Without much choice, Victoria and I waited just long enough to intercept a few goblins that tried to go around our group instead of through it. They were easy enough to eliminate since we surprised them from the flank.
“Promise me you won’t run off and doing anything foolish,” Victoria said.
Snorting I turned, seeing her nose wrinkled up in a smirk.
“Only if you promise me the same.”
Her nose remained scrunched as she frowned and bobbed her head in sarcasm.
Placing my hand on her shoulder pad, I pushed, rocking her to the side.
She looked genuinely surprised.
As one group of goblins fled, more goblins joined them until the stream became a river of rapid water.
In a torrent of chops and thrusts, I worked with Victoria, the reach of her spear holding one back while I attacked low and to the side.
They started to bottleneck to the point it looked hopeless when I saw two short blond heads, girls, wading through the sea of goblins. A third one, male, slightly taller and dirty-blond, bobbed up and down from their flank.
Level 13
You have reached Level 13!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 32 meters!
These must have been the players that had caused the initial retreat. They were taking full advantage of the fleeing goblins, killing as many as they could with their back to them. It was extremely dangerous because they were surrounded, but they had read the momentum of the battle well.
The horde was being thinned on our side thanks to the group.
Glancing at the Local Map again, I saw no sign of Peter, Kline, and Oliver.
“Push forward!” I called. Perhaps we could use the bottleneck to our advantage and tie as many up as possible.
Some started to squirm around us to either side, but since I was dual-wielding I was able to give them a good slash to the back of the neck or leg as they left.
Other groups had joined the blond group. One man specifically towered over the goblins from the rear. Oliver and our group had arrived.
“Hold! It’s almost over!” Victoria cried. Her high pitched encouragement sent a chill down my spine. I felt like a gamer again.
As their numbers failed, the goblins became desperate, no longer trying nor caring to fight, they threw themselves at gaps in the line to try and wiggle through. Their abandonment of the little discipline they had turned it from a retreat to a slaughter.
Peter, Oliver, and Kline reached us by cutting a cavity through the center of the remaining mob.
With the last goblin down, the two blonde girls and man with them stood panting. The girls were twins, well-toned, with strong jaws. The man was stocky and wielded two hatchets.
One of the girls smiled at me, her face in a state of wonder as she stood among the pile of bodies. She had had a good dose of adrenaline high and had yet to come down off it. She wasn’t a psychopath. Most likely.
We began our looting. Victoria left most of the looting to me and instead turned her attention to thanking the group that had joined our party to help. Peter and Oliver joined her.
“Man, you haven’t even got to go shopping yet,” Kline said, swatting me on the back.
Catching my balance, I replied. “I’m totally going to steal your dinner tonight. And no, I haven’t got to be quartered and measured by Victoria yet. Don’t worry. I doubt she will let me get away.”
“Wiser words have never been said, but you’re not taking my food.” He snickered.
“Gentlemen,” Victoria said. “Let’s make sure no one loots the merchant carts.”
With a nod, we rejoined the others. Most of the goblin bodies had already disappeared since they had been looted.
“How you holding up?” Peter asked. He had left Victoria’s side and was now walking with me. Victoria and Oliver were in front heading toward a mess of gear scattered on the ground.
“Good.”
“Glad to hear it. Bad injuries can have a lasting effect even years after they heal. You’re doing well just to be holding a sword. Thank you for watching out for her. She mentioned what you did.”
“Of course.” His compliment was far from what I expected. Not that I thought him incapable of kindness, but since we met I felt he had been weighing what he thought of me, withholding judgment. Had I just passed some unknown test? Too bad there wasn’t an experience bonus.
As soon as we arrived a dilemma presented itself.
“She’s dead! I knew her the best. It’s only fair that I inherit her store and continue on her legacy!” A portly, squinty-eyed merchant said as he crawled around the ground, piling items from her overturned cart into a pile. He wore a faded blue tunic and patched brown pants.
The merchant April lay dead, a bloody wound on her chest. A blanket was spread beneath her. Her hands were folded together where she lay.
I didn’t know how to respond. Was she a person that had been paid to play a role, or was she really an NPC that had just lost its life? I was callous to her death. Most games wouldn’t allow non-player character respawning, but I felt I should feel more. Either way, this means merchants don’t respawn. That’s a problem. What about the archers?
April wasn’t the only merchant that had died.
“How pathetic! You would be dead right now if it wasn’t for us! We deserve a cut!” said the spiky blue haired guy from this morning. He started gathering the scattered items into a separate pile. With his friends’ help, his pile quickly outgrew the merchant’s.
What a mess.
Victoria now stood before the two opposing parties. Peter had joined Oliver at her side. From behind, I saw the knuckles of the hand holding her spear turn white. Her empty hand was a clenched fist. This would be interesting.
I followed Kline, who positioned himself behind Spikey’s crew. They numbered nine. Two girls had joined them that weren’t there yesterday. Why did some girls find cruel guys attractive?
“What are you doing?” Victoria asked, her voice cutting the air.
Getting a better look at the guy with blue hair, his face was long and thin. His jaw flexed in response to Victoria’s rebuke.
Turning without getting up off his knees, he shook his head when seeing who it was.
“You can’t be serious. Look. I was a bit unfair this morning. But we fought for this. We aren’t stealing it.”
“If this merchant had a family then it belongs to them. The items from the goblins you killed belong to you.” Victoria’s voice stayed steady but clear.
Other players started to gather at the sound of the confrontation.
“Oh come on. They are NPCs. It’s not like they are real people.”
“So you admit to stealing, but it being okay as long as it’s from NPCs?”
The man stood, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword sheathed on his belt. His crew stood with him.
One of the girls in his group pushed her way to the front of the pack, her platinum blonde hair snapped like a cloak in the wind. Her leather was tight like Drool’s, but much more practical. She had two short swords sheathed on either hip.
“Jerrek, you’re acting like a child,” she said, stopping next to the blue haired guy, arms crossed.
“Olivia. Hush.”
With both hands, she shoved him with all her weight, right into the pile the chubby merchant had made, scattering the items.
She wiped her hands on her leather pants as if the dirty work was finished.
“Sorry about my brother,” she said, turning to Victoria. “I’m sure we can work something out.”
How did they end up in the same starter city together? Another charity case?
Victoria let her fist relax, her fingers taking a needed rest. “I’m sure we can.”
“What if the merchant doesn’t have any family? It would only be right that the people that tried to protect her and the merchants beside her–” She eyed the merchant who was now climbing to his feet. “–That we claim what she had. Who
else is going to defend them next time?”
It was a decent argument.
“Perhaps,” Victoria replied. “Let’s find out if she has a family.”
“You,” Olivia said, meaning the merchant. “Did she have any family?”
“No! Do you think I would take her stuff if she did?”
With so many people gathered, it was only a moment before another merchant stepped forward. She was a pigtailed redhead, younger than April had been, but with a similar green full-length dress and leather boots.
“April didn’t have any family, but Eustis is the last person that should get her goods. There wasn’t a day that went by that he wasn’t trying to take her spot with his cart.”
Everyone turned to him and the plump man turned red. He didn’t even try to defend himself.
“Anyone else have something to add?” Victoria asked.
A man called from the crowd. “He doesn’t deserve it!”
Another voice echoed the same.
“Very well. Olivia, is it?” Victoria asked.
She curtsied, then smirked at Jerrek who was standing, fist on his hips.
“Thank you for helping defend the village.” Spinning to the crowd, she raised her voice. “Each member of Olivia’s group will get first pick of the items.”
Not only was she crazy enough to run into danger, but this was as bold as it gets. My grip tightened on my sword, which sat in its sheath. The hatchet I had let hang by its neck, I now grabbed at its handle. She might cause a riot, but I snickered to myself despite it all.
Kline nudged my arm. He chuckled with me.
It didn’t go unnoticed by Jerrek that Victoria had said it was Olivia’s group and not his. His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword.
“They will pick no more than two items a person.”
Olivia’s jaw muscle twitched just as Jerrek’s had.
“The rest of the items, other than food, will be dispersed to the other groups that fought today. The food will be gathered for tonight.”
What was she getting at?
“The enemy has proven that it can attack at any time. It's plain we are at war! Yet we are still strolling around like this is a game! This food and April’s cart will be the first building blocks to create a real fortification outside of our gate!
“Spread the word! We need bodies and supplies! Night and day we will need people to defend this city, its merchants, and players, from hundreds, if not thousands of creatures that want to destroy us!”
“You need to see this!” called a voice from the back of the crowd. It came from the direction of the gate.
Two players, still in newbie brown with leather shirts over the top, were hauling one of the guards that had been in the tower. One carried him under the arms and the other by the feet.
The crowd made way as they waddled up to Victoria. They gently set the body down. The guard had worn a long green coat and thick leather belt, with a matching green and black cap.
“What happened?” Peter asked, kneeling down to examine the body.
“Brett saw it.”
The player that had been carrying the feet held up his hand, indicating that was him.
“When the goblins first attacked, I was shopping at one of the merchants closest to the gate. The guard in the tower yelled that we were under attack and started firing. Somehow they made it through the gate before anyone could get it closed. There were about twenty goblins that attacked at random. It wasn’t long before the firing stopped. I noticed it because only one goblin had run at me and Ted here helped me kill it. Anyways I got suspicious and saw a taller, skinny goblin trying to sneak down the stairs after that. It was called a Goblin Sneak Thief. I killed it when it made it to the ground and it dropped this.”
He held out a long thin blade, almost as long as a short sword.
Peter reached for it and received the blade. Turning to Oliver he handed him the blade after examining it.
“Assassin.” He said it loud enough for everyone to hear.
Victoria waited a few seconds before she began again. “They have assassins among them! If you don’t want to have to worry about getting stabbed in your sleep, we need a 24/7 watch! Spread the word! We begin construction immediately!”
Miraculously everyone did as she said. I wasn’t sure what she meant by construction exactly.
Though they weren’t happy, Olivia and Jerrek took their two items. There was nothing they could say after the news about the assassin. Everyone had fallen behind Victoria and they had been forgotten.
“Olivia,” Victoria called out.
The girl made no pretense of friendship.
“You can have my two items from the merchant’s goods. I mean it. Thank you.”
The two girls spent a long moment looking at one another.
Olivia finally sighed, a grin parting her lips. “You’re welcome.”
Suffice to say, they didn’t stay to help any further.
Another three merchants had died. The same distribution of items was agreed upon except for one of the merchants, a man that had a wife and two children.
Even more depressing, over fifteen players had died in the attack. There were hardly more than 100 to 150 goblins in the raiding party altogether, but they had caught us by surprise.
It was sobering for all of us, but Victoria scurried around to each of the wounded players, making sure they were taken care of.
Kline and I set to work collecting the scattered foodstuffs and setting them on the cart. It was easily righted between the two of us.
Soon the merchant girl who had spoken up for April was leading a mule with April's cart behind it. We exited the gate, and stopped about 100 meters out, unstrapping the cart from the animal.
Afterward, a merchant lent us a wagon to pull behind the mule and we loaded up everything from broken down tables and chairs, to logs and barrels of scrap. There was plenty of it behind the more industrious shops and after hearing what happened all but a few were happy to donate their junk. Everything ended up out front of the gate to help build the barrier.
The word spread. Hundreds of hands were helping within an hour. Oliver and Peter worked together to lead the workers. A familiar face, Harrison, the bearded group leader from last night, joined them. He soon took over the construction.
Vector and Treetop didn’t flee at the sign of work. Actually, they customized their own cart near the front of the defensive barricade. I saw them testing spears through custom-made holes in the wood.
Drool did run off, but only after a conversation with Victoria. They exchanged something. I didn’t exactly like the fact Victoria had so easily befriended Drool, but because of the seriousness of the situation, I didn’t think we had anything to worry about for now.
Nearly three hours after the attack, Victoria found me loading packing crates of scraps into the bellies of carts and wagons to weigh them down. The barricade had become a large semicircle of these broken down carts, wagons, and barrels.
“Ready to continue our shopping trip?” she said, wiping sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief.
Kline pushed me toward her before I could ask if he needed me. He threw a rock at me when I turned to respond. It bounced off my leather vest. He heaved hilarity all the while.
“I suppose I am.”
“He can no longer stand your lack of fashion sense,” she teased, shaking her head.
Chapter 11 – Gearing Up
We went at a slow pace. The work hadn’t been light for either of us.
Entering the village, the area of attack had already been repopulated with merchants happy to trade their wares. There was more traffic here than earlier with the construction going on.
Victoria’s hair was a frizz, statically sticking to her leather armor, a few strands in the air. Her face had splotches of dirt under one eye, on the opposite cheek, and on her chin. She stuck to her leather, as all of us did, with sweat drenched cloth underneath it. But her look was not what had me wor
ried. I had seen how frantic she got when I got hurt. Her worry turned to action, even if there was nothing to do. She had just responded to the death of April, the merchants, and players the same way. The only difference is this time there was work to do. She was quite impressive.
Destiny always diverted my attention when I was overly worried. I’d try to do the same for her.
“So I thought you said you were just here for fun. Political charity case and all.”
“You don’t think I’m having fun?” she said, with a glint of mischief.
“Oh, I’m sure you are. Your guild is coming together nicely.”
“You caught that, huh? That’s just the beginning really.”
“Oh, you have plans?”
Her mouth was a fine line, stretched out in a grin. Her eyes turned down, villainous as a gaming real-estate agent.
“When we form the guild, we will charge everyone a fee to join. With the money, we will rent a guild hall and create a bank.”
“Isn’t there already a bank?”
“There is, but it costs to deposit money. We will only charge for item storage and actually pay interest to anyone that deposits money with us. That should draw our members. Once the money starts to flow we will use it to invest.”
“You want to be a banker?”
“I want to help direct the economy. There are no guarantees, but with good investments, we should be rich.”
“Oh, is that all?”
“Well, if things go as planned we will be the richest guild in the game. By a lot.” She pranced from one foot to another, then dipped her head to the side.
Her movements were controlled and precise. Such grace must have taken years of practice.
“What was that?”
“I wasn’t lying about being a dancer. Don’t you have problems keeping still when you’re excited?”
Perhaps she wasn’t as distraught as I thought.
“Yeah, but I pace. I don’t dance.”
“Poor boy. I’ll have to teach you to dress and the proper way of things.”
“You mentioned money. So I should probably stay on your good side.”
“Only if you want to be rich, a member of the strongest guild in the game, and have a fashion coordinator.”
Codename: Freedom: Survive Week One Page 14
