someone, or someones, called Champions.
THE LONG SCROLL III
You have learned that the Norns allied with the Svertleim are part of the Cerulean Regency, one of the nine Nornic ruling families that want to make a bid for power. They have allied with some mystery others to kill some entities called the Champions. Find out more about the Cerulean Regency and the Champions.
Learn more about the Champions 0/1
Learn more about the Cerulean Regency’s allies 0/1
Reward: +100 experience.
Hall dismissed the quest log. There was nothing indicating that this Norn was part of the Cerulean Regency, but Hall figured he was. Too big a coincidence for another of the Nornic ruling families to be working outside their race. Norns were an isolated race except for the few players who had played one. They rarely ever dealt with other races, preferring to stay in their own islands.
Following the Norn’s movement through the camp, Hall cursed as the Norn got as far as he could see. Too many trees and tents in the way. Before the Norn could disappear, another figure joined him. This one was taller, broader, more muscled. And had red skin. Even from as far away as he was, Hall recognized one of the Desmarik.
Chapter 30
“A warrior, not a summoner,” Hall told the rest of the group.
They were gathered beneath a fallen tree. One that had come down recently. The leaves were still green and full, most not broken off, providing a measure of cover. Three of the Rangers were away, spread out to keep watch for any Expedition patrols. Hall and Dain had gone ahead to scout the camp, which was a half mile away.
Now both were back and briefing the others.
Hall had cleared a space on the ground, free of rocks, leaves, and pine needles. Using a stick, he traced a rough layout of the camp.
Skill Gain!
Cartography Rank Three +.1
“Does that mean there will be no demons?” Dain asked.
“We should prepare for at least one,” Sharra replied. “A warrior might be given control of one. But only one. And a minor demon only.”
Hall hadn’t seen one, but Sharra was the expert. If she thought there might be one, they’d assume there would be a demon. Even minor demons could be a tough fight.
“What’s the plan?” Roxhard asked.
Hall shrugged, looking at Dain. “We’re not going to be able to do a stealth attack, they’re too spread out.”
“Agreed,” the older Ranger said. “Our best plan will be to take out a couple of the sentries and advance into the camp through that gap.”
Hall looked back to the layout he had sketched. It was crude but served its purpose.
“I say we go here and here,” he told the group, using the stick he held to point.
Hall shifted his feet, trying not to make any noise. Behind him, he could feel the presence of Jackoby and Roxhard. Behind them were Leigh and Sharra, along with Angus. Also with them was one of the Loch Hedn Druids, Tello, there to just provide healing if needed. All were crouched behind trees, just waiting.
The lone sentry stood about twenty feet away, others twenty to thirty feet away in a rough circle shape. Moving with Stealth, Caryn made her slow way toward the sentry. Hall was amazed at how she moved. He had a very low Stealth score. Hers had to be high, the way she was moving so gracefully, darting from tree to tree with no sound. She’d dive to the ground, crawl forward, rise in a smooth motion, somehow finding places to hide where there shouldn’t have been any. He wondered when it had gotten as high as it must have been.
Somewhere, a couple of hundred feet away, one of the Rangers was doing the same thing.
Slowly Caryn crept her way to the sentry.
Hall held his breath as she froze, the sentry almost turning to look directly at her. She didn’t move, staying behind a tree that was barely wide enough to hide her slender figure. The sentry turned, and Caryn dashed across the last ten feet between them, her swords out.
He must have heard her, turning at the last second. Too late. Caryn’s twin blades sliced across the sentry’s body. He fell, barely making a sound.
But he did make a sound.
The thud against the ground was loud, his sword hitting the tree and then falling to clang against a rock.
Caryn froze, turning to face the camp. Hall could see people looking her way, drawn by the noise. First one, who had been close but turned away from the sentry. He now looked at Caryn, eyes lifting in shock, starting to shout. Hall activated Leap. He crashed through the lower branches, arm raised to shield his face. His bare arm got some small scrapes.
He landed in front of the soldier just as the man shouted. The rest of the camp stirred as the soldier’s shout of warning became one of pain. Hall’s spear burst through his leather armor, slamming out the man’s back. He looked down at the spear through his chest, eyes rising to look at Hall. They glazed over as Hall kicked, forcing the dying man off his spear.
Shouts filled the camp.
