by Jason Cheek
“Don’t worry; we’re going to help everyone get out of here,” I said with a smile as I knelt down to look Minny in the eyes. Gripping her shoulder encouragingly, I crawled into the tight little cage to the side of a rough-looking, hairy Gnome that was noticeably older than the rest of the naked, little fellows crowding around the room. The old Gnome’s health was flashing red as I laid my hands on his heaving chest.
Immediately I began casting my first level healing spell. As I chanted, I realized that I was slowly becoming accustomed to the dirt and nakedness around me. Maybe it was just that all the Gnomes looked like little children to me that somehow made the whole nudity thing easier to handle. As soon as the golden glow settled around Spog’s body, I saw the Gnome’s breathing began to ease up as his health bar turned more orange. A few more casts and he was the green color of full health. Coughing weakly, the little fellow sat up in a daze looking at me in surprise as Minny gave me a grateful hug.
“Yay, thank you so much for saving him!” In at that moment, I realized that Minny was a girl and not a guy as I froze unsure of what to do. Looking around at the rest of the battered, dirty prisoners, I realized that there were quite a few women mixed in amongst the men. I’d just hadn’t noticed the difference between the two, because they all looked like pubescent children instead of fully formed human adults and, to be honest, I’d been doing my best not look too closely at any one of them. Shaking my head, I realized that none of that was important. These people had suffered through a terrible ordeal. All that I could do was help them through it the best I could. Returning Minny’s hug, I held her away from me and began chanting my heal spell once again.
The entire team came together and got everyone organized quicker than I’d have thought possible. While Yun and I healed up the Gnome prisoners, Sarka and Unalia passed out food, water and what little clothing I had left to the Gnomes while Tinyr collected up the loot from our recent battle. Thankfully after combining the wolf meat from our backpacks together, we had enough left to feed everyone.
Spog Addreonnyn, the gnomes Lead Digger, was extremely gracious and thanked us profusely for rescuing his people. Giving each of us a little token that we could use to ask himself or the Gnomes from any city for assistance. As we worked, I explained my plan for the freed prisoners, and with Tinyr’s help, we got the new gear divvied out to everyone as we split up the best drops between our team. Loot wise I made out pretty good. The swords that Cralo Gutripper dropped were pretty awesome. Hell, so was his armor. The team voted to let me choose which of the two blades I wanted:
Brutal Skullsplitter
Item Quality: Superior
Item Type: Special
Attack: One-hand Edge
Weapon Type: Sword
Damage: 91-98
Durability: 193/200
Weight: 5.5 kg
+7 Strength
+5 Agility
+10 to Attack Power
Wicked Long Sword
Item Quality: Good
Item Type: Superior
Attack: One-hand Edge
Weapon Type: Sword
Damage: 87-93
Durability: 195/200
Weight: 5.7 kg
+7 Agility
+5 Stamina
+5 Chance to Crit
Looking at the stats, I decided to go with the Brutal Skullsplitter. Tinyr and Sarka wheeled and dealed for the next two big-ticket items. Sarka let Tinyr take the Wicked Long Sword as long as she got the Slave Master’s Armor for her loot.
Slave Master's Armor
Defense: 744
Slave Master's Chain-Leather Mesh Chestguard
Item Quality: Fine
Item Type: Crafted
Slot: Chest
Defense: 260
Armor Type: Medium
Durability: 140/150
Weight: 9 kg
Slave Master's Chain-Leather Mesh Leggings
Item Quality: Fine
Item Type: Crafted
Slot: Legs
Defense: 254
Armor Type: Medium
Durability: 143/150
Weight: 8 kg
Slave Master's Chain-Leather Mesh Belt
Item Quality: Fine
Item Type: Crafted
Slot: Waist
Defense: 82
Armor Type: Medium
Durability: 145/150
Weight: 1.50 kg
Slave Master's Chain-Leather Mesh Gloves
Item Quality: Fine
Item Type: Crafted
Slot: Hands
Defense: 148
Armor Type: Medium
Durability: 149/150
Weight: 1.10 kg
I could have argued that I should have had first dibs on the armor too, since if it wasn’t for me none of them would have ever made it this far at their current level, but it wasn’t worth the argument. Besides, having Sarka geared up the best she could be would only help her tank that much better which exactly was what the team needed. Not to mention, like most women, I’m sure Sarka would enjoy the attention she’d be getting with such an obvious Boss drop and, even though the armor covered her up completely, the blood-red, metal-leather mesh looked pretty awesome.
