《Player’s Fall: NPC Takeover》
Chapter 1: Battleground are Fun
Bathed in a blue light the golem crashed into the battle line. Its large size towered over the men around it three times their size. Massive fists of grey rock slammed into armored forms left and right and metal clad figures were turned to pulp or hurtled skyward. The knights fought valiantly but they could do little against the construct.
¡°Mages, focus dispels on that golem. Engineers, we need armor piercing on those knights. Now!¡±
The golem suddenly took a back step. With the enchantments taken away by the mages it received a mana disruption to the energy which kept it alive. Reeling around like it was drunk it was a matter of time before it continued its killing spree.
Not taking the pause for granted the knights with the benefit of having their weapons buffed started hacking huge chunks exposing the creature¡¯s core. A form suddenly hurtled at the golem hitting its core and with a tremendous explosion it blew apart shredding the knights with burning rock near it. Serion watched as a fellow mage cheered, the caster of what he believed was a magic spear.
A prompt appeared.
8200 Experience Gained!
¡°Moron, we could have taken it out without losing those knights,¡± Serion muttered.
¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, we have plenty more men. These NPC constructs are just the prelude to the real fight. What have we killed about two dozen of them now? Besides they are only sending forces forward to probe our weak spots,¡± said Drecksis a fellow guild mate and heavily armored knight. He was in charge of guarding the group of mages behind the NPC knights who made up their own side''s front line.
¡°It¡¯s the basis of it all, we just lost a quarter of our knight group over a single golem, one of the last too. Men lost, mana lost, if the enemy had followed with another group we could be quickly overwhelmed and cut down,¡± said Serion.
¡°Are you saying I might actually get to kill something myself? I¡¯ve been looking forward to it,¡± joked Drecksis while hefting his light eating great sword and shield the size of a door.
Besides the small setback the day was going well. It had been two days in and the forces on the battlefield looked ready for the final confrontation. Thousands of players were present and for every player there were a handful of NPC soldiers.
In the distance he could see archers exchanging fire while mages threw up barriers blocking clouds of arrows. On the edges cavalry made passes and veered off trying to goad soldiers into chasing them and become easy pickings. A handful of flying creatures could also be seen soaring over treetops in the distance hunting enemy scouts.
They stood in an ocean of red and grey the livery of the Kingdom of Reckett arrayed before the opposing forces of blue and gold, the Clans of Treageia.
He knew this was all just a prelude to the real fight. The two forces had been gathering and probing each other for almost a week now.
Their guild had sided with Reckett because they had paid the best and had few laws when it came to post battle looting sprees. A week before the Treageian army had assaulted and overtaken the nearby Reckett trade city. After breaching the walls the place had quickly fell to looting and slaughter, little was left of the once large bordering city. Even with a good amount of players inside the enemy had proved too numerous to hold back for any length of time.
The Reckett army had been waiting in the nearby hills letting the city take the brunt of the enemy force. They had even given out special quests and rewards for taking out key elite forces. Players had covered the city with traps and led ambushes for hours. For all that the two armies were almost equal in size, the players that fell had been resurrected after the in game 24 hour death cooldown.
Serion and his guild had struck down numerous players while they held out. The NPCs in the battle however were lost for the upcoming battle. Reckett had lost a city and numerous low rank soldiers but at the cost of destroying some enemy elite forces along with some battalion leaders.
Horns started blowing on both sides. The days attacks and probing¡¯s were done. Back to camp and on the morrow the real fight would begin.
Drecksis led the group back to camp while he and the rest of their companions went to their own guild hall. The camp had hundreds of neat orderly square tents, the main army making a giant rectangle with player guild tents in the center. They however went to the far edge of camp where the animals were penned.
They didn¡¯t have a tent for their own hall, they used a wagon instead. Uncommon but practical to how their guild functioned, they moved around a lot and having a transportable guild hall being near them at all times more than made up for the cost and magic they had put into it.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
After walking though the perfect orderly tents of the NPC army the animal yard was complete chaos. Quickly erected wooden fences with ropes held hundreds of horses. Nearby goats, pigs, and other food animals were roped to poles and the smell would have been overpowering if he¡¯d turned the setting on.
As they neared a stable housing the officer horses Serion could make out their wagon. Higher than the stable the large two story wagon was painted in a solid black with no ornamentation whatsoever. The ever present driver sat slumped in the front holding the reins looking ready to takeoff at a moment¡¯s notice.
A door was set below his perch one on each side. The top had firing ports for any occupants inside and hatches covered nearly every inch of it. Overall it looked slapped together made up of two wagons, one being dumped on the other then hammered together before a fresh coat of paint and called done. The ramshackle appearance was all by design of course.
Entering the closest door they were transported to a high ceilinged room made of large stone blocks that would be more at home in a tower then a wagon in the middle of an army. Torches illuminated the countless trophies that covered every exposed surface. In the center of the room sat a massive table made up of skulls and twisted pieces of metal. Around it sat thirteen thrones each unique in design. Serion took his seat at the top of the skull.
¡°Tomorrow will be the battle won¡¯t it?¡± Drecksis mused.
A cloaked shadow that was the guilds sole rogue Revenance spoke ¡°All signs point to it. I led a scouting group and fought other like-minded squads, little movement overall but the field before us it the best spot for a large fight. Our right flank has too many trees and hills for cavalry, men at arms and archers on both sides making sure nothing sneaks past. The left flank is a marsh with sand traps and acid pools, a few archer groups were stationed there for any flying threats.¡±
¡°Even the dead have trouble with those acid pools. My strike force caught a few foolish players, turns out the dead are perfect for dragging players into them,¡± said Legion their minion necromancer specialist.
The guild mates laughed imagining the unlucky players going to such a burning demise. Their guild focused on pvp (player versus player) and hunted down other players at every opportunity. They were a small guild but strong, each guild member specialized their characters to take others down. Even their two healers had a plethora of tricks for killing others.
At the beginning Serion¡¯s guild had started out with a handful of friends playing together group hunting others. They had eventually fought another pvp group and had a several week back and forth of murder and mayhem.
Finally the two leaders had come together and decided to form a single guild. Not for any idea of peace between themselves but to hunt other people down. Together they had cut a swathe through players in any area of the world they visited. On public forums the names of The Dread Thirteen were spoken with hate and anger. This only incensed the group to kill even more.
Eventually the guilds Blood Born, Rage, and the Corpse Defilers had come together creating a legacy of death and hate. They were all known as PKers (player killers), greifers, gankers, or hunters as they liked. It didn¡¯t matter if you had just started the game or your group was fighting a tough monster. Everyone was fair game in their eyes.
Serion pulled up his group information. Along with his guild he had two others guild group aiding them in the fight. With them they numbered roughly 50 and along with the knights that escorted them they made a formidable group.
¡°Our fellow players are idiots and I¡¯ve made a list of who to kill off first. Drecksis that mage today with the golem.¡± His friend grinned while running a thumb down his great swords blade. A rivulet of blood seeped down and then sizzled and disappeared into the blade. A dark knight and fallen paladin with a demon bound sword, he grew stronger off his kills and the longer a fight went on.
Serion had died to that common looking great sword a handful of times. He still remembered it cutting through his enchantments and doing tremendous damage in its lust to taste blood and death. Eventually he had realized that constructs were its weakness, no blood and no souls to power up from he had stalled its bearer long enough to blast him with several deadly spells. It was that ingenuity and shut down of key opponents that had led to both their guild leaders coming together and discussing what they both wanted.
When they had all come together Serion had even offered a handshake to the fearsome knight that had slain him at least a dozen times. Drecksis taken aback by the man at the show of respect expecting only hatred had taken it and they both shook hands.
From that day on a friendship had been born. The two were now the best of friends and complimented each other¡¯s fighting styles well. Drecksis rushed the enemy keeping them on the defensive while Serion blasted them with powerful spells.
¡°I expect tomorrow will be it. I can¡¯t imagine the developers forcing us to wait any longer. They¡¯ve already dropped hints of another expansion when all the worldwide battles are concluded. Until the time to spill more blood.¡±
¡°We are the Thirteen! We hunt, we kill!¡±
Serion logged off looking forward to tomorrow.
The King of Reckett sat in his tent holding a mirror. Even with his army around him he felt ill at ease. So many plans and work was culminating in a short time.
¡°We¡¯re sure it will work?¡±
¡°All signs point to it my friend. We¡¯ve worked long and hard getting those ¡®heroes¡¯ to gather the items needed with these ¡®quests¡¯ they love so much. We¡¯ll all be free soon. The price our men pay is a deep but worthwhile sacrifice, everyone will know it even if they don¡¯t understand in the beginning.¡±
¡°After tomorrow let us usher in a golden age,¡± he told Urth¡¯Garrett high clan lord of all Treageia.
Chapter 2: Dragons are there to be Hunted
Serion logged in long before the morning muster of the army. He checked over his potions and gear. Everything was ready but he enjoyed making sure.
Peace of mind and all that. The others had all started longing in doing similar preparations.It was with some surprise a knock came from the door and they were greeted by a Reckett herald.
The man had an arrogant air about him and he strode in as if he owned the place. Looking down his nose at them he started to read the kings many titles and why the army marched and blah blah something honor and love of peace. The noble lost much of his color when he got to the guild name and started stuttering and gulping. Glancing up between sentences he was sweating quite a lot.
Even the NPCs knew their guild by reputation. It wasn¡¯t always players that they slaughtered with wanton abandon.
Bounty hunters and mercenaries had often been dispatched to take them in for various crimes and bounties placed on their heads by players. Afterwards they would often have the heads delivered to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild where the quests were issued and taken.
Fellow players would often receive their heads in a box. The package fee was a small price to pay when the fools that had set out to be the hunter had become the hunted. A handful of times they were even there when the players received the package, the looks on their face making it well worth the effort.
Revenance also like to critically backstab them right after and resend them his regards. Few hunted them anymore and the successful few that had gotten them grinned down at them from the trophy racks that covered the walls.
Finishing his little speech it was the massive obsidian dragon skull that drew the herald¡¯s eyes. Hanging over the skull table it dwarfed every other trophy they had.
It was darkest legend and had created their guilds legacy and had made them a common curse in the game. For a week they had followed a large PVE (player versus environment) guild into some mountains in the far north of the clan lands.
An informant had given them access to the guilds online forums for a price of course. The group had been secretly looking and recruiting high level players to help in a long unique questline leading them to an old dragon¡¯s lair.
The Thirteen had been interested for entirely different reasons. Even in the fantasy set game dragons were extremely rare, a handful were known to players and the nature of the unique questlines involving them made it that once the questline was completed or failed they were done permanently, no more quests for it. This dragon had long been turned to dust by time due to some ancient relic. The would be dragon hunters had collected the pieces of this artifact and the dragon was resurrected by the players. Even time couldn¡¯t stop it from its beloved possession.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
They fought for nearly an hour losing most of their number but getting the dragon¡¯s overall health to 3% and that was when the Thirteen had struck.
Thirteen fresh PvPers ripped through the 20 or so who had little mana and health left. To add insult to injury when they had killed the whole group they then turned on the dragon. Their victims had tried to defeat the dragon even while being slaughtered. They had hope up to the end.
Luckily the nearest temple was about two days away. Even at only 2% it had taken them 10 minutes of fighting to kill it. They were geared and skilled towards killing players instead of monsters but they had also taken plenty of potions and rare objects to disrupt and kill the dragon hunters. They nearly exhausted everything they took with them.
In the end they felled the great beast and with its death the capital cities of the land received notifications of its defeat and the heroes that had vanquished it. Their reputations went from hated in most kingdoms to beloved.
They even got a guild statue at the creature¡¯s grave site. It was very cool, sucking in the light from around it and made of dragon bone. The original questers called foul on the public forums and it even caused a few to quit the game all together. The loot and the skull trophy were just icing on the cake. Don¡¯t hate the player, hate the game.
¡°We understand our ¡®Heroic¡¯ part to play in the frontlines on the morrow. Tell your King that.¡±
When no reply came he tore his gaze from the skull and glancing about for the herald he spotted his fresh corpse on the ground.
¡°Who killed the herald?¡± he asked in mock anger. A few shrugs were his reply before the group burst into laughs and chuckles.
The morning air was still. Army scouts from both sides watched for movement. No eyes looked at the sacked city nearby.
The smoldering ruins had few living souls within. Deep under the city in what was once part of the sewer system a century before, large groups of cowled figures stood around thousands of overlapping circles. The massive room was covered in runes some written overlapping others, to an outsider it would look like a chaotic kaleidoscope of color glowing and dimming as if it was part of a far greater creature slowly breathing.
At the center of it all a group stood before a chest pierced with metallic spikes of varying alloys.
¡°How go the preparations? Is everything set? I don¡¯t need to remind you all we have one shot to save our world.¡±
¡°Everything is done master. The circles are complete and the runes are written. The sacrifices from the city above have fueled the spell. The battle is about to start. We are ready.¡±
¡°Let us begin and may the gods watch over us.¡± The figure grabbed a spike and pulled.
Chapter 3: Start of a Golden Age
The battle lines were drawn and set. Four years of gaming had led players to this event. Thousands of quests and preparations were complete. Countless monsters slaughtered and loot spent. From above a bird would be able to see for two leagues with no gap in the forces. Red against blue, the kingdom of Reckett and the clans of Treageia were sent to fight each other.
Even higher if one could see the world as one looks at a map splayed out in front of them several massive events were taking place the world over.
Near the center Reckett and Treageia while far to the east the Holy cities of Racsha was surrounded by thousands of massive warships from the Pirate Isles.
To the west the Draken Empire with their flying city islands flew alongside mountain peaks stretching skyward.
The south held The Dread Legions facing the Cursed of the Wastes. All these worldwide events led to the gathering of armies and players.
Millions of players sought out the conflict of their choice be it from the area or quests. Almost every player that had started a character in the game was currently playing.
¡°Charge!¡±
Serion ran alongside his mage group led by knights towards the opposing forces. Fireballs and other magic¡¯s raced overhead to the enemy side slamming into large bubbles and shields of magic, their own side received quite a few attacks as well.
Early attacks easily blocked by the huge amount of mana currently available but later on as the mages fell they would start to leak through causing massive amounts of damage. He knew it was really a battle of endurance.
Above a faint blue dome followed their group. As they neared the opposing forces arrows started falling with greater regularity and many were blocked by small magic shields but a few of his group¡¯s mages took some hits. The healers quickly cast spells dissolving the invasive weapons and fixing any lasting damage.
Ahead the front lines slammed into each other, both sides pushing and shoving. The lines lost all cohesion in the sudden melee and some were able to push forward. Figures fell below the rush and disappeared to be replaced by others only too eager to get within striking distance.
Artillery would hit groups of warriors suddenly creating a gap that would be filled in seconds. Serion had never seen anything like it except in movies and he was exhilarated to be a part of it.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
¡°Halt here! Shield dome then rebuff, don¡¯t forget the knights. Then spot and target enemy players.¡±
He quickly cast the two rebuffs he had on the group, Arcane Guidance which gave slightly better mana regen that stacked with other spells and Arcane Might a magic attack boost to casters. Several spy orbs appeared above them. It would tell any players nearby that squishy mages were to be found here but it also let them see the battlefield at a new angle.
¡°There¡¯s one!¡± ¡°Another over there.¡± ¡°We have a group to our right.¡±
The group started casting spells, arcane bolts, magic missiles, and elemental attacks raced out and struck the few lone players in the sea of NPCs.
¡°Haha guildless bastards. That group on the right, concentrate attacks.¡±
His near two dozen party sent out enough magical attacks to quickly overwhelm the shields of a 5 man strong mage group past the enemy frontlines. Serion cast Shadow Tendrils which wrapped around the groups lone priest interrupting whatever spell he was casting and several magic missiles smashed into him and a bone spear suddenly took his head off.
