by Jason Cheek
To my surprise, I could see that The World had actually updated the new troopers’ class to match the naming convention that I was using. That meant that there were now House of Kayden Troopers and House of Kayden Dragoons. It made me curious as to what that meant within The World’s rules. Did that give them additional bonuses to attacks or simply reflected the official naming convention that I’d artificially created?
In front of those troopers stood three familiar faces on mounts waiting to give orders as needed. The two closest I immediately recognized as being Rayne and Brenna, while Keela was easy enough to identify with her leather robes and black armor. Before I could do more than raise a hand in greeting, my attention was pulled away by the troopers nearest to me calling out in greeting as we rode past.
Oddly enough, the Dwarves didn’t do much more than give a stern nod as my eyes met theirs. Otherwise, they silently watched everyone getting into position and only raised a fuss when the Uten Syn guild members tried pushing their way in front of them to stand at the base of the wall. I quickly asked Krishna to have his people not make a big deal about the Dwarves gruff words and just take up positions behind them.
Knowing Domenic, I figured he was probably fit to be tied after seeing everyone else leveling up around him throughout the day. There was no doubt in my mind that he’d given specific orders for his Dwarves to stay at the wall so they could to get in the first shots against the enemy. Not that I particularly blamed him for wanting to show off his skills at setting up defenses or getting the jump on earning extra experience for him and his people in the process. Especially not after being stuck behind his castle walls for two weeks while the Chaos Storm Alliance kept him from leveling up. Though, I had a feeling this wasn’t going to go down the way that he’d envisioned it.
I smirked at that thought as my eyes searched ahead along the outside of the wall. Due to being mounted and the steep slope of the trail, I was only partially able to make out the heads of the Orc zombies that were standing in the wide ditch that I’d asked to be cut into the stone at the base of the wall. Seeing that nearly all of the construction that I’d asked him to do had been completed, I relaxed somewhat knowing that the strategy that I’d come up with should take care of the rest. Anything extra Domenic had managed to build was just a bonus.
That was because there was no doubt in my mind that Domenic had put his personal touch on the defenses. Not that, that was particularly a bad thing. I expected nothing less. It was all part of the competition we had going on between us which could get pretty intense at times. Like most of my long-term gaming friends, he was always trying to prove he was the better strategist, I laughed in spite of myself, not that he’d managed to pull that off any better than anyone else.
“What the hell do you mean you’re following Lord Ironwolf’s battle plan?” I heard a familiar voice shout in frustration as we approached the group gathered at the center of the wall.
“Those troopers are set up as a rear guard and tactical reinforcements in case our primary lines get over run,” General Dell continued calmly as Ulia’s face darkened scrunching up in barely concealed anger at Domenic’s words.
“Rear guard and tactical reinforcements?” Domenic said, whirling around to turn his ire on the veteran swordsman, “Do you know what those words even mean?” Pressing his fingers against his eyelids to forcibly calm himself down, he tried another tactic, “For the last time, I’m the leader in charge of setting up the defenses of this redoubt, not Lord Ironwolf.”
My eyes quickly scanned the group seeing Domenic going at it head-to-head with Ulia and General Dell. The rest of our friends were mostly keeping out of it, but from the concerned look on Kitty’s face, Glen had obviously gotten involved in the argument as well. There seemed to be some tension with Fluffy and Tony but I wasn’t sure what side they were on. Though, for the most part, the rest of my friends seemed to be backing Domenic. Not surprising since they’d all been teamed up together for so long fighting the PKers and they didn’t seem to think too much of NPCs in general.
“Would you give it a rest Dom and just go with the plan?” Jill’s voice called out from behind me in annoyance as we rode up to the group and came to a stop. The exasperated look on Domenic’s face would’ve been funny as hell if we weren’t in such a desperate situation.
“Seriously, what the fuck man,” AJ said in the same tone, “you know we’ve been using this tactic throughout the entire day without any issues.”
