by Dante Doom
They were all wearing the same basic rags – a tunic with no belt. No armor, no protection. If Van made one false move, he'd be killed.
A rock flew through the air and smacked the redhead in the back of her head. 10 damage floated above her. For a moment, she was distracted, and that was all it took, as Van gave a hard swing with his warhammer and cracked her in the head, dropping her to the ground.
"She's getting away!" Sahara yelled, pointing to the other woman who had made the wise choice to retreat after watching her ally get dropped.
"Should we chase?" Kylian asked.
"I'm not sure," Van said. "She could be going back to her team. If it was a full group, they'd still have three left. And these ones found weapons."
"You're bleeding pretty bad," Sahara said, pointing to Van's wound. Van glanced at the arrow sticking out of his arm and saw that the blood was pouring out profusely.
"Urgh, that is disgusting," Van said, wincing as Sahara touched it. "No one has any medical skills, so let's just leave it in there. I don't think I’ll get any additional damage from it."
"Well..." Kylian said as he picked the bow up and grabbed an arrow off the dead body of the murderous archer. "Here's the thing… Legolas over here only has one arrow on him. He missed with one earlier, so that's two. That one sticking out of your arm makes three."
Van grimaced. "I really, really don't want you to – ouch!" he shouted as Kylian seized the arrow and tore it right out of his arm. Blood gushed from his wound and the words 5 damage hovered above his head.
"Ahhh!" Van gasped.
"Sorry, Van," Kylian said as he reached down to tear the tunic of the fallen player apart, making bandages with the fabric. "But we need that arrow more than you need those hit points."
"Over there," Fredlin whispered as he pointed to a small group of people walking toward the water. They were heavily armed, carrying swords, maces, and clubs.
Sang could see two players total. One was wearing what looked to be plate mail armor.
"Ah, man, that's a serious set-up they have going on," Sang said. "Why the hell couldn't we get gear that good?"
"Finding that water early was pretty valuable," Fredlin replied.
"Not as valuable as that mace," Sang whispered. "Unless you can light them all on fire, I'd wager to say that we can't win this one."
"Yeah, my spells aren't that powerful," Fredlin said. "But I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. If we get some arrows, I can bless them to ignite."
"Beautiful," Sang said. "I just hope we actually get some arrows."
As they watched the players fill up on water, a woman carrying a dagger ran up to them. She was pointing behind her frantically, and Sang could barely make out what she was saying.
"There's three of them!" the woman said. "They killed Yil and Grex!"
"What kind of weapons do they have?" asked the one in plate mail.
"A longsword and a warhammer," the woman replied. "And our weapons now."
"Damn it. Okay, were they hurt?"
"Yeah, one of them was."
"Then they'll need water. Let's hide and ambush them when they come by," the one in plate mail said. He knelt down to finish filling his canteen with water and pointed toward a few trees. The three all moved into position, hiding behind the three trees that were directly beneath Sang and Fredlin.
Fredlin looked up at Sang and mouthed the word "Plan?" to her. She shrugged at him. The one in plate mail had serious armor, so he would be hard as hell to kill. Between her dinky dagger and Fredlin's hand-crafted spear that was more of a pencil than a proper weapon, they wouldn't have much of a chance. She wondered if the woman had been referring to Van and the rest of the team. She had said there were three players and that one had a longsword. That matched the description, although Sang didn't know if Van had found a warhammer or not.
Sang slowly moved across one of the tree branches and crouched down. She could theoretically leap down and stab the woman directly beneath her – that would be enough to kill her. Then Sang would be able to grab the sword that was hanging off of her belt. But could she take two people down at once? Did she have to? The man in plate would be too slow to catch her. Maybe she should just adopt guerilla tactics here. There were a lot of things to ponder, and the finality of it all was growing heavier on her shoulders.
"Perfect is the enemy of success," Fredlin whispered. Sang looked up at him and nodded.
She leapt down from the tree and came crashing down on the woman's back with all of her might, thrusting her dagger right into the spine of the fallen warrior. The words Sneak Attack Lethal Blow floated above her head.
