by Jason Cheek
At some point, Thomas and Matt were battling shoulder to shoulder with Neysa and I as we fought to keep the endless flood of Worg Riders at bay, when my time-out for Blood Plague clicked available once again. Using my strength to push the Goblins back momentarily, I sheathed my dark blade and shouldered my shield in a practice motion as I spun around and drew the Greatsword of Corruption in one smooth strike. Mobs reeled back from the blade’s devastating swath as I triggered the weapon’s special attack. Bring the massive blade immediately back around; I slammed the great sword back in its sheath as I changed back over to my sword and board once again, while Neysa lunged at the Goblins with her snapping fangs.
Stepping back into our melee line, I was surprised to see a number of level 27 Zombie Goblins had joined our ranks. While none of the Zombies used any physical weapons, they were lightning fast with their bony hands and sharp teeth. Being immune to pain, their choice of attack was to leap on their prey to rip and bite them to death as the enemy uselessly stabbed back at them while being torn to bits. Neysa took one look at the undead creations and unhappily snorted as if to say ‘we don’t need those things’ before taking up her guard position at my back once again.
I couldn’t help but smile at the shocked looks on the Devil Dogs faces at the brutal savagery of the attacks. Most players pictured Zombies as the shuffling, slow-moving monsters like on the series The Walking Dead, but the Zombies in this game were more like those from the movie Dawn of the Dead. The only way to kill the undead creatures were to sever their heads, which was hard to do on anything that wasn’t at or around your same level. Even worse for the Worg Riders, none of their weapons were truly heavy enough to hack the Zombies apart easily. Except for maybe their hand-axes. While that would work, it would be like trying to hack someone’s arm off who didn’t feel pain with a hatchet while they tried to rip your throat out. Not the optimal weapon for the job.
The battle seemed to drag on forever as we fought against the enemy’s overwhelming numbers. The only reason we still had six of the Devil Dogs warriors still left standing was because we were near to a one-to-one ratio with priests to warriors. That and every level gain popped a player’s Hit Points and Mana back up to a 100%. With the high levels the Devil Dogs were fighting against and the initial damage I’d managed to inflict on the Worg Riders’ charge, there was enough initial kills that most of the surviving Devil Dogs had gained upwards to three or even four levels.
Even so, we were nearing the end of the line. I’d been holding out hope that the Devil Dogs killed at the beginning of the fight would have already returned to take some of the pressure off of us, but so far they were a no-show. Knowing that wasn’t Kenzie’s M.O. just made me worry that much more about what had changed to hold everyone up. No matter what had happened to our reinforcements, our only hope now was that we’d have the time needed to raise enough Zombies to turn the tide of battle. That was the strength and weakness of the Necromancer’s power, aka Dark magic in The World. Using the enemies’ dead to strengthen one’s own ranks to overwhelm the enemy. As the enemy weakened the Necromancer grew stronger, but only if they could hold out long enough at the beginning of the battle to get the undead wave rolling.
At one point in the fight, I saw Matt Darkhorse being dragged down by a group of Goblins. By then, the mages had managed to raise another eight Zombies, but it wasn’t enough to keep the pressing horde of Worg Riders at bay, and none of the rest of us were close enough to come to his aid. I triggered my Frost Nova spell as Matt slashed and kicked for all he was worth, but as soon as the spell was cast, more Goblins came clambering over their frozen comrades before Matt could climb back to his feet. Grabbing his shield and feet, they dragged him back kicking and screaming to their lines. I cried out for him to release his shield and use his dagger as his health began fluctuating like an ECG monitor going berserk as the four priests spammed him with back-to-back heals, but it wasn’t enough as the rest of the frozen Goblins were released from their icy prison and began hacking him to death.
