That Wasn't the Plan

by Jason Cheek

  All at once, they were freed as the spell’s ice disappeared from their bodies in the blink of an eye. Not wasting a second, Nykii whipped up her bow and released the glowing arrow in one smooth motion, triggering her special ability, Multi-Shot. Instantly, the single arrow turned into three as they flew halfway across the room to hammer into the enemy Priestess’ cloth covered back doing six hundred and thirty damage in one attack. At the same time, Sar raised his hands with an enraged shriek and let loose with everything he had.

  In this situation, Arcane Explosion was Sar’s spell of choice. Being an experienced player that specialized in PVP, he didn’t just set off one explosion. No, he let everything he had out, insta-casting Arcane Explosions as fast as the game would allow him, while the enemies’ melee attackers reeled back in agony.

  That split second relief was all the Global Brutality survivors needed. Shouting out orders, Nykii exited stage left away from the melee fighters boxing them in. All the while, she continued hammering Multi-Shots into the Priestess’ defenseless back as her remaining people went into action. The healer would either have to stop healing the Arcane Mage to save herself or Nykii would kill her. Whichever way it went, it would be a win-win situation for Team Brutality. With either one of those two out of the way, they’d be able to overwhelm the infiltration raid and take back control over the situation.

  Nykii’s teammates closest to the door focused on sealing the entrance to block the reinforcements from entering the keep, while the rest of them took the fight to the enemy. Being the experienced players they were, the melee classes lunged at the three players before them, while the ranged classes did their best to scatter to create the distance they needed to fight effectively. At the same time, that same distance would stop them from being taken out with a similar AOE attack that was currently ripping apart the enemy.

  Although Nykii’s teammate’s instincts were good, it wasn’t enough to trip up their enemies. Letting out an ear-piercing shout, the black-clad female warrior gritted her teeth and triggered Charge. In a blur, she slammed into the ten Global Brutality Rogues like a bowling ball striking a rack of pins.

  The attack came to the PKers as such a surprise, because it was from the Defensive Warrior’s skill tree. Normally, killing players was best done by pushing out as much damage as possible, which was why most Warrior PKers took the DPS build. The second shock, which followed immediately after the first, came when the Warrior woman triggered the class skills Shield Bash and Block Multiple Attackers in unison.

  The resulting combination of the three defensive skills being used together was insane as the leading three Rogues were blasted back into their teammates behind them like a cannon ball. Although the defensive blocks did little to no damage, the resulting confusion took the closely packed group of Rogues out in a flailing pile of arms and legs. To add to the chaos, the two Rogues jumped into the scrum with their blades flailing.

  As if that weren’t enough, the Ranger and Frost Mage weren’t being slackers either. As Nykii continued hammering the Priestess, her eyes widened in surprise as she saw the enemy Ranger in her peripheral vision draw five arrows from her quiver in one smooth motion and fire. There was a quick blur of motion and a shimmer of magic as suddenly all five arrows were in the air. Nykii recognized the spell’s glow as Multi-Shot and Piercing Shot. What she didn’t expect was the five arrows that instantly turned into fifteen. Faster than the eye could follow, they slammed home into Sar’s stone-encased, cloth-armored chest, killing him instantly.

  Unfortunately, the biggest shock of all came from the black-armored Frost Mage. Instead of hammering her people with an AOE as she’d expected, the bastard did something much worse. Turning around, he cast a Holy Shield on the Priestess that Nykii was targeting and then hit the woman with a heal, before Nykii could finish the bitch off.

  What kind of infiltration team brought two healers to a knife fight? She silently swore as she slid to a stop in the middle of the room. Whipping back around, she targeted the second Priest by the entrance. No matter what, they had to keep the door closed at all cost or they were toast!

  “Focus on the Mage looking Priest by the door!” Nykii screamed in raid chat as she began peppering the new threat with arrows.

  Nykii would have to give the Priest his due. The man didn’t stand around like a chump like most healers would. As the first arrow of her Multi-Shot was deflected by his Holy Shield, the man took off taking the two follow-up shots on his armor as he blasted back at her with his Flurry spell. She got another two shots in on him, before he managed to dive behind a trestle table that the on duty guards used for meals.