"The hell!" shouted the man in plate mail. He grabbed his mace and bellowed at her before charging at her as fast as he could. Fortunately, he wasn't nearly as fast as Sang was, due to his armor, and she deftly dodged out of the way. She darted away from him and dodged his ally, who came at her with a wooden club.
"Up here!" Fredlin shouted, throwing one of his stick spears at the man in plate mail. The stick harmlessly bounced off of the armor, but it was enough to distract him. He turned around to see Fredlin above him. "Come on and face me!"
Sang rushed through the woods, but the man with the club gave chase. He was just as fast as her, and was gaining on her.
"Crap," Sang said as she realized she'd forgotten to grab her slain foe's sword. A dagger against a foot-long club was not going to be a fair fight. Her stamina bar was also rapidly draining, adding to the stress. She ran up to a large, fallen log and scampered atop it. The she stopped abruptly and stood in a battle stance, holding the dagger close to her side.
"Come on, let's see what kind of color you bleed!" she shouted, trying her best to sound like a wicked woman.
"Oh, I'm not gonna be the one to bleed," the man replied, thumping his club against the log. His teeth were clenched and she could see utter rage in his eyes.
Sang crouched a little, preparing to spring towards him. The moment he rushed her, she'd lunge at him and hope that she could dodge the club long enough to get her blade into his throat.
The man moved in a circle slowly, but didn't move. Sang realized that she had stopped breathing. In any moment, he could strike and, if she delayed by just a second, he'd wallop her good, probably hard enough to knock her down or kill her outright. She didn't move from her stance, but instead chose to stay perfectly still, following him only with her head.
The man swallowed hard and took a single step forward, but didn't raise the club. Sang tensed the muscles in her leg. Should she strike now? He was hesitating because he was afraid. They made eye contact and Sang could see how dilated his eyes were from the adrenaline. She wondered if her pupils were just as wide as his. An idea flashed to her mind then and she abruptly darted her eyes to the right, as if she'd seen something. She quickly returned eye contact to him in the next moment, but slowly glanced over one more time.
The man's grip tightened around the club and he took a step back to check behind him. As he stepped back, Sang leapt off the stump and rushed toward an oak tree that had a natural foothold.
"Damn it!" the man shouted as Sang deftly leapt into the tree and scrambled to safety.
"You get to live another day if you just go away," Sang said. "But you gotta put that club down to get up here!" She tried to activate her stealth skill, but the words Opponent's spotting is too high floated above her. She walked along the limb of the tree and stared directly at him.
"You think you can just kill one of my friends and get away with it?"
"Oh no," Sang replied, "I think I can kill one of your friends and kill you shortly thereafter." She wasn't going to risk leaping on him, as he was at full health and was a much bigger guy than the woman had been. Still, he seemed to be backing away from the tree. It was clear that she was too much of a threat to him, and he was starting to balk a little.
"Don't think I'm going to just let you off the hook!" he shouted as he took a few more steps back. There was some shouting coming from th
e direction where his ally had been. He growled at Sang and turned to run back to his friends.
"Whew," Sang gasped as she sank down to sit on the branch and catch her breath. Her heart was pounding so hard that she wondered if her character was able to die from stress. There was a brief flash of light in her UI and the words 18 players left in the game appeared in front of her. It looked as if the numbers were dropping steadily. How many more people would she have to kill? Did it matter?
10
Van glanced at the body of the woman. She was dead, alright. Her body was lying on the ground in a heap, blood running from the back of her neck. There was no sign of Fredlin or Sang anywhere.
"Judging from the looks of it," Kylian said as he bent down to examine the wound on the woman's neck, "someone dropped from the trees and stabbed her. My guess would be that it was Sang."
"Footprints are over here!" Sahara said. "Two sets, running that way!" She pointed toward a thickly wooded area.
"Well, this isn't good," Van said as he bent over to drink some water out of the babbling brook. His health bar immediately began to glow as the liquid slowly restored him back to full health. "I really didn't want us to be separated like this."
