by Jason Cheek
Yanking the Leeching Dagger of Piercing free from the dead Goblin’s head with a loud slurk, I began fighting for my life in a blur of dual wielding ripostes and parries. While I could handle three equal-level Goblins with relative ease, six were another story altogether. The minute that went by as I waited for my Mana to regenerate felt like an eternity. I vaguely heard the war horns of the advancing invaders as my blades flashed like lightning. Jagged, iron blades repeatedly pierced my skin as I fought against the overwhelming numbers. The health leached from my dagger attacks made my Hit Point bar look like an EKG machine as the magic partially restored a portion of my health with each hit. Most of the time, I couldn’t even strike back due to the rain of blows coming in at me from every direction. All the while I waited as I watched my Mana creep up ever so slowly. As soon as it hit 120, I made my move.
Sheathing my dagger, I immediately cast Frost Nova. Before the wave of ice had completely washed over the circle of Goblins surrounding us, I was already kneeling down casting a Minor Heal on Neysa. Holding my breath, I tried my best not to waste a second as I watched the seconds ticking down to my spell’s freeze effect. As soon as the heal completed, I sprang into action. Slipping my arm under Neysa’s front quarter, I pulled her to me as I lurched into a run dragging the Silver Dire Wolf along with me as I ducked in-between two of the frozen Goblins blocking my way. I made it through just as the spell broke and sprinted away half dragging Neysa’s body as the Goblins swarmed after me.
I only made it ten yards before the Goblins were on top of me again. One of the green fuckers hamstrung the back of my leg while another’s blade pierced my shoulder as a third slashed my arm holding Neysa. Stumbling to a stop as the Silver Dire Wolf slid out of my grasp, I again took up a protective position over Neysa’s body as the Goblins piled on top of me slashing, clawing and biting away like insane lemmings. Battling for my life, I threw Goblins off of me kicking and screaming as my Leeching Dagger of Piercing drank deeply with each strike. Neysa helped where she could, her jaws crushing whatever came close to her maw. By the time I finally cleared a space around us, there were even more of the vile creatures surrounding us than last time as I ripped my dagger out of its latest meat sheath and went on the offensive.
The only good thing I had going on was that fighting with melee weapons required space. Even though twenty or so Goblins surrounded us, only six Goblins could attack at any one time. That didn’t mean the Goblins didn’t trade off constantly with their attackers, but it did at least limit the number of direct melee attacks I had to block at any given time. Once again the dance of death continued as I beat the mobs back like a madman in a blur of combos and special attacks. Only this time, Neysa’s Hit Points kept going up steadily as she weakly climbed to her feet. Growling at my back, Neysa’s golden eyes locked onto the Goblins around us as her lips peeled back showing her fangs. I mentally chided her to stay back and let her body heal, but she was beyond listening to me as she snapped and lunged at any target that came into her range.
Challenging growls came from the Worgs outside of our battling circle, but none of the beasts dared to come close to the ferocious brawl. Vaguely I heard the war horns of the advancing invader's main force getting closer as my blade darted forward like a striking snake at any Goblin who dared to enter into the range of my weapons. Once again, I thanked my lucky stars for getting dibs on the incredible dagger when it dropped. Without its health boost, I would have already been dead from a thousand cuts.
I swore in frustration glancing towards Delonshire. Fifteen yards! That’s all I had left to go to escape these green bastards. Mentally I was in the flow as I twisted, lunged and thrust in an unending flurry of constant blows and counterattacks. Blood and sweat ran down my face and soaked the leather under my armor as I fought the best I’d ever had in my entire life. Still, it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t kill the green fuckers fast enough to dash to safety. I tried to think of something else I could do besides waiting for my Mana to recover as more and more Worg Riders rushed in to surround us but I’d used up every trick that I could think of. Looking at the sea of green rushing towards me, I realized that there was quickly going to come a time when there was no way I could get through them all no matter what I did.
It was at that moment a commotion caught my attention. Looking towards Delonshire, I saw guards standing atop the barricades firing crossbows down into the invaders as players began dropping onto the battlefield. Forming up into teams, four groups of five players broke into a sprint heading directly for me. As I watched, half the players suddenly blinked out of sight into stealth as the rest of the team formed up into a rough semicircle.