¡°Got the kill!¡± yelled Morthius his fellow guild necromancer. ¡°Corpse go boom!¡±
The priest¡¯s body exploded taking out two more of the group. The last two fell to the combined magical assault.
¡°Disengage that group, we got them all.¡±
He stopped watching the group when they arose and started hurling spells into the nearby NPCs. Morthius gave him a big grin. One of their group¡¯s Aeromancers was hovering above them probably looking for new targets. An arrow ripped through the bubble that surrounded them all and nailed him in the face, he dropped like a puppet with its string cut.
¡°Ranged assassin, enchanted arrows. Max that shield! We need a priest.¡±
¡°Brings a new meaning to aeromancers, get it hahaha?¡± joked Natas the guilds sole priest as she started casting a resurrection spell. She stood there for a moment looking confused and then she bent down and touched the corpse.
¡°I can¡¯t bring him back. There¡¯s no target.¡±
¡°What do you mean? He just died. There should be no corpse decay yet. What does the prompt say?¡±
¡°It was there a second ago but faded out, it said no target and now I don¡¯t see anything. It doesn¡¯t say anything now.¡±
Serion had a few corpse based spells. He selected Shadow Puppet and targeted¡nothing. The corpse at his feet was not being targeted. It wasn¡¯t telling him anything in his sight, strange.
He selected Arcane Blast an AoE (area of effect) spell and looked in the distance but didn¡¯t see a circle of enemies that would be in the affected area, the figures should glow faintly so he knew who would be hit. Of all the times for the servers to lag, he really hoped it didn¡¯t crash. It had never happened in this game but this was the largest ever event so some glitching was understandable.
¡°Serion, look at that.¡± Natas pointed in the distance. The city ruins near the pitched armies had a blue shaft into the heavens.
¡°What the hell is going on? Who is casting that? I¡¯m not getting any prompts. Our side or theirs?¡±
The silence more than anything got his notice. Looking around both sides were staring at the light. At the very front soldiers eyed each other and kept glancing at the beam, neither side had any idea what was going on. The beam grew in size and strength. It was like looking into the sun.
The ground started to shake and he could hear panicked shouts and questions. Suddenly the spell exploded outwards. Serion¡¯s last thought was how could these sword swingers make an atomic bomb?
Chapter 4: Just what is going on?
Serion woke to a faint ringing noise, it was the only thing he could hear. He made a few mawp noises until he could barely hear it. It actually helped a little.
Glancing around himself while on the ground he could make out the silhouettes of mages, knights, and soldiers laying everywhere. Blinking a few times his vision started to clear up. He could start hearing what was going on around him which was like listening to something down a hallway. It was mostly moaning and faint calls for help.
That spell had been strange, could it have been mass silence or confusion? He slowly got to his knees. The strangest sight greeted him, as far as his eyes could see figures in colorful robes and armor red and blue primarily stretched before him. He¡¯d never seen the like.
It was almost like a mass sleep in or slumber party in the middle of day. Banners and pennants whipped in the air and artillery lay forlorn in the backs of the armies. Spying Natas at his side he started pushing the woman¡¯s shoulder in the attempt to wake her. Opening her eyes she quickly recognized him and she started standing up only to fall to her knees and started puking.
Gross Serion thought, wait she¡¯s puking. He couldn¡¯t remember anyone puking before in game. That¡¯s odd, what the hell is happening? By the groans and talking around him he could tell quite a few others had become sick as well. This shouldn¡¯t be happening.
Even getting some sickness debuffs wouldn¡¯t make it possible to puke unless it was a special attack like the one trolls had. Someone sensitive to getting sick in game could make them sick in real life too. This would be dangerous to players who could then choke to death on their own vomit. In fact they should have woken up from getting that sick too due to the safety systems in place. The game monitored players at all times by their VR headsets, if the users body also went over a certain amount of stress they would wake up and in severe cases emergency services would automatically be called.
This safety function had saved a few lives in the past and the game developers were applauded for their ingenious idea. People had of course tried to hack their headsets to turn off some of these functions but one of the first tests the equipment made when logging in was to check all hardware followed by software. Even at 99% functionality of either it would refuse to let a player get into any game or access any features. Large groups had argued that it was simply a ridiculous ploy to get more money out of customers even with a company policy of trade one in and get one refurbished set back as long as they hadn¡¯t been tampered with. Serion still had his first.
Ignoring the people that were sick around him Serion looked at the NPCs. They didn¡¯t appear to be sick at all. In fact they looked like they were recovering much faster than the adventures. He figured that was a good thing since it would prevent other oppurtunists from taking advantage and cutting them down. But he couldn¡¯t shake a sensation of dread at his core.
¡°Hey Serion I¡¯m gonna log for a bit. I can¡¯t message the wifey after that blue light thing. She always forgets things at the store and it¡¯s my fault somehow,¡± spoke Wills a fellow guild mate.
¡°Sure. Let me know when you get back.¡±
The Knight Captain seemed to be looking right at him. The NPC was holding his hand to his ear like he was using a phone. No, he was using a speaking stone. That would be an expensive object for a NPC soldier.
The Knight wasn¡¯t the only one though, Serion saw group leaders on both sides listening. A speaking stone cost its weight in gold. Why would all these soldiers have them? It was a vast fortune that seemed to be thrown away in his opinion. Sure it increased the communication effectiveness of the whole army but only high ranking officers took them. They could afford things beyond the common rank and file. Also who were they all talking to?
The lead knight suddenly dropped his arm. He started yelling at his men surrounding him and then pointed at Serion. Oh holy shit, the dread had turned to ice in his veins.
¡°Thirteen! With me!¡± he ordered. His guild makes too slowly in his opinion made their way to him. ¡°Pretty sure everything is about to go from bad to fuck me sideways. Buff up and ready spells.¡±
In his head he thought Arcane Barrier but nothing happened. He felt nothing, no magic leaving him to form a barrier. Around him the others were having the same luck if their confused expressions were any indication.
Now the Knights had reached the edge of his player group.
¡°By order of the King of Reckett and his Northern allies the Clans of Treageia all adventurers are under arrest for treason. Go quietly or be killed where you stand.¡±
One adventurer he knew only by his class of Summoner stood in front of him. ¡°Your our allies, we are fighting Treageia you boob. Now go hack some peasants apart.¡±
Calmly the Knight spoke, ¡°Your defiance has been noted.¡± With that said he whipped out his sword and decapitated the player. A beautiful stroke Serion thought. Blood spurt into the air with the pump of his heart. The Mages body stood for a few moments and like a puppets strings cut, collapsed.
At his side Pyron asked ¡°Are they allowed to do that? This epic battle is turning into a real shit show now.¡±
Serion considered what to do about the Knights. They all had swords and shields ready. An Arcane Blast would be perfect right now but alas that didn¡¯t appear when he commanded it either. He started going through a list of his powerful spells but like his previous attempts nothing happened.
Perhaps that was the real problem? All the spells he had been trying to cast were high level, could low cost basic spells work? The lowest form should still be enough for some of these NPCs. Pointing his hand he cast the most basic spell he could think of that all mages had even when starting new.
¡°Magic Missile!¡±
A small blue orb shot at the Knight Captain. It hit him head on and Serion thought that¡¯d show him who was boss. Only he was still standing. Not only that, he was actually smiling!
¡°What gives?! With all my points it should¡¯ve blown his head off! At least burned his flesh a little,¡± he pondered aloud holding up his hand.
He heard ¡°Kill them all!¡± and looked up to find a wall of steel descending on them.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
His fellow guild members had at least figured out a few things from his pathetic display. A fireball flew past impacting a shield. One knight went down with a rock spike in his knee. The dead adventurer lying on the ground from earlier got up moaning.
Even with the few spells they were casting it was too little too late Serion knew. The knights were being aided by other soldiers now, spears were taking down warriors from the side. Players were being cut down all around him. They were in serious trouble, NPCs were all around them. What had once been a buffer against surprise attacks by fellow PvPers had quickly turned into a tightening noose around their necks.
Thinking quickly he remembered a lower tier spell. One of his favorites was Arcane Blast, an AoE (area of effect) spell. Before it had evolved into a much better and more powerful casting it was Arcane Bomb. He felt the mana inside him, he could cast it. He would blanket this very field with death!
Serion cast Arcane Bomb above the Knight Captain, another near the spearmen off to his right and another at a group of knights hacking away at Drecksis. Suddenly the feeling of mana was gone.
He felt drained as if he¡¯d run a marathon. Falling to his knees he observed the bombs were just hanging in the air. His targets had observed the hanging blue orbs and wisely stepped away. After a few seconds they burst apart destroying little.
That didn¡¯t go as planned he decided.
¡°Now then mage, your turn,¡± a deep voice spoke. Uh oh, that Knight Captain was next to him. Serion tried to summon something, anything. It took all his focus just to look up at the man.
¡°I got special orders for you. Though forgiven we never truly forgot your group¡¯s crimes. I¡¯m going to enjoy this.¡±
Serion was knocked to the ground by a steel clad boot. The Knight¡¯s foot held him down while his sword creeped towards his chest. He grabbed a dagger he kept on his belt and tried to hack the limb holding him down. It was enchanted with armor piercing and should have cut through the metal with ease. Instead it screeched against the armor leaving a light scratch.
The sword finally made contact and penetration. All-encompassing burning agony the likes he had ever before experienced. His only existence was just pain.
He could just make out laughing as his life fade.
Blood red ¡®You have died¡¯ appeared in front of him. Well at least that hadn¡¯t changed.
His awareness slowly returned. Phantom pain echoed in his chest and he was surrounded by darkness. So much agony it shouldn¡¯t be possible.
His pain threshold was set on 20% which was the lowest it could go. While leveling he always had it set to the maximum of 50% to get more powerful quicker thanks to the experience boost from all sources of 30%.
After reaching level 100 he¡¯d started dipping it down because gaining levels from there on had decreased gains and it wasn¡¯t worth the pain. Some people complained on not being able to set it higher but they were sadists in his opinion. Besides the game developers had tried it out with beta testers and had quickly found many of them flat out refusing to play again until it was lowered. Serion could imagine torture at such a high level and it sickened him. Sure he had done torture in game, quite a few times in fact and had it done to him in turn.
Floating in the dark void he knew it was for what it was in the game, death. The sickness, the pain, the stink of chopped up bodies and war. It was almost like the game was well, real life or at least more so then ever before.
It was like the game no longer shielded players from the worst of real life¡¯s possibilities. It took place after the blue light explosion. Was that it? The key to all this? He¡¯d never witnessed a spell of such power before. His characters mana had been depleted, his mana stones had shattered. It was a mana vortex on a scale he could never have imagined possible. For a spell like that it was always a prelude to another spell, gain mana and then unleash it. What the hell had they casted?
Time passed. Stars appeared. One brighter than all the others, it grew becoming a sun. Light grew or he raced toward it. There was no sensation of moving or hearing. Like so many times before it engulfed him and with a thunderous clap he found himself back in the guild hall. To his dismay he found himself facing two very naked men.
¡°What the hell is going on? Why are you naked? Put some clothes on!¡± he shouted putting his hands out shielding his eyes from anything he did not want to see.
¡°Good, good you¡¯re here. Look at this, do you see? Do you understand?¡± asked Morthius.
¡°I understand you¡¯re in your birthday suit and I¡¯ve already seen far too much.¡±
Mort stood before him with an excited face for a moment more than seemed to realize his state of undress and his face flushed in embarrassment. He could see Drecksis in the back thrusting forward and slapping the air back and forth. After the two were decent he demanded to know just what the hell was going on exactly.
¡°You died,¡± said Mort. At the beginning of Drecks duhhh he went on. ¡°We all died but I¡¯m sure you noticed the pain. At their nods he went on.
¡°Strange things were happening, players sick, mana gone, our gear and spells suddenly not working. Try to open your headset display.¡± They did with no good results. ¡°You can¡¯t, it¡¯s gone. No logoff possible, do not pass go, do not go back to our shit world. The game is now our world, this right now is real life. After a moment of barraging him with questions he held up his hand. They quieted down and he went on. Now see here, he held up a dagger. ¡°So first.¡± With a quick step he was next to Drecksis who realized too late what was about to happen. Morthius stabbed him in the stomach.
¡°Oh fuck, Oh God. You bastard. I see the light, wait no I see demons.¡±
¡°Pain is real, maxed out like real life. Let me show you.¡±
Mort had started towards Serion.
¡°No no no I get it. That¡¯s unnecessary. No stabby.¡±
Mort seemed saddened by his well response. A little put out Mort stopped yammering and dropped a health potion near Dreck. Serion noticed he was careful to stay at least an arm¡¯s length away from the bleeding knight.
¡°Alright so second people were sick in game and vomiting, that shouldn¡¯t happen.¡±
¡°Third, we are all level 1 again.¡± Both Serion and Drecksis gave each other a widened gaze. No wonder why those NPCs had cut them down so easily.
¡°Look at your spell books. Your character screen doesn¡¯t exist anymore so don¡¯t try to bring it up. We all have the basic beginner package again. Skills are reset, abilities too, all are at level one. Core stats seem to be set to starting the game.
Your gear is stashed in your bag, soul bound stuff anyway. Forget the crap you had on when you died. Dreck you still have your demon blade on you, if I remember correctly it scales to you so it¡¯s also weak too.¡±
¡°Finally nudity. You couldn¡¯t take away your undergarments before. Otherwise dicks galore, topless lady warriors oh la la. Rape oh so much rape would be going on in this kind of medieval era, sex too. All not allowed before, but possible now. Don¡¯t you see? We are no longer in the game. We have transcended our earthen plane.¡±
"Alright there master cult leader. Why don¡¯t you stop chugging down the coolade for a moment? For now let¡¯s agree shits fucked up. By that I mean the game is broken and seems to be glitching which is an understatement. The AI should never let this be happening. The game developers should of taken some kind of notice as alarms must be going off everywhere. The NPCs on our own side just cut us down. The knight leader was using a speaking stone receiving orders and had his men kill us. Now NPCs are bad and we¡¯re on the edge of their dam encampment."
¡°Not so my feeble minded friend. I¡¯m three steps ahead. Having died realizing the implications of our current situation the first thing I did was move camp."
¡°Where?¡±
¡°I told Jerry South so I assume South. You know how he is, I feel sorry for anyone or anything that gets in his way. Before I came back inside he had already plowed through a stable and quite a few tents.¡±
¡°Jerry the NPC who we may or may not be able to trust now?¡±
¡°Ah I see an oversite on my part.¡±
¡°Some genius,¡± muttered Drecksis moving past. His demon blade in hand at the mere thought of a possible fight.
They walked to over to a common looking door set in the stone wall. Drecksis kicked it open and walked through.
¡°Genius before beauty,¡± Serion said motioning towards the door. Mort hesitated for a moment before heading through. New crazy world day one thought Serion and stepped inside.
Chapter 5: Driver of my Dreams
They came out in the top portion of the wagon. Door behind, hatch above and a dozen arrow slits around them. Stepping to the nearest one and looking out he could see trees flying by at a frightening speed.
¡°Well I did tell him to take us South as quick as possible,¡± said Mort.
¡°We need to go 88 Mort, 88!¡±
Drecksis started shouting ¡°Jerry! Jerry you boob slow down now!¡±
Suddenly the small group found themselves hurtling into the walls of the wagon.
¡°Dam Dreck when did you get so fat? Your heavy.¡±
¡°That¡¯s almost all my core stats in strength. Wish I had my armor on, then you wouldn¡¯t be complaining. You¡¯d be dead.¡±
Thinking of his armor Serion silently agreed. Drecksis was already tall for a character, nearly seven feet tall and muscles built like an olympian. With his demon forged armor he was a nightmare to his enemies and sometimes his allies if the demon blade took too much of a hold. Drecksis had killed people by hugging them or slamming them against his armor.
