by Jason Cheek
For a moment, it felt like my vision was dimming as I focused on the mobs. I could feel the rage building in my chest until it felt like I was going to explode if I didn’t let it out. In the back of my mind, I wondered if this was how Viking berserkers back in ancient times on Earth had felt just before battle. Somehow, I reined in my hate for these disgusting brutal creatures. While the rage made things like the icy cold and the fatigue I’d been feeling disappear, I knew I couldn’t give in to the feelings the anger without having a plan of action to deal with the overwhelming forces we were up against. Otherwise, we’d just end up on tonight’s menu like the rest.
Pushing my anger down for the time being, I forced myself to focus on the line of prisoners bound on the ground. Most had lost all hope and were lying despondently in the snow, watching helplessly with horror-filled eyes at their approaching demise, but I noticed a few still struggled to break free of their bonds … whose eyes still burned with the will to fight. If we could free those prisoners and arm them to stand with us, we could take this whole group down and save everyone. My eyes studied the alcove closely as a plan began forming in my mind. Quickly I began explaining what I needed my two new companions to do.
A moment later, I was scrambling over the outer wall of stones and dropping down in amongst the prisoners with a silent thud. Dropping flat to the ground, my cloak pooled around my body like a dark shadow as I quickly put a finger to my lip motioning for silence to the angry looking Half-elf whose eyes nearly bulged out in surprise at my presence. Up and down the line of bound prisoners, I saw the sudden spark of hope flare up in their eyes as they silently watched me slice through the leather that bound the large man in front of me. Pressing my skinning knife into his hand, I whispered into the man’s ear.
“Release your companions and lead them to the exit. Ulia and Keela will meet you there.”
I was surprised at how large the Half-elf was up close. As he studied my face for a long moment, I swore the man must be a blacksmith or something with his size. Crafter my ass. This man was a fighter if I’d ever seen one. Whatever the Half-elf was looking for in my eyes he must have found it. He gave me a silent nod and scrabbled over the snow to the next prisoner in line as I moved in the opposite direction. Hurriedly I passed the next set of prisoners, stopping at the next individual I’d identified as still having some fight left in them. A flash of my dagger and he was free. Pressing my blade into the smaller man’s hand, I hurriedly repeated my orders, pointing to the single exit and made my way to the far end of the line.
All of the prisoners were severely injured with their Hit Point bars in the orange to red, while a number were nearly comatose from the horror they’d witness and endured. Those NPCs didn’t crawl or speak, but stood numbly and had to be led away by hand by the others. Swearing under my breath at the time it was taking to free everyone; I did my best to keep a watch over the Goblins as I worked.
This was the weakest part of the plan. If we got caught strung out in a line like this before we could get into position, the gig would be up, and we’d be overwhelmed. Feeling hopeful that we’d get everyone free, I was releasing the last prisoner in my portion of the line when a howl of alarm rang out from the center of the camp as the shit hit the fan. I looked up wildly trying to see where everyone was at as the Goblins began grabbing up their weapons and leaping to their clawed feet.
Most of the prisoners had already escaped through the rocky gap. Only about seven NPCs were left in the alcove. The lone pair of Goblins that had sounded the alarm were already rushing towards me with their weapons drawn as I half-dragged the NPC I’d just freed from the camp blasting Flurry bolts behind me. I felt a burning sensation across my shoulders as the nearest Goblin slashed my back with its blade before my follow-up spell blasted him in the face at point blank range.
The second Goblin’s blade skittered across my gauntleted wrists as I elbowed him in the face. The blow knocked him back into his companion as I pushed my rescued prisoner ahead of me. Spinning around in place, I drew my Greatsword of Corruption and slashed down in an overpowered swing that bisected the first Goblin from shoulder to waist as the second Goblin leaped at my face sword first. I only had a split-second to react as I threw my body to the side. The Goblin’s blade immediately sank deep into my upper chest just under my collarbone.
