by Jakob Tanner
We made camp behind a large slab of rock jutting out of the land. The rock protected our bonfire from being swept into pure smoke by the wind. I agreed to take first watch while everyone else rested. I leaned my head against the slab of rock and let the warmth of the crackling fire beat against my skin. I opened up the druid skill tree in my HUD and reviewed the new unlockable abilities.
So the new unlockable skills were all second tier, level-24 abilities, which included: sun beam, moonskin, nature’s cure, barkskin, claw, and bite. Sun beam was an improved version of solar blast, dealing more damage for longer. It had a less wide radius for its AoE, but made up for it with shooting in a single direction for a prolonged period of time. It felt like a cool no-brainer of a pick, but I held off on unlocking it while I reviewed the other choices. Moonskin was cool too: it allowed me to go invisible for up to a minute and unlike hunter’s stance, I would be able to move around while invisible. The move only worked at night, however, and it was automatically negated if I attacked. It was still a pretty sweet stealth move, though. Nature’s cure was a druid version of status cure which felt pretty bleh; it was mainly significant because it was the required stepping stone to unlock nature’s revival at level 28, but having my own raise skill would be awesome, especially for quests where we had to split the party and leave Kari behind. Barkskin felt like another similar move to what I’d already had with stone skin from my apprentice mage skillset. Then there were the two moves, claw and bite, which would improve my physical fighting and damage while in feral mode.
In the end, I unlocked sun beam, moonskin, claw, and bite. I decided to hold off on the nature guardian abilities until I was able to also unlock nature’s revival.
I stood up and patted dirt off my pants. I was keen to try out one of my new abilities and I had another hour until I was supposed to wake up Jackson for his turn at watch. I walked a few paces away from the fire and under the darkness of night, I triggered moonskin. My body went transparent, see-through. I ran out into the dark field. I didn’t stop. I wanted to know what a full minute of invisibility felt like. I stopped running when I heard a sprout in the ground. I recognized it straightaway. A dread worm poking its head out from beneath the dirt. I didn’t see any signs of dread worms across the dark fields. There was something though. The silhouettes of boars in the distance. They had glowing red eyes, shining out across the night.
The red eyes got closer. I still had eighteen seconds with moonskin. I ran towards them. My stomach churned at the sight of the creatures: scraggly, dripping with mud from the ground. Their stomachs were hollow, rib cages sticking out.
These weren’t normal boars. These boars were undead.
The ground erupted again and in the distance, there was the shadow of a dread worm, and behind it, three harpies. All glowing red eyes.
All the monsters we had slain during the day had come back to life at night in a horrible zombie form. I guess I knew why they called this place the Dead Plains.
I bolted back towards the campsite. I shook Serena awake first.
“Serena,” I yelled. “Wake up! We’re under attack.”
Her eyes burst open and she instantly reached for her sword resting right beside her. She was on her feet in seconds, sword raised and ready to crush skulls.
I didn’t even have to wake Jackson or Will, they were already on their feet. They must have heard me when I woke Serena. Jackson nudged Kari awake. The only one still sleeping was Shade. I ran up to him and shook him.
“Shade! Get up, we’re under attack.”
The cat-man kept his eyes closed. “Sure, whatever.” He rolled over.
Serena sighed with dramatic frustration. She stabbed her sword into the ground and then promptly stomped over to the two us. She shoved me out of the way, picked Shade up by the shoulders and shook him in the air.
“GET UP! WE’RE UNDER ATTACK BY ZOMBIE WORMS!”
Shade turned his head from side to side, eyes barely opening into little slits. “Why are you talking so loud?”
The ground erupted at our feet. Smoke from the fire swirled from the disruption of the dirt around us. The area got darker somehow, the faint bits of stars and moonlight completely disappearing. An undead dread worm had found our camp and was now lording over us. It looked as horrible as the dread worm had been during the day, except now half of its skin was falling off and its bendable bones were revealed to us. Worse, we were the very reason it was now undead. It was pissed and hungry for brains, specifically, our brains. It was brain vengeance.
“Serena, behind you,” shouted Shade, still held up in the air by my scary badass blade soldier girlfriend. “There’s an undead dread worm. Why didn’t you wake me up and tell me about this thing?”
Serena threw Shade to the ground and ran back to her sword. Jackson meanwhile got to work pummeling punches into the dread worm’s ribs. Will was throwing in the ranged-DPS with bright red bursts of demonic warlock magic. Kari threw out golden glowing buffs onto each of them, which somehow drew the ire of the dread worm who then thrust its chomping rotten teeth at the little fox healer. Kari stepped back.
“Um, you guys,” she said. “A little help?”
“I gotcha,” said Serena, charge striking towards the dread worm and then doing an uppercut slash along its limbs. The undead worm screeched, despite very little damage being inflicted.
The harpies and boars charged towards our campsite. The noise and commotion, plus the dwindling light of the fire, must have caught their attention.
I electric blinked to the other side of the campsite so I was beside Kari. I bent over. “Hop on.”
“Uhh, what?”
“Do as I say,” I said. “Remember we have the key to defeating these guys.”
