Tiana had said she'd get the word out to any adventurers who didn't know when the next attack was coming, and she must have been successful because about thirty minutes before the attack was due, adventurers started crowding into the fort from the three gates that weren't immediately adjacent to the road. When the trap makers had seen adventurers coming they'd sent Eddie up onto the wall walk to call out to them so they wouldn't try to come through the north gate and set off traps.
Once again Eddie was herded into one of the towers and his party spaced themselves out at the base and top of that tower. Fortunately he had a clear view from the window halfway up the tower since it had been designed as a firing position. Lucky bristled and he called out to alert everyone else, trusting her despite the fact that he couldn't see the Orcs himself yet.
It was about a minute later when the, much larger, dark blot came into view to the north. As they got closer and closer Eddie tried to get a rough count.
Looks to be around fifty Orcs. They're split up and I think the laggards are missile troops. So about twenty of those, maybe a shaman again. Who am I kidding, of course there'll be a shaman, there were with the last two groups. But what is that two of the melee Orcs are carrying? A battering ram?
“This group has a battering ram,” he yelled out the window. “So count on the north gate going down quickly.”
“That's okay,” Karl called back. “Let them rush through the gate, there's a spiked pit trap right inside of it.”
“I just wanted to warn everyone that they've got siege equipment. I didn't expect that.”
Eddie settled in to wait. It was going to be another minute or two before they got to the fort. He got a little nervous as they passed around the pond behind the inn. The inn was easily visible from where the Orcs were, but they ignored it, once again making a beeline towards the fort.
That's one worry off my mind. If they want to attack me, sure. I'll come back if they manage to get me, but the inn? That would take a hell of a lot of work to repair. The fort's easy to repair, I think the plans I bought accounted for replacing battle damaged sections, so that's no big deal, but the inn, the houses, and all that? We'd be up shit creek if they went after those.
Eddie immediately tried to shut down that line of thought, afraid that the game might use it against him. And then the Orcs were within range and he forgot all about it as he started to fire.
He'd been almost right. There wasn't A shaman with the attack; there were Two of them at the very rear of the crossbow Orcs. He'd started off firing at the crossbow Orcs, but as soon as he saw the first spell shoot out from a shaman, he'd switched his target. It was actually medium range for him, but due to his agility, and the apparently lousy armor rating of the shaman, he hit nearly every shot.
The shaman he was targeting hadn't shot off an area affect spell yet so Eddie was holding off on using his Arcing arrows. The other shaman announced his presence with an AOE spell though. A greenish-tinged cloud flowed out of his hands, forming up about twenty feet over his head before he gestured and sent it forward. Once the cloud had passed the attacking Orcs it began to rain, a greenish liquid that smelled acrid enough that Eddie noticed it from in the tower.
As the drops of moisture hit the adventurers Eddie heard cries of pain here and there. He switched targets to the shaman with the area of effect spells and switched to his Arcing arrows. As he fired over and over he yelled up to the top of the tower.
“Dominic, do you have a spell that could burn up or evaporate that cloud?”
“Maybe,” came the reply. “I'll try at least.”
The cloud, which was apparently raining acid, was now darkening, with little bits of flashing light jumping within it and Eddie was certain it was about to start dropping lightning as well as acid on the adventurers below.
He heard Dominic shout something up on top of the roof and a streak of light shot for the cloud, or rather, just above the cloud. As the light reached its target it blossomed into a massive ball of fire.
Ah, that's the spell he used at the castle wall the other day. I sure hope he's got a better grasp on its AOE now, Eddie thought.
Dominic did, indeed, have a better grasp of its area of effect now. It exploded in the air about twenty feet above the cloud, forming a massive sphere of fire that narrowly missed the heads of the adventurers below as well as the towers and the walls of the fort. It didn't miss the cloud though, it completely encompassed it. When the fire faded away, there was no cloud remaining.
While the adventurers had been paying attention to the cloud, the melee fighting Orcs had rushed the wall. The two with the battering ham had made short work of the gate, but as the Orcs flowed through the gate and into the fort, the ground disappeared from beneath the first four and a moment later screams echoed up from the pit they'd fallen into. The adventurers who had missile weapons but hadn't been able to target the crossbow Orcs or the shamans due to the angle now had clear shots and arrows flew across the courtyard within the fort.
The Orcs dodged to either side of the gate to avoid the pit, only to find more traps awaiting them. Eddie didn't want to think about the mindset of some of the sneaky types he'd helped set up the traps when he saw the results of their efforts. Instead, he focused back on the shamans, or at least the remaining shaman.
