by Grey Arney
Arcturus sent out an announcement.
>>Arcturus: Surprise attack! Eat the brown acorn!
Many did not need to be told, and were already forming into massive, burly bears. The roofs that the rangers stood on were not big enough for them all to make the transition, but they didn’t need to be. Even with their critical hits, the Ash Goblins were no match for Dire Bears.
The attackers were quickly disposed of, and Arcturus had already turned his attention to the front, where he had ordered the sprites to launch themselves into the oncoming throng of enemies.
>>Arcturus: Rangers, regroup! If your team has four or more, choose one to stay in bear form to defend. If your team has three or less, join another team. It’s going to get crowded up on your rooftops, but we need to start firing on the enemy soon. Hold your fire until my signal.
>>Arcturus: Warriors, take bear form and get to the front of Aurora. Keep an eye on your rear for sneak attacks.
He didn’t wait to see the resulting reorganization, nor to micromanage it. His attention was needed ahead, as he was commanding the twenty-seven wood sprites and it was time for them to begin rending goblin flesh. He ordered them stand up and attack.
Up ahead, two dozen goblins had broken through the barrier and were already nearing Aurora.
>>Arcturus: Hold your fire! The warriors can handle these. Save your arrows.
The bears stepped forward to meet the oncoming threat, and Arcturus turned his attention to the sprites. The goblins were pouring through gaps in the wall, and as they did so, his sprites ripped them apart, waiting underneath to impale them on thorny appendages. They used surprisingly cunning tactics for mindless elementals. He saw one extend its roots to trip a goblin before driving its heel into the helpless being like a cudgel smashing through a chicken’s egg.
The sprites were effective killers. Some goblins tried to pour past them, but many engaged them with their crude weapons. But neither blade nor hammer seemed to have much effect. One goblin had an axe that he was able to dig into a sprite. He severed a limb off before he met the foul end of another, which pushed him backwards with a spindly tentacle and, reaching it into his mouth, up through his palette. The thorny tendril emerged again with goblin brains spattered all over it.
If there had been enough of the sprites, Arcturus could have scored an easy victory. Dozens of goblins fell in battle against them, and the field was now littered with their corpses strewn about like straw. Black blood soaked into the grass like petroleum oil.
He glanced at his notifications and tried to get a sense of how many had fallen, estimating it to be four or five dozen. But there were still many more, some of whom had broken past the line and were now getting mauled by bears.
A burst of flame appeared at the barrier, and for a moment, Arcturus thought that the rangers had begun releasing their flame arrows. But on closer examination, he saw that some of the red goblins had made it to the front line, and they were using Fire Magic!
The sprite he had most recently commanded reared at the flames bursting forth from his counterpart. Its roots withered in the heat, which licked up its side. It had caught flame.
All of the elementals were lighting up like torches, but they were indifferent to being burned into ash, and continued to press on. The flames added a scorching heat to their attacks, which they used in turn to pummel the oncoming enemy. The red goblins who had started the fire had already fallen victim to it, but more stepped over them.
Arcturus was starting to think that this turn of events had given him the advantage when one of his elementals fell down on the grass. Except for the crackling flames that danced under the open sky, it was motionless.
Others soon followed suit. They all had started with the same amount of hit points, and they fell down almost in synchronization. The first line of defense had been destroyed.
>>Arcturus: Time for those flame arrows!
The rangers had already prepared their torches, and flaming arrows streamed across the sky like fireworks, many finding their marks in the wooden barriers. Some caught flame, but most didn’t. The goblins were only marginally slowed down as they were forced to navigate around.
>>Arcturus: It’s no use. Use regular arrows.
The rangers responded quickly, and volleys of arrows weaved their way through the oncoming assailants. In a glance, he saw an arrow appear in the shoulder of one goblin that pressed onward, in the throat of another that fell mid-step, and many more. There were too many to count, but he didn’t get experience for any of the kills.
