Chapter 17: Rematch

With the chaos provided by the attacking punitive force made up of militiamen, angry farmers and their wives, the habitually disorganized bandits did not notice as we slipped in amongst them with our monsters hidden in their stones. As the men and women were currently mustering to arms with the intent to reinforce their comrades who were under attack, we went unnoticed as we split suddenly and began our search through the cluster of stout stone huts and crofts. The smoke I had seen before was coming primarily from the large buildings the bandits had previously occupied. As I wove between the buildings, I noticed the frightened eyes of fishermen NPCs and their families peeking out at me from behind tatty curtains. They flinched away when I turned to them, retreating into the gloom of their darkened houses. Hardening my heart, I elected to ignore them, though Baruu (summoned with a snap of my fingers) stayed watching them for a few moments; floating at their sill and looking in before I beckoned her with a gentle imitation of the sounds she made.

We didn’t search long, which was a good thing. The idea had been to split up, find the three players and lure them back to the centre of the village and fight them there. I had been pleased to notice that the ground between the huts was mostly churned up muck with the passage of so many people. I broke into a sprint when I thought I saw something or someone pass across the gap between buildings, I rounded the corner having I thought I had seen the figure only to find no one there. I paused as Baruu came hurtling past sniffing at the air. She began to bleat loudly, either distressed or in warning as she floated in a circle.

There was a twang, a meaty thud then a flash of brief intense pain, I whirled as Baruu released a bolt of lightning in the direction the attack had come from. I wriggled my shoulder feeling something lodged in it, likely an arrow I reasoned. That Dannath guy had a bow as well as the monstrous sword he had opened up Baruu with. I followed the lightning bolt’s path as best I could without dazzling myself. I saw a figure briefly illuminated as the spell found its target. Stood upon a wooden balcony outside one of the larger buildings, Dannath’s face was lit in a grimace as the spell hit. Presumably whatever null spells he possessed could only soak so much of the damage, and nothing about the paralysis effect. He collapsed from the balcony and fell to the ground face first with a thud.

I advanced on him, already seeing him begin to shake off the effects of the spell, the tough bastard. He wasn’t fast enough though; I was over him raising my axe in preparation for a Wild Blow on my defenceless opponent, not wanting to give this veteran so much as an inch when his big, long-bodied cat creature interposed itself. It hissed, arching its back and shoulders at me, spines along its back quivered threateningly. I raised my shield with more haste than I thought possible as the quills raced towards me, dropping to a knee to huddle behind my large rectangular shield, I noticed the tailwind buff was up and Baruu above was sparking as electrical energy surged across her dusky grey pelt as the spell built, apparently unconcerned by the creatures’ new projectile capabilities. After the thudding against my shield stopped, I rose, Baruu losoing her spell as I did, I imagine it looked quite impressive as I rose bellowing a challenge in my best war cry. The lightning streaked and barely missed the lithe cat creature as it sped away into the shadows, its master now on his feet readying his heavy two-handed bronze sword.

“Ho, look who stepped up! Kudos by the way,” he said as he moved to close the gap between us, raising his sword high for a downward stroke, the only move he had available in the cramped space between the huts and the bluffs that offered them shelter. “I’m Dannath, sorry about before.” He swung at me and I backed up heading back down the narrow alley I had emerged from Baruu floated ahead recasting tailwind before chasing off the cat creature as it attempted to gain a footing on the roof tops above leaving, Dannath and I to our fight.

“Blue.” I grunted, backing down the alley, he advanced holding his blade as though getting ready to thrust at me, I imagined he intended to charge so I readied my shield. “You know we can’t get off the island because of the shit you lot are pulling?” I ducked around another corner, trying not to make my intended location to obvious to the advancing swordsman.

“Yeah man, my bad, but don’t worry. It’s only like ten or twenty more player kills until we’re at where we need to be PVP skill wise. So…” He lunged, I swatted the long blade aside with my shield then moved in close enough to smell his breath and delivered a powerful head butt to his face. There was a satisfying snap as his nose broke, he stumbled back dazed from the sudden vicious attack. I kicked at him and when he fell back onto the ground dazed, I slapped him for good measure before turning and bolting down another alley. This began a game of cat and mouse that apparently was happening all over; at one-point Fiona fell from above landing atop me. For a brief and crucial couple of seconds we were a tangled mass of swearing limbs. We parted quickly without so much as a conspiratorial nod or wink. Fizzle apparently had his own problems somewhere closer towards the shore. There was an impressive light show going on, I caught brief glimpses of it as I broke into open ground between the squat stone crofts. Dannath kept close behind me as the evening dragged into night. We exchanged blows a couple of times, I had burned a little too much mana I realized as I used Stoneskin to soak the damage of a particularly nasty, Ki empowered attack.

