by Cheek, Jason
Frowning at that thought, I came to a decision. Oh, I was sure I was going to regret this later, but for now, did I really have much of a choice? Keeping Rani away from my ex-girlfriend and her mental games would be for the best, I thought with a grimace. Besides, it could also give me an internal avenue to express my concerns and opinions to V-MMORG about their various policies like the RTS side of The World. Not that I thought for one second that this wouldn’t cause a slew of new problems. Letting out a deep sigh, I finally relented.
“Okay than,” I said, giving Rani a nod. “You can be a part of my team like back in Telrain. You follow my orders and you don’t give our position or plans away.”
“I can’t kill any players,” Rani warned, as a self-satisfied look came to her face. I swore she was like the proverbial cat that ate the canary. Even Neristhana looked at me questioningly.
“Just make sure to keep a watch over her so she doesn’t give us any problems,” I said in a whisper that only Helgath and the Gnomeling could hear. “There are reasons we need to appease her.” As Helgath’s unblinking cat-eyes looked into mine, I thought with a smirk. ‘At least to a point. If she causes any problems, we’ll kill her and spawn camp her until we vacate the area.’
‘You can count on us to do whatever is needed,’ Helgath assured, as I momentarily gripped her leather-clad thigh in thanks, before continuing out loud.
“Okay, we’re moving out,” I said, giving Mike a headshake that meant we’d talk about this offline. No sense in saying anything that might be overheard and misconstrued. Stepping forward, I offered him my hand. “Good luck and good hunting, my friend.”
“Good luck and good hunting,” Mike replied back, giving me a shit-eating grin. “I honestly doubt we’ll have any problem once you evac Dom. They’re going to be so pissed off that he got away that I doubt they’ll continue chasing after us.” Clapping me on the shoulder, he continued confidently. “We’ll be in Lodenburg in no time.” Before heading off, Mike leaned in to whisper in my ear as he glanced over at the V-MMORG admin. “You’re playing with fire, right?”
“You have any better suggestions?” I seriously asked, as Mike frowned and shook his head. With a final back clap, he headed off with his Dark Elf Assassins to join his group as I nodded to my people. “Let’s move out!”
“Where is your friend going?” Rani asked, unsure of what was happening but wanting to be at the center of the action.
“We have two groups,” I vaguely said, trying to keep the specifics as general as possible. Seeing the unhappy look on Rani’s face, I tried to ease her concerns about not being a part of the fighting. “Listen, from where we’ll be waiting at on the battlefield, you’ll be able to see almost everything that goes down.” With a disgruntled look, she fell in with my companions as we headed to the front of my group.
Along the way, I reminded everyone to assign their undead pets to the other group as we’d planned and to make sure they were on guard. Honestly, I felt somewhat naked as the ever present defensive circle of pets took off to their assigned people. Approaching the head of the column, I waved a greeting to my friends.
“Yo, Jay! Did you and Domenic kiss and make up?” Hefe called out, as he walked up with AJ and Bonnie Smash. “We didn’t expect to be seeing you this morning after-” the little Gnome voice cut off as he staggered forward from a hard shove from his Half-Orc girlfriend. “Oof!”
“Be nice, honey,” Bonnie Smash sweetly said, giving AJ a warning look as the Half-Orc crossed her muscular arms under her massive chest.
“Yeah, Honey Bear, or I’ll let Domenic know you were talking shit about him,” I warned, while Hefe nervously glanced at me as his girlfriend began to scold him.
“I guess that means everything’s cool between you guys?” AJ drolly asked, ignoring the love birds’ byplay as he joined his ladies.
“Yeah, with Mike’s help,” I said, as a contemplative look came to my face. “Once this shit is over, we’ve got some important information to go over about the guild’s Twitch channel going viral.” Seeing the sudden interested looks on my friends’ faces, I shook my head sharply. “We’ll talk about this offline.” While that just made everyone more curious as to what was up, they understood the implied message enough to not ask further questions while we were logged into The World. Changing the topic, Jill spoke up nodding towards Rani.