Not that there was anything for me to complain about. The Slave Driver’s Marauder armor set the rest of us got had pretty decent stats, and its charcoal-black color was a lot more practical for my stealth. Also on the plus side, it didn’t have the ‘word slaver’ in the name of the armor, which suited me just fine. Not to mention, the Marauder Warblade, the Slave Drivers, dropped were pretty nice too. I still wasn’t sure which secondary weapon would be better for me in the long run, but I’d probably end up switching my Jagged Bonesplitter Axe out for the Marauder Warblade for my off-hand weapon since the bonuses to strength and stamina it gave were active even if it was strapped to my waist.
Another interesting aspect of the game I hadn’t noticed earlier with the Goblin Boiled Leather armor was that the pieces adjusted to the player once the put the armor on. So instead of having a set of too tight armor that barely reached my knees, I had a set of fitted armor that completely covered my body. Looking at the stats of my new gear, I smiled happily.
Marauder Warblade
Item Quality: Good
Item Type: Crafted
Attack: One-hand Edge
Weapon Type: Sword
Damage: 70-78
Durability: 100/100
Weight: 7 kg
+5 Strength
+4 Stamina
Marauder's Armor
Defense: 577
Marauder Chain-Leather Mesh Chestguard
Item Quality: Common
Item Type: Crafted
Slot: Chest
Defense: 210
Armor Type: Medium
Durability: 45/50
Weight: 9 kg
Marauder Chain-Leather Mesh Leggings
Item Quality: Fine
Item Type: Crafted
Slot: Legs
Defense: 204
Armor Type: Medium
Durability: 43/50
Weight: 8 kg
Marauder Chain-Leather Mesh Belt
Item Quality: Fine
Item Type: Crafted
Slot: Waist
Defense: 65
Armor Type: Medium
Durability: 45/50
Weight: 1.50 kg
Marauder Chain-Leather Mesh Gloves
Item Quality: Fine
Item Type: Crafted
Slot: Hands
Defense: 98
Armor Type: Medium
Durability: 49/50
Weight: 1.10 kg
Following the plan I’d come up with on the fly, we handed out the spare Marauder sets along with the rest of the extra gear we’d collected along the way to the prisoners. Sub-Leader Miya Faelwen and Sergeant Traovudd ended up with the unused Marauder’s sets and Marauder Warblades, while the rest of the guards got a mixture of castoffs: a hodgepodge of Goblin boile
d leathers, the three Cruel Bastard Swords and a bunch of Savage Fin Slashers and Rockjaw Choppers.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of anything left for the gnome miners to use. The little bit of clothing I had left over after the guards rifled through my supplies went to making loin cloths and wraps. It might not sound like much, but as Spog succinctly said. “It’s better than having your junk flapping about in the wind.” The last items we handed out to the pertinacious little Gnomes were the bunch of steel pickaxes that we’d looted from the Kobolds. Each Gnome took two of the pickaxes to dual wield. While I’d initially felt bad about not having anything better to offer weapon wise for them to use, especially with their spindly, white bodies, make-shift loincloths, and oversized heads. As soon as I saw Minny clank the steel tips of her pickaxes together menacingly as she began twirling each weapon in her hands like a mini-sized barbarian with a battleaxe, I suddenly felt better. The little guys and gals suddenly looked quite intimidating.
