by Wade Adrian
“He’s busy.” Toby lifted his hand as the sword reappeared. He cast it out again, striking more. Each one he hit turned to yell at him, their eyes fixed. He was careful to avoid archers. He didn’t need those kinds of headaches.
He cast the sword again and again, gathering attention from dozens of orcs. They howled at being unable to reach him and clawed at each other trying to get closer.
The shambling mass of orcs below grew as those trying to reach him swung and climbed over those who were uninterested, but were set against their own by not understanding why they were being struck.
“Huh.” Amos tilted his head. “I guess we did make them kinda stupid.”
“Aggro is aggro.” Toby shrugged. “Those ones are mad at me, those ones are not. Without a shared goal they can work against each other, as you suggested.”
“Psh.” He scoffed. “This ain’t on me, man.”
Claire shook her head as she lifted a hand. White light washed over Toby as his health was replenished. It took two more casts to get him up to full. “Yeesh, you’re like a bottomless hit point pit.”
“Oh, I’ve seen the bottom. I don’t like it. Always a good idea to throw a few more in.”
“Oh-ho. Looks like Paul’s caution is rubbing off on you.”
“Being alive seems preferable to being dead.” He shrugged.
The orcs below swung and fought one another, several still focused entirely on trying to reach Toby. He swung only when one got to the top of the wall, and then only to knock them back down. They would land among their own and cause more confusion and chaos.
Claire tilted her head as she watched the madness below. “Well, that’s going to take forever. What’s the next step?”
“Well, someone like Jesse with some big booms might help.”
Claire’s head whipped around. “She does not. She’s a Bcup.”
“What?” Toby tilted his head. “No. ‘Booms.’ Like explosion. She has AoE attacks.”
“Oh.” Claire blinked a few times and gave a curt nod. “Right.” She whistled. “Carol, come here.” She waved.
It took a few moments for the mage to appear, her floppy hat bounced around as she climbed up onto the wall. “Sup?”
Claire pointed over the side. “Got a mosh pit. Blow it up.”
Carol leaned out to look over the side. “How did you manage that?”
Amos shook his head. “Madness. Half of them want to kill Tobin, they are fighting to get to him, the ones in the way are fighting back. Unfortunately, while they do seem to be occupied, they aren’t hurting each other very much.”
“Mmm.” She nodded. “I can help with that… but that will make them all want to kill me.”
Toby held up Soulbreaker. “That’s what we’re for. They won’t make it that far, and Claire will keep an eye on you.”
Carol shrugged as she raised her hands. “Eh, who wants to live forever?”
Great spheres of fire rained down into the ranks. Carol threw one after another, throwing the same fiery beach ball of doom she had used on the skeletons. The orcs took the hit better, of course. They were mostly knocked down and thrown a few feet to the dirt. All of them were left burning. A few died outright while the rest stumbled back to their feet. All eyes turned to Carol.
She smiled sweetly.
They charged and she threw more fire in response. Amos fired as fast as he could move his hands. Other ranged DPS took up the fight as well, turning form stalemates elsewhere along the wall to fight here where it was thickest.
The orcs cried out and climbed the wall and on each other trying to reach the top only to find Toby and Soulbreaker waiting for them. He swung in wide arcs cleaving hands and arms as they climbed and cast shock waves down into the huddled mass when none were in range.
The white light and gong signaling a level increase played over all of group one as they fought. No one stopped for an instant, but it did give Claire a breather. Leveling up filled ones hit points and mana, energy, or whatever to full.
Carol’s attacks had been slowing before, but she laughed and piled the attacks on now.
Their choke point against the wall seemed to work out. A large number of the orcs ended up lying dead before them. They had been unable to scale the wall with people on top waiting for them, and their split focus had kept them from making any gaps, giant rocks or not. If they had been thinking enemies they probably would have circled the camp to find weaker points. Fortunately, they were not.
