Mixing It Up (The World Book 2)

by Jason Cheek

  Turning around to the Goblin my team was fighting, I used the last of my Mana to take their target down. As soon as the Goblin collapsed, I saw the familiar golden glow surround the team as they all leveled up again as I pulled the closest Guard out of freeze to fight. Now out of Mana, I was forced to tank the mob with melee attacks as the rest of the team moved up to support me. Blow by blow we ripped the mobs Hit Points away, but it was brutally hard work. As the freeze of my Frost Nova spell broke, Yun cast his own Frost spell to lock the last two Goblins in place as we continued battling it out with the third.

  Every time Yun’s freeze broke, we had fourteen seconds of chaos as all three Goblin Guards came after us all at once. During those times, Sarka would step forward to tank one of the Goblins as I fought to hold the other two. Thankfully my high Spirit allowed my Mana to regenerate enough for me to cast another Frost Nova every 30 seconds. Still, it made for some excitement as we rushed forward to catch the mobs and then retreat once we could freeze them in place once again. It took almost five minutes of constant fighting before the first Goblin fell.

  Once we were down to just two mobs, the dance of death became much easier. Everyone skilled up in their weapon attacks, even Yun who was a priest. It took almost another five minutes to take down the next Goblin. By then the five of us was working like a well-oiled machine. Instead of casting Frost Nova, I’d squeeze out Flurry blast whenever I could. Within two and a half minutes, the last Guard fell at our feet as we all breathed a sigh of relief.

  Again my Mana recovered fast enough for me to heal up the rest of the group as we laughed and joked with one another. Once recovered, we discussed the options available to us. At this time Sarka, Yun, and Tinyr were level 12, and Unalia was level 13. Two more battles like the one we’d just had, and they’d all be in the minimum range needed to fight these level 25 mobs. We all knew we were on the edge of the team’s ability to handle the dungeon. If the mobs’ levels got any higher, we’d have to fall back and focus on leveling everyone up before proceeding any further.

  The main question on the rest of the team’s mind was if I was willing to carry them until they were a high enough level to be of more use in the dungeon. I understood their concern and where it came from. Most high-level players only wanted to play with fellow players in their same level range that could boost their ability to proceed quickly through the game, not herd lower level players that they had to spend time helping to level up. While that was a common perspective amongst most players, it wasn’t mine. For me, it was more important to have a team I could trust, played well and were willing to work together.

  Although our group had basically been created as a PuG, five random players that had come together for a short time to face the challenges of this virtual game, we’d surprisingly managed to form a tight bond in the short time we’d been playing together. Probably due to the griefing bullshit we’d recently faced off together against some of the less savory players we’d run into inside The Game. It had been the luck of the draw that we’d just happened to have a complimentary playing style and a similar perspective on right and wrong that meshed well together. We’d even talked about my gaming guild, The Revenants, and the difficulty of finding the necessary signatures from players needed in-game for completing the initial guild charter to form the guild, since most of my fellow guildmates were currently scattered across the known virtual world and we didn’t have five players in any single location. I was pleasantly surprised when everyone in the team offered to sign the contract without any requests of money for their help, but because they wanted to continue the comrade we’d developed together.

  Asking or even paying random players to initially help establish a guild was common practice in MMORGs. Especially in the early stages of a new game when a guild’s players were scattered around the world and traveling to new cities was still a big deal, since faster than foot transportation was usually unavailable until the higher levels. Sometimes these players stayed in the guild they helped form, but usually, they were immediately kicked as soon as the guild was registered with the local NPC Guild Master.

  While I liked everyone fine and could definitely use the help with the required signatures, only time would tell if Yun, Sarka, Tinyr, and Unalia were actually going to be truly a part of our online gaming group. But, after spending the last several hours playing with both couples, I had a good feeling about them. No matter what ended up happening later on in our relationship, I was thankful to have their help now in completing the basic requirements needed to form the guild, especially since I might not get another chance with the Light Elf’s current dislike for House of Kayden. Also, it allowed me to reserve the name before someone else took The Revenants for their own guild’s name.

  With the Guild Charter signed, our conversation quickly returned to the issue at hand. While we all wanted to complete the dungeon, it was getting late. Everyone agreed that it would be awesome if we could take out the bosses in one go, but none of us saw that happening tonight. As a group, we decided to check out just one of the corridors before calling it a night and agreed that first thing in the morning we’d meet back up in Delonshire at The White Unicorn at 9 AM Eastern Time to complete the rest of the instance. With that settled, Tinyr and I headed down the right corridor with the rest of the group behind us as we got back to business at hand.

  The going was noticeably slower in this part of the dungeon. The passageway had a number of small empty rooms off the central hallway. Each small room held two sets of bunk beds with wardrobes for each occupant. There was shredded clothing scattered everywhere, including boots, which I looted as we went room-to-room making sure each was clear of mobs since no one else was interested in the garbage loot as they called it. I just shrugged my shoulders and stuffed everything I could in my bags. They could laugh all they wanted at my odd looting practices. It wasn’t that I was cheap. I just believed in being thrifty, and every little bit of garbage loot helped. Also, I had a bunch of NPCs waiting for me to return with basically just the clothes on their backs, so I looted everything that wasn’t nailed down. Worst case scenario is that I’d have to dump it later on for something better but until then everything went into my bags.