There were a couple of other nice drops. Unalia and Tinyr both got the two Slayer Bands that dropped from the Slave Drivers. Each ring gave a +6 to agility and +2 to Critical Hit bonus that was pretty sweet. Although Unalia ended up winning dibs on the Medallion of Slaughter that dropped from the Slave Master that gave a +10 to Hit and +20 to weapon damage. My inner greed monster tried to raise its ugly head when I didn’t get any of the cool rings or necklaces, but I squashed the feelings down without too much trouble. The Brutal Skullsplitter longsword was a crazy cool drop and was the best weapon I’d seen yet in the game. Also, my new Silver Dire Wolf beast companion had to be an ultra rare drop. Besides, while I missed out on getting the bling this time around, I was betting on my chance to get the first choice of the drops off the next boss.
Normally in a PuG, you’d roll on everything that you could reasonably use. With my multi-class build that would have been on practically everything that dropped. Hell, even if we went on group rolls, I could have put in a good argument that I was covering tanking, DPS and healing roles. The game didn’t have a built-in loot divider or an automated way to control who had first dibs on what for rolling on the items that dropped. Instead, it was up to the group to decide how they were going to loot when teamed up together.
In MMORPGs, there were a lot of different ways to determine loot distribution in a group. Instead of taking one of these generic methods that looked out for the individual, we were distributing loot based on what was best for our group to succeed now and in the future, which took a lot of trust for a group of strangers. The truth would come out tomorrow once everyone had a full night to think everything over. I could very well find myself all alone in the morning and once again in need of finding a new PuG if I wanted to finish up the dungeon. While treating these new players I’d met as future guildmates could bite me in the ass, I felt pretty confident that Unalia, Tinyr, Yun, and Sarka would be coming back to team up with me again tomorrow morning without question. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been down with sharing out the loot the way we were. For me, I’d rather lose the chance at some loot now to learn if I could trust them or not. Kind of like letting someone borrow twenty bucks to see if they were trustworthy enough to keep around as a friend.
It took about an hour to get everyone healed, fed and geared up. We were finishing up when the ringing calls of Goblins horns began echoing through the underground tunnels. The sounds of the hunt seemed to be traveling away from us. No doubt the Goblins were searching for us near the exit, which was good and bad. Either way, we’d have to go through them at some point in time. We were lining up to leave when the two guards by the entrance of the chamber signaled that there was an approaching patrol. Quickly I took up a position about fifteen feet from the entrance as the Gnomes disappeared as they scrambled to the top of the cages by the doorway. Standing next to me was Sarka, Miya Faelwen and Sergeant Ibohanydd with the rest of the guards spread out behind us in a half circle.
As soon as the Goblin patrol saw us, they shrieked and charged into the chamber. So far, this was the largest patrol we’d seen yet which consisted of ten Goblin Guards. Before the green bastards could close to melee distance, the entire strung-out line was tackled to the floor as Gnomes leaped down in mass with their pickaxe flailing. In the middle of the scrum, I saw Tinyr’s daggers flashing as he sank his blades into the back of the Lead Goblin. Without hesitation, the rest of us lunged forward with our blades flashing.
The fight was over in less than a minute. Most of the Goblins had been tackled to the ground with two Gnomes each flailing at their backsides, while the five Goblins in the rear had three Gnomes wailing away at each them. Tinyr spun like a whirling cyclone as he Backstabbed left and right as the rest of us hacked the guards to death before they had a chance to get back to their feet. The ferocity of the ex-prisoners attacks were somewhat terrifying as they threw themselves headlong at their jailers with a hatred I’d never seen before. Momentarily I wondered if this was the racial hatred that had been built into the game or was this due to the ex-prisoners seeing their fellow miners slaughtered before their eyes during the invasion. Either way, it would be something I’d need to watch out for, so we didn’t lose our prisoners before making it back to Delonshire.