“Why are you throwing a hissy-fit about it now,” Krystal wearily asked in confusion.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Domenic huffed, “because we were the ones left behind to set up all of these defenses by ourselves to fight the horde while the rest of you guys were busy leveling up.”
“It’s called buying time for everyone to get away,” AJ said with a note of irritation reflected in his voice.
“You were chosen because you’re our best at constructing base defenses,” Jill said in derision as all of our friends laughed. It was well known in our gaming group that Domenic sucked at setting up base defenses quickly.
“Suck it, Jill,” Domenic said, flipping her off. Even though he sounded angry, it was obvious to anyone who knew him that he was struggling to hold back a grin. Knowing your own weaknesses and improving them was a major part of our group’s focus, so he knew as well as the rest of us did about his weakness in that area. Though, one of the ways we chose to help motivate each other to get better was by unmercifully ripping on one another. “In the last two weeks of fighting off that siege of assholes, I’ve gotten much better at building up defenses,” he turned to give me a look, “and I’m telling you right here and now, this is the last time we get left behind while everyone else goes out to level up.” Before I could comment back, Hefe surprised me by speaking up.
“Oh, I’ve gotta see that one,” Hefe said, slapping his armored knee as he busted out laughing from between Bonnie Smash’s thighs. Taking a deep breath, he momentarily paused to point a shaking finger at Domenic, “I can see your Dwarves thick stumpy legs pumping in a blur to keep up with everyone’s mounts as we charge the Orcs across the field,” he let out another peel of laughter, before continuing with tears in his eyes, “that’s sure to make us a mint on our Twitch channels.”
“Says the buddy fucker of the group,” Domenic snapped as his voice took on a hard note as he glared up at the Gnome.
“Look Dom,” Hefe said, obviously distressed at having his mistakes aired after thinking everything was good, “I already apologized to everyone about that shit.”
“You didn’t apologize to me,” Domenic said in a cold tone.
“Come on, man, give me a break,” Hefe said, running a nervous hand through his long-blond hair, “How can I apologize when you refuse to speak with me?”
“Do you guys mind working that out offline,” I asked, urging Neysa to step in-between the two of them, “because we’re kind of busy here?”
As Domenic unhappily eyed the distraught Hefe, I continued in a conciliatory tone. Mainly, I tried to put myself in my friends’ place that hadn’t been able to join in on the cavalry charges because they hadn’t purchased any mounts of their own. That, I suddenly realized, this was really about one of those ever-going challenges we always seemed to have going on between us for who was the best tactician and players in our gaming group.
“It sounds like you guys put a lot of effort into getting the defenses set up to fuck these Orcs up,” I said, seeing everyone that had been left behind nodding in agreement.
“Yeah, we spent a mint on buying magic items and spells to fight these assholes back in Palnisdale,” Domenic muttered as Tony and Glen silently nodded, “instead of a bunch of mounts.”
“Yeah, some of us were thinking about the battle ahead,” Tony said, not that I was going to argue with him on how helpful the mounts had been for the entire group.
“So how about a little contest?” I said, almost laughing out loud as the group began to stir in ex
citement. Obviously, this was what they had been itching for all along. “You guys show off what you’ve put together for say five minutes or until the Orcs reach our lines, and then we’ll show you the new tactics that we came up with for fighting these guys throughout the day,” a cocky grin came to my lips as I continued, “the group with the most Orcs killed wins.”
“What do we win besides bragging rights,” Glen hungrily asked, as Kitty and Fluffy rolled their eyes at their husbands’ antics while Domenic happily stood up straighter.
“You get to use our mounts to conduct your own charges throughout the day tomorrow while the rest of us run on foot with the troopers. We’ll also be responsible for setting the defenses for tomorrow night,” I said laying it on thick. Sometimes, you had to know what made people tick to properly motivate them to make poor decisions, “Though, if you lose, then you’ll stop your bitching at not having mounts and suck it up.”
“And have to make dinner for us tonight,” Krystal added, as the rest of my friends started getting in on the challenge.