Feeling clawed hands clutching at my shield, I began calling out warnings to the rest of the Devil Dogs not to be dragged to their deaths as I kicked my shield away and drew my Leeching Dagger of Piercing, while Neysa lunged around me to rip the face off of a particularly bold Goblin. Slamming my dagger through the shrieking mob’s throat, I forced the point up into its brain as my dark blade slid into the eye of the next Goblin rushing forward. As we both fell back, another eight Zombies rose to join our ranks as the battle went into overdrive. We nearly lost another three warriors to the Worg Riders new tactic, but the rangers guarding the priests leaped forward to drag two of the flailing players back to our ranks as the remaining Frost mages released their Frost Nova spells together in a massive wave of ice, giving us all a moment’s respite.
The two warriors scrambled to their feet as quickly as they could to reform our defensive circle, but it was already too late as more of the enemy flooded into the gap. Without being able to use our shields to form a defensive wall, the battle turned into a chaotic free-for-all as we struggled to stay alive and keep the mages out of combat during their three-minute cast of Raise Zombie. Even the rangers and priests were doing their best to protect the casters as I saw Jerome Thompson, one of the four Devil Dogs priests, throw himself into the mix. Standing before Sara Cruise as she cast, he used something that looked like military-grade Krav Maga to keep the Goblins at bay like some sort of crazy monk healer.
Once again another eight Zombies suddenly rose to their clawed feet from within the enemy ranks around us as the mages completed their cast. This brought the undead count up to twenty-something Zombies fighting alongside us as the newly raised Zombies leaped on top of the Goblins within our ranks in a preternatural flurry of claws and fangs.
The fight wasn’t like anything I’d ever experienced before. We fought in little clusters around the casting mages as Goblins and Worgs swarmed us en masse. One moment we’d be seconds away from a complete wipe and the next a group of feral undead would swarm over the Worg Riders within our ranks and drag them to the ground like a feral pack of wolves. We’d have a second for the priests to cast a heal or two before the next overwhelming wave was on top of us once again.
Still, no matter how hard we fought, it just wasn’t enough. The priests had used up the last of their Mana, but the surviving Devil Dogs’ Hit Points were still in the red. While the extra levels everyone had gained during the fighting had helped close the gap, the survivors were still three or four levels below that of the enemy. Without the rest of the Devil Dogs, we were losing the fight. As the next wave of Worg Riders began charging across the feeding Zombies, Thomas caught my eye shaking his head. Like me, he knew this wave would be our last.
Even though I could see on my HUD that the rest of the raid had respawned and were at full health, there’d been no time to look around for the missing players, and now it was too late. All around me the surviving Devil Dogs prepared themselves the best they could. Thomas fished a sword out from the pile of dead at his feet to dual-wield as he backed up next to Neysa who was standing at my side with her hackles raised. On my other side, Jerome took up a martial artist position with the rest of the priests as the survivors backed up nearly shoulder to shoulder around Sara and the rest of her mages hurriedly casting. The thought of failing now after we’d fought so hard pissed me the fuck off but there was nothing more we could do. By the time the Zombies were finished with their victims, there’d be nothing left of us but a bad memory or … I grimaced, was that a bad taste.
Just as the Worg Riders were nearly on top of us, I released my Frost Nova as I drew back my blades to strike. As the wave of ice washed over the front line of the Goblins, I saw a mass of black shadows suddenly appear behind the enemies’ frozen ranks. I immediately recognized Kenzie’s face as she plunged her daggers into the frozen Goblin’s back that was standing in front of Thomas. Before I could thrust my dark blade into the frozen mob standing before me, I saw Matt Darkh
orse slam his daggers home using a Sneak Attack. As the mob shrieked in agony, I silenced the disgusting bastard with a thrust to the throat as the battle suddenly went into overtime.
Twenty-five rogues turned the tide of battle as they fell back through our porous line, taking up positions of support as the Goblins sought to overwhelm us once again. Warriors braced and met the thrust head-on as groups of three and four rogues lunged forward to burn down the mob with their high damage combo attacks. Instead of still being too low level to inflict damage, the rogues tore into the mobs inflicting heavy damage with each special attack. They’d been close enough to get much of the experience from the raid’s previous kills since their levels were now in the low twenties. Between the additional help, increased levels and the Zombies, we were suddenly holding our own.
