“We need to destroy this force before they get in range of our citizens. It’s too small to spread out and attack the wall in several places. We’ll tempt them into grouping up here. Have our citizens fall back, or at least stay behind cover while we adventurers deal with them.” He was already making plans for a stand at the drawbridge.
Chapter 11
The Bigger They Are…
The enemy wasn’t waiting around for Alexander to execute their plans. A horn rang out from somewhere along the wall, followed quickly by several more. Alexander looked to the tree line as the treetops once again began to shake and sway. Only this time, the movement was coming toward the wall.
A moment later, Alexander and the citizens of Elysia saw the first giant. It stepped out of the shadows of the forest and into the sunlight, shading its eyes and blinking momentarily. The creature was massive. Built like one of the rock trolls, it had thick muscular arms and legs, with mottled skin that would provide perfect camouflage in rocky terrain. Its head was the size of a small car and a shower of thick saliva sprayed from its mouth as it roared a challenge. The fifty-foot giant held a stone club in its right hand that must have weighed at least a ton.
As the monster stepped forward, four others began to emerge from the forest. Giant after giant moved into the sunlight. Each carried what looked like an enormous makeshift shield made of logs from the forest. Five of them, fastened together side by side with crude spikes and vines. Each log was maybe three feet in diameter, making the shields about fifteen feet wide and taller than the giants themselves. The monsters could easily hide behind these as they approached the wall.
From out of the woods came a flood of smaller monsters that flowed around the feet of the giants. The smallest were hobgoblins. Half orc, half goblin, they were larger than their goblin ancestors, standing about four feet tall with muscular bodies gifted to them by their orc blood. They had the same big ears and feet as goblins and the same bloodshot eyes.
Scattered among them were were-beasts. Most were wolf-like creatures that walked upright like men. A few appeared to be of boar ancestry as well, with elongated snouts framed by sharp, curved tusks.
A force of maybe sixty orcs held the center of the of the line. Similar in size to the orcs on the wall, these had nearly black skin. Their bodies were pierced with dozens of bits of jagged metal and bone and each looked up at the wall with red glowing eyes. In fact, Alexander noticed that all of the enemy had the same glowing eyes, including the giants.
The last to arrive were slow-moving mountain trolls. These stood fifteen to twenty feet tall, with thick, slow-moving bodies. They had long arms that reached the ground as they walked and massive shoulders topped by boulder-like heads. Two of them carried a chair, upon which a drow in mage’s robes sat. Alexander focused on the drow.
Drow Wizard’s Apprentice
Level 110
Health: 65,000/65,000
Alexander could sense his people beginning to panic. He quickly levitated himself so that all could see him. Then he told Jeeves to activate loudspeaker.
“They look scary, don’t they?!” he shouted, pointing to the now-stationary giants. “Big enough to swallow any one of us in one bite!”
His people all looked at him like he was insane. Many of them were nodding their heads in agreement and looking skeptically at him.
“Well, they’re looking at all of you and thinking the same thing! They see the moat, and the walls, and all of you with weapons ready. They see your determination! Your courage!”
“They see lunch!” A voice rose up from somewhere down the wall. Scattered laughter could be heard here and there.
“Maybe so! But they’re going to have to work hard for their meal! You are citizens of Elysia! Warriors, one and all! Trust in each other. Look out for each other. These big dumb brutes are no match for you!”
Ragged cheers went up from the fighters on the wall. It wasn’t the rousing roar he was hoping for, but then, he’d never been great at motivational speeches. He lowered himself back to the gatehouse roof and stepped to one of the light cannons.
The giants were out of his casting range. But the cannons emitted a beam that he already knew would reach to the tree line after Edward’s ‘testing’ them by cutting down trees.
He took careful aim, then triggered the weapon. A beam of bright white light burst from the cannon and struck the lead giant in the face. Its skin began to smoke as it howled in pain. Dropping its club, it covered its wounded face with both hands and fell back against a tree as Alexander released the trigger. Cheers erupted from the wall as he Inspected the giant.
