Still … I couldn’t deny what I felt for Tika, and it was not just physical attraction. My feelings toward her were deep. Real. They couldn’t be washed away with a cold logic that argued against their validity.
I leaned into her, feeling her hair on my cheek, enjoying the moment a little longer.
That’s enough existential philosophizing for one morning. I have an Ogre clan to raid!
The thought invigorated me. I rose from the bed slowly, carefully, not waking Tika.
The Lyrical bird Tika had gifted me started singing its sweet song, instilling a sense of optimism and determination.
I stepped out of my house only to find Rhynorn, of all people, waiting. He was sitting, his back against a boulder, his club lying on the ground next to him.
I eyed the Ogre warily. “You’re back.”
“Hrrr,” he grunted. “I be back in clan.”
“And …?”
He stood up, towering over me. At over three times my height, it was impossible not to feel some trepidation at his physical presence. But I’d already decisively shown that I was the more powerful monster. I held his gaze steadily. “Well?”
I tensed as he hoisted his club up and onto his shoulder.
Scowling at me he declared, “I BE THE CHAMPION!” Then his eyes dropped and in a more subdued voice, he added, “You be THE CHIEF. I, Rhynorn Bloodore do … what Chief say.”
“Good.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m leaving the hamlet for a few days. Maybe even longer. You will stay here with the rest of the soldiers. Your job is to guard against intruders and defend the clan. You are in charge of the soldiers, but you are not allowed to kill them. Understand?”
He grunted in acknowledgement.
“Kaedric is in charge of the workers. Do not interfere or give him any problems.”
“Hrrr, I be with the real males, the fighters! Weaklings not concern of mine!”
“And don’t you forget it.” I poked his chest. At least I tried, but I only reached his stomach.
After my little talk with Rhynorn, I stopped by the mess hall for a quick bite. Gandork was back, busily working in the kitchen as if nothing had happened. I didn’t bring up the subject of him dying and Rhyno’s subsequent chastisement, but when he brought my meal out, it had an extra-large helping of roasted nuts on top.
Bek was waiting for me when I stepped out of the mess hall. The little goblin was fidgeting nervously as usual.
“Have you seen the twins?” I asked him.
“Yes, Dread Totem,” he piped. “Them say them wait in forest.”
“Very well, let’s go.”
I led the smaller goblin toward the tree line where Malkyr and Hoshisu were waiting for us.
“All set?” I read their information streams. Both were level 25. Looks like they’ve been busy.
“Yeah, man,” Malkyr answered. “So like, where are we going ?”
“I talked with my lieutenant, Bob. He was one of the hobs from the clan allied with the Ogres.”
“Yeah,” Malkyr said sourly. “I remember them.”
“He told me their base is in the ruins of a fort a few days to the southwest. He marked the place on my map. So that’s where we’re headed.”
“Should be interesting,” Hoshisu remarked, her eyes measuring me.
I felt like she was checking for vulnerabilities, evaluating me as a future opponent.
I formed up a war party and sent an invitation to the twins. “Let’s go.”
We took the eastern path, plunging into the tree line toward the valley entrance and passing the ruins of the old Chief’s Hut.
I nodded to Kilpi and Ryker, two of my hob soldiers who were guarding the entrance to the valley. A few minutes later, we left the valley behind us and were walking through the deep forest.
I hadn’t been in the forest for the last two weeks, and going from the familiar open country of the valley to tangled, crowded tree-growths felt restricting.
Putting the valley wall to our left, we pushed through the dense growth until Hoshisu found a trail heading due south and we started making good time.
“We’ve pretty much cleared all the critters from this area,” Malkyr noted.
“Yes.” Hoshisu nodded. “It became almost impossible to find mobs inside the valley a while ago and now out here too.”
“It’s like they don’t respawn or something,” Malkyr complained. “I mean, what gives, man?”
I shrugged. “Time.”
They both looked at me questioningly.
“The mobs breed organically. Mostly,” I explained. “That’s why they run on accelerated time. Now that we share the same acceleration, their breeding seems slow.”
“Damn,” Hoshisu said. “That means we’ll have to go farther and farther afield for a decent challenge.”
“I’m okay with that,” her brother said. “The forest mobs here are small fry for us now anyway, mostly below level 10.”
“Consider yourself lucky.” I said “We’re in the Deadlands. This forest has the lowest challenge rating of all the zones nearby. There are tougher opponents in every direction around our region.”
Malkyr chuckled. “Heh, that just means more XP.”
“If you’re looking for a challenge, check out the riverbend two hours’ walk north of the valley,” I suggested. “There’s a mother bear there that would be happy to have you for dinner.”
We followed the trail south for a few hours, then took another trail toward the west. Hoshisu was right about the dearth of monsters; we encountered few along the way. Those that did cross our path fell easily to the twins.
The forest had thinned out as we traveled and it was gradually becoming brighter as the light of dawn crept between the branches.
“Let’s make camp,” I said.
“Nah man, we’re not tired. It’s only been like, what, ten hours? That’s less than an hour, real time.”
