by Jason Cheek
Domenic’s situation wasn’t doing any better. His quest had turned into something that sounded like the beginnings of a religious schism within the Temple of Light and his ‘House of Aequitas’ had been declared heretics from the local High priest of the Human capital. While it hadn’t turned into a bloodfest yet like Mike’s quest, it sounded like it was turning into the beginnings of a religious crusade. Already there were local forces forming to wipe out his House from the land. Jimmy had made it to Domenic’s starting area to give him a hand, but he was still too low of a level to help much. I was surprised to hear Jimmy had been willing to do a death run, since dying hurt so much in this game but he’d done it anyway. As soon as he heard Domenic was in trouble, Jimmy had stripped down to his loincloth, packed everything into his inventory and ran through the wilds while he was only level three. It had taken him three days of constant dying to make the trek from Tulduroc to Telrain, since he was in the Gnome starting area and Domenic was in the human area.
After my own experiences in the wilds, I couldn’t even imagine how many times he must have died, but that was Jimmy, stubborn as hell. John had also offered to help since he was in the human starting area. Unlike Jimmy, he wasn’t going to do any death runs, but he did promise to come as soon as he could safely make it through the wilds from where he was at. Knowing how John played, I expected that it was going to take awhile. With how fast John tended to level, I bet I could make it through this quest and across the mini-sea between us before John managed to level up high enough to give Domenic a hand.
I’d told Domenic I’d make it over to him as soon as I could, but first I had to get through this invasion and get my NPCs safely entrenched into BrokenFang Hold. I’d also need to figure out a way to deal with the local Syndicate fucks that were causing so many problems too before I headed out. If that all worked out, I’d make my way over to him as soon as I could. Who knows, maybe I’d end up with a secondary profession to go along with my Dark Magic Mastery. For now, I’d just have to play it loose.
The only really good news was that I managed to get an email to Yun and Starka about what was going on with the invasion. Due to the limitations of the in-game messaging system, there wasn’t any other way for me to get a message to Miya Faelwen to warn her about the invasion force headed to Delonshire or let the players I was supposed to be meeting up with this morning know I was running late and that our plans had changed. This was the only way I could make plans and get everyone moving if I wasn’t near a village or city where I could send a message through in-game.
Unfortunately, the news from Delonshire wasn’t good. Miya’s expedition to retake the mine had been put to a stop by The Syndicate. They’d managed to get the player base around Delonshire riled up about losing their local-instanced dungeon. The ensuing riot had forced the guards to draw back to Delonshire or be slaughtered. The players then had made a push to take over the city, but there ended up being enough guards to stop them.
Supposedly a bunch of players were now sitting in the local jail, while The Syndicate players who’d instigated the entire mess had gotten away scot-free. There was supposedly some sort of tense stalemate going on between the guards and the players who were blockading the mine-side of the town. While all of that sounded like a major mess, it had given me the inkling of a plan. Laying out my thoughts quickly in an email, I’d explained what I needed them to do when they logged into the game to give us a fighting chance.
By early morning, we’d reached the slope that led down to the trail at the base of the next highest portion of the mountain pass which happened to be not far from where I’d first rescued Ulia and Keela. Coming to a stop at the edge of the treeline, I signaled for a rest before scoping out the way ahead. A moment later, I heard Theric’s curse as he and Keela came to a stop next to us. Looking at the way before us, I could only agree with Theric’s reservations.
Unlike my first time through the pass, the weather was crystal clear for as far as the eye could see. Except for the chunks of ice and the windswept rocks, there was nothing to hide our passage over the top of the peak. We’d be visible to the invaders as soon as we started our climb. Even now I could see the leading edge of the invaders’ vanguard maybe two or three miles out. Seeing everyone’s eyes watching me as I turned around, I spoke with confidence.
“If we are going to live through this and save our people, then we need to head out now, or we’ll be overrun before we make it halfway up the mountain.”
