by Jason Cheek
Glancing around at the rest of their group, Jodi saw that she wasn’t the only one stunned at the amount of skin on displayed. Damn, those were some healthy female Centaurs. The males were pretty impressive too, Jodi silently giggled, checking out their sixpacks and bulging muscles as they manhandled … err … Centaur-handled the stones off the cart, while others moved the blocks up to the massive cranes that were busy lifting the stones up onto the walls.
It wasn’t only the Centaurs either, Jodi silently whistled as she watched. Those Half-Elves looked pretty sweet too since most of them had taken off their armored chest plates and shirts to work. Honestly, it was almost like a free Male Review. Well, it was as long as Jodi didn’t focus on the Centaur’s horse-halves. That, she silently admitted, threw her off somewhat, but not so much that it stopped her from enjoying the show.
Taking in the work being done, Jodi couldn’t help but shake her head in amazement as she looked over the towering cranes. She’d seen the wooden frames earlier above the walls and had simply thought it was part of the scaffolding for the construction going on. Not actual freaking cranes! Weren’t those a modern invention? Seriously, where in the hell had Startum gotten those things from? As if that wasn’t crazy enough, he somehow had designed a cage that allowed the crane operators to “walk” the heavy stones up to the top of the walls. It was quite ingenious, Jodi thought, enough so that it got her to take her eyes off all of the eye-candy strutting around.
That’s when she saw something even more odd. There were several Gnomes hard at work beside the Half-Elves and Centaurs. As she watched, Jodi realized that they were helping to adjust the stone blocks so they fit properly into where they were being placed. Another thing that caught her by surprise was that most of the solders began stripping off their armor to join in on the construction.
Watching the interaction between the troopers and the Centaurs, it quickly became apparent to Jodi that everyone was here of their own free will. Startum hadn’t enslaved the Centaurs as the forums were going on about. That was another point that she’d been contemplating over ever since she’d seen Fylreh and Startum interacting with one another. In truth, all of the races seemed to be more than willing to work together to get the defenses built with their weapons and other gear strapped to equipment belts at their waists and err … hindquarters.
Hell, the trooper that Jodi had earmarked as the leader of the force that had come down to reinforce Elandorr was even now apologizing to the Centaur at the front of the carts. Something about not being on hand to help unload due to the Mini-Boss attack and needing to back Elandorr up. It made sense since there was a backed-up line of Centaurs with their carts full of stone blocks for the active construction going on.
Another interesting point, Jodi noted, was that this side of the fortress hadn’t been built up. It was like a three walled castle. The wall that faced the inside of the pass had some construction laid out for the future, but otherwise there wasn’t currently anything higher than mid-chest started on the fourth wall. Not that a fourth wall was actually needed since this was supposed to be the secure side of the pass. That, and the keep itself was well-enough constructed to hold off any serious attacks, and there were obviously plans in the works to secure the bastion even more once the main construction was completed. As Jodi was looking around trying to take everything in, Fiona's mental alert suddenly rang in her head.
‘Stealthers are infiltrating the fortress!’
“We’re under attack!” Jodi urgently sounded the alarm in raid chat, as a pop of displaced air came from the exit-side of the tunnel. Even as she was unlimbering her bow and drawing an arrow, the Blink Lynx struck at the invisible air as a Rogue suddenly appeared out of Stealth.
“Get this damn beast off of me!” a familiar sounding voice hollered as Fiona sank her claws into the player’s back.
As chaos erupted amongst the players around her, Jodi swung her bow up and nocked an arrow as she saw the name Shankolots Syndicate hanging over the Rogue’s hooded head. This was a strategy that Fiona and her used regularly. Her Multi-Shot left her bow just as the Blink Lynx disappeared in a pop of displaced air. Fiona was just appearing behind another Stealthed Rogue’s back, when a loud chip sounded from Jodi’s shoulder and a Flame Blast flew past her face as a third Rogue was forced out of Stealth.