“How fair is that?” Tony complained, elbowing Glen in the ribs as he tried to get better odds for the bet, “You guys out level us by at least ten levels.”
“We can’t help it if you guys are a bunch of lowbies,” AJ smugly said as the other group groaned.
“How about we even it out this way,” I quickly said, knowing that I had them hooked. Obviously, this was their plan all along. Not that I blamed Tony for trying to get as much of a handicap as he could get. It was a smart move and I saluted him for coming up with it. “We’ll give you a bonus of ten times.”
“Times ten?” Glen said not getting it at first, as AJ and Hefe glanced at each other in consternation. His eyes widened as he suddenly understood what I was saying, “You have to kill ten times the amount of Orcs that we do to win?”
“Yep,” I said, not batting an eye.
“You sure about that Jay,” AJ asked, speaking up for the two of them as Krishna and Thomas eyes got big when they realized what I meant.
“You guys sure you want to go up against Jay after he’s been perfecting his tactics for killing Orcs throughout the entire day,” Jill mockingly asked, not worried at all that we might lose the bet. While she loved to give me shit, after playing together for so long together, she was usually the one that was in my corner whenever the shit hit the fan … or in this case, people were talking smack. She exaggeratedly rolled a strand of her hair around a long finger giving the boys a saucy look, “For full disclosure’s sake, Jay has a new AOE spell that he’s been jonesing to use all day, so basically you’ll be going up against his new tactics with your tried-and-true defensive set up.”
“Only if the Devil Dogs and Uten Syn guilds are willing to fight with us,” Domenic argumentatively said, “and you can’t use any of the reserve troopers you have at the rear.”
“Sure, as long as I can use the Dragoons that I’ve been training up and no one uses my new AOE spell during your five minutes,” I agreeably said as I nodded to Thomas and Krishna, “and I get to use their guilds’ melee help for my five minutes.”
Domenic and the boys leaned in to discuss the matter as I glanced back down the trail. I expected the Orcs to come boiling over the hump in full pursuit at any moment. All of this playful back and forth didn’t bother me too much, because Domenic and my friends didn’t fully understand what was at stake.
Due to their lower-levels, they’d mostly played a support role the day before and hadn’t been a direct part of the fighting throughout the day. That wasn’t anything against their skills, it was just the practical nature of needing everyone to stay far enough ahead of the horde to not be caught in the crush of their numbers. That unfortunately meant they truly didn’t fully understand what they were up against.
The other elephant in the room that no one seemed to be getting was what would happen if we lost the fight here and now? I knew the answer to that question and it had been haunting me every fight. It meant that we lost everything. Without the additional House of Kayden troopers that I’d managed to get under my banner, there was no chance in hell that we would be able to stop the Hobgoblin invasion that was headed for BrokenFang Hold. Even then, I would argue that it was going to come down to lots of luck and grit.
That was the one constant thought that was always in the back of my mind. Which was probably why the need to constantly retreat throughout the day hadn’t hit my friends as hard as it had hit me. After doing so many charges, they’d gotten cocky at being able to kill so many Orcs without any deaths of our own. But, for now, it was the time to put up or shut up.
“What’s this new AOE spell that he picked up,” Domenic warily asked as I posted the Dark Lance spell in raid chat.
“Your fucking Dark magic direct damage spells completely suck,” Tony said, shaking his head unbelievably as he read the spell’s description.
“So, are we in,” Glen asked, cocking his head at Tony, Domenic, and John who walked up with an excited grin.
“Only if I get to ride Star’s wolf,” Domenic said going for the gold.
“Damn, I was going to call dibs on that,” John mockingly complained as the rest of our friends rolled their eyes at him barking up the wrong tree. That was a little bit over the line and he knew it.
‘I’ll rip his face off,’ Neysa growled as Helgath shifted unhappily in my arms. Not that either of them was actually worried about losing the bet. It was the point of the matter that upset them more than anything.
“Sure thing,” I said without batting an eye. A win was a win. If we fought these bastards to a standstill, I wasn’t going to complain how it was done.
