Conquest

by Dean Henegar

  “You all can get moving. You have your job to do and I have mine,” was all she said as she stood to leave.

  “But Lovely…you’re not going with us?” one of the level two rogues, a player who was named Killadin, said nervously. He was not feeling quite as excited about this mission now that the only high-level player in their group was leaving.

  “Don’t start crying, Killadin. She’s got her job to do and it doesn’t include babysitting you. Once she’s done with her job, ours will be that much easier. Let’s get moving, folks,” the level four rogue named Dholkos said as the rest of the crew checked weapons and gear before heading out of the inn. Lovely finished her drink and then made her way out as well. The darkness around her was a comfort, this small town was way too underdeveloped for street lighting yet. An advanced stealth feature was activated as Lovely made her way toward the first target of the evening.

  Lovely squatted in the shadows just outside the circle of light provided by the lanterns that lined the barracks. She had remained there for the last thirty seconds waiting to see if there were any guards on duty. She noted that the soldier in front of the door seemed to be the only guard stationed to watch the garrison. Normally she would have waited for hours to determine guard rotations and positions, but the other team would start their attack soon and she wanted to complete this job before the others raised any alarm. Of the two targets, this was the most important and had the highest payout. The other job could be completed once the alarm was raised, but this one would become exponentially harder once the soldiers were alerted. Lovely activated the shadow step ability and appeared behind the guard, quickly thrusting both daggers into the soldier, one in his neck and one in his kidney.

  Sneak attack critically hits the Imperium soldier for 128 damage, burning poison applied.

  Sneak attack hits the Imperium soldier for 61 damage, silence poison applied.

  Imperium soldier has died.

  After dispatching the soldier, Lovely cast a minor darkness spell over the front entrance, cancelling out the light from the lanterns. The darkness might look a bit unnatural to a passerby, but she planned on being done and gone long before then. Cracking open the barracks door, Lovely could see a few soldiers sleeping in their bunks, as well as another door at the far end of the hall. She didn’t have time to eliminate the sleeping soldiers, she wasn’t being paid for that and speed was more important at this point. The only light in the large room came from a lantern that was turned down low, shedding a feeble glow into the corner of the barracks. Satisfied there were more than enough shadows in the room for her to use, Lovely activated move silently and cast a minor concealment spell. Lovely crept slowly toward the door at the end of the building. Once there she cast a silence in five-foot radius spell on the door, preventing any creaking sounds to occur when she opened it. She found the door unlocked and not booby-trapped, paranoia about checking for such things was one of her survival mechanisms. Cracking open the door, Lovely peeked inside the room. Her target was hovering over a large map table. The target was paying attention to whatever was showing on his interface, not at all concentrating on the room he was in. His side was to the door and, if she was careful, his distracted attention should let her land a sneak attack.

  Lovely slid the door open just enough to slip through without any of her gear scraping on the doorway. She was confident in her silence spell, but it always paid to do things the right way. Slipping around the edges of the room, Lovely found herself behind her opponent. She drew both daggers and verified the poisons were still active. Her strike was swift and vicious, activating her rapid strike ability to land as many blows as possible in the opening round of the battle.

  Your backstab attack has hit Raytak for 71 damage, burning poison resisted.

  Your backstab attack has critically hit Raytak for 119 damage, silence poison applied.

  Rapid strike hits Raytak for 38 damage, burning poison applied.

  Rapid strike hits Raytak for 39 damage, silence poison refreshed.

  Her target still stood after the initial strikes, his health down to around 60 percent. Raytak recovered from his initial shock, drawing his sword and presenting his shield. Lovely could see his mouth opening to shout for his soldiers in the other room, but no sound came from the silenced opponent. Lovely continued the attack, using more short cooldown abilities.

  Your gouge strike hits Raytak for 44 damage, burning poison stack applied. Opponent is stunned for 4 seconds.

  Your attack hits Raytak for 39 damage, silence poison refreshed.

  Burning poison stacks deal 12 damage to Raytak.

  Lovely dodged a return blow from Raytak, surprised at the feeble attacks and defenses the level 5 unique class displayed. She knew he wouldn’t be a match for her class/level but had expected a better fight. “Never complain about a weak opponent,” she thought, as she activated shadow step to appear unexpectedly behind her opponent, lining up more sneak attacks.

  Your backstab attack hits Raytak for 112 damage, burning poison stack applied.

  Your backstab attack hits Raytak for 115 damage, silence poison resisted, 12 seconds remaining on silence poison counter.

  Your burning poison stacks deal 18 damage.

  You have activated shocking blow, 25 damage and opponent stunned for 5 seconds.

  Lovely finished her last rounds of attacks, ending with a short stun. The poison could take care of the rest and she had been ordered to deliver a message.

  “You should have taken the deal the Bloody Blades offered. Nothing personal from me mind you, I’m just doing my job, one I happen to be very good at,” Lovely taunted as the damage from the poison bled away the last of Raytak’s health, killing him and sending him to the graveyard. Lovely went about the rest of her tasks, pulling two small scrolls from her inventory and looking about the room. She hid one scroll under the map table in a nook between the sides that would leave it hidden. The second she placed in a similar hiding place behind the refreshment table, per the instructions that Narbos had given her. The job here complete, she left the barracks to move toward her next target. She didn’t loot Raytak’s corpse, that was beneath her, as Lovely believed that the pay it required to hire someone of her caliber should be enough to not have her looting low-level corpses to make ends meet.