“Ruuu!” I bellowed as I broke away from Dannath once more, using the momentum of a parried attack to hurtle away from my attacker. Baruu, flying overhead and loosing a series of Wind Shears and Lightning bolts, paused in her furious attacks. She regarded me for a moment, awaiting my command. Something she was getting much better at now that we had fought together so frequently in the repeated dungeon dives. “Make it rain!”

She bellowed in response, her nimbus like legs turning thick and back; swelling in size; and as the little fawn began to run through the air, clouds formed in her wake. Thick slushy droplets began falling on Dannath and his cat creature a heartbeat later. They slowed a bit and a moment later they began to shiver as the unbearable cold chilled his metallic armour. He cried out as the frost bit into his health pool, draining a sliver of read. I made a mental note that cooled iron could cause a few points of damage if people weren’t quick enough to get out of the deluge. Turning my back on my opponent, rather cockily I jogged into the rough centre of the eclectic gathering of stone huts and wood halls, and onto the wonderfully churned up earth.

Fiona was already in the centre of the insignificant square exchanging increasingly vicious flurry of dagger strikes and kicks at the elven woman while her large predatory lizard monster was being casually flung about by Stampy with relative ease, smashing the creature into buildings with abandon bringing ruin both to them and the unfortunate lizard. Stampy was indeed a monster, I thought to myself wryly as a grim expression settled onto my features. This was very quickly becoming normal for me.

Dannath broke from the alley mouth, his creature following close behind. He stopped to inspect the scene as Fizzle and the goblin came hurtling into view. He seemed to weigh the odds; a greyed-out window opening in front of him. I realized what he was doing as he withdrew a slim vial filled with red liquid. I hurled myself across the distance between us, a bestial war cry ringing from deep in my chest. Dannath looked up surprised as the square was lit with flickering fire light, a mix of warm oranges and sickly purple blues. The goblin cried out as Fizzle whirled Violet in the air as though she were a proper wizarding battle staff. He looked fierce but there was no time for that; Dannath was raising the vial to his lips. I couldn’t let him regain any health, that was the biggest advantage we had right now aside from Stampy. Baruu could heal and she was doing so now frantically casting a flurry of life and nature-based healing spells. I saw my health rise a little and then a heal-over-time icon flicker into being, healing me for a further fifty points of the next few seconds. I closed with Dannath in time to chop at his arm with my axe, the blade bit into his arm but did not sever it, I could feel the blade grate against his bone. He let out a strangled yelp and pulled away from me, his beast leaping to fill the space its master had been in seconds before. Baruu, as if expecting the feline monster’s gambit, intercepted with one of her Wind Shear spells. The force of the wind tore away fur and skin, the cat yowled then tried to slink away its HP falling low. Dannath cried out but Baruu seemed to want to repay the favour for last time, she released a lightning bolt at it. The smell of scorched flesh and burned ozone filled my nostrils as the cat beast spasmed then lay still for a moment before fading into the lights that swarmed towards an area at Dannath’s hips. He backed up readying his blade as best he could with his wounded arm, no doubt the system was already fast at work disrupting the perceived pain signals.

As I formed up with my companions the other players did the same; Baruu’s healing had given us the desired edge, each of them had dwindling hit points and a combination of bleeds, poisons and burns that slowly ate away at what remained of their dwindling life force. Stampy trumpeted a challenge at the battered lizard which bellowed back with its own roar and charged angrily to meet the mammoth calf, for a second it looked like the facultative bipedal was going to gain the upper hand against Stampy. It had reared up at the last second and caught the gem-like tusks, its powerful legs and clawed rear feet crunched into the churned up earth and while it slid back a few feet it looked as though it had brought Stampy to a halt. The thing I learned just then about lizard species in general for the game: they’re dumb. As Ruin roared in its assumed triumph the colours on its belly flashing hypnotically; Stampy simply reached out with its flexible trunk and curled it around the foe’s throat. With a flex of its muscular trunk, there was an audible snap and the lizard’s body went limp. Stampy threw it away, over the heads of the stunned and wounded enemies. The body smashed through the front of one of the log long halls before it broke apart into lights and explosion of wooden fragments.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“What’s all this then?” A voice growled as a figure emerged from the innards of the ruined hall. He stepped into the pool of burning flames that harassed our opponents under the combined direction of Fizzle and Violet, herding them into a spot I could catch them with my Sucking Mud spell. The speaker turned out to be none other than Boyle, he leered at me with his pock marked face beneath greasy hair. He tutted at the players. “Can’t even handle three of your own kind, maybe I’ll save you just this once, for all that you have shown me.”

Our enemies looked at one another briefly then the goblin croaked up before either of the taller two could speak.

“Very kind of you Boyle, you are a good friend and together we will take this world by storm.”