Kari jumped onto my back and I power jumped to the top of our boulder-turned-camp roof.
“Clay, what the heebie-jeebies are you doing?” yelled Shade.
“Heebie-jeebies?” I said to him, confused.
“My bad,” whispered Kari. “I taught him the phrase wrong.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “More enemies are incoming. Kite them all and bring them back to here.”
Serena shook her head, “The tank always has to do the dirty work, doesn’t she?” She assumed a battle stance and let out a roar, “Protect Thy Allies.”
She ran away from the campsite. The undead dread worm dove back underground and chased after her. I threw out a burst of lightning at her feet, buffing her with shocking speed. She unleashed spinning blade next, twirling her sword, becoming a tornado of destruction, ripping through the gang of undead boars and hogs. They screeched and squealed and joined the line-up of monsters chasing after Serena, aggroed to full. Next were the undead harpies. Serena charge striked into the air and slashed manically at the trio of harpies. She didn’t do much damage, but they were now part of the crew of monsters pissed off and hungry for Serena’s flesh. She pulled them all back to base.
“Uhh, are we supposed to wait here until she brings a horde of destruction back?” asked Shade.
“Get behind the rock, guys,” I said. “Kari and I will be dealing the death blow.”
Serena was running back towards the campsite now. The group of monsters were a messy swirl of black shadow and glowing violent red eyes.
“Get ready Kari,” I said. I want you to summon your strongest AoE healing spell and hold it in your arms until I tell you.”
“Got it,” said Kari determinedly. She lifted her arms up above her head. One hand held her holy magic staff and the other channeled the energy absorbed by said powerful weapon.
I stretched out my arms and kept my palms wide open.
Serena was meters away from us now.
A giant golden orb emanated from Kari’s hands. Her arms trembled and shook as she held the magical orb in her arms, the ability gaining in power and strength the longer she held it.
“I hope you have a plan Clay,” yelled Serena, darting away from the monstrous horde.
She
was at the campsite now. The group of roving undead monsters we’d slain had arrived, licking their rotten lips. Well, I had three words for them: no dinner tonight.
“Unleash the heal, Kari,” I yelled.
Kari whipped the bright big orb of golden light down towards the ground.
The monsters screeched and squirmed and scurried away from the light, but it was too late. It was already spreading. I let out an air blast towards them to swish and swirl the curative holy magic even further. Kari’s curing magic ripped through the undead horde, disintegrating bones and flesh into black ash. In one hit, many of the boars and hogs were dead. Like fully-not-coming-back-to-bug-us-ever-again dead. Half of the dread worm had disintegrated and now it squirmed on the ground like a ferocious tadpole. The undead harpies were weakened as well. Each one had lost a wing and were flopping on the ground.
“One more blast, Kari,” I said. I lifted my chest triggering, healing mist. I swished up the mist with an air blast and launched the curative projectile at the monsters below. My blast hit one of the harpies. The creature disintegrated into black dust.
Kari followed up on my attack with another giant AoE cure spell. The giant healing orb crashed down onto the remaining and squirming undead monsters like an asteroid. The undead were wiped out.
“Heck yeah,” I said and high-fived Kari.
Kari did a victory dance, cheering, “I love it when healing magic kills.”
“Okay don’t get too bloodthirsty now,” I laughed. “You ARE our healer, don’t forget.”
Kari chuckled and shook her hand, as if to say, don’t worry about it.
Below us, Shade poked his head out from behind the rock. “Hey! Are all the undead baddies gone?”
Serena stepped back into our shamble of a campsite. “Yep, they’re all gone. No thanks to you, Shade.”
“What was I supposed to do?” complained the thief. “Stab them in the back with my ineffective daggers?”
Serena shrugged. “Fair enough, I guess. I wanna see you try kiting a whole horde of undead beasts in the middle of the night.”
Shade respectively bowed at Serena. “I am impressed Ms. Serena, it was deftly handled.”
“Pff. You want something cat-man,” said Serena.
“Only to never be required to do what you just bravely did.”
“Seriously guys,” I said, landing back on the ground of the campsite, Kari hanging onto my back. “We all did great.”
Jackson kept his arms crossed and his eyes closed. “Do you guys hear that?”
We all looked at each other. Shade was the first to speak. “No. Don’t hear anything mate. Are you finally losing it, old man?”
“Listen closer,” said Jackson.
We all closed our eyes. I made sure to really listen. There was tiny whistle. Maybe a chirp.
“I do hear something,” I said. “Birds?”
“Exactly,” said Jackson. “It’s almost morning.”
“I see what you’re getting at Jackson,” said Will, who’d been quiet up until then. “We have a choice to make. We still have a day and a half’s travel across the Dead Plains. We haven’t rested really. Do we continue across today and then suffer another onslaught of undead respawning this coming evening; or, do we rest today and travel by night with few to no mobs to bother us?”
“I vote sleep,” said Shade, yawning and stretching his arms as he spoke.
Serena rubbed her eyes. “I dunno. What do you think, Clay?”
The faintest cracks of dim orange sunlight were creeping through the clouds of the night, or now, early morning.
“I vote we sleep,” I said. “And I’m not taking first watch.”