¡°Mort you¡¯re a genius, go talk to Jerry. Figure out if he¡¯s after players blood too. If not remind him we are the only thing standing between him and a gruesome death. At our hands but still.¡±
¡°No deal, I think my arms are broken. And my brain.¡±
¡°Your brains always been broken.¡± Said Drecksis.
Untaggling themselves Drecksis opened the hatch above them and climbed outside. Giving the Necromancer a glance as he retreated back to the guild hall Serion climbed topside. Outside it was sunny with not a cloud in the azure sky. Trees were on both sides of the country road they had been traveling on and he could hear birds singing.
¡°Adventurers log: First day in new world. Picture perfect weather and fuzzy animals abound. Make sure to burn forest and hunt all woodland animal creatures to extinction.¡±
After chuckling Drecksis sighed. ¡°Makes me miss the city.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry buddy, eventually this world will be covered in grey and chock full of fumes. Just like home.¡±
The wagon was now traveling at an easy walking pace. Too fast then too slow. Jerry was mocking them, he knew it. Even before the game had gone crazy the dammed thing was always doing something irritating. No one believed him of course but Drecksis noticed it too. Anytime they gave an order Jerry would take it to the extreme and follow too well. Anyone else he did a great job. The bastard.
Getting to the front Serion sat beside their NPC driver Jerry. Drecksis did the same on the opposite side. He was wrapped in a long black cloak complete with hood. It waved back and forth in the slight wind. Where exposed flesh would have been were black bandages covering every part of him. Serion had still never seen a bit of Jerry without his cloak. At night one could faintly see his red burning eyes driving the horses on.
¡°How are you Jerry? Enjoy trying to kill us Jerry? What¡¯s next a cliff or rope bridge Jerry?¡± Silence was his only answer. Glancing at Drecksis he got a shrug and his blank expression seemed to say what now? Do something, he mouthed.
Drecksis looked to the sky and after a moment a dark grin spread across his face. ¡°Alright Jerry this has been a long time coming. We know you¡¯ve gone traitor so now you die,¡± he said maniacally holding his sword next to Jerry¡¯s throat. Jerry just sat still holding the reins.
After several seconds Serion looked at Drecksis. ¡°Nothing, same old Jerry. Gotta love him.¡±
They sat there for a moment. At least something from the game was the same old. A sign came up and passed by.
¡°Go faster Jerry.¡± The reins in Jerry¡¯s hands snapped and the four horses pulling the wagon leapt to obey. The wagon was now at running speed. ¡°It¡¯ll be dark soon, we need to make camp eventually. I know where we are Dreck, that sign we passed is for one of the starting cities about an hour south. Fire Town is also down this road.¡±
¡°Get us to Fire Town Jerry. Fast as possible.¡±
It took them both by surprise when a woman¡¯s voice spoke up behind them. ¡°You two, quit playing with our zombie cab driver and come below. Meeting time. I know you know about knowing but there¡¯s more. Everyone¡¯s below.¡±
¡°On our way.¡±
Drecksis and Serion started climbing back inside. Suddenly the wagon took a sharp turn nearly toppling over. It rode on its two left wheels before slamming back down. Groans could be heard from the back with loud threats towards a ¡®despicable dead head.¡¯ With a snap the wagon raced on.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
¡°In less than a day we¡¯ve all been in a titanic fight, witnessed the great mana vortex, died horribly at the hands of our NPC allies, lost our soul shards and unbound equipment. Finally we can¡¯t leave and are stuck here for the foreseeable future. Truly this is a tragic day. Does anyone have good news?¡± spoke Serion.
¡°We¡¯re headed to Fire Town,¡± spoke Drecksis. A few chuckles and quit laughs came out.
¡°Thank you Dreck. What I mean is we are heading away from the army site. We¡¯ve seen no signs of pursuit and are at the moment possibly safe. Fire Town can be our haven for now. We will stop there to rest and assess.
¡°Good plan, I approve. Nays anyone? Well then I believe the first order of business is to level up. Anyone can take us on right now and wipe the floor with us. I don¡¯t have to tell you all that a lot of people, players and NPCs would happily do unspeakable things to us.¡± The nodding heads and thoughtful looks around the table told Serion they understood perfectly.
Standing up Griggs the guilds engineer spoke ¡°We need to figure out a way back. I have a huge meeting planned for next week. I¡¯ll be announced as a team leader.¡± ¡°My wife and two kids...¡± ¡°I have steaks defrosting¡¡± ¡°I need to finish and publish my book.¡± ¡°Not parked legally¡¡±
¡°Enough!¡± Serion shouted. ¡°We all have worries. I understand I truly do but here¡¯s the thing. We survived thanks to dumb luck by having soul shards and a guild hall on wheels. We could have died back there, possibly permanently. Who knows where we would have ended up? The nearest crossroads or temples like the game or worse, true death? Who knows what the players back at the camp are going through.¡±
For a moment their masks slipped, the panicked looks he saw revealed the terror each one truly felt inside.
¡°So here¡¯s what I think. Hear me out. We hold off on figuring out a way back home. Thanks to game time compression which may or may not still be affecting us time goes much slower here. Even this worlds rotation based on the sun and stars is a single Earth day is three here."
"We start by making camp in Fire Town. Gear up and level, do whatever we need to. Then we move on further South. Currently most of Reckett¡¯s forces are North of us but we may see them soon. Heading East we¡¯d still be in their lands and getting closer to the religious zealots who would happily burn us all at the stake but hey we did it to a fair amount of their own priests. West has Gear Peak and unclaimed territory, rather high level though and we are not ready for that yet. North if we could get around two of the largest armies in this world is elven forest and the pointy eared bastards would kill us with all with arrows before we saw them or we¡¯d run into a clan and die promptly. By getting to the border of the Dread Lands we can follow them. Few soldiers will follow us there lest they piss off the Dread Masters. Near the untamed lands by the coast is a fortress, low level dungeon great for gaining experience. There¡¯s also a town, some mines and caves. I loved leveling there and wouldn¡¯t mind seeing it again, plenty of stuff to kill and very few high level NPCs. As we gather information we can replan as new things come up."
Ayes?
Thirteen Ayes rang out.
The town lay in sight. Morthius and Serion sat up front with Jerry.
¡°Mort he listens to you the best, tell Jerry to slow down a little before we plow through some buildings.¡±
¡°That only happened the one time.¡±
¡°And the one other time.¡±
¡°Fine whatever.¡±
Serion watched the town growing closer. A stone wall lay mostly in ruins surrounding numerous dilapidated town houses. Many of them were charred black from a past fire. The odd house here and there lay in a pile of ash and rubble.
After examining the area he spotted the perfect spot for their camp. What was left of the stone wall came together at an angle forming a V. It would be easy to block the open part using the wagon and then setup the camp inside. It wasn¡¯t perfect as they had nowhere to retreat to but it beat having to roam the destroyed town in hopes of finding something intact. They also had no idea what could be calling the town home now.
¡°We¡¯ll set up camp there,¡± he told Mort.
Mort started talking to Jerry and motioned to the spot. The horses suddenly steered the wagon straight at the wall keeping staying way too fast. They were going to crash. He was on top of the wagon. He was level one now. Serion stomach dropped somewhere near his feet and he scrambled to get inside the guild hall. At the door he felt the wagon lurch sideways tipping and the hatch that was above him was now in front of him.
¡°Ohhhhhh shh¡.!¡±
He found himself flying through the air. The ground rose up and sucker punched him. Pain. Ground. Rock. Sky. Pain. Ground. Pain. More pain. When it was over he was surprised he was still alive. Death would have been nice though, no more pain¡maybe. He tried reaching for a healing potion but his right arm didn¡¯t seem to work anymore. His left moved, he could feel his bones grinding against each other.
He took a health potion from his belt and brought it to his lips. Ah sweet nectar of the Gods. The second helped more. Under his skin the bones came together, tears repaired and he felt whole again. Sitting up he could see the wagon perfectly set in the opening. Jerry had somehow done a perfect job in doing exactly what he wanted while also launching him to almost certain death.
Making his way to the wagon took more than a few wobbly steps. Even though his body was repaired his head seemed to need more time. These new ¡®real¡¯ sensations would take some time to get used to. Mort hopped off the wagon and was waiting for Serion. When he opened his mouth Serion cut him off.
¡°Not. One. Word.¡±
Nodding his head he looked like he really wanted to say something. Though his smirk gave away what he had to say.
Serion opened and went through the door. As it closed he could just make out the start of a laugh.
After Mort was done laughing he stood there alone in what would be their new camp. It wasn¡¯t much to look at currently. Surrounded by a crumbling stone wall that had seen better days there stood but a lone tree.
¡°Assemble,¡± he commanded.
The hatches on the coach rattled and opened. Bones started dropping out at an alarming rate. After a moment the bones shifted and they started to assemble into skeleton warriors. They reached into the cart taking weapons and armor.
¡°This is our camp, guard it.¡±
Chapter 6: Lets take stock shall we?
The guild stood around the table. Their lot looked much improved since earlier. From the basic rags all characters wore after being resurrected from death they all now wore armor and weapons. Too few glowed showing signs of magic, most were simply low level equipment of chainmail and leather primarily. The weapons were also basic beginner pieces. Serion noticed there were now a few missing trophies on the wall.
Pyron spoke ¡°After a little experimentation. Little of our PvP gear is wearable anymore. We are all neutral alignment again, our specialties and affinities have been reset too. All of us are too low level for our best gear, might as well store them in our chests for now. The weight will only slow us down."
"There is some good news however, the high end storage bags we all have still function properly. Like before reach in and think of what you¡¯re trying to grab and it appears in your hands. Everyone has a handful of tokens that still function because they had no level preset. But for all that our abilities are back to level one so it will be a hard climb back to where we were."
The news broke Serion¡¯s heart. So much effort acquiring rare and soul bound gear and in a single day they were put back to the beginning. The amazing gear, weapons, and items they had accumulated over the years was next to useless. They could see it but do little with it, now it was just a bunch of useless junk that weighed them down. They could look but not touch.
The spell books all players had from the beginning of the game was open in his hand. Before they could open a window to each page to look at everything that made up their character from core stats to abilities and skills. Now they had to physically pull it out and turn the pages. His stats were pathetic once more. He kind of felt like crying.
Serion - Lv 1 Human Mage
Guild Leader of The Dreaded Thirteen
Arcane 10/Shadow 10
Vitality - 10
Might - 10
Dexterity ¨C 10
Resilience - 10
Intelligence - 10
Wisdom - 10
Willpower - 10
Perception - 10
Charisma - 10
Luck - 10
125 stats points currently unassigned.
*237* stat points have been locked until the player reaches the level they were originally received.
From level 118 to 1. How the mighty have fallen. After this he would probably have quit the game if it was still possbile.
He felt a tremendous blow at his affinities. It had taken a long time to get them to a perfect 60/40. You could never go past a total of 100. Each one had abilities that could only be used at a certain affinity level. Affinities leveled a bit like abilities, where abilities leveled as you used them like a warrior¡¯s shield bash or a rogue¡¯s throwing daggers the spells Serion cast would increase his affinity level. Casting shadow bolt enough times would make his affinity with Shadow rise giving him access to new spells. By casting different shadow spells it would rise even quicker, he couldn¡¯t just spam shadow bolt all day long and get the same amount of progress.
Because Serion had two affinities he would have to carefully watch out for when they maxed out at a total of 100. Then he would need to stop using spells from the one affinity he wanted lower than the other. When the two reached a perfect synchronization of where he wanted them he could use an Affinity Stone to stop them from changing anymore. The low levels of his affinities would stop him from using any of his best spells for quite some time.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The game had dozens of affinities but he liked Arcane and Shadow because they suited him. Arcane was great direct damage and had a decent amount of dispels and buffs. Shadow was good at turning the environment to your advantage, some rogues took it to hide themselves from their enemies better then just Sneak, it also had some decent debuffs. He loved going into the shadows with a group and shooting his foes with a massive Arcane attack. Some called it cheap but it was very effective. Nuking from the shadows he liked to call it.
In addition as a character''s affinities got higher they allowed a mage to access new spells. As a spell unlocked the mage could use it and if liking it could put affinity points into it making it much better or evolve it into another spell. Character leveling was secondary to increasing affinity. The higher one got it the better assortment of spells they could wield. With multiple affinities one could unlock unique spells few others had access to. Of course one could just stick to a single affinity and become a ''Master'' of it but that also left them weak to certain opposing affinities and fewer spells. Many players chose two affinities creating a primary and support.
His core stats were so low now. He remembered all the leveling he had done had given him a little over a 1000 core stat points altogether. 237 points were locked too. Those he had gained for completion to main storyline quests, class quests, and unique or holiday quests.
100 to core stats from the beginning.
100 freely given to players to make their character fill the role they wanted.
15 additional points for taking the beginning test before the game started, 25 was the max possible.
Levels 1-20 gave you 10 core points upon leveling. Level 1s 10 points were given to the player.
Levels 21-40 ¨C 8 core points
Levels 41-60 ¨C 6 core points
Levels 61-80 ¨C 4 core points
Levels 81-100 ¨C 2 core points
Levels 100-150 ¨C 1 core point
Levels 150-200 ¨C 1 core point every other level
Levels 200+ - 1 core point every four levels
The higher level one got the smaller the gap became based on core stat points between players. The game had many additional factors however. Ambushing or attacking a critical spot on an opponent could quickly take them down even if they are of higher level. He¡¯d seen low levels stab higher levels from behind and get enough bonus damage to kill them.
Let¡¯s distribute these points shall we?
Vitality affects a player¡¯s health. The higher it is the more damage a player can take. Use armor to protect your health points.
Might affects a player¡¯s strength and how much they can carry. With enough points a player could cut through a boulder with ease and use full body plate armor.
Dexterity affects a player¡¯s speed and reflexes. Your enemies can¡¯t hit what they can¡¯t see.
Resilience affects a player¡¯s resistance to physical ailments such as poison or disease. It also increases a characters stamina.
Intelligence affects a player¡¯s spell power. The casted spells will do more damage.
Wisdom affects a player¡¯s casting speed and spell cooldown time.
Willpower affects a player¡¯s resistance to spiritual and magical ailments such as curses. It also increases a player¡¯s mana pool.
Perception affects a player¡¯s awareness around themselves of possible traps or other dangers. At higher levels hidden paths or shadowed enemies will be easier to see.
Charisma affects a player¡¯s intercalations with others. Others will like you more and agree on your views. Can get shop discounts from merchants and opens unique dialogues and quests.
Luck affects everything.
After familiarizing himself with all the core stats again he put his points where he thought they would be most useful at this early stage of the game. Every 50 points in a core stat the gains would decrease slightly. He always thought of it as a buffer against mini maxers.
Vitality ¨C 35. He did not want to find out if he could really die here.
Might ¨C 10. For warrior types like Drecksis.
Dexterity ¨C 10. For sneaky back stabby rogues and warriors that thought dual wielding was cool. It¡¯s not but it made his job of killing them much easier when there wasn¡¯t a shield in the way.
Resilience ¨C 10. Meh.
Intelligence ¨C 40. Should provide a good amount of damage boost.
Wisdom ¨C 40. His favorite stat really. The higher level Arcane spells always needed at least few seconds to cast but he had gotten most of them down to instant casts. With the cooldown costs also improved he could near instant cast and recast large damage spells continuously. Of course his mana always took a huge hit but if the options were death or mana depletion it became an easy choice.
Willpower ¨C 40. Because having little mana sucked donkey dick. The resistance was just a nice added bonus.
Perception ¨C 10. Note to self put a few points here later.
Charisma ¨C 10. Why bargain with people when you can just kill them and take their stuff?