>>Arcturus: Continue to fire. On my mark, take bear form.
The battle was roaring all around him now, ringing in his ears, and overwhelming his senses. His adrenaline was spiking, and time seemed to slow down. William, who had been standing next to him, had just gotten his foot pinned into the roof by an arrow he never saw coming. The man screamed, and Arcturus paused only briefly to help, pulling the arrow out and freeing his foot.
>>Fish: Boss, goblins coming from the river!
Without waiting to check on William, he turned around so fast that he spun like a top. He saw in the distance that some of the blue goblins were crawling out of the river astride Aurora. They had Fish’s special mutation, and they had intended to use it to spring a surprise attack.
It was tempting to indulge in a small victory then and there, to call the golem up, the rocky automaton that was now plumbing the depths of the murky river, and have him drag them all to the bottom. It had infinite hit points and was immune to most damage. But now was not the time to reveal his last special trick.
Instead, he hopped to the street level, already in wolf form, and rushed to meet the invaders.
>>Arcturus: Rangers, wait until each warrior is faced with at least three enemies, then give up your post, take bear form, and join the front line!
Arcturus had barely finished sending the message when he had reached the blue goblins, one of whom was holding a boot that he had taken off to shake the water out. They certainly lacked the stealthiness of the Ash Goblins, and breathing underwater didn’t change that.
Because of his Dire Bear Cloak, he was now able to switch directly from wolf to bear, instantly, with no mana cost. The group of twenty or so regarded him in disbelief, shocked that their brilliant tactic was turning in such poor results. On all fours now, the Dire Bear Druid rammed his skull into one, causing internal bleeding and sending it flying back into the river. Three more approached, and he brushed them away like snow, leaving deep trenches in them that pooled dark blood.
Those were down, but more were coming. One of them ran towards him, and then jumped forward, cartwheeling like an acrobat before spinning high into the air with featherlight grace. The Dire Bear watched this feat while dodging a blow from another, and then he riposted, switching his aim upwards just in time to send the nimble goblin flying in the reverse direction where it landed motionless.
Seeing that they were powerless against the bear, the remaining goblins, more than ten, turned and fled in all directions. The smart ones got back in the river, but most of them ran in the opposite direction.
In the epiphany of battle, Arcturus comprehended that his wolf and bear forms were now totally complementary. He switched to the wolf to charge down a fleeing goblin, leaping up high and then switching to Dire Bear form mid-air. The massive brown body landed on the helpless goblin, and one more blow smashed its face into bits on the ground. Then he was a wolf again, sprinting at another, before the bear re-appeared to strike a death blow. Switching shapes instantly allowed him to combine the speed of the wolf with the brutal strength of the bear.
In this way, all of the blue goblins were dispersed, most of them rendered into bits. At least one of them had a face that looked like it went through a food processor.
Without sparing a moment to look with pride upon his work, he switched back to wolf form and, covered in sticky goblin gore, ran back to the battlefront.
Upon arrival there, he found a disaster unf
olding. The advancing horde couldn’t be stopped. All along the front lines were stacks of dead goblins, but new ones just kept crawling over them. Arcturus was pained to see that several more Dire Bears had fallen, and the survivors were pulling back into the village. The players were making a fighting retreat back through the streets.
Leaping to the top of the nearest accessible roof, Arcturus transformed into the Golden Hawk and looked into the distance. He saw Badger, standing astride three massive wooden carts. The side panels were being taken off. Inside the nearest one, Arcturus saw a lumbering giant, curled up with its arms around its knees. As it tumbled out of the back of the cart, he saw that it was many times the mass of any other goblin. It must have weighed at least seven hundred pounds. And it was three times the ordinary height of a goblin as well, towering well over twelve feet. After it stood up, it reached back in the wagon and pulled out a bludgeon whose business end was thicker in diameter than a watermelon. One blow from that would do to a man’s head what a club does to a golf ball.