“Also,” his sister interjected, “we only have about eight hours to game today. That’s four days in-game, so we should complete the raid in that time frame if we haul ass and skip sleeping in-game.”
Damn. It hadn’t occurred to me that the time differential would create problems in this way. Because they were oriented to IRL time, the twins could go without sleep for days on end in our relative game-time.
“Alright, we’ll push through,” I agreed. “But Bek and I will need to rest at least once before the raid.”
Malkyr shrugged. “Suit yourself. We’ll just pop out for a bit of food or something.”
We continued, traveling at a good pace through the forest. I kept my Mana Infusion spell active, bolstering myself. However, I hadn’t taught the spell to Bek, since he didn’t have the mana regeneration rate to maintain it. The poor goblin was having a hard time and eventually began lagging behind. Malkyr’s solution to the delay was straightforward. He simply picked up the tired goblin-mite and tossed him over one shoulder, like a parent carrying a sleepy toddler to bed.
Were you trying for an Aussie accent? I asked incredulously.
It’s terrible. Play to your strengths, Vic. You know, being a cranky, half-demented loon. I chuckled at my own humor.
We cackled at each other.
The trees gave way to open, rolling grasslands to the south and west of the forest behind us, just as shown on my map.
“We’ve been here before,” Hoshisu said. “It’s a small level 40-plus area, just a couple of hours to cross it. “We were level 12 the last time we were here, so we mostly ran away from the monsters. Luckily there’s not a lot of them.”
“Let’s keep going, then,” I said. Level 40 creatures, even weak ones, were well beyond my ability to affect with Freeze or Dominate.
We incr
eased our pace, keeping a vigilant watch on our surroundings. We avoided any encounters, and soon we could make out the border of the territory in the distance, where the grasslands and hills gave way to rocky, jagged mountains.
“Nearly there.” I urged them on.
“Stop!” Hoshisu said sharply.
We all froze in our tracks.
“What is it, sis?”
“Oxsaurians.” She pointed. “There. Our path goes right through a herd of them.”
I squinted, looking where she pointed. I could barely make out a large number of indistinct shapes spread out across the plains in front of us.
“A herd,” Hoshisu added. “There’s no way we’ll make it past them. They’re extremely territorial and attack any intruder on sight.”
“Maybe we can make a run for it?” Malkyr said.
Oxsaurians were fierce, bovine-like creatures. Fast, aggressive, and resistant to most physical damage, they were dangerous even to players twice their level, and they outranked us by a good margin.
“No.” I shook my head. “I might be able to outrun them, but you three will not.”
Hoshisu narrowed her eyes. “We need a distraction.”
She was definitely on to something and I had just the vict– … volunteer in mind.
Hey Vic, remember that time when you distracted the Dire Apes …?
Err … yes?
Uhhh … yes. I guess you have a point.
I reconsidered my Vic-tim idea for a few seconds but eventually decided against it.
“I’ll arrange a distraction. Everyone get ready to run.”
They nodded, and Malkyr put Bek down. The little goblin was in much better shape after his nap-n-ride.
I gathered my mana, building it up, then released it, casting an empowered Shadow Hound spell. It was a sunny day, and there were few shadows to use on the open land. As a result, the spell felt … sluggish somehow, as I cast it.
When the spell ended, six shadow-made mastiffs had coalesced around me. Checking my summoned creatures, I was disappointed to find they were only level 5, half the usual level. The lack of shadows had obviously weakened the spell. Still, these underpowered hounds should do the job just fine.
“That is so cool.” Malkyr breathed a sigh, looking the mastiffs over appreciatively.
I ordered the mastiffs to rush the oxsaurians and engage them. The shadowy canines loped across the open plain toward the distant group of monsters. They attacked without hesitation, storming through the herd, indiscriminately striking out at every oxsaurian in their path. The mastiffs were doing almost no damage to the armored monsters, but the attack definitely got their attention. The entire herd was soon milling around, their agitated roars reaching our ears. When they inevitably turned en masse on the mastiffs, I ordered my shadow minions to break off and withdraw. The entire riled-up herd was lured away, clearing our path to the border.
I grinned at the others. “The coast is clear, let’s go.”
We were almost to the edge of the open territory, where the hills turned into mountains, when a truck-sized oxsaurian stood up from the tall grass, red-eyed and snorting, horns lowered to block our path.
The monster was Malkyr’s height at its shoulder, its dusty grey skin thick and pebbled like that of a rhinoceros. A ruff of forward-curving spikes circled the massive neck.
Oxsaurian, bull
Level: 38
HP: 436
Attributes: P: 34, M: -4, S: 4
Skills: Unstoppable Charge 35, Thickskin 36
Traits: Magicless (no mana)
Resistances: Armor 158, Fire 50%, Acid -50%
It pawed at the ground, sending plate-sized divots of turf flying behind it. Raising its huge head and bellowing an enraged challenge, it lumbered into a charge.
“Do we run or fight?” Malkyr asked, his preference clear.
“Fight,” I decided, powering up my arrows. “He’s going to trample at least one of us if we try to run. We have to kill him.”