“We’ll be overrun no matter what we do.” One of the male NPCs angrily spat in frustration.
“Not if we work together as a team.” I snapped back just as intensely. Seeing the man’s fear reflected in his eyes, I swept my gaze around the circle of worried faces.
“Look, I know this is going to be tough, but we can do this.” My face hardened as I continued. “We’ll do this because there is no other choice. Follow my orders, and we’ll get through this unless you want to go back to being chained cattle for those savages.”
Better to be determined than scared, I silently thought as I saw the growing resolve in the faces looking back at me. Letting a wry grin split my lips, I began giving orders. “Keela will take the lead with ten warriors to clear the way ahead, while Theric, Ulia, myself and the rest of the fighters will guard the rear.”
“Remember, all that we need to do is reach the top of the pass and then it’s all downhill. We’ll be halfway up the mountain before the fastest Goblins can even reach the base of the mountain and then they’ll have to catch us. If we do have to fight, we’ll do it together as we continue to fall back. Remember, we don’t need to defeat them. We just need to stay far enough ahead to lose them in the forest. Our only goal, for now, is reaching Requiem. We’ll worry about the rest later.” Seeing the spirited nods from the NPCs around me, I caught Ulia and Theric’s eyes as I stood up straight. “Now let’s form up and move out!”
I wasn’t sure how much my speech had helped to motivate everyone, but the words seemed to give the NPCs heart. Catching Keela’s eye, I stepped up closer to whisper in her ear. “Don’t wait up for us to catch up. Your job is to get everyone to safety and warn Requiem about what’s coming.”
I saw the wash of conflicting emotions pass over Keela’s face as she looked at the scared faces of the non-fighters and children huddled together. Turning back to me, she silently nodded in agreement as she twisted around to face me head-on. Hesitantly wrapping her arms around my shoulders, her lips brushed against mine in a chaste kiss. “Be safe.” She softly whispered, before turning away to stride to the group of fighters waiting for her. Without hesitating, she broke out into a fast jog heading towards the pass as the two groups fell in together.
Turning around to my group, I swore as I was brought up short by a familiar face. Meeting Brenna’s almond eyes, I groused in irritation. “You know I promised Rayne that I would bring you back to her. Why aren’t you headed out with Keela’s group?”
I had a split-second to realize my mistake as Brenna’s face twisted in anger. “Do you think I’m a helpless child? Or an honorless Light Elf?” Ignoring my placating hands, her voice rose to a shriek. “I am a Huntress! I will not run away while our people are in danger!”
“Brenna!” I shouted while darting forward. Catching the Huntress by the wrists, I pulled her into my chest cutting her off in mid-shriek. “I am sorry!” Manhandling her around to face me, I held her gaze repeating my apology.
“I am sorry, Brenna. You’re right. We need your skill with the bow if we are going to have any chance of saving our people.” I eased up my grip as soon as I could tell my words were penetrating through her righteous indignation as I lowered my voice. “I was just trying to keep my promise to Rayne.”
“Startum, we need to move out!”
Ulia’s shout brought me back to the issue at hand. Brenna either accepted the fact that I wasn’t trying to dishonor her as a warrior or she didn’t. Either way, I didn’t have the time to let her hurt feelings get in the
way of everyone’s survival. There was simply too much at risk. Releasing Brenna’s wrists, I let my Raid Leader persona out holding Brenna’s gaze. “Are we good?” Getting a hesitant nod from the beautiful woman, I swept my eyes over the rest of the group.
“Alright then, let’s move out,” I shouted out in a firm voice heading after the other two groups at a steady jog as the rest of the NPCs fell in behind me. “Brenna, your place is to keep centered at the back of the line. Ulia, Theric and I will hold the center. The rest of you will focus on holding the flanks.” Ignoring the dubious looks sent in my direction, I got everyone repositioned as we ran.