“Who’s plain-Jane?”
There were more than a few disconcerted glances at the plain looking Rogue, but no one seemed to have put two and two together to realize Rani was someone special. From the dirty looks that Jill and Krystal were giving me, they obviously thought she was a new harem girl that I’d added to my collection. What the fuck ever, I thought, as I saw a disgruntled look flash over Rani’s face. Letting out a heavy sigh, I frowned at both women and signaled for my next words to be edited out of my Twitch stream.
“Rani here is our local V-MMORG representative,” I announced, as my friends exchanged confused glances while Rani furiously glared at me for sharing her secret. Ignoring both, I casually continued. “She’s here to observe the fun, not join the fight. It would be best if everyone simply ignored her presence.” Before anyone could make a smartass comment, Assault Leader Dell came to a stop in front of me, giving me a fist salute as he snapped to attention. “We’ll talk about this offline,” I meaningfully finished, signaling to enable the video stream as I turned to my vassal.
“The troops are ready to move out, milord,” the veteran swordsman reported almost ritualistically.
“Excellent work, Assault Leader Dell,” I said, grinning broadly as I nodded for him to fall in next to me. Making my way to the front of the column, I lowered my voice so that only Dell could hear me. “Listen Dell, I need you to make sure that Ayda is guarded by a large group of troopers at all times. Also, I want you to make sure she doesn’t participate in any fighting unless absolutely necessary.” Seeing the uncomfortable look on his face, I raised a questioning eyebrow towards him.
“What’s the obvious problem that I’m not understanding?”
“Ayda the Bard doesn’t like to be held back from a good fight,” Assault Leader Dell said as delicately as possible. “She’s been quite vocal in her desire to bloody her blades against these evil newfar.” I could tell from the tone of his voice that this wasn’t meant disrespectfully. Looking behind me, the old veteran noticeably stiffened as I turned to see what he was looking at.
“You’re always a step ahead of me,” I said privately under my breath, as a ragged Ayda came walking up with a guard detail of twenty troopers following in her wake. Obviously, Dell had taken care of keeping the bard safe before I’d even suggested it. Clapping the other man on the shoulder in silent praise, I faced the beautiful Half-Elf, immediately surprised at what I saw.
The normally beautiful Half-Elf was a wreck. Her gray-eyes where puffy and red from exhaustion and her dark brown hair hung limp in an unkempt mass. Even her creamy olive-brown skin looked faded as she came to a stop before me. It was obvious to anyone looking at her that she’d been pushing herself too hard to help the House of Kayden troopers keep up with the relentless pace. Nonetheless, she was ready to give me a piece of her mind for pulling her out of the fight.
“Milord, I must protest Assault Leader Dell’s decision to keep me out of today’s fight!” Ayda demonstratively said, as she looked between us unhappily. I could understand where she was coming from. She’d been giving the House of Kayden her all to keep the soldiers out of an exhausted state to the detriment of her own health. Instead of being awarded for doing her job well, she was being relegated to a purely support role whenever combat was initiated. While I understood all of those things, the truth of the matter was that I needed her in the role she was currently working, more than I needed her combat abilities. How did I say that without disrespecting her as a person?
“Listen, Ayda,” I said, searching my heart for the right words to say. “While Assault Leader Dell initially made that decision on his ow
n, I asked him to do this at the beginning of our conversation this morning.”
“Why don’t you want me in combat?” Ayda demanded, in a tone that reflected the betrayal she felt. “Haven’t I done my job adequately?”
“That’s just the thing,” I hurriedly said, trying to ease her frustration. “You did your job too well.” Seeing her face screw up in frustration, I continued before she could blast me. “Look, for better or worse, you are our only Bard on the march. No one else can do what you do. Asking that you hold back from joining into combat is not an insult to your combat abilities or a way to say your magic wouldn’t be as useful as another’s magical skill. It was asked because without your unique ability, we will not be able to escape our enemy and bring our troops to safety.”
“The plan is not for us to fight the Chaos Storm Alliance,” I said, sweeping my arm towards the distant battle in the valley as Ayda’s mouth formed an “o”.