A grim smile split my bloody lips as soon as I saw that Thomas Anderson was leading the charge. I smiled at the thought of the gruff marine coming to save my ass, knowing Kenzie must have laid into his ass for him to be in on the rescue. At least his level 14 fighter was now a level 18 warrior and was somewhat better armed and armored then when I’d seen him last. The players behind him were approximately within the same level 17 to 16 range. Most were spec’d as Fighters slash warriors, although, from the plain robes I could see towards the back, there were a few mages with them too.
I saw all of this in the blink of an eye as I parried, dodged and blocked the blows raining down on me from every direction. Call it the magic of the HUD or being a much higher level then the players coming to give me a hand, but it was basically like seeing pop-ups over each players’ head. I could even see the shadowy shapes of the rogues as they crept up on their targets, probably because I was looking at them when they’d triggered their stealth. They’d split into five different groups of two and were line up their attacks on the outer edge of the circle of Goblins surrounding me. Thankfully none of the Goblins or Worgs seemed to notice either group. Otherwise, the surprise rescue would’ve quickly turned into a surprise wipe. As soon as the melee group hit the five-yard mark, I saw the lead shadowy rogue signal to the others as the whole group blinked out of stealth triggering their Sneak Attack.
Almost as one, the Goblins screamed in agony as each of their Hit Point bars plummeted to almost two-thirds from the initial assault. Before the mobs could react, their health noticeably dropped once again as each rogue triggered their Backstab special just as the warriors charged into the fray. I saw Kenzie McMillan’s sexy lips screwed up in fierce concentration as Thomas crashed into her target. Parrying the Goblin’s blade aside, he smashed his shield into the mob’s ugly mug as Kenzie swung around to the Goblin’s back with a howling screech. Once again, her daggers thudded into her target in a spray of blood as the mage sent ice blasts into the Goblins face.
In any MMO style game, attacking a target nine to ten levels above your own was no joke. Even with surprise and four players on every target, the Goblins were hard as hell for the Devil Dogs to take down. For the two groups without the extra DPS from the mages to back up their attack, their fight was turning into a pitched battle as they struggled to do enough damage to take down their target. I saw one rogue from the Devil Dogs named Matt Darkhorse that was being held up by a Goblin one-handedly as it struggled to choke him to death while the rest of his team did their best to burn the bastard down. Before the rest of the Goblins could react to the surprise attack, I leaped to the far side of the circle and slid to a stop while triggering my Frost Noval spell as Neysa sprang in the opposite direction. In three strides she ripped into the back of one of the two remaining Goblins that our new allies were struggling to take down.
Before the ice had fully washed over the Goblins ranks, I was sprinting back for Kenzie’s and Thomas’ defensive line. Using the last of my Mana, I sniped the Goblin furthest away that was battling with Neysa as I sprinted for the struggling group of Devil Dogs. From all of my fights so far in The World, I’d learned that striking critical areas of a target magnified the damage inflicted; aka: striking the head did more damage than hitting a leg, severing a wrist in comparison to slashing a bicep or my newest favorite … slitt
ing the throat and severing the head!
Coming up behind the Goblin that was strangling the rogue, I lunged at the mob’s back with the Dark Blade of Lord Kayden leading the way. Using two hands, I punched the point completely through the mob’s neck while triggering my Backstab attack. I didn’t bother landing on the Goblins back but used the sword’s hilt as a pivot point to swing around and come down on the front side of the mob. Between the sharpness of the blade and my velocity, the weapon slid free while slicing through half of the mob’s neck in a fountain of blood. Whipping my blade over my head as I dropped to the ground, I used the added momentum from the fall to power my downward strike as I chopped cleanly through the Goblin’s forearm holding the rogue aloft. In one smooth move, I landed in a crouch at the Goblin’s clawed feet as Matt dropped to the ground in front of me gasping for air as the mob keeled over dead.
I couldn’t help the grin that came to my face as I heard the female warrior of the group, a Devil Dogs named Terry Cobra, ask under her breath to the stunned warrior beside her. “Where the hell do you find the trainer for that move?” Before anyone else could speak, Thomas’ deep voice rang out over the field.
