The group all turned to Penny, and she nodded. “Don’t worry, we are part of raid group two, we aren’t going after the scouting party.” An involuntary sigh of relief slipped out of the party’s mouths. The group wished Shrapnel luck and headed for the gate to prepare.
“Hello there travelers.” Guard Captain Holtz approached the raid groups assigned with defending the city. “Tonight’s focus will be defense. I have the mage’s guild reinforcing the walls and preparing artillery spells but that takes time. They won’t be ready for the scouting party, but we should have enough time to prepare them for the main forces. I need any of you with range to join us on the walls and the rest of you to help defend the city gate. I trust that you all know your own strengths and weaknesses well enough to know where to go.” The group of travelers all nodded and began to disperse, heading for where they would best fit.
“Where do you guys want me?” Luke asked.
Penny began rubbing her chin. “We really could use your help with healing down here, but I would be selfish to take you off the wall.” Luke nodded but Penny stopped him from leaving. “Wait! Once the enemy breaks through the gate I want you to rejoin us. We work better as a unit.”
Luke smiled. “You’re assuming I’m going to let them get through the gate.”
Backstab stared at Luke with a neutral expression before speaking in an almost mocking monotone. “Yeah… they’re getting through the gates.”
Penny let out an involuntary chuckle at Backstab’s jab. “Just come join us when you can.”
“Yeah, Penny would miss you too much if you didn’t,” Nanoc added.
Luke looked at Penny and her cheeks were turning red. Penny hit Nanoc in the shoulder and pushed the berserker toward the other raid members, leaving Luke stunned and confused. Shaking it off, he headed up one of the stairways toward the top of the wall. Ringo waited at the base of the stairs.
When he reached the top, he looked back at the city they were trying to defend. Catapults, large groups of armed soldiers, mages and citizens were all scrambling about. The city was in a full panic as they prepared for war. Looking around the wall, Luke saw several mages wearing a variety of colored robes glowing in many different colors. Every time they began to glow, the mages would move their hands in a complex set of patterns. Large spikes of earth erupted from the ground to rest against and reinforce the city walls. Some spikes had lines of various colors running through them. Luke guessed that the lines were runes of protection or counter measures of some sort.
With nothing to do Luke, got lost in his thoughts, so he did not notice the pair of men who approached him. One of them slapped him on the back. Luke turned on his heels, running magic into his hands and causing his claws to protrude toward the intruder. His claws stopped only an inch or two from a skinny man holding a lute above his head in mock surrender.
“Woah there buddy.” Realizing the man wasn’t a threat, he retracted his claws.
“Sorry about that. Little on edge I guess,” Luke apologetically spat out.
“Don’t worry about it.” The man lowered his hands and strummed a few cords on his lute causing a calming sensation to fill Luke. Looking at his interface, Luke saw a new icon of a lute listed in his buffs. “It’s a calming buff. It should help calm your nerves a bit.” the man added.
“That’s a neat trick.” Luke extended his hand. “I’m Luke.”
The man stuck his hand out but hesitated. “You're not going to cut my hand off with those claws are you?”
Luke let out a laugh. “No, I think you're safe.”
The man took Luke’s hand and introduced himself. “My name is Donny and the robed guy here is The Dunstin.”
The robed man waved. “Call me TD, everyone else does.”
A low growl came from behind the men as Ringo took slow, threatening steps toward them. The robed man yelped, turned around and began chanting. A fireball appeared in his open palm as he pulled his arm back to throw the projectile magic.
“Wait! Ringo, stand down.” Ringo stopped her advance and sat wagging her tail.
“Sorry father, I felt your nerves rise, and I was concerned that these two might be attacking you,” she mentally explained.
“It’s ok girl. They’re allies, but I appreciate your quick reaction. Why don’t you stick by my side,” Luke mentally sent back. Ringo casually walked forward, brushing up against Luke as she reached him.