The excitement in the courtyard died down as twenty of Elandorr’s Rogues suddenly popped out of Stealth as well. They immediately surrounded the ten Syndicate players, even the eight that were still in Stealth, as Jodi did her best to calm an excited Blasto down. Just as the Elite Pyro Spitter finally seemed to get the message to stop attacking, the Rangers on the northern wall began loosing arrows at another group. Jodi realized that meant the PKers must have been trying to skirt the edge of the fortress, just as she heard several blood-curdling screams as whoever it was plunged to their deaths off the side of the mountain.
To Jodi’s surprise and that of the other players around her, the people in the courtyard continued to work on their various construction jobs as if nothing was happening. Except for the Assault Leaders walking over to them, even the Rangers, Warriors, and Mages of the raid didn’t even bat an eye while they continued on their way to join the various construction parties that were hard at work. Jodi traded curious glances with Tumms, Zeppy, and Grody as another familiar face popped out of Stealth.
“Assault Leader,” Hanvoril Liarora said, snapping off a fist salute.
“Report Team Leader Liarora,” Elandorr said, returning the salute.
“Who the fuck do you guys think you are,” Blitzkill Syndicate shouted, angrily cutting off Hanvoril as he tried to lunge in Elandorr’s face. To his startled surprise, he didn’t budge an inch as the two female Rogues holding him in place easily muscled him to his knees.
“I am Assault Leader Narona and one of the five Assault Leaders in command of this fortress by command of Lord Ironwolf,” Elandorr announced, as he looked down at the angry Syndicate player.
“And I’m the mother-fucking King of England,” Blitzkill snarled, “so why don’t you let us go about our way. It’s not like we attacked you or nothing.”
“Whether you attacked us is not the current problem,” Elandorr said in an officious voice, “this is the House of Kayden lands that you and your people are currently trespassing on.”
“We’re trespassing?” Blitzkill exclaimed as his voice turned shrill, “this land belongs to anyone playing this stupid game so you can’t tell us where we can and can’t go.” He looked back at his raid mates and let out an ugly laugh. “Besides, your Lord Ironwolf can suck my dick as far as I care.”
“Oh, that’s not going to go over well,” Tumms muttered under his breath, as Jodi and Zeppy silently nodded in agreement.
As if to prove the Devil Dog’s point, Elandorr nodded to his people as the Rogues holding the Syndicate players all drove their faces into the ground. The whole thing would’ve been pretty funny to Jodi, even with the rough handling and all, if not for the serious looks on all of the troopers’ faces. A sinking feeling appeared in the pit of her stomach, when she saw Elandorr draw his sword and accusingly point it at Blitzkill’s beet-red face.
“This land belongs to Lord Ironwolf, the House of Kayden, and their allies,” Elandorr proclaimed in a tone that brooked no argument, “anyone else trespassing on these lands will be asked to leave, if it was an accident, or put to death if not.” Jodi urgently glanced at her friends, but none of them batted an eye at what was going down in front of them. “Since you disrespected Lord Ironwolf directly and are obviously enemies, I am sentencing you and your people to death.”
“You can’t do this to me,” Blitzkill screamed into the ground as the Rogue drew his blade back over his shoulder, “I’m a goddamn player!”
A meaty thunk cut off whatever else Blitzkill was going to say as Elandorr’s blade took his head off at the neck. A split-second later, another nine thuds echoed around the courtyard as the rest of the Syndicate raid was put t
o death by the Rogues holding them in place. Talk about a video sequence that was sure to go viral on the forums, Jodi silently thought, shaking her head at the complexity of the situation that Startum was facing.
Even if it came off on the brutal side, Jodi knew as well as Elandorr did, that these were the PKers that trained the monsters on their raid and then tried their best to slaughter and spawn camp them. Then, they got caught sneaking into their enemy guild’s base. What did everyone think the enemy was going to do when they were caught? Come on, it’s a freaking brutal medieval fantasy world. Of course, they would be put to death.
Besides that, it wasn’t like this wasn’t a game or the community in general weren’t doing this and worse across The World. While these assholes’ deaths looked dramatic, they would respawn like normal, except with a few less pieces of gear and a kick to their pride. The only problem was that people loved to get offended by the simplest things, Jodi embarrassedly thought and something like this was going to be the icing on the cake to sink Startum’s reputation with the players on the forums further.