“Okay Marines, we’ve got our man! Now let’s fall back to the barricade by the numbers.”
I helped the rogue to his feet as everyone took off at a steady jog heading back towards the Delonshire barricades. Behind us, Goblins were pouring out of the treeline into the outskirts of town like a living flood as the main force of the invaders finally arrived. Most of the remaining Worg Riders on the field were now focusing their attacks on the players that continually poured out of the graveyard, except for the small groups that were either attacking the Delonshire’s defenses or currently engaged with me. Now those same Worg Riders were trying to slow our escape so that their comrades could catch up to us before we made our escape.
I heard Thomas’ voice call out as Matt and I caught up with the Devil Dogs’ formation. “Hey Star, it must be pretty embarrassing to have your ass saved by a bunch of lowbie players?”
For a second everyone just looked at each other uncomfortably, before Kenzie’s sharp tongue made everything right. “Dammit Tom, I told you to cut that shit out before I have to Backstab you myself!”
“Mister Anderson.” I greeted the Devil Dogs’ guild leader as I stepped up in-between both players. Turning to Kenzie, I saw she was already rolling her eyes in annoyance.
“Seriously, do you have any idea how long ago that became not funny?”
“Probably around the same time as his ‘you’re not worthy act’ for anyone who you were interested became tiresome.” I automatically retorted, keeping my eyes on the advancing wave of Goblins.
“Really, you’re going to start that shit now?” Kenzie snapped in exasperation as he gave me the look. Holding up my hands apologetically, I tried again.
“What I meant to say is, I wanted to thank everyone for coming out to save my sorry ass. I really didn’t feel like being tortured and eaten today.”
“Ha, tortured and eaten. Good one, man.” Matt, the rogue, said with a laugh that stopped as soon as he saw my face. “Wa … wait, you’re just fucking with me, right?”
“Really guys?” I shook my head sourly as the rest of the Devil Dogs turned to look at me in surprise. “Didn’t any of you guys do the kill quest in the Delonshire Mines for Slave Master Cralo Gutripper?”
“No, some asshole named Star knocked it out first.” Thomas sneered before suddenly yipping as Kenzie stabbed him in the arm with a dagger. “Dammit knock that shit out, Kenzie!” Ignoring the guild leader’s shout, I continued my explanation as mutters from the other players continued. The complaints mostly centered on the loss of the dungeon.
“Most of the guards that survived the initial attack when the Goblins invaded the mine were eaten alive by those green bastards. We saw the grisly sight with our own eyes. The only ones who survived were Miya Faelwen and ten guards who we rescued on our way to kill Cralo Gutripper.”
“You mean Guard Captain Faelwen?” Terry Cobra asked in surprise from the other side of the formation. Before I could answer, we had a group of fifteen Worg Riders rush us in mass. Immediately, Sara Cruise and another frost mage that I didn’t know pushed their way to the back of the formation. As soon as the Goblins came within range, the three of us hit them with our Frost Novas, stopping the attack dead as we continued to fall back.
“Yea, that’s her,” I shouted back once the commotion was over.
“You’d think she’d be a little happier after being rescued,” Matt muttered beside me with a frown as Thomas chipped in his two cents.
“That’s because Star here rescued them when they were chained together in the buff.”
“Really, Star?” I asked looking around in annoyance. “Why not Ironwolf like everyone else calls me?”
“Because only NPCs call you Ironwolf, dummy,” Kenzie said, giving me a smirk as she hooked an arm over my shoulder. ”You know the golden rule. Players always get called the first three or four letters of their first names. It depends on whatever makes sense, and besides, Star is a lot funnier than Ironwolf.”
“You mean, annoying,” I responded back with an eye roll. “Besides, didn’t you call me Ironwolf the other night?”
SMACK! “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to kiss and tell?” Kenzie said oversweetly as she nonchalantly pulled her arm from around my shoulders. I rubbed at the handprint on my cheek as everyone else around us looked away with grins, except for Thomas who was quietly fuming. What can I say, I just don’t have any patience for jealousy. Just as everything quieted down, Matt looked over at me with a raised eyebrow.