Biting back a scream, I headbutted the Goblin away trying to get enough distance between us to use my blade against the evil bastard. Unfortunately, the Goblin stuck to me like a tick. Using the hilt for leverage, the little shit used my momentum to latch onto my breastplate as it yanked its sword back out for another wild stab. Hurriedly, I changed the grip on my Greatsword.
Swinging the blade up one-handed, I deflected the Goblin’s follow-up strike as my now free hand pummeled the mob’s face. By the third blow, the stunned mob had dropped its sword and stumbled away from me clutching at its bloody face. Lifting my blade up in a two-handed grip with the point facing down, I slammed the massive sword through the Goblin’s chest in a strike that drove the blade through the length of the mob’s body as its Hit Points plummeted to zero.
Three shooting stars flew past my face as I ripped my blade free of the Goblin’s chest. Following the glimmering purple trails of light, I saw the magic missiles slam into the mass of Goblins that were now nearly on top of me. While not strong enough to take a single target down on their own, they did disrupt the Goblins’ charge as I spun around and fled for the exit. There was no way I could battle thirteen Goblins by myself in the middle of the camp. Hell, I didn’t even know the levels I was up against.
I made it to the three-person wide gap in the rocky opening a few steps ahead of the howling mass of Goblins. Sliding to a stop, I released my Frost Nova spell as I swung my Greatsword of Corruption above my head. The crunching sound of ice filled the air as I spun around to face the frozen ranks of Goblins. Without hesitation my sword crashed down onto the lead Goblin, dropping its Hit Points down by a third with one blow. The ice holding the mob cracked instantly, releasing the creature to attack from my crowd control spell. Before the Goblin’s sword could pierce my chest, three spears flashed past my shoulder skewering the Goblin where it stood as Ulia stepped forward with SoulBreaker and took the mob’s head off with one swipe of her blade.
Whipping my two-handed sword up and around, I brought the blade crashing down on the next Goblin in line as a stream of magic missiles whistled over my shoulder a second later smashing into the face of my newest target. Spears thrust out around me piercing the Goblin’s chest as Ulia’s two-handed sword slammed into the next Goblin. We rinsed and repeated the attacks, doing our best to do as much damage as possible within the 8-second window. As I counted down to 7 seconds, I released Blood Plague and swapped out my two-handed blade for my sword and shield as the rest of the Goblin line was released in a crash of ice.
We managed to cut our enemies down to nine by the time my Frost Nova spell released. While the odds were noticeably better than at the beginning of the fight, it was still basically nine against two if you counted Ulia. I didn’t know the swordswoman’s skill level, but she was unarmored and still recovering from being half-starved and beaten to an inch of her life. Still, she was the only surviving warrior of the bunch.
Keela wasn’t in any better shape. If anything, she’d only be good for a few more shots before running out of Mana. The other three NPCs wielding the Troll’s spears that had been handed out before the fight had begun were barely able to stand on their feet. Keela had handed the spears out including the one I’d given her earlier since she had her magic to call upon for a weapon. To be honest, I was just thankful that the NPCs were willing to fight even if they didn’t have any weapon skills. At this point, any extra damage was a lifesaver and helped to keep the remaining Goblins from completely overrunning our line.
The time in-between the cooldown of my Frost Nova spell felt like forever as I fought next to Ulia to hold back the press of green bodies. Using my shield as a battering ra
m, I blasted the first two mobs off their feet with a Shield Bash before the rest of the charge slammed into me. Numerous blades skittered off my shield and armor as I fought against the overwhelming numbers, but I couldn’t hold them all back as some of the strikes made it through my defenses.
Burning pain flared through my chest and back as bloody claws tore at my shield and sword arm, trying to drag me under with the weight of their assault. My Hit Point bar began dropping at a dangerous rate as I fought to hold the tide of mobs. In my peripheral vision, I saw Ulia’s black blade taking off arms and legs as she did her best to carve the mobs off of me. To either side of us, the spear-wielding NPCs used their borrowed weapons to beat the Goblins back, while the remaining NPCs used the daggers I’d handed out or picked up weapons from the dead to attack the mobs hanging on my back.