It was really too bad, because these assholes one-hundred-percent deserved what they’d gotten. Hell, if it had been up to Jodi, she would’ve cut them down where they stood. What was funny, she thought, was that Elandorr had almost put the whole three-second trial on like a show. It was almost as if he knew the newfar would hear of his actions.
Jodi’s eyes widened in surprise as she suddenly realized something. Elandorr and the rest of the Assault Leaders did know that the players had ways to communicate about what was going on to other newfar outside of The World. Jodi had announced that herself when she was telling everyone in the longhouse about what she’d learned of Lord Ironwolf’s adventures. Was this the Rogue’s way of getting the message of what was happening in BrokenFang Hold to Startum? Jodi dismissed the conspiracy theory level thought as being ridiculous even as she watched the Rogues loot the players’ corpses.
“Go ahead and hang their heads from the battlements,” Elandorr unapologetically ordered to his subordinates, “maybe that will help to make these newfar think twice before trying such a tactic again.” As the group of Rogues took off with the players’ bloody heads, he nodded to a Centaur that was just emptying their cart. “Do you mind taking care of these bodies and gravestones?”
“Not a problem,” the female Centaur said without batting an eye, “the hole is on the way back to the quarry.”
“Thanks, Thessare,” Elandorr said, before turning back to Team Leader Liarora, “What’s the status of the other newfar groups?”
“I had them taken out as soon as combat was engaged,” Hanvoril reported smartly, before nodding towards the northern wall. “There was one survivor from the group that was trying to sneak through the pass,” as Elandorr drew himself up in alarm, the Team Leader continued his report nonplussed, “but Grimmur the Vile is already hunting them down.”
“That will make those newfar think twice before trying that again,” Elandorr said with a bark of laughter as he noticeably relaxed.
“Doubtful,” Hanvoril disagreed, as a sour expression flashed across his face, “those newfar are slow learners. Either way, I have a team keeping an eye on the situation,” the Rogue grimly explained, “if they try to run, we’ll throw them off the side of the mountain.”
“Excellent work,” Elandorr said, before calling out to Thessare who was busy gathering up the gravestones by the tunnel, “Mind grabbing a few more gravestones that are on the outside of the wall?”
“Not a problem,” Thessare said, glancing at the pair of Half-Elves, “as long as you can get someone to guide us to where they are.”
“I’ll escort you myself,” Hanvoril said, before turning back to Elandorr, “Assault Leader?”
“Carry on,” Elandorr said with a wave of his hand, “just make sure you get the patrols back into position. I expect you’ll have to help explain to those newfar that their bodies are no longer available to loot for a good portion of the night.”
“Artano, Kiranes,” Thessare called out to two of the Centaurs that had just unloaded their stone blocks, “mind giving us a hand?” As the male and female Centaurs began heading over, she flicked her tail at the pair, “Bring your carts along with you, we’ll just load them on the trot.” As the group headed off, Jodi cleared her throat to get Elandorr’s attention.
“What’s up with collecting the gravestones?” Jodi asked, as the players of their group curiously pushed closer to hear the Rogue’s response.
“Oh that, we like to gather up their corpses and gravestones and toss them in a deep hole we ran across while working the quarry,” Elandorr said with a twinkle in his eyes, “we figure it might discourage those newfar from attacking if they can’t recover their gear.”
“That it would,” Zeppy agreed, letting out a bark of laughter as several of the players in the raid blanched at the thought of losing all of their gear like that.
“Any more questions,” Elandorr helpfully asked, as he looked at the circle of players around him.
“Yeah, one more question,” Grody said from where he stood with Warduke and ChopU Ginsu, “What’s up with this Grimmur the Vile you and Hanvoril were talking about?” He shared a smirk with his buddies before continuing. “Do you guys have a friendly Mini-Boss hanging around here or something?”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it friendly,” Elandorr said, looking Grody in the eyes, “Lord Ironwolf nearly lost his youngest companion Alanah on the day we arrived.” As the trio’s eyes widened in surprise, the Rogue continued in no uncertain terms. “While extremely dangerous, for the most part, Grimmur the Vile and its pack of Cruor Beasts aren’t usually an issue since they mostly hunt along the rocky ridges around the pass,” a savage smile came to his lips, “which is where any Stealthers have to go through to get past this fortress.”