I was deep in sleep when somebody shook me awake. It took me a moment to get my bearings and then I recognized Will was standing over me.
“What’s going—“
Will clapped his hand against my mouth. He lifted a finger to his lips.
“Nod if you understand me,” he whispered.
I nodded.
“Okay I’m going to uncover your mouth,” he said. “Follow me. Don’t speak.”
Will let go of my mouth and I got to my feet. Everyone was still sleeping around the campsite. What the heck was happening? Will tip-toed over to the edge of our boulder-turned bonfire shield. He peeked his head around it and quickly put his back against the wall. He switched places with me and nudged me to peer around.
I poked my head around the rock.
My stomach lurched.
I instantly pulled my head back under the cover of rock.
A whole squad of shadow wraiths were patrolling the open fields.
The Arethkarians were here.
13
My heart thumped. My ears rang with panic. What are we going to do?
A message chimed in my HUD.
Will: We can talk here.
I nodded my head. Smart.
Clay: What are we going to do? We need to wake up the others.
Will: And do what?
Clay: We run.
Will: They’ll see us in all directions. Our best bet is to finish them off before they have a chance to report back to their superiors.
Clay: Wipe them? But they’re players!
Will: They’ll still respawn, remember?
Clay: We could status cure them and help them remove their slave necklaces.
Will: It’s risky. What happens when they don’t want to fight alongside us?
Clay: I don’t see that happening. Arethkar is evil.
Will: Did every single citizen stay with you at Crystal Port or did some of them leave? These shadow wraiths are out here hunting you. They look like elite shadow hunters to me. They won’t want to join your side.
Clay: I find that very hard to believe.
Will: You’re making a mistake.
Clay: I know you’re used to being player 1, making all the decisions, while I sit around and watch, but that’s not how it works anymore, alright? You sent me into this game and I had to survive and make decisions for yourself.
Will’s face squirmed, knotting up as he read my message.
Will: I sent you!? Last time I checked, you volunteered to come here with my help. Otherwise you’d be another flesh-eater rummaging around an abandoned garbage heap looking for something to chew on.
Clay: Oh screw you man. You helped me out? By sending me into a glitched up game where you’d negotiated some botched attempt at feudal control. Thank you so much big bro. I’m waking up the others.
I turned away from our silent argument and crouched down above Serena. I nudged her. I didn’t want to shake her in the same panic-stricken way from last night’s fight with the undead. These were even more extreme circumstances. If we screwed up here with these wraiths, we’d be endangering both our plan to defeat Arethkar as well as all our allies at Crystal Port.
Serena’s eyes opened and I held a finger to my lip. Her eyes widened at the sight of me, hovering over her. She reached for her blade and stood up. She sent me a message in party chat.
Serena: What’s happening now?
Clay: Some of the citizens who stayed behind in Crystal Port may not have been as loyal as we hoped. They may have tracked us or something. Whatever happened, Arethkar’s been able to send shadow wraiths here to the Dead Plains.
Serena: Damn. What’s the plan then?
Will: Ask Clay. He’s the boss.
Serena looked to Will and back to me. I just shook my head.
Clay: Plan-A is get everyone up, dismantle the campsite and see if we can escape undetected. Plan-B is if we get spotted; we fight and try and free the players.
Serena: If they spot us won’t they instantly be able to send via party chat to their masters they’ve spotted us.
Will: Not quite. The enslavement necklace magitech effectively turns players into trash mobs, removing their normal player functions like their head-up displays and other features.
Clay: Sounds like another reason to help them.
Serena
: Let’s stick with Plan-A for now. C’mon I’ll wake up Shade.
Clay: Make sure you keep him quiet.
Serena went over and woke him up by placing her hand over his mouth. He squirmed on the ground and we messaged him in party chat to calm down.
Jackson was awake before we even went to nudge him. He was standing in his typical disgruntled Rorn pose: arms crossed, eyes wincing in discontent. All of his camp gear was packed up and he quietly destroyed the fire and minimized any trace of it. We woke Kari last. The poor thing, her eyes bulged with fear, thinking the undead were back. Nope. It was worse.
Clay: From what I can see, they’re pacing the central area of the plains. If we keep our heads tucked beneath the tall grass and hang to the eastern ridge we will be able to bypass them. How’s everyone’s stealth skills?
Shade: Trust me guys, mine are fantastic.
I rolled my eyes.
Clay: Everyone except Shade, whose min/maxed stealth skills are beyond ridiculous.
I got a group of empty faces.
Serena: Sorry Clay. My class is all about wielding a sword bigger than every single Rorn and Muumuu person in the game. Being inconspicuous isn’t exactly its specialty.
Kari: Same—though my stature will make it easy to stay hidden.
Jackson: Not as small as Kari, but bending my old back a little awkwardly for a day won’t break it too bad.
The sky was overcast. I was frustrated moonskin didn’t work during the day. It meant my only stealth move was hunter’s stance, which didn’t offer much maneuverability.
Clay: Okay, everyone I’l lead the way. We will travel in a single file line with Shade at the back, removing our tracks as we go. Sound good everyone? Nod if you agree.