Mountain Giant
Level 90
Health: 98,400/100,000
“Holy shit, these things have a massive health pool,” he whispered. Still, they could be hurt. Just the short burst from the cannon had taken nearly two percent of its health.
The giant regained its feet and bent to pick up its club. With a pain-filled roar, it swung the club and obliterated the nearest tree. The stone weapon smashed right through the thick trunk and sent splinters flying halfway to the moat. The upper section tilted and fell upon one of the other giants, who just shrugged it off, letting it fall to the ground to crush several hobgoblins who were too slow moving out of the way.
In answer, the other three light cannons fired. Beams of light magic raked across the line of monsters facing the defenders. Creatures large and small screamed in pain as they were burned. Alexander moved aside so that the cannon he’d been using could be manned and fired as well. One of his guards gleefully stepped forward and went to work.
Unaffected by the raking beams, the four giants with shields stepped forward. Shields in front, they roared challenges at the puny defenders as they approached the moat. When they got in range, arrows, crossbow bolts, and spells bombarded their shields. A few managed to penetrate and do minor damage, but they kept coming.
Lainey managed to hit one in the foot with a stun arrow. When it began to convulse, the shield exposed its face for a few moments. Every ranged attacker on the wall took advantage of the open target and pummeled the giant’s head and face with everything they had.
Its health bar plummeted as arrows penetrated its eyes, its open mouth. A huge spike of ice from Misty slammed into its face, rocking its head back slightly. When it recovered from the stun and managed to duck behind the shield again, it was down to ten percent health. Seeing this, the defenders took heart and increased their fire. They got smarter, aiming for exposed feet as the giants stepped forward.
Lugs followed that thinking and hurled one of his seven-foot-long spears at the closest giant. The air whistled as the projectile sped downward, gravity assisting Lugs’ great strength. It penetrated the top of the giant’s foot and continued down into the earth beneath, pinning the foot to the ground.
As the giant moved forward, the spear was ripped free of the ground. But the resistance unbalanced the thing and it stumbled forward. The weight of the shield pulled it down and it slammed face-first onto the ground. Immediately, every weapon within range on the wall was turned upon the prone monster. Spells exploded across its back and head as arrows and bolts slammed into it. Alexander cast Wizard’s Fire on the shield underneath it, lighting both the wood and the giant on fire.
While his people peppered the downed giant, Alexander took a moment to cast Wizard’s Fire on each of the other shields as well. The three giants that were still moving were nearing the moat and slowing down. They had reached the blessed ground, and were taking damage with every step. The fourth giant expired and several of the Elysians on the wall leveled up, bringing another round of cheers from his people.
A soft voice echoed across the battlefield. Alexander looked up to see the drow apprentice making a hand signal. As one, the three remaining shield giants stepped to the edge of the moat. Slamming the bottom edges of their shields into the earth, they pushed them forward so that they fell across the moat and onto the top of the wall!
“They’re not shields! They be friggin’ bridges!” Brick shouted the obvious as defenders who had ducked behind the wall to avoid being crushed by the logs crawled out from under them. Several orcs and minotaurs grabbed hold and tried to shove the bridges off, but to no avail. The giants had already placed their feet upon the improvised bridges and were attempting to climb to the wall.
Now unshielded, they were slammed with fire from the defenders on the wall. Beatrix used the moat water to pull massive globes up to surround the giant’s heads, suffocating them. Misty quickly froze each one so that the giants couldn’t see. One of them immediately stumbled off the side into the moat.
Rocky was there in an instant. He surged through the water, his jaws closing on the giant’s neck just below the ice cube that was its head. With a vicious shaking motion, he ripped a sizeable chunk of the giants flesh from its neck. Blood fountained as the monster sank below the surface. Rocky moved underneath the closest wooden bridge. It was still burning with Wizard’s Fire and the flames reflected in the moat monster’s eyes as he waited for his next victim.
