That Wasn't the Plan

by Jason Cheek

  ‘Nyukh, kak u krysy v nuzhnike! Wondered if you were going to make it tonight or not, Star! It is funny, no. We figured the Aussies were here at your invite. Good players, we have lots fun bashing heads in. There is spot open at bonfire. See you soon. Oh, greeting from Boris and Natasha. Two guildmates of mine. They love your flying squirrel Rocky and ask if you are called Moose?’

  Feeling my intention to send another message, Tengsly patiently hovered before my eyes as I pondered over the message from Dmitry. Who the hell were Boris and Natasha? Why would they think Tengsly’s name was Rocky and ask if my name was Moose? When it hit me a second later, I couldn’t help the belly laugh that ripped from my lips.

  Don’t ask me why it was so funny in that moment. I know the looks that my friends and companions were giving me was one of utter confusion, which, for some reason, just made me laugh all that much harder. Leave it to the Russians to come up with something so far out of left field. Boris and Natasha … Rocky and Bullwinkle. Wheezing from laughter, I leaned against the nearest tree wiping the tears from my eyes as Tengsly settled on the frozen snow in front of me and cocked his head.

  It wasn’t that the cartoon was particularly good. In truth, it was one of the only two kids’ shows that played on Sunday mornings when I was growing up, since we only had basic cable. Those two shows were reruns of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show followed by Lost in Space. For some reason, in that moment it had hit me as being funny as hell in an outrageous sort of way.

  Shaking my head, I focused on sending Tengsly the message I wanted him to deliver to Assault Leader Morgan Dell. Popping into the air with a jump, the flying squirrel’s wings blurred as he raced off into the night. Seeing Sarka, Yun, Unalia, and Tinyr looking at me like I’d lost my mind, I waved their concerned looks away as I stood up straight.

  “Dmitry says there is a spot for us by the bonfire and that Boris and Natasha would love to see their friends Rocky and Moose,” I said, waiting for a reaction. Seeing their confused expressions looking back at me, I quickly explained who Rocky and Bullwinkle were and the rest of the show. Not that it altered the blank expressions on everyone’s faces. What can I say, only children that had grown up watching those shows would recall them with any kind of fond memories.

  “Come on, guys,” I said, rolling my eyes at their reactions. “It’s funny as hell.”

  “Whatever you say, Star,” Sarka drolly said, as she turned around and started walking into the woods. Ignoring me completely, Unalia and Tinyr joined her without hesitation. Seeing the unhappy look on my face, Yun gave me an apologetic shrug.

  “We’re not judging your childhood memories, I’m sure it was some great TV programming,” Yun said, unable to hold back a laugh at the annoyed look on my face. “How about we get going, man. Aren’t we running out of time?” Flipping him off, I joined him as we hurried to catch up with the team.

  “So what’s the plan this time around,” Angie excitedly asked, as she and Krishna pushed through my companions to fall into step beside us. “What kind of ambush are we going to do this time around?”

  “No ambush,” I unenthusiastically said, as we traipsed through the woods. “Dmitry owes us for helping his sister and his best friend last week.” Seeing the unhappy looks on both Uten Syn players’ faces, I gave them an apologetic shrug. “You can hang out in the forest instead if that makes you feel better. Getting everyone moving shouldn’t take too long.”

  “That might be for the best,” Krishna said, after trading a meaningful glance with Angie.

  “You want to stay here on the edge of the plain?” I asked, looking at them both for a reaction.

  “We’ll stay as a reserve force on the edge of the plains,” Angie said, in obvious relief. “That way, no one knows that we’re here and, if there is a problem, we can be there quickly enough.”

  “Appreciate that,” I said, suppressing the wry grin that tried to come to my lips. “It makes me feel safer knowing that you’re there to give us a hand if the situation goes south.”

  While it sounded like they were being paranoid, I could understand where they were coming from. They’d been betrayed, invaded, slaughtered in cold blood, and then locked away in their own dungeon to either starve to death, quit or create a new avatar. All of that had to leave a psychic scar. Besides, it was best to play it safe.