"Well, tough," Kylian replied. "It looks like we are." He shifted around, examining the woman's corpse some more. "Nothing useful on her; just a dagger."
"Grab it anyway," Van ordered. "Let's follow after the footprints and hope that we can find them."
The team departed from the river and began to move deeper into the forest. There was a nervousness in the air, and Van could feel his stomach tying itself in a knot. What was waiting for them in these woods? Sang could handle herself, so he wasn't too worried, but Fredlin? He would be in serious trouble if someone found him alone.
The branches snapped underneath Sahara's feet as she stomped through the wilderness.
"Can you please try to avoid those things?" Van asked as he pointed to her feet. "You're making a racket with each step."
Sahara shook her head. "No way – we've got a bow, a sword, and a Warhammer; as far as I'm concerned, our opponents should fear us. If we make noise, it'll draw them to us and we can take them out."
"That's a terrible idea," Kylian said. "There is never a reason to give up the element of surprise in a fight."
"I agree," Sahara said, "but the fact that our enemies think they have the drop on us when we are actually suspecting them? That's a big surprise for them!"
"I get the logic," Van said, "but I'm not a fan of that idea at all. Walk lightly, Sahara."
She growled a little and crossed her arms. "Whatever – I was just trying to help."
"Well, maybe you can help by not getting us killed in an ambush because of your stomping around," Kylian replied.
Sahara shot a nasty glance over at Kylian, but he ignored her and continued walking. Van glanced at Sahara and shrugged. While he didn't care for Kylian's tone, the ex-detective was right. Still, there was definitely something wrong with the man lately. It seemed that, with each passing trial, he was growing more grumpy and agitated with the party. Was he just tired? Van wanted to ask about it, but there were more important things to worry about than an old man's mood.
"There!" Sahara hissed. "Two men!"
Van rushed behind a tree and peeked around to see that there were indeed two men. One was armed with a club and had a big, toothy grin on his face, and the other was wearing plate mail armor and carrying a mace. That armor looked extremely useful, too. Van glanced at Kylian, who nodded at him. Kylian equipped his bow and nocked an arrow, ready for the fight.
"Sahara, charge after I go in," Van instructed. "Wait until they're both focused on me, and then take out the guy with the club."
Sahara nodded at him and readied her own sword, taking a deep breath. Van could see the lines of worry on her face, but also knew there was a fierce determination in her to accompany it. He felt a twinge of guilt again with the knowledge, feeling terrible for the fact that this kid was wrapped up in all of this.
Van took a deep breath and turned his attention to the two men who were busy talking. He leaned in to listen to what they were saying.
"So she climbs up in this tree and is begging for me to not kill her!" the man with the club laughed.
"I doubt that," the other one said. "She jumped from that tree and killed Simi like it was nothing. She was probably trying to lure you into some kind of a trap."
"What do you know, Goron?" the club man said with a scowl on his face. "You weren't there and I was! I would know what happened."
"So did you kill her?" Goron asked.
"No. She was too far up, and I didn't want to risk it. Did you find that other guy in the tree?"
Goron shook his head. "He was a wizard; he cast some kind of a spell and vanished. Probably for the better, because he didn't have a chance against the likes of me."
"I don't like the fact that we're down three people now," the club wielder said. "I don't like it at all."
"Relax, Burt," Goron said. "We'll just wait by the water and kill anyone who stops to drink from it. They won't have a chance. We've got good weapons, and this armor of mine will come in really handy. There's no reason to worry."
"I don't know," Burt said. "I think we should keep scavenging and looking for gear. A club, a mace, and plate mail ain't gonna help against a magical weapon."
Van shifted a little. They were exposed and vulnerable, he knew. One of them had also tried to kill Sang. If they had caught Fredlin, they would have murdered him effortlessly. So that meant it was okay to attack them, right? But even though he felt justified, Van could feel a sickening feeling creeping up on him. Was it okay to just attack two people, unprovoked? Before he could answer the question for himself, Sahara rushed out onto the battlefield, sword held high in the air.
