The Prisoner of Arabella

by Matthew Kent

  “We sure do. I’m to give you my weapons first.” I summoned Gwalchmai to my hand and struck him with all my might across his stomach.

  Coup de Main! You have struck Warg Rider Lieutenant for 159 damage.

  Warg Rider Lieutenant is stunned.

  As the Warg Rider Lieutenant slumped to the ground on his knees, his head fell forward. My blade was in the air over him, and so I reversed the head of the weapon and swept it down through his neck.

  Coup De Gras. You have struck Warg Rider Lieutenant for 527 damage.

  Warg Rider Lieutenant has been slain.

  I glared up at the small army gathered before me. There was a popping sound behind me, and I felt the rush of air as the hut behind me exploded with a deafening roar. My guild mates yelled defiance into the preternatural silence following the explosion as they rushed to take formation. This was the first raid I had ever taken part of, and I’d started it off by drawing first blood.

  Chapter 20

  The goblins stood stunned as half a hundred travelers ran to form a battle formation. That was from what I understood one of the main differences about the Exotic Corp—they took battle seriously, they drilled, trained, and practiced formation fighting.

  The front line was a squad of warriors behind large shields. Behind them came damage dealers, then the mages and archers. There were more damage dealers with the mages. My assault on the lieutenant was just enough to make them hesitate and gain the momentum. On myself I cast Protection from Normal Missiles then fell back to the formation.

  We formed up well before the goblins even thought of sorting themselves out. Arrows streaked from bowmen on our side, striking the goblin shamans, spell casters, and any of their damage dealers they could identify.

  I fell back further to regroup with my party.

  “How’s it going?” I yelled to BarbieQ as she sat drinking a mana potion.

  “God, this tastes awful. Who’s bright idea was it to have them taste like cinnamon?” she complained.

  “I don’t know, but we’re about to miss out on all the fun,” Tekadan said and screamed as he lunged toward BarbieQ.

  His kukris just appeared in his hands, and then he was there, his body interposed between BarbieQ and a goblin assassin. He was a short, wiry beast in black leather armor. He screamed out something unintelligible, then leaped back and disappeared.

  “What the—” I started, then took a wary look around for more assassins.

  I thought of the trick I had used on the elf lord the other day and looked for foot prints in the dirt. After a few seconds, I saw small dust puffs coming toward us, then I cast Sleep.

  Sleep. Goblin Executioner sleeps.

  There was a puff of dirt as the Goblin Executioner just collapsed as he tried to stealth his way to us. Then we could all see his body only fifteen feet away. With four good steps I was on him then with Gwalchmai. I finished him as he lay in the dust.

  Coup De Gras. Goblin Executioner takes 561 damage.

  Goblin Executioner is slain.

  “Good job. Now let’s go protect the rest of the mages,” Tekadan said as we moved up to our assigned positions.

  Tekadan and I were looking out for assassins and other mage and cleric killers. We did not want them to do unto us what we had just been doing to them. In the distance, I could hear off key horn calls over the din of battle. For now, the fighting was going our way with surprise on our side. Inevitably though, momentum would shift slightly as the goblins brought pressure to bear, but it would take time. The plan was to get to the base of the spire and bottle them up there with the main force, then send out three patrols in force, ten man squads to hit the goblins as they tried to form up or flee.

  I didn’t fit any specific role in the battle. I was okay at healing but couldn’t put out the healing the front line needed. My damage was too low for DPS, and I lacked the skill and armor to be a front-line fighter. What I needed was a chance to learn more songs of power that would inspire our troops, demoralize our enemies, and aid in the battle. It was too late for me now, I thought, as I brought my instrument up and began to play and oldie but a goodie. I don’t know when AC/DC became easy listening, but Back In Black is a great tune that had always lifted my spirits. I played and poured in my power.

  You play Song of Mass Courage. Energy Cost: 180. Increases a group of players’ HP by 5% and damage by 5%.

  You have discovered a new song.

  You gain 2000 XP.

  It seemed as if the fighters had an easier time as their damage increased. I knew five percent wasn’t an astronomical boost to damage, but it could mean the difference in life and death. As I played my instrument and occasionally helped fight of the occasional assassin, I heard the runners coming into give updates to Morner. The tide was about to turn against us—there was a contingent of ogres in the compound that had come out of one tunnel.

  We had not expected ogres.

  The first I felt the ogres’ attack was when large stones fell on both contingents of melee combatants. Apparently the ogres didn’t care if they hit their own people as long as they got outs. I looked closely at them; they were nearly twelve feet tall with large, disfigured heads, large noses, small eyes, and thick matted brown hair. I assumed it was hair, because I could distinguish a brownish-blue, mottled and bumpy skin underneath the mass of hair. Given how they looked, I could only imagine that they smelled worse than the goblins. Then the wind shifted from behind them.