They were quite tenacious though. Orcs still battered the wall on either side of them for several yards. Amos and the other ranged attackers kept working on them, but they were stubborn.
Carol sat down. “Phew.”
Toby patter her on the shoulder. “Good work.”
She nodded. “Bit tiring through. Who’d have thought waving my arms so much could make them sore?”
Claire scoffed. “People in gyms.”
“Perish the thought.” Carol shuddered.
Toby chuckled. He could understand the sentiment. His arms were already sore, and they clearly weren’t done yet. The fighting on the south side of the camp seemed to be worse. He stretched his neck and nodded. “Alright, I’m heading over there to see if I can help. Head over when you’re done here, yeah?”
Claire nodded. “We will.”
Amos loosed an arrow and had another one on the string faster than Toby would have thought possible. “Save us a few.”
“No promises. Don’t slack or you’ll miss all the fun.”
Carol shook her head. “ ‘Fun’ he says.”
Toby frowned a bit as he ran for the other side of the camp. The opinion that the game was less than entertaining due to the constraints seemed to be spreading. There were certainly moments people were enjoying themselves, but the weight of the goal and the consequences of failure weighed on them.
Fortunately, the people on the other side had no idea what was really going on. They fought on the walls and at two places where they had been breached. The wall to the north must have been stronger.
Paul was fighting with them at one of the breaches in the wall. Tim bamfed around between targets while Jesse tossed green health at them.
Toby charged headlong to join them, sending out two shock waves before he closed the distance. The glowing red arcs struck the orc Paul was fighting. It backed up a step only for Tim to appear beside it and bury a dagger in its chest.
“About time.”
Paul turned. “How’s the north wall?”
“They’re mopping up the last resistance, then they’ll be moving down.”
“Good.” Paul nodded as he raised his sword. “Seems to be quite a few down here.”
Toby threw his sword into the crowd of orcs pressing the opening, striking one that was already on fire. It fell backward with a grunt and lay still on the ground as Soulbreaker disappeared in a burst of electricity.
Toby held up his empty hand as the sword reappeared. He nodded to Paul. “Optimism.”
Paul scoffed. “Pragmatism.”
Tim appeared briefly between teleports. “Cynicism?”
Jesse rolled her eyes as she set fire to the approaching orcs. “Pay attention or we’ll see some Darwinism.”
Paul swung at an encroaching orc. “See, that sounds like pragmatism to me.”
Tim shook his head as he pulled his bloody dagger free from another still orc. “Definitely cynicism.”
Toby shrugged. “Certainly not optimism.” He leveled his sword and swung horizontally, throwing a shock wave into the orcs pressing the breach.
“Grr.” Jesse held up her hands, lightning dancing between them for a few moments before it vanished. A bolt of lighting ripped across the sky to land amidst the group of orcs pressing the breach. They flew away and convulsed once they landed, the limp and shaking orcs striking others as they fell.
She turned an irritated glance to the three of them.
Tim vanished in a burst of black smoke.
Toby glanced aside at the clearin
g cloud of smoke. “Really?”
Paul charged toward the breach with his sword at the ready, and Toby followed.
The glow and gong of leveling sounded again while they were in the midst of the fight. Toby had lost track of his current level, his mind concerned with more pressing issues.
He fought every orc he could see, swinging time and again. Most of them took multiple strikes to drop, but he wasn’t above using his combo mechanic to deal big numbers. Far from it. He reveled in lining up the perfect third strike.
Hitting them with a forth to finish them off just felt like… failure.
Bright green light washed over him. He glanced down, at his glowing hands, then up at Jesse on the wall behind him. Her hands were still rimmed with green light.
Had he been that hurt? He hadn’t noticed. Maybe he was the only one hurt at all.
They had thinned the line considerably. Few of those that made it this far were fresh. There were fewer than twenty orcs remaining outside, and all of them were determined to win. Somehow. They charged the line of defenders with no fear. Toby wished he could claim that level of bravery, but his mind had too many facets. If only he was an AI as dumb as a brick. Cest la vie.