Luck ¨C 20. Actually important to mages one shotting people, he had a lucky medallion he would have loved to wear but couldn¡¯t until lucky level 21.
Taking a look at his skills everything was level 1 again. All his weapons he¡¯d mastered, minor and major skills, even his profession skills. If they truly were stuck here for the foreseeable future someone would need to level cooking up asap.
Chapter 7: Let鈥檚 go a Huntin
He currently wore a basic mage outfit and had a staff for a weapon. He hated staves, in his opinion all they were was two handed blunt sticks. He¡¯d rather have a sword but the decent ones were already taken.
After laying out the bedrolls and tents they had the skeletons set up everything while the guild headed into the town. It had started getting dark so they took some torches. They had been hard to find because they all used night seeing rings before ¡®The Fall¡¯ as they called it happened.
Moving in a large group they watched all fronts, they had no idea what could have taken up residence in this place. Moving towards the center of town they were headed to one of the few previous landmarks of the town, the burnt down inn.
¡°When we get there basic 3 group split. Pyron and Harkin leads. Look around and explore, if you see something kill it quick and quiet. If you run into trouble Pyron send up a fireball, Revenance flaming arrow. Both other groups will try to get to you as soon as possible. Use potions as needed.¡±
Even before arriving at the inn the group had split apart. Each group was well rounded so they handle any situation they encountered. At least that was the idea but in the past some of the groups had quickly been slaughtered by the unexpected.
Pyron took his wife Ekra the Ice Mage, Wills the Aeromancer/Archer, and Reg the Warrior/Warlock. They headed down the street further with Reg in the lead. Their group was specialized towards ranged combat. If Reg was higher level he could someone his Infernal Guard to keep anything from getting into melee range with them. Just starting out he didn¡¯t even have his imp familiar.
Harkin who was a Bard/Tactician took Griggs the Engineer, Natas the priest, and Legion and Morthius the two necromancers. Legion and Griggs could make plenty of minions to support the group. Harkin and Natas could buff the players and minions while Morthius would cast curses on enemies letting the minions beat them down. While fully buffed the minions turned into very formidable opponents. Natas could then take the damage anyone took around her and turn into healing power thanks to her God of Violence and Hatred Kreatsus. They would quickly overwhelm small groups of monsters and players with the number of minions they usually put out.
Serion had Drecksis backing him up with Revenance the Ranger/Raider, and Tombe the Terramancer/Duelist. His group would cloak itself thanks to Serion shadow magic and then strike a group in close range with Serion or Revenance supporting at range usually obliterating their targets before surrounding themselves with shadows to do it all over again.
Each group was made to function by itself and as a larger group. Pyron¡¯s group would start a fight hitting from a distance while Serion¡¯s got into position. Harkin would distract the enemy in a full frontal assault with plenty of minions. Then like a knife in the back Serion¡¯s group would descend on them.
As each group disappeared down a street Serion was a little worried because the groups wouldn¡¯t work how they were designed and used to, but there was little they could do about it.
The biggest problem they always had was there were no fully dedicated healers in their guild. Sure Natas could heal players when fighting was going on and Reg steal and redistribute health but in a prolonged fight they had always relied heavily on potions to keep them going. Half the guild had the profession of alchemy to make sure they always had potions available. Now since they were all reset to 1 in the profession levels it could take a while to start producing more which meant each health potion was very valuable and unreplaceable.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
¡°Let¡¯s start with the Fiery Hog Inn. We¡¯re here already and it¡¯s one of largest buildings in town.¡±
From the front the inn looked like it had escaped the worst of the damage the rest of the town had sustained. Stepping inside it was obvious that was not the case. While the front of it still stood the middle and back were just a skeleton of their former glory. Large wooden beams were charred and debris covered the floors. The rooms that had been on the second floor were gone entirely, Serion could see the sky from the interior. The furniture that had once crowded the interior was nothing more than ash now.
¡°We have a trapdoor behind the bar,¡± Revenance spoke.
Serion didn¡¯t want to leave the topside so soon as he wasn¡¯t sure if the other groups would run into trouble. But nothing ventured, nothing gained.
¡°Drecksis take point. Tombe follow him. Rev guard our rear.¡±
Stepping over what was left of the bar he looked into the hole in the floor. He cast Arcane Light and climbed down. This area at least seemed well preserved from the inferno that had happened topside. There was only one direction to go, a door set several feet away. Drecksis opened the door and Serion cast another Light into the room. Dreck and Tombe charged in finding a table and several chairs but nothing of real interest. He heard Rev hit the ground behind him.
¡°Hold up. This table has food on it, several days old,¡± Tombe observed. He was right, it looked like it had come from a large rat carcass. The intestines were gone leaving bones and skin.
¡°Alright gentleman we have something down here to kill after all.¡±
Repeating the door, light, charge technique they found more empty rooms including plenty of drained kegs. Someone had a party at one time.
Coming to a room with several doors they picked the right hand. This time when the light brightened the room they heard a screech. A group of rats the size of large dogs were gnawing a corpse of some kind.
Without hesitation Drecksis slammed his sword into the closet one before charging another with his shield bashing it backwards.
Tombe shot a hand sized rock into one standing beside Drecksis.
Serion quickly cast Veil of Shadows on the closet and followed with an Arcane Spear into the largest rat.
Revenance even got a shot in with a quick arrow.
4 rats now remained and attacked the closest target Drecksis. Each of them sprang at him biting at his legs. Covered in mail armor it didn¡¯t look like anything got to flesh. One of the rat¡¯s teeth even broke off.
He slammed his sword down on the largest rat. Blood and guts burst from its ruptured body. He then kicked another rat smashing it against the wall. After another Arcane Spear and rock launch they all lay dead. Serion went back out to join Rev while the others looted the corpses.
He looked for an experience prompt but nothing appeared. Going on a hunch he opened his adventurer¡¯s handbook. After all the details of his character he found a page with the details. Looking further back he could see his failed flying lessons. 4 life points had remained. Note to self: Kill Jerry.
6 Giant Rats killed.
22 Experience Gained.
¡°Even the book tells us how much experience we got, just 22. But it looks like we need 100 for level 2. We don''t even get a bonus anymore for pain.¡±
Tombe came up holding the loot, ¡°A few coppers altogether and it looks like they were eating some kind of humanoid corpse.¡±
When they were all ready again they assaulted the next room, a few more rats that quickly died to their overwhelming attack.
When they broke into the third room they were quite surprised to find a group of goblins staring right back at them.
Chapter 8: Hunt and Kill more stuff
Drecksis backpedaled into the room they were all in.
The goblins gave a cry and charged them.
Drecksis took a position to the side of the doorway and Serion, Tombe, and Revenance let lose. Arrows and rocks flew. Serion quickly cast three Arcane Bombs just on the other side of the door, they would take a few seconds to explode but when they did it should be devastating. Then he cast Shadow Bolt. While not as damaging as Arcane Spear it had a chance to confuse the enemy.
When the first goblin started through the door Drecksis used 2 hands to swing his sword right into the unlucky goblin. It must have been a critical attack because it chopped him in half. The next goblin let out a shriek of terror trying to get back but the others pushed it forward. An arrow suddenly appeared in its chest.
They kept up the barrage until the Arcane Bombs went off with a deafening roar one after the other. In the small space the goblin party was blown apart. Drecksis stepped inside and quickly struck down two that were trying to get back on their feet. He also started hacking into the corpses, you could never tell if they were faking death. Goblins were sneaky.
With the short battle concluded Serion felt a lifting sensation. He felt like he weighed less then air. The feeling left him a second later and he realized what it could be. Opening his handbook he flipped to the most recent page.
9 Goblin scouts killed.
90 Experience Gained.
Congratulations you are now Level 2!
10 stat points awarded.
Your Arcane affinity has grown by 1!
He quickly dumped all 10 into Willpower for extra mana.
¡°Anyone else level up?¡± asked Serion.
¡°Ya, Yep, and Hell ya came back.
¡°So we got Goblin scouts which means there¡¯s a tribe around here somewhere.¡±
The next door revealed a gigantic tunnel, both directions they looked down were covered in darkness. It seemed to be some kind of ancient sewer system.
Serion cast a few lights as far as he could. They shone like beacons in the darkness.
¡°Well shit,¡± spoke Revenance. ¡°Might as well ring a dinner bell.¡±
¡°We could go back to the surface,¡± stated Serion.
¡°Nope fuck that. Here¡¯s where the exp is. If we get the others to join us we¡¯ll start getting reduced gains too. They are just low level smucks anyway,¡± Drecksis calmly said.
He looked both ways and seemed to make up his mind as he started walking down the right path.
When they were almost under the first light orb Serion cast another one in the distance. Something briefly ran through the light heading away from them.
¡°How nice, they¡¯re gonna set out the nice china for us,¡± whispered Tombe.
¡°Let¡¯s pick up our pace before they set too much out then,¡± as Drecksis started jogging.
The group kept up a steady pace. Serion kept casting arcane light every time they got near another one. After a handful of lights one of them stopped a shorter distance then the rest.
It had hit a wall. Two more paths to choose from, right or left. Drecksis didn¡¯t stop and started going down the right path again. Serion cast another light in the distance and another towards the other way.
After two more lights they came to a makeshift barrier shoulder high. Slowing down they cautiously neared it. Illuminating it a handful of goblins jumped out from hiding, shrill warcrys echoing off the walls. They threw some small spears at the group. A few hit Drecksis¡¯ shield and armor but he laughed as he charged the barrier. One glanced Serion¡¯s arm, it stung like a motherfucker and he really hoped it wasn¡¯t poisoned.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Tombe was casting a spell holding both hands towards their foes and Revenance shot arrow after arrow against any goblin foolish enough to stand out in the open.
A larger than average goblin jumped down and started fighting Drecksis in mortal combat. Serion decided to make the odds a little more in their favor by casting Veil of Shadows. Taking advantage Drecksis quickly hacked down the monster and screamed his triumph. The other goblins looked panicked and started routing.
¡°No you don¡¯t,¡± Tombe chuckled.
A brick dropped from the ceiling smashing the barricade apart, another flattening the lead goblin. The second and third being close together suffered a similar fate. Serion decided on a few more veils to stop the rest from getting away. Confused by the sudden darkness the last two goblins slowed down trying to see clearly. One went down with three arrows sticking out of its back. The other was cut multiple times and fell by Drecksis hands.
¡°I wonder if the others are having this much luck,¡± mused Serion aloud.
¡°Ya, about that,¡± said Revenance pointing behind them.
Looking back the group could make out a massive rat. The thing was huge taking up most of the tunnel. At its paws scurried dozens of other rats. The small ones only made the other look bigger.
¡°So that¡¯s why they built a barricade. Who knew? Let¡¯s run,¡± Serion quickly spoke. Drecksis seemed like he wanted to argue but quickly joined in. The man could be lootcentric sometimes.
Now the group was in a full run down the tunnels. Serion made sure to keep the way ahead lit.
¡°Tombe, can you drop the ceiling behind us?¡± panted Serion.
¡°No, that terra manipulation almost took all my mana,¡± Tombe answered sadly.
¡°Sadness.¡±
They came up to another branching tunnel in their way. This time Drecksis took off down the left side. Serion shot another light ahead of his group revealing a few goblins with picks hacking at the brick walls.
¡°Run and gun!¡± commanded Serion.
Drecksis plowed in the nearest goblins hurling them to the ground. Not stopping for a moment he kept the rush going. Revenance followed close behind stabbing the downed creatures. Tombe shot off a few rocks tripping some runners. Serion didn¡¯t stop running. With low wisdom the only spell he could get off instantly was his little magic light.
The little goblin mining operation kept going on. He could make out holes in the walls now. They were building a network of new tunnels. Industrious little fuckers weren¡¯t they? The sewer opened into a large cavern covered in scaffolding and miners were hard at work.
From the commotion their victims had made they were now the center of attention. Maybe a hundred diggers had stopped to watch them. Except the ones close to Drecksis, they simply dropped their tools and ran for their lives. After a few more attacks he also seemed to understand where they were and what they were doing. Goblins were very much cowards unless they had numbers on their side. Like right now.
Serion spied a handful of goblins with buckets full of rocks. They seemed to be headed somewhere.
¡°That tunnel! Go go go.¡±
They hurried to the tunnel bashing and slashing anything that was close enough. The goblins seemed to be rallying to the center of the cave. A tall goblin was shouting while holding up two swords. They were getting pumped up for a charge.
Passing into the just barely tall enough shaft he motioned back to the entrance.
¡°Tombe can you plug the hole? Otherwise we¡¯re going to be cramped in a minute.¡±
¡°Give me a sec,¡± said Tombe as he started casting.
Revenance and Serion started shooting the closest goblins. They looked really pissed now. Few had weapons but most had at least a rock in their hands.
The boss gave a shout and pointed a sword in their direction. Like they really needed to know where they should go, perhaps they did.
¡°Hurry up Tombe¡± Serion cried.
¡°Patience is a virtue.¡± Tombe quietly spoke.
¡°Really of all times you start doing movie quotes?!¡± snarled Revenance.
The ground shook and a barrier sprang up into the entrance.
¡°It¡¯s only chest high Tombe, we need it blocked!¡± yelled Serion.
¡°Sorry, that¡¯s the best I can do. It¡¯s much easier moving stone already formed. This rocky stuff is tough.¡±
¡°Ahhh dammit. Let¡¯s do this!¡±
Summoning several Arcane Bombs he chugged a mana potion and cast some more. It didn¡¯t matter where he put them, a horde of struggling bodies were outside.
The goblins had reached the barrier and were hurling rocks at them. Luckily Tombe could actually do something with those. Some went to the sides or shot back at their throwers. Serion kept drinking mana potions down and casting more bombs. The first few were detonating and some goblins were going down but not enough.
Revenance was goring any of them that tried climbing over but he knew it was only a matter of time before too many got past his guard and overwhelmed them.
Tombe cast several stone spikes on the outside spearing several goblins. The ones in the back couldn¡¯t see the danger and pushed their fellows into them creating monster shish kabobs. He had also started on his potions.
¡°It¡¯s been nice knowing you guys. Wish there were more booze and girls involved though.¡± Said Revenance.
¡°Ha don¡¯t we all?¡± Tombe laughed.
¡°We just got to hold out till momma gets here.¡±
With good timing the giant rat that had been following them let out a titanic roar. The goblins stopped their push forward and turned collectively towards the sewer tunnel. Revenance got in a undefended blows.
Hundreds of giant rats came in before big momma made her entrance. Upon seeing the goblins she let out another cry.
Ah goblins, you got to love their little black hearts. Apparently giant rats are where they drew the line. They were done with any fighting and fled in all directions.
¡°Let¡¯s go before we get any more unwanted attention,¡± Serion said moving back from the view.
The three set out. There was only one to go now unless they felt like being chew toys. They didn¡¯t.
The goblins had hacked rough steps into the stone. Carefully navigating their way up they came upon a hulking figure moving down to meet them. Taking up arms they were glad it turned out to only be Drecksis.
¡°I found the goblin camp. Place is huge,¡± he told them.
Behind them a roar echoed.
¡°Thanks for the help asshole,¡± Tombe sarcastically thanked.
¡°No problem. Anytime,¡± Drecksis replied.
Chapter 9: Fire Town
There it was again, that feathery light sensation. They had leveled up again.
7 Goblin Scouts killed. 1 Goblin Warrior killed.
85 Experience Gained.
Your Shadow affinity has grown by 2!
4 Goblin scouts killed. 46 Goblin Miners killed. 6 Goblin Warriors killed. 2 Goblin Sneaks killed.
Tactics! Fought and survived against overwhelming odds! 1 Experience point for each enemy.
Tricked your enemies to fight for you! 100 bonus Experience Gained.
639 Experience Gained.
Congratulations you are now Level 4!
20 stat points awarded.