“We’re not going to be engaging the enemy in combat?” Ayda asked, not fully understanding what I meant.
“We are going to have to fight, but this is not a battle to conquer or for domination,” I said, holding up my hands for her to listen to my explanation. “The plan is for us to evacuate my brother-in-arms, Lord Burnslinger,” somehow I got out that ridiculous name without busting out laughing, “and his people, before racing back to Darom via Palnisdale. The plan is for us to fight as little as possible.”
“So,” Ayda said, dragging out the “o” sound. “You’re wanting to use my magic to keep our troopers refreshed so they can run away?”
“Basically, we can’t fight this enemy right here and now. The newfar would end up slaughtering us all in a stand up fight. We have to pick the time and place for where we meet these newfar in battle and not fight them at the height of their power without proper preparation.” Seeing the Bard’s pursed-lips, I explained further. “The plan is for all of us to make it to Darom as quickly as possible and return to our lands. If the newfar catch us-”
“Then we die,” Ayda mused, following the logic. “And, since there is no way for our troopers to match the abilities of a newfar, you need my magic to help keep the troopers alive, at full strength, and ahead of our enemies.”
“Correct,” I agreed. “You have my word that I will not hesitate to use your combat abilities in the future. Your magic will save more lives helping us escape our enemies than your blade ever could.” Stepping forward, I gripped her shoulder to emphasize my next words. “I give my word that I’ll not deny you the chance of using your full abilities for the House of Kayden in the future.”
“I’ll hold you to that promise, milord,” Ayda said, as an exhausted smile came to her lips. For some reason, I had the odd feeling that I’d be regretting this promise in the near future. Even so, I needed the Bard exactly where she was. Giving me a fist salute, Ayda headed back to her spot in the formation as I turned to my subordinate.
“Do whatever you can to keep her safe and able to function,” I said to Assault Leader Dell in no uncertain terms. “If it comes down to it, I’ll carry her myself to keep our people safe while she uses her magic.” That might sound funny, but her ability to keep our people battle ready was worth any effort. Getting a nod from Dell, I glanced out at our formation and raised my voice. “Okay people, it’s time to move out!”
Tengsly popped out of his resting place in my hood as I mentally called him to me. It took only a second for me to picture Mike, Dangas, and Dmitry while I headed off at a run. Our group moved off smoothly up the slope of the valley and quickly crested the lip to the hidden indention. Almost simultaneously, the first group headed out on nearly the same path we’d taken a few hours earlier to enter into Domenic’s fortress. Rani gave me a few disconcerted glances as she realized we were simply attacking as one group, but eased up once I explained that we were the main force and assured her that she’d be able to see the details of the first group’s battle from where we’d be positioned.
Surprisingly enough, we’d somehow made our ten o’clock deadline for moving out to assist Domenic. The first group was comprised of the Norwegians, Aussies, Russians, and Mike’s people. A total of around five hundred and thirty-five players and people of The World. The plan was for them to initiate the attack on the Chaos Storm Alliance with everyone’s zombies while Mike and his people guarded the southern and western graveyards. Mike’s eastern forces would be pulling out as soon as we got into position.
When I say everyone’s zombies, I meant everyone’s zombies. That zombie horde was a total of two thousand, seven hundred and fifty-eight zombies strong. When added to the first groups’ players, it was a combined size of slightly more than three thousand strong. An impressive force to say the least. One that could be seen crossing the floor of the valley as soon as they left the cover of the thick forest that covered the sloping sides of the valley.
Everyone else, the Kayden Troopers, my personal friends, Uten Syn, and the Devil Dogs made up the second group. Our job was much different. It was to plow the field for Domenic and his people’s retreat. Hopefully, there’d be no complications, since this was where the rubber met the road. If this failed, it was doubtful we’d get another chance to get this right and it could very well threaten everything I’d accomplished up until now.