The giant that had previously been knocked down to ten percent health died quickly from the focused fire of the defenders. The remaining two stumbled around the field, trying to free their heads and get a breath. Fingers ripped at the ice to no avail. One of the giants fell to its knees, slamming its head against the ground and trying to break the ice. After a full minute of struggling, both of them collapsed and quit moving.
Another word from the drow and the entire mass of creatures surged forward. The were-beasts were fastest. They sped across the open field toward the smoking bridges. Alexander cast Wizard’s Fire on all three of them again. But the beasts kept coming with no regard for their own well-being. They ignored the damage from the blessed ground, the arrows and bolts that skewered them as they ran. Hitting the bottom of the wooden ramps, they plunged right into the fires and used their claws to propel themselves upward.
“This isn’t natural!” Sasha yelled. “It’s like they’re zombies. But still alive!”
The connection clicked in Alexander’s head. “The drow! She’s controlling them somehow. Maybe some kind of psychic power.”
Sasha’s voice echoed across raid chat. “All light cannons! Focus on the drow! Burn her down!”
Immediately, all four light cannons changed their focus. The four beams zeroed in on the drow apprentice and her robes began to smoke. She screamed a few words and the two trolls carrying her chair set it down gently before moving to stand in front of her. They didn’t move an inch as the beams burned trails in their skin.
Alexander cursed and looked to the sky. The dragons had remained on patrol, warding against another wave of gargoyles. He wanted desperately to ask one of them to take out the drow. But the danger to them was high if they approached that closely.
He was distracted by screams from the defenders on the wall. The were-beasts had topped the wall, their bodies nothing more than flaming fur, melting skin, and sharp canine claws and teeth. They launched themselves onto the wall or down into the courtyard below, thrashing in pain and striking out in every direction. Elysians were savaged by both claw and flame as they tried to take down the maddened creatures.
“Push them off the wall! They’re already dying. Just push them away from you!” Sasha’s voice rang in everyone’s ears through raid chat. The stronger defenders, the orcs and minotaurs, sacrificed their hands to grab the beasts and hurl them down, either into the moat or onto the ground below. One of the beasts that hit the ground ran off across a field of crops, burning a path as it went.
An earth-shaking roar from the across the battlefield turned every head back to the forest. The remaining seven giants were moving forward. The other monsters fled before them, charging toward the wall. The hobgoblins were the first to reach the burning ramps, and they too disregarded the flames and charged upward.
The orcs carried a pair of logs as they charged across the stone half of the bridge. They suffered terrible wounds as they copied the giants, planting one end of their logs at the end of the bridge and tilting it so that it fell across the moat. When both logs came to rest, they used their massive strength to shove them together. Then they began to charge across their makeshift bridge. Every single one of them was bleeding from multiple wounds as they reached the outer raised drawbridge and began to pound at it.
Alexander ignored them. There was no way they could penetrate the raised drawbridge anytime soon. And even if they did, they would be stopped by the inner gate and slaughtered inside the tunnel.
He looked back toward the ramps. Hobgoblins were pouring over the top of the wall, burned and bleeding, but swinging their weapons with all their might as they dropped down on the defenders. More Elysians fell. Alexander witnessed one of the hunters loose an arrow point blank into the face of a hobgoblin before a downward slash of the monster’s axe severed his hand. His bow fell with the hand as the monster knocked him from the wall as it blindly barreled forward.
“Retreat!” Sasha’s voice rang out across the wall. “All citizens, retreat to the inner keep! Now! Adventurers, stay and cover them! Push these bastards into the moat!”
Alexander levitated a were-beast that was causing havoc in its death throes, lashing at the legs of nearby defenders and hobgoblins alike. He tossed it onto a group of the monsters that were just reaching the top of the ramp, knocking them backward and sending all of them tumbling down the ramp into their own kind. Several fell from the ramp into the water. Others rolled downward in a flaming avalanche of bodies, clearing the ramp for a moment.
But only for a moment. The trolls, with their ponderous pace, had finally reached the ramps. The wood groaned and creaked as they stepped awkwardly onto the logs and into the roaring fire without hesitation. A couple of them leaned forward and used their hands and knees to crawl up the steep slope.
