Brent Roth - The Dragon's Wrath: A Virtual Dream

by Brent Roth

  The Outcast Goblin was the physically larger of the two, both in stature and in general size. The spade-like ears like those from a playing card were awkward to look at, and overly sized on their four-foot six frame. The oily brownish-beige yet dried prune-like skin only served to complement their exceptionally large goat-like eyes with a large horizontal hourglass shaped pupil, slit-like nose, and disgusting fangs that somehow served as teeth.

  They were repulsive.

  Not to be outdone, the Minor Outcast Goblin appeared in much the same way but seemed more beige than brown yet barely stood four-feet tall. Considerably smaller with the same sized head. Strangely, this was even more disturbing.

  I wanted to smash them into pieces.

  Ugh.

  To think the designers had created such disgusting monsters as the entry level monsters for players to fight. I feared for the future creature's appearances… they would undoubtedly be mindboggling.

  Moving closer to the goblin camp we were soon hit with a waft of a pungent odor that could only be described as a smell of mixed throw-up and urine. I held mine in, but one of the party members gagged and actually puked.

  I didn't know we could puke in this game.

  But it made sense, seeing as we could do everything else normally.

  And I did mean everything.

  Setting my axe down against the rock wall, I grabbed my bow and surveyed the scene in front of me. There were five targets, each with a crude short sword of sorts. Our group consisted of two archers and a sword & dagger rogue, plus me with my axe and the healer in the back. An all physical single-target group… not that balanced but it will have to do.

  Before I could even suggest anything, one of the hunters assumed the party-leader mantle and spoke up, "Alright, I'll pull them to us. Focus the regulars first, and then the minors last."

  Eh, I wasn't a fan.

  Initial aggression or aggro, or hate, would be given to the archer who pulled… meaning I would have a harder time gathering them together.

  But my opinion didn't mean anything yet. Four guild members versus the Pick-up Group guy. This pug was also a newbie to the dungeon and they had supposedly been here before.

  Yeah, my words had no merit yet.

  The goblins were around a hundred feet away and the archer quickly ran over and let off an arrow. Just as quickly he turned around and ran behind me to take up position with the others.

  Shaking my head, I clutched my axe.

  Five disgusting creatures were bearing down on me with swords drawn and spit flying as they screamed and shrieked with their high-pitched voices. Staring right back at them in this hyper-realistic setting was startling.

  It was frightening.

  The three Minor Goblins charged ahead like the small fry that they were, waving their swords above their heads as they ran in an almost comical fashion. Taking my stance I went into my new favorite high-guard "Vom Dach," even though it was more of a sword guard it worked just fine for me in principle.

  German for "from the roof," it entailed holding the weapon overhead and centerline while angled back at a 45-degree angle. It provided for a wide window of attack in addition to a very powerful swing.

  This was definitely my preferred stance.

  As the first of the minor goblins came into range it was consumed by blind aggression and without any thought to my axe above, lunged forth. The goblin intended to thrust the sword into my abdomen but… it was slow.

  The sword was slow.

  The goblin was slow.

  Shifting my feet, switching the foothold from left-foot forward to right and twisting my waist so as to avoid the blow, I also engaged all of the muscles of the core. Abs, back, shoulders, and even my chest as I pulled the axe down as viciously and hard as I possibly could.

  The axe swung down in an instant and dug deep into the goblin's neck, shattering through the collarbone and lodging itself entirely in the soft tissue.

  As if everything was in slow motion, I could feel the shudder of the axe as it cleaved into the goblin. I could see the goblin shudder from the impact as it dropped to the ground. On its knees the goblin stared at me in confusion, wondering what had just happened.

  With those odd horizontal hourglass eyes it stared on.

  And then I put a boot on its disgusting face and shoved off.

  Yanking my axe from the minor goblin that was now lingering around 23% remaining health while kicking my target into the minor goblin behind it, both minors careened to the floor. Two seconds had passed during that exchange.

  But that third minor goblin veered right past me.

  Glancing at it as it ran past and straight into the rogue and archers, I could only ignore it. In front of me was a more pressing matter as the two [Outcast Goblins] came in slashing and hacking away with a ferocity not unlike my own.

  Raising my axe and swinging wildly to parry the blows, I barely deflected the two with a grin.

  They couldn't get me with weak attacks like that.

  And then two sharp shooting pains registered in my sides as I saw two short swords sticking into me. The minor goblins had attacked as well and without a shield I was hopeless to defend.

  Pulling back, I quickly swung my axe wide and repeated it twice for good measure. Glancing behind I could see the loose minor goblin fall to a flurry of stabs and arrows.

  One down, four to go.

  Raising the momentum of my swing, I continued to swing my axe in multiple arcs from high-right to low-left, low-left across high-center, high-center back down to low-right. Repeating the pattern while deviating slightly, I was building space.

  I was really building hate.

  The goblins had been intimidated by the seemingly wild swings and backed off slightly as they focused their aggression towards me. Completely forgetting the archers pelting them with arrows and the rogue now behind, this was the situation that I was aiming for.

  This was tanking.