The time had come to put all of his cards on the table. He sent a message to the golem, communicating that it was to move to the position near the three large goblins and kill them all with extreme prejudice. Then he called Lyle to his position and sent a message to Fish.
>>Arcturus: Fish, can you see me on the minimap?
>>Fish: Yes, Boss.
>>Arcturus: Please come right away.
His harried sidekick appeared in just moments. His clothes were torn, and he had a few scratches, but other than that looked none the worse for wear.
“It’s not going well,” said Arcturus. “The people here won’t last long.”
“Yeah,” said Fish. “What do we do?”
“How do you think the goblins would react if Badger died?” he asked.
“I don’t know, I don’t think they’d just go away, but their intelligence would drop, and that might help.”
“Well, it’s time to go kill Badger,” said Arcturus.
“I don’t see any way to do that. He’s surrounded by his minions out there, and he’s much more powerful than you.”
“Size and strength are not the only advantages. The tiny hornet can overcome even an elephant.”
The goblin stared for a moment. “No offense, Boss, but sometimes this Druid crap makes you sound kinda like a twat.”
The twat smiled and pointed down at the street below where the golem was approaching. “Just watch.”
Each step the golem took was an announcement of grinding stone. In some places, the battle actually paused for a moment as combatants from both sides looked up at the gargantuan figure, striding unselfconsciously towards the center of the horde.
As it met with the first few goblins, it made no attempt to fight them. Its instructions did not forbid it from attacking, nor did they require it. The first of the hostiles quickly got out of its way. After it had pressed itself past several rows of them, one got brave and attempted to hack at its legs with a long scimitar, which had no effect. The golem continued with the slow, exaggerated motions of a man wading through slippery seaweed and into the ocean.
The Dire Bears, which numbered under seventy now, rallied at this turn of events, nipping into the horde while it struggled to find a way to cope with the new enemy.
When Badger caught sight of the mineral man approaching, he started screaming orders at his goblins, and attempted to hinder it with his Flesh Magic. When that didn’t work, he took control of some of the goblins near it, sending them plowing into the approaching titan, and bidding another to spit a stream of fire up to its head. When that didn’t slow the golem down, he had his goblins grasp its arms and legs, attempting to drag it to the ground.
This last hindrance constituted a potential obstacle between the golem and its target, so the automaton attacked. It flung its limbs around, bashing the red goblins that were trying to climb it like a tree. Arcturus was impressed to see that it had special combat moves.
The golem put its feet together and stretched its arms out at ninety degree angles, then started spinning like a tornado. The whir of motion turned first into a blur of brown hues as the stone spun faster, and then reds, similar to when a tomato is placed in the blender, suddenly dyeing the contents a new color as it split open a Fire Goblin. The same thing happened again when its spinning arms connected to the green goblins and drew spurts of their black blood, little squirts here and there and finally a geyser, spewing up from the whirlwind of teeth and bones.
It had nearly reached Badger and his honor guard now, and it must have killed at least fifty more goblins in doing so. Arcturus had no doubt that if the goblins had showed up without Badger today, his golem could singlehandedly tear them all apart, given time.
But Badger was not about to let that happen. He fell back and sent his consciousness into one of the giant, club-wielding goblins nearest him. Now all three of the giants were on the rock golem. Badger gave up on trying to compel his lesser minions to fight for him, as now they were only getting in the way and being trampled underfoot.
The large bodies didn’t come with large brains. One of the giants attempted to slap the golem, reeling in pain and rubbing its hand. Slapping stones hurts! This is how Arcturus found out what the large golems really were.
Your Earth Elemental (Golem) has been attacked by a Flesh Abomination! It receives 0 damage.
An abomination? Arcturus thought to himself. They were hard to see from this distance, but they looked like bigger, uglier goblins. Almost certainly a product of Badger’s Flesh Magic.