  As the Uten Syn guild pulled back, I rearranged our groups like we had them organized for the Aussie players. Sarka, Yun, Unalia, Tinyr, Brenna, and Neristhana would go Stealth, while Ulia, Keela, Rayne, and Fylreh joined me in the non-stealth group. On top of that, I asked Neysa and Helgath to scout ahead.

  It took us nearly five minutes to reach the center of the woods. Coming to a stop at the edge of the treeline, we saw our allies for the first time. There had to have been close to a hundred players sitting around the clearing working on gear, joking, or eating and drinking loudly. Many of the men were dressed in leathers and bare-chested with tattoos on their chests, arms, and faces. The lack of winter clothing meant they were either hardcore Advance players suffering through the winter cold or Basic noobs with only twenty-five percent realism. Since they were Russians, I was willing to bet they were Advance players. It was about then that Neysa came trotting up with an alert Helgath on her back.

  ‘There is a massive wolf pack close by.’ Neysa reported, as she came to a stop next to me and continued grimly. ‘They know we’re here.’

  Looking around us intently, I finally caught sight of several large gray wolves in the distance. They didn’t seem to be getting in position to attack, but were silently watching us from about thirty yards away. ‘They look pretty big,’ I thoughtfully commented, studying the gray forms flittering between the trees. While they weren’t as big as Neysa, they were at least as big as the Elite Large Rock Wolves we’d fought earlier. Unfortunately, the trees stopped me from getting off an Identify. ‘Any idea of their levels?’

  ‘They’re between level 34 and 38,’ Helgath mental voice sounded in my head.

  ‘If they were a regular mob, they’d have already attacked,’ I mused as Neysa chuffed in agreement. ‘So, they’re combat pets of the Krasnyy Volki players scouting us out.’

  ‘Either set to guard the camp or make a statement as to the guild’s combat power,’ Helgath confirmed my own thoughts as her yellow eyes glinted in the bonfire’s light.

  “What’s up?” Sarka asked in group chat, interrupting my powwow. Quickly, I explained what the girls discovered on the scouting mission around the Russian’s camp. As I mentioned our conclusions, my friends couldn’t help grinning in excitement. “So, how do you want to handle this?”

  It took a couple minutes to communicate the plan and get everyone in place, but fifteen minutes later we were ready. Getting the final okay from Neristhana, I took the lead as I casually strode out of the treeline. There were no shouts of alarm as we came into the lights of the bonfire. Instead, I heard a strong voice call out as soon as we neared the camp.

  “Startum and friends,” a muscular man waved us over. He had a chiseled face and was wearing heavy leathers with a large bow laying close to hand and the hilts of two short swords peeking over his shoulders. Even though we were speaking common, the man’s inflection and pronunciation had a distinctly Russian flare. “Come, join us by bonfire.”

  Giving an overhead wave back, I altered our path towards that side of the main bonfire. With a casual glance, my eyes scanned the ground around the camp. I was glad to see the snow was a muddy slurry from being repeatedly walked over by everyone in the camp. Just one less thing to give my people away as my eyes went back to looking over the players.

  One of the odd things I immediately noticed was that everyone seemed to be a Ranger combo. I saw a number of Ranger slash Assassins and Ranger slash Warriors. There were also Frost and Fire Mage combos, which was curious, since it was basically a double ranged class. The smartest builds I thought were the handful of Ranger slash Priests that were sprinkled about. Basically, they would play like a
traditional Ranger class in most MMOs with high mobility and good HOTs.

  My female companions definitely caught many of the Russian men’s eyes, but none as much as Fylreh, Neysa, and Helgath. Obviously, for a number of different reasons. As we made our way across the camp, everyone stopped their work and began whispering softly to one another. I could tell the direct stares were making the filly somewhat uncomfortable due to their intensity, but Neysa must have caught the whispered words that we couldn’t, since she proudly puffed out her chest and began to strut by my side as Helgath flushed slightly. Curious as to what was being said, I made a mental note to ask them both later what that was about.

  Thankfully, no one was rude or obnoxious. If anything, I’d say that the players’ faces looking back at us held a certain amount of respect and possibly even admiration. Definitely different than the reaction I’d received in Delonshire. I couldn’t help the smirk that came to my lips. Knowing the predilection of the Russian gamers I’d met online, their reaction probably had more to do with the beauty of my female companions and the quality of our gear more than anything else.