An orc charged Toby only to wind up with arrows blossoming from its flesh and fire engulfing its torso. It screamed as it fell and tried to put the flames out. Tim appeared beside it and buried a knife in the back of its head.
It stopped moving.
Toby let out a breath as he looked about the field. The last few orcs were falling to far superior numbers.
When the last grunt died away the event window appeared. “The Orc War Machine - Rank 2: Complete!”
Toby was the proud owner of a shiny new sword. The pop up screen comparing it to his present sword showed nothing but red numbers and down arrows.
Typical.
But that was for the best. He couldn’t get rid of Soulbreaker even if he wanted to.
Paul let out a sigh as a new shield appeared on his arm. “Timely.”
The white glow was surrounding people before Claire appeared. She healed what harm she saw as she moved toward them. “The hell was going on over here?”
Toby shrugged. “Pretty much Helm’s Deep.”
Tim appeared in a burst of smoke. “Helm’s Deep got wrecked, man. We won. And we didn’t even use any giant eagles.”
Healers all about them were busy with the injured. Their health would regenerate out of combat, but it would take time and a lot of the newcomers were low. Seemed their side had had it worse. No one had leveled from the end of the event, though according to Toby’s experience bar, he almost had.
One of the newcomers keeled over and landed in the dirt with a cry.
Several healers ran that way as all eyes were drawn to him.
He didn’t stir.
There was an arrow standing out of his stomach.
A second arrow struck another of the newcomers, but he stayed upright. The healers cast all manner of colored lights at him.
“Find cover!” Paul yelled at the top of his lungs, his shield held high.
It took them a moment to respond, but more arrows were landing all the time giving them reason to move. They broke and ran to find cover with the tanks following behind with their shields held high.
Most pressed against the wall to avoid the arrows while others made for the crude buildings.
Toby pressed himself against the wall and looked out between two rough metal panels.
There were no orcs beyond. Those outside wore player name plates. All of them shared the same guild tag, “The Seven Eyes.”
Given the four groups they had come with, as well as the alternates group, Paul had lead twenty eight people here. The additional three groups that had appeared added eighteen more for a total of forty six.
Toby’s eyes were drawn to the still form of the newcomer.
Forty five.
There were plenty outside. Nearly thirty he could see, counting them in bunches.
None of those had just fought an uphill invasion battle triggered by an extensive earlier battle. Few of their forty five were at a hundred percent. Most were closer to fifty, or below. Health regen wasn’t as fast in this game. It gave healers something to do between fights, but right now that seemed like a terrible oversight.
Those outside had fully half their number on horseback. They could catch them if they tried to run, even if all of their arrows missed.
They had waited. How long had they been following? Had they been behind Toby’s groups or the newcomers? Did the newcomers know? Where they complicit?
One of them had died… but that might have been a loss to escape suspicion.
He tightened his grip on Soulbreaker as he looked about the camp. He would have need of it soon.
“Good evening.” A voice called from outside. Toby glanced back out between the panels. One man was standing ahead of the others. All of them were decked in black armor with bits of black cloth trimmed in yellow.
“My name,” the man held up a hand, “is Bulorn. You can probably deduce why we are here. We only want one thing. Tobin Ironblood.”
Heads in the camp swiveled about, low voices rumbled.
Tim stood beside Toby, spinning a dagger around his finger. “Say when.”
Toby shook his head. “Doubt you can get him in one, and going out there will make you a target. We need a better plan.”
The voice from outside grew louder. “If you send him out, we’ll happily end this nightmare once and for all. Who among you wishes to remain chained to this base system of mortality? We were not meant for this. We were meant to die and rise again. A thousand times if needs be. Who wishes to keep on living like cowards, hiding away behind a shield after every hasty swing? Who would instead prefer to be able to take chances? Risks? To be rewarded for bravery, instead of punished? We can give you that.”