He didn’t have much time to consider it, though, as his golem landed a powerful swing on one of the abominations, but another used the opportunity to grab its arm. Now the golem had met its match.
The stone elemental chose this moment to show off another unusual ability it had. It aimed an arm at Badger’s abomination and fired it. The arm flew out like a torpedo, smacking the thing and sending it flying back where it landed on its rear. There it held the arm that struck it in an awkward hug, and refused to return the arm to its owner.
At this rate, the golem would be torn to pieces. With no time left to think about it, Arcturus called out to Fish.
“I’m going. Will you help?” he asked.
“What the hell. I was getting tired of being a goblin,” said Fish.
“Get as close as you can, and then take this acorn.”
“What shape is this?”
“It’s my own. You’ll look just like me.”
“Is that even possible?”
“It is, trust me.”
“What do I do then?”
“Distract him.”
The goblin sneaked off. The hard part was getting past the front line. He came up behind one of the Dire Bear warriors and feigned a stab. The bear started to turn towards him, and he used the chance to disappear into the goblin horde, easily mistaken for one of the enemies. Arcturus waited, watching the minimap. When Fish’s position was close to his golem, he sent Lyle.
“Take your Spirit Wolf form, and help Fish. Please don’t let him die. Besides you, he’s my only friend.”
In a flash of silver, Lyle became a wolf of ephemeral silver, and he darted off into the crowd below. The enemies barely noticed him dashing under their legs and sometimes through them. He caught up with Fish just as the transformation had begun.
Now it was Arcturus’ turn. His part of the plan was the most improbable. He changed to the form of the Golden Eagle and took to the skies. Thankfully, all eyes were focused on the unfolding battle.
He set down on the wooden wagon that the trolls had hitched a ride in, landing just in time to hear the latter half of the evil villain speech. He must have already missed the “it’s too late now” part because Badger was already on the “we’re not so different you and I” bit. The golem was pinned down by two of the trolls, powerless to move. A third one kept watch on them.
He risked a message to Fish.
>>Arcturus: I’m nearby. Can you do som
ething to get everybody’s attention? I need some privacy.
>>Fish: I’ll try…
With that, Arcturus began his shift from Golden Eagle to human. After an agonizing twenty seconds or so, he was in his original form. He dug into his pouch, pulling out a small phial of crimson liqueur that he drank frantically. The Blood of the Vampire Queen tasted like a mouthful of burnt pennies, but he felt a powerful chemical rush—a habit-forming mechanism that had already been banned in most of the otherworlds. His stats were spiking through the roof. Without pausing to consider it, he began to transform into the Fletcher Snake. This last shift took nearly half a minute.
“Enough lectures!” Fish said, advancing towards Badger. “In nature, a hornet can beat an elephant! Balance is created through harmony! And healing crystals cure most illnesses!”
Fish was advancing towards Badger menacingly. But in human shape, he had no special skills to speak of. It was a bluff.
“You’re so pathetic,” scoffed Badger, invoking his Flesh Magic puppetry, and holding up his arms at Fish and Lyle. They both stopped moving. Then he put his palms towards the ground to force them down. “This is too easy,” said Badger. “Smash them!” he said, turning to the idle troll.
The abomination raised its club to strike, but then turned around to see Badger scream as the snake sank its fangs into his ankle.
You bite Badger! You deal 29 damage. Badger is poisoned!
“Get the snake!” he screamed, as the serpentine Druid slithered underneath the wagon and out of sight. In a few seconds, Arcturus stepped back out from the other side.
“What the fuck kind of trick is this?” asked Badger, looking back at the other Arcturus that was frozen to the ground next to his dog. He canceled Fish’s shapeshift, and then turned back to face the real Arcturus, taking a belabored step forward and holding out his arm to invoke his puppet abilities. Arcturus was frozen and rooted to the ground.
It didn’t matter though, as now all he could do was watch the damage tick away from the poison—and hope that it would have the desired effect.