  The town hall was her next target. The building was well lit, but there were no guards in view, and few people were out in the streets at this time of night. Lovely was able to enter the building without challenge and then slinked her way toward the back of the first floor where she was told her target awaited. Following the same procedure of first silencing the door, Lovely cracked it open to view her target. This must be a hobby of her targets this evening, as this one was also focused on a table depicting a map of the town. She could only hope this habit would continue, as it made her job so much easier. Her target was showing as a level three town mayor. A non-combat class that should fall quickly. Lovely silently approached, able to stay out of the distracted mayor’s view until the time was right.

  Your backstab hits Delling for 144 damage, burning poison applied.

  Your backstab hits Delling for 138 damage, silencing poison applied.

  Rapid strike hits Delling for 51 damage, burning poison stack applied.

  Rapid strike hits Delling for 48 damage, silencing poison refreshed.

  You have activated shocking blow, 31 damage and burning poison stack applied. Opponent stunned for 5 seconds.

  The level three town mayor was pitifully easy to defeat. His lack of armor, or defensive skills, allowed her attacks to do more damage than against her previous opponent, who at least wore some armor. Lovely again let the burning poison do the work to finish off her foe, giving her time for another warning.

  “Mayor, it was in your best interest to accept the deal that the Burning Blades offered. Do the smart thing. Your death is just the beginning of the fun tonight. The Bloody Blades will make your in-game life miserable unless you join them. Do you really wan
t to see your town burnt to the ground, again?” Lovely finished as the last poison tick killed Delling and sent him to wait for respawn with her other target. She didn’t like the dramatic threats, it wasn’t her style, but Narbos had insisted, and the pay was good enough to overlook the hokey request. The assassinations and other attacks this night would keep the town and Raytak focused on this immediate area, expending their resources here instead of expanding further into the zone. Her part in tonight’s plan complete, Lovely quickly left the town hall and then the town itself, without anyone else noticing her presence. Nobody had identified her, so the return trip to Bharga’s Crossing should be short and uneventful as the transition point was still available to her.

  The level four rogue, Dholkos, led the rest of his large party toward the entrance to the mines. There were always a few players milling about this side of the town, unlike near the town hall. Yet another group of players heading toward the entrance to the mines that led to the town’s dungeon didn’t draw any undue attention. At the entrance to the mines there were two level five soldiers standing guard, as well as a pair of level three town guardsmen. Dholkos assigned each of his group to a target; the three warriors in the group following Dholkos and walking directly toward the guards, while the four other rogues tried to stealth into a position to backstab their targets.

  “Halt, state the name of your group,” one of the town guard ordered, holding up his hand in the universal “stop” pose while he pulled out a scroll listing the groups approved to try the dungeon, and the times they were scheduled for. Dholkos knew that there was some kind of stupid schedule the mayor had implemented for entering the low-level dungeon, and his group was not on that schedule. He needed to buy a few more seconds for the rogues to get into position.

  “Good evening, officer. We just wanted to check on how long the wait was for going into the dungeon. Can you also tell us if we’re allowed into the mine to harvest ore while we wait?” Dholkos asked, while still closing the distance to the town guard.

  “You’re free to mine only inside the dungeon itself. The actual mine area is the property of the Bugtug tribe. You’ll have to talk to Chief Bugtug if you want to mine there. I can’t tell you the wait for the dungeon. That’s handled by Mayor Delling. He, or one of his assistants, can get your party on the list. I’ll have to ask you to leave now,” the town guard said. The party kept approaching. The town guards looked bored, but the soldiers could sense something was wrong. Just as the soldiers began to pay more attention, one of the rogues sneaking up on them failed his stealth check, only a few feet away from one of the soldiers.

  “To arms! We’re under attack!” the alert soldier said as he ran toward a bell set next to the mine entrance. The soldier began to ring the bell, getting two loud rings out before one of the approaching warriors charged him, knocking him back and grabbing his attention with a taunt ability. The other members of the party charged in to attack the mine defenders.

  The town guard Dholkos had been approaching was distracted by the soldiers’ shout, giving Dholkos the opportunity to lunge forward and strike his foe with both the short swords he had drawn. The guardsman dropped to half health and turned to face Dholkos, moving his small shield out in front to block while readying a metal-studded club. The guard facing Dholkos then crumpled to the ground dead, as one of the rogues got off a critical strike backstab on him while the guard was turned to face Dholkos.

  Looking at the fight around him, Dholkos saw that all three warriors held their target’s attention, while the rogues maneuvered to maximize their damage against the distracted foes. The second town guardsmen fell quickly, being lower level and more poorly equipped than the soldiers. The soldiers put up a better fight, using shield bash to knock back their opponent and getting in some solid hits with their thrust ability. Still, the two soldiers fell under the relentless assault, being surrounded and outnumbered 4-to-1. Dholkos asserted control once more as the party began to waste time trying to loot their kills.