“Aye, am afraid a cannae be lettin’ that happen.” Torsgulf boomed as he appeared jogging from the direction of the battle. “I’ve come to take you in Boyle, Miller wants a word with ye.” He growled at the taller man.

“You think you got what it takes to take me and all the others who’ve joined me?”

“He has a point” Fizzle added dryly, Fiona shot him a look to quieten him.

Whatever reaction Boyle was expecting to get from the dwarf he never got it. His face fell visibly when Torsgulf chuckled and leaned on his hammer like he wasn’t in the middle of a battlefield. He stroked his beard as he considered Boyle for a moment then waved in dismissal.

“Where do ye think a’ve just come from?” The dwarf growled his voice like grinding stone. When it looked as if Boyle either didn’t understand or refused to the dwarf clarified for him. “There no-one coming Boyle, they’ve paid a price for their betrayal.”

“Enough! You want me Torsgulf, you come get me. I’ll cut you down to size you worthless, hairy fucking dwarf!” He spat, charging down the steps drawing a long bronze sword at his hip, a strangled war cry escaping his throat.

It was as if someone had hit the play button, our enemies tried to scatter but unfortunately for them, as the exchange had begun, I had started casting. The churned-up earth beneath their feet lost consistency and became thick and sucking mud. The terrain while churned didn’t trigger the reduce mana cost so my mana pool dipped frighteningly, a throbbing built in my temples as the blue bar began to empty. Dannath in his heavy armour had the hardest time of the three in the mire I had created. The elf woman managed to struggle free first, but she was blasted into ash rather unceremoniously by Fizzle as he glared at the helpless group. It wasn’t a glorious end, we butchered them as they struggled in the mud. The spell effects clearly didn’t affect the caster and his or her allies, much like Fizzle’s fires never burned us. The real fight was taking place behind the small bog I had made.

Boyle and Torsgulf exchanged furious blows. While I didn’t particularly like Boyle, he gave me a bad feeling in my gut, I had to hand it to him that he was fierce. He fought with a fluid grace I hadn’t expected of the lanky, painfully thin man. His blade weaved in and out of Torsgulf’s guard nicking him with small cuts and while they didn’t deal much damage themselves the quantity eventually built into a nasty bleed effect. However, the dwarf gave as good as he got with a few punishing glancing blows. I’m sure at one point I had seen the maul’s head change direction with enough force and speed to shatter the man’s free arm, it now hung limply at his side.

“Baruu,” I called up to the little creature that had until recently been chasing the Goblin’s bat-like creature, harrying it with a series of wind shears as it was too quick for the powerful lightning bolt spell that would devastate the flying creature. However, it promptly withdrew into its stone when its master had been dispatched. “Heal Angan Torsgulf.”

She stared at me for a moment, floating upside down in the air now that she considered herself safe from the enemy monsters. Upside down as she was, she had a silly look on her face as she contemplated me and my words for a moment, then kicking her hooved fore legs she righted herself and zipped towards the dwarf, the glow of green magic already building around him.

“Good girl. Alright guys do we get stuck in?” I shouted over the sound of battle, it had been growing closer as what few defectors and bandits remains were steadily pushed back, presumably Miller had arrived with his handpicked reinforcements.

“Get a chance to roast a guard NPC without getting immediately ganked. Think of the banked exp.” Fizzle squeaked, raising Violet high in one hand, and conjuring flames in the other.

“Don’t get carried away you two, Torsgulf isn’t a companion. Your AOE spells will hurt him.” Fiona shouted, addressing Fizzle and Violet though her hands were already coiled with shadowy tendrils as she spoke and took aim at Boyle.

“Roger that.” Fizzle responded as he and Violet let loose with their damage-over-time burning spells. Fiona began lobbing globules of shadow towards Boyle. I was about to join in when someone cleared their throat at my feet. I looked down at Dannath, now trapped in the earth as the sucking mud spell had timed out. I guessed it had to be deep in order to hinder players.

“Are you eh, going to finish me off?” He asked from the ground. “I mean like fair play, you guys got us good. I was wanting to log off soon anyway and I can’t do it while I’m trapped in the ground.”

“I’d feel kinda bad about it.” I told him over the whoomphs and whooshes of spells detonating nearby. To keep up the show I cast a few haphazard Gem Shots and a cast of Earthen Grasp more out of curiosity than anything else, it didn’t even so much as slow the Level twenty NPC. I shrugged and fired another explosive magical gem at him before turning back to Dannath. “I don’t have any spells to let you out or the time to dig you out so…when you respawn shoot me a friend request.”

“Seriously, after all this bullshit?”

“I mean, it was fun,” I grinned at him, “and those two aren’t always going to be around to play with.” Then I shot him in the face with a Gem Shot. Trapped as he was counted as enough of an impairment to make the death instant. I turned back to the fight in-front of me.