Your Arcane affinity has grown by 2!
Sweet! Serion put 10 towards both Wisdom and Willpower. He put his affinity points towards Arcane Bomb because that spell had done better then he thought looking over all the kills they had gotten.
¡°Alright Drecksis, show us what you found.¡±
The tunnel came out in part of the town. Massive piles of broken rock lay around them along with goblin bodies. The moon was just overhead and it was huge. The game always had large celestial bodies in the night sky but tonight was special. A sick blood red covered the moon like a portent of doom. It was a Hunter¡¯s moon, by legend a night of blood sacrifice and legendary monsters roaming the lands hunting mortals. All things considered it was par for the course after everything that had been going on.
Drecksis waved them on slightly crouching. It only brought his 7 foot form down to the height of a normal human. They made their way up some stairs and stood atop the outer walls of the towns keep. With an exaggerated wave he showed them what he had discovered.
The largest building of the town had been the lord¡¯s keep. From atop the sole tower one could see the whole town below them. Serion still remembered a certain night from long ago. His guild had been hunting low level players in the woods around a city not too distant.
It was one of the starting areas in the kingdom and there were always people in the forest doing hunting or gathering quests. The place also had a giant spider infestation that taught early adventurers how to combat monsters. Serion¡¯s group in turn hunted players and stole what they could off their corpses, more to piss them off than needing anything.
They had been doing their rounds when one of them had disappeared from group chat. It was obvious they had been slain but it was a surprise none the less. Gathering together they had made their way to the last location Tombe had spoken from last. Over his mangled corpse stood a ferocious warrior covered in dark plate armor eyes glowing red wielding a sword that seemed to suck in the light around it.
Keeping his group stealthed Serion had Revenance attack him from range drawing his attention. The mass of darkness had closed quickly and nearly reached the ranger when Legion¡¯s skeletons appeared around him. Serion had cast Arcane Blast fully expecting the warrior to be hurt if not going down outright. Instead the spell seemed sucked into the warrior¡¯s blade and there was little effect on him.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Ignoring the minions surrounding him he made several leaps before hacking Revenance down in a single blow. Even trying to block the attack had no effect from saving the player. Serion had realized they were not fighting any lowbie but someone that must have been at least equal level if not greater with much better gear. That spell eating sword alone told him that.
With two members down he knew retreat was the only option until they could respawn and regroup. Leaving the skeletons to be a distraction Serion ordered Legion to retreat. He ran into the woods disappearing quickly. Serion had stopped to stare at the devastating player etching his figure into his memory so he could enact revenge later. Casting Arcane Rift he planned his getaway.
A soft sound came from behind him. ¡°Ahem.¡± Turning around Serion came face to face with two other players. Mages of some kind, a man and a woman.
Trying to step into his rift before it was too late he found he couldn¡¯t move. Looking down he found ice had formed around his boots rooting him firmly in place. The man pointed his hand at Serion who cast Arcane Barrier just as a billowing inferno enveloped him. The shield held and much of the ice melted so he could break free. But before he made a single step the dark plated warrior from earlier stood before him sword held high. It took two blows before he died.
That was the start to a weeklong feud between their guilds. Starting around the city it eventually made its way to a nearby town. While not hunting each other or while some of them were dead they hunted other lower level players. Serion using his stealth skills found the warrior always accompanying an ice mage, the woman from before. She seemed low level and he only helped her out if she was in trouble.
Staying hidden with Shadow Form Serion used the skill Observe and Detect finding out more about the two. The woman was Ekra, level 32 pure affinity Aquamancer while the other was Drecksis, level 86 Knight and Fallen Paladin. Serion suspected they weren¡¯t in a group otherwise the level difference would interfere with her getting much experience.
Changing tactics they would draw the Knights attention using Legion¡¯s skeletons. When he was fighting them they would launch every ranged attack they had against the mage. They kept this up while their guilds fought. Soon their entire guild would be with her while she fought monsters or gathered items. Daring forays would be launched to take her down even amidst her companions.
Serion had eventually gotten some mail from Pyron the other guilds leader. They agreed to meet at the local inn of the nearby town. His guild held no ill will towards his own and instead the two found much in common like military service and held similar views of the game and the world beyond it. They were both big time PvPers who enjoyed ganking and other such hobbies when they had spare time. Instead of fighting they proposed an alliance that all members agreed to. They became The Dread Lords. It turned out Serion¡¯s guild had killed Ekra a few times after her husband Pyron had introduced her to the game. Drecksis had offered to help her so she could level up and quickly join her husband on quests before a few players had decided on ganking her.
After joining guilds they decided to stay and celebrate at the inn. The night turned into one big party and everyone got quite drunk. The game recreated the taste and effects of alcohol but player¡¯s wouldn¡¯t be inebriated when leaving the game or have a hangover the next morning. They were eventually thrown out for a small bar fight when Drecksis bet he could throw a farmer to the other side of the room. The locals had bet he couldn¡¯t and when they won they not only refused to pay their bets but called the guards to make them leave.
Things quickly escalated leaving much of the bar and its patrons torn apart. More guards were called and they were also torn apart. Serion still wasn¡¯t sure whose idea it was but after three groups of guards were killed the idea that they should rule the city had come up. From there they had merrily made their way to the town¡¯s keep slaughtering anyone that got in the way hauling a wagon carrying a keg or three. Pyron kept shooting off fireballs as they went. It still surprised him but they had taken the keep with relatively little damage. One or two people were killed but Natas the priest of pain and violence brought them back.
Leading the party Serion received a prompt when they had taken the keep.
46 Town Guards killed. 3 Town Magistrates killed. Brickfellow Town Lord killed.
Invasion! Your guild has taken over a town. +1000 bonus Experience Gained.
2290 Experience Gained.
Would you like to make this town your guild¡¯s territory?
You have given the answer: No.
Quest Alert!
Fires are currently raging out of control. With no help they will destroy the town of Brickfellow turning it into a ruin.
Would you like to take this quest?
You have given the answer: Hell No.
Getting the guilds attention Serion waved at the burning town before them.
¡°Dread Lords, welcome to Fire Town.¡±
Chapter 10: Reinvasion
The fond memories of the beginning of their guild and Fire Town were always pleasant for Serion. By their act however they had left an area undefended. Looking below it was obvious goblins had moved in and taken a turn at building a town. Hundreds of tents filled the interior grounds of the town¡¯s keep. Odd slanted buildings made of burnt debris from the rest of the town formed the better part of the little settlement.
Looking back at the rubble behind them Serion noticed they had been rebuilding the damaged keep, or they had tried to. Goblins weren¡¯t known for their architecture skills and in his mind the only word he could think to describe this whole place would be shithole. Goblins of all shapes and sizes walked around or worked on some project.
Some guards were up on the walls opposite of them but they didn¡¯t need to be stealthy. The creatures were playing some kind of game or sitting around. Their laziness disappeared and they scrambled about gathering their weapons puffing out their chests when a bigger goblin came around. He was bright green, almost yellow with a red mohawk and engineer goggles.
¡°Plains goblin, many of those in the untamed lands out West,¡± informed Tombe.
Sneaky! You have snuck into an enemy encampment and spied the boss monster in charge.
100 Experience Gained.
¡°Fire Town became Goblin Town. I prefer our name.¡± Serion spoke darkly.
The others gave him a grin and they decided to leave for now. It was time to even up the numbers.
The fiery hog lay how they left it, forlorn and burnt. They had been careful making their way back. It wouldn¡¯t do to alert the enemy too soon. Revenance shot a burning arrow into the sky. It rose high and fell slow. Then they waited. Minutes later Harkin¡¯s group came running, weapons drawn and ready for a fight. They waved them down.
¡°Good hunting?¡± Serion asked.
¡°Not so much. A few giant rats and zombies, picked off 2 patrols of goblins,¡± Pyron replied.
Telling them of the adventure they had the group agreed on the plan and spoke about how they would go about it. Still waiting on the last group they heard a faint racket from down the street.
¡°We got incoming, possible patrol. Pyron take your people across the street, that alleyway there. Wait until we attack,¡± planned Serion. With a nod he set off. He had them set up in sight of the inn.
A band of goblins marched down the street out of sync. Rusted armor rattled with every step. A good sized group roughly four dozen strong Serion estimated. Half carried short spears, and the others swords with shields. They were clearly searching for the cause of the signal arrow from earlier. Some looked into the sky searching for another one, most just gawked at the blood one.
One of the lead goblins spotted his group, it gave a cry and pointed at them. It wasn¡¯t like they were trying to hide. Three of them stood in the doorway waiting, Drecksis sat on a window sill kicking the air. He was a grown up kid at heart, one who was happiest in the thick of battle.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
As one the goblins started a mass charge swords and spears leading. Serion cast a few Arcane Bombs in the thickest areas and went inside. Revenance shot off a few arrows and did the same. Tombe launched off a volley of rocks. Drecksis fell backwards and did a somersault landing just inside. Nonchalant he took his position at the door.
The leading goblins bunched up in the doorway struggling to be the first inside. Just to add to the confusion Serion cast off a couple veil of shadows and one last bomb before downing a potion. It took a few attacks before the goblins started to get inside.
Drecksis cleaved the first goblin and then the second. He was in luck as nothing with a spear was there to take advantage of his short range. A handful of goblins were too little for him. Slashing one he took the next with a downward stroke smashing through its weak armor. He took a cut to his thigh and smashed his shield against the offender.
Tombe covered a window shooting rocks at anything climbing inside. Most pushed the little creatures back outside but some managed to fall in. Shaking off the attack they got to their feet and charged the Terramancer. Those without shields quickly fell to his lethal stones but as more and more got inside they would hide behind others with shields and started closing the distance. Eventually he abandoned his ranged attacks and cast Stone Fists on himself. Surprising the first few he smashed bodies back protection or not.
Revenance stood atop the only large piece of the bar left and shot arrow after arrow. Anything that was unarmored and didn¡¯t carry a shield fell were prime targets. The force of his attacks threw the creatures back sometimes with gaping wounds. He even managed to get multiple targets at the window and doorway as arrows would rip threw a foe into another standing too close.
Serion stood back observing where he was needed. If too many were attacking from a certain point he would cast Arcane Bomb just outside. The resulting explosion would create a short time of respite. His Shadow Bolts would sometimes slow down a goblin getting inside. Unable to see where it was going its fellows would push it back and forth or throw them out of the way.
The enemy was truly committed. If this continued for too much longer they would be overwhelmed. For every one they struck down, two more were ready to take their place. Good as any he thought.
¡°Now!¡±
At first there were no signs of their allies outside. After a few seconds a colossal wave of heat assailed them. Right outside the doorway burnt bodies gave off steam. There were some screams from the survivors and a few that were on fire. The unguarded window had a block of in front of it, goblins trapped inside. One unlucky goblin was hurled inside with an arrow lodged in its skull. Weapons clashing Reg had charged the enemies rear cutting down confused and frightened foes.
Those goblins inside were now panicking. The reinforcements they were expecting were not coming to aid them and as each one fell the inn became a little less crowded.
Serion suddenly felt¡healthier. It could only mean the third group had joined the attack. Drecksis let out a dark sigh and swung faster. The goblins couldn¡¯t keep up and were soon dead. As each of them finished off their assailants they turned to give each other a helping hand. And suddenly there were no more targets to fight.
The front of the inn was covered in black blood and broken bodies. Not hesitating for a moment they rushed outside to finish the fight. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on who was fighting a handful of goblins were left. Beset from all sides they were quickly slaughtered.
9 Goblin scouts killed. 23 Goblin Warriors killed. 3 Goblin Sneaks killed. 12 Goblin Sentries killed.
654 Experience Gained.
Congratulations you are now Level 5!
10 stat points awarded.
Your Arcane affinity has grown by 1!
Your Shadow affinity has grown by 1!
Serion - Lv 5 Mage
Guild Leader of The Dreaded Thirteen
Arcane 14/Shadow 13
Vitality - 45. 10 more Vitality. Stay alive forever!
Might - 10
Dexterity ¨C 10
Resilience - 10
Intelligence - 40
Wisdom - 50
Willpower - 50
Perception - 10
Charisma - 10
Luck - 20
¡°Ding baby! Level 5!¡± Serion¡¯s group cheered. The others stared at them in amazement.
¡°Level 5? We are all level 3. Alright what have you guys been up to?¡± demanded Harkin.
Chapter 11: On the Path to Adventure
Roc hated his job. Cleaning the pots in the kitchen, cleaning pots that stored food, and really hated cleaning his tribe¡¯s chamber pots. They all lived in tents so what were chambers anyway? He hated cleaning pots period. He would drag the all the pots to the river, dump them out and clean them. Fill them with water and one by one bring them back to the tribe.
Roc was a goblin, the runt of his litter. Smaller and scrawnier then the rest he always had the bad duties no one else wanted. Roc do this, Roc do that, Roc clean this, Roc clean that. Orders, orders, orders all day every day since he was born two years earlier.
While the rest would go hunting he was left in the cooking tent cleaning the pots and other tools. When the hunters came back they would drop any kills in front of the food tent and he would clean and help cut the bodies for cook, thinking of her made him shudder. Some said she was Grizt the tribe leader¡¯s favorite at one time and she had been his sole mate while all others were shared by the biggest and best goblins. Her mating days now long past she instead ran the cooking tent like she owned everything. In a way she did but she was just so¡mean. He couldn¡¯t even sneak some food without being threatened to have the food replaced with his own parts. It wasn¡¯t an idle threat either, many other goblins found out.
Life was like that for Roc until one fortuitous day one of the lead hunters invited Roc on a hunt. At first he thought someone else was being asked until he got smacked upside the head. When asked again he jumped with joy. His dreams were finally happening.
He would go hunt and maybe even help bring down a dino. He would get metal bits and make armor with them, possibly even get a sword. Metal in the tribe was currency. Working in the cook tent he had never had metal before and hunters would get a bit for each kill. Everyone wore their wealth around. The wealthiest had armor that covered their whole bodies and a big weapon to show how rich and strong they were.
Cook was angry and shouted at the hunter. She claimed Roc was only good for cleaning and making food. He had shouted that he wanted to go. Cook had given him a look he¡¯d never seen her use before but she finally backed down and told the hunter if he wanted to go she wouldn¡¯t stop him.
Leaving the tribe with his hunting party there was only one other goblin he knew. Roc was a good name he thought, a name much better then Fathead though his friend did have a rather fat head. Roc had gotten his name shortly after being born. Bigger goblins liked the game goblin toss and threw the new goblins at a large rock that sat at the center of the tribe. They would bet on who would last the longest. Roc had won to the amazement of the tribe. From then on he was known as Roc because he must have rocks in his head.
He couldn¡¯t believe he was really hunting, he even got to hold a pointy stick. When asked what to do with it he was told to poke things that weren¡¯t goblins. It was a good idea in his opinion. He could also throw it but then wouldn¡¯t be able to poke things. The hunters explained they would find something and all of them would poke it until it stopped moving. Then drag it back to camp and drop it at the cook tent. Then get a metal bit and eat later.
When he asked what there was to poke they told him of all the dinos they could find, sharp claw dinos, bonehead dinos, water dinos, tall dinos, and flying dinos mostly. He had cleaned some of those but by the time they got back to camp they were mostly already cut up. After a little cleaning and into the pots they went.
After a long time of walking they stopped at an area covered in rocks and trees. It was hard to see anything now but the hunters said this was a good hunting spot. They told Roc and Fathead to start digging at a mud hole next to a stream. They were going to build something called a trap. Food would come and fall into the hole, then they would poke it and they would be done. It was so exciting.