  Going around the bend, we ran into a long corridor with one doorway in the middle. Signaling the rest of the team to keep close, I began silently creeping down the empty hallway. Reaching the door, I leaned flat against the wall near the latch with Unalia and Yun behind me as Tinyr and Sarka took positions up on the other side of the doorway. Even though the door was closed, the noise coming from the other side was still a muted roar. Making sure everyone was ready, I carefully pushed the latch open and eased the thick wooden door open just a crack. One look was all I needed as I immediately pushed the door closed again with a look of horror on my face.

  Seeing Tinyr’s and Sarka’s questioning looks, I urgently shook my head side-to-side as I pointed to the far end of the long corridor. Immediately they both frowned in annoyance and began making hand gestures for me to move aside so they could look to see what was wrong. Again I intensely pointed to the far end of the corridor and shook my head no.

  “What’s wrong?” Tinyr silently mouthed at me holding his arms out as he shrugged his shoulders. Putting a finger to my lip, I shook my head and pointed to the far end of the corridor as I silently began heading in that direction. Throwing his hands up in exasperation, Tinyr started after me with the rest of the team following, except for Sarka who looked super annoyed.

  Shaking her hands in my directions like she wanted to strangle me to death, Sarka went to the other side of the door and carefully lifted the latch and peaked in. As soon as the door cracked open, her eyes nearly popped out of her head as she saw what was in the room. Urgently Sarka pulled the door closed with a small boom that echoed down the corridor as everyone froze in place glaring back at her terrified face. For a long minute, we waited for the sound of an alarm. Hearing nothing, we quietly began shuffling down the hallway breathing a sigh
of relief as Sarka hurried to catch up with the rest of the team.

  Unfortunately, as soon as we neared the corner, I heard a new sound that brought me up short and turned my blood to ice in my veins. Urgently I flattened myself against the wall as the rest of the team sidled up next to me. Catching Sarka’s eye, I pointed at my eyes with two fingers and then pointed towards the door back down the hallway giving her the hand signal to watch our backs as the guttural barks of Goblin laugher and the muffled shrieks of terror from around the corner sent shivers down my spine. Trying to be as stealthy as possible, I carefully peeked around the corner. The scene of horror that confronted my eyes stopped me in my tracks. There was no thought of silence. There was no concern for the numerous enemy I’d seen in the room behind us. There was no thought except stopping the atrocity happening before my eyes.

  Five meters down the next corridor was a group of six level 26 Goblin Slavers with a group of ten Light Elf captives. Each Elf was stripped naked and chained by their hands, feet, and necks. While that was disturbing in and of itself, the part that drove me into an insane rage was the lead Goblin who forcibly held a young female Elf down on the dirty stone floor. Blood dripped from the Goblin’s toothy maw from where it had torn a chunk of flesh from the woman’s neck. As I watched, the Goblin held the screaming woman down as it brutally ripped out one of her arms from the socket. As the horrified Elf crumpled to the ground in shock, the Goblin’s grotesque laughter echoed up and down the passageway as it held up its bloody trophy for its companions to see.

  Enraged at the young female’s treatment the rest of the chain of captives threw their naked bodies at their captors in helpless anger as the Goblin Slavers began gleefully pummeling them with their clawed fists. The brutality of it all instantly brought back the nightmarish memories of the half-eaten Elven women and children I’d encountered on my first day in-game during the Goblin Raid with House of Kayden.

  “Get the fuck off her asshole!” Without thought, the bellow ripped from my lips as I leaped around the corner. Instantly my hand formed into a fist as I punched out releasing a whirling vortex of ice. The frozen blast of my spell slammed into the shocked Goblin Slaver’s face before the creature managed to stick the mutilated limb into its toothy maw. The second blast crashed into the Slaver as the rest of the Goblins looked up in stun disbelief, but before any of them could react my third blast blazed across the small gap as the rest of my team came charging around the corner.

  For a split-second my teammates momentarily froze at the gruesome sight of horror before them, but as the rest of the slavers began drawing their jagged swords howling in hate, they shook off their shock and threw themselves at the Slavers in earnest as my next blast dropped the Lead Goblin’s Hit Points down to almost nothing. The massive shock from the continuous damage over such a short period of time and the sheen of ice covering its greenish-brown skin never gave the disgusting creature a chance to recover. As the rest of the Goblin Slavers charged down the corridor, my last blast flung the Lead Slaver’s lifeless corpse against the wall as Yun’s Frost Nova froze the enemy to the stone floor.

  Passing by the frozen Goblins, my hand-axe sliced through the dead Slaver’s wrist as I scooped up the Elven girl’s mutated limb, while behind me Sarka slammed into the lead Goblin with a Shield Bash as Tinyr slipped around to the Slaver’s backside, and Unalia began unloading her arrows. Kneeling next to the young Elf, I pulled the naked girl into my arms pressing the dismembered limb back onto her still bleeding stump as I began casting my first level Heal spell. I tried not to manhandle the poor woman as I worked, but she was very large-chested, and there wasn’t time to be careful if I was going to have a chance at saving her arm.