Eddie hadn't been the only one to spot the area casting shaman and he'd drawn the attention of several of the wizards as well as other archers. He was no longer a threat, so Eddie turned his attention back to the other shaman, loosing arrow after arrow. The shaman lost his cover when Dominic sent a rolling wave of fire through the crossbow Orcs, dropping quite a few of them. The remaining crossbow Orcs were picked off one after the other as the archers with line of sight to them counterfired the Orcish missile troops.
The shaman dropped before the last of the Orcish missile troops, but Eddie wasn't quick enough to target the last Orc with a crossbow before it dropped also.
He turned his attention to the courtyard now. Once again, there were several adventurers down and unmoving, but there were only five Orcs remaining by this point and they were surrounded. They made no move to surrender and even managed to wound a couple more adventurers before they were cut down themselves.
It was a few minutes later when his vision went wonky again and the words 'Wave 7' started flashing in the center of his viewpoint. He shook his head as the message faded and his vision returned to normal.
Eddie had, to this point, not been checking on his portion of the loot for any of these attacks, willing to let those who were helping him take it. This time, Karl came back carrying a studded leather helm.
“Hey, Eddie. I claimed this for you. It kind of matches your tunic and Dom says it's enchanted. By the way, I've been pulling your share of the coins also. Let me know when you want them. I figured you were a bit busy worrying when you didn't claim them yourself so I took care of it for you.”
The grin that came to Eddie's face now was natural and felt good to him.
“Thanks Karl, I hadn't even thought of it myself. Here, let me see the helm.”
Eddie removed his existing helm and replaced it with the new studded leather one which immediately slithered around his head until it fit perfectly.
Hey, I never checked my stats after my last level gain, or after I got a new spell, he thought. I guess I've got the time for it now though.
When Karl turned and walked off a few seconds later after a little more small talk, Eddie went still and thought.
Character sheet.
Edward Hunter
Human Male
Level: 15
Class:Warrior (Ranger)
Strength:15
Intelligence: 16
Agility: 32
Wisdom: 21
Heartiness: 19
Charisma: 12
Willpower: 19
Health: 319 (329)
Endurance: 17
Mana: 336
Luck: 14 (17)
Stamina:752 (762)
<
br /> Experience:
483,922/525,000
Base Attack: 15
Base Armor: 10 (75)
+2 attack melee (strength)
+55 armor (studded leather, helm, boots, bracers, greaves, pauldrons)
+9 attack ranged (agility)
+10 armor (agility)
Skills:
General:
Acrobatics: 4
Animal Friendship: 1
Animal Handling: 2
Animal Husbandry: 4
Bowyer/Fletcher: 5 (+2 to checks)
Carpentry: 14
Climbing: 1
Cooking: 13
Evaluate: 5
Farming: 2
Fire Building: 1
Fishing: 5
Herbalism: 3
Hunting: 3
Improvisation: 2
Masonry: 5
Rope Use: 4
Tracking: 3
Weather Sense: 1
Weaving: 4
Combat:
Bows: 6
Staves: 2
Small Blades: 1
Short Swords: 4
Special:
Conjunction: 7
Magical:
Nature Magic: 6
Accel Plant Growth: 2
Arc: 5
Create Food/Water: 2
Fox Fire: 2
Nature's Binding: 2
Safe Site: 1
Wall of Thorns: 2
Create Spring: 1
Along for the Ride: 1
Frostbite: 4
Accelerated Heal: 1
Languages:
Common (Human)
Goblin Speak: 3
Huh, he thought, I can probably get rid of the boots if I can find ones with better armor on them. I sure don't need the +10 on stamina any more. Definitely keep the Gambler's Medallion though, I don't want to lose the luck or health off of that.
The rest of the group had come down to the base of the tower and were together only a few feet away.
“Hey, I forgot to mention it, but I hit level fifteen in the early morning attack,” Eddie said.
Karl just flipped him off.
“But now it's time to grab some lunch, then bust our backs trying to get that stone wall finished as quickly as possible,” Eddie said. “Who's with me?”
There was no rousing cheer, but no complaints either. The party just exited through the eastern gate of the fort and headed towards the inn for lunch.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Ten
After Freyja had gotten back to him and told him that the change was made, Aaron had immediately typed the command for the Intervention, but with a top wave limit this time. Then he'd messaged Eddie and let him know that it was set. As time went by, though, he got nervous and sent Eddie another message.
'You'll let me know if that didn't work, right? If you get a second iteration of the whole thing or if the waves are larger, or reset to level one?' he sent.
'I'm pretty sure it didn't start a second run of the whole thing since I didn't get another 'Wave 1' message. I'll let you know if any of those other things occur. I think I've figured out the rate of increase so I know how many Orcs there should be, I also think I've got the timing down, so I know when they'll show. If anything is wonky, you'll hear from me after the next wave.' Eddie sent back.
“Alright, so that's taken care of. Hey Tom, you want some more doughnuts? I have my temper back in check, sorry.”