  While the seven remaining low-level Rangers from her group began blasting away at the wooden table the Priest had flipped over as a shield, the three Fire Mages were busy securing the outer door to the keep. Nykii saw that the enemy Warrior and Rogues had managed to take out six of her Rogues and were now going toe-to-toe with the remainder. Although, they were all higher level than her teammates. One slash from her crew caused as much damage as three of theirs, so it was a toss-up as to who would win the fight. There was an easy way to fix that.

  Nykii’s bow strummed as she began hammering her enemies from behind. She got two shots into the Defensive Warrior, before the woman shifted to put Nykii’s teammates between them and the golden glow of a heal spell shimmered over her bloody armor. Before she could shift her fire to the enemy Rogues, she caught a red blur in her peripheral vision a split-second before her bow shattered in her hands and she was blasted off her feet.

  Bouncing off the wall hard enough to knock the wind out of her lungs, Nykii coughed up blood and blindly dodged the follow-up attack, while yanking her long sword free from its sheath. She’d have normally drawn her dagger at the same time, but her left hand didn’t seem to be working properly. Obviously, her hit points had taken a major blow as she ground her teeth from the pain radiating out of her chest.

  Vaguely, she heard Dalton’s battle cry as he called out for his people to charge the enemy, before a booted foot bounced Nykii’s face off the stone wall. A second before another heavy blow split her back wide open. Obviously, her magic armor stood no chance against such a high-level weapon, she numbly thought, as her sword slipped from her grasp. The room spun dizzily as she landed hard on her back, while her HUD flashed a warning that she was stunned for ten seconds.

  There was a flash of enraged green eyes and fiery red hair as the wide blade of an axe cleaved through her chest … once ... twice … three times. Nykii’s vision was covered in a deep shade of red as the wild Warrior stepped back and threw her battle axe at another target, before racing off. Nykii could hear her weakening heartbeat echoing in her ears as her hit points dropped into the double digits. Although she couldn’t move, her head happened to be facing the right direction to watch the end of the fight.

  Nykii’s people had managed to take out one of the Rogues … possibly two, she thought as the Defensive Warrior took out the remaining Fire Mages with the Frost Mage/Priest’s help. The wall of fire on that side of the room quickly died away as the woman’s blade ripped the life from the last cloth covered body. Even though the Warrior’s black-armor was smoking from the massive damage it had taken, the woman’s body was already knitting itself back together from the Regeneration spell that was ticking away continuously every second.

  The two black-armored attackers’ heads jerked around as something on the other side of the room caught their attention. Immediately, they both raced off out of Nykii’s sight. A second later, the fiery red-headed woman charged after them with her battle axe held over her head ready to attack. As the sounds of renewed battle filled the room, the stun finally disappeared from her red flashing HUD.

  Fumbling for a health potion on her belt, Nykii pushed herself up into a sitting position against the stone wall of the keep, before realizing her left arm was completely gone from the elbow down. She was just digging into her belt with her good hand for a potion, when the room was sudden
ly filled with Global Brutality troopers. Her numb mind haltingly realized that the relief shift must have just logged in as the cocky bastards instantly came under attack by an Ice Barrage and Falling Stars. That was Nykii’s last thought as her hit points dropped to zero and the health potion slipped out of her lifeless fingers.

  Chapter One.Thirteen

  (Wednesday, May 7th / Day 17 of The World.)

  “Dammit Jay!” Hefe shouted, as I ran up to the keep. “The freaking door is locked!” As if to emphasis the point, his little fists uselessly hammered at the thick iron-reinforced door.

  “Out of my way!” AJ’s shouted out, as he came barreling up at a dead run. “I’m coming through!”

  We all stepped back just in time for the solid Dwarf to run past heading for the door. At the last second, AJ launched himself at the door with his armored shoulder as a thunderous boom rang out from the impact. While it had sounded impressive, I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the door hadn’t moved an inch. As AJ staggered back from the impact partially stunned, Hefe turned to me in self-righteous anger.