Hurriedly we looted the dead and made our way down the tunnel back the way we’d come. The tunnels only let us go three abreast. With some jostling to push back the bloodthirsty Gnomes, Sarka, Miya and I took the lead with me in the middle. Snipping at hour heals were Minny and Spog. The manic Gnomes refused all requests to stand back and had forced everyone but Tinyr and Sergeant Traovudd behind them. I was about to stop the advance and have a word with the stout little guys when we ran into our next group of enemies. Instantly, I found myself nearly swept off my feet as the mass of bodies surged forward at the sight of their hated enemy.
The Goblins that were standing out in front of the doors to the chow hall never knew what hit them. One second they were joking with one another in their guttural voices and the next they were being hacked to death by a wave of hate and steel. The press of bodies flowed into the massive chamber the miners had used to feed their people. There were only a handful of Goblins left within the room, three of them in the robes of mages. Before I could worry about any flaming blasts, the mass of prisoners charged in an insane rush. Leaping over tables and chairs, they threw themselves bodily at the Goblins hacking them to death.
I nearly puked as I caught sight of the picked bones of Gnomes and Elves scattered amongst the tables. Many of the bones still attached to the chains that had held the prisoners while they’d lived. Throughout the shrieking insane melee, I caught back up to a white-faced Sarka and Unalia.
“I still can’t believe they freaking eat people? I think I’m going to be sick.” Sarka said, looking green again as she hurriedly turned away from the leftovers of the grisly feast. Unalia didn’t look any better as she clenched her hand over her mouth nodding in agreement.
“What’? You guys knew that from the Goblin Slavers earlier.” I said looking at them confused.
“It’s one thing to know about something, and it’s another actually to see it.” Unalia gasped out as she staggered out into the corridor to puke her guts out. As the acidic stench of vomit filled their air, I partly puked in the back of my throat but somehow managed to stop it there. Swallowing hard, I forced the acidic taste back down as I turned away from Unalia’s choking coughs.
There’s something about seeing other people puke that pushes you over the edge. Not that I could blame either of them for feeling ill at the sight of the half-eaten bodies. The leftovers of the grotesque feast once again reminded me of a Catacomb level in Diablo II. Whereas that game was a low detail axonometric view game, The World was a high definition FIVRMMORG, meaning the level of realism was almost too much to take in. The stench of so many Goblins in one place was difficult enough on its own, but mix in the blood, shit, and piss of slaughtered NPCs on top of that briefly made me wonder if I’d have PTSD from the entire experience. Refusi
ng to look at the grisly room, I breathed in through my mouth looking over at the girls.
“We need to keep a leash on this crowd, or we’re going to lose a bunch of them all once we hit some serious resistance,” I said, pushing Sarka to where Unalia gasped for breath in the hallway. Seeing Yun nearby, I caught his eye and pointed towards Tinyr and waved him over. Giving me a thumbs up, Yun began making his way over to Tinyr as I flagged down Miya.
“We need to be better organized than this or we’re going to be wiped out once we hit some serious resistance,” I shouted out to the Elf woman as she came near.
“That’s going to be tough. Everyone here has lost close friends to these monsters.” Miya yelled back, looking haunted by her own words as she stared out across the room. Shaking her head, Miya seemed to remember herself once again as she called Sergeant Traovudd, Spog and Minny over to her. As soon as the Gnomes got close, I could see their red-rimmed eyes and angry faces.
“Listen, I know all of you lost a lot of people that you cared about to these monsters. Now that you’re free you want to see them dead. But, the truth of the matter is, you can’t throw your lives away for personal revenge.” Seeing the rebellious looks from the four faces, I spoke the hard truth as I saw it.
“Look, you can throw your lives away dying here and now without doing anything to truly avenge your dead, or you can live and come back with a proper force to slaughter all of these monsters once and for all,” I said looking into each one of their eyes before continuing. “But, you need to let us know now which it’s going to be. My team is down for the long haul. We will fight beside you to kill your enemies. We will get you out of here alive. We will get the revenge you want, but that means you’re going to have to follow our orders to the letter. If not, we will go our own way without you. The choice is yours.”