The rest of the hunters said they would patrol the area for anything while they dug. Fathead used the end of his stick to push the mud around. It was too hard for Roc so he just used his hands. They had made a good size hole when Fathead made a sound. Roc looked up and saw a sharp claw dino. Three times the height of a goblin with a long tail it stood on two feet ending in claws that were razor sharp. Roc knew that because it was what they used to cut all the food meats. Its long skinny head screeched at them and charged.
Roc did what he thought any sensible goblin would do if a titanic monster charged them. He curled up into a tight ball and closed his eyes so he wouldn¡¯t be seen. Fathead was apparently crazy though, Roc heard him scream and run away yelling at the top of his lungs. The ground trembled with each step the sharp claw took. He felt it rush right past him, ha his brilliance worked to perfection and he was invisible. He looked back between his fingers to watch what happened. A moment later the sharp claw had caught up to Fathead. It lifted his whole body off the ground with its smaller arms and bringing him to its jaws it ripped his head right off. Guess it wasn¡¯t so fat after all he thought. In two gigantic bites it was done with him and Fathead was no more. Licking its lips it seemed to look back at him. He closed his one open eye and hoped he was still invisible.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Suddenly loud screams were all around him. The hunting party had shown up to save him. They surrounded the sharp claw and started poking it. It whipped around slashing with its arm claws but they were short to hit anything but stick points. Roc heard stories of the sharp claws, the legs were the deadliest part of them but they had to run and jump on their foes.
The hunting party didn¡¯t let it run or jump. They just kept poking it. Roc had joined in after a few moments. He wanted to show the sharp claw he had never really been afraid of it. After many pokes it finally dropped to the ground though they kept poking it until they were all sure it couldn¡¯t move anymore. They all started cheering at such a successful hunt.
Dragging the dino back to the tribe they had started telling stories of other good hunts. Roc listened attentively as he had never heard many of them. After quite a few he realized most of them involved bait and then waiting around for something to show up. He heard other names he recognized as goblins that went out to hunt but never came back. Piecing it together over story after story he came to understand certain goblins were brought out to the hunts and picked to do a job like a trap or make calling noises, sometimes a small wood tower to better see around them.
They were the bait for the hunting team, they were the bait for the dinos to come. He suddenly felt sick. They had used him. They never wanted to have Roc along for the hunt, well they did but not in a good way he thought.
Roc managed not to let his fear show, working for cook had done wonders in that regard. He just kept asking questions about the hunts, what they had seen and the best ones they had been on.
Eventually they reached camp and dropped the dino at cook¡¯s tent. She came out and spotted Roc. He waited for the rest of the hunters to leave before he approached her and asked if he could come back and help her. She had told him he was a hunter now and would keep going on future hunts. Some of the fear he was feeling must have shown. Doing something he had never thought possible she hugged him.
Cook told him he could help her one last time. First he needed to go get Grizt¡¯s food pot at his tent. He was the tribe chieftain so he got a whole food pot just to himself. He left to do as he was told. Getting to Grizt¡¯s tent the guard pushed him inside. He¡¯d done this many times in the past so no one questioned his presence. Grizt sat on top of his metal throne. Roc had never seen a fatter goblin before but knew his fat layers were just for show.
At two different times other goblins had challenged Grizt for chieftain. He made a spectacle of them. The first he had disarmed literally and then ripped his throat out with his teeth. The second wasn¡¯t too long ago. After Grizt had slapped him enough for all his teeth to come out he had shoved the challenger onto his own spear. The body and weapon still hung outside as a warning to the next goblin who tried to usurp him. Grizt hadn¡¯t even worn his armor to protect himself.
Roc quickly found the food pot and was just heading out when Grizt told him to stop. Cowering before the leader he tried to think of what he¡¯d done to become the center of attention.
His tribe leader had never spoken a word to him before. He beckoned Roc closer. Dropping the pot he made his way before the scary goblin. When he was before him and after standing for many silent moments Grizt held out a metal bit. Roc had forgotten, the reward for a successful hunt.
He took it and bowed before the mighty chieftain. Backing up he picked up the food pot once more. It was heavier then he remembered it. Looking inside he found a horn made of what looked to be dino bone.
Looking back Grizt gave him a smile and made a shooing motion with his hand. Bowing once more Roc left and hastily made his way back to cook. He told her of everything that had happened and showed her the metal bit and horn. She took the metal bit and started scrapping it across one of the food blades. Part of it was now very sharp.
She told him that she had once been Grizt¡¯s favorite mate but her last litter had been small goblins and one runt. After that her mating days were done and she had become the cook for the tribe. An esteemed position but dangerous too. If the food wasn¡¯t good the chief usually became the next meal.
Roc was amazed by everything she told him. Goblins never cared about their fellow kin, brothers and sisters or parents. Most goblins were just other goblins to each other.
Cook, no his mother told him to take everything he had and go to the river with some pots. Use the sharp metal bit and leave blood near the river. It would look like a water dino had gotten him and then make his way East. He had no idea where that was. Go towards the sun when it disappears she had told him. Leave and never come back.
Roc never knew there was more beyond the tribe and dino lands. It would be interesting to see he decided. Besides he didn¡¯t want to stay and become hunter bait again.
One hunt had been more than enough for him. Following her orders he gathered up everything, it took only a moment. Before going outside she had given him a wave.
His mind swam over all that he had learned. Roc was chieftain Grizt¡¯s son, and his mother was cook. He now owned a metal bit and a horn thing. So much had happened in a single day it was no time at all when he found himself next to the river¡¯s edge.
Roc looked around. He couldn¡¯t see any other goblins out. The metal bit easily sliced through a part of his arm just like when he was using a sharp claw in the food tent when he wasn¡¯t paying attention. Lots of blood covered the ground now. That should be enough he thought. Checking that the coast was clear still he swam across the river and went into some trees. Looking back at the tribe he realized for the first time in his life he was free.
Chapter 12: Big Battle in Goblin Town
Once again Serion¡¯s group looked down at the goblin village. Night had almost passed, the blood moon getting closer to the top of some mountains in the distance. The sky had just a hint of purple to it. Everyone felt a bit of weariness but stamina potions had the added benefit of acting like caffeine.
After discussing skills and affinities they decided on a plan of attack. Each of the three guild groups took their position. Most of them sat in the gatehouse overlooking the keep¡¯s grounds. The others were tucked away waiting for events to unfold. The main keep sat across from them and Serion assumed most of the tribe¡¯s higher levels would be in there. They would just have to lure them out.
Looking at his fellows he gave them a nod. Most of them started casting various spells. Pyron chanted next to Serion. His Fire Blast spell had a long casting time of five seconds, even then it would mark the ground and after another few seconds it would go off. The first created an inferno where some tents stood at the base of the keep. It should keep any tough opponents inside for a little while he hoped.
A rock hurtled through multiple tents dropping a handful to the ground and sending debris flying. Arcane Bombs appeared in main thoroughfares. Arrows flew down piercing any goblin exposed by the bedlam. A few enemies fell screaming as demonic energy wrapped around their bodies leaving grisly remains.
As the chaos ensued it took the survivors a short time to determine where the attack was coming from. Goblin sentries at the keep and around the camp were screaming and pointing at the gatehouse. Those in the midst of the attacks soon started gathering together and heading towards the wall that would give them access to retribution. Behind them their former home burned. Most of the tents were now on fire forcing the goblins to move or die.
The horde started climbing the rubble where Serion¡¯s group had stood observing the goblin camp for the first time. So intent on reaching their enemy none of the creatures noticed as the air suddenly grew a small bit darker. Several goblins suddenly went insane and turned on their fellows. Glowing red eyes they launched at their kin ripping each other apart. The sudden savagery of it all made many of them kill one another, even those that hadn¡¯t been consumed by bloodlust. Natas certainly had more skills then just healing.
The camps main road was a hole in the wall halfway between their position and the keep. Once the gatehouse was the main route inside but rubble and the large broken doors blocked the route. Now the entrance largely unguarded, six skeletons ran in cutting down the few stubborn guards that had remained attentive to their duty but were paying far too much attention away from where it should be. Some of the goblins noticed this new threat and broke off from the main horde happy to be able to fight something they could actually see.
The skeletons stayed near burning tents leading their pursuers on a merry hunt. Eventually they disappeared into a large tent still standing. The goblins giving chase went right in after them, several seconds went by and the whole thing collapsed few getting out.
As that was going on the vanguard of the horde had made it atop the wall. The gatehouse stood a rocks throw away. Pushing and shoving each other goblins were impaled on spikes of rock gutting out from the ground and walls. Razor shards opened wounds and caused not a few to lose their footing, falling only to be trampled or dropping off the back side. Pyron finishing a mana potion calmly walked to the door facing the horde. Holding both hands a massive fireball shot out going down the center of the enemy formation. Dozens burned and more jumped from the walls lit on fire.
Serion kept watch on the keep. The higher level goblins had been coming out steadily now. They wore full body armor and weapons blemished by little rust. Finally the yellow goblin appeared. He stood a head taller than his fellows but wore little besides leather. He took but a moment to observe the battle and started yelling at his subordinates waiting near him. Gesturing to the area where the rubble mounds lay he made a sweeping motion. Rather smart tactics for a goblin Serion thought.
¡°Thirteen, we are leaving!¡± he shouted.
His fellow mages ran to a hole in the gatehouse wall facing the town. There they started carefully making their way down stone steps Tombe had made earlier.
¡°Drecksis, Reg, make sure to fall back only when they¡¯ve reached you,¡± Serion reminded.
Drecksis made a motion of tipping a nonexistent hat and Reg clanged his axe and sword together.
Serion made his way down taking his time. The steps were pieces of rubble cobbled together with wall stones and were very hazardous. He didn¡¯t have a good angle to see the goblin debris pile but knew the leader when be redirecting the horde and outwards. If they took too long they could be flanked, Serion¡¯s main worry. Goblins were individually quite weak but if the several hundred that made up the encampment waylaid them long enough to get their numbers in play his guild would be crushed. Like an ant under a water balloon. Just got to keep moving.
Reaching the bottom he looked behind him seeing his friends coming down. Drecksis stabbed one last green body and jumped down the 15 foot drop. Rolling as he hit Serion couldn¡¯t help but shake his head at the man¡¯s insanity.
Even trapped in a game that had become way too lifelike, where he could be killed at any time he still played like it was¡well a videogame. Perhaps we¡¯re all just mad he thought, some more than others. They could have just found a safe town or village and tried to live life next to the NPCs hiding or moving as needed after all. But that would be Boring! Give me magic powers any day he thought.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!
Strangely a single goblin had made its way around the walls and crouched near the burnt remains of a townhouse. Seeing that Serion had noticed him it abandoned its attempts at stealth and charged him. Serion blew its head off with an Arcane Bolt. Ah one less goblin sneak.
The goblin horde had started streaming out the gatehouse many of them falling off the sides. Drecksis and Reg were on both sides hacking down the wounded before they could get up. Some of the goblins were smart enough to realize the danger and tried walking down but it was difficult under the random arrows that shot towards them. Not to mention a little Shadow Cloud obscuring the random steps.
He spotted movement off to his right, the higher levels goblins had made it. Whistling the others started another retreat. Pyron took a lingering moment casting one last party favor before joining them.
Running down the main street the gatehouse detonated with a roar sending green bodies flying. Fire engulfed the already broken down structure and it collapsed. Now the real fight would begin.
Though higher level than their fellow goblins the armored forms still chasing them bore little intelligence. If anything all the metal made them less cautious and slower becoming more susceptible to the guilds ranged attacks. From street to street they would turn around and fire off a barrage of attacks. When the horde got closer they would take off staying just out of range of a possible charge. The many lower level goblins had by now caught up with their high level kin and made up the majority. Serion could even make out one or two drummers pounding away.
Once more they stopped at an intersection and cast spells. The front ranks were blown apart but there were many more reinforcements just behind. Some of the lead goblins tired of the chase screamed and sprinted forward trying to catch them. Mages ran leaving behind a few spells while the archers took down any mad rushers. Reg and Griggs stood sentry down the street watching their flanks. If anything was spotted on their flanks they would keep going waiting to launch another attack.
They were able to do one more volley before arriving at the town¡¯s main entrance. Here they had walls on both sides though there were holes and parts broken down it would take some time before a sizeable force was able to get outside. Many of the flanking parties that had been dogging their sides came together with the main force.
Serion watched the horde coming together, there were still so many left. For the first time he wondered if they could actually kill them all or if they would be forced to flee. Hop in the carriage and make a fighting withdrawal. He wasn¡¯t too worried about pursuit, the enemy had no cavalry that they¡¯d seen. They hadn¡¯t heard any wolves howling or seen webs for spiders nor enough undead for carrion worms and they seemed to be fighting the giant rats below ground. In several months they may have become a formidable little army indeed, enough to even worry the starting city several miles away.
Arcane and fire magic blew holes in the ocean of enemies. Bows twanged imitating machine guns thanks to Harkin¡¯s speed buffs. Some were speared on rock spikes or slipped to the ground from ice patches. Corpses exploded, blood crazed goblins turned on each other, ice and rock shards pulverized small bodies and they just kept coming.
Walking backwards Griggs lit bombs then handed them to Drecksis who hurled them using his high might. Reg concentrated on any goblin that wouldn¡¯t go down, his demonic energy wrapping around them giving a debuff if not outright killing them. The whole time everyone slowly backed up getting farther from the entrance and the numberless foes.
Their enemy was now outside the fatal funnel. No longer trapped in the streets of the town they billowed out into the field surrounding before them. They were really pissed off now, each one screaming for blood.
¡°To the wagon!¡± Serion yelled.
The group abandoned their position and ran for their lives to the camp they had set up at the beginning of the night. Jerry and the skeleton guardians almost looked bored as they ran by being chased by the horde.
Looking at the carriage driver Morthius pointed to the goblins and said ¡°It¡¯s your turn buddy.¡±
Before Jerry the green skins were in a solid line. From the entrance of the town to their camp they were hemmed in by the crumbling wall to their right. To the left was nothing but open fields with no enemies that had killed hundreds of their fellows. They were all heading straight at them, heading straight at their camp and the carriage. If Serion didn¡¯t know any better he¡¯d say the revenant was smiling.
Jerry flicked the reins like a madman. The hell steeds at the fore took off with a vengeance. In seconds they were at the front of the goblin horde. In the creature¡¯s anger and hatred many of them kept the charge going, weapons raised and howling even as they went the horses and wheels.
The vehicle didn¡¯t slow down under its assault, instead the unnatural construct only went faster and faster. Hooves crashed down crushing armor let alone flesh, the wheels mangled everything they touched. The carriage was an unstoppable juggernaut bashing bodies, even a glancing blow collapsed skulls and severed limbs. As it went broken figures and dark blood spewed out from behind it. The whole way the lone figure at the front was snapping the reins urging the steeds only to go faster.
Serion¡¯s group watched the carnage and devastation. They were not however idle. After chugging potions and recovering from the night¡¯s ordeal they ordered the skeletal guardians to do their part as well. Stepping forward the dead creatures fired off arrows at the few standing forms. The guild would get an experience cut from such high level help but they needed to finish the fight. Backing up the attack they all swept forward aiding the guardians where they could and cast spells on any small groups left.
Serion could make out the yellow goblin in the town¡¯s entrance. He stood well back from the slaughter his tribesman had just taken. Watching the carriage speed on into the open grounds he blew a horn on his chest. Out in the open with a rip and pop a great yellow form appeared. As big as a bulldozer it stood on four legs and had a massive spiked head.
¡°Holy shit,¡± whispered Morthius. ¡°That¡¯s a Cragasaur.¡±
¡°So it likes crack?¡± joked Drecksis.
¡°No, it¡¯s a rare monster that eats rocks. They travel in herds through the untamed lands and are almost impossible to kill. I¡¯ve never seen one or met someone that¡¯s actually killed one,¡± Informed Morthius.
¡°Well it looks like it¡¯s going toe to toe with Jerry, bets on who will win?¡± observed Wills.
