by Brent Roth
The Dragon’s Wrath, as they say.
Raising my hand and signaling a stop, I kneeled down to survey the scene before me with my [Keen Sight] as we waited patiently in the snow. A few humanoid-shaped glimmers appeared in the distance but all of them were inside the village, all save for two that occupied the tower directly outside.
Twenty minutes had passed us by while the allotted time was thirty minutes. We would need to keep moving. There was quite a distance to cover between the trees and the village, with open fields of snow filling the space between. We needed to sneak in, to enter within firing range undetected as best as we could before the enemy could sortie.
“Stay low, move slowly but steadily and a ten count before you follow,” I whispered as the message was relayed down the line. Keeping my spot as the point man, I stepped out into the open field with my back and knees bent in a crouching position, moving slowly but steadily forward as ten seconds passed before the next man followed.
Five minutes after leaving the forest, we were within one-hundred yards of the village and were quickly closing in. Dropping myself to a prone position, I motioned for the rest of the troops to wait for my signal. The individuals on watch had been looking our way for the past minute and although they couldn’t see us out in the dark, we could see them standing in front of the flames.
Their silhouettes blocking the flames as they faced in our direction, I needed to remove them from the picture before we could carry on. Lying on my belly while using my arms and legs to perform a fast crawl, the cold snow had nearly numbed my face as it remained inches away. Entering within thirty yards of the tower, the light produced by the flames had illuminated the base of the tower and provided little cover.
The barren base was free of clutter and was absent of the darkness that I readily relied on. Lying still at the edge of the darkness while staring at the glistening white snow that reflected the flames directly in front, I toyed with the idea of using magic to finish the job. I had one minute left before the second ship would begin its movement towards the village, starting some three-miles away and behind the trees where we last played.
As I was thinking over my options with time dwindling down, a noise from within the walls caused the watchmen to turn their heads as I stared at their every move. Jumping up from my position I sprinted towards the base of the tower as I did everything in my power to tread as lightly as possible, softening the blows of my feet on the snow in an attempt to avoid the loud crunches that would give me away.
Reaching the base of the tower within seconds, I immediately jumped up onto the ladder and began my climb without a care to what was behind or above. Every second counting, I needed to silence them before they could send out an alarm.
“Hey did you hear that?” said a man.
“Yeah someone walking by the tower but I can’t see anything… someone going out for a hunt?” answered another as I hung onto the ladder directly below the trap door that would lead me up and into the interior of the watch tower.
“Should we blow the horn?” asked the first man.
“The gate’s still closed… yeah, blow the horn this is suspicious,” replied the second.
“I thought I saw movement out there, I knew it!” uttered the first as he grew excited and the sounds of shuffling could be heard through the wooden floor boards.
Opening the trap door and hoisting myself up with half of the motion of a muscle-up and dip, I quickly turned my head and saw the man with the horn at his lips. Grabbing his ankle and yanking as hard as I could, he fell to the floor with a loud thud as I bit down on my knife and held onto his body to support myself.
Feet dangling out of the hole with only my belly over the board, I held on tightly with my left hand as I pulled the knife out from between my teeth and quickly stabbed the man in the neck with my right. Warm blood pouring out of his neck as he gurgled and tried to make sounds, the other man turned to me in shock as he grabbed his axe and attempted to swing down on me.
Turning my face without time to react, I let go of the dying man and contorted my body as I absorbed the hit that pierced through my shoulder. Grabbing the head of the axe as I slipped and fell through the hole, the man had tried to fight the pull and came crashing down with me. Falling fifteen feet to the snow floor below with a thud that knocked the wind out of me, I gasped in an attempt to breathe as the snow barely cushioned and quietened the fall.
The man that fell with me was in the same situation as he coughed and rolled to his side in an attempt to get up but failed as he was still stunned and fazed by the hard fall. Winded, he tried to call out but the lack of air in his lungs betrayed him as a hoarse whisper was all that made it out. Regaining my composure before him, I crawled to him with my strength returning and grabbed him from behind as he reached his feet.
Grabbing his helmet that had been strapped around his chin, I pulled back and down as I thrust a knee into his back, using the edge of the helmet against the back of his neck in an attempt to snap his spine. Yanking as hard as I could, the man’s body weight carried forward as his head was cranked back but the soft edge of the leather helmet proved useless as the man tumbled to the floor still alive.
Switching the placement of my hand while still holding onto his helmet, I used the extra grip provided by the leather to help twist to the left as I wrapped his body up with my right arm and held him in place. Tugging and fighting the entire way through, the incredible strength of his neck muscles resisting my pull the entire way, I finally felt the tear of the muscles as they gave out and a small audible pop followed.
With the man now limp in my arms and my heart racing through my ears, I looked around and saw that no one had showed. The gates remained closed. Catching my breath as I dragged the body of the deceased towards the wooden walls, I left him lying against the palisade in a position that was hard to see.