After years spent leading five, ten, twenty and even forty player raids throughout numerous online games, I was used to being in charge of the action as my Raid Leader persona easily settled over my shoulders. While the mask I’d suddenly put in place worked for these NPCs, a part of me had to laugh at the ridiculousness of my qualifications. I wasn’t ex-military. I wasn’t the old quarterback of my High School’s football team, nor had I graduated from some elite university that focused on training the leaders of the future. I’d done none of those things.
What I did have going for me was years of experience of leading successful first-person shooter teams and MMORPG raids. While that might not sound like anything special to a non-gamer, trust me when I say that it took some amazing leadership skills to get groups of forty plus primadonnas together to successfully complete a massive online raid that was four to six hour long with only a handful of drops to go around. You quickly learned to not take shit from anyone and how to get people organized in changing combat situations.
Sweeping my eyes across the coming battlefield, my mind began filling in the rough plan I’d come up with on the fly. We were about twenty yards behind the non-combatant group when the first shouts rang out from the invaders behind us. The groups ahead of us had made it a quarter of the way up the mountain before being discovered which I’d more or less expected. Looking over my shoulder as we hit the base of the pass, I roughly judged the distance and speed of the howling Goblins racing after us. Everything seemed to be falling into place better than I’d hoped.
There were hundreds of mobs racing up behind us, but, unlike a typical Romanesque force moving together in formation, these humanoids looked more like an undisciplined mob broken down into distinctive groupings a few hundred strong. While that meant we’d be facing smaller waves of attackers, the smaller groups really didn’t help the situation all that much since the disparity between us and the smallest attacking grouping was something like fourteen to a hundred. While that sounded like completely hopeless odds, we did have a few things going in our favor.
The first was terrain. Even though the trail at the base of the mountain started out around ten yards wide, it quickly shrank to around six yards at the halfway mark and became tighter the further up it went. While the Goblins could climb up the mountainside itself on either side of the trail, the going was extremely rough, and I doubt they could easily flank us as long as we kept falling back. Besides, some of the spots further up looked completely unpassable without climbing gear. Lastly, I did have a few tricks up my sleeves that I hoped would sow confusion in their ranks and hopefully keep us from being overwhelmed.
Unlike the two groups ahead of us and the enemies behind us, we weren’t running full out. There was no sense in exhausting ourselves out before we had to fight, so instead, my focus was climbing as far up the mountain pass as possible before the first wave reached us. Ignoring the nervous glances from the NPCs following me, I kept us moving at a steady pace as I kept an eye on the approaching horde.
It was easy to understand the NPCs fear. Knowing the Goblins would tear the flesh from our bones as easy as look at us was more than enough to induce fear in the strongest of hearts, myself included. Seriously, the thought of being captured by these mobs made me question how much pain the game developers had allowed for such situations, but, unlike my NPC compatriots, the shock of the charging horde itself didn’t hold the same overall terror one might expect. After years of gaming, I was somewhat desensitized to such sights. Feeling Ulia’s fingers dig into my shoulder, I heard her panicked voice next to my ear.
“By the Dark, why aren’t we getting the hell out of here? We’re going to be overrun before we reach the top!”
“Don’t worry; it’s all part of the plan,” I confidently answered as I snaked my arm around her back propelling her forward.
“Plan? What plan?” I heard Theric gasp out next to me.
“The plan I came up with so we could escape these assholes,” I said with more confidence than I felt. Seeing more than one head jerked around to look at me in alarm, I continued, this time speaking louder so that everyone could hear me. “We have to slow these fuckers and break them down into smaller chunks if we’re going to have any chance to escape but, to do that, everyone needs to work together and hold the line.”
Theric looked at me for a long soul-searching moment, before nodding in agreement. “As far as I’m concerned, you already did the impossible by breaking us free from Mergigoth Gutrippe at the center of his power. I’ll follow where you lead, milord.”