"Wait!" Van hissed – but he was too late. The two men had turned their backs, and Sahara, ever impatient, had taken the opportunity to strike and charged right at them. She thrust her sword hard into the back of Burt. The words Critical Strike Piercing Blow 150 damage floated above him. Burt gasped and fell to the ground.
"Crap!" Goron yelled as his companion shrieked from the pain. He spun around and swung his mace at Sahara, but she dodged out of the way of the blow.
"Arrows are gonna bounce right off of that," Kylian said, pointing to the man's armor. "And I don't have enough practice to aim this for the head."
Van rushed out with his warhammer and charged toward his foe, swinging it wildly in the hopes of distracting Goron from Sahara.
"Two of you?" Goron shouted as he leapt back, narrowly avoiding Van's swing. "Come on – you think you can take me on?" he roared as he swung his mace hard at Van. Van raised his warhammer's haft up high, blocking the blow. Weapon damaged floated above Van's hammer and he could see that there were some cracks on the warhammer's haft now. That wasn't good.
Sahara swung her sword, but it bounced off of the man's plate mail armor. The words Insufficient Pierce rating floated above her.
"Crap, I can't seem to break his armor!" Sahara said as she took a thump to the face from Goron's mace. The words 25 damage floated above her head as she staggered back. "Ahhh, that really hurts!"
Van swung his warhammer down hard against the man's collarbone. The weight of the hammer crashed down with a furious might and he saw the words 50 damage float up above Goron's head.
"Urgh," Goron grunted as he took a step back and swung his mace towards Van's head. Van ducked, allowing the blow to fly past him. He didn't have enough room to swing his hammer again from this position, so he chose to just lunge forward and throw all of his weight into tackling his foe.
Van crashed into Goron and they both clattered to the floor. Goron tried to wrestle with Van, but was at a disadvantage since his armor restricted his arms' ability to move quickly. Sahara was over them both within a second and she thrust the sword down hard, stabbing Goron right in the neck. The words Lethal Blow floated above Goron and he gasped for a momen
t, then died.
"Whew, that was close," Van said as he stood to his feet. He looked at the damage on his warhammer and shook his head. One more hard block like that and the hammer would probably break in half. He glanced over at Sahara, who was wiping the blood from her mouth. He wanted to scold her for attacking without being ordered to do so, and to yell at her for her actions, but he didn't have the heart. It had been a risky play, but by taking Goron's buddy out first, she'd made fighting against an armored foe way easier.
"Where the hell is Kylian?" Van asked as he turned around, only to see that Kylian was nowhere to be found. Van would have appreciated the back-up during a fight, but much to his chagrin, Kylian hadn't jumped in.
"Maybe he's looking for Sang?" Sahara suggested as she unclasped the dead man's armor. "I cannot believe the damage rating on this thing! I'm taking it!"
"Yeah," Van muttered. "You'd probably be better off wearing it." With her having some kind of damage reduction, he would feel a lot better about her running into battle.
"Over here!" called the voice of Kylian from a distance. "Guys, over here!"
Van followed the direction of the voice and soon came across a group of dead bodies. He could count nearly five people on the ground.
"Holy crap," Van said. "Did you do that?"
"Yeah, my bow is really good at this kind of thing," Kylian replied curtly. "No, I heard some kind of commotion behind us and thought you guys had the big guy handled, so I went to check it out. Look at all of these people!"
"They've been looted, too," Van commented as he examined the corpses. There were two women and three men. There were dozens of stab wounds in their bodies, and one man's head had been smashed in entirely.
"We need to be careful," Kylian said. "They could still be around."
"You didn't see anyone?" Van asked. "No one at all?"
"Negative, sir," Kylian replied. He turned around to look at Sahara then, who was busy inspecting more footprints on the ground. "How many do you count?"
"Hard to tell… I think they were walking in single file lines," Sahara replied. "That's going to hide their numbers."