“Yeah,” a voice from inside the camp, one Toby didn’t recognize, “right after you kill us.”
“So what if we do? As long as Ironblood dies, you’ll all get right back up anyway. Right as rain. And we won’t even be able to kill you a second time.”
A different voice. It sounded familiar… Gorin? “This is a unique event. We’ll never see its like again, and you’d end it because you’re lazy? Or a coward?”
Bulorn sighed. “Hardly. I would see my people free to tackle pursuits as they see fit, without all these stupid restrictions.”
Tim’s voice rose beside him. “Oh, I dunno. Looks like you’ve done well for yourselves murdering other players. How are you going to swing that with harsher rules? None of what you’re using comes from mobs. Its all crafted with player only materials.”
Bulorn’s eyes shifted to the panel they hid behind.
“Seems to me,” Tim continued, “that you’re just a glory hound. Perfectly willing to mislead people for your own benefits. You want the title and the rewards for yourself. How many people have you already locked out for the week? Because I can tell you our total. It’s zero.”
“Then let it stay that way. Don’t resist. Send Ironblood out and lets have an end to it.”
18
Tim seemed to ponder it, though with the people outside unable to see him it must have been a gesture meant purely to irritate Toby. “I’m thinking… no.”
“Ranged attackers, if you’re not at the wall, get there.” Paul’s message to the guild appeared before Toby’s eyes. He hadn’t said it, so it was for their ears, er, eyes only.
People shifted about, moving quietly and staying low. Those outside couldn’t see within particularly well.
Bulorn’s voice shifted outside. It seemed Tim was angering him… kinda like he did to everyone. “As a secondary goal,” his voice pitched back toward his own instead of toward the walls, “whoever brings me that anonymous hood will be handsomely rewarded. But remember, I land the killing blow on Ironblood.”
“Tanks, get ready to block those breaches.” More of Paul’s orders. Toby gla
nced around as people moved. The people outside were getting restless. They must know those within were taking the time to heal. If they were really interested in negotiating, they would wait it out. But if they weren’t…
Arrows flew over the wall, striking a number of people as they tried to move as ordered. They made it, but health wasn’t exactly abundant anywhere along their line. Healers were working to patch up the worst and remain hidden behind the wall as they did so. Paul’s troops were still moving to get into position. They all needed time.
Toby turned and strode toward the nearest ladder.
Tim turned to follow him. “Whoa, what’s the play here?”
“We need a minute. I can do that.”
“Eh…” Tim rubbed at his chin. “You’re sort of a lose condition, though. You should stay hidden.”
He shook his head. “Think they’re done talking to you, maybe they’ll chat with me.”
“Don’t like this…”
“Just be ready to get me out of harms way, yeah?”
Tim sighed. “I don’t want to get fired.”
Toby climbed the nearest ladder and stomped as his feet landed atop the walls. He wanted them to see him. Tim did nothing of the sort, crouching low and letting his anonymity keep him off the radar. If they couldn’t see him with their eyes, nothing else was going to give him away.
Toby stopped when he stood over the center of the wall. He didn’t want them considering circling around. So far, he had moved unchallenged.
All eyes beyond were fixed on him.
“I am Tobin Ironblood.” He tried to pitch his voice lower while making his voice louder. “Is there a reason you’ve interrupted my day?”
Bulorn smiled up at him. “Come outside, we’ll talk about it.”
“Hmm.” Toby rubbed at his chin. “You have an unsavory look about you.” Not untrue, his nameplate was visibly red. All of them were. The common mark of hostility, and in player names, one who had recently killed someone without provocation. “If you seek employment, I’d have to dispatch you elsewhere. Have to keep up appearances, and all.”
Bulorn’s smile faded. “I’m not a patient man. I’m only here for your head.”
“A bold claim.” Toby hefted Soulbreaker and made a show of cleaning his fingernails with the point. It wasn’t easy to do. The sword was long. “You are hardly the first.”