“So … how about telling us about those sweater puppies?”
“Matt shut the hell up!” Terry shouted angrily as several other women in the group began bitching out the rogue. The comments petered out as soon as everyone started climbing the barricades. Thankfully, whether purposeful or not, Matt’s comment helped to break-up some of the tension between Thomas and I as we took up a defensive position at the bottom. Leaning in to keep our conversation somewhat private, I looked Thomas in the eyes.
“Thank you for coming out with your people to save my ass. I owe you one.”
For a long second, Thomas just looked at me before sighing deeply. “Naw, it’s cool. At least we got a quest for it from Captain Faelwen.” We both looked up as I winced hearing Miya’s voice giving orders to her people on top of the barricades. Catching my eye once again, Thomas continued. “I know it’s not your fault. Kenzie is going to do what Kenzie is going to do. It just hurts when she doesn’t see what’s standing directly before her.”
I nodded my head in understanding. Not that there was much of anything to say. We both knew the deal. He’d been friend zoned, and I was just a passing fancy. Not because he was bad and I was good. No, I think it was because I wasn’t part of the painful past that she was trying to hide from and because I wasn’t looking for a relationship, just maybe Thomas and I could be friends. Switching my sword to my left hand, I held my hand out to Thomas. Again there was a long pause as he looked into my eyes. There was no pity or animosity, just understanding. Letting out a long breath, he finally reached out to grip my empty hand.
“We cool?” I asked, still holding his gaze.
“Yea, we’re cool,” Thomas answered with a sad smile, before looking out towards the field of Goblins. The Worg Riders had pulled back, and now the regular warriors were advancing towards the town’s defenses as players and guards took to the makeshift barricades. Looking out over the unfolding invasion, Thomas’ face suddenly lit up with a smile. “Thanks for the heads up about this event. Hopefully, this will let us catch up to you level-wise.”
“Hell yeah,” I agreed, nodding for him to climb up. “It’s not like I could kill them all by my lonesome. Hey Thomas, keep your people close though. I have something else for us to do that you’ll like even better.” Seeing the doubt in the other man’s eyes, I arched an eyebrow to emp
hasize my words. “Trust me on this.”
Coming to a stop three feet up, Thomas studied my face before nodding. “Sounds like a plan, but only if you can talk your way past the guards.” Seeing my confusion, he explained. “Captain Faelwen is pretty pissed off at you.”
“Yea, well she’s usually pissed off at me for one thing or another,” I said frowning.
“Yea, but this time I think she’s blaming you for the invasion.”
“Ha!” The sound was more of a bark than a laugh as I muttered a quick ‘Fuck me’ while jerking my chin for Thomas to continue heading up. “It’ll be good. Just get your people ready to move out.” As soon as he was near the top, I scooped down and tossed Neysa up to the top in one smooth motion. With one last look to make sure none of the green bastards were too close, I headed up after Thomas as I mentally prepared myself for some quick talking. As soon as I reached the top edge of the barricade, rough hands dragged me over the rim by the arms. Instead of letting go, the hands held me fast on either side as Captain Faelwen stormed to a stop in front of me. At my current strength and level, I could have easily shrugged free of my captors, but I decided it was better not to as I saw the barely controlled rage on Miya’s face.
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t run you through now and toss your corpse back over the wall?”
“Heya Miya, it’s good to see you too,” I said, giving her a smarmy smile.
“Sergeant Traovudd! Kill him-“ Miya started to say as I held up both hands apologetically, talking in a rush.
“Whoa there, just hold up for a second and let me explain.” Lowering my hands, I turned serious. “Look, the invasion isn’t my fault. Besides, the only reason you even had time to prepare any defenses ahead of time was because I used some of my special newfar magic so that my friends could get a message to you about the invasion. Otherwise,” I jerked my chin towards the field of Goblins, “they would have overrun Delonshire in the blink of an eye.” Seeing some of the anger drain out of her face at the plain truth of my words, I continued in at a more normal speed. “Now, I have a plan, but first I need to know the situation here.”