We fought for all we were worth as the next batch of Zombies climbed to their feet within the Worg Riders’ lines. By now there had to be over thirty Zombies fighting around us like crazed berserkers. It was about that time that I noticed that the enemies’ push began to lessen. As the Zombies dragged down the current swath of mobs we were fighting to the ground, I looked around in confusion for the next wave enemies, before realizing that the Worg Riders had fallen back for the first time in the fight.
For a second, I could only shake my head in stunned amazement that we were still alive. While my nightmare quest was completed, I still had no desire to die in the game if I could help it. Feeling Neysa lean heavily against my leg, I sheathed my blades as I patted her on the shoulder and began casting heals, while the surviving Devil Dogs looked at each other in confusion at the clashing sounds of battle that could still be heard all around us. It was the first time any of us had seen Worg Riders hesitate in their mindless attacks. The question was quickly cleared up a moment later as Kenzie charged forward shouting with Darkhorse and the rest of the rogues at her side.
“Don’t let them regroup! The rest of the guild is hammering them from the rear of their formation!”
“What the hell?” Thomas swore, snapping his head around to give me a what-the-fuck look as the rest of the surviving Devil Dogs looked around at each other hesitantly. I understood the look. How in the hell was the rest of the guild attacking the rear when they were so low. I gave him a silent shrug back as my hands continued moving through the complex cast. I didn’t understand it either. Finished with topping off Neysa and mine’s health off, I began casting heals on the rest of the survivors as Sara, and her mages waved their hands in a lifting motion to the feeding Zombies. As one the undead rose to their feet, with a flick of their wrists the mages sent the small horde of thirty-five Zombies racing after the Worg Riders as everyone else began readying their gear.
I saw Kenzie’s grimace before she faded back into stealth with the rest of her force as she realized none of us but the Zombies had headed out to follow her people. Seeing her look, Thomas began snapping out orders at everyone to prepare to move out, while irritably signaling for the priests and me to hurry up with the heals as he began poking through the pile of gear left over from the dead with the rest of the warriors.
Seeing Jerome’s patient smirk, I rolled my eyes back at the priest as the six of us hit the warriors and the rangers with a single round of heals, quickly topping off the melee classes’ health within a minute as I tried to push away my annoyance at Thomas’ irate attitude. While everyone needed healers in their group, most players tended to act like assholes once they had a healer on their team. Instead of sitting down and regenerating their health back on their own time and dime after combat, most melee classes tended to act like little princesses, expecting the healers in the group or raid to top of their health in-between combat regardless to the fact that it left the healer low on Mana for the next fight.
“Fucking-A! You heal somebody once, and they instantly start treating you like their personal heal bot.” I muttered, trying to remember that I’d asked the Devil Dogs to help me with my quest to save my people and Delonshire from the invaders as Thomas looted a shield. Seeing that everyone’s health was full, the warrior moved out at a trot after the Worg Riders as everyone in the raid was left scrambling to catch up to him. ‘I knew he had a thing for Kenzie, but that didn’t mean he had to be an ass.’ I grumbled silently.
Feeling my annoyance, Neysa jumped in front of me snapping at Thomas’ heels. As the Devil Dogs’ guild leader jumped back in surprise, she raced ahead giving the warrior a warning growl as we both took the lead in the charge. Looking back, I was glad to see he at least had the decency to give me a sheepish look as I drew the Greatsword of Corruption over my shoulder. Re-focusing my ire at the Worg Riders ahead of me, I raised the massive blade over my shoulder as I began pumping my legs feeling like a movie extra in Braveheart.
The ground around of the Goblins’ was littered with the bodies of the dead, and those dragged down by the Zombies. Roaring a wordless battle cry, I watch the Worg Riders stumble backward in fear as I closed the last five yards in a wild leap with my Greatsword of Corruption leading the way. The two-handed swing sent Goblins and Worgs reeling in a spray of blood and guts as I spun around using my momentum to clear the area around me of the living. Without hesitating, I triggered Blood Plague and Frost Nova as Neysa pounced on top of a Worg ripping its throat out.