  “You said that everything would be fine if we followed the plan!” The little Gnome raged as he stalked up to me angrily clenching his punch daggers. Feeling Neysa’s tension through my link at Hefe’s aggressive stance, I patted her side comfortingly as the Gnome pointed at me accusingly. “My Pookey Bear is inside getting her ass pummeled and it’s all your fault!”

  “What’s your great plan now, Jay?” AJ asked as he staggered over to us holding his head. “Krystal and Jill are in there too.”

  “Krishna!” I called out, as I walked up to the iron-bound door and put my ear to it. Waving for everyone to be silent, I listened to the sound of combat coming from the other side. Whatever was going on, it was bad. Not that you needed to hear it to know the shit had destroyed the fan: You could figure that out just by watching the stealth raid’s health and mana bars rising and dropping. Hearing hurried steps approaching from behind, I turned around to see a worried Krishna and Lyeneru come rushing up. Seeing the angry looks on everyone faces, he held out his hands to ward us off.

  “It’s not my fault!” The Uten Syn guild leader said in a rush of words as everyone groaned. I didn’t blame them, didn’t we just go through this with Hefe? “The night shift must have logged in late!”

  “Night shift?” Hefe and AJ asked in unison as I covered my eyes and shook my head. I knew I’d been missing something. Now, it all made sense. How could one group of players solely be keeping guard over a fortress to flip it? Already, I could hear the strain in Krishna’s voice as he tried to defend his actions.

  “How the hell was I supposed to know both shifts would be logged in when we attacked?”

  “Dude, you didn’t even tell us that there was a chance of being caught by surprise by a force that’s a hundred and seventy-five strong?” AJ roared, threateningly clapping his shield and hand axe together. Like Hefe, he wasn’t too happy about “his girls” being alone on the inside.

  “No, I didn’t tell them about the shift change!” Krishna yelled into thin air. At first, no one knew who he was talking to, but, at his next words, we immediately realized it could only be his irate girlfriend. “No! I told them that you said there was only fifty players inside the keep as a reserve force!” The Moon Elf said, throwing his hands up into the air and completely ignoring Hefe and AJ who was standing in front of him.

  At this point, I almost felt sorry for him myself, even if he did fuck up our Stealth operation. A ruckus from behind caught my attention as Assault Leader Dell ran up with a group of troopers. Seeing my questioning look, he came to a stop in front of me, smashing a clenched fist to his chest.

  “Lord Ironwolf, the courtyard and graveyards have been secured. They’re now de-leveling the newfar as directed. Also, Lyle reports no activity at our exit point.”

  “Excellent news,” I said, returning the veteran swordsman salute. Nodding my head towards the locked door of the keep, I continued. “Any ideas on the best way to get in?”

  “I’d suggest entering through the windows.” Assault Leader Dell answered without hesitation, as he nodded to the third story windows. “Best to get up there before they get defenders in place. It would be easiest to use the ramps.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” I agreed, before my focus was pulled to the Uten Syn guild leader’s one-sided discussion. As I turned away, Assault Leader Dell began passing out orders to the troopers behind him.

  “Stop yelling at me!” Krishna excitedly shrieked. “How is letting the rest of you out going to help anything? It’s not like any of you have weapons and armor. Hell, no one but Franky even bothered to learn Nature Magic past level 10! What do you mean all of you maxed your Nature Magic out?” Taking a second to focus on the world around him, he looked up at the keep, before going back to his conversation. “And how the hell do you think anyone is going to be able to make it up to the third floor?”

  “Throw me up!” Hefe suddenly said, stepping forward excitedly. “Seriously, how hard can it be? I’ll get the door open before any of them even know I’m there.”

  “Dude, you can’t even reach the bar blocking the door, let alone lift it up,” AJ shot back at Hefe, as he bumped him from behind. Puffing out his chest, he proudly continued. “So, might as well throw me up with him.”

  “How the hell am I supposed to do that?” I shot back at them in annoyance.

  “You’re a freaking Nightmare player aren’t you?” AJ snapped irritably, as Darkhorse’s icon turned gray. “Don’t you have two hundred strength? Just throw us up!”

  “We’ll take care of the rest!” Hefe said, excitedly butting in.