“Yes!” Malkyr unlimbered his Greataxe. “I was starting to think I wouldn’t get to kill anything today.”
“It would be almost impossible to get through its armor with your weapons,” I called out. “But it’s susceptible to magic, so you two keep it busy while Bek and I deal damage with spells.”
“No problem,” Malkyr said, assuming a defensive stance with Hoshisu standing to his side and a step behind.
I cast Shadow Web at the charging beast, but it simply burst through the dark tendrils with its momentum barely reduced.
“Bek, keep away from it but keep shooting drilling arrows at it,” I ordered.
“Yes, Dread Totem.”
My dual drilling arrows were closely followed by Bek’s single dart. The three projectiles impacted the beast’s tough hide, doing 60 damage.
It staggered, then resumed its headlong rush at the waiting siblings. I cringed as I watched the inevitable collision, but Malkyr surprised me. With perfect timing, the big man spun away from the charging beast and delivered an axe strike to its neck. Although the axe struck true, its blade just rebounded harmlessly from the armored hide.
As the beast passed Hoshisu, she mirrored her brother’s actions, but her dagger strikes also proved ineffective.
Bek and I continued to cast our arrow spells at the bull as he slowed to come around for another pass at the twins.
This fight was especially risky. Being caught and trampled by that creature would instantly kill any one of us. I considered using the Fire Rod in my inventory but hesitated.
The oxsaurian had 50 percent fire resistance so I would have to use the strongest void crystal I had to power the rod. The level 200 crystal I’d gotten from killing the player scouting party would easily inflict 2,000 points of damage. Even with the beast’s fire resistance that would be enough to take it down. On the negative side, channeling so much raw power would surely destroy the rod.
I shook my head. Losing the rod wasn’t the biggest issue; strong void crystals were simply too rare to waste. We’d already taken the bull’s health down to 70 percent. Though it was a tough fight, victory was within our reach and our journey had just begun. We were probably going to face off against even deadlier foes, and if we couldn’t handle a single oxsaurian, what chance would we have against an entire clan of Ogres? Besides, this fight was a good opportunity to hone our teamwork.
So, I left the Fire Rod unused and cast another Drilling Arrow. The two bolts shot out, followed closely by Bek’s singleton. The three projectiles inflicted 55 points of damage.
But the beast still had over 60 percent of his health left; it was far from out of the fight.
Completing its wide looping turn, it oriented on me with its piggy eyes and began accelerating like a locomotive. The twins repositioned smoothly, putting themselves in the path of the charge, making the bull change its aggro to them mid-charge. Still, I prudently circled out of the bull’s line of sight.
This time the beast changed its tactics, slowing its charge in an attempt to gore Malkyr. He parried with his axe, the force of the blow pushing him back, but they were clinched. Hoshisu tried to stay with them and keep formation with her brother, but the oxsaurian kept pushing Malkyr, the warrior’s feet gouging furrows in the turf. The bull swung his head broadly from side to side, sweeping his many horns around like a spiked mace. The spikes caught both twins, piercing their armor like it was paper, and hurling them away like discarded toys.
Glancing at the war party
icons, I was relieved to see they were both still alive, but Hoshisu’s health was dangerously low. Getting to his feet, Malkyr raised his axe and roared a challenge. The axe blade glowed faintly and came down hard, leaving ripples in the air in its wake, striking the beast’s skull. Raw energy exploded out of the axe, sending shockwaves into the beast’s body. The attack actually broke through the thick grey skin.
The oxsaurian was momentarily shaken, giving us a brief moment to regroup and for Bek to cast the golden-green light of healing spells on Hoshisu and Malkyr.
Although injured and staggering, the oxsaurian was far from finished. It shook its head, snorting explosively, and glared at us with red eyes. Before the beast could gather its wits for another attack, I cast Shadow Web again. The spell-wrought shades grew from under its hooves and slithered up along its limbs, spreading over and around its shoulders and neck. Now that the creature was standing in place, the web was strong enough to hold it. The bull visibly sagged on its four legs, straining against the spell pulling it down and ensnaring it. Immobile, though not helpless.
I was not pleased with the way the battle was turning out. We were taking damage and not inflicting enough back. Our strategy was poor. A single blunder could become our downfall, ending with one or more of us as roadkill.
The beast roared and thrashed, but the web was holding, for the moment.
“Now! Attack with everything you’ve got while it’s pinned down!” I cried, launching another volley of spinning arrows, bringing the creature’s health down to 50 percent.
Malkyr started hacking away with abandon at the creature’s leg as if he were chopping down a tree, his strikes chiseling flesh and health from the monster. Hoshisu reentered the fray. She was still injured, but her eyes shone with anger, falling savagely upon the creature, striking repeatedly with her daggers, probing for vulnerable spots but finding none.
Bek alternated healing and attacking while I continued bombarding the creature with my drilling arrows.
The beast was down to 20 percent health when it finally broke free. It jerked its head at Malkyr, catching him unprepared and managed to impale him on its neck spike.
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