  Suddenly I saw something going for one cleric, and I sprang into the attack without hesitating. I brought my Ashandarei down and felt it hit something solid. There was a puff of dust as the body hit the ground. I had struck at the moving form without even thinking or registering it. Then suddenly at my feet was another dead assassin. It had been close, but other assassins were getting through. There were just so many of them, and our people could not see them. Unless, I mused. I’m sure my face took on a sly smile as I took up my instrument once more.

  Once more, my hands moved and struck a chord as the intent swelled through me, and suddenly the song burst from me, flooding the area. As it spread, it revealed the assassins and rogues.

  Every breath you take and every move you make

  Every bond you break, every step you take, I’ll be watching you

  You play the Song of Mass Visibility. Energy Cost: 100. Reveals enemies that are unseen, stealthed, or invisible.

  Warning: this does not affect enemies that are camouflaged.

  You have discovered a new song.

  You gain 2000 XP.

  I heard one officer exclaim in surprise as the headquarters staff suddenly found themselves surrounded and outnumbered by rogues and assassins. They were outnumbered at three or four to one odds, and I was at first afraid for them.

  Then I saw what real experienced players could do as Morner launched an attack. He seemed to believe in the old maxim that the best defense was a good offense, and Morner’s offense was superb. He launched himself at a large group, and the blade I made for him lashed out. The power of it was frightening as it cleaved through the bodies of the goblins. His slash had come down at an angle from the side; the first goblin’s head was cleaved in two. The second lost his head at the neck, and a third died almost instantly as the blade passed through its shoulder and cut deeply into its chest through its spine. I felt a chill as I realized that Morner had sliced through the goblins as he literally let them experience peace.

  As the headquarters battled the assassins without help, the battle was still mainly going our way. We would occasionally see one or even two players killed in the raid as their names went gray in the list. Sometimes they would be resurrected almost immediately to fight on, and other stayed down. Soon the chaos engulfed us all as we swung blades, cast spells, and prayed for guidance, healing, or holy fire to smite our enemies.

  BarbieQ was singing as she hurled fire the goblins. It sounded as though she were singing in Italian, which I did not understand, and she would punctuate the word fuoc
o with balls of fire that would speed out and immolate a goblin or other monster. Occasionally she would face the front lines and let loose with a large fireball that would land and burst like a mushroom could, the heat expanding out. The rest of the Angels fought as a unit, the mages’ spells decimating the enemies that came at them.

  Then there was a commotion in the front ranks as an ogre burst through the lines. They killed two of the tanks as he broke the shield wall, and the ranged players faded back as he charged through. The remaining tanks attempted to reform the shield wall. The creature ran, swinging the corpse of one player, then Mikail stepped forward.

  “Lorcan, backup Mikail and keep him healed!” Tekadan yelled—it was the only way I could hear over the din of battle and the explosions.

  I watched as he taunted the beast. It charged at him as it bellowed in rage like a maddened bull. It would charge, and Mikail would pivot, turn, and strike the beast in the flank as it passed. I watched and was reminded of the videos of bull fighters I had seen as a child. He had the monster fully aggro’d, and the rest of the Angels joined in with DPS. I sang my Song of Healing repeatedly. With the way Mikail had grabbed and held aggro, I knew my healing wouldn’t draw the monster’s ire. The warrior kited the monster around the back of the lines while the angels burned him down with their spells. Soon all that remained of the form was a smoking burned corpse on the ground.

  I don’t know when it happened, but the goblins and their allies broke. Looking around, I saw that the battlefield was littered with hundreds of monster corpses. I could smell the bitter, coppery tang of blood, and I heard the wail of the wounded monsters on the ground. Our people were giving mercy to the goblins too wounded to run.

  In the corner of my vision I had blinking notifications. I stopped to quickly skim. I supposed other players were also doing so, as occasionally I would see a player’s body flare with light as they leveled.

  You have participated in a field battle.

  You gain 20,864 XP.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 12.

  Great. In 2 more levels, I could relearn my spells I had lost.

  From Morner: Good job, everyone. Let's regroup into our squads. Squads one through five perform the cleanup and sweep. Six through ten bottle them up. Angels on me.

  Chapter 21

  “All right, Angels, are we ready for the bug hunt?” Mikail asked us as we neared the central pillar of the mine.

  The rock looked as charcoal gray but with some shining spots. I guessed it was basalt that had come up from the depths when a meteorite—a very large one considering the area inside the crater—had hit.

  “Bug hunt?” Synon asked. I was glad she had asked, even though I thought I knew the answer.

  “It’s when you go underground to dig out the bad guys,” Harut replied as she stood checking his weapons, and then he elaborated in a grim tone. “We’ll be going into their territory trying to dig them out of tunnels and fixed emplacements. I’ve counseled many a soldier after one of these in the real world.”

  “And here we are doing this for fun and profit,” Samael replied. He stood, examining his weapons, and he withdrew his wands from their sheaths to loosen them up much like a gunfighter would on the streets of an old west before a fight.