  “Don’t worry about looting, you idiots. We’re being well-paid to cause as much chaos as possible. Get into the mine and start killing some goblin miners. You morons let that guard give the alarm, so we don’t have much time,” Dholkos ranted. He was no genius, but he knew they had to maintain their momentum before the defenders organized. This attack was a suicide mission. Their goal was to sew chaos and keep the town on edge, paranoid over the potential for future attacks. Dholkos wasn’t a member of any guild, which was why he and the others were hired by Darkfallow for tonight. Dholkos had been told that if things went well here tonight, the Bloody Blades might offer him a slot. Raiding npc’s and towns with the Bloody Blades was just the type of game content Dholkos like to participate in…and the pay didn’t seem too bad with this guild either.

  Dholkos was just a hired mercenary. He and his team had been fed lies and kept in the dark by their employers. Darkfallow had approached and hired them, letting them believe they were working for the Bloody Blades. The group had no idea that the Bloody Blades were just a scapegoat for Chaotic Outcome’s activities. Dholkos and his band didn’t even know that Chaotic Outcomes existed. In reality, the Bloody Blades were finished as a threat to Hayden’s Knoll. Most of the members had quit and moved on after the failed attack on Raytak’s caravan, realizing that the stiffening defense in the zone would make the easy experience and loot they had enjoyed earlier in the game a thing of the past. The original five members were all that was left of the guild. Even the original members had now left the zone, looking for other starting zones that were easier pickings for their griefer style of play. There wasn’t a single Bloody Blades guild member left in the Hayden’s Knoll zone.

  “Hey, shouldn’t we wait for the tanks to regen their health?” Killadin said, noticing two of the warriors had been taken down to half health by the soldiers and, while they would slowly regenerate, wouldn’t be back to anywhere near full health for several minutes.

  “Nope, we all knew this was a one-way ticket. Hope you all set your spawn points where we told you. You don’t want to spawn back here in town. Get moving,” Dholkos ordered and the party trotted into the mine entrance. The passage was narrow at first and then opened into a large cavern. Inside the cavern, several goblin miners were seen hustling out through a tunnel at the back of the cavern, while four soldiers formed a line in front of the exit to try and protect the nearly defenseless miners.

  “Hit those soldiers, quick! Killadin, take another rogue and work your way around them. Start killing the goblins while we handle the defenders,” Dholkos ordered. Killadin and another rogue split off to circle around the short line of defenders, soon disappearing into the tunnel the goblins had fled into. At a range of fifteen yards, the soldiers each threw a javelin at the party. All four of the missiles hit, two striking rogues and two hitting the already injured warriors, the strikes dropping moderate slivers of health off their targets. Dholkos and the rogues responded with throwing daggers as they closed to melee range. A few of the daggers hit their marks, but did only minor damage to the soldiers. The large shields the soldiers carried proved surprisingly effective against most projectiles. As the two groups met, the three warriors again activated charge, disrupting and briefly stunning their targets. The fourth soldier, that hadn’t been charged, fired off a shield bash that damaged and stunned one of the level two rogues. The fight then dissolved into a chaotic melee, the kind Dholkos enjoyed most.

  The soldiers were too few in number to hold a line and were quickly flanked by the slightly greater numbers in the party. Despite being higher level, the soldiers had lower health pools than those had by most players. The lower health didn’t stop the soldiers from dishing out some serious damage to the party. The fight was tough, but going Dholkos’ way until three more town guards appeared from the tunnel behind them, trapping them in between the two forces. There were two of the level three town guards, equipped like the ones they had faced at the entrance. There was also one level four sergeant of the guard
that appeared a bit stronger and better equipped than the regular guardsmen. The new arrivals soon hit Dholkos’ forces, who were unable to easily disengage from the soldiers to face the new threat. Now Dholkos and his team were the ones outnumbered.

  First one, then a second, of the party’s warriors dropped, despite using every defensive cooldown they had left. Their health was already depleted from the prior fight, making them vulnerable. One of the level three rogues fell before the party began to get the upper hand once more. A lucky critical strike by one of the rogues killed a soldier, but then Dholkos found himself surrounded. A town guard on one side and a soldier with only 20 percent health on the other. Dholkos focused on the soldier first, taking two blows from the guard’s club as he dropped the soldier’s health to zero. A third blow from the guard hit Dholkos on the back of the head as a condition prompt flashed.

  You have been hit by the subdue ability, 22 damage and stunned for 3 seconds.

  “The ability must have been a way for the town guards to control unruly suspects, like me, in this case,” Dholkos thought as the guard began to strike with the metal studded club. Dholkos watched his health drop to below ten percent before the stun wore off. Quickly activating his daily use of the rapid recovery ability, Dholkos’ health began to tick slowly up as he regained the offensive and launched a flurry of quick strikes at the guard. The guard was poorly skilled and had a hard time blocking the level four rogue’s dual wield attacks. Each pair of strikes allowed at least one of the short swords through and, after three blows, the guard fell. Dholkos’ health had regenerated to fifteen percent before the rapid recovery ability expired.