Waving my hand slowly back and forth with a fire burning on my fingertips, I looked out into the darkness and could hardly see anything. Making my way over to the ladder, I climbed back up to the tower to find that the second sentry was still barely alive as a pool of blood had surrounded him. The knife having only pierced one artery and exiting through the windpipe, he couldn’t make a sound as he choked on his own blood.
Pulling the knife out and inserting it once into his chest, I put the NPC out of his misery as I turned and looked at the inside of the village. Thirty seconds later, fourteen miniature flames appeared in the distance roughly eighty yards away. Ten seconds later and the first salvo was released.
It was now 11:33 PM.
Fourteen arrows took flight as their little fiery trails whizzed through the dark night sky, crossing over the moon before they landed directly into the center of the roof of the first structure. Ten seconds later the second structure was hit as the flames had begun to spread and alarms started to sound.
Men and women began to shout as I watched from the tower, a front row seat of the mayhem and destruction. A minute into the siege and six buildings were completely ablaze as the fires began to spread on their own. Guild members had attempted to put the blaze out but quickly gave up as they mobilized in the center of the village.
Shrill screams of NPCs filled the air as goosebumps formed on my arms but I held steady and continued to watch. The players had made their minds up and by the time the eleventh building had been hit, they were standing at the gates ready to move. The wooden gate opened slowly as I slid down the ladder of the tower and began my sprint in the direction of my troops, having decided to stick with the original plan over any spur of the moment decisions.
The arrows of the enemy fell behind me as I continued to run while spells fizzled out at their maximum range not even remotely close. Covering the distance in a matter of seconds, I turned around and watched as the horde of players began their charge into the darkness of the night. The only thing that gave us away were the small fires that burned at the feet of each warrior. Fourteen bowmen with six casters waiting behind them, rea
dy to cover them.
And as I reached them, the voice of Havardr could be heard loud and clear.
“Eighteen!” he called out as they took aim and released simultaneously.
Turning back to the mass of players that were quickly closing the distance, fifty yards separated us as I motioned for the troops to prepare.
“Skirmish!” I shouted out as I dropped my stance and began to gather electricity around me. Giving out one last command before whispering my three verse chant to myself, I practically bellowed out my last words. “Cover fire in five!”
As my words reached the ears of the mages around me, lightning had gathered in my palms as four distinct bolts of electricity twirled and spun together. Forming into a collection of raw power that danced in the darkness. White and blue light emanating from my hands and surrounding me as the sheer size of the bolt continued to grow with the more power that I put into it. With the distance to target closing rapidly at only twenty yards out, I released.
“Chain Lightning!” I shouted while thrusting my open palms forward.
“Chain Lightning!” yelled Astrid as she stood to my right at let go.
“Chain Lightning!” screamed Soren as he stayed on my left and released.
“Chain Lightning!” called out another man to the side.
“Chain Lightning!” exclaimed the buxom female.
And in the blink of an eye the entire snowy field before us turned to day for an instant as lightning streaked across the plains and straight into the mass of thirty-some players, arcing and bouncing while sending bodies tumbling and crashing into the dirt and snow. The concentrated magic had been focused on the center of the pack and the muffled screams of shock were imagined as nearly ten bodies hit the floor and never got up.
Twenty plus players remaining, I signaled to my units as I began to cast the next spell. Watching out of the corner of my eye as the shadows of my troops disappeared from my peripheral vision, the twenty or so players were within ten yards now as their voices could be heard. Static having been built around me as I kneeled down on the ground, the first five men to reach me raised their swords and spears and lunged at me without hesitation.
Believing in their speed as I remained motionless and defenseless on the ground, the first man to reach me saw at the last second the burst of electricity that surged outwards as I released a [Discharge]. Bodies collided with the wall of energy and were repelled back as they flew through the air and fell into their friends and guild mates directly behind.
Drawing my two-handed bearded axe as the wave of players crashed into me, the first victim was a female rogue that believed her reaction time was faster than mine. With my axe kept back and high while waiting for this exact moment, she lunged and attempted a side stab as I dropped the axe and sheared her shoulder clean off.
Grunting with the swing as I let out a sharp exhale, my eyes began to glow red as I entered the [Enraged State] and activated [Frenzy]. Anger and rage overflowing as my senses were sharpened and dulled at the same time, I honed in on the armless rogue before me and lopped her other arm off as she fell back in an attempt to flee.
A quick sword thrust entered my side as the man had snuck around me but in a flash four lightning bolts surged past, with one clipping the man and knocking him back. Stunned in place as a wave of arrows whizzed by and into the man and those behind him, he collapsed to the ground a pincushion filled with nearly a dozen arrows as his chest caught fire.
With covering fire now being provided, I rushed into the thick of the fight as the players swarmed around me and focused only on me. The mass of players too many to count, I cut through the first shield-bearer with ease as he raised his shield only to have it shattered as I broke through and cleaved his face. Kicking the axe free as rogues surrounded me and began to slice and stab, I repositioned with a quick [Flash Step] as I exited the circle and reappeared on the outside.
A second wave of [Chain Lightning] followed as all of the players turned and followed the trail of lightning that had been left behind by me. Distracted by the sudden disappearance of their target for a split-second, the players were hit from the side completely unaware.