“Guys, this is Ringo. She’s my animal companion,” Luke explained to the pair of men as he knelt to meet Ringo’s gaze, scratching her chin as he descended.
“Ok, that is way cooler than my lute,” Donny joked and TD’s fireball extinguished. Donny pointed to the bow on Luke’s back and asked, “So I take it you're an archer or something?”
Luke nodded. “I’m a beast tamer, but I started as a ranger. My bow is my primary weapon.”
“I’m a fire mage. Thought I could roast some goblins as they tried to break through the gate,” TD explained.
“And I’m a bard.” Donny started strumming the tune of the final countdown on his lute. “I figure I can entertain you all while you fight.” Luke raised an eyebrow and Donny gave in. “I can buff you all while cursing the enemies. I’m also decent with a rapier.” Donny patted the sword tucked into his belt loop.
“It’s nice to meet you guys. Are you with a guild or just coming to help?” Luke questioned.
TD chuckled. “Were in your guild, bro. Check your interface, we’re in your raid group. That's how we found you.”
Under Luke’s party status icons were smaller bars for sixteen other players, separated into groups of four. Each one had the player's name, an icon for their class and a bar for their health, mana and stamina. After searching the list, he saw the icon of a music note next to the name The Dashing Donny and an icon of a fireball next to The Dunstin, Kaboom!
“Oh, I see you both now. How did you know who I was though?” Luke asked, still confused.
“We didn’t know who you were exactly. If you click on one of the parties in the raid group they get highlighted in white around town. We just knew you were in that party, not which one in the party you were.” Donny explained.
Luke clicked on the party that had Donny and TD in it and, sure enough, their bodies were highlighted in white briefly before fading.
“We just kept clicking on the various parties until someone around us was highlighted. We figured we should stick together, right?” Donny added.
“Makes sense I guess.” Luke agreed. “I guess we wait now?” The pair shrugged and their conversation quickly devolved into idle chit chat. Occasionally one of them would go ask the guards or fellow guild members for updates, but no one ever had any.
“Well, I guess we should probably get some rest then. I mean, if we don’t know when they’re coming, we should probably be well rested,” Donny explained. “I’ll take first watch if you two want to get some shuteye.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep with all the anticipation,” commented Luke. “What do you think Ringo?” Luke turned to see his wolf curled up into a ball on the floor, fast asleep. The sight of his snoring companion make him yawn. “I guess I could use a quick power nap.” Luke curled up next to Ringo and his eyes became heavy. The last thing he saw was TD sitting with his back to the wall, using his pack for a pillow and closing his eyes.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Battle for the Phoenix Kingdom
Luke was being shaken and he could feel Ringo’s consciousness nudging him awake.
“Dude, wake up. Something's happening.” Opening his eyes he saw TD shaking him.
“Papa, I can smell them.” Ringo’s voice echoed in his head.
“Whaa…” Luke rubbed his eyes and got to his feet. He stumbled a bit while getting his bearings and looked around. Everyone was awake or being awoken, and tensions were high. “What's going on?” Luke questioned the mage.
“A runner just got back to the city. He said the scouting party was on his heels.
Time to man up and grab that bow of yours.” TD pulled a large spell tome from his bag and opened it in one hand. Luke tried reading some words but they all appeared to be gibberish to him.
“Did any of the guild come back with the runner?” Luke asked.
TD went still. “Only a single NPC runner made it back.”
Luke opened his mouth to ask followup questions but he stopped himself after seeing the expression on TD’s face. Before he could contemplate the implications of their guild members being wiped out, he began to hear the faint tune of Eye of the Tiger coming from down the wall.
Donny was walking while playing his lute. The instrument was glowing a rainbow of colors as faint waves of musical energy emanated from it. When Luke could hear the sound more clearly, a new buff was added to his status bar. Focusing on the icon of lute prompted a system pop-up.
Bardic Inspiration, Attack and Defense. You have been inspired by a bard’s music or voice. You will receive an additional 10% to your attack and damage scores for the next 30 minutes.