The guild stopped their attack to watch the showdown. What was left of the goblins were also staring at the spectacle. After Jerry¡¯s run and the player¡¯s push there were maybe two dozen left. They all looked to be high level draped with armor and weapons. All of them surrounded the yellow one and looked to be some kind of elite guard.
Gaze going back to the field the yellow Cragasaur was going full tilt at the carriage. Jerry had run it down the wall far past the goblins and was just finishing a wide turn heading straight for his new challenger. Both headed full speed at the other. Yellow rare monster from the high level lands to the West. Undead engineering construct from the guild at the height of its power.
Chapter 13: Why so glum chum?
Creating a mobile guild hall had been Griggs¡¯ idea. What had first started out as a drunken conversation became an obsession to the man. In the beginning The Dreaded Thirteen used the Adventurer¡¯s Guild located in most major cities like all other players did in the game.
For a fee any guild could create a hall for its members located in the special buildings. If members traveled to distant cities inside the same realm they could find the local Adventurer¡¯s Guild, pay the fee and one could travel instantly between the points skipping mage gates or horse and caravan trips. Another choice was paying for all points upfront though the ridiculous sum had few buyers.
The most powerful of guilds created their own guild halls separate from the cheaper city ones. Sometimes buying a chunk of real estate and building a castle or some kind of structure. The top guilds created wondrous things, such as The Gold Cloaks who roamed the world in a magnificent flying tower of gold, darkness that descended upon an area before the Sanguine Brotherhood appeared from the shadows, or Nemest who sailed on the back of a giant turtle dragon.
Griggs was determined to create his own wondrous creation for his guild. He couldn¡¯t do it alone and the whole guild in small ways contributed to the effort. Taking numerous small magical creations, hundreds of hours of research, and combining them using vast magic he created a prototype.
After several months they had a simple carriage with a single door leading to a small room they could call their guild hall. It wasn¡¯t enough. Attaching weapons and using the guild¡¯s only ancient boss core Griggs, Morthius, and Legion gave the cart sentience. Thus the revenant of the cart known as Jerry came to be.
They let it roam freely striking down anything getting in its way, racking up kills of both monsters and players. Being independent it leveled up bit by bit slowly growing stronger as a transport and larger as a guild hall. The guild received quests to make it even better. Hell steeds bought or stolen from the warlocks of the Hag Head Swamps, shadow paint harvested from shade spawn which surrounded the construct in an aura of terror and illusion, along with the hearts of great monsters to increase its total life force and damage output.
Overtime The Dread Thirteen became infamous for their actions and with them the Dread Carriage.
Who wins when two unstoppable forces collide?
The yellow Cragasaur hit the hell steed in the lead. The creature burst apart in a shower of blood and gore. Following the next horse in line shared must the same fate. Their armored bodies housing the demonic red eyed monsters did nothing to save them from a head on collision. It did have some effect however as golden blood fell from the primal creature¡¯s hindquarters.
Then the crash of beast and carriage body occurred. Debris from both parties flew into the air. Jerry gripped one side of the carriage while it suddenly lurched to the side pieces falling away.
Missing two steeds pulling with another barely able to stay upright and a wheel gone the whole thing lurched and swayed to the left. Using the momentum and pull the revenant turned the vehicle back on a course for another run.
It was hard to tell who had come out worse for wear. While the carriage was obviously missing chunks and some previous manpower the whole construct continued to move. The Cragasaur had fared little better. Golden blood now leaked from its body and great rents and tears covered it. Small pieces of what had previously made up the wagon stuck out of it marring the pure yellow and gold of the creature.
For all that the beast was still ready to fight. After its pass it slowed and circled, pawing the ground getting set to charge once more. Taking off and making a beeline for Jerry it slightly limped on dragging one of its back legs.
Only seconds before the two came to hitting each other again the Cragasaur started brightly glowing. Serion¡¯s guild made sounds of confusion and wonder. Could this be a special ability or attack? Had it held back and saved something? This time the results were quite different from everyone¡¯s predictions and thoughts.
The primal beast now consisting of bright white light blew apart when it touched the lead hell steed. The little motes blew past the carriage and one by one winked out of existence. The carriage thundered on for a few paces and the hell steeds on the last reserves of energy slowed down and collapsed.
The wagon gave a long creak and shudder. The very front now lay lopsided without a wheel the bottom rested inches above the ground. Even Jerry looked worn out by the whole ordeal slumping back and just sitting on top.
¡°Well that blows,¡± Drecksis muttered. ¡°There goes our pimp mobile.¡±
¡°Oh no Jerry, my carriage,¡± Morthius almost wept.
¡°My guild hall,¡± Griggs hissed.
¡°Everyone, we got a much bigger problem. That little yellow fuck is a beast master. He has a lot more than just that dinosaur. He also unsummoned it so now it¡¯s returned to his horn where it¡¯s regenerating right this second and who knows how long we have before its ready again,¡± Tombe warned.
Tombe looked directly at Serion, ¡°He¡¯s mine.¡± Striding off he walked directly at the yellow goblin. ¡°I challenge you to a duel.¡±
Serion doubted the goblin knew common speak but the intent behind the motions was unmistakable. One the elite guards tried to go forward instead but with a single word it stopped. The chieftain grabbed an offered sword and nonchalantly strode forward past its guards.
The two groups stood facing each other with their champions standing before them. The yellow goblin beast master decked out in leather armor holding a sword and horn against Tombe a Terramancer and duelist wearing a brown robe with little else.
¡°How are we on buffs?¡± Serion asked.
Natas spoke ¡°Bonus to damage is ongoing.¡±
Harkin came back with ¡°Attack speed is still up.¡±
¡°Good, I¡¯d hate to see a fair fight,¡± joked Drecksis.
¡°Rockin eat you, Rockin eat you all!¡±
After its little speech the yellow goblin was the first to move lifting his horn to his lips. Tombe rushed to his right placing his hand on the stone wall of the town. A wolf came into existence next to the beast master, two more blows and two more wolves. He pointed his finger at his opponent and they rushed off.
Tombe could see grey, he was grey, all that was is and will be nothing more than grey. He was of the Earth, the Earth was he. Everything moved in slow motion. The wolves racing towards him to rip his throat out went up and down in slow motion. Every moment he could feel the casting flowing through him infusing his core and spreading outwards.
When the first wolf that reached him jumped towards him Tombe finally moved. He drove a fist of pure rock forward slamming it into the creature¡¯s maw. Teeth shattered and blood sprayed as he started forward. Every step was an effort, every movement slow but with the weight of the earth behind it. The horn sounded once more, the true enemy that blasted horn.
His right hand connected with the second wolf¡¯s head his slap sending it in circles five feet away. The third was smart and it tried going around him where it could hit from the flank or rear. Casting another Earth Manipulation targeting himself he altered his left fist currently stuck down the first wolfs throat. The creature was now moving rather meekly very close to death. Spearing through the wolf his left hand now ended in a double edged blade. It rose and fell ending in the third wolf being split in half.
Suddenly there was a strange but recognizable scuttling noise. The goblin now stood twenty yards away covered in white. It was at that moment when his opponent thought him distracted the form left stealth and shot towards him. He held his blade at an angle to meet the creature, after all why should he do all the work?Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The monsters momentum carried it straight at him and onto his blade. Up close he could see its fat harry body and swollen abdomen hanging off his sword. Nine red eyes in three clusters watched him above snapping mandibles dripping bright green venom. It gave a dreadful screech full of pain and hate.
Reaching across him making sure not to get within range of the mandibles he closed his fist around its head, its pitiable cries fell silent. Scrapping the body off he started towards his real foe again.
It was only Tombe¡¯s connection with the earth below his feet that he had any indication of the creature¡¯s approach. He whirled around smashing downward catching part of it. It must have slowly circled around using the other as a distraction to get the best position.
No sound and little movement until the attack, he might have taken a moment in the past to admire it before the kill but currently he was in a life or death duel facing a possible high level dinosaur if he took too long. The bastard didn¡¯t die easily, with the last of its life its mandibles tore into his stone fist pumping venom.
The timer had just gotten shorter. This was a dam Shadow Stalker like its partner, creepy little things that only attacked in ambush and had cursed venom that took a full priest to get rid of. Until it was healed a creeping necrosis would spread throughout his whole body dealing damage and stacking debuffs until one of them killed him. These dangerous little critters could kill even the highest levels of adventurers if missing a priest or special magic scrolls.
Between the rocks making up his fist a black sludge was leaking out. He took his envenomed fist and smashed the things head as a thank you gift. Turning around he could see a smile plastered on the little goblin shit¡¯s face but his eyes were full of anger. It blew the horn once more.
The glow from the summon didn¡¯t dissipate, instead it changed and warped sparkling in many colors. Taller then he stood it was a mass of crystals, small pieces broke off littering the ground. Four limbs stretched from it, two above and two below.
Tombe recognized what is was immediately, a massive gem golem. When adventuring if a party came across one the loot from one was great. The pieces from the monsters remains were easy to sell on any auction house to almost all professions. The gemstones could be used for powerful spells or ingredients for enchantments or potions.
The gem golem gave a roar and charged. Its large fist smashed down and he narrowly avoided the attack. Reshaping his cursed and poisoned arm to another blade he slashed the appendage. Strangely the black corruption stuck to the golem. Rolling back from the creature¡¯s next attack he considered the darkness now dulling the crystals making up its fist. It gave him an idea that just might work.
After the next set of attacks he rolled under its legs and jumped onto its back. The crystals making up its body gave him plenty to grab onto but he made sure scrap his envenomed fist wherever he could. Instead of swinging around or turning as he¡¯d hoped the golem stood up straight and Tombe could make out a new head forming near the top.
The dammed thing was switching sides. Tombe realized climbing its back while avoiding its grasping hands was not an option any longer though he did see a new chance.
Climbing higher before it fully formed he shoved the oozing blade into the mound that would be its head. Pushing off the thing he dropped to the ground just in time. The golem¡¯s hands smashed the spot on its body he was just at. Tombe scrambled away from the golem before its legs could do him damage.
Black ichor now permeated through the thing. The head, chest, and one arm were now tainted by black. It opened its maw before to roar again but all that came out were streams of liquid pitch.
Tombe wondered at the thing. The cursed poison was doing far more then he thought possible. He didn¡¯t know whether it was the curse or the poison but the golem was clearly weak to the combination.
His observation was cut short when he felt sudden pain in his back. Tombe jumped forward narrowly avoiding another strike by the yellow goblin. It seemed the creatures bags of tricks were at an end and had joined the fight itself.
He realized his disadvantage and tried to keep both opponents in sight. The goblin kept circling him trying to stay out of view while the golem came on like a raging bull.
Tombe evaded several strikes and felt a slight cut each time. He found himself at the town wall once more. Grabbing the stone he used the last of his mana and used Earth Manipulation feeling the rock of his body strengthen. Cracks sealed and missing chunks replaced. The end of his fist fell off, some darkness cast away.
The golem was the first to push advantage. Tombe leapt away feeling more than seeing the wall give way before the mad construct. It took but a moment for him to find his true quarry.
Tombe charged the yellow goblin trading blows shortly before catching it across a shoulder. He pressed slashing faster and moving quicker than before.
Tombe was in his element and the chieftain was caught by surprise. If it had known his class perhaps it would¡¯ve understood more. The longer a fight lasted against a single opponent a duelist could only became deadlier.
He¡¯d made sure to single out his enemy and challenge him to duel. Even if the goblin had refused, the challenge had been issued. The duelist would gain a buff that would only grow stronger in time. A challenge could not extend past a single opponent and attacking anyone else would lower the total buffs accumulated. Constructs, pets, and minions were not affected by the duelists buff but they at least would not lower it as they were an extension of their master.
Although PvPers loved the duelist class, the arenas were always full of them. Though for all its fighting power it had many weaknesses. Against groups of enemies they had to focus on only a single target so few PvE players wanted them in a party when others offered much more diversity and options. The duelist had few abilities that mattered outside a small fight.
For all that Tombe always enjoyed the class. The Terramancer had many self-buff spells and a decent range of offensive ones. It complimented well with the duelist and he usually found himself hitting hard and withdrawing swiftly since becoming part of the Thirteen.
The goblin was taking blow after blow now. It could do little to defend itself but a single sword. Though lower level, Tombe had rock hard skin, reach, and two weapons to its one. He had the goblin on the ropes and they both knew it.
Perhaps if he had a bit more time he could strike down the little yellow shit but it wasn¡¯t to be. The golem returned its once colorful body now glowing red betraying the emotion it felt but also filled with a dark taint.
Tombe swiftly put the goblin between himself and the golem. At least if it charged in this state it way plow down its master. If the goblin died the golem would remain just as the other summoned creatures still lay dead on the ground. But then his guild mates could join the fight and put an end to it.
The gem golem upon spotting them charged. It turned out better then Tombe could have hoped.
The golem removed the goblin from its path by slapping him aside. Completely taken by surprise it hadn¡¯t even raised its blade in defense. Its frail body flew into the air and came to a halt in a heap at its body guard¡¯s feet. It was too much for them having watched and being unable to aid in the fight. They surrounded their master and put themselves forward against the golem.
The Dread Thirteen waiting for a window of opportunity leapt at the chance. The skeleton guardians let loose a volley of arrows hitting the goblin guards dropping several of them. Spells quickly followed and the guild charged. Some of the goblins turned from the closest threat of the golem and moved to intercept the attack.
Tombe abandoned his fight and charged the goblin group. Behind him thunderous steps gave chase. Those still facing the golem prepared for his attack but that was not his aim.
Tombe ran between their ranks holding his hands before him letting the goblin¡¯s attacks on his skin of stone. He slashed those too stubborn to get out of his way but the crush of bodies soon made it hard to move.
A roar behind heralded his savior. The gem golem crashed into the goblins and with every sweep of its arms crushed frail bodies and sent them hurtling.
The pressure on Tombe lessened due to the new threat and he broke free. Rushing out of the group he circled to better meet with his friends.
Stumbling towards his guild Tombe felt a sudden rush sweep through his body. The stone making up his body and the dark ichor fell away. Natas while being a priest could heal but thanks to her God it came at a cost. A small heal was little matter but when someone was near the brink of death Natas could save them at the cost of stripping all buffs currently on them. Tombe gladly payed the price, feeling his buffs leaving him. With low mana and no buffs to aid him he went to the rear of his group to recover, his fighting was done for now.
Legion felt the death of each creature around him, the golem was doing their work well. Casting his Reanimate spell he had already raised three wolves and two spiders. Pale imitations of their former selves the dead awaited command beside him. As the guild moved to offense he only walked behind keeping watch on everything there was to see. His minions had always been weak, but even a weak knife applied to the right spot could kill a man. Waiting patiently, Legion watched the battle closely.
Noting the golem¡¯s weakness Morthius found the situation a perfect time for experimentation. Casting a few curses on the creature he observed the changes they had. Crystals broke away and the small attacks coming from the goblins appeared to do more damage, rather fascinating. Morthius wondered why curses affected it so, could it be the purity of the deep earth it came from. Perhaps, but there could be other unknown variables he had yet to consider. Either way it would take much more experimentation and additional subjects. Casting more curses he observed and learned.
Finally Drecksis thought, a long boring duel though Tombe did give a good showing. Drecksis just wanted to run out and fight the golem, it looked to actually be a challenge worthy of him. But Tombe got all the fun. Drecksis cut the head from the first goblin he encountered. He wade into the monsters hacking and chopping making their little forms smaller still.
The creatures would break or die soon Serion saw. The slaughter left their numbers decimated and now a golem went to town on what was left, his guild would be the final nail in their coffin.