Before the Worg Riders could recover, the rest of the Devil Dogs slammed into the line with a loud crash as all around us rogues appeared out of Stealth triggering their special attacks in a spray of blood. Instantly the mobs’ formation fell apart under the withering attack as Goblins and Worgs alike retreated in chaos trying to escape death.
Already I could see the backside of their lines collapsing under the weight of the respawned Devil Dogs’ and their Zombie pets. Matt and Terry Cobra were leading the charge in the middle of the lines as the mages behind me began locking down portions of the enemy with their Frost Novas as the rest of us swept over the remaining Worg Riders. It was bloody, chaotic work as we slaughtered the invading force to the last. As the fighting came to a stop, I saw everyone look around incredulously as we suddenly realized we’d won. Stepping up next to me, Kenzie grabbed Thomas’ wrist along with my own; she raised our arms into the air with a shout.
“Woohoo! We rock!” As one the entire raid roared back with a wordless shout at our victory as the Devil Dogs around us high-fived and patted each other on the back excitedly. I accepted a wet kiss on the lips from Kenzie and a relieved hug from Sara before Matt Cobra lifted me up in a bear hug as everyone laughed and cheered. Setting me down, Matt bellowed excitedly.
“Holy shit! That’s the most excitement I’ve had all week!”
“Ha!” I laughed back, clasping the big warrior on the shoulder. “We’re not finished yet. Just wait until we hit the main force.” The ‘oh shit’ look on the ex-marine’s face made me laugh even harder as he turned around to talk to his guildmates. Squatting down, I hugged Neysa to my chest while giving her soft words of praise as I stroked her furry head while everyone around us slowly calmed down from the adrenaline rush of battle. Seeing Thomas and Kenzie headed my way, I gave Neysa a final pat before standing back up as Kenzie spoke up happily.
“Dammit Star, everyone in the guild just gained five to six levels in one go! We’ve got to group together more often.”
“I have to admit, that was pretty awesome, but,” Thomas said, looking nervously in the direction of the main force of invaders in the distance, “shouldn’t we be moving out?”
“Yea, it’s time we implement the next part of the plan and got moving.” I grinned, excitedly rubbing my hands together. “Having all of these corpses readily available should help out a lot.”
Shouting out orders, Thomas and Kenzie quickly got their subcommanders back on track as the entire raid got to work. Raising the rest of the Zombies ended up being quicker then I’d originally thought. When the majority of the raid had been taken out at the beginning of the battle, the survivors had grouped up on the field behind the attackers. This had allowe
d them to get their share of experience points and put them in a perfect position to raise their undead pets. While the group was solely made up of low Intelligence and high Stamina/Agility melee classes, each rogue and warrior had high enough Intelligence stats to raise at least one or two Zombies as pets, which was the only reason they’d been able to lead a successful counterattack against the rear of the enemy. That was because of the 50 points of Intelligence that were required to raise each pet.
Even with the required three minute casts time, we were able to move out surprisingly fairly quickly once I got everyone trained up since the mages and priests had already maxed out their pets during the battle. There were more than a few cracks made at the low number of Zombies I could raise in comparison to some of the other casters in the raid which caused me to flip-off a number of Devil Dogs. While the teasing was somewhat annoying, I rolled with the punches easy enough. It wasn’t meant in a bad way, besides I was built more like a Red mage than a typical caster. If anything, it made everyone a little more comfortable with my overpowered build, since I wasn’t the best at everything.
The raid moved out as soon as I’d raised my third Zombie. The nine minutes it took gave everyone more than enough time to loot the dead and don their new gear. Instead of moving relatively silently with our group of fifty-one players and Neysa, our raid now had 83 Zombies trampling after us through the underbrush. Needless to say, the noise was incredibly loud but not enough for us to forgo the ability of nearly tripling our force. The only good thing was that the Zombies weren’t slow, basically blasting through any bushes and low-hanging branches in their way. I knew we were close to our destination before we could even see Requiem as the distant sounds of battle came to my ears, although it wasn’t until we were nearing the meadow that the sound turned into an overwhelming roar.