Hall didn’t look back to see if the others had followed. He couldn’t. He had three Expedition soldiers running his way. They were in a mix of leather, none matching. One only had leather pants, no vest. It looked like he had been taking his armor off when the alarm went out. All three had swords, only one a shield. Hall caught a descending sword on his new buckler, shifting to send the sword flying past.
He activated Sweeping Strike, the tip of his spear slicing across the three soldiers’ chests. The two in leather armor only took a little damage, but the one in the shirt grunted, falling back as the tip cut a red line across his body, blood dripping down. He shifted his grip on the spear, driving the butt end into the chest of one of the soldiers. This gave him the space he needed to swing it around, stepping to the side to avoid an attack, driving the tip of the spear into the side of the rightmost soldier. The man grunted, tried to get his sword around to either cut the spear in half or slice into Hall.
But Hall managed to step ahead of the sword, pulling the spear with him. He moved to the soldier’s side, the spear tip twisting. Kicking out, he sent the soldier into the one next to him, both stumbling. The spear was pulled out, a large red stain appearing on the Expedition soldier’s side.
The shirted soldier tried to swing his sword around, but the other two got in his way. Hall stabbed forward with his spear, catching the man just under the arm. Hall stepped forward, pushing the spear deeper. The man screamed in pain, dropping to the ground.
Pulling the ironwood spear out, Hall shifted his grip, spinning the spear around his body, slamming it into one of the other soldiers. The tip went in through the chest, breaking through bone and into the heart. Giving one final gasp and shudder, the body fell limp.
Taking the spear with it.
The weapon was yanked out of Hall’s grasp. He had tried pulling the weapon back, but the tip caught on bone. With no time to twist the spear out, Hall stepped back as the last soldier gained his feet.
Hall tried to draw his sword, but the Expedition Bladeswinger was fast. Leading with the large shield, the man pushed Hall back. Following with a swing of his longsword, Hall barely got out of the way. The man was pushing him back into the camp. Hall could hear noises behind him. Shouting, the sounds of fighting, but he couldn’t turn around to look.
A bolt of lightning shot out, slamming into the back of the Bladeswinger. He stumbled forward, smoke curling up from the scorched leather. Turning, he caught a face full of talon. Pike screeched, his sharp talons tearing bloody gashes across the soldier’s face. Hall got his short sword drawn, slashing out. The soldier fell to the ground, bleeding from multiple wounds.
Turning to face the camp, Hall stepped back. Sheathing his sword, no threats nearby, he grabbed the shaft of his spear. Twisting the tip, he stomped down on the man’s chest, cracking the bone enough to yank the spear free.
He surveyed the battle. The Expedition camp was in chaos. The Breakridge Irregulars were all engaged with Expedition soldiers. Sharra and Leigh stood back-to-back, throwing spells at any soldiers who presented a target. Angus roamed around them, running into a Bladeswinger that got too close, sending the man flying through the air to crash into a tree.
He didn’t get up.
Roxhard streaked through a clear space between trees, axe swinging into another soldier. The running Warden slammed into the falling soldier, the man rolling across the ground. Roxhard followed, axe chopping down. He looked around for another target.
Further beyond, Jackoby stood against two soldiers. He blocked one strike with his shield, the hammer slamming into the second.
Hall couldn’t see Caryn, but knew she would be somewhere, cutting through the Expedition soldiers. He took a couple of steps, Pike disappearing into the trees. Where were the Norn and Desmarik? Taking another step forward, to the side to see past some trees, Hall heard the snapping of a branch, a shadow falling over him.
He twisted to the side, feeling intense pain in his shoulder. The cut was shallow, the blade drawing a thin line down his arm. Continuing his rotation, Hall kicked out as he came around, leg driving his boot into the soldier’s side. The man grunted, stumbling. Grabbing his spear in both hands, feeling pain shoot down his left arm, Hall slammed the spear into the stumbling soldier.
It wasn’t a solid hit, connecting and drawing blood, but not enough to seriously hurt the soldier. He regained his feet, managing to twist and bring his shield in to block Hall’s follow-up attack. Sword swung, Hall pushing it away with the spear.
The shield slammed forward, catching Hall in his shoulder. He stumbled back, almost dropping the spear. The soldier took advantage, pressing his attack. Hall barely got the buckler up in time to deflect the sword swing, stepping around the attempt at another shield bash. He could feel the blow ringing through his arm.