For a moment I didn’t know what to say as the rest of the NPCs echoed Theric’s words. Ulia’s knowing look over her shoulder said it all as I got my feelings back under control. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of having a group of people willing to lay their lives in your hands because they trust in your judgment and ability. I couldn’t help the wicked grin that came to my lips as I began laying out the plan. “Alright, here’s what we’re going to do…”
Falling back in combat in a fantasy world was way different than my time in Chaos Online. It was like watching the approach of a terrible train wreck in slow motion. There weren’t any plasma blasts, lasers or artillery rounds raining down around us from miles away. No, instead there were sporadic clusters of arrows that fell short of our position as we climbed higher and higher up the trail. Not that there was a question of the overwhelming violence that was slowly overtaking us. The shrill howls and nightmare faces twisted in savage hate were getting closer and closer.
The only good news about the whole assault was the lack of coordinated magic or range attacks raining down upon us, which was probably only due to the fact that the invader’s upper echelons had been wiped out the day before. Otherwise, I’m sure our situation would have been very different. I just hoped that my NPCs could actually fight back now that I’d completed the nightmare quest for House of Kayden. Watching the enemy spreading out like a black rot at the base of the mountain, I knew the answer to that question would be answered soon enough.
Behind me, I heard the twang of a bow as Brenna began sending arrow after arrow into the seething mass as everyone else drew their blades. Instead of coming to a stop and waiting for the assault, I kept everyone moving towards the top of the pass. As the distance between us closed to fifty yards, the front of the Goblins’ line broke into a sprint. At first, the lines flowed up the pass without any issue, but as they drew near the rocky walls began squeezing the Goblins charge together tighter and tighter. As the NPCs around me braced for the impending impact of the slathering horde, I caught Brenna’s eye as I jerked my chin towards the front yelling.
“Don’t hit the ones that are frozen.” I ignored her questioning look as I turned around and released my Frost Nova. Instantly a wave of ice washed over the front of the horde turning the first ten ranks into gobsicles. The NPCs around me froze in shocked surprise as the overwhelming attack came to a complete stop before our defensive line. As the Goblins in the rear began smashing at their own warriors’ backs to clear the way to their prey in their bloodlust, the entire vanguard broke down into a massive brawl. Without waiting to see the outcome, I began verbally badgering my people to climb faster as we broke into a controlled jog for the top of the pass. By the time the Goblins finally got their shit together, we were nearing the top of the pass.
Once again, we turned
to face the enemy as the Goblins closed the gap between us. Coming to a stop, all eyes anxiously watched the front lines close to within twenty feet. Although none of us understood the Goblins’ speech, there was no doubt about the meaning of their guttural shrieks as they raised their weapons above their heads. A grim smile split my lips as my crowd control spell’s time-out popped to ready. Sweeping my eyes across the men and women to either side of me, I released my Frost Nova to lock the front lines of the advancing horde down once again in a sheet of ice as I signaled for everyone to sprint for the peak. The rocky walls to either side of the trail fell away as we reached the crest. I saw the looks of horror reflected in the NPCs faces’ as they realized what the gently sloping sides of the pass meant.
Unfortunately, it was no surprise to me. I clearly remembered my fight from earlier with the Troll and knew I’d only get one more free shot at keeping the horde at bay, maybe two before the shit truly hit the fan. Coming to a stop, I called everyone together as my eyes searched the slope below. I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as I saw Keela and the non-combatants she was escorting disappearing into the treeline far below. Turning back to face the advancing Goblins, I spoke hurriedly.
“The good news is that the children and non-combatants should be able to escape without being caught.” Catching Brenna’s eye, I gave her a challenging look. “How fast can you run?”
“Faster than you on your best day.” Brenna shot back without hesitation as Ulia knowingly rolled her eyes at the other woman’s comment.
“Hold that thought; we’ll be testing it in a moment.” I shot back grinning at the suddenly worried look in her eyes as I scanned the faces of the rest of the NPCs. “The rest of you sprint for the treeline. Brenna and I will catch up with the rest of you there.”