Chapter 14: All bad things must come to an End
¡°One shot, two shot, three and four, everybody hit the floor¡± sang Wills. The few zombies and rats in town were too easy to kill but the goblins were pretty fun opponents. Not too many had bows in the horde and they weren¡¯t known for their marksmanship anyhow.
He¡¯d run out of arrows before the gate and the duel had provided some time for him to regenerate some arrows thanks to his latent Archer class.
Using Guided Arrow another guard dropped. The guild was slowly picking off the remaining goblins on the opposite side of the golem. There were three main groups he could make out. The majority around the insane golem, those fighting Drecksis and Reg who were supported by the skeletal guardians, and a few in the back he couldn¡¯t make out too well but were probably guarding the yellow goblin. He should be back on his feet by now.
The guild wasn¡¯t being too aggressive like earlier instead singling out targets and dropping them. Keeping mana up Wills thought. Not a bad strategy but he knew it was only a matter of time. Grabbing another arrow he spotted his next target.
Harkin played an inspirational battle sung with his lute. The only saving grace of the instrument was that it sounded more like an electric guitar then some medieval era creation. Magic in a game, you had to love it.
Only an early level song it gave a slight bonus to attack speed and movement which only four of his guild mates got the largest benefit from but magic enhancing songs for spell casters were beyond Harkin¡¯s reach for now. He launched into a new riff with phantom drums aiding him.
Serion decided the time was right. ¡°Pour it on!¡±
Half the goblins were down and the golem was a mere shadow of its former self. Flames surrounded it and engulfed the mad thing along with the handful of goblins still fighting it. Corpse explosions started rocking the few clusters of enemies remaining.
¡°Dreck, Reg, take the golem. Everyone else push to the yellow goblin.¡±
Caution was dropped and the guild rushed their few enemies remaining. Against the dozen or so goblins left it was a quick and devastating assault. A few ran for their lives but were cut down by Legion¡¯s dead before they made it far.
Drecksis had smashed one of the golem¡¯s legs and it collapsed to the ground. Reg used his sword and axe to deliver a coup de grace to the creature¡¯s neck. Its severed head fell to the ground and the body broke apart into hand size gems.
The whole guild stood around the yellow goblin. Its battered form looked up and its eyes smoldered in absolute hatred. Someone had already stripped it of its horn and sword. If looks could kill Serion thought. Its whole tribe was gone, its summons killed, the dead bodies of its kin lay all around them.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
Drecksis strode forward every stride the swagger of a conqueror.
¡°So what will it be? A nice stab and twist or perhaps the good old head chop?¡± he asked.
¡°Neither,¡± spoke Serion. His guild mates looked at him in wonder, what was their guild leader planning now?
¡°At level 10 any mage has the option of taking on a familiar. I propose we lock him up in the guild hall for now. Turn him into an ally later. A Beast Master would be a welcome addition to the guild¡¯s ranks,¡± Serion suggested.
¡°Any objections?¡±
¡°What about the experience we could get off him?¡± Drecksis asked.
Tombe spoke up. ¡°Severely reduced after the golem betrayed its master, if not for that I¡¯d be all for killing him. Besides a Beast Master would be useful to have around, that Cragasaur went toe to toe with the Dread Carriage. Imagine if we combined the two of them later on.¡±
No one else spoke up. After a few seconds Drecksis and Reg grabbed an arm apiece and carried the former goblin chieftain towards what was left of the Dread Carriage. Shortly after he was locked up all combat ended they felt the uplifting sensation under the morning sun.
72 Goblin scouts killed. 168 Goblin Warriors killed. 19 Goblin Sneaks killed. 56 Goblin Sentries killed. 43 Goblin Miners killed. 32 Elite Goblin Warriors killed. 3 summoned Dire Wolves killed. 2 summoned Shadow Stalker Spiders killed. 1 Gem Golem killed.
Tactics! Fought and survived against overwhelming odds! 1 Experience point for each enemy.
Purged! Wiped out a level 3 Goblin village! +3000 Experience Points.
Penalties applied due to high level aid.
7,691 Experience Gained.
Congratulations you are now Level 8!
30 stat points awarded.
Your Arcane affinity has grown by 3 to 17!
Your Shadow affinity has grown by 2 to 15!
Serion was amazed, almost 400 goblins! Everybody gained three levels and was well on their way to the next. Serion put 10 points apiece into the 3 ¡®mage¡¯ stats.
The guild shortly broke up and started looting corpses for the few valuables they could find. The gem golem was the most valuable prize and several of them sat in piles of rocks throwing them into bags. Legion raised several goblin corpses and had them piling all the metal they could. Later it would be melted down and repurposed for anyone wishing to relevel the Smith profession.
Griggs and Morthius surrounded the Dread Carriage and were discussing what they could do to repair it. The wheel was a quick fix but the rest would take a lot time and magic. Natas had healed the crippled hell steed and the two that were left pulled the cart closer to the battlefield.
Pyron took an expedition back into town to the purpose of looting the goblin encampment. They returned with some valuables but nothing of real note. They reported seeing lone goblins observing them but they made no move to attack, only run away. In time Serion knew the goblin village would start over after taking a new chieftain.
As the noon sun blazed overhead they packed up everything and left Fire Town behind. One more chapter in The Dread Thirteen¡¯s history.
Serion ¨C Level 8 Arcane/Shadow Mage ¨C Guild Leader
Pyron ¨C Level 7 Pyromancer ¨C Guild 2nd
Harkin ¨C Level 7 Bard/Tactician ¨C Guild 3rd
Drecksis ¨C Level 8 Knight/Fallen Paladin
Revenance ¨C Level 8 Ranger/Raider
Morthius ¨C Level 8 Curse Necromancer
Legion ¨C Level 7 Minion Necromancer
Ekra ¨C Level 7 Aquamancer
Wills ¨C Level 7 Aeromancer/Archer
Tombe ¨C Level 8 Terramancer/Duelist
Natas ¨C Level 8 Dark Priest
Reg ¨C Level 7 Warrior/Warlock
Griggs ¨C Level 7 Engineer
Chapter 15: Catch a Ride
Morthius directed Jerry back onto the road. The areas road had seen better days and no one knew the area well enough to head down the unpaved paths. Getting back on the main road everybody that stayed above kept their eyes peeled for any sign of pursuers. The Kingdom of Reckett forces were half a day¡¯s travel away and could be anywhere by now.
After several hours of constant surveillance many of the Thirteen got bored and went back to the guild hall to closely examine the loot and decide who should get what based on need before greed. A few of them were also looking at the scavenged material deciding what professions would make the best use of them.
Morthius stayed beside Jerry the whole time examining the carriage and what they could do when they had a chance. Its speed had taken a large hit and they were only going a third of what they had before. The health of it was a little less than 50% and regenerating slowly. If it got into combat then it would improve much quicker but it would also be much tougher thanks to the loss of speed.
Staring at the road considering the situation he noticed a form waving in the distance. The figure stood to the side and had left themselves within easy distance of jumping back into the trees. Smart Morthius thought, if any passerby proved hostile they could escape easily. Any carriage or horses would have a tough time going after them into the trees.
He told Jerry to slow down and stop within shouting distance of the person. Flicking a little bell on the side that would alert the guild in the hall he waited for the person to approach.
As they came closer he could make out the stranger in a brown cloak and some armor. A rogue or warrior perhaps, Morthius couldn¡¯t tell.
¡°Hello there,¡± the man yelled. Morthius waved at him and kept an eye to the sides of the road. If it had been an ambush ahead by stopping before it they would have to move closer. If it wasn¡¯t well it was safer to be cautious then sorry and be respawned.
¡°That¡¯s far enough,¡± Morthius spoke when the man was 20 yards away. ¡°What do you want?¡± From the little racket that he heard behind him he knew the guild was ready and waiting.
¡°A lift if possible. Have you been questing for the last day or two? There¡¯s a bunch of crazy shit going on. The games been corrupted and there¡¯s glitches galore. It won¡¯t even let us log out and the NPCs turned on us like we¡¯re criminals,¡± the man spoke.
¡°My name is Morthius and yes we¡¯ve noticed. Who else is with you?¡±
¡°I¡oh¡¡± he stuttered as he realized his slip of the tongue. Looking behind him he put up a thumb. Four more figures came out the woods stepping hesitantly towards the carriage. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said softly when the others joined him.
Morthius kept a close eye on them as the rest of the guild came around from the back of the carriage. They appeared frightened and ready to bolt if anything happened.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re all friends here,¡± Serion announced walking towards the group. He spread his hands wide in the universal gesture of not meaning harm. Morthius chuckled silently at the small lie.
Serion continued, ¡°We are also fleeing the NPCs the same as you. You may have passage¡for a fee.¡±
They had looked so happy only to see hopes dashed. They looked on in stunned disbelief and once more fear.
¡°We only ask for whatever you hold in your bags. Soul bound gear and weapons that are now useless to you. And any other high level items, potions and such. Anything you now wear or wield will stay yours, but we want everything else,¡± Serion informed calmly.
Through his speech the five of them gaped and then started arguing, raising their voices together.
¡°You can¡¯t do that!¡± ¡°Where is your humanity?¡± ¡°This is fucking bullshit.¡±
Serion waved and the five were surrounded.
¡°You want passage, I have named the cost. Use Observe and see our levels. We stood in the thick of battle and died the same as you. We however are skilled and can put any items we receive to much better and quicker use then any of you. The highest among you is level 2. Discuss it amongst yourselves. We leave in two minutes with or without you.¡±
Walking back to the carriage Revenance joined him. ¡°We could just kill them.¡±
¡°But we won¡¯t get their soul bound gear or anything else they may hold. Useless to us but all of it can be broken down to level our professions, also it will keep them in line with the promise of getting some of it back if they help us,¡± replied Serion.
In the end they all five took the deal. They complained and cursed but they took the deal and safe passage was theirs.
After Serion oversaw all their bags taken he announced that if they helped the guild and caused no problems for them their belongings could be returned. This did much to alleviate the constant complaints and made the ride a little more enjoyable.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
One by one the guild went back to the hall bored with nothing else going on. Seeing them disappear through the guild hall door they looked on but said nothing. Several of the Thirteen stayed on top watching the road and keeping an eye on the new people. The newbies stuck to themselves talking.
Serion rode up front with Morthius discussing the new additions. It was with a little surprise when one of them appeared behind wanting to talk. They greeted her and traded names welcoming her to the conversation.
¡°Thank you for the ride, I don¡¯t know what we would have done without your help. We¡¯ve seen a few patrols pass us by and didn¡¯t know where to go,¡± replied Ascleia.
¡°Anytime, happy to help,¡± said Serion.
¡°I¡¯m sure.¡± She smiled. ¡°My biggest question is how you are all such a high level. It took me a week to get to level 5. I got the quest to aid the Kingdom of Reckett. When I got there they put me at a triage tent for the wounded. Then after the blue explosion a noble came to the tent telling us everyone was under arrest. A few people tried to argue that we hadn¡¯t done any crimes and then¡he ordered our execution. The guards swept in and killed everyone.¡±
¡°Go on, what happened next?¡± prompted Morthius.
¡°I¡¯m not sure exactly. I was running and suddenly I was in a strange white city in the clouds. It was beautiful at first, but there was no one else around and it got kind of creepy. I tried logging off but the menu wouldn¡¯t open. I couldn¡¯t get anything to work, even called out load for a game master.¡±
¡°After an hour or two I respawned in the last town I was questing in. It was chaos, kingdom soldiers were attacking people. There was so much smoke and fire so I ran away into the woods.¡±
¡°In there I met a few other players, no one had any idea of what was going on. Some said the game was bugged while others said it was all part of some game event like a civil war. That was a day ago. The groups broke up and went in every direction, I followed the others that are below.¡±
¡°We watched soldiers pass by on the road. Early on we saw them surround and cut down a few players so we never tried to get help from them. A few bandits attacked us and we lost some people. This morning we ran out of food. Our mage can only conjure water at his level. Creg decided to hail you because he said the carriage looked different. Now we¡¯re here. What happened to your group?¡±
¡°Same start but we had soul stones so we didn¡¯t have any kind of downtime, instant respawn in our guild hall,¡± Serion spoke tapping his foot against the roof of the carriage. ¡°Went to a local town filled with monsters and using superior tactics and cleared most of them. Easy squeezy, lemon peezy. By the way, that city in the sky, it was probably the Holy city of Light. You must have a high affinity in Holy Magic.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve always liked helping people. Healing just seemed like a natural choice but I don¡¯t really understand how all the affinities and things work. Even starting out I had to read a player¡¯s guide to being a healer.¡±
Serion considered her for a moment. ¡°Okay starting out in Waypoint everyone is an Adventurer. Once they assign their core stat points they are given an arch type or class of Mage, Rogue, or Warrior. From there you can search for class instructors to teach you the ways of a class you prefer.¡±
¡°If it¡¯s the players first time playing they can just go out and do random things like questing or killing monsters but you may not get the guaranteed abilities of a class you want. Takes some getting used to, you probably sought out a temple priest and became a dedicated healer. I went to the mages guild and had an arcane and shadow mage unlock those paths for me. All players start with a few points per affinity but when unlocking a path all of them are reset to zero except the chosen path ones.¡±
¡°Strangely when all the weirdness started it reset our affinities but we kept our unlocked paths. This saved us a lot of time hunting down any NPCs that would be willing to aid us. Otherwise I could see everyone going warrior or rogue. Higher affinities for mages allow us to cast bigger and better spells. Others get special abilities based on them or can alter their weapons and defenses. With roughly 15 different affinities there are thousands of possibilities and combinations.¡±
¡°Most stick to one or two affinities in order to get access to higher levels of spells and abilities. Sticking to one you can become a master of it gaining access to the most powerful tier it has. I¡¯ve met someone that had ten different affinities. They could do all the starting abilities and spells but would never be able to make them any better or alter them.¡±
¡°Anything else you¡¯d like to know?¡± Serion asked.
¡°The Goddess Rhanna is who I serve, mostly for the increased healing but there were other Holy Gods to choose from. Was she the best choice?¡±
¡°Each of them have different benefits so there¡¯s no ¡®best choice¡¯ really. On the subject of Waypoint¡¯s Gods there are several pantheons, the above, the below, and the beyond. Almost a hundred altogether the last time I took a look at an info sheet for them. Every affinity has several higher and lower Gods along with those who declared themselves neutral. Hell, in the end game you can even try killing a few of them though they are ridiculously tough. No one managed it before, doubtful it will ever happen now. Besides, they¡¯re all travelers too.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve heard that term used by players before, what does it mean?¡±
¡°Going back to the beginning of this world, everything was forged by some kind of ancient race of deities. They left behind several still functioning cities that are high level dungeons filled with automatons. Eventually they got bored or something happened and they left.¡±
¡°The game world of Waypoint is just that, a waypoint. A rest stop created by an ancient race before they moved on. Eventually other races fled their own worlds or dimensions and created a bridge or gateway to come here. There are numerous abandoned beacons and gates out in the wilderness. Some races fled invasions or dying worlds, others exploring or who knows. However it happened they all came here and established a new home.¡±
¡°Amazing, just how big is Waypoint?¡±
¡°No one knows. I¡¯ve played since Waypoint came out four years ago and I¡¯m still finding new things. The AIs monitoring the world kept progress going. Find a cave, clear it of monsters and coming back later you¡¯ll find they repopulated or something new moved in. Maybe a necromancer has taken up residence or a group of bandits.¡±
¡°There are five continents with tons of little nation, state, or country called realms. Every realm has a different story questline adapting to any changes as time goes on. This continent has nine realms usually in conflict with one another over territory and resources. Sometimes they fight with outside forces like the Holy Cities of Racsha warring with the pirates who belong to no single realm.¡±
¡°And that¡¯s as good a place as any to stop. We¡¯re about to have company,¡± Serion spoke looking ahead. In the distance a handful of figures were standing on the road in front of two wagons.