“Yeah, sure. They're good, but I didn't really taste the first one that much,” Tom said.
“Help yourself then.”
Aaron looked back at his workstation.
Okay, so if Loki is responsible for all this, maybe I have to start paying more attention to what the AIs are doing, or at least to what Loki's doing. Damn, the AI will have an advantage with that though. It probably knows the system better than any human, but....
Internal World Message – Aaron Opman to AI-F:
Freyja, I've another favor to ask of you. If Loki was indeed responsible for this, then I need to start keeping tabs on him. As an AI, he's going to be far more adept at hiding what he's doing in the system than I will be at ferreting it out. So I need some help. Are you willing?
The reply came instantly, almost as though Freyja had been waiting for him to process the situation and ask.
Internal World Message – AI-F to Aaron Opman:
Of course I will Aaron. It is, after all, my followers that he's involving here. It is my duty to protect them as best as I can. I'm just sorry I didn't see anything like this coming. Loki had been quiet for so long, and stayed out of any major trouble, that I'd simply come to expect things to continue that way. I had suspicions that he was up to something, but I didn't suspect anything like this.
Internal World Message – Aaron Opman to AI-F:
Well, we need to find out what he's been doing and then try to anticipate what he'll do next.
Internal World Message – AI-F to Aaron Opman:
I can tell you the first already. He's managed to get himself access to the outer world, the internet that is. He's been spending a great deal of time examining it as far as I can tell, but I don't know exactly how he's done it. I've run across some of his databases that he stored URLs in. I cracked the protection he'd put on them and realized that those URLs were not in the areas we AIs are authorized to access. He's also been splintering himself, setting smaller AIs broken off from his main program to do his duties in game and free up his time for other things. I can go into more specifics if you like.
Internal World Message – Aaron Opman to AI-F:
No, that tells me a lot right there. Keep an eye out for what he's doing and I'll get back to you after I check a few things out. Thank you, Freyja.
Internal World Message – AI-F to Aaron Opman:
You're welcome, Aaron. You're always welcome to make contact with me. Whether you need help, or for no reason at all if you like, just to talk.
What is going on with our AIs? Aaron thought. Loki's assaulting players in game and has access to the internet as a whole. Freyja wants to make small talk? Dare I ask what Odin's been up to? After his temper tantrum a while back he's gone under the radar and not done anything to attract attention. Is he up to something as well?
~ ~ ~
The other masons had finished the third wall and were working on the fourth. Rather than get in their way Eddie, Tiana, and Jern started working on the remaining height of the corner of the wall closest to where the Orcs had attacked the last time they fought at this location.
“Because they keep getting more and more of those crossbows every time they attack,” Eddie said. “And let me tell you, you do not want to get hit with one of those. It hurts like hell!”
“Firing from behind cover is always a good thing,” Allie added from the ground level where she and Karl were making themselves useful by carrying the stone up to the wall walk.
“So, when is the next attack supposed to arrive?” Tiana asked. “Because if we're going to weather it here, we'll need to let the rest of the adventurers know so they can get here on time.”
“Just after six tonight, I figure between six-fifteen and six-thirty,” Eddie said. “I forgot to check exactly when the last wave finished and I got the new message so I don't have a more exact time.”
“Yeah, I think within fifteen minutes is good enough,” Karl said, setting down a block of stone and heading back down the stairs.
“Well then, I'll head back in mid-afternoon and start spreading the word. I know a bunch of them were interested in fighting in this wave, but I didn't have an exact time to tell them,” Tiana said. “I'll just tell them to be here by six at the latest.”
“Okay, sounds like a plan. I'm hoping we can get at least half of both of these walls up to their full fifteen feet by then,” Eddie said.
Jern looked critically at their work.
“Definitely a quarter of each, but probably not half, not by then at least,” he said.
&nbs
p; It sucks that all the walls won't be finished. I know that once all of it is finished the whole mess will be stronger than it is while we're working on it. Hopefully it's strong enough for our purposes with the way it is currently, Eddie thought, then he got back to work, trying to get as much done as possible in the time they had.
~ ~ ~
By the time Tiana returned, coming back with dinner for the rest of the group, they'd come close to finishing half of each of the north and east walls. Jern was shaking his head at their progress.
“I'd have thought we wouldn't make it that far. Maybe you had a plan just using the people with higher Masonry skills,” Jern said.
“I have noticed that a higher score seems to speed up the work as well as make it higher quality,” Eddie said, “but that wasn't my main reason for choosing the way I did. It does Look like the numbers make up for it though.”
He was gazing out over the interior of the walls. The fourth wall, the western one, was nearly done now. The remaining masons were just working on getting the section that would hold the portcullis complete. That one had a thicker wall with a gap in the middle for the portcullis to slide up and down in.
Defender Light Online Four Page 12