“Does the game let you play any song for your spells?” Luke questioned.
“Pretty much. I just have to hold a tune and have the mana required. I’m told that at higher levels I can give more than one buff, but this should work for now.” Donny put his lute away and drew his rapier.
Following suit, Luke grabbed his bow off his back and pulled an arrow from his quiver in anticipation. He looked out into the darkness, not able to see a thing. I can’t see anything out there. How am I supposed to fight? As if to answer his thoughts, he could hear Captain Holtz shouting something unintelligible in the distance. After a brief pause, glowing orbs were shot into the sky from various points on the wall. When they reached a fair distance in the air, they began to shine brighter, illuminating the fields below. They weren’t as bright as daylight but they made a huge difference and shined enough light to reveal the surrounding area without further help.
It was just in time, too. A large force of several hundred goblins was running at a full sprint toward the city’s walls. Scattered among them were larger, more muscular orcs with tusks jutting out of their mouths.
“Prepare your arrows!” Luke spun to see Captain Holtz taking command of the situation. The captain’s voice seemed to be amplified by magic. “Take aim!” Luke pulled the arrow back on his bow and the captain raised his sword high into the air. Swiping his sword down he screamed, “FIRE!”
A hail storm of arrows was released from the wall, including those shot by Luke. The arrows raced into the air and the enemy forces made no effort to scatter. Several enemies in the distance began to glow red, orange and black. As the arrows started to descend, a barrage of fireballs and energy beams shot out from the glowing forms of their enemies. The variety of multi-colored spells collided with the storm of arrows, sending them flying off course or eviscerating them altogether. Several arrows still hit their marks. The struck goblins were slain, but the orcs just grunted in pain and annoyance.
“Again! Take aim!” The captain raised his sword and gave the command to fire.
Another storm of arrows flew across the field and was met with the same magical resistance. The defenders were barely making progress in their attempts to down the invaders, and the horde of monsters were getting dangerously close.
“Now hold!” Captain Holtz shouted to the men, his voice still being amplified by magic. “Mid-range mages, prepare to fire. Archers take aim.”
The invading force was still spilling out from the distant forest and now clearing the outlying farms. As soon as the approaching army advanced within seventy-five yards, the captain gave the command for all of his archers to open fire.
Archers shot as fast as they could, and mages were now joining in. Fireballs, blasts of light, large stones and even lightning were raining down from the walls. Luke was firing arrows as fast as he could. It was easier to aim now that the enemies were closer.
Luke noticed that TD still hadn’t fired. “Waiting for an invitation?” Luke muttered between ragged breaths.
“They aren’t close enough. My fireball only has a range of about fifty feet before it dissipates.”
Luke could see fear and frustration on the mage’s face, but quickly focused his attention back to the enemy forces. Now that they were closer, the enemy’s mages were more easily counteracting the defender’s attacks, leaving most of their forces unharmed. The defenders on the ground were rattled as the city’s gate began to creak and splinter from the barrage of attacks. Earth mages did their best to reinforce it with stone pillars and walls, but the enemy force was persistent.
Luke could hear a guttural shout from the enemy's lines. He focused on the area the shout was coming from and saw several goblins, wearing tattered robes, surrounding a group of orcs. The orc’s bodies started glowing red with more and more intensity. Luke was confused as his vision of them started to blur. Is that heat? Before he could make heads or tails of the situation, the handful of orcs took off toward the gate at an amazing speed.
“Focus all fire on that group of orcs!” shouted Captain Holtz. Those orcs were not going unnoticed by anyone.
Every defender within range began focusing their fire on the sprinting group. It seemed that every time one of their attacks was about to make contact, the rapidly advancing orcs were protected by defensive skills and the bodies of their allies.. Finally, an arrow made contact with an orc’s neck and he fell. A rogue fireball struck another orc down. Now there were only two glowing enemies left charging their gate. As the pair of orcs got closer, the enemy forces gave them room while staying close enough to protect them.