  Yun, instantly understanding my intent, followed my lead as he began casting his healing spell behind me. Five seconds later the golden glow of his Quick Heal spell washed over the Elven girl as I continued to chant my ten-second long spell. A moment later, his hands glowed again as a restore spell flared over the injured girl at the same time the Goblins around us broke free of the freeze spell holding them in place. My heal spell flared a second later as the team readjusted their formation to deal with the adds. Without looking back, I instant cast my own Frost Nova spell re-freezing the Goblins in place before they could overwhelm the team. Grabbing the shocked Elf’s working hand, I pressed it to her wounded shoulder yelling urgently.

  “Keep the pressure on your shoulder!” I urgently shouted. Seeing her nod numbly at my words, I jumped up and joined the fight. Targeting the Goblin Sarka was tanking, I burned the mob’s Hit Points down to zero in five seconds as my freeze gave out releasing the four remaining Goblins. As Sarka stepped forward to tank the mobs, I began blasting each with my Flurry spell as Yun’s Frost Nova flared around us once again. The fight was a chaotic mess in the tight corridor, but the constant use of our Frost Nova spells kept the enemy contained to manageable levels. Still, the rage I felt as I fought was nearly overwhelming. Through it all, I somehow kept my head enough to save the last of my Mana for the next time my Frost Nova’s cooldown popped.

  A part of me swore as I fought. Was I willing to risk everything I was working towards in this game for a lousy bunch of random Light Elf NPCs that would probably hate me for simply being a part of House of Kayden once the fight was over? The thought alone pissed me off even more. Was I willing to lose my nightmare start and wipe the team just because of my rage against these Goblins for treating people in the game as food? Was it worth the possible loss of income in the real world? As I struggled with my own morality of those questions, I noticed the chained prisoners weakly kicking out at their captors as they struggled to help us fight.

  The rest of the prisoners were nine male Elves that had all been severely brutalized to the point that their Hit Point bars were highlighted with the red background that meant they were near death. Blasting out my Frost Nova spell as my cool down clicked off, I quickly stepped back looking at the battered, Elf girl’s tear-streaked face as she clutched at her mutilated shoulder watching us fight. There was something familiar about the fragile look of hope in those emerald-green eyes that gave my mental tirade of self-reproach a jolt as our gazes met. It was then that I recognized the woman before me. It was Miya Faelwen or at least a younger version of my pre-game trainer. With a growl of frustration, I turned around throwing myself back into the fight as I parried a Slaver’s sword away from my chest and counterattacked with a Shield Bash to the Goblin’s face.

  No matter if my decision was logical or not. I couldn’t just let these NPCs be taken away and eaten by Goblins. Especially not with Miya Faelwen being one of the prisoners. The pain in the Miya’s eyes tore at my soul, but beyond even that, the atrocious conditions of the rest of the captives made me sick to my stomach. To think that these people were going to be ripped apart and eaten alive was almost too much to bear. Seeing it happening before my very eyes made me rage at the injustice of it all.

  The line for me between people and NPCs had definitely blurred since I’d started playing this game. Hell, it had been blurring over the years ever since I’d become a Pro-gamer. Spending the majority of your time playing video games can do that to you, but, between the seven days I’d gotten to know Miya Faelwen before the game’s official start, and the two and a half days I’d spent with the refuges from House of Kayden helping them survive the traumatic events that had befallen them. The experiences had drastically altered my perspective on NPCs, at least in The World.

  It wasn’t just because of the full immersion virtual reality aspect of the game either. There had been a lot of online discussions on the forums prior to the release of the game about the artificial intelligence software that ran the game’s NPC personalities within The World and what that actually meant. No one really understood how that would change the interactions a player had within the game’s world, but the NPCs I’d met so far had responded to me like real people. They had feelings. They had horrendous problems in their virtual lives that they were struggl
ing to overcome. And to be honest, I couldn’t tell the difference between them and the people in my real life.

  The programmers had designed the NPCs to not respawn back into the game once they died, so once an NPC was dead, they remained dead. The reason given was so that the virtual world had a sense of permanency and that your choices and actions had relevant consequences that altered the course of the world’s future within the game. Add in the full immersion technology of virtual reality on top of all of that and the lines between reality and fantasy began to merge together. It made you feel like you’d been transported to another world instead of logging into a man-made virtual game. Something like that might be difficult for a non-gamer or a casual gamer to understand but none the less it was there.

  Maybe it was simply my moral compass and upbringing that made me treat others the way that I’d prefer to be treated that caused the mental conundrum, but, being who I am, I couldn’t stand by and let people be slaughtered like cattle just because stopping such actions could put me at risk. If they’d been players, it would have been wrong not to help. Even if a player respawned upon death, the horror of being beaten and eaten alive had to be traumatic. For NPCs being controlled by the software AI’s, this horror was their lives. It didn’t matter that the doorway to a room filled with sixty or more Goblins was right behind us. Above and beyond my promise to Miya, seeing these people being brutalized, virtual or not, brought out the pent-up rage that I had against any and all bullies.