  Swinging like a wild-man… no a mad-man, I continued to press on. I was deflecting incoming sword thrusts with the weight of my axe bearing down on them and forcing them back.

  And then I stopped.

  I wasn't wild, nor was I mad.

  I simply needed the time to regain composure, and now that I had succeeded I returned to my high guard. In their desperation they had completely circled me and I was at a severe disadvantage. The minor goblins had made their way behind me, completely out of sight but it was no matter.

  The targets in front of me were all that mattered.

  The minor goblins initiated first, thrusting wildly at my abdomen where I could only twist in an attempt to receive a glancing blow. The goblins immediately followed up with two downward arcing slashes that I was barely able to deflect before taking the two stabs to my sides; I had lost around 12% of my health from the two hits.

  And then without a moment to relax the onslaught began.

  The four goblins worked themselves into a frenzy and began hacking and slashing at my sides while I was busy fending off what I could. Blocking and deflecting the blow coming from my right only to take two slashes from the left and a stab from behind.

  Stumbling to the floor, I glanced at the minor goblin that was still sitting at 23% health while completely crippled on one side. The rogue was busy attacking a goblin with the archers and it had only fallen to 71% in nearly five seconds.

  This was stupid.

  Abandoning my defense, I turned around and hacked the minor goblin's head off.

  As its head rolled pass me, I gave it kick for good measure.

  Turning back to face the other minor goblin, I launched a flurry of attacks of my own. Countering every three swings with two of my own, I was able to dismember the one remaining minor goblin's hand, as it screamed to the ceiling in pain.

  Using the moment of distraction as my window of opportunity, I used [Execute] and landed the blow cleanly down the middle of its face. Splitting the minor goblin's skull into two halves, I placed my boot on its
chest and pushed off, freeing my axe to face the two remaining goblins.

  Just as I took another two slashes to my arms and clenched my teeth from the pain of being sliced repeatedly over the past thirty seconds, a beam of golden light engulfed me for the fifth or sixth time.

  In truth, I wasn't counting.

  The warmth of the light instantly restored a large portion of my health as I glanced at the party menu that showcased the healer's remaining mana; she was low.

  Bringing my guard back up, I distracted the goblin in front of me as the rogue unleashed a flurry of stabs and her signature skill, [Backstab]. As she plunged her sword and dagger into the back of the goblin in front of me it wailed in pain from the sudden surprise and in its momentary distraction, I took advantage.

  Utilizing a quick counter swing, I received a boost to the damage modifier for landing a properly timed swing. Cleaving deep into the shoulder and triceps of the goblin in front of me, it soon dropped its sword on the ground as it clutched at its nearly severed arm.

  A few well-placed arrows later, it fell in front of me.

  Now there was only one goblin left.

  My health had fallen to 33% but in another second or two a [Holy Light] was sure to hit me. Circling the goblin as the rogue and I paced equal distances apart, it hesitated in anticipation of what was to come. As if it couldn't decide whether it wanted to die to an axe or a sword in the back, the goblin continued to twitch back and forth in fear.

  Once that golden light hits me, I would be going in. My axe was held loosely in one hand as the head dragged along the ground, leaving a mark in the dirt as I continued to circle. Soon I was tapping the axe-head on the ground.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  And then it hit.

  The golden light engulfed me as the goblin's eyes grew wide at the sight. Wide enough to see the axe heading straight toward its face, but not enough for it to properly evade.

  Throwing up its sword in a feeble attempt to deflect the heavy axe, it only served to weaken its own guard. From behind the rogue had landed a fatal [Backstab] directly into the heart of the disgusting creature as my axe chunked off a part of its cheek.

  Collapsing to the ground in front of me, the last of the five goblins had been defeated. I had finally killed my first few dungeon mobs, and cleared my first dungeon trash group.

  Yeah, these mobs were only trash.

  They were what stopped you from getting to the better mobs, the mini-bosses and the boss of the dungeon. Things to waste your time, impede your progress, and cause you general pain. There was certainly plenty of pain involved for me, but that was the life of a tank. Getting stabbed repeatedly, slashed and sliced at continuously… those were the things I would have to get used to.

  Maybe it wasn't so bad if you lowered the pain-threshold.

  But I couldn't do that… I elected to go the Ultra-Realism route.

  It seems pain will follow me wherever I go.

  Chapter 40: The First Floor, Pt. 2

  (Sunday, May 23rd Game Day / Wednesday, February 17th Real Day)

  With the fight finally over the group sat down to recover their lost stamina, mana, and health. It was a sloppy fight with little coordination but that was expected from pick-up groups with no familiarity. Coordination was typically born from experience… either with those you have worked with, or from having done similar work extensively.

  There was none of that here.

  Breaking my train of thought as the archer decided to open his mouth again, "That was pretty messy at first, but we recovered. So, let's rest up and I'll bring the next group."

  Yeah, no.

  His strategy sucked.

  Those minors had only slightly less attack power than the regular goblins, but they had significantly less health and almost no defensive capability. Five seconds to kill a minor or twenty for a regular.