  Mikail smiled wryly as he readied his sword, then beat it on his shield with a ring of metal on metal. As if it were the signal, we all started to fall in behind him as he led us off into the first of the mine tunnels. The tunnel entrance was broad, about fifteen to twenty feet wide with rutted tracks in the dirt and stone for moving mine carts through the tunnels. Outside, the sun was over the crater rim, the heat pounding down into the crater, but as we entered the tunnels, there was a palpable drop in temperature, enough to give me chills. At least that's what I told myself.

  My eyes were dazzled at first from coming in out of the bright sunlight outside into the darkness, but my eyes adjusted quickly to the gloom, far better than the humans in our party.

  We were barely down the first tunnel when Mikail took the first hits on his shield, goblin rogues appearing around him. I saw a flash as his taunt skill was used. I used my Song of Healing on him, then the Song of Iron Skin. I hoped that any of the technicians listening would be rocking out.

  Still, goblins kept coming like a swarm appearing after an attack and then slipping away. Finally, I once more played the Song of Mass Visibility down the tunnel, and a mass of them appeared and without realizing we saw them, they rushed us. I saw BarbieQ step up beside Mikail, and she flicked her arms up and toward the onrushing goblins. In a flash, her magic ignited the air, and fire washed out of her hands as she snapped her arms like whips. The ribbons of fires traced bright blinding arcs through the air, and the front and second ranks of goblins wailed in pain, most collapsing dead, the others stumbling over their loses but still rushing forward. Once more Mikail used a taunt, then Appolyon, Harut, and Samael opened with their spells.

  I kept playing my Songs of Healing. I even got up the courage to cast my spell on the back ranks of the goblins as they charged to their death. It turned out Sleep was a very effective spell. They collapsed on the ground only to have their lives ended as Appolyon’s Ice Storm swept through the downed ranks. My description is more clinical than it was. I’ve left out the smell of coppery blood, the twinges of fear, and the confusion of the bright blasts of light that punctuated terror.

  The tunnel fighting was even more concerning. I held onto my fear of the tight enclosed places. In my mind it was like we were fighting into a crypt, only we were filling it with the bodies of our enemies as we went. After many minutes, we had hacked and blasted our way into the darkness. When I looked behind and saw Tekadan guarding our backs, I thought I would see our way in marked with a trail of blood and bodies. But no, the goblins’ corpses had been removed by the system after they had been looted.

  We were about to hit another rise in the tunnel when suddenly the walls to the left crumbled.

  “Look out!” I yelled to the party. As the wall fell in what at the time appeared to be a slow cascade of stone, the new opening was partially blocked and provided a much needed obstacle to the goblin attackers as they rushed us. I took the brunt of the attack as I held them. The tunnel had felt too small, so I had put my Ashandarei away and instead was using my butterfly swords.

  The first of the goblins was out and on me. He was tall for a goblin and well armed with a jagged sword that reminded me more of a khopesh or maybe a sapola if it had been more refined. Still, the blade was sharp and expertly swung. I barely caught it on my butterfly sword to deflect the strike. He snarled and yowled at me as he thrust and hacked wildly. I simply tried blocking and deflecting his blades. I felt the bursts of heat and pressures from the spells we were using to slay them.

  Critical Hit! You take 195 damage from Back Stab from Goblin Executioner.

  The pain came as a sudden shock and at a most inopportune time as the thrust made me fumble a parry.

  You take 75 damage from Goblin Warrior.

  You take 39 damage from Goblin Archer.

  My health bar had dropped to less than half of what it normally was. Dropping one blade, I brought my hand up and cast Burning Hands, though I held them back as spells washed over the front ranks, freezing and frying them as they tried to push through the crumbling obstacle. Still, I was taking small amounts of damage. When the last fell, my health bar was blinking red. Just a sliver of health was left. I had not had time to cast spells on myself to aid in healing.

  “That was a close one,” I said as I turned back to the others. “What should we do about the tunnel?”

  “Let me take care of this,” BarbieQ said as she urged us all to step back.

  She drew herself up, closing her eyes in focus, and she gestured and sent a spell out toward the tunnel. There was a rumbling. We looked at one another, and there was a sudden rush of dirt and debris as the tunnel’s mouth collapsed, crushing the lifeless corpses below and sealing the entrance.
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br />   “I think you will need heavier armor,” Tekadan said, looking at me. He laughed and slapped me on the back. “You held ‘em, though.”

  “If you two are done, let’s get back to it. Remember, we are working our way up to the top.” Mikail said as he glared at us.

  I thought about Tekadan’s words. Not that I needed heavier armor, but it brought back what Arabella had said. Was heavier armor necessary for my potential? Just what I needed, one more thing to ponder during the middle of a fight.

  We set back out after having looted the corpses, healing ourselves, rebuffing, and making sure we were ready to make some mayhem. It brought a wry smile to my face thinking how these men of god were experts at calling down chaos.

  Chapter 22

  We fought our way into the central spire.

  We found out during one mad rush against the goblins that the spire was hollow; there was a central shaft about fifty feet in diameter that opened and plunged deep into the pits bellow. There was a hot wind blowing up from the depths but it mixed with the cooler air around us.