Bellowing and screaming in wordless rage, I felt my body weakening as I fought to hold the line. The seconds slowly ticked down on my interface for my Frost Nova spell as I lashed out with everything I had. Goblins hung from my legs and arms as I stabbed, slashed, bashed and kicked, fighting with every part of my body. Blood ran down my face a Goblin latched onto my upper arm clawing at my face, while another clambered onto my back to sink its fangs into my neck. Howling in agony, I fought on using every dirty trick I could think of as my health bar flashed red and my vision began to darken. It was then that my interface popped up with Frost Nova available.
Immediately, I activated my control spell as a wave of ice blasted out from my body freezing the Goblins in place. Chunks of ice formed over the mobs hanging off my chest and back freezing like a sick work of art. The extra weight would have dragged me to the ground if not for Keela directing the rescued prisoners to haul the Goblin icicles from my back. Loud thuds rang out around me as more hands pulled the frozen mobs away from me. Those mobs were promptly cut down before they could recover as more NPCs lifted me back to my feet. Ignoring the darkening haze around my vision, I stumbled after Ulia using my Greatsword to take out the remaining enemies before the Frost Nova spell expired.
We didn’t make it in time as the battle started up once again. I don’t know how long I fought before collapsing to my knees as a Goblin blade careened off my skull. My health bar flashed an urgent red as a growling, silver streak darted past me. The Goblin’s scream rang in my ears as my vision dimmed. Before I could die, callused hands sat me up as a soothing liquid was poured down my throat.
Instantly, I the darkness faded from my eyes as the warming burn of the Minor Healing potion made its way through my aching body. Although the relief was only fleeting, it was enough to get my Hit Points out of the critical phase as my vision focused on Ulia’s piercing blue eyes. The lines of her hard face seemed to momentarily soften as soon as she realized she’d reached me in time with the potion. Not giving me a second to even catch my breath, she hauled me to my wobbly feet speaking loudly.
“Enough lying around, Star. There’s work to be done before the storm hits.” Seeing a frown form on my lips, Ulia leaned forward to whisper harshly in my ear.
“Calm down for a moment and look around. I’m not questioning your ability or all that you’ve done for our people. You’ve done good by us but, even injured as you are, you’re in better shape than anyone else here. These traders and crafters,” Ulia nodded towards the prisoners we’d saved, “are the walking dead. At this point, they’re moving only on willpower alone. Everyone here needs healing, food, and water or they’re not going to make it through the night. I can’t have them stop now, or we won’t get the shelter finished in time before the worst of the storm hits.”
Looking around at the rescued prisoners, I saw exactly what she meant. Most of the NPCs had the look of an Auschwitz survivor. They were thin as a rail with Hit Point bars hovering below the 10% health mark and that wasn’t even mentioning the horrors they must have endured during their captivity. Just looking at the bloody, whip marks crisscrossing their backs and the terrible bruises covering their bodies made me angry, but that was nothing in comparison to the fate that had befallen their dead companions.
I again forced the bile down as my eyes settled on the gnawed bones strewn around the encampment. The torture and beatings were nothing compared to watching people that you’ve known and loved be eaten alive before your eyes as you awaited your own macabre turn at death. The grisly scene made me want to hunt down every Goblin in The World to end their sick cruelty.
“I hear yeah,” I said, slightly embarrassed as I held up my hands apologetically. “I understand the score. I’ll focus on healing the worst cases first while you get the shelter started.”
Ulia gave me a sharp nod and headed off as I noticed Neysa padding up to me. The little Dire Wolf’s silvery-white coat was now stained dark with blood from the fight. Coming to a stop, she leaned into my leg softly chuffing as I pattered her flank in thanks. The last Goblin had nearly taken my head off at the end of the fight. If not for Neysa ignoring my command to stay back, there was no doubt in my mind that I would have been killed before the battle was over.