  There was no reason to let the minors attack me for forty seconds with impunity. Plus, it left me to attempt to guard against four or five targets at a time. I had no interest in being overworked for the benefit of some archer's ego. All he had to do anyways was mindlessly shoot his bow. Not to mention, one of them had hit me with an arrow in the back.

  Speaking up, "Mind if we switch it up a little?"

  The archer seemed displeased and replied coldly, "What did you have in mind?"

  "Since I'm not a Shield-bearer, I don't have the AoE Taunt skill for taking initial aggro. It would work better if you let me pull them."

  Silence quickly filled the air as all four members stood still. They were most likely discussing the proposition in their guild chat, where I couldn't see it. I wasn't sure what all they had to discuss though, their tank was telling them that he could tank better if he pulls.

  What was there to debate?

  After what felt like five minutes, I finally got my reply.

  "That's fine. You're familiar with pulling, right?"

  "Yup."

  With a smile, I immediately got up and ran around the corner with my bow in hand. A moment later I was running back towards the large room where my party had been standing, dumbfounded that I left them.

  Turning back around, I readied my axe for the four goblins coming my way.

  As the goblins came into sight, the archer quickly stated the obvious, "Ugh, there's only four goblins… did you lose one?"

  Yelling back to him as the goblins charged into me, "Already killed one!"

  "Wait, what?"

  "Focus the Minors first!"

  Ignoring the idiocy of the archer-leader as I had no interest in arguing nor sitting around for five minutes while they internally discussed the merits of my proposals, I continued the fight. Once you're in combat, it's best to listen to the tank.

  The goblins hit me with their charge as I took 17% of my health in damage from the minors while deflecting the regulars. Corralling all four of the goblins in front of me, I side-stepped and turned so that the archers would have a clear firing line.

  Now, we could fight.

  As the minor goblin to my right fell almost instantly to the rogue, a smile crept up on my face. Only to turn into a wince as the other minor goblin stabbed me in the thigh.

  Swinging my axe down towards the oncoming swords of the regulars, the clang of metal on metal rang out throughout the cave, reverberating off the narrow walls of the passageways. The echoes continued to bounce back and forth as the fight escalated.

  As I turned my focus to the two regulars, I noticed a few arrows had landed in their core. The archers had ignored my call to attack the minors. Typical leader-types with too much of an ego to step aside when out-classed.

  The rogue felled the other minor goblin in record time though, and with that it was 5 versus 2 in short order.

  As the Outcast Goblin in front of me lunged forward attempting to land a thrust, I simply stood my ground and took the blow. The goblin was oblivious of what was to come as I dropped the axe down.

  The goblin had nowhere to go and was full of openings; leading to a clean decapitation as the goblin's head rolled in front of me. One look to my left and the other goblin soon fell to the rogue's [Flurry] of stabs and the archer's volleys.

  Not interested in any further discussion or commentary from the archer, I quickly left to pull the third group. The priest had only used 30% of her mana this time, opposed to the 80% she used last time.

  That's measured progress.

  With every pull, we came one step closer until we finally reached the boss. There were seven trash groups and a mini-boss per level, it seemed.

  Stopping for a minute to explain the situation, "Next one's the boss, did you guys want to sort the loot before or after we start?"

  The rogue replied to me as the archer had long since gone silent, "We sorted the items when you were pulling, it's all junk."

  Well, I didn't doubt her.

  I had a good look at those cracked and rusty swords as they pierced my abdomen or sliced at my arms a
nd legs. They were just old, extremely brittle iron swords that were only good for a few hits.

  Vendor trash, essentially.

  Take it and sell it at the trade post for its scrap cost, or keep it to melt down for resources for yourself. Definitely not worth using in a fight, unless you wanted it to break mid-fight.

  Approaching the mini-boss for the first floor, one could easily see the difference between the [Outcast Goblin Guard] and the lower level [Outcast Goblins] and [Outcast Minor Goblins]. The Guard was level 40 while the two Goblins were 37. Those two Minors were only level 27.

  Of course, I was only level 30 so, I didn't know if the levels really meant much.

  The rogue then explained the situation to me, "The boss is fairly normal, we've fought him twice and only beat him once. He actually has leather armor on in addition to that shield and spear, so he's a bit dangerous."

  Leaving the party in the previous room, I went alone to pull the boss.

  As soon as I was at the very end of my spell range I stopped and placed my bow down against the rock wall with my axe hanging off my back. Bringing my hands up near my chest and turning slightly to the side, I started my Chanted Verse.

  "Through power, darkness turns to light, render all to ash, Lightning Bolt!"

  Electrical energy coursing through my hands, the balled up mass of raw power shot straight out of my open palms and instantly traversed the distance between us.

  The Minor Goblin that was my intended target was soon convulsing on its knees as an arrow found its mark in the center of his forehead. Drawing once more, I released in the general direction of the [Guard] with a thwack.

  Turning around without any further hesitation, I sprinted back down that narrow, damp, and dark passageway. As soon as I reached the open cave section, I quickly turned and drew my bow.

  It wouldn't be long now.

  Any second now….

  And then, there they were as if on cue.

  Thwack.

  Thwack.