“We’ve got to kill that drow! No way these beasties would face that fire if’n she weren’t in their wee brains!” Brick shouted. He pulled his shield from his back and leapt atop the pile of burning corpses stacked near the closest ramp. When he reached the top, he looked at Alexander and shouted, “Not a word!” before he tossed the shield onto the ramp and climbed onto it. Sitting on the fireproof shield like a sled, he pushed off with his hammer and began to slide down the ramp.
Alexander lost sight of him in the inferno, but wasn’t particularly worried. Fire caused Brick’s shield to heal him. He’d be fine. At least, until he reached the bottom and ran into one of those trolls.
A splash from his right drew his attention. He saw Rocky burst upward from the moat and throw his weight onto a burning ramp that was sagging in the center. The moat monster whined as the flames scorched his skin, but it only took a moment for the combined weight of the logs, the moat monster, and the two trolls climbing the ramp to overwhelm the weakened wood and send them all crashing down into the moat. Rocky fell backward, one of the troll’s legs gripped in his jaws. They both disappeared under the water.
One ramp down, three more still blazing away. The giants were moving forward still, about halfway to the moat now. The wall was quickly clearing of defenders as the citizens either ran for the stairs or simply jumped the twenty feet to the ground below. A steady stream was moving toward the inner keep, those who were still healthy helping the wounded. Alexander took a moment to teleport some of the more heavily wounded still on the wall directly to the courtyard.
As he did so, he froze in horror. Laying atop the wall, not far away, was Taylor. His left eye was missing and his blood was pumping from a jagged wound that extended from his forehead down across his neck. Taylor’s health bar was at ten percent and dropping. Alexander immediately began casting heals on his guard captain, uttering a prayer to Odin. The blood flow slowed and he teleported the man to the courtyard.
Not far away, Helga was using her massive sword to clear monsters from the wall. She muscled the blade back and forth like a scythe while Warren and Grumpy covered her ba
ck. Lugs was atop the gatehouse, hurling spears at the giants like a titan atop a mountain hurling thunderbolts. The big ogre shouted curses to follow each spear. “Here’s one for you, ya massive pile o’ troll dung!” He sent a spear whistling into the neck of a giant who had nearly reached the moat. The creature stumbled back and made a gurgling noise as the spear passed through its windpipe. The blow didn’t kill it, but it was out of the fight for now.
Martin and his healers were still on the wall, doing all they could for the wounded as the DPS players dealt with the monsters who’d made it that far. Alexander saw Beatrix get bowled over by a screaming hobgoblin that didn’t even see her. She was crushed under its burning feet as it stepped on her chest. Her health bar dropped below fifty percent and the flames caught on her robes. She tried to douse herself with water, but this was Wizard’s Fire. Water had no effect.
Sasha threw heals on the little gnome, but it didn’t matter. The hobgoblin fell backward, its head having been removed by one of the players. The burning body covered Beatrix and her health bar went grey.
Helga died a moment later. One of the trolls had managed to make it to the top of a ramp. She charged through a mass of burning mobs to stab the thing in the gut. Her Legendary weapon easily pierced its skin, and under normal circumstances the wound would have ended the fight. But the mind-controlled troll simply reached out and grabbed hold of Helga’s head, then crushed her skull to pulp.
Grumpy charged up Helga’s dead body and used Shield Rush to bash the monster backward down the ramp. He took fire damage before he managed to leap backward onto the wall. Sasha tossed him a quick heal.
Giants were hopping into the moat now. For most, the water only reached their armpits as they sank to the bottom. But the spikes Alexander and the mages had raised there punctured their feet as they tried to walk across. Though they screamed in pain loudly enough to vibrate the walls themselves, they kept moving, lifting their feet off of one spike only to step down upon another, and another. Rocky harassed them, taking large bites from their legs and torsos as he swam past. Clubs bashed at the water as the giants tried to crush him. But the water slowed their blows and Rocky managed to avoid them.
World At War Page 21