“You’re on,” Domenic said, after trading a knowing look with Glen, John, and Tony. The four of them high-fived just as the Orcs came roaring over the hump down the trail. Excitedly turning away, the entire group took off heading for their places on the line as Domenic excitedly yelled in raid chat, “Let’s show them how it’s done people!”
“Are you really sure about this?” Thomas asked, as Krishna nodded wide-eyed in agreement.
“You’re good,” I said, glancing back at the wall of Orcs rushing up the trail towards our defenses as I gave them a shit-eating grin, “just follow the letter of the bet.”
“You’ve got it,” Krishna said, as he galloped off with Phoenix and Angie.
“This should be interesting,” Thomas said, as Kenzie gave me a sour look.
“Your friend is an asshole,” Kenzie grunted.
“At least, this will shut up his bitching,” I said, giving her a helpful smile.
“Only if you win the bet,” Kenzie unhappily replied.
“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” Terry Cobra said, giving me a wink.
“Are you guys coming or not?” Domenic excitedly called out in raid chat as the horde slammed into the stone spikes. Instantly, a mass of Earth elementals rose up out of the ground and started pounding the Orcs as the mass of bodies behind them continued pushing them forward.
“Let’s join the defensive line,” Thomas called out to his people as he rode off.
“I’m so conflicted,” I heard Kenzie say as they rode away.
“Are you sure about this milord,” General Dell nervously asked as soon as it was just our people left.
“Sure am,” I said, giving him a clap on the shoulder as I turned to Ulia, “Good job on keeping him on track.”
“We still didn’t get the defenses up the trail finished like you wanted,” Ulia said as her lips turned down in a frown.
“Hopefully, we won’t need it,” I said not overtly concerned as my eyes momentarily studied the slope, before turning back to my subordinates, “Still, good job on annoying him to the point of making the bet.”
“I think that was all you, Star,” Ulia said, rolling her eyes, “Your friends,” she said the word like a curse, “wouldn’t stop carrying on about how unfair it was that they were stuck back in the rear while you guys were out having all the
fun.”
“Some fun,” Neristhana said, the exhaustion she felt clear to hear in her voice.
“Not that I don’t love slaughtering Orcs,” Fylreh agreed, stifling a yawn, “but that was some hard fighting.” She suddenly froze, understanding the implied insult as she gave Helgath an apologetic side-look, “No offense intended-”
“None taken,” Helgath replied as her yellow cat-eyes blazed, “and I fully agree.” Looking out across the horde that was making their way through the literal minefield of magic traps, her voice lowered to a whisper, “There will never be enough deaths to satisfy my hunger for what those monsters put me through as a slave.”
“Umm yeah,” Ulia said, glancing at the Half-Orc as Fylreh took a half-step back at the vehemence ladened within those words. A second later, the Swordswoman continued with a smirk, “Either way, if it means peace and quiet for tomorrow, I’m not complaining.” I could’ve hugged her for not going on about whether or not we were going to manage to stop the horde.
“Dell explained to you the basic strategy that we’re going to be using with the Dragoons,” I asked, as Ulia gave me an affirmative nod. Glancing at the time on my HUD, I sat up straight on Neysa’s back as I let my Guild Leader persona take full control, “Good, then get everyone ready and in position. We’ve got five minutes before we’re up.”
“Yes milord,” both Ulia and Dell replied, giving me a fist salute. As they rode away, I saw Rani hanging back. I thought that meant she was wanting a more up-close experience for the coming battle, when she surprised me by speaking up.
“You know you’re all going to die here,” Rani cockily said, as if she were rating my performance on some virtual chart in her head. Seeing Neristhana and Fylreh reaching for their weapons, I silently signaled for them not to attack as the V-MMORG Admin obliviously continued in an arrogant tone, “I was honestly surprised that you made it this far,” she shrugged, “but it’s not like you ever had any chance of outrunning the horde and making it back to Darom.”