As I watched the vast destruction of the four bolts of chain lightning bounce around and arc from player to player, three more bodies collapsed to the floor without a sound. Immediately in reaction, five pairs of glowing white hands appeared from the back of the pack as I realized what was happening. Raising my axe and charging back into the thick of the fight as more arrows flew across my visual screen, I brutally hacked into an unsuspecting healer as he fell to the floor separated at the waist.
Spears were shoved in my direction as retaliation as one pierced my side and another my leg but a [Holy Light] from one of my casters soon reached me and with the warm golden light engulfing me, my wounds rapidly healed. Relaxing my shoulders as the men stared at me with spears still embedded, I whipped my axe around and took a head with it. Grabbing the shaft of the second spear, I pulled on it and yanked the man forward as he slipped in the snow and fell on his face. Turning his spear around with a quick twirl, I stabbed him in the back with his own weapon and then turned to the remaining players.
Then shouts filled the air.
“IGNORE HIM, KILL THE NPCS!”
In less than five seconds the remaining mob of players dashed towards the tree line as one swordsman stayed behind to duel me. He was the same two-handed swordsman that dueled me in Dragon’s Breach… a familiar foe.
Turning my head quickly to the side, I could see that my units had already retreated and easily maintained a fifty yard separation. In my moment of distraction the man in front of me leaped forward and delivered a [Heavy Blow] that was barely countered as my axe was knocked backwards and my knees buckled.
Struggling to maintain my stance in the slippery snow, the swordsman pressed the attack as he dropped another swing from the right, arcing down towards my shoulder as I was forced to hit the dirt. Kicking up dirt and snow as I slid and rolled on the ground, the fresh powder stuck to my face and clouded my vision as the blur of a sword descended on my position.
Raising my axe to meet the blow, it shattered the shaft and landed cleanly, passing through my right collarbone and down through my chest and into the dirt below.
Instantly coughing up blood as my right lung had been wounded, the man struggled to pull out his sword as his eyes shined in the moonlight. A grin was on his face as he stared at me, lying in a pool of my own blood.
“You’ll die today asshole,” he said calmly.
“Maybe, but you’ll go first,” I replied with a grin of my own.
Shooting out a quick [Lightning Bolt] while on my back, it caught him off-guard as he seized up from the paralyzing effects. Kicking at his shins, he lost his balance and fell to the ground as I stumbled backwards and performed a quick heal. Regaining a large portion of my health and closing the gaping wound in one swift movement, the man got back to his feet with confusion clearly strewn across his face.
I wanted to use [Arc Lightning] to finish him where he stood but I needed the mana, the only problem was that my opportunity to use that mana was quickly disappearing as I looked out and saw the mass of enemy players nearing the forest’s edge. They were less than a minute away from the forest line.
“I don’t have time for you right now, so you’ll have to die,” I stated wryly as his smile had turned into a grimace, anger clearly visible on his face.
Pulling a knife out of one of my sheaths, he watched as he gripped his claymore and began to laugh. The scene in front of him must have struck him as a comedy.
“A knife? You’ll kill me with a-” he mocked but was unable to finish as I used a [Flash Step] to appear in front of him and slit his throat with the momentum carrying me past him. All of it performed in one smooth motion, his body collapsed to the floor as I continued to run. Running in the direction of the enemy players that were giving chase to my NPCs, they had nearly a thirty second head start but my in-game legs were
more developed than theirs.
Gaining on them from behind as they were forty seconds away from the forest’s edge, I continued to increase my pace as I finally entered within thirty yards of them and had less than ten seconds before they would disappear into the forest. Stopping immediately, I drew my hands together and then raised them to the sky as electricity arced between my fingertips. Starting my chant, I began to mutter the verses as the spell started to develop.
“Through power, darkness turns to light, render all to ash,” I said quietly as I focused at a point on the ground slightly ahead of the players. Five seconds to go before they would reach the edge, my location was solidified at the very entrance of the forest as the spell materialized in the sky above.
Electricity dissipating from my fingertips as a dark cloud appeared above the location that had been targeted, the two-second cast time plus three seconds for the chanted verses had been finished as I waited for the five-second delay. The dark cloud above their heads had begun to spark as lightning could be seen rolling in and out along the edges but to the unsuspecting players below, the thought to look up never occurred to them.
With two seconds to go, the cloud began to turn white as lightning filled its entirety and then after the last second passed, lightning appeared. Real lightning as a bolt from the sky surged downwards and hit the ground with a thunderous roar that split my ears and a flash that truly blinded me.
Covering my face with my hands as I stared on with blurry eyes, the scene before me was of utter havoc. Bodies of the players that had been tightly packed together in their formation now littered the floor as burnt corpses with fresh smoke rising slightly off the ground. Snow had melted from the heat as the pure energy discharged through the bodies of the players and into the ground, leaving nothing but puddles and scorched earth.
Walking up to the remains of the players, a few were still alive as a handful were slightly behind and out of the lethal range. A few had made it into the forest but by their screams in the dark, it was apparent that my troops had taken care of them.