The air above the formation was thick with flying squirrels as Assault Leader Dell and his subordinates sent messages back and forth while players with the level 10 manifest pet joked between each other. Tengsly came flapping up to me out of that confused mess above our heads to deliver the message that the other group was on its way. Although Dangas didn’t have a way yet to let me know when their attack commenced, I’d be in position soon enough to see the mouth of the gauntlet. Picturing Domenic’s face, I sent the furry little guy the message, to deliver, that we were moving out.
Instead of his normal cheerful chirp of affirmation, Tengsly started squawking up a storm. The gist being that he didn’t want to get hurt like last time. Whatever, I thought, doing my best not to communicate my annoyance to the cute little guy as I ducked and dodged around the thick trunks and underbrush. It took promising Tengsly a Holy Shield and Mage Armor buff, before he was willing to risk flying into the mess of magical strikes hammering Domenic’s walls. Not that I particularly blamed him.
There was no path to follow so we were forging ahead. If anything, we were cutting against the grain of the wild forest as we kept just below the steeper sides of the valley. The closer we came to the siege, the more blinding the flashes of light were from the nearly constant attacks. It was about then that I noticed Phoenix had fallen in line next to me. As Tengsly flew away towards Domenic’s fortress, she gave me a red-lipped smirk.
“You ready for this?” Phoenix asked, with a look of excitement on her face. “I’m ready to take some PKing assholes out, big time!” Pausing her spiel, she suddenly gave me a long look. “Did you get any sleep last night?”
“Not really!” I said, unable to help the bark of laughter that escaped my lips. “Less than three hours of sleep makes Jack a dull boy.” I adlibbed the old proverb somewhat for the current situation, but it fit nonetheless as Phoenix nodded in understanding.
“Yeah, that always sucks,” Phoenix said in a conciliatory tone. “Any way you can do a warm logout and get some sleep once we pull this great escape off?”
“Probably not,” we both said in unison.
“Anything I can do to help out?” Phoenix earnestly asked, as I turned suddenly serious.
“Yeah, watch my back,” I said, stifling a yawn. “And make sure I don’t fuck anything up if you can.”
“You’ve got it,” Phoenix said, in the same tone, before we split up to round a particularly overgrown area.
We stopped talking after that, albeit the rest of my team and the Devil Dogs caught up to me and my companions. All while we ran, Fylreh, Neysa, and Helgath were scouting ahead for enemies. To say that I was surprised Fylreh was willing to work together with the other two women would h
ave been an understatement. Although, in all fairness to the Centauride, she usually did focus on looking out for the group first. Nonetheless, it let me breathe easier knowing that someone was scouting out our path.
Yeah, I know that as a leader I shouldn’t be letting things like that slide, but in all honesty, my thoughts were pretty muddled from lack of sleep. My focus was currently on the bigger picture as I trusted my teammates, friends, and subordinates to pick up my slack. We’d just rounded the backside of the eastern graveyard, when Tengsly came flapping up to me. Getting the thought that I wanted him to hang close, the Flying Squirrel settled on my shoulder and gave me Domenic’s one word reply,
‘Hurry!’
That’s not good, I thought, as I signaled Assault Leader Dell for our forces to separate. With a few quick commands and a flight of Flying Squirrels, the main portion of the raid turned into the valley for the eastern graveyard, while the thousand troopers that had just joined the Kayden Troopers ranks headed for the northeastern pass that Ironheart Stronghold defended for the Isolde Line. I’m sure some armchair strategist watching this once it posted would ridicule me for splitting my forces to the extent that I had, but I thought the plusses outweighed the negatives. Besides, the truth of that matter was that I had to do my best to plan for every contingency that I could think of, and presently there was a massive Orc invasion force close by that could fuck everything up if it showed up at the wrong time.
The ongoing siege was much louder than it had been just a few hours ago when I’d snuck into Domenic’s base. The low roar of thousands of voices, the pounding reverberation of massive area of effect spells, and the screams of the dying nearly drowned out the sounds of our passing, which was surprising since we had over eleven hundred individuals in the raid treading over icy-topped snow. As our force reached the edge of the eastern graveyard, I called out in a ringing voice to the silent trees.