  “It is good to see you my friend!” Dmitry greeted with a broad smile, as he stepped forward to clap me hard on the back in a manly bear hug. “Sasha only had good things to say about you and your beautiful ladies.”

  With a good-natured laugh, I introduced my crew. When each of my female companions stepped forward, Dmitry gave a friendly hug. Ulia and Keela took the physical greeting in stride. Rayne was a stiff as a board at the physical contact. Neysa allowed her flanks to be patted without concern as Dmitry commented on her immense size, swearing she was big enough to ride.

  Helgath and Fylreh were another story. Neither woman was open to being touched by a stranger. The intense glare from Helgath’s yellow cat-eyes was enough warning to keep the Russian’s greeting to a polite nod. Fylreh’s warning wasn’t so subtle as she glared at the newfar with her hands on the hilts of her blades. Seeing Dmitry’s raised eyebrows, I gave a nonchalant shrug.

  “Just because they’re my companions, it doesn’t mean I can tell them what to do,” I said, as the other man guffawed.

  “Isn’t that the case with any woman?” Dmitry asked, as the silver-haired woman standing next to him gave him a hard smack. Instead of getting mad, the Russian guild leader stepped back to introduce the beautiful Dark Elf. “I’d like to introduce Olga Federova. She’s the officer in charge of stealth operations for Krasnyy Volki.” As I shook her black-leather clad hand along with the rest of my companions, Dmitry continued with the rest of his team. Mikhail Ivanov was another Ranger slash Priest, but stood out due to the older look of his avatar and shock of white hair that gave him a very distinguished look.

  The next man was Ivan Makarov, who was a Ranger slash Warrior and in charge of the guild’s tanks. He was a large baldheaded Dark Elf-Dwarf halfling equipped like a professional warrior. What did catch my eye was the mechanical crossbow that he had leaning against his seat. It had a revolver-like cylinder to load new bolts in place that caught the eye. We would definitely need to have a discussion about where he’d gotten that from.

  As Dmitry introduced the last two officers, I couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled from my lips. They were Boris Novbade and Natasha Talefa. Shaking their hands, I asked how Pottsylvania was this time of year as both players laughed with me. It just happened to be then that Tengsly came flying back to me with Assault Leader Dell’s message.

  ‘We are maybe a half an hour away from the pass. No problem with the higher level monsters that have wandered into the zone. The troopers are slicing through the packs at range without losses. Only your newfar friends seem to be a little frustrated that they can’t scout ahead on their own.’ I couldn’t help but smile at the unspoken sarcasm in Dell’s words. Thanking Tengsly, I asked him to perch on my shoulder as both Boris and Natasha called out laughing.

  “It’s Rocky the flying squirrel!”

  The three of us laughed while everyone else looked at us dubiously. I guess they hadn’t grown up watching the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. Well, everyone except Dmitry who seemed to be pleasantly amused.

  Boris was an older Dark Elf-Gnome that was very short. He carried a two-handed hammer over his back that would have been an overly large one-handed weapon in a regular sized person’s hands. Additionally, two smaller mining picks hung from his hips along with a short bow. An odd character to say the least. Dmitry explained that he was the officer in charging of crafting and resource gathering as we shook hands.

  “Is his name actually Rocky?” Boris asked, as he happily petted Tengsly’s furry head. It was curious to see the manifest pet acting like a living breathing creature instead of a magical beast as it arched its back for a particularly good spot.

  “I’m sorry to say that I hadn’t thought about it when I was naming him,” I explained with an apologetic shrug. “Although, it might have if my nickname was Moose.”

  “Is no problem,” the old gnome said with a sad smile.

  “That you could laugh with us was more than enough,” Natasha added, as she wrapped her slim arms around the small gnome’s head. “To us, you will always be Moose. Is okay?”

  “It’s more than okay,” I replied, trying not to stare at the odd pair.

  They were obviously together. While Boris was an older looking man, Natasha was a beautiful female Dark Elf with a sleek body covered in black leather. She had a long bow strapped to her back and matching daggers hanging from her hips, but was, surprisingly enough, a Dark Mage on top of that. When I asked about her spells, I learned that they were different than my own magic and weaker to boot. Dmitry said that they had to run an odd quest into the wilds between the Gnome, Dwarven, and Dark Elf areas to find a tower that Natasha had learned the magic from.

  I did my best to not comment too much about the magic tree that she’d picked up. It was my mistake to think I was the only Dark Magic user in the training area. The hermit that had taught her was basically on the way to my Battle Mage training, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem to swing by and check the old man out to see what other spells he had available. The last thing I wanted to do was find out the hard way that my people weren’t the only ones with undead pets when an army of them suddenly showed up on my doorstep.

  “You must tell us,” Boris spoke up, unknowingly interrupting my contemplation as he excitedly rubbed his hands together like his namesake character from the show. “How you find flying squirrel like Rocky?” Before I could decide on how I was going to answer him, Dmitry cleared his throat next to us.

  “It is not how you say instantaneous communication,” the Russian guild leader said, unsuccessfully trying to hide his excitement. ”But, to have any communications in wilds is great trick.”

  “There’s quite the story behind Tengsly,” I confirmed, thoughtfully meeting Dmitry’s hard gaze. There was no doubt the Russian wanted to know where the telepathic flying squirrels came from so he could get some for his own people, but that information would cost him. “I can only share the full story if we can come to a more permanent relationship.”

  “Then you must drink and sit down by the bonfire so we can talk!” Dmitry magnanimously announced to the rest of his guild as a slight frown came to my lips.

  “While we’d love to hang out by the bonfire and talk,” I said, as Dmitry turned to face me again. “But my forces-“

  “Are not yet here!” Dmitry shouted in the same over the top voice, as he looped an arm around my shoulder and turned us to face his guildmates. “Comrades, show our new friend the power of the Krasnyy Volki guild!”

  As the players around us raised their weapons over their heads and cheered, the wolves from the forest came charging out in a solid mass. I hadn’t realized that the bonfire was on a slight rise, until I could see over the heads of the players gathered around us. That allowed me to get off an Identify on the fierce gray beasts. Immediately, the description Great Saber-Fang Wolf, level 38, Alpha, appeared over the lead
wolf’s head.

  Watching the approaching gray wave, I swore there had to have been at least a wolf for every Krasnyy Volki member here. Meaning, the pack had to number in the seventies to eighties as I did a quick rough count. None of the players seemed concerned by the pack of predators. The why became apparent enough a second later when the wolves began breaking away to take up positions next to their soulbound partners.

  The last six were the largest. As they came charging up to the bonfire, they split up, at the last second, to join their individual partners, except for the pack’s Alpha who came to a sliding stop in front of the two of us with his paws digging into the frozen ground for traction. At the same instant, I sent Tengsly flapping into the air with my preset message.

  “This is my combat pet, Fenrir,” Dmitry announced with pride, but before he could get the words fully out of his mouth or ask about the flying squirrel’s sudden exit, Neysa and Helgath stepped in front of us.

  The Silver Dire Wolf’s thunderous growl cut through the ruckus going on around us like a hot knife through butter. Dmitry and the other Russians could only watch in stunned amazement as the vicious Alpha wolf laid down on all fours and rolled over to show his belly to my soulbound lady. Before Dmitry or any of his officers could comment further, Neysa chuffed as the entire pack of wolves dropped down to their bellies and whined in submission. As Dmitry looked over at me in annoyance trying to understand how his two level higher pet was cowed by my female wolf, my voice rang out across the clearing.

  “Although my main force is still a half an hour out, I’d like to introduce you to some friends of mine that are traveling with me.” As soon as the words left my mouth, Yun, Sarka, Unalia, Tinyr, and Brenna appeared behind the Krasnyy Volki officers while Neristhana popped out of Stealth behind Dmitry with the Leeching Hand-Axe of Severing held tightly in her hands. At the same time, a mass of undead poured out of the forest just like the wolves had a moment earlier. Only, they weren’t alone. A second later, the organized lines of the Uten Syn Druids’ in Were-form appeared with the guild’s Guardians as backup behind them.