“Are you serious,” Warduke asked in alarm, “Why not hunt them down?”
“Now, that’s a good question,” Elandorr said, nodding at the Warrior, “Besides being ambush predators that are some of the hardest and sneakiest monsters in the region to track down, they’re actually quite helpful at taking out the newfars that are constantly trying to sneak into the pass.”
“Any more questions?” Elandorr asked, waiting for a moment before nodding towards the trail that headed down the mountain, “In that case, we can continue on our way to BrokenFang Hold.”
What in the hell has Thomas gotten me mixed up in, Jodi silently wondered, as she began following Elandorr and his raid out the backside of the fortress.
Chapter Nineteen
(Noskulls Accost on the ridge outside of Fang Pass.)
“Fuck … fuck … fuck!” Noskulls swore as he raced away from the slaughter of the Global Brutality raid that had been trying to sneak past the fortress, “They were all in Stealth, so how in the fuck had they been seen?”
Arrows and purplish-black bolts of Dark magic rained down around him as Noskulls used every skill in his bag of Rogue tricks to survive. Dive-rolling over small chasms, ducking behind boulders, and zigzagging in-between the larger rocky outcrops in a crouch along the ridge, he scampered away from the fortress with his heart thudding in his chest. It was killed or be killed, he thought, as he saw the last of his teammates hit point bars turn grey in his HUD.
Even then, Noskulls felt the slight prick of pain and a solid series of blows as if he were playing paintball. Swearing as his hit point bar dropped below half, he threw himself onto his hands and knees to crawl. Ignoring the cuts to his hands and knees, he scurried across the rocky ground on his belly as arrows shattered off the stones just above his head.
Eyeing the mini map, Noskulls knew he was close. If he could just get away a hundred and fifty yards from the fortress, he doubted that they could accurately target him that far out. He was just approaching that maximum distance, when he saw the ridge ahead of him drop below the line of sight from the walls. Not wasting any time, Noskulls launched himself across the small gap as
he dropped fifteen feet down the slope to land on his back.
The impact nearly knocked the wind from his lungs, but the Global Brutality Rogue ignored the shortness of breath as he slid down the slope another twenty to thirty yards. Grinning like a maniac, he leaped to his feet and began skipping across the tops of the boulders like a Boss to quickly get further down the slope. The drop off to either side of the ridge he was on was pretty intense. One misstep would send him plummeting to his death, he thought, as he made his way to safety.
It wasn’t until he made it to the far side of the dangerous ridge, that Noskulls allowed himself to rest. Putting his back against a flat ridge, he slid down into a crouch with his back against the stone and let his head hang between his knees as he gasped for breath. That had been the most running he’d done up until now, or at least it was since he knocked out his Rogue class quest.
That was one of the most annoying parts of this whole entire fucking world. You had to run or fucking walk everywhere! It was so stupid that they made you wait until Level 40 for a freaking mount. Leaning his head back against the cold stone, he focused on catching his breath as the adrenaline slowly began bleeding out of his system.
“What a fucking clusterfuck!” Noskulls swore under his breath. “Seriously, what the fuck was Sourgamin and PunkuGood even thinking.”
Noskulls shook his head in disgust. Both the Pwnguins and the Syndicate were a bunch of losers if you asked him. Seriously, how many times did they lose to a bunch of NPCs? If they would’ve let Dwankbone plan this whole thing out, this shitshow would’ve gone smooth as ice. That guy knew his shit. It also meant he wouldn’t have been stuck here trying to think of what to do next.
Noskulls was tempted to just hide out in the rocks. If any of his raid mates were able to make it through that gauntlet of shit, they could team up with him to take these shitheads down. Sticking his head back into that hornets’ nest just seemed like bad fucking juju. So far, none of the fucking plan had worked out the way they’d thought it would. Probably because these motherfuckers could see you in Stealth.