  I glanced at Neysa and Helgath, before looking over at Thomas and Assault Leader Dell who both just shrugged. No one seemed to be against the idea. Catching the Cobra Kai twins eyes, I asked. “What your guys’ strength?”

  “A hundred and seven,” Matt said, imitating a manly-man’s voice as he stood up straighter.

  “Hundred and twenty here,” Terry replied, rolling her eyes at her partner.

  “How can you have more strength then me?” Matt asked, in a hurt voice.

  “It’s a freaking video game,” Terry said, rolling her eyes. “I just put more freaking points into strength, duh!” Ignoring their interplay, I caught Thomas’ eye.

  “A hundred and forty here.” The Devil Dog guild leader said with a shrug. We both knew I had more.

  Sighing heavily, I opened up my Character Sheet and checked my Strength. Looks like a hundred and eighty-six was the highest we had. While I could always add in enough points to round it up to two hundred, I didn’t want to do that if I didn’t have to. After fighting Apoxsee, I wanted to boost up my Agility as much as possible. Well that, and work on my Intelligence, so that I could continue building my army of pets.

  “Why two hundred?” I asked, frowning as I looked down at AJ.

  “Because, that’s the only way you’re going to throw my muscular, armored ass up that high.”

  “Yeah, more like fat armored ass,” I said with a snort of derision.

  “Dude, we need to go!” Hefe nearly shouted, as he nervously jumped up and down watching our people quickly being taken down one by one.

  My eyes scanned the walls as the troopers hurriedly gathered up the ramps. We’d have everyone in place in just a few minutes, but getting them up top sooner rather than later could save us a major headache. So, why the hell not? I gave a mental shrug, it was as good of an idea as any. And besides, how many ways could this really go wrong? I thought, looking into my friends’ hopeful eyes.

  “If we do this, you’re not joining the fight.” I said, making sure they both heard me. “Your job is to hold the landing for the rest of us.”

  Yeah, I wasn’t stupid enough to believe them. Not that I would be standing around with my thumb up my ass either if my ladies were in trouble. I rolled my eyes as Neysa and Helgath both seemed to preen upon catching the flavor of my thoughts. Still, I did
my best to ignore my two friends as they turned to each other and did a chest bump. Besides, I thought with an evil grin, it wasn’t every day I was asked to toss a Dwarf.

  The decision was suddenly made for us when a group of Global Brutality Rangers popped out of the third, fourth, and fifth story windows of the keep and opened fire. Shouts of alarm and pain rang out amongst the troopers as the Team Leaders voices cracked out commands. Surprisingly enough, no one seemed to be panicking as Assault Leader Dell’s voice rang out across the courtyard calling out defensive formations. Within just a few moments, shields walls were formed up on all sides of the keep as my troopers quickly got into position.

  Immediately, I called Krishna and Lyeneru to me as we got busy taking care of the wounded. The last thing I wanted to have to worry about was losing my people due to these assholes. Working together, we began casting Healing Breeze across the courtyard. Within moments, green sparkling motes lit up a hundred and twenty long swath forty yards wide as everyone in the raid within those AOEs momentarily glowed with a green aura. We didn’t just do the cast once, but five times, each of us doing a solid eighteen hundred points of healing in five seconds.

  Not that any of that stopped the Global Brutality players from continuing their barrage of glowing arrows from raining down on my people’s lines non-stop. There were eight windows per side of the keep, which allowed the asshats to lay down a serious amount of fire. From their hooting and hollering to one another, they thought they had the situation well under control, when Assault Leader Dell’s order to open fire spectacularly disabused them of that notion.

  Honestly, I think the idiots were shocked at the overwhelming response as a nearly solid wave of purplish-black bolts suddenly rose up from our ranks. In the blink of an eyes, stone chips exploded out from around the windows as a good portion of the Rangers dropped dead, before they could even think about taking cover. A few of the braver or stupider souls, depending on how you looked at it, tried to return fire, thinking that we could only retaliate for so long before running out of mana. Those individuals quickly learned their mistake as the next line of troopers opened fire, while the first line began recovering their mana.