Before they disappeared under the gate’s arching walls, Luke’s and TD’s combined attacks were able to slay one of the remaining two orcs, but a look of fear crossed their faces.
As the orc collided with the gate, he erupted in a massive explosion. The explosion was big enough to destroy not only the gate but also the connecting sections of the wall. Luke, Ringo, TD and Donny were sent flying from above the gate to the city streets below, landing alongside several guards.
Luke blinked away the spots in his vision as his body ached everywhere. Thinking quickly, he cast nature’s regrowth on himself, watching his health refill slowly. As his vision cleared, he saw rubble and stones scattered across the street. Several guards were lying lifeless as the enemy army began charging through the newly created opening in the wall.
“Ringo? Ringo!” Luke projected his thoughts in all directions, panic starting to settle in when he didn’t receive a response. He pulled himself to his feet and looked around. His eyes went wide and watery when he spotted Ringo trapped under a large piece of the destroyed stone wall. He ran over and tried prying the stone off of her but he could barely make it budge. The sheer act of lifting the stone caused Ringo to release whimpers of pain.
“Help! Someone please help!” He started shouting and pleading for assistance as he ignored his own injuries and knelt by Ringo’s side.
He refused to take his eyes off Ringo, so he didn’t notice the goblin sneaking up behind him. The goblin’s war cry caused him to turn, but he had no time to react as a small blade came rushing down at him. Blood splattered across his face, obscuring his vision. Numb to the pain, he began to frantically wipe his face with his sleeve. Nanoc was standing above him, holding his large, double-sided axes in both hands.
“Need a hand?” Nanoc dropped his weapons and grabbed both sides of the rock. “When I lift it, pull her out.” Not waiting for a reply, he knelt into position and began to heave the collapsed wall off the ground. Luke grabbed Ringo and pulled swiftly before Nanoc lowered the stone again.
Ringo’s chest rose and lowered slowly as he tended to her wounds as quickly as he could, casting nature’s regrowth on her while force-feeding her a health potion.
“Papa?” The faint voice of his wolf filled his head again, and he released tears that he had been fighting back.
“You really had me worried there girl. Are you ok?” h
e asked in a soft-spoken voice.
“I… I think so.”
“Let my magic finish its work before you get up.” She started to protest, but Luke gave her a look that made her reconsider.
“I don’t want to break up this reunion, but we could use some help.” Nanoc gestured at a flood of goblins pouring through the gaping hole in the wall. Travelers and guards were colliding with the wave of enemies and fights were breaking out everywhere.
Luke looked around for his bow. After spotting it only a few feet away, he grabbed it and his grip was firm as he responded. “I’ll back you up whenever you're ready,” Luke said.
Nanoc grabbed an axe in each hand as he smiled. His body grew slightly and turned red as heat started radiating off of him in waves. Getting to his feet, Donny wiped blood from his brow and stood beside Nanoc, holding his rapier at the ready. Luke’s back was becoming hot. He turned around and saw TD holding a large fireball in his hand. The mage gave him a curt nod as Ringo got to her feet and stood beside Luke. He nocked an arrow in preparation before Nanoc let out a massive battle cry, causing the surrounding goblins to shake slightly in fear.
Before Nanoc took his first step, an arrow whirled by him and struck a goblin in its forehead. The goblin spun around from the strength of the arrow and fell lifeless to the ground.
“Tomahawk!” Nanoc threw both of his axes at nearby goblins. The force of his throws caused the blades to cleave right through the goblins and land in the stone behind them. Nanoc continued to run, collecting his axes without breaking his stride before he encountered a much larger orc. He parried the first attack by the orc and quickly pulled his axes into position to stop a downward slash.
Before the orc could recover, a much smaller rapier blade had already pierced his gut. With a flick of his wrist, Donny opened the orc’s gut and its innards starting spilling out. The orc dropped his blade and attempted to push his organs back in before blood spilled from his mouth and he dropped to his knees.
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