My friends who had been releasing a volley of different spells, shadows, flames, and balefire raged around the flailing former militiaman. Torsgulf had backed off when the spells began to rain down on Boyle. It appeared we got his attention, as he turned to stomp towards us, blade swinging in deadly arcs as he advanced. I was pleased to see that Baruu was doing her best to heal Torsgulf in the background. He had taken quite a beating when I saw the damage the multiple bleed effects had inflicted. He would need time to recover.

Stampy, who until now had been dutifully eating the thatch from one of the ruined homes turned to face the man. I don’t know what it was about the not-so-little guy, he just lived to pick fights with people. He trumpeted and then thundered towards Boyle heedless of Fiona shouting his name and calling for him to stop. No, the over eager big bundle of fun charged the militiaman who despite his amassing injuries and plummeting health bar, sidestepped the creature and stabbed into its side once, letting the beast’s own momentum open its side. As Stompy collapsed, his innards spilling out onto the ground, his health bar emptied fast. Fiona let out an enraged scream and vanished in a cloud of writhing shadows only to remerge from Boyle’s own. If he were surprised it didn’t show as he caught her like a tossed rag doll. He looked at her contemptuously.

“I’ll deal with you after I’ve skinned the green one.” He growled to her before throwing her into the burning remains of one of the huts. Fizzle’s eyes flicked to where Fiona lay amidst the burning rubble, extending a hand as if reaching for her prone shape amidst the fires and rubble.

The fire shouldn’t hurt her I reassured myself as I moved to intercept the man triggering a Challenging Shout, his head snapped to me. That was a relief as Fizzle and the dancing lights that were Stampy moved towards Fiona. Fizzle had a small vial in hand, I relaxed a little and turned back to Boyle. Just in time too, the man was almost on top of me, his sword swinging in a frenzied ark, I tried to bring my shield to bare as he swung but his foot lashed out and knocked it aside. The sword tip sank an inch or two into my virtual flesh, there was a sharp pain that quickly receded before I could cast Stoneskin and spend the last of my mana. The blade travelled down the length of my torso and groin before coming free, fortunately only cutting into me from my shoulder to my sternum before the spell took effect, nullifying most of the damage. However, this NPC was level twenty, theoretically twice as powerful as I was, numerically speaking. Sure, he didn’t have magic but that allowed for a more physically orientated build. Boyle was a bully and I could imagine him doing just that. I realized very quickly that he was going to kill me, my HP emptying enough to allow despair to blossom in my heart. A terrible grin split his face, revealing crooked yellowing teeth.

Covered in stone as I was, I took the opportunity and used my stone hardened foot to smash in his knee as he tried to pass me following up from the swing that had opened my chest. The joint crunched and bent under the stone reinforced blow. It crumpled, I got cocky then and tried my luck hammering my axe down onto the momentarily incapacitated NPC. I chipped off tiny amounts of his HP with my axe, Baruu bleated from somewhere nearby as the sound of my heart pumping began thundering in my ears, my racial ability frenzy activating. He caught the very first blow, then with a deft moment he broke my wrist, my axe dropping from my numbed grip, the quick sharp pain lasting a second longer than I would have liked before going numb.

“You’ve got spunk for a green skin.” He kicked me in the fork of the legs and I sank, waves of pain and nausea radiating up through my body, my health fell below ten percent, I tried to struggle but my stamina bar was spent as well. “Were you human I’d probably have a beer with you.” He picked up my axe and hooked it through his belt then reached for me. I had expected a death blow instead he grabbed me by the collar of my padded armour. He heaved me to my feet. When I struggled against him, he headbutted me. My health sank alarmingly, the last few percent trickling away. The world spun for me as he hauled me away from my slowly recovering friends and allies. My head cleared when something cold and wet flecked my face. Boyle had thrown me to the edge of the pier, as beat up as I was the impact knocked the wind out of me.

“Look at that Chosen!” He screamed at me triumphantly as he wrenched my head back. “Look at what we accomplished.”

I stared through bleary eyes as wind and sea spray began stinging my face. I could make out there were a few dots of warm light out there in the dark, growing larger as the wind grew into a gale. There was a new sound amidst the tumultuous stormy weather. One that I had only heard in movies and games, ships upon the water. I stared, dread growing in the pit of my stomach as four ships with large dirty sails made their way into the small harbour. Now close enough to the mostly burning village, the dancing lights of the raging fires beyond were reflections in the blades of weaponry and silhouettes of the men that brandished them. I remember as the axe split my skull, thinking I could hear Alber and that dwarf fellow from the game over the sound of the sea as my last few HP bled away. There was also bleating and then the dwarf and some short guy appeared in my darkening vision setting upon that guy who had asked me for a beer or what was I doing again? Blackness.