Ruffling the fur on the little wolf’s head, I took time to heal myself back into the yellow before getting to work as Neysa followed to keep watch over me as I worked. While I had more than enough Mana to top off my health, many of the survivors’ Hit Point bars were in the dark red of near death, besides my natural healing ability would get me back to full health soon enough. Hell, my high Spirit alone would probably have my Hit Points topped off before I was even finished with healing everyone.
Most of the ex-prisoners were still strewn around the rocky gap we’d used as our defensive position, having collapsed where they’d ended up at the end of the fight. My first patient, a young Half-elf male that was nearest to me, was crying in a heap on the frozen ground. From our short conversation, the tears were a mixture of relief and grief from the emotional turmoil of everything that they’d been through since the fall of BrokenFang Hold and their subsequent capture. It only took a minute and a half to top off his health, but I spent a little more time with the young man to settle him down, before pulling him back to his feet and getting him moving once again. Patting him on his shoulder, I gave him a couple of strips of wolf-jerky and sent him off towards Ulia before moving on to my next patient.
There was a lot still to do if everyone was going to make it through the worsening blizzard and focusing on the horror of it all wasn’t going to help anyone. It might sound harsh but what more could any of us do? Even though this was just a game and these NPCs were nothing more than pieces of digital code, I still felt it worthwhile to do what I could to help out and make a connection. It might sound odd. While most players would only be worried about whether or not they completed the quest, the more time I spent around the NPCs I met within the game, the more I felt like the relationships were based on something more than just completing quests. Maybe I was at fault for humanizing the game’s software AI above and beyond what was really there, or maybe I’d been playing computer games for so long that I’d lost touch with reality.
The last thought made me frown. Out of all the years I’d been playing video games, I’d never mistaken any of the NPCs in the games I’d played as being digital people. I just preferred being polite, which helped in completing quest within the last few years as the programming for NPCs became more and more complex. Never once had I mistaken any of those previous game’s digital characters as being anything other than complex programs. Shaking the uncomfortable thought away, I got back to work. There’d be plenty of time to ponder the question of digital consciousness once I had everyone healed up.
It took me over an hour of constant healing to fix up everyone’s wounds which was great for leveling up my Light magic. Thankfully, there weren’t any wounds that I couldn’t handle. Thankfully being an oxymoron, since the Goblins didn’t maul anyone they weren’t already in the process of butchering. Otherwise they’d just beaten or tortured their captives for the fun of it. Again my seething anger at these evil creatur
es sought to break loose as I helped the last survivor I’d just healed over to the covered firepit in the back of the alcove.
Breathing deeply, I slowly quelled my rage as I reminded myself that everything had its time. I’d hunt down these vile creatures and make them pay for their cruelty. For now, I had to concentrate on taking care of the survivors. While I’d worked, Ulia and Keela had built a rickety curtain of smelly skins in an A-frame against the rocks to block out the worst of the wind from the storm. Basically, just a primitive lean-to crafted from spears and hides that mostly functioned as a windbreak. In the back of the darkened interior the NPCs were already passed out from exhaustion, all except for Ulia and the NPC I’d just escorted in. I helped the older man find a spot next to the fire, before sitting down next to the swordswoman. The exhaustion she felt was clearly written all over her face as she spoke softly.
“You know, I didn’t really believe we’d pull this off.”
“What? I thought you had faith in me after taking down the Troll?”
Well, sort of … maybe. Mostly, I just refused to give up on our people without a fight. Better to go down swinging than be slaughtered like cattle on my knees.” Ulia said with an exhausted smile. “I would’ve rather died than leave them to such a fate without at least trying.”
“Don’t take that the wrong way,” Ulia said seeing the frown forming on my lips. Gripping my arm, she held my gaze with her piercing blue eyes. “